CNN.com - Saudis want to limit nuclear inspections - May 4, 2005

... Where is the outrage?

CNN.com - Saudis want to limit nuclear inspections - May 4, 2005

Reason #3482 not to live in the US

Having solved all other problems in Germantown, Tennessee, city council to regulate when garage doors may be opened. No. I'm not joking.

LancasterOnline.com: City Plan Would Curb Garage Door Opening

CBC Toronto - Stronach crosses floor to Liberals

Who says Canadian politics are boring? "Stunning political move" indeed.

Not only has she crossed the floor, Martin has named her to Cabinet as well. Wow.

CBC Toronto - Stronach crosses floor to Liberals

Wallace and Gromit film trailer

Whoo Hoo! There's a new Wallace and Gromit short film due out this fall: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The duo are now working as a pest-control team. LOL

Time for a Paradigm Shift

So, Paliament has been struggling under a minority government since the end of June last year. I say "struggling", because "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition" have refused to allow the government to do any work.

Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe, and Jack Layton have allowed the daily questions periods to gradually devolve from a semi-embarrassing spectacle to an all-out political slugfest.

I honestly don't know how any Canadian can hold their head up high and say "I like the way Parliament operates". It's always been something of a throwback: Opposition member stands during Question Period and asks their question; Government minister stands and answers. Usually accompanied by a childish soundtrack of hoots and catcalls from the Opposition benches. The question, more often than not, is something that the Opposition member a) knows the answer to and just wants to get the government to attempt to wriggle out of something embarrassing or b) is just an attempt to make a point at the expense of the government.

All the parties are to blame for the mess. The Conservatives have always done it to the Liberals and vice versa. It's just gotten very very bad in the last year. Is it something to do with minority governments? Was it this bad when Joe Clark was PM? I don't know: I was only 10 in 1979 and not politically aware.

There HAS to be a better way to run a country. The US doesn't have it. Giving one man veto power over the collected will of two groups of elected representatives is about as far from a magic bullet as you can get.

I don't know enough about consensus government to evaluate it. I understand that it "usually" works in the NWT Legislature, but I don't know the mechanics.

something has to give. I'd very, very much like to say that a Green government would change it, but that won't happen:

1. The country's not ready for us and we're not ready to govern.
   
2. It would require changing the Constitution and that's not a can of worms that anyone really wants to open right now or anytime soon.
   
3. Nobody, but nobody, knows what to replace it with. Changing a system of government isn't something you rush into. Not in non-desert countries, anyway.
   
4. The whole bloody country's in a tizzy over a measly $100 million. Just imagine the reaction if King For a Day Gordo decreed that Parliament, as we know and despise it, was no longer the way things are done: Yow.
   

We have to change the system. Whether we re-write the rules or just bludgeon our MP's into civility, something has to be done.

Reuters AlertNet - Moms pregnant with boys may be less forgetful

I'm just going to post this without comment. ;-)

Reuters AlertNet - Moms pregnant with boys may be less forgetful

Procrastinators Club of America has new co-presidents

File this one under "Just Shoot Me". These space cadets have yet to name their 18-month-old daughter! What the hell?

Oh, fine, they decided not to name her "because they wanted to see that would fit her personality". That's dangerous with newborn children. They could wind up being "Middle-of-the-night-pain-in-the-neck", "Dammit!-Another-shitty-diaper!", or "Really-cranky-when-she's-teething"

At least they can't claim her as a dependent on their income tax: no name means no birth certificate and no Social Security Number.

WPVI.com: Child with No Name

Danger! Danger Will Robinson!

Well, here's a situation to panic about: Newcastle Brown Ale may be forced to change it's name because the compnay that makes it is shifting production to Gateshead. AUGH!

icNewcastle - Message in bottle to the Eurocrats

45GB Triple-Layer HD DVDs?

I always feel like a Luddite when I ask this question, but: "WHY?" So that I can hold the National Library in a shirt pocket? So, as Timothy so wisely predicts, Lucas can attempt to soak the world for a re-re-release of Star Wars? Ecch.

Slashdot | 45GB Triple-Layer HD DVDs

Still no cure for cancer.

