Check out Colby Cosh’s take on the WS Cruise, to which I will add “what he said”. It was a tremendous amount of fun, and I know we’ll be adding a few new readers to the blogosphere. As you folks stop by, be sure to send me an email to say hi, or should you want advice on how to best circumnavigate this new world of “citizen media”.
At some point near the end of the cruise, I came to the realization that I had lost my designation as non-smoker, by virtue of exposure to an uninterrupted and intense concentration of tobacco fumes. Apparently, one is not allowed into the journalistic fraternity without first passing a nicotine means test. (When I remarked on this, I was informed that this fact had been noted and it was time I chipped in for cigarettes.)
A few other observations – Ezra Levant should be bottled and sold. Both he and Kevin Libin need to sue whatever photographer was responsible for the creepy portraits they use in the magazine (Libin actually bears more than a passing resemblance to Nicholas Cage), David Warren’s frequent references to 17th century poets/philosophers/x-ray technicians are almost certainly a complete fiction and Lorne Gunter should be running for office.
I don’t have a lot of pics, though I’m sure I can count on a few compromising shots by anonymous email. There are a few more in this directory and I’ll try to add others as I find them.

Mr. McBride, a pioneer in Alberta politics, shows off his Libranos tshirt.

Though, I confess to one regret about the experience – that I did not capture for posterity the image of Colby Cosh sunbathing on the “tops optional” beach in St. Maartin, during an hour long stop on our “Wild and Mild” Pinzagauer excursion – (“Ladies and gentlemen, over to your right is a KFC”).
Picture, if you can, a glimmering white ribbon of sand stretching into a rolling turquoise sea, human forms bobbing in the surf, scantily clad tanned figures strolling the edge of the waves – and Batman stretched out in head to toe black on a lounge chair under the blazing midday Caribbean sun.

Speaking of blogging… this appears to be an official Liberal Party of Canada blog. I say “appears” for a reason;

Wow, look at me! I’m in “cyberspace,” where no one can hear you scream. Or maybe they CAN hear you scream but they don’t pay attention because they’re too busy looking at naked ladies. Either way, stop screaming, would you?
I for one am betting this so-called “Internet” is really going to catch on. It’s neato. Take, for example, these things knowns as “blogs” – you’re soaking in one right now! These blogs are great because they allow people with special insight to instantly convey their astute observations and sage opinions to a knowledge- starved world. Or so I’m told. Personally, I’m mostly going to use this one to talk about the lost thespian promise of Erik Estrada. Because really, someone ought to. The man had screen charisma the way Marlon Brando had neck fat.
I may also touch on this whole “who should run the country” deal we’ve got going on here in Canada.
Last night, the opposition voted non-confidence in the government and forced an election campaign that will take place over the holiday season. This means two things: 1) the prime minister will this morning be visitng the Governor-General to ask her (very nicely, possibly while eating a crumpet) to dissolve the 38th Parliament. And 2) millions of innocent Canadian children will be confronted with the onerous task of staring into the television this Christmas season and trying to tell Stephen Harper from the Grinch.
Remember, kids: one is grumpy and has a heart two sizes too small. And the other one’s the Grinch.
Travelling as part of what is officially called the Leader’s Tour (and what is colloquially known among staffers as That Plane That Hardly Ever Seems To Land in Alberta for Some Reason), I will be filing typo-ridden, thumb-pecked dispatches on my Blackberry over the course of the campaign.
Remember: views expressed on this blog do not necessarily represent the policies or beliefs of Paul Martin. Except when I write about the hypnotic musical stylings of Nana Mouskouri. We’re totally in sync on that.

Quoted in its entirety, because something tells me this thing is likely to go *poof*.

Feel kind of sorry for that little fella in the green sweater.
H/T to “Shaken”

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the Honourable Member forNewmarket-Aurora was inviting participation in a little poll on the issues…

It seems to have been wrapped up early.

So, if we awake one morning in mid-December to find out the election campaign has been suspended on the basis of polling results, don’t claim you didn’t see it coming! It’s just that “democratic renewal” we were promised!
update – the Globe & Mail’s blog Dan Cook on politics has picked up this item as well.

Turns out there is a way to make money farming, after all;

According to Gretchen Shappert, U.S. attorney for the western district of North Carolina, “the Warren Farms investigation is literally the mother of all crop fraud investigations. It was a result of a perfect storm of individuals who were involved in fraud.”
Robert and Vicki Warren are among eight people who pleaded guilty to swindling the government and insurance companies out of more than $9 million in bogus insurance claims from 1997 to 2003. The Warrens were among the largest tomato growers east of the Mississippi; at one point they owned 26 farms in three states, including one run by Bobby Chambers.
“We grow different kinds of produce, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, just a little of everything,” says Chambers, a beefy, baby-faced, 42-year-old lifelong farmer who runs a spread that borders the Nolichucky River in Cocke County, Tennessee.
According to trial records, he helped the Warrens stage a hailstorm to make it look like their tomatoes had been destroyed, so they could collect the insurance money.
Chambers says he bought a bag of cocktail ice and a disposable camera, and, on his boss’s order, created a foul-weather tableau. “The way we did it, we was down taking pictures, out this row, and then we just stood behind it and throwed the ice over the top. To me, it looked like a hailstorm,” says Chambers.
To complete the scene of devastation, they then picked up wooden tomato stakes and attacked the unsuspecting vegetables. “They had one Mexican who did all the beating, he beat every 16,000 of them. He’d just go through there and knock the leaves off of them,” says Chambers, as he illustrates the activity with a long stick. “It made it look like where the hail had beat it up.”

