West Undies, Basil Bathroom, LOL. Love how they laugh during the act.

At the risk of dating myself, it would be nice to have that style of humour back rather than than the outhouse humour so prevalent these days.

My favourite joke in the sketch, Ken, starts at about 2:52, where Arnold Stang says: "Volunteered? Who Volunteered? I'm walkin' along the waterfront, just takin' in the the sights, you know what I mean, all of a sudden someone gives me a klop on the back of the head; For you this is a volunteer?" Although I must say that where the actor in the striped shirt says, at about 5:54, "Berle, Berle, I got one lousy line, will you let me finish it?" comes a very close second. Rathbone cracks up at that.

A - perhaps apocryphal - story making the rounds. I paraphrase:

Bono and U2 are in Ireland performing a charity concert. The band goes silent; Bono poses mightily, lifts his pretentious hand like a messenger from god, and begins to snap his finger like clockwork, once every three or four seconds. He continues for a very long time, and then says dramatically:

"Every time I snap my fingers, a child somewhere in the world dies from a preventable disease."

Irishman in audience:

"So stop snapping your ****ing fingers, then!"

http://www.am770chqr.com/News/Local/Story.aspx?ID=1162788

Good news for Alberta's real conservatives, bad news for current PC MLAs.

Somewhere in Alberta a Ms. D. Smith is hugging herself silly.

Special Ed received 77.4% approval.

Its a great day to be leader of the Wildrose Alliance!

No one, not even ed Stelmach is as happy about the vote outcome as Danielle smith is.

Hubris is terminal. These guys have yet to admit they have made any mistakes - at the convention Stelmach even blamed the media for not getting their message out.

The sense within the party as near as I can guage it, is that they are doing the right things, that everyone else is wrong, that the general public agrees with them and would even moreso if they knew the real story AND that they have time in their side and endless funds to fight the next battle.

Time will tell. If the Alberta economy resumes it fast growth rate well before 2012 then they may be right on the last items above but if it does it will be inspite of rather than because of the ruling party.

77.4%!?!

I did not realize that the PC party members were that out of touch with Albertans. Hopefully the WRA can pull off a win in one election.

I mean, I kind of figured it when they chose Colley-Urqhart to run in the most recent byelection, but really, this is just going to be cannon fodder for the WRA.

IMO, Honest Ed badly miscalculated with his royalties decision; it was just an absolutely boneheaded decision made at the perfectly wrong time - albeit, it was very good for Saskatchewan.

The biggest problem for the Wild Rose Alliance, perhaps - and it's a sleeper - is that every single person extant who's ever met Ed Stelmach - and admittedly, not a lot of voters have - describes him as an indisputably honest, decent, down-to-earth fellow. He's the un-politician in that sense, and that actually counts for something.

Now, if we could only inject him with some, erm, feck. He may be the first Canadian politician who's without it, if you catch my drift.

Ebd: I have met ed. Yes he gives off that vibe but he is aclot more calculating and tough than first impressions would reveal. His greatest flaws are that he is vacous when it comes to policy and philosophy and that he thinks saying yes is always the right answer.

Ed reminds me a lot of George bush senior. Prepared to do what it takes to become leader, but completely clueless about what to do once he got there.

The rot in Alberta started before Ed. He ended up at the top of the dung heap by chance. Ralphie lost interest in conservatism about 4 years before his demise. When the replacements stepped up to the plate,not one of them,and at this time we were riding a bubble of properisty,not one of them mentioned a tax break.Not one.

Prosperity,not properisty.

Gord, if Stelmach's tough he's sure good at hiding it. He comes across as someone who wants to please everyone - or, as you inferred, as someone who'll "say yes" to whoever gets to him first.

But again, he's one of those rare politicians who is ineffably "regular folk." There are a lot of politicians who affect that pose - it's an art form in parts of the US - but Stelmach isn't acting; he's genuinely a plain-spoken, regular guy who - in a way that's vaguely painful to see - doesn't have an ego. That doesn't necessarily make him qualified to run the province, of course.

I think that Stelmach, like Dion was for the federal Liberals, is more of a symptom than he is the problem. There's just something about the current Alberta Conservatives that says "rot." When I see Danyluk, for example, I see someone fat and vague and entitled by fiat, someone who just screams "I don't even need to do anything, I've already got the job" sort of attitude.

Personally, I'll be voting Wild Rose Alliance next time out.

Tea and Sympathy [Mark Steyn]

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWRjODhlYWE4YzViOTFjMWExN2Y2MDA0N2VkNzdkMmI=

The Health Care Bill just passed in the US 250-215. It's hard to watch a country fall.

