happy b-day petey!

That’s right ladies, Mr. Peter Mackay, the currently single and last ever leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, turns the big four-O today.

Mr. Mackay, who is now the Member of Parliament for Central Nova, was first elected in the riding of Pictou-Antigonish-Guysborough in 1997 under the leadership of then Tory leader (and for the time-being Quebec Liberal Premier) Jean Charest.

He's now lost the chance at beating Joe Clark’s record as the youngest Prime Minister in Canadian history.

In 1979, Mr. Clark was elected Prime Minister at the age of 39 (and actually turned 40 the next day).

Mr. Mackay, who is considered by many hacks and politicos to be a potential leadership candidate when Stephen Harper eventually steps down, may actually have a chance at taking the Tories over the top into a minority government (or so we here in daveberta think).

laguna beach and the city

Hope you enjoyed the random title.

Surprisingly, the last couple of weeks have been unusually friendly to us. We just got back into the city tonight after a wonderful weekend in our rural Alberta homeland. The air is so much cleaner outside the city, it's rejuvenating.

We also realized while having a cold pint on Friday evening at RATT, that we had spent 3 out of the 5 weeknights there...

Also, we met Reg Alcock last week. He seemed like a nice guy.

We leave you with...


Which Colossal Death Robot Are You?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

(Props to nastyboy for the quiz link)

the michael ritter saga continued...

Click here for the complete Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology...

The Michael Ritter trial in Edmonton just keeps on getting more and more saucy.

For those of you interested, the "Reasons for Decision of the Honourable Assistant Chief Judge A. H. Lefever", have been published on the Alberta Courts website.

It details the reasons why the Alberta Provincial Court judge denied Mr. Ritter bail (the section on him being flight risk to Belize was particularly interesting). It also has quite a good summary of the allegations made against Mr. Ritter by the American (ie. The $230 million ponzi scheme) and Canadian (ie. theft) authorities.

Even if half the allegations against Mr. Ritter are true, this scandal will sure make a great CBC mini-series one day (post-lockout, of course). It's saucy, international, dangerous, and filled with Canadian content!

wtf alberta.

It seems that our illustrious and beloved leader, Premier Ralph Klein, has decided that he knows best when it comes to what Albertans want. Apparently, we would rather he cut us all a one-time $400 cheque instead of say...

...improving the quality of institutions that have starved for funding under his reign.
...doing something visionary.
...doing anything visionary.

Honestly, a one-time $400 cheque? How is that going to help make Alberta a better place? A $400 cheque isn't going to change improve the quality of life in Alberta. It's not going to build better roads, build better schools, or improve rapid transit. It's more than definately not going to help that homeless guy that was sleeping on our front lawn last week.

What about the people who don't need the cheque?

What about the people who need more than a one-time $400?

*cough*AISH recipients*cough*

And of course, in the true spirit of Alberta's democratic tradition, the decision to spend the $1.4 Billion on rebate cheques was made in a closed-door Tory caucus meeting in Lethbridge. Yes, that's right, a party which in the last election received the votes of only 22% of eligible Alberta voters has decided that it has the authority to spend $1.4 Billion while behind closed doors.

Can we expect any public input into these decisions?

Can we expect any serious debate on the spending of Alberta's future revenues when the legislature is recalled next May?

*cough*probably not*cough*

Alberta: Looking for Vision since Peter Lougheed retired in 1984.

the gods of patronage...

...have once again shone their rath on another Canadian, leaving a trail of patronagistic devastation in their tracks.

For what feels like the 35th time in the past year, the Prime Minister has appointed another lucky Canadian to the what could only be discribed as the tenuristic ivory tower of Canada's upwardly mobile class (aka: the Senate). Ms. Sandra Lovelace Nicholas was appointed this afternoon by Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Ms. Nicholas, who will sit as a Liberal Senator from New Brunswick, actually has a fairly interesting background. According to her bio on the PMO release:

"Challenging discriminatory provisions of the Indian Act, which deprived Aboriginal women of their status when they married non-Aboriginals, she was instrumental in bringing the case before the United Nations Human Rights Commission and lobbying for the 1985 legislation which reinstated the rights of First Nation women and their children in Canada. In 1990, she was awarded the Order of Canada, and in 1992, she received the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case."

