A story that asks for more looking into? Costco employee claims he was fired over KofC lesbian hall rental.
China E-Lobby: The decision by Canada’s ruling Liberal Party to give the pro-Communist National Congress of Chinese Canadians $12.5 million in compensation dedicated for victims of Canada’s 19th Century Chinese head tax

.
I’m sure they’ll spend it wisely.
Adam Yoshida: fixing bayonets!
Bush’s approval rating is rising fairly signficantly. Which is why you haven’t heard about it. And why the successful Iraq election story was about the 8th item in on the CTV National last night – just behind a polar bear story.
Meanwhile, Canada’s approval rating is dropping in the US. Well, we finally got them to notice us, eh?
Hong Kong is baffled. Free trade protests? Who can conceive of such a thing?
*Guess Who’s Coming to Iftar* – A meal to remember with Hezbollah. MIchael Totten in the LA Weekly.
You know the drill!
.

A few items caught in passing –
M.K. Braatanflies to High Level, Alberta;

“When I checked in my luggage I asked to bring on my laptop bag with me as a carry-on, and they said ‘Sorry, there isn’t room for that on the plane.’ Uh oh.”

Yes Candace, it is going to be a long campaign.
The UN Money For Smog Program ramps up, with Maurice Strong, Power Corp and the developing nation of China – of course – as leading beneficiaries.
Bob Tarantino debaffles polling;

When the different group of people asked on Day 10 provide a different answer than the group of people asked on Day 1, brows get furrowed and talk of “momentum” fills the air.

An NDP supporter finally gets the attention he deserves. Apparently, this …

… wasn’t working for him.
Add your own in the comments.

I’m heading out on vacation tomorrow (be back the 12th) and I’ve got a busy day of errands, so unfortunately can’t do justice to the many, many links readers have sent. A few picked at random will start you off, though.
China ELobby has a Canadian angle on Tibetan mining interests.
10 Most Fascinating People of the blogosphere, at Right Wing News.
Everything you wanted to know about Liberal scandals, and then some. They’re looking for volunteers. Who wouldn’t? Keeping track of the Liberals is a full time job.
Adscam: some get a curfew, some get their job back, some get a Costa Rican ambassadorship.
John Rosenthal onAP-Ipsos polling and why Americans aren’t French, after all.
And lots of stuff at Newsbeat1. As usual!
Drop your own in the comments.

I’ll be tied up in the paint booth today, so you’re on your own. Post your tips here, and I’ll be back later.

This is kind of cute.
Lots of comments today about the “BOOOOOOOOO” heard round B.C. Place Stadium.
With all the yackity yack about the “absurdity” of linking the LIberal Party with organized crime (however you choose to define it) this link offers a few archived articles on the topic, including this quote from September 2000;

“For the first time in this country, we are seeing signs of criminal organizations that are so sophisticated that they actually are focusing on destabilizing certain aspects of our society,” said Commissioner Zaccardelli. The commissioner is a 30-year veteran of the RCMP who was previously the force’s deputy commissioner in charge of the fight against organized crime.
“That’s a real threat to us. There are criminal organizations that target this destabilization of our parliamentary system.”

Well, I guess this helps explain why Liberal bloggers continue to struggle for both traffic and influence…

However, on-line advertising may play less of a role in this election. With Internet ad sales booming right now, the home pages of some web portals, such as Yahoo Canada, are being booked months in advance, ad buyers say.
Meanwhile, the Liberals are putting less of a focus on getting their message out through political blogs in this campaign. “That was a factor in the last election and, frankly, of limited value,” Mr. MacKinnon said. “We think it’s overvalued and overrated. What you have there is the most opinionated people in the country. So you’re not changing any minds.”

I guess he doesn’t know about the phone call I got last week…
Add your own in the comments.

Sunday I wrap up at the dog show (hopefully before noon) and travel the 6 hours home – and we’re expecting “weather”, so don’t expect much in the way of new posts until Monday.
And at that, I have a lot of work to cram in before the weekend.
So, it’s a reader tips post, and open thread.

No time for surfing tonight, so it’s a reader tips day – you know the drill.
Also, I’m scheduled to be on the The World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge (770 am, I think) here in Calgary at 8ish pm local time.
You can listen live here.

I’m leaving for Calgary today for the weekend, so it’s a quick reader tips post. Drop your finds in the comments or send a trackback. I will be checking in from time to time, but blogging will be light until Monday.
A good opportunity to exand your blog horizons – check out the sites on the blogroll!

I’m gathering info on cases of Liberal government patronage, etc from the post-Chretien Librano era to present. I know some of you have a lot of this tucked away or covered on your own sites. Drop them in the comments or email to me privately, if you have the chance.
Thanks.
Note: Please reread this post, and refrain from posting off topic chatter.

