Train declared winner.

Oops;

From the moment Liberal turncoat David Emerson was lured to the Conservatives with the jingle of ministerial limo keys, angry voters and otherwise disgusted Canadian folk have been writing to the ethics commish, imploring him to investigate.
Just over 200 of those submissions, apparently, were made to Shapiro by e-mail. Citizen to government. In confidence. Or so they thought.
[…]
With the release of the Emerson ruling Monday, the commissioner’s staff dutifully e-mailed a little thank-you note to all those who had written, drawing their attention to the internet address where they could read the full text of his decision.
It ended: “We thank you for your interest on this matter and in the ethics commissioner’s mandate.”
Unfortunately, each message was prefaced by the e-mail addresses of all 202 complainants.
Dozens of the addresses identify the senders by their first and last names. Every one of them represents a violation of personal privacy.
(If nothing else, the list of addresses from Internet providers across the country also dispels claims by Emerson and his new Tory brethren that the public outcry over his floor-crossing was limited to a bunch of partisan malcontents in his Vancouver riding.)

That’s right – for all the hours of media commentary and outrage over the Emerson floor crossing, the volume of actual email complaints sent to the Ethics Commissioner was in the same general range as a lively comments thread at SDA.
(That distant pop you hear is the sound of Charles Adler’s ego).
Via DMB.

There are daffodils here.
And I think that at the moment, I prefer those to blogging.
If I can get my laptop online, I’ll post a few road photos, (including some shots of the flooding in southern Illinois yesterday.) Otherwise, those will wait till I get home. Ive got a busy few days ahead, so the likelihood of any regular current events blogging from me are rather slim.

Well, all I can say is that Charlotte, NC is one hell of a long way from Delisle. Made it as far as Mt.Vernon, Ill. Just a few hours left in this marathon… until it’s time to drive home. (In case you’re wondering why i didn ‘t fly – multiple dogs and airplane travel don’t mix well..)
Looks like the kids are holding down the fort nicely. Which is good, as I haven’t the energy to do much more than read this evening.
UPDATE – except for this;

A motorist was trapped in his car driving at almost 130mph for 60 miles after the accelerator jammed.
Kevin Nicolle, 25, was unable to stop the automatic BMW going at top speed after the malfunction on the A1.
Kevin Nicolle: ‘I couldn’t get the pedal off the floor’ His terrifying journey, which was followed by four police cars and a helicopter, ended when he smashed the car into a roundabout, flipping it on its roof.

What?
WHAT?
This twit (and it’s not the first time stories like this have come across the wire) needs his license suspended – not for the mechanical failure, but for not knowing how to find neutral orhow to drive without power steering. Holy crap, it’s disturbing to think there are people out there with such a total lack of emergency driving skills.
And yes, I’ve been in that situation – more often than I can remember. I used to own a Ford Bronco that suffered a frozen accelerator at random intervals every time the weather got cold. My ’65 Mustang pulled the trick on me a couple of times. The problem with a this particular type of mechanical failure isn’t “how to stop”, it’s how to manage the problem until you can pull into somewhere you can get it fixed. Of course, that’s just me.
I think of the situations I’ve found myself in – navigating Tower Junction Pass in Yellowstone Park in a heavily loaded Chev propane van without power brakes, the night I kicked the dimmer switch on my 65 ‘Stang doing 65 mpg on a gravel road only to have the headlights cut out completely, lots of blown tires. Why don’t they teach people the easy stuff like driving to the side of the road with the engine cut?

To a whole new level;

The Straits Times said Li Xiao Meng, a 16-year-old from China who was studying at Singapore’s Hua Business School, was a keen musician who liked to jump up and down while playing his guitar in his hostel room.
“But on November 17 he took things a bit too far,” the newspaper said, reporting on a coroner’s court findings.

To say the least.

No surprise here

Canadians will be shocked by the true cost of the federal government’s ill-fated gun registry, says new Public Security Minister Stockwell Day.
Day told The Canadian Press that figures bureaucrats have shown him during briefings for his new portfolio are much higher than previously thought. He would not divulge what the tab is, but said it’s upsetting.
“Some of these numbers, when we get out all the numbers and when the auditor general releases them all very soon, eyebrows are going to go up,” he said Thursday.
“People are going to be upset and they’re going to have a right to be upset.”

Breitbart;

Eight Olympic cross-country skiers, including two Americans and one former gold medalist, were suspended for five days after they were found to have excessive hemoglobin levels _ the first hint of scandal at the Turin Games.
The suspensions, announced Thursday by the International Ski Federation, last five days from the day the tests were administered. The U.S. Ski Association said the tests were taken Wednesday, meaning the athletes will be barred from competition until at least Monday.
[…]
Besides 23-year-old Randall of Anchorage, Alaska, the other American athlete suspended was Leif Zimmerman, 22, of Bozeman, Mont. The others were: Sean Crooks of Canada, Sergey Dolidovich of Belarus, Jean Marc Gaillard of France, Aleksandr Lasutkin of Belarus, Natalia Matveeva of Russia, and Evi Sachenbacher of Germany.
Sachenbacher won gold in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games in the women’s relay, and silver in the women’s sprint. She is currently seventh in World Cup rankings.
All of the skiers but Matveeva were scheduled to compete in Sunday’s pursuit events.

Well, this is likely to help solve Ontario’s energy generation problems…

Ontario plans to introduce a three-year price subsidy on power rates for big industrial companies, the Globe said, quoting unidentified government and industry sources.
The move is aimed at helping steelmakers, pulp and paper mills and other manufacturers at a time when many companies blame soaring energy prices for plant closings and job cuts, the newspaper said.
[…]
[Energy Minister Donna] Cansfield said the revenue cap on Ontario Power Generation’s unregulated facilities will drop to 4.6 cents per kilowatt-hour from the present 4.7 cents. OPG is the province’s electricity generating utility.
The cap will go back up to 4.7 cents per kWh next year and be increased to 4.8 cents on April 1, 2008.