It gets better. Not only does the US Treasury back insurers in the risky business, the USDA subsidizes premiums.

The government is so generous with crop insurance that it subsidizes farmers’ premiums. Edwards says the USDA paid the Warrens more than $2 million to help them insure their tomatoes. He compares it to the following hypothetical situation: “Every year a bank gets robbed and they notice the bank robber is using an old getaway car and they ask, ‘Would you like a car loan to have a nicer getaway car next year when you come to rob us?’ Because the government is subsidizing the farmer’s ability to defraud us for the coming season.”

Good ol’ farm ingenuity!

Paying off the provincial debt – �$22.7 billion Rewarding every man, woman, and child in the province – $1.1 billion Transferring $53 million in lottery sales made primarily in Ontario and Quebec to 17 oil field workers in Sedgewick, Alberta– Priceless!

(As an aside, be sure to read the link to the MacLean’s article above for a dripping example of Alberta envy masquerading as a story about a winning ticket.)

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Update: I crossposted this to the Shotgun, where a commentor took me to task for placing a capital “L” in “Macleans”.
Thinking more about the error, I can only say that where I come from, when we hear someone mention “Macleans” we just assume it’s a reference to MacLean & MacLean* in the plural. (And that Paul Wells writes their lyrics.)

The understatement of the decade;

“You are a fool if you enter North Korea to make money.”

Official Xinhua photo of the ” re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou-6 spacecraft” returning to earth.
via Drudge

Fred, over at Gay and Right, has picked up on a report that echoes something I’ve long argued – that if climate change is indeed real, then it’s the height of human arrogance to pretend we can reverse it, even if human activity is one of the contributors. Despite all the advances in science and technology, not much progress made in changing the weather.

One approach � mitigation � would limit carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere largely by reducing emissions due to human activities. The Kyoto Protocol is an example of this approach. The second approach � adaptation � would reduce society�s vulnerability to, or help cope with, the consequences of global climate change due to higher CO2 emissions.
The projections underlying this study are from researchers who are sympathetic to mitigation. However, their conclusions show that adaptation is preferable. Cost estimates are based on reports from various United Nations-affiliated organizations.

So, before you Kyoto-marxists come to “carbon tax” my personal resources (crippling my ability to adapt) , how about a little demonstration? Make it rain.
Then, make it stop.
Human (and animal) kind has survived massive climate shifts throughout our history, and barring cataclysmic change, will continue to do so. The resources that will be sucked down the wealth transfer hole under Kyoto would be better applied to adaptation.
The obvious advantage to the adaptation model is that there isn’t nearly as much guesswork involved. Furthermore, even if a magic device were invented tomorrow that neatly removed massive amounts of CO2 from the atomosphere for mere pennies a day, we cannot assume that the results would include a stabilization of weather. Because, meteorological��semantics aside, it’s local weather patterns that we must live with and adapt to, regardless of what direction the overall climate is going in.
Update – DO NOT MENTION THE WEATHER MACHINE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

The Firefly coming to Canada, specifically targeted at the 8-year old travelling salesman demographic.
What do I think?

I thinking I’m starting a pool on the first complaint to a Human Rights Commission.

Woohoo!

Have a great trip, folks.

A blogger poll by Right Wing News.
My pick for number 1 spot didn’t even make the list.

Now that you mention it, I wonder what the verdict might have been if Jackson were a man of the cloth, instead of a sequined man-thing of the closet.

Harper fans, be of good cheer. Sure, your leader is considered unsightly by many. Reclusive, even. No worries! A small surgical procedure can fix all your problems:

Stubbs performs what he calls �the Toronto trim,� a combo procedure that includes a reduction of the inner labia and a slight �unhooding� of the clitoris so the little man in the boat isn�t being quite so reclusive.

Can’t you just see Harper’s poll numbers shooting — up — already? Ontario here we come!

Subtitled: Rent The Dog
Sneak Preview: Rumours that Scott Brison offered her a ride on his pony appear to be totally unfounded.

Partying Liberals were treated Thursday night to the incredible sight of Belinda Stronach, Canada’s new human resources minister, and Tim Murphy, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, dancing atop a speaker at an Ottawa bar. The tune? “Material Girl,” by Madonna. The lyrics to that song include these memorable, and some would say fitting, words: “Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me, I think they’re OK, If they don’t give me proper credit, I just walk away. They can beg and they can plead, But they can’t see the light. That’s right, ‘Cause the boy with the cold hard cash is always Mr. Right.”

When asked for reaction, Liberal members present at the bash responded stiffly.

I’ve been offered the opportunity to publish Belinda Stronach’s Blackberry.
But that would be unethical, because although she has established herself as a double-crossing hypocrite, willing to sell out her relationships, her constituants, her friends and her party to edge a little closer to the center of power – doing so would indicate that my principles are no better than hers, and as we know, as an unaligned, unelected, private individual voter and taxpayer, I must be held to a higher standard.
As I have been well reminded – “two wrongs don’t make a right”.
Quite so. However…
Three wrongs break a tie.
So, here’s the deal… I’ll put it up on Ebay, with all money raised going to tsunami relief.
Or… eh… I’ll trade it for Paul Martin’s.

Just for fun.

And if this doesn’t work, there’s still Plan B…

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At Wizbang, Jay Tea has the latest developments in the saga of an American family struggling with an often fatal genetic defect known as “Rich Playboy Disease”.