Dion delivered the lowest LIberal vote percentage in 50 years.

Stelmach delivered the second-highest percentage of seats in Alberta history.

The Wild Rose Alliance has not come clean on where its financing is coming from, although it's a pretty good guess that Calgary's head office oil companies are all in.

Depends on whether you believe resources belong to the province, as per the BNA Act, or to those who exploit the resources.

I dunno. I'd guess the natural resources belong to Alberta and the industry is administered by our elected representatives.

But then, maybe that's an outdated notion and a corporate state is the way of the future.

Times certainly are different since Ralphie looked the other way, at the beck and call of his masters in Calgary's oil towers, when it came time to build much-needed infrastructure for Alberta's citizens.

Mark Steyn (at Revnant Dream's 11:30 link) quotes MSNBC's Chris Mathews:

"We may never know if religion was a factor at Fort Hood."

Steyn:

"On the other hand, if you're still invested in Major Hasan's PPTSD (unique case of pre-Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), you may prefer Kate McMillan:

"'Allahu akbar.' It's the new 'cry for help'."

I didn't catch CBC's Fifth Estate yesterday but some friends were talking about it today. Tied in with this tragedy, do any of you remember this nonsense from PETA: http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/08/cannibalistic_a.php

Ed Stelmach is toast, but it's not about his personal skills or "feck". It's because he has a caucus made up of a broad cross-section of MLAs--some astute managers, and some better suited to being foot-soldiers. He chose his cabinet based on who personally supported him at the leadership, and as a result, we have good people rotting on the backbenches, and some real dim bulbs at the front. Mel Knight in Energy? Ron Liepert in Health? Would you hire some of these guys to even wash your car? His inability to surround himself with good people, even when many were available, will be Ed's downfall in the end.

turtle:

Ralphie set the bar high when he said Big Ed needed 70% approval.

Ed got 77.4%.

Toast? Please explain. Would 80% not be good enough?

Does he need to win all Alberta's seats in the next election?

Regardless of Special Ed's approval rating in the party what matters is how he resonates with Albertans. On the whole he has the stench of an incompetent twit that intends on remaining in power by surrounding himself with even more incompetent twits.

>Toast? Please explain. Would 80% not be good enough?
I should clarify, it's the PCs that are toast, not just Ed. It would have been better for them if he crashed and burned, as they have time before the next election. Now, I can't see them turning things around unless the Wildrose party shoots itself in the foot.
Almost every professional person and business colleague I work with was a PC supporter in the past, and is now a Wildrose supporter. The Wildrose don't even have candidates or much of a platform. It's surprising, but people are that frustrated.

Joe:

Could you offer an explanation as to how your successful and error-free life could be a shining example to the way Big Ed could conduct himself?

For example, I have never heard Ed say a bad word about you, much less calling you an incompetent twit.

I'm sure you can demonstrate your superb intellect with some suggestions as to how you would make all Albertans lives better.

Not asking for much. Just a couple of ideas.

Well, set you free, you don't start off your premiership by tearing up all the contracts you have with the major employers in your jurisdiction. When you are running a seven BILLION dollar surplus with no place to spend it demand even more money from the largest employer in the province. You don't take over a billion dollars and make up a shortfall in the teacher's pension fund when it is not your obligation to cover the shortfall. When you have one extremely run health board and one extremely poorly run health board you don't fire both of them and set up an even more incompetent 'superboard'. When, thanks in large part to an ever increasing bureaucracy and falling resource revenue, you go from a 7 billion dollar surplus to a seven billion dollar deficit people might rightly think you are an incompetent twit. Do you want me to continue?

Joe:

Sure.

Could you explain the how the current world pricing for oil and natural gas has negatively impacted the cash flow?

I know what Ralphie would have done when the price of oil dropped from $140 a barrel down to today's levels.

At the same time, the price of natural gas has taken a s**tkicking because the drill, baby, drill actions in the US have opened up shale gas fields with proven reserves of 200-plus years.

If Big Ed could be criticized for anything in those circumstances, it would be the fact that he has not slashed the bureaucracy quickly enough to reflect the current market reality.

I sense that you believe Alberta has a spending problem that cannot be supported by its revenue problem. A more focused spending regime would be the way to go.

Let's see how the guy who brought in the second-highest majority in Alberta history responds.

Unless my memory is totally gone, the teachers' pension issue was a big deal about 20 years ago. Are they short again? I would agree it's not up to the taxpayer to cover their shortfall.

