Mike Klander resigns

Mike Klander, a liberal consultant who was the VP of the Ontario wing of the Liberals was forced to resign after comparing an NDP candidate (Jack Layton's wife, Olivia Chow) to a dog (her last name is Chow, and he had up a picture of a chow chow dog...get it?) and calling Jack Layton an "asshole" on his blog.
This is so idiotic that it's not even funny.
Number 1 Partisan politicians need to realize that all parties are trying to do what is best for Canada, they just happen to have much different views on the best way to do this. Pandying to the lowest common denominator is useless and divisive, somehting that I'd more expect from the Conservatives (yum...delicious irony)
Number 2 As if anyone could think that they could get away with this, even at the slowest of times party workers are scouring the country for ammunition against the ohter parties, much less during one of the tightest election campaigns in years.
Number 3, At least make a good joke, if you're going to get fired (let's be honest, Klander had no choice in his resignation) over a joke, it had better be good, damn good, Chris Rock good.
Number 4 Petty name calling? The Liberals have money coming out of the yin-yang, the least they could have done was use Layton's resemblance to a weasel, and maybe alter a picture of one to look like Layton. That would have been gold, and then maybe the loss of his job could be tempered by at least knowing he went out in a blaze of hilarity.

Happy Holidays!

Whatever holiday you happen to celebrate this time of year, all the best to you and yours!

Oh those Edmontonians

When I was in Edmonton I found a copy of their version of the Prarie Dog, basically an independant free community newspaper. Theirs is called Vue Weekly. Anyways, this particular issue was one where they publish the results of their sexual survey. I just found the link to this article so here it is. Some of the stuff on here is quite...odd. I mean some guy wrote in that he masturbates with a lawn mower. How does that work? You know what? Never mind, I really don't want to know.
The comments for this post will be a vote on the...shall we say oddest...survey reply. My vote has to be the lawnmower, although...some of the other stuff is pretty weird too...

Observations of an Insomniac

I have been having trouble sleeping lately, and have noticed some things about life:
-There are a lot of weirdos at 7-11 at 4 a.m.
-The 4 a.m. 7-11 guy has the worst job in the world
-7-11 chicken kabobs could be the key to world peace
-The only place that has more weird people than 7-11 at 4 (other than Wascana Park) is without a doubt the 24 hour Humpty's
-No matter how tired you are, as soon as you lay in bed it is like having powered back 4 Red Bulls with 6 double espressos
-Warm milk does not work, and tastes funny
-Late night TV is not very good
-Unless it's french CBC in which case it is not only not very good, but most likely naked too
-After enough hours, you too may consider calling Miss Cleo
-It is acceptable to eat a meal at 2 a.m., even if it is the fifth meal of the day
-Some people forget that late at night, if you leave the lights on and the curtains open that people outside can see in...please wear clothes, especially if you are:
a)overwieght
b)over forty
and/or c)a man
-A lot of ambulances go to the General Hospital late at night, maybe I just don't notice the daytime ones, but it seems like every one and their dog is in need of emergent medical attention after 3
-Your ability to fall asleep is conversely related to the amount of shit you have to do the next morning
-After 4 it's like being drunk, everything seems hi-freakin'-larious, you slur your words, and your fine motor skills are the shits thankfully the going to the can every 5 minutes and the delusions of grandeur are not present.
-Jon Stewart is a king among men, ironically enough the best newscast on American TV is on Comedy Central
-After a while, you will blog just about anything.

Pure Gold

I thought that SNL had been losing it's goldness...until this...enjoy.
As far as the line "Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious" Mr. Pibb is a Dr. Pepper like soft drink, and Red Vines are like Twizzlers. I can't believe we can't get Mr. Pibb and Red Vines in Saskatchewan.