Over CKOM radio, a Sea King heliicopter has crashed, near Denmark – all 5 crew members are safe.
It was with HMCS Athabaskan.
Related News – Paul Martin holds final “unapologetic” news conference as PM;

“But I feel very proud of what we have accomplished.”

Update: CTV has a report up now.

The downed Sea King is currently sitting in 16 metres of water in calm seas, and has been marked with bouys.

One hopes these are for marine navigation, and not recovery, purposes.

OK, so I laughed.

No soup for Jooooooo!!!!
h/t Jeff Goldstein.

Two readers have emailed me about this;

“I just heard an audio clip on cfra on the drive home that enraged me.
At an all candidates meeting in Refrew, ON. (“up the valley” from Ottawa) last night, a WW2 vet (one Mr. Tomkins) stood up and asked the Liberal candidate, Don Lindsay, what plans the Liberals had to compensate handgun owners for seizing their private property. Instead of answering the question immediately, Lindsay started by spouting Martins favorite line: “The United States is our neighbour. This is Canada. And if you want to live that lifestyle, perhaps you better move there”. The crowd instantly became very vocal and started shoting at Lindsay. Imagine the nerve, the GALL of this man to TELL A WW2 VET to MOVE TO THE US!
I was FURIOUS! And I still am…

Lindsay is running in Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke..
update – Lindsay loses control at Debate
CFRA broadcast mp3 audio here
Flashback – “take your NRA , GUN LOVING ASS BACK TO THE U.S. WHERE YOU BELONG”

*

This is the photo of Dear Leader and his supporters that is currently featured on the liberal.ca main page.

They don’t have a mole in the Liberal Party.
They have a saboteur.
Maz2 notices something in the comments – the Liberal website has nothing listed as scheduled after after Jan 13th..
Not even a Towel Throwing Event.
Update
That didn’t take long. The photo’s been replaced. Now Martin just looks…. depressed and alone. Maybe they left after learning they can’t keep the t-shirts.

Coyne has the best election blog meme of the week.

CKOM radio;

Federal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale is saying an attack ad running in Quebec was never endorsed, approved or released by the Liberal Party.
Goodale argues it is not about the ad itself, but the judgement that was made on it. The Liberal Party chose not to run it, and that he contends, is what is important. He admits politicians must be careful not to make damaging assertions without the evidence to back it up.

On Canada AM ;

Paul Martin defended the series of controversial ads his Liberal Party unleashed this week and continued his attack on Stephen Harper, painting him as a leader who subscribes to a far right-wing ideology.
In an interview Thursday morning on CTV’s Canada AM, Martin said he approved every one of the harshly critical ads — including one that suggested the Tory Leader would use the military to occupy Canadian cities.

Seems nobody told the Deputy Prime Minister, either.

I’m hearing that Paul Martin has actually now claimed that if property rights are added to the Constitution, it will open the door to child labour in Canada.
???
Is everyone in the Liberal war room absolutely certain there have been no recent meteor strikes in the vicinity? ‘Cause, I’m just saying…. there’s a certain flaccid quality to the Prime MInister’s face these days.
(Update: Paul Martin’s * announcement that he is going to propose a world-wide ban on spaceweapons… related?)
Now, if you want to see something really scary the Lanark Landowners Ass’n has a site that outlines the true “benevolence” of government when it comes to property owners.
And then, there’s this:

On December 29, 2005 Navan farmer Michael Vanhauve and his family were served with a deportation order from Immigration Canada. Although the family has lived and worked and contributed to Canadian society for eight years, a 26-year-old conviction for shoplifting in his native Belgium was cited as the reason.

Today, the Landowners are fighting the order;

The Landowners will assemble at the Vanhauve family farm at 3890 Rockdale rd Sarsfield (Highway 417 to Vars exit, travel North on the Rockdale rd), on Thursday January 12.
The house will be surrounded by heavy equipment and area landowners who will prevent any and all attempts by any officials to enter the Vanhauve family farm. The landowners will be assembled by approx. 11:00 am, the deportation order is to be executed by 6:00 p.m. additional background info is enclosed.

(Via Maz2 in the comments.)

I wasn’t going to let myself hope when Wells said the Liberals were toast.
I soldiered on, door knocking until my knuckles were sore, when AC said they were toast.
But now….

Paul Martin, in a scrum with reporters, after releasing the Liberal platform this afteroon;

“Let me be very, very clear.”
“The fact is that same-sex marriage and a woman’s right to an abortion are the kind of Canadian values that built this country. They are the values of my father and great Canadians like Tommy Douglas and I will not be the Prime Minister who goes down in history as having taken them away.
“The fact is that they are fundamentally more important than the preservation of Canada’s single-tier public health care system.”

(Or something to that effect.)
Update – The NDP have noticed. This is really their issue and if they can play their cards right, they’ll keep the soft NDP support from wavering to the Liberals. I’d be making a big deal of this, if I were Jack Layton.
Nothing on Conservative.ca yet. That may be tactical, leaving the field open for Layton. They’re not competing for the same votes here.

Regular reader “gimbol”;

I was watching the CTV scrum of Martin answering questions from reporters after his big speech today.
Gloria Galloway coldcocked Bucky with a question that I’m sure almost made him lose his lunch.
Not verbatum but I think I’m close to the verbage.
“..If you remove the NWSC and the supreme court decides to deny two tier medicine is a violation of right to security of person, what are you going to do then?..”
Methinks Gloria was reading your “SWTE:Martin Abandons The Canada Health Act”

I hope the hell someone was.
I can’t believe it’s taken this long to ask the question.