Powerline’s�Paul Mirengoff is helping with an ABC documentary about the US political landscape, in which a segment about blogging is planned;

During a break, Stephanopoulos mentioned how difficult he thought it would be for him to blog. This surprised me since he was a key part of the famous Clinton “war room” that during the 1992 campaign produced hard-hitting responses to breaking developments on short notice, which is the essence of blogging. He demurred that, although he was fast by the standards of 15 years ago, he doubts that he could keep up now.

I thought everyone knew about this oilfield technology. Guess not.
Speaking of oilfields – remember those 17 greedy Albertans who won the largest lottery jackpot in Canadian history? They’re still showing up for work. (Cue responses from certain “personalities” on the left about stupid Albertans).
“It is rumored that Earnscliffe Strategy Group will be contracted to coordinate the effort, that Abotech will be hired to set up the computer databases, and that the amount of funding increase for this registry will be well over 2 billion dollars.”
OK. I’ll up the ante. Find a Special Ops team with time on their hands and I”ll provide the bullet.
Add your own (on any topic) in the comments. I have a lot of work to get out today.

Next year’s World Cup in Germany promises to be a “high-scoring” event!
James Joyner has extensive coverage on what some are calling George Bush’s “Gettysburg Address” – the overdue pushback against though who have been exploiting the “Bush liked” revisionist history of the past months. Lotsa supporting links.
Mind you, with the New York Times leading the revisionist charge, small wonder the public gets confused.
Poor Lorne. Slept with his best pal Martin in the spring, and now he can only get his answering machine. The Saskatchewan premier is frustrated that the Liberals gave Danny “No Flags For U” Williams and the province of Nova Scotia full fledged energy accords to settle resource revenue “clawbacks” – while with Saskatchewan they are delaying and resisiting a similar agreement, simply promising to cut checks to the province after the fact. Brad Farquhar has more.
Old soldiers spot an enemy collaborator.
Drop your own in the comments.

She has fame, fortune, a world class ego and a luxury hotel room she calls home. A long scraggly beard, 5″ fingernails* and the process will be complete
A political story from Quebec that comes as a breath of fresh air;

Quebec City on Sunday elected a 68-year-old retired woman as mayor who didn’t even run a campaign. Andree Boucher had no lawn signs, no volunteers, raised no money and didn’t even have a formal platform! But she won — quite handily — beating out several high- profile challengers, including an ex-Jean Charest cabinet minister.

Adam Daifallah has the rest. And don’t forget to buy his book!
Strange bedfellows who are strangers to no one here…
Bill Roggio with an update from Iraq that you won’t
find in the mainstream.
Speaking of which, surely they have a Special Ops unit and a bullet to spare?
Add your own in the comments

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Victor Davis Hanson on the current state of European opinion over recent rioting; “absolute bafflement”.
And via Kathy Shaidle this treat: Donald Rumsfeld in the German magazine Spiegel;

SPIEGEL: How concerned are you about Iran?
Rumsfeld: All of us have to be concerned when a country that important, large and wealthy is disconnected from the normal interactions with the rest of the world. They obviously have certain ambitions, powers and military capabilities …
SPIEGEL: …and nuclear ambitions…
Rumsfeld: That’s apparently what France, Germany, the UK and the International Atomic Energy Agency have concluded. Everyone wants to have the Iranians as part of the world community, but they aren’t yet. Therefore there’s less predictability and more danger.
SPIEGEL: The US is trying to make the case in the United Nations Security Council.
Rumsfeld: I would not say that. I thought France, Germany and the UK were working on that problem.
SPIEGEL: What kind of sanctions are we talking about?
Rumsfeld: I’m not talking about sanctions. I thought you, and the U.K. and France were.
SPIEGEL: You aren’t?

Hill Times notes that the Conservatives continue to bury the Liberals and NDP when it comes to party fundraising, though Paul Martin seems to have a pocket of well-heeled support in Edmonton!

…the Liberals received $307,367.67 from 5,888 people for $200 or less and 28 people gave $5,000. Twenty-two of the 28 people who gave the maximum come from Edmonton, Alta.

The SDA children’s book recommendation for November: “Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!”
It’s a reader tips post. You know the drill.

I’m about to hit the road for the weekend – blogging will be light, if that.
Use this thread for your reader tips. Keep quoting brief, please!