Is there any common ground on the issues?

Hi again Joe:

Your 1:08 post appears to be solution challenged.

Just homme from the Winspear Theatre in Edmonton, for the Lest we forget concert, great show.

Nice hall, and upon seeing the PIPE ORGAN they have, well I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled for THOSE performances.

Pipes... at full throttle... my gawd!

"I'd guess the natural resources belong to Alberta and the industry is administered by our elected representatives." posted by syf

Why the hell not. Who you going to rely on to fix a problem, Government or a corporation who will do it for a fee. A much smaller fee too I'd bet. Smarter people determined to earn a profit by producing.

Massive Government is in its death throes. The public wave that began with FDR is going to be replaced by a private wave. Just a matter of time. Probably will be looked back on that the beginning was either the election of zero or the passage of the Health Care Bill.

Oops. Wrong quote.

"that's an outdated notion and a corporate state is the way of the future" posted by syf

Shouldn't post at 3:30am I guess

Set You Free,

Special Ed won by such a wide margin in the last election because the protest vote against Ralf Klein's government disappeared because Albertans (on the whole) thought that the lack of direction and leftward-creeping nature of the PC party was caused by Klein’s poor leadership. You could say the assumption was that a new leader would force the conservatives to get back on track and do the right thing for Albertans.

Unfortunately, Special Ed has decided to push the PC party further in the direction that was causing alienation of their support base under Klein; and in the upcoming election they will face a worse backlash than Klein did in his last election (where 20% of voters went for the Alberta-Alliance) which will be made worse because he will face an attractive, well spoken leader who can raise money to run a strong campaign. If Danielle Smith can get the party to produce a platform in line with Alberta’s values, and can find some good candidates, Special Ed will find out what it is like to run the NDP in Alberta.

Per FoxNews
Napolitano warns against Muslim backlash in the face of the Fort Hood shootings.
hat an idiot!! Let's forget about the dead and wounded and concern ourselves with not hurting Muslims feelings.

Right wing parties the world over have gravitated left for decades.
The left has had their way since the advent of mass media, run by products of our socialist education system.
The pendulum will soon swing back to common sense.
Red Tories and RHINOs will be routed and despised.

On a different note, Google's masthead has pictured the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, every day for a week now. Meanwhile, x-rays were discovered on this day in 1895.

languages about to go the way of Sumerian and Caldean , so effing what!

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091106/dying_languages_091108/20091108?

Kate, congrats on the Nobel nomination. (Maybe I'm the last to notice this.) Take that Obama et al.

Syf:

Joe is bang on on all counts.

The fluctuation in oil prices proved the incompetence of the PCs. They have been in power thirty plus years and have yet to create a pooling mechanism for royalties. Ed made it even worse by promising to create a pool whilst increasing spending at double digit rates. He also continues to carry on the tradition of klein of not addressing the equalization system that taxes royalties and provides no incentive for governements to save them.

In addition royalty rate uncertainty, contract breaking and, possibly worst of all, EUB interference (petrobank and shell got a new project approved in 56 days in SK. The same project in AB would have taken 5 to 6 years) were either done or allowed to grow.

The unfunded liability on the teacher's pension was a problem - for both teachers and the government - but mr ed paid off BOTH the govt and the union's share AND agreed to link any teachers pay increase to any other bargaining units increase AND still left the management of the plan with the givernmant rather than giving to the teachers responsibility like they do in ON.

Cutting healthcare premiums was a very special piece of idiocy. We now have people from other provinces enrolling in ABs plan to jump the queues in their own provinces. (NL had the problem for decades - people living year-round in AB were still keeping their NL plan because it was free)

In sum, Mr ed is an incompetent, shortsighted leader who tries to please whoever is currently in his office with a problem (witness the flip flop on royalties). By keeping him at the helm the pcs have greatly increased the chances of their oblivion in the next election.

PS- Stelmach won in the general by the margin he did for two main reasons:

1. The WRA was only weeks old - this was THE major reason for ed calling the election when he did.

2. Rod love wisely played on the fear that a vote for the WRA as a vote for a liberal minority. This Had two effects - many people voted to keep the pcs in and about five percent more people came out to vote and almost entirely they voted PC.