So, other than being appointed, she seems like she'd be a much needed fairly decent addition to the Upper Chamber of Parliament.

This appointment leaves the last vacancy in the upper house hailing from the potato-growing province of Prince Edward Island (Stompin' Tom still has a chance!).

stephen lewis on saturday

This past Saturday, we attended the Muttart Foundation's seminar with Mr. Stephen Lewis at the Citadel Theatre. It was a great lecture. Mr. Lewis, for those of you who aren't familiar with him, is the United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and the former Canadian Ambassador to the U.N. (he was also an Ontario MPP and leader of the Ontario NDP from 1970-78).

Mr. Lewis is also part of what could only be called 'Canada's Social Democratic Dynasty' (and that is what we are calling it), which boasts a fairly impressive pedigree of Canadian celebrity socialists. Mr. Lewis' father was David Lewis, who led the federal NDP in a coalition with the Trudeau Liberals from 1972 to 1974, and Mr. (Stephen) Lewis' son is Avi Lewis, who's well known as the former host of CBC's CounterSpin who is also married to anti-globalization activist and author, Ms. Naomi Klein.

We last saw Mr. Lewis speak in Ottawa two years ago and he was equally as amazing this time.

Along with some personal tidbits about one Mr. Brian Mulroney and a certain upcoming book, Lewis' talk focused on the positive and not so positive elements of the United Nations in the wake of it's 60th anniversary, and the work he does with the U.N. and various NGO's in combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. Lewis also had some fairly harsh words for the current Liberal government's lack of real committment to reaching the 0.7% GDP level of foreign aid to developing countries, even though the Pearson Liberals were one of the first advocates of this goal.

We would be blowing smoke if we said his personal stories of his visits to Africa didn't cause us to shed a tear or two during his lecture. What amazes us the most about Mr. Lewis is his persistence, strength, and passion for humanitarianism. After all the political junk and stonewalling he has put up with from various politicians, agencies, and governments, he remains an impassioned man. You could feel it. It's inspirational.

Two of the many agencies he mentioned during his lecture, which we recommend you check out, are the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Bill Clinton Foundation, both which conduct a large amount of work in HIV/AIDS stricken areas of the world.

blog of the week: doucheblog

Though Rob tends to focuses on the ups and downs of American politics, we've enjoyed this blog for a some time.

Check out the doucheblog.

we want to drink your...

...vulcan blood.

"Please Lord let me have another oil boom and I won't piss it away"

This morning we were feeling particularily frustrated with the Alberta Government's complete lack of vision when it comes to what to do with Alberta's "new found" wealth.

So, we wrote a letter to the Edmonton Journal...

"Please Lord let me have another oil boom and I won't piss it away"

Albertans are privileged to have the option of issuing $300 rebate cheques. But simply because we have the ability to do so, it does not mean we should. We could do many things with this money. We could build a giant statue of Ralph Klein in Churchill Square, but it doesn't mean we should.

Let's invest in our communities. Let's invest in our education and advanced education systems. Let's invest our wealth in the future of our province so that the generations of tomorrow can enjoy the economic wealth that the politicians of today take for granted.

ahhh. That feels a little better now.

who let the ritter out? who? who? who? who?

Not Alberta's Court of Queen's Bench.

For anyone interested (following up from an earlier post), Edmonton's own Mr. Michael Ritter, the former Chief Parliamentary Counsel to the Alberta Legislature, has been making headlines across the world! Well... Albertans do have that "entrepreneurial spirit..."

