Out With The Old

Happy New Year to you and yours, Kate! Thanks for this great blog! I look forward to checking in each day...yours is a must-read.

Cheers!

What a glory you are Kate! Poor pmsh goofed when your offer to grace the senate was not extended-guess he just can't win 'em all! Will we see more of you on the tube? Sure hope so.
Much love and support for all things Saskatchewan!
Paul

Happy New Year to everybody!

Look at the difference between December '07 and this December. It's a rocket.
Happy New Year to you and yours Kate, and to all at SDA.

Happy New Year maam!

Happy New Year everyone.

Take a look at Uncle Jay wrapping up 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWiXy55OHyY

Pretty funny.

Happy New Year all! Don't hit the sauce too hard, it'll HURT tomorrow. ~:D

Happy New Year everyone

Happy New Year to all, especially Kate. Thanks for the great links and thought-provoking entertainment throughout 2008.

Best wishes for a prosperous 2009.

Really neat traffic stats but have to tear myself away from them and celebrate away from the internet (except of course to find out the exact time to pop the champagne). Happy new year everyone and may SDA's success continue in the new year.

Kate, you're a treasure with whom I'll look forward to spending much time in 2009 (if my wife doesn't become too jealous).

Speaking of time, the graph that would really be telling is the amount of TIME each of us spend on SDA, rather than just the number of visits. I'm just glad there isn't a 'meter' running on the time I'm here!

Wishing each and every one of you a happy, prosperous and un-dramatic 2009.

"I'll do my best, with your help, to keep up the pace in '09."

Not a bit of doubt that you will, Kate. (Hey, you could even slack off a bit and it would still be fine!)
Thank you and everyone that posts here. Have an excellent new year, all of you.

Kate: May 09 bring much good health and wealth to you. I have to say that I have never appreciated this blog quite like I did during the "coalition" crisis in Ottawa. Thanks for that and all that you do.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to the SDA nation.

and especially to Kate.

Happy New Year to all that visit this site and to you kate.

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!

Happy New Year Kate and to all the readers and posters on SDA.
Saskatchewan may be the place to be in 09 when the economy turns, keep it going Kate.

Brava, Kate!

Many thanks for the intelligence and sheer sanity at SDA. Honestly, without both, as a Canadian, I think I'd be entirely deflated.

G_d bless us, every one, and a very Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Never boring and always fun Kate. Thanks....

Happy New Year Kate. You're the best.

Thanks, Kate for another great year of keeping us in tune and in touch, and grounded.

Happy New Year to all my friends here!
And Kate...Happy New year and God bless you!

Happy New Year, Kate and everyone at SDA! What a Godsend you all are!

Let's keep the True North Strong and Free ...

CHEERS! And God bless us, every one--Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his government, and Canada.

Happy New Year, Kate, and to everyone.

SDA is an important part of my daily routine. My very best to Kate, all the guest bloggers, and regular contributors for '09. Keep up the outstanding work!

P.S. Last year, we had the delight of seeing Santa on horseback with his dog just a few miles west of Delisle while eastbound from Calgary to Saskatoon for Christmas. Disappointed this year, what with -35C temperatures.

Cheers

Kate,
Congrats... this is my first stop for conservative hocus pocus. :)

DXWN

Kate,
Congrats... this is my first stop for conservative hocus pocus. :)

DXWN

Kate,
Congrats... this is my first stop for conservative hocus pocus. :)

DXWN

sorry.. i'm wasted.

dxwn

sorry.. i'm wasted.

dxwn

Good on ya' Kate,
Another better than last year chart. Gotta love it!!

Happy New Year to you Kate and to all the folks on SDA.

Best regards,
Pat

My best wishes to all that pass by here for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

To all, the best in the New Year.

Happy New Year to all, and an extra congratulations to Kate and Saskatchewan for a great 2008. May it continue in 2009.

All the best everyone. I just watched Sarah Palin being interviewed by George Strombo whatever on This Hour. Did she ever come across well, poised and real at the same time. Look for her to feature in 2012.

Thank you Kate for creating this refuge for all terminally capitalist/freedom minded reluctant financiers of ridiculously large and intrusive government.

Thank as well to everyone who comes here and leaves a footprint.

Happy New Year Kate - thanks for being the one who got me into this crazy world way back in 2005!

Oh - and here is to the fight we have to look forward to in 2009 - if WK's predictions are in any way something to take seriously. lol!

Having read Warren Kinsella's predictions for 2009, I sincerely fear for his sanity. What planet does this guy live on? Planet Coup Coup?

Happy New year, everyone. Thanks for all your good work,Kate.

I, too, am disappointed you weren't named to the Senate. Maybe next time.

Now, I'm off to Kinsella's to see his predictions, thanks for the tip, batb.

Happy new year, everyone!

You know, 2008 was my most-visits-received year as well, even given a no-blogging-at-all hiatus in the summer.

Sure was an interesting year... and 2009 will very obviously be be no less so. I'm sure there'll be plenty of stuff for us all to post and comment about on this thing we call the "Blogosphere". Isn't it also a lot of fun mirroring and mocking the MSM's actions and getting criticized for making the same mistakes as they do, as if only they are allowed to make such mistakes (not that they're all necessarily mistakes- some things are deliberate lies and omissions, no doubt) and get away with it, because they're the elites?

Having posted my wishes to all earlier in the comments, I don't want to veer too much off topic - but a couple of posters have mentioned one W. Kinsella so I thought I might too.

I looked at his site (shame on me) and I too found his 'predictions' pretty much a juvenile combination of projection and wishful thinking.