Alberta

I am so tired of hearing about how great Alberta is all the time. In this part of the country most political anything ends up coming to Alberta. Either the nurses make more in Alberta, or the taxes are lower in Alberta, or the roads are straighter in Alberta. You know I heard that people's shit-stink is CK-1 in Alberta. Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate Alberta, or anyone for Alberta (except football players from Alberta), but I hate how people in Saskatchewan automatically compare everything to Alberta. I've got news for people: Saskatchewan and Alberta are different. Different geographically, culturally and politically. Alberta has been the traditional base of the political right, and Saskatchewan the traditional base of the left. Alberta's got the mountains, we've got the boreal forest. Alberta culturally is like Texas, Saskatchewan is more culturally rooted in agrarian roots, more towards the growing of plants, although the 'oiler' is becoming more prominant. Instead of looking at the differences, people should be looking at Alberta for what it is: a province that has had perfect policy about it's big resource, although the long-term planning is lacking. They have embraced their Texan-ish culture and marketed it very well. They are however starting to be seen as ungrateful smug rich bastards. They do need to try and build bridges between themselves and the rest of Canada. The rest of the country needs to realise that Alberta has 10% of the population of Canada, stupid crazy amounts of oil and money, and that Alberta needs to be respected. Alberta really needs to step up and become the leader of Western Canada, and not just be concerned about Alberta first. If Alberta can help the West grow as a whole, the power and influence will continue to flow West, and eventually a power base will be between Vancouver-Edmonton-Calgary that could rival Southern Ontario and Quebec. Until then however, Western Alienation will persist, Parliament will continue to be Ontario based Liberals, dominating Alberta based Conservatives. Although I personally would love for the Liberals to get a majority for many mandates to come, I don't want the West to be forgotten in the shuffle. You know, I just had an idea...nah.

Arctic Drilling

Good on the US Senate for rejecting a bill that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The sneaky Republicans put it as a rider on a bill that sends money to the US Army troops in Iraq. This way the senators that voted against the bill could be accused of voting against American troops. Sneaky Devils. Anyway, the Senate voted against this bill sending the message that its the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the the National Ted Stevens Oil Refuge.

Setting things straight

Apparently I need to clear something up for my exs... I AM NOT A BARBIE DOLL, please stop.

Old Harper Speech surfaces

An old Stephen Harper speech from 1997 has surfaced, in it he calls the NDP proof of Satan, and derides Canada. Here are some excerpts:
…I was asked to speak about Canadian politics. It may not be true, but it's legendary that if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians...

…First, facts about Canada. Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States...

…In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance…

...But the important point is that Canada is not a bilingual country. It is a country with two languages...

…[the] Supreme Court, like yours, which, since we put a charter of rights in our constitution in 1982, is becoming increasingly arbitrary and important. It is also appointed by the Prime Minister. Unlike your Supreme Court, we have no ratification process...

…Let's take the New Democratic Party, the NDP…The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it's actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men.

This party believes not just in large government and in massive redistributive programs, it's explicitly socialist. On social value issues, it believes the opposite on just about everything that anybody in this room believes. I think that's a pretty safe bet on all social-value kinds of questions.

The NDP is also explicitly a branch of the Canadian Labor Congress, which is by far our largest labor group, and explicitly radical.

…The second party, the Liberal Party, is by far the largest party... It's not what you would call conservative Democrat; I think that's a disappearing kind of breed. But it's certainly moderate Democrat, a type of Clinton-pragmatic Democrat. It's moved in the last few years very much to the right on fiscal and economic concerns, but still believes in government intrusion in the economy where possible, and does, in its majority, believe in fairly liberal social values.

In the last Parliament, it enacted comprehensive gun control, well beyond, I think, anything you have. Now we'll have a national firearms registration system, including all shotguns and rifles. Many other kinds of weapons have been banned. It believes in gay rights, although it's fairly cautious. It's put sexual orientation in the Human Rights Act and will let the courts do the rest.

…The Bloc Québécois is equivalent to your Southern secessionists, Southern Democrats, states rights activists. The Bloc Québécois, its forty-four seats, come entirely from the province of Quebec. But even more strikingly, they come from ridings, or election districts, almost entirely populated by the descendants of the original European French settlers.

…The Liberal Party is very much your northern Democrat, or mainstream Democratic party, a party that is less concessionary to the secessionists than the PCs, but still somewhat concessionary. And they still occupy the mainstream of public opinion in Ontario, which is the big and powerful province, politically and economically, alongside Quebec.

