Random web wanderings by others



I was hit earlier today through a Google search: "Janeane blonde Garofalo crossfire" I followed the search back, followed the top link, and found this hateful little discussion.



I couldn't be bothered to critique the whole thing ("Celebrity pundits bad! Celebrity California Gubernatorial candidates good!"), but I do want to answer a question there that seemed honestly posted. To boil it down (full question here), why does the celebrity left have such a hate-on for GWB?



The answer is simple, and it's not left/right. George Bush Sr. didn't invade Iraq without provocation, he attacked Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. And he did it after getting most of the world's governments on his side. Not everyone cared for that war, and I certainly didn't, but at least it was justifiable and well-thought-out, two things that can't be said for Junior's war. Ronald Reagan might have been a deliberate cold warrior, but he never felt the way to defeat communism was to hold secret capital trials of foreign nationals in Guantonimo Bay. And neither of them ignored constitutional guarantees of security and privacy to investigate Americans' video rental and library use patterns. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that every President, Republican, Democrat, or Whig, has shown more respect for the Constitution of the United States than the current President. But I'm no historian... perhaps Grover Cleveland was worse than I think.



In the meantime, the media has rarely been so docile as it has lately proven to be. Janeane Garofalo has to speak up, because it is difficult or impossible to find the 2003 version of Edward R. Murrow. And frankly, the media environment we live in is more interested in Janeane, just as the media is more interested in Arnold than in Gubernatorial candidates we know by surname, or candidates who we only know by policies and political experience. If you want to find a well-thought-out non-celebrity criticism of GWB, I recommend Lewis Lapham, but there are plenty of others. Why isn't Lapham asked to appear on Crossfire? Because Crossfire isn't about politics, it's about verbal wrasslin'. It's entertainment, not civics, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.

Random Web Wanderings III



BlogsCanada (again - I'm addicted!) brought me to HappyGirl's Online Dating Guide to the Galaxy for Dummies. Way way too much title, but the storytelling is fun.

Fair and balanced for a few more days.



I've got to lose the title. Search engines are starting to use it, and it's way unweildly on small screens. Unweildlier. Um. *cough* Huh.



ANNNyway.....



I won't be Fair or Balanced by the end of the week. I mean, who was I fooling, anyway?



But if you're looking for your fix of sites that are Fair and/or Balanced, here's a partial list. They Blog, You Decide.

What country are you?



I'm Poland! But I'll spare you the details. Find out for yourself.



Via Echoland, a new discovery through BlogsCanada.

Ezra's logic grows shakier



Here's an interesting column by my personal favourite right-wing whipping boy, Ezra Levant. Oh, how I wish the Calgary Sun archived these, but you'll have to check this link before the 25 August if you want to see the column, or head to the public library after that.



Let me boil it down, however - Ezra believes the current forest fires in Alberta and B.C. illustrate why the Kyoto Protocol is a waste of time. After all, forest fires around the world are huge contributors of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, so surely reducing human contributions is pointless.



What a fascinating perspective. Fascinating because Ezra is illustrating the hole in his logic even as he makes the argument.



Jasper and Banff are both experiencing smaller but still serious fires this summer. They started when controlled burns became far less so, because of the extremely dry weather - Jasper is experiencing the second-driest year in the hundred they've been recording this information. Hmmm.... I wonder what could be causing this unusual lack of moisture?



Yes, there are always forest fires - they are a normal and healthy part of the ecosystem. And we will always have extremes in weather - some year has to be the hottest, or the wettest, or whatever. But is it at all possible (not certain, but possible) that the weather that's creating the perfect conditions for crazy forest fires this year is a result of global warming? That global warming is at least a contributing factor? Is it not possible that human activity is indirectly responsible, therefore, for all of the greenhouse gas (as well as the smoke and ash that conveniently worries Ezra so much more in this column) the fires are producing?



Many elements of the science of global warming are agreed upon, and a few are disputed. But calling the forest fires an illustration of why Kyoto is a bad idea, as opposed to, say, a prudent idea just in case --- well, that's Ezra-style logic at work.

Garofalo watch



Janeane will be co-hosting Crossfire all this week. Damn, I'm starting to fear she's going to replace acting and comedy with punditry. Not that I mind her punditry, but I'm still impatiently waiting for The Truth About Cats and Dogs II.



Update: She's a fine pundit. But I could have done without the blonde hair. Shallow, yes, I know, but it's not like I'm getting all eTalk daily over every celebrity I see. Just her. And perhaps Hannigan.

Rerun



I've mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again, because the database has been built: BlogsCanada is live, with a database of almost 6500 blogs. Have fun - there are several neat features, including a chance to rate each new blogs you discover. I'm looking forward to exploring more.

Brooks and BSE



Despite the reopening of the US (and now Mexican, as well) border to some Canadian beef, Alberta is still feeling the effects of the case of BSE diagnosed in May. Today, CBC radio is spending some time in Brooks, Alberta, to see how deep those effects are.



I have long connection with Brooks. I spent years with a woman who grew up there. I ran for election there. And I love Newfoundland enough to love sitting in any one of their pubs on a Friday night. Brooks is far from the only community in Alberta to be feeling the BSE pinch, but Lakeside Packers is a huge employer in Brooks, and the community goes as that employer goes.



Neither the Federal nor the Provincial governments have reacted quickly enough to the BSE trouble, nor have they done enough to date. Photo ops of elected officials chowing down on steaks is not enough to get the people in the beef industry through to the other side of this issue unharmed. Where's the trade mission to Japan? Where's the increased standard testing? Where's the recognition that Canada has been unbelievably punative to BSE-positive countries to this point?