SYF you must be a bureaucrat because they are about the only people in Alberta that still love Special Ed. And why wouldn't the bureaucrats love Special Ed. There has never been a civil service demand that Special Ed didn't cave. The fact of the matter is that Special Ed has been in 'government' too long. He thinks like a bureaucrat. He is devoid of common sense and the common touch. His world revolves around working with his buds the bureaucrats. He has no original ideas. The PCs won the last election because most Albertans didn't vote. They didn't vote because there was no alternative. Tweedle Dum (Special Ed), Tweedle Dummer (Ding Dong David Swann), or Bus Driver Brian. What a scintillating stellar line up. Most Albertans voted 'non of the above'.

Joe:

Taft was the LP leader in the last election. Swann is a far less capable leader than Taft (and that is a truly damning thing to say as Taft was inept) and this will be a big factor in removing the the LP minority fear in the next election.

Saskatchewan's oil business is very new. The holes have to be shallower and mostly H2S-less at this point I'm guessing. The depths of Alberta's projects after all this time are more expensive and more hazardous.

If the EUB takes a little longer approving Alberta's wells, speaking as someone who is downwind of wells with ridiculously high H2S levels...I'm OK with that.

After the market collapse, cash flow became a huge issue for oil companies. No credit to start projects. Period. Even if the royalty shift hadn't happened, the new, shallow deposits in Saskatchewan have to be a cheaper drill.

Wild Rose Alliance has strong support in pockets of the province. Not everywhere. They'd be wise not to think it's in the bag just yet.

While perusing the comments at cbc,I came across this poignant appeal. A young lady has set up a facebook page for those who wish to pray for the Fort Hood terrorist's recovery.---http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=170468609770&ref=search&sid=734539908.3089112088..1 --- I'm sure that many here would like to send their regards.BTW,cbc newsworld just now said 'officially' there is no known motive for the slaughter,but to their credit they did mention a possible islamic connection. No sh`ite.

Leslie:

the petrobank case i mentioned above was regarding an oilsands development. H2S has nothing to do with it. The EUB is a giant make work project that while begun with the best intentions has become a parasite that threatens to kill its host.

Thanks for the comedy 'Vit'.

Still waiting for WRAP to get a platform out. Kind of agree with 'Wild Rose Alliance has strong support in pockets of the province. Not everywhere. They'd be wise not to think it's in the bag just yet'. Thanks 'Leslie'.

Gord, I agree with you that the EUB doesn't do much to help anyone...including the environment. But to my knowledge it's been that way much longer than Ed's arrival.

leslie: Agreed but it the PCs have been in power for 30 years. It is their fault and no one else's. And Ed has done zip to rein in the EUB.

As for the "pockets" of support for the WRA - there is support for them all over the province - more in the south than the north, but all over nonetheless. And were an election to be based on the last poll (pre-h1n1 mind you) the PCs would have about 35 seats and the WRA 30.

It could be, Gord. I think WRA support is strong in the cities and sketchy in the rural ridings. That makes for high polling numbers with few ridings to show for it. It also could explain why the WRA is getting strong play in Alberta media, yet Ed keeps rolling along.

His rural revitalization projects have made it like Christmas for people living in rural areas.

And it's those rural ridings that translate into election wins and the WRA hasn't seemed to figure that out yet.

Maybe that will change. There's lots of time.

Leslie,

The only thing really new about Saskatchewan's oil business is this government's attitude towards it and Alberta's attitude against it. The NDP made changes in their last years of office in order to reduce the royalty structure. The SK party has continued this and made it easier to drill. That's the only thing that has changed, and if you see Alberta and Saskatchewan maintain these positions for a few years, you will definitely keep seeing a shift from Alberta to Saskatchewan.

Leslie: the polls showed the wrap running a strong second in rural ridings.

Andrew, I don't dispute there will be a continued shift to Saskatchewan. It makes good business sense. I do dispute that the royalty review was the only catalyst to this end.

Gord, yes. What I butt up against when I look at the polling/reporting is everywhere I go, politically aware Albertans first ask, "Danielle who?" Maybe by the time the next election comes WRA will have answered that question for people, but right now I'm not seeing wide spread revolutionary anger. Emphasis on the wide-spread.

I find it all similar to before the last election when it was predicted to be the biggest spank ever. Granted, there was no other choices then. The media also reported widespread anger toward Ralph year after year. For decades it has been a no-brainer that the Liberals and NDs cannot touch the PCs. Now we have an unknown quantity in WRA so it runs huge in the papers.

And that's fine. I'm not against the Wild Rose party...I just think it's too soon to count the chickens.

Personally I don't care who is in power, Special Ed or WRAP. What matters is we fix the mess we have created. Eddy's bumbling has brought this once great province to its knees akin to what the equally incompetent Lougheed/Getty did to AB.