The Reform Party [now Conservative] is very much a modern manifestation of the Republican movement in Western Canada; the U.S. Republicans started in the Western United States. The Reform Party is very resistant to the agenda and the demands of the secessionists, and on a very deep philosophical level.

…[The NDPs] main concern, of course, is simply the left wing agenda to basically disintegrate our society in all kinds of spectrums. So it really doesn't fit in.

…Canada is, however, a troubled country politically, not socially. This is a country that we like to say works in practice but not in theory….

QUESTION: I'd like for you to look forward a bit. I know it is difficult, and maybe in the current context even dangerous. But if you would, give us your thoughts about what might happen politically down the road in Canada.

MR. HARPER:
…Canada, in spite of its ongoing social democratic, welfare-state mentality, will continue to move to the right on fiscal, economic and social policy, with minor deviations, because that's the way the world is going.

When Canadians face the choice of either preserving their welfare state or adapting themselves to the world economy, they always, at times of crisis, choose to adapt themselves to the world economy…

…A country like Canada will never have as strong a national identity as you do in the United States. You just have to accept that and get questions of ethnicity out of the national government. It's just a recipe for disaster otherwise…

The full text is available on-line.
Scary shit.

World Baseball Challenge

So Cuba won't be allowed to compete in the upcoming baseball challenge. This is because of the US's laws against trading with Cuba. This is absolutely stupid. I mean really, this would be like not allowing Canada to participate in the World Cup of Hockey, or Brazil be in the World Cup. I mean does anybody outside of Miami care if there is any trade with Cuba? What does it really benifit the US to not trade with Cuba because of Castro? Let's be honest, Cuba is not a threat to the US. They are living in 1954 (kind of like the US trade restrictions). Seriously, even if Cuba was to the technological and financial power of a first world country, there would be no threat to the US. And the illegal immegrant tide would be slowed as a life in a modern stable Cuba would be palatable and the raft ride would be that much less enticing. And further more, how does not allowing twenty some odd Cubans play in a base ball tournament further the global war against communism (which let's not forget died with the Berlin Wall). The crew running the tournament plan to appeal this as they feel, and I agree, that this is stupid. Remember, the US trades or traded with Iran, North Korea, the USSR, China, Columbia, anywhere in Africa, Yugoslavia (and the republics which arose out of that lovely little engagement) all of whom have as bad as or worse human rights or international law violations than Cuba. India and Pakistan developed nukes for Christ's sake! Israel's treatment of Palestinians has been sketchy at best. Iraq's oil under Hussein was OK and he mustard gassed the Kurds! It is long past the time that the US admit it's Cuba policy makes as much sense as a sunroof in a submarine (terrible joke I know, I'm very tired).

Grad Night

First off, don't anyone get all uppity that I graduated and didn't tell you. I had my grad celebration last Frisay, although I do not graduate until April and convocate until May-ish (I know Mom, I'll tell you as soon as I know). Anyways part of the deal of being in a program where there are three exits a year is that your grad may be nowhere near your grad time. Ah nursing, logical to the end. Anyways how the night went was that I showed up, met some people I haven't seen in a while, met some others I could care less if I don't see again for twice as long (don't worry, if you know about this site, you're not one of those). I then ate a meal which although delicious, cost me twenty seven dollars. I was getting bored by this time, so I ditched hard to go play soccer, we won 3-0 (GO LIGERS!). After the game I quickly went home, got showered and changed and went back. I proceded to get mildy trashed (unless you're not my Mom, in which case I got uber torqued). My buddy Matt couldn't feel his face at one point. Luckily he was in a room full of nursing graduands who, in the time honoured tradition of the profession, promptly took their thirty. We then went to the bar. Although a fun night, I just wasn't feeling it, maybe due to the fact that I still have finals and practica... I don't know. The important thing is that Clone High is on Teletoon at 12:30 Friday nights. I love that show.

Finals

As I am now in finals, I don't know much about the world. I so however know about Kanter's theory of change.
It's bullshit.
Take that Kanter.