Canada's hands aren't clean in this... Canada needs to pony up the funds as part of the acknowledgement of that, as we count ourselves lucky that it wasn't far worse.

2 letigious 2 quit



Al Franken is being sued over the title of his newest book, Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. FOX News believes they're the only ones who deserve to be described as "Fair and Balanced" (Hee - I never get tired of the irony of that!), and the network has a pack of lawyers (a "pride" of lawyers? Maybe a "shame" of lawyers. Hee again - Sorry, Trina) willing to argue it.



Tom is recommending that the blogging world change their title bars to read "Fair and Balanced", as he and Atrios have done. I'm in there, just as soon as I can find the right HTML command in the template.

Fighting terrorism, the practical way



Forget about invading countries with tenuous ties (or none at all) to those who would do you harm. For true terrorism prevention, the FBI is on the case. They deserve our appreciation and congratulations for actually making you and I demonstrably safer. Why don't I feel the same way when their country starts bombing stuff?

But forget all those other stories:



Here's Rev. Darrow Woods, a United Church minister, proving once again what I've been saying all along - Christians are not monolitically opposed to gay marriage:

The Bible is a collection of writings from many times and places, all at least nineteen centuries old. It's like an album of snapshots, sometimes blurry, giving us glimpses into religious and social life in ancient cultures. Searching the Bible for clear teaching about same-sex marriage will get us about as far as if we read Moby Dick for tips on how to pilot an aircraft carrier.

A whole lot to write about today



But work is demanding a great deal of attention today, as well. Watch this space, and with luck, I'll be filling it with something about:



--- Alberta's two crisis (is that the plural of crisis? Damn you, English!)

--- How to fight terrorism

--- How not to fight terrorism

--- How to cast the net way too wide.



We'll see how it goes.

Physics as politics



Physicists who study quantum mechanics are unsure if the unobserved object exists. I say we try that principle out on the mockery of democratic process that is the California Gubernatorial election. Please?

Late, but for the record



I'm not completely pleased about no longer blogging in an entirely timely fashion. Nonetheless, I feel the need to include the following highlights from Friday.



This is excellent news.



This is even better news.

Random web wanderings



Ever since the Vatican suggested that the Prime Minister was not being a good Catholic in his preparation to legislate legal gay marriages, there's been some interesting debate about the seperation of Church from State. What I haven't heard debated from a Christian perspective is the seperation of State from Church. Now I have, and eloquently, too.

Total Recall leads Last Action Hero to become Running Man. Har! Now can we shut the fuck up about it?



I was going to make this a comment in response to Mike's comment on the previous post. But I think it's worth a whole post.



Mike wrote:

...Maybe the solution is introducing the ability for the public to petition for a non confidence by-election if they feel their MLA, or MP for that matter doesn't represent them correctly. This has been a long standing, and successful practice in the Swiss parliament.

I have no desire to blog about the three-ring circus that is the California recall election, called because petitions were filled with the signatures of a whole bunch of people who didn't like the original result in the first place. Suffice it to say that's not an aid to democracy. But I'll add that there are lots of opportunities to avail oneself of one's democratic rights in Canada, and people are neither as involved nor as considered as I'd like with the opportunities they have.



Want a recall process that might be reasonable? Make the signatories sign that they were voters in favour the candidate they now wish to recall. Or at least check them against the voting list to make sure they voted at all - reinforce the bumper-sticker logic: no vote means no right to complain. Make the signatories foot the bill for the reenumeration and by-election, and see how committed they are to the recall.



Ultimately, years of voting the party lines, doing little, and being a barely adequate legislator will never get you recalled. But vote your conscience on some hot-button issue, and watch the clipboards fly. No thanks.

Minority rules!



My brother Dave and I have a longstanding argument about the best system of government. Dave is a firm believer in benevolent dictatorships, whereas I like power to be relatively diffuse. It's the standard Anakin/Amadala dichotomy.



Well, despite the Tories getting the most seats, I have faith that the results of Nova Scotia's election will bring about positive change. Just look at the sort of talk, the sort of dealing, already going on:

The three leaders had conciliatory words Wednesday and talked of building a consensus on controversial issues such as auto-insurance premiums and paying for health care for senior citizens.

I cannot be convinced that talking and negotiation between different perspectives doesn't create better law than "in" vs. "out" trying to score points during question period, and making most of the law away from the legislature floor.

eBay eVil



Okay, perhaps not evil, per se, but way too willing to fold like a cheap tent in a strong wind.

Dawson City artist John Steins says he has been ordered off the site for mocking the U.S. President. He was selling a series of hand-painted drawings depicting Bush, as well as senior White House advisers.

The work is a little more doctrinaire than I like my art to be, but the conversations with eBay are interesting for the lack of information eBay provides to Steins. It can all be found on Steins' site, and if the art's your cuppa, by all means support a Canadian artist.

If I'd found this last October, I never would have blogged



I noticed I'm getting some hits from a site I'd never seen before. BlogsCanada.ca is a new effort to create a directory of Canadian blogs.



As I suggest in the title, if I had been able to find a single left-wing blog from Alberta, I likely would have said "well, that need is addressed." I'm excited now, as the index begins to fill, to see if I'm alone after all or not. However, it's way too late for me to quit, even if I do find myself outclassed by someone local who knows what she or he is talking about and can write with some skill.



Let me describe the chances of finding someone better at this than I am as "inevitable". I appreciate your loyalty nonetheless.

Time for some cleanup



While you can still see them on my archive pages, it's time to drop the Iraq civilian death chart links. I'm finishing at 6086-7797, which seems plenty devastating enough to establish the point.



If anyone spots another internet toy of that sort --- perhaps something cheerier this time --- the e-mail link is to your left.