Edmonton Sun: Ritter fighting to stay at home.
Bloomberg: Canadian Charged with $43 Million Embezzlement of Merrill Lynch.

We'll have more coverage as it comes...

Here's an open ended question for all you loyal daveberta readers: How much legislation was passed in Alberta while this upstanding gentleman was our Counsel?

Click here for the complete Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology...

Richard Nixon and Project Independence

We're currently reading "The Tar Sands: Syncrude and the Politics of Oil" by Larry Pratt for our Canadian Public Policy class. It's quite an interesting read. We never knew natural resource policy and the history of Alberta's tarsands was so interesting.

As well, we thought this clip from pages 49 - 50 of said book was interesting and quite telling...

One month following the outbreak of the Yom Kippur Middle East war of October 1973, with the United States deep in the grip of Watergate fever compounded by the anxiety over the Arab oil boycott, former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon appeared on American television to prescribe strong medicine, his antidote for the energy crisis.

Nixon named it "Project Independence." The challenge facing the United States, he declared, was to regain the strength of self-sufficiency in energy. This was a key to Americans predominance among the nations. "Our ability to meet our own energy needs is directly linked to our continued ability to act decisively and independently at home and abroad in the service of peace, not only for America, bur for all nations in the world." Calling for "focused leadership" to achieve self-sufficiency by 1980, Nixon likened his challenge to earlier crash programs to develop the atomic bomb and to put a man on the moon. He went on to promise massive public funding for the exploration of American's remaining energy resources-Alaskan oil and gas, offshore oil reserves, nuclear energy and synthetic fuels from coal and oil shale. A few days later, Nixon reiterated his challenge, linking it to rumour circulating Washington that the "blue-eyed Arabs" of Canada were taking advantage of America's energy plant. The United States, Nixon asserted, should be independent of all oil producing countries, "including our Canadian friends," by 1976. Canadians "can be pretty tough on us sometimes when they are looking down our throats." This did not mean that the U.S. would not continue to desire the oil of he Middle East of the gas of Siberia or that she would cease energy cooperation with Canada or Latin America. "But it does mean that the United States must be independent in this area, and we can be."

let the games begin.

It seems that the Alberta Liberals are getting their game face on for the next provincial election.

This evening, the Edmonton Castle Downs Constituency will nominate Chris Kibermanis as their Alberta Liberal Candidate for the next election. You may remember that Castle Downs produced the closest race in the last election, with Kibermanis, 29, originally defeating cocky Tory incumbent and playboy-wannabe, Thomas Lukaszuk, by 9 votes.

But it was not to be. In the days following Kibermanis' election, Lukaszuk and his O.J. style Tory Legal team descended on the Castle Downs results in an orgy of legal attacks which ended in the usurping of the original results which had been approved by Elections Officials. In the end, a 9 vote deficit turned out to be a 6 vote surplus... suspicious indeed.

This time, the rematch looks to be hot as Kibermanis has at least a year to campaign as the Alberta Liberal candidate. It is not known whether Lukaszuk, who as much as we can tell, doesn't do more than sit pretty in the backbenches and jump when ordered, will seek re-election.

Tonight's nomination meeting is the first of what will be a string of candidate nominations in the coming months and also comes on the heels of the Connections 2005 Pasta Supper which drew over 500 Alberta Liberals last Friday in Edmonton.

With the race to replace aging Premier Ralph Klein in full swing and looking to be nasty (our "Deep Throats" in Calgary are witnessing the emergence of a "Ted Morton insugency" in many supposedly Paul Mar... er... "Jim Dinning friendly" ridings), Kevin Taft and the Alberta Liberals are more than definitely in a position to make major gains in soft-Tory ridings like Castle Downs.

Let the games begin!

when visa isn't enough: the michael ritter story.

Money stolen from Merrill Lynch: $43 Million.

Money stolen or unlawfully possed and hidden in offshore bank accounts: $10.3 Million.

Money stolen through fraud in a US pyramid scheme: $230 Million.

