NYT: April 1, 2008 – “Rice crisis fuels tensions – Shortages, rising prices for staple sparks fears of civil unrest…”
CTV: January 3, 2009 – Rice crisis to persist as stock rises, prices fall

Los Angeles Dog Trainer Year In Review

Why we won’t miss them when they’re gone;

Joseph Angotti, a former vice president of NBC News, said he could not recall any other time when all three major broadcast networks lacked correspondents in an active war zone [Iraq] that involved United States forces.
Except, of course, in Afghanistan, where about 30,000 Americans are stationed, and where until recently no American television network, broadcast or cable, maintained a full-time bureau.

“The Internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media except television as a main source for national and international news”.

*
h/t Maz2

Is the Pope Catholic?
h/t

… Of 2008

“Hey, remember that time Sarah Palin thought she was talking on the phone with Nicolas Sarkozy?”

A good start. “FRIENDS has learned from a reliable and confidential source of plans by the Harper Conservative party to slash a devastating 200 million dollars from the Parliamentary grant of the CBC. This would be a crippling and potentially fatal blow to the radio and television operations of an already weakened National Public broadcaster…”

Non-partisan content from a recent non-partisan email from the Coalition-supporting-non-partisan Ian Morrison;

As you know, last week’s economic update has provoked a political crisis in Ottawa with the three opposition parties announcing Monday that they are joining forces to defeat the Harper government and support a Liberal/NDP coalition until at least June 2010. It’s worth noting that the Liberal/NDP “accord”, which the Bloc has offered to support, specifically refers to two of our priorities:
1. “Both parties are committed to restoring the integrity, transparency and efficiency of the appointments process in the Public Service and in federal bodies like the Supreme Court, the Senate, and Commissions like the CRTC.”
2. “Other Priorities to Stimulate the Economy: support for culture, including the cancellation of budget cuts announced by the Conservative government.”

FRIENDS provides a page that allows you to send a message to your MP. After filling out the contact info, you’ll be sent to a page in which they have thoughtfully provided the text for your email. They encourage you to customize it!
Here’s mne.
Update – SDA gets results…

i just tried to send a message off but it says the campaign is now closed….laughing my ass off….kate rocks
GOD DAMNIT!!! They changed the form. You can no longer costomize it. When I tried to click on the message it sent the thing they wrote. With my f’ing name on it.

And now they’ve altered their form to prevent Canadians from writing their own messages – Screen shot. Looks like they were in a hurry – Kelly Block has apparently signed her own message on my behalf.
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting seem somewhat reluctant to share a phone number on their website, but I found one elsewhere
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
Mr. Ian Morrison
131 Bloor Street West,
Suite 200/238
Toronto, ON M5S 1R8
Telephone: 416-968-7496
Fax: 416-968-7406
At the moment they appear to be hiding behind an answering machine.
Heh – “Kate’s post went up at 11:17 and the camapign was over by 11:57 as near as I can calculate. 40 minutes. Now that’s action. I guess Mr. Morrison doesn’t have as many “friends” as he thought.”

Via American Thinker, h/t Fred
Related – The Obama-Rezko connection

“What is actually dumber here… being a participant… or reporting on this like it’s a life-altering event?”

*

Further to this post – Surprise! Stories Noting Obama-Blagojevich Meetings Disappear Down Memory Hole …
Is there nothing that Obama can’t do!

It’s the cover-up.

Brontausaurus tipping…. The New York Times mortgages the company headquarters to raise cash, while Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, files for bankruptcy.
Glenn Reynolds – “Notice how little blame the declining quality of the news-media product is getting, as compared to discussions of the auto industry’s problems.”
More – a Canadian angle…

So someone decided that publishing Scott Reid’s rallying cry to “kill” the Prime Minister wasn’t such a good idea after all.
In the interest of preserving one of the Great Moments in Liberal Party Asshackery, here it is again –

Their imperative could not be more clear: kill him. Kill him dead. Do not, whatever you do, provide him with an opportunity to extend his hold on power. Because you can be damn certain he will never again be so reckless as to give you a chance to finish him off.
Fate tends to be grudging with gifts of this significance. To ignore it would be an error every bit as historic as the one Mr. Harper himself has made.
So don’t get fancy. Don’t get confused. And don’t get weak in the knees. If you don’t put Mr. Harper in his grave, he’ll put you in yours.

That passage disappeared faster than loose cash on a Montreal ad agency desk. Thank you, Globe and Mail, for demonstrating to us all the vast gulf of professionalism that separates the considered commentary of mainstream opinion from the vicious rhetoric that permeates the blogosphere.

“[CBC] Newsworld will not necessarily wait for the definitive word on a story before beginning to report, the meeting was told.
Bonus from the Globe’s comments thread, the Quote Of The Week!

L. van Dyk from Canada writes: “I was raised on the CBC. It’s intelligent. Much of the language skills I now have I got from listening to them.”

h/t Ian.

I can’t be the only person in the country who has noticed that the same network which rejects “terrorist” to identify mass-murdering Islamists who target civilians, chooses “boyfriend” to describe a 23 year old man who “dates” 12 year old girls.