CBC News: Donors biased against Africa: UN official

Here we go. I can feel the backlash brewing against the UN already. UN relief co-ordinator Lan Egeland has dared to speak the unspeakable, but painfully obvious:

"Humanitarian missions in Africa are seriously underfunded because wealthy donor countries have an "inbuilt discrimination" when crises break out"

I hope he's allowed to keep his job.

CBC News: Donors biased against Africa: UN official

Canadian Air Guitar Championships?

There's actually a Championship competition? These guy's Moms must be sooo proud.

Canadian Air Guitar Championships

WAKA WAKA WAKA!

I'm officially "old": Pacman turns 25 this year.

Pac Man celebrates his 25th birthday - May. 10, 2005

I have so many fond memories playing this game growing up. Whether it was the original stand-up cabinet or the two-player tabletop version. Wow.

Unfortunately, I will never completely scrub the utterly moronic "Pac Man Fever" from my brain. :-( A small price to pay for growing up in the 80's, I suppose.

Just shoot me

So, I'm perusing the "news" at fark and see this: "Student sues university after getting caught cheating on ethics test". "No way," I think to myself. Way.

Suspended UD student sues school

This genius actually claims "that he did not know the quiz in the class Seminar in Corporate Governance was, in fact, a quiz."

Chlorine. The gene-pool needs chlorine. Sheesh

Some day, I'll learn

"No politics at work" It's a pretty simple guideline, isn't it? Perhaps someone can explain to me why I can't seem to adhere to it.

I have a cow-orker who is a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. He lives and breathes conservatism, both large and small-C. Even worse, he's an apologist for the American government, but that's a subject for another day.

Every now and then, I forget about his leanings and get sucked into a discussion about something political. This morning, it was a wide-ranging back and forth rant about a number of things, that kept coming back to the UN. He actually defended the US practice of not paying their UN dues by claiming that they already "pay too much". It was hard to nail him down on details, because he kept jumping in other directions: the world is sending troops into the Sudan because the US is; the Janjuweed Militia in Darfur isn't being support by the Sudanese government anymore, becuase they say so; of course Iraq had weapons of mass-distraction, the US sold them to them; A US federal court judge is blocking the release of a UN Food For Oil program that implicates Kofi Annan in the mess because the UN wants it sealed; and, last but not least, he went on about some liberal media conspiracy (he lost me at that point for reasons that I'll elaborate on later).

I will give him some credit: periodically, I have been able to make a point that's suprised him and he's gone off to investigate it. That's more than most blue-bloods are willing to do. He's a good guy and I like him personally, I just can't seem to stay away from politics with him. Grrrrr.

It's not easy being Green ...

Well, Kermit had it right: Green isn't an easy colour to be. Especially when faced with our society's proclivity for "out with the old, in with the new!".

I'm attempting to do what I can, though. About a month ago, I joined the Federal Green Party and the local Electoral District Association. I'm also serving on the Local Issues Action Committee and have stepped into an Executive position as Membership Secretary.

No, we don't expect to run the country. Not yet, anyway. But the only way the established parties will learn anything is if they actually fear for their seats. Party Politics work like this: the main party runs the government and the opposition parties float ideas for them to steal and promote as their own. The only way we can influence the process is if we have a seat or two in the house. With the Green polling at 12% in Ontario right now, it's looking very interesting, indeed.

Military Confronts Reckless Air Crashes - Yahoo! News

The Fark headline says it all: "Military trying to figure out how to rein in hotdogging pilots before millions of dollars in metal gets turned into scrap"

Military Confronts Reckless Air Crashes - Yahoo! News

Stop the world, I want to get off

Just when you thought it was safe to carry on with your semi-normal, more-or-less sane, life, this comes down the newswires:

Rock Hill-(AP) May 7, 2005 - An 11-year-old boy was arrested this week for carrying ten nails in his pocket at a Rock Hill middle school and charged with carrying an unlawful weapon.

The rest of the article is here: http://tinyurl.com/amqqs

Be afraid ...

It was only a matter of time before I gave in and created a blog. Now, you're in for it .. :-D