I’m still encountering a lot of difficulty getting online with my regular machine. I also have a shop day scheduled for most of tomorrow, so use this post for any finds or trackbacks to your own stuff until things are up to speed here. Hopefully, by the time I’m done in the booth, this “two hour disruption” will be over with.
A reminder to those of you who make it a habit – try to confine your link dumps to these Reader Tip threads and keep other posts free of them unless they are at least tangentially on topic. And keep quoting brief. A paragraph or two- no more. Some of you are easily exceeding copyright “fair use” exemptions.

My isp is doing upgrades this weekend, making access difficult. I have stuff to do anyway – a yard full of tree prunings that need hauling to the dump, for one thing.
You can share your finds in the comments
Later!

Heading to town shortly, so it’s a reader tip morning;
Photo manipulation at USA Today.
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred have a word or two for “progressive” opponants of the US presence in Iraq;

We understand that you don’t give a damn about Iraqis. Quit pretending you do. Standing in ‘solidarity’ with organizations that promote terror or anti Semitism does not make you avant garde, informed or progressive. Such behavior only clearly identifies you for all time as a self absorbed idiot and a self centered bigot. Let us make it clearer for you: Aligning yourself with and associating with most of these ‘peace organizations’ is like joining the Ku Klux Klan and declaring your support for human rights and equality. You see, when you get into bed with those that support terror against civilians, apologize for terror against civilians or fund terror against civilians, you and your precious beliefs become as relevant as a fly on cow manure.

Speaking of cow manure, George Galloway is in Norm Coleman’s crosshairs.
New respect for the old geezer;

The parts of the genetic make-up that are thought to determine an individual?s maximum possible longevity, so- called telomeres, are inherited from the father but not the mother. This is shown by a research team at Ume� University in the coming issue of the U.S. scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Telomeres are genetic material with repetitive content at the ends of DNA, and their main function is believed to be to protect the rest of the genetic material from degradation. Telomeres are shortened each time a cell divides, which in broad terms means that the longer a cell?s telomeres are, the longer the individual can live, in theory. A person?s telomeres are shortened with age, which the findings of the study indeed show: telomeres were shortened by an average of 21 nitrogen base pairs per year in the subjects studied.

Add your own in the comments, or send a trackback.

As I sit here reeking of gasoline (collateral damage from winterizing my bike), there is primer drying on several pieces of signboard in the garage, a goalie mask awaiting sanding and refinishing, a figurine of an Irish Terrier packed and ready to ship, and a pile of work orders an inch thick on my desk. I also manged to drag both my new and old air compressors down to Jim’s Sport Shop to get fittings transferred, purge the blog of the latest Tamiflu spam, do a bit of garden work and freeze a few veggies. Oh, and a friend stopped in to help with the “alterations” on my 5 day old puppies.
So, blogging has been light, and it’s likely to stay that way for a few days until I can get my head above water. Thanks to those of you who have sent tips and links to your own stuff – I do appreciate it, I just haven’t the time to do it justice!

Facing extinction in Health Committee in Ottawa today Private members Bill C-420 survived a Liberal motion to quash by Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health Robert Thibault.
[…]
“This will really keep both Health Canada’s and the Liberal minority
government’s feet to fire on the long promised removal of Schedule A and
Sections 3.1 and 3.2 of the Food and Drug Act,” a Health Committee
source said in a telephone interview shortly after the historic vote.

A press release on bill C-420. (Word .doc)
Stephen Taylor takes a look at the questions from the latest Strategic Council poll. (Speaking of which, the left seems to have forgotten that polls taken before Mulroney’s utter decimation of the Liberal Party in 1984 had the Conservatives behind by 8 points…)
Lorne Gunter has Jim Travers by the neck and he shakes him good.
Those crazy Muslims…. Lost Budgie is on the “Free Piglet!” bandwagon.
Angry has been hot on the trail of another Liberal scandal in the making – Just go to his main page and keep scrolling.
So you want to talk about being tortured by the Liberal government’s newest, bestest friends? Fine. But be sure to stash your mother is in a safe place. (MSM ALERT This is a story that should be picked up by some enterprising journalist. It’s long overdue that Paul Martin & Co. be forced to address the abuses of the Chinese government they are so eager to do business with.)
Use the comments for your own.

Write a letter, get a free bag of pot in the mail! Mark Emery – still surrounded by idiots.
Michelle Malkin provides a glimpse into what it’s like to be interviewed by an agenda-driven journalist – and what comes out the other end. This is one area in which blogs may have an eventual impact on dead-tree journalism. 10 years ago there was no venue for the interviewee to set the record straight without the interference of protective editors.
There’s some great deals to be had these days at Asia’s largest donkey fair.
“The time for cosy tea- drinking with Muslim groups is over.”
Add your own in the comments.

Please post any tips you’ve got as a comment here or trackback this post from one of your own that you’re proud of.