"the pressure on the Opposition parties to topple the Conservative administration will be enormous. Personally, I’m all for toppling ‘em right now."

Yeah, sure Warren. None of them want to go to an election, knowing that as things stand, they'd be devestated. They're broke. Their leader is a 'Conneticut Yankee' foisted on them by the party powerbrokers and he is certainly no more 'loveable and likeable' than Stephen Harper.

"We’ve also got the best team: we’ve got a Rae, a LeBlanc, a Trudeau, a Dryden, a Garneau, a Hall-Finlay, a Dhalla"

Damning with faint praise, indeed. A much despised former NDP Premier. A son of a former Liberal cabinet minister whose accomplishments are.... A Trudeay - no more need be said. A former hockey great who has obviously taken a few too many pucks to the head in his previous career. An astronaut having trouble adjusting to earthly realities. A Toronto lawyer - no more need be said, and a gender and ethnically correct M.P. with a less than notable track record. Yep. It's an all-star team alright.

"it is traditional “liberal” policy which makes the most sense – smart government involvement in the economy,"

Warren's never, ever going to let this delusion go. Oh yeah, government involvement in the economy, that's an historically winning strategy.

"Apart from Jim Prentice and a couple others, I’m guessing 99 per cent of Canadians couldn’t name five ministers in the federal cabinet."

That my friends, is the Toronto-centric attitude that exemplifies the Liberal Party of Canada. Canadians are stupid and can't be trusted. Canadians are uninformed and must be led by their betters. Canadians, like children, want to be parented. James Moore, Jason Kenney, Diane Ablonczy, Lawrence Cannon, Tony Clement, John Baird... there's 6, Warren. Should I go on?

"Every factory closing, every job loss, every bad economic headline is killing them. In these circumstances, their political opponents need only maintain a pulse."

Toronto-centric once again. Most of those job losses are going to be in urban Ontario, while the west will continue chugging along as the economic powerhouse of the nation. And despite the job losses, we'll still be seen as the most able economy in the G8, so what's not to like? Yet Warren believes the Liberals will win by default - simply for having a pulse! No tyranny of high expectations there, eh Warren.

"The Conservatives iron communications discipline will continue to crack. Now that caucus and cabinet and staff see how many mistakes Mr. Harper has made in a very short period of time – cozying up to ADQ loser Mario Dumont"

Well yes. The Liberals have been sharp with their communications haven't they. I myself was cozyied up with my beer and popcorn as I was trying to watch Stephan Dion snap his coalition message into focus. Speaking of being cozy, would you rather have your national leader making cooing noises to a Mario Dumont or to a Gilles Duceppe?

"I can’t predict what the Conservatives will do in their budget; they’d gotten crazier than shithouse rats, around the end of 2008, and it’s hard to predict the behavior of crazy people"

Projection. This from a supporter of a party that would have given an additional billion dollars to Quebec, a veto over any legislation and 25% of the Cabinet seats to the NDP? All to grab power that they couldn't get at the ballot box? The interesting thing about crazy people is that they are incapable of recognizing clearly crazy behavior.

"We’re overdue for some sort of environmental calamity."

The Chicken Little strategy. If we just wait long enough, somethings bound to swing our way. I like this one though, as it suggests a time-line of 100 years or more. I can wait, too.

"Warren will spend quite a bit of time in Ottawa, starting, well, in just a few days."

Translation: Someone's willing to pay for my delusions and I'm quite happy to take the lolly.

Let me close with this though, as I consider myself part of the 'culture wars' and with the name of Kinsella's band - and I use the term very, very loosely - he is part of the enemy encampment. I refer to his first recommendation in 'albums of the year'.

I was in my local library about two weeks ago and a magazine called 'Chart' couldn't help but catch my eye.

Why?

Well, because the front cover featured in huge red block letters, the disgustingly named band to which he refers: "F*&#$d Up - Canada's most dangerous band". I took the magazine off the shelf and up to the librarians desk, asking if she felt it was appropriate to have on display. Her response was that she wouldn't want to 'censor' periodicals, despite the magazine being displayed adjacent to the childrens' book section.

I filed a formal complaint and after a week, received a message saying that portion of the magazine cover had been covered over. But it leaves me with two questions: (1) when did people in positions of responsibility give up making rational, adult decisions? (2) why are my tax dollars going to support Canadian magazines such as 'Chart', when they deliberately poke a stick in the eye of most rational, adult and taxpaying Canadians?

And Warren probably either thinks its' cute or is irritated that they go a cover when his 'S&#T From Hell' band did not. And IMHO, his band is entirely accurately named - talk about boring, purile and mindnumbingly bad music!

Best wishes for a safe, happy and prosperous New Year in the best country in the world! Always enjoy the postings of some very exceptional people on the best blog that through Kate keeps on getting better and better.

Wow, 400K! You're the best Kate. Happy new year.

Thank-you Kate and all SDAers and Happy New Year to you all - this domain has saved my sanity more than once. Like Joe Molnar, I wanted you to be in that Red Chamber, Kate; turning it a cool blue but if you were there you would not be here... mixed Blessings. Thank-you for keeping us informed and for giving us a place to speak our minds.

To borrow from Cal2, Happy New Year and best wishes for '09 to the SDA Nation and especially Kate! This site is a national current events treasure.

There isn't a better source of level headed information in Canada...always my first stop (and sometimes the only stop I make some days). Thanks also to the sharp guest bloggers who keep the the place humming in Kate's absence and the dedicated commenters whose shared insights and experiences help make the SDA Nation so valuable to those trying to maintain an understanding of the crazy world around us.