Election News

Well, what's new with the election? Paul Martin urging union members to vote Liberal in ridings where the NDP is not expected to win. This was endorsed by Buzz Hargrove, head of Canadian Auto Workers. This would mean that instead of the traditional stand of supporting the NDP, the union is supporting "anybody but the Conservatives". Jack Layton fired back telling Saskatchean voters that a vote for the Liberals ended up being like a vote for the Tories. Again, the NDP are trying to woo Liberal voters under an "anybody but a Tory" banner. Why don't Martin and Layton finally realize that they're in love, and merge? In the CAW article, it is mentioned that whether a Liberal or New Democrat is elected it means the same power in a coalition against the Tories. If they plan on forming a coalition as it is, why not run together?
Again the Green Party, which received over a half million votes last election, is being excluded from the televised debate. I think that this is bullshit. I mean in '93 the Bloq got to be in the debate, and they neither had an elected MP, nor were they running candidates across the nation, and they got to be in the debate. The Green Party has shown itself to be an up and coming party that deserves to be included in the televised debate.
Stephen Harper unveiled his plan for healthcare. It includes guaranteed wait times for medical procedures and that "there will be no private, parallel system". Harper's plan includes sending people who can't be treated in the acceptable timeframe to go to another province for the medical procedure.
First off let me explain to everybody out there that we do not live in a public health care system. All health care in Canada is publically funded; but run by independant organizations, in Saskatchewan, Health Regions, or privately. Everytime you see a physician, whether a generalist or a specialist, you are getting private health care, but paid by a single payer public insurance. That is why we say that physicians are in private practice. People need to understand that the Medicare debate is not a public vs. private health care, but rather two-fold. Public single payer insurance vs. private insurance, and for-profit vs. not-for-profit. Countless research has shown that:
1)The American style, private insurance coupled with for-profit health care leads to:
-decreased patient satisfaction
-decreased staff satisfaction leading to greater turnover which is shown to negatively impact health outcomes
-decreased funding for health promotion activities that lead to greater long-term health of the population as a whole
-higher rates of mortality (deaths) and morbidity (sicknesses, such as hospital acquired pneumonia, etc).
-decreased quality of life
-increased differential between the quality of care available to the rich and the middle-class and both working and non-working poor.
2)The Canadian style of public single payer insurance and not-for-profit health care ensures the converse.
3)The Canadian system needs more than an influx of cash to fix the well-known issues, what is needed is:
-More health-care providers, physicians, nurses, radiology techs, phlebotomists, everyone.
-More public health and population health promotion initiatives: these cost money now, and don't get results until later, and aren't very 'sexy', but in the long run will save billions of dollars. Think about seatbelts. Seatbelt usage was legislated years ago, and still there are people that won't wear them, but give it a few more years, and everyone will just wear them because that is what you do. Imagine the health dollars that are saved by injuries being prevented by seatbelts.
-Greater health education, both for lay people, and to educate new health professionals.
-Reorganization of services to ensure that people get what they need, when they need it, but avoids misuse of services (like not going to the ER for a sliver, it happens all the time).
-I could go on for hours.
What I am wondering about Harper's plan is that if he plans on sending Saskatchewanians (for we do have huge wait times for surgeries) to other provinces like Alberta or Manitoba to get procedures done, who will do the surgery? Then Saskatchewanians will tie up Alberta and Manitoba, leaving their wait times huge, meaning they will be coming to Saskatchewan for their procedures and so on and so forth. there is not one place in Canada that has enough surgeons, nurses, radiologists, etc.
Also this will skyrocket the cost of health-care. Say I need my hip replaced, and the wait list is too long, so I get sent to...say...Vancouver. I can't afford to go to Vancouver, so that means that either
1)The government pays for transportation.
or
2)I can't go, and someone who can afford to get themselves to Vancouver gets to go. This would mean that health care would not be universally accessible, and my province would be in violation of the Canada Health Act, and not recieve any federal funding for health.
So Harper's plan heaps financial burdens on the provinces, which may fly in Alberta, fly like Ralph Klein's solid gold rocket car, but I don't think it'll fly anywhere else. I don't know, as a health-care provider I think Harper's goals are laudible, but his means is not possible.