The fact remains: Despite $70.00 oil and $5.00 gas we are running a $7,000,000,000.00 DEFICT. That deficit while dependent in part on world prices is in large part due to the fact that the government decided to get greedy and demand even more money that the $7,000,000,000.00 surplus it was already running and squandering.

What amazes me is the brick wall the PCs are heading toward at a breakneck speed and no one is sounding the warning! Good Grief when I talk to the average man on the street if I mention "Ed Stelmach" the person opposite is likely to spit on the ground in disgust! I was talking to a couple of homeless fellows a few months ago. They are both former oilfield workers. They had been pulling in 6 figure salaries and I asked them what happened. Both said "Ed Stelmach".

As long as head offices are located in Calgary, there'll be managers trying to keep their fellow Albertans working.

Alberta does not have to suffer, in order for Saskatchewan to prosper. That sort of thinking is counter productive. I live in Alberta, but 60% of my business is in Sask. I'd like to hire some local guys, and set up shop in Sask. When the economy picks up, it could happen. That doesn't mean I'm turning against Alberta, does it?

Ed made some stupid moves, but Alberta was in trouble long before he arrived. Little by little, we've been building a huge bureaucracy in the government regulatory agencies. Alberta Environment is a power onto itself, and their policies do little for the environment. The EUB has an agenda to increase its own power, and budget. These things always happen when an industry begins to mature.

If the Wildrose Party plans to water down these wasteful agencies, and eliminate some of the redundancies in regulations, I wish them luck. They'll face an absolute campaign of terror from every union, environmental company, professional association, regulatory agency, safety consulting company, training institute, and worst of all, the families of every employee of these agencies.

PM Harper: Where is your reply to the Inuit people?

TORedStar repeats the Big Lie:

“*Polar bears are in decline, alright,”.

No, the polar bears are not “in decline”.

Why are you silent, PM Harper?

Reply here: …. …. …. …. …. …. >

…-

“Inuit leaders quickly called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to defend the hunt, an important source of income in isolated Arctic communities, where jobs are scarce and living costs painfully high.

“In Canada, our management system is based on conservation hunting, which involves regulated sustainable harvest,” said Simon Awa, Nunavut’s deputy environment minister.

“This helps protect polar bears, in part by maintaining their cultural and socio-economic value to people in Nunavut.”

“The bear facts about the polar bear hunt”

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/722760–the-bear-facts-about-the-polar-bear-hunt

...-

“Polar bears are in decline, alright,”*.

Why did the polar bear cross the road?

To watch TORedStar eat its words with a blubber of crow ... caw blubber caw blubber caw .....
…-

Polar bear greets Olympic torch

CHURCHILL, Man. – Day 10 of the cross-Canada Olympic torch relay got off to a fitting start in Churchill, Man., the polar bear capital of the world Sunday.

Driving in from the airport with the Olympic flame, the convoy had to stop to allow a polar bear to cross the road.”

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/11/08/11677066-cp.html

Say it right
...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEjbKPzNmnA&feature=related
...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df53LWQuezQ
...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka8zUh4gYUw
...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOVlPkWf9w

Gerlad McBoingBoing reproting/Edtting: stet*.
...-

"Toronto Star copyeditor edits memo announcing the elimination of copyeditor jobs

[Get screen shot of markedup memo: hilarious]

A copyeditor at the Toronto Star greeted the news that union copyeditor jobs were being eliminated in favor of freelancers by heavily editing the publisher's memo announcing same, pointing out all the ways in which the publisher could benefit from editorial aid.

This is very funny stuff, but having looked at the markup, I have to say that I would ask for a different copyeditor in future. A lot of these edits ("avoid simplistic qualifiers" for "very") fall under the heading of "creative disagreement" not "helpful suggestion" or "correction." I've generally benefitted from copyeditors who know the difference, but on the rare occasion where I've had to deal with a couple hundred pages of redlines by a copyeditor who thought that he was my co-author, it's been quite a struggle."

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/07/toronto-star-copyedi.html
...-

*Stet: Definition of Stet at Dictionary.com
1. let it stand (used imperatively as a direction on a printer's proof, manuscript, or the like, to retain material previously cancelled, ...
dictionary.reference.com/browse/stet

Merle Underwood and others,

This may not qualify as a platform, but you gotta like at least some of what you see here:

http://www.wildrosealliance.ca/home/our-vision-for-alberta

Fascinating article circa 1500's

"Round and round this goes, with the people committed to saving newspapers demanding to know “If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?” To which the answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the internet just broke."