Being denied bail AND facing extradition charges to the United States: Priceless.

Because, when Visa isn't enough, there's always theft, fraud, and money laundering.

Click here for the complete Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology...

privacy is "the cornerstone of a liberal democracy"

Oui, c'est un press release...

Prof probes impact of post 9/11 surveillance

Immediately after the 9/11 Al-Qeada terrorist attacks, government officials in both the U.S. and Canada were quick to pass legislation to increase surveillance of their citizens. But now, four years later, as fear of further terrorist attacks has become less acute and suspicion of government leaders' motives has heightened, more and more people are starting question the increased invasion of their privacy, says Dr. Kevin Haggerty, director of the criminology program in the University of Alberta Department of Sociology.

"Right after 9/11 it was impossible for anyone to say no to anything that would purportedly increase security," said Haggerty, who recently co-authored a paper on the use of surveillance as response to terrorist threats, which was published in the Canadian Journal of Sociology.

Increasing the ability of lawmakers to monitor our Internet use, financial transactions, personal movements and cell phone use were just a few of the measures in the U.S. Patriot Act and the Canadian Public Safety Act that became law shortly after 9/11. But many of these measures had been proposed and rejected as unwarranted privacy invasions in previous years, Haggerty said.

The steep increase in surveillance infrastructure after 9/11 has been "intensive" and has "proceeded with little public debate or protest," he added. "But polling and censor numbers are showing us that people have lost some of their trust in authorities, and we are now looking more critically at the restrictions being placed on our civil liberties."

Read the rest here.

5-6-7 billion!

We thought this was interesting.

Check out the US National Debt Clock and the US Federal Government Budget Spending.

The United States Bureau of Public Debt has some pretty skyrocketing debt numbers as well.

In 2000, the US National Public Debt was $5,674,178,209,886.86.

As of yesterday, the US National Public Debt was sitting at $7,950,034,655,748.03.

holy shite.

oggle the bazoogle.

According to the "Which Big Lebowski character are you?" quiz:

Why don't you check it out? Or we cut off your Johnson!

The funny thing is, we've never seen the movie and have no idea what it means.

Can anyone enlighten us?

(props to funcentral for the link to this quiz)

the oberg effect.

August 30-31: Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation Minister and Tory Leadership Candidate, Lyle Oberg visits the Ukraine and meets with Ukraine's Minister of Transportation and other government and business officials.

Sept 9: Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko fires his cabinet.

Mere coincidence? Decide for yourself.

top scientific discovery.

Top American researchers and analysts have disected the reason for United States President George W. Bush's unique grasp of the English Language.

Brilliant. Freaking brilliant.

(Props to Expat for the link)

still digging our hole...

When we finish digging our hole from Garneau to the other side of the world, we now know we'll end up in the south Indian Ocean!

From That Canadian Girl via Darren Barefoot.

the incredible grandinite blog survey!

An email from Aaron of Grandinite fame...

Friends of the Canadian Blogosphere:

As I stated, not one month ago, on Calgary's QR 770 with Rob Breakenridge: you have not heard the last of Aaron Braaten.

I bring to you the Great Canadian Blog Survey at Canadianeconomist.com.

There's info on the site if you want to direct people straight to the survey and cut out the middleman. If you get a pop-up, that's the survey.

Please help me publicize it. If you link to it, just respond to this email so I can acknowledge you in the final reports.

Let's get 'er done.

The more respondents the survey gets, the faster the report will come out and the sooner you 'linkers' are immortalized in Canada's best blog survey, done by a blogger for his fellow bloggers.

Plus you will be helping a budding young economist finish his master's thesis.

Five minutes out of your busy day of blogging. Five minutes is all I ask.

To those of you who link to it: thank you. For those of you who do not, please take my survey!

Cheers,

Aaron Braaten

--
Founder of:

http://www.canadianeconomist.com
http://www.albertablogs.com
http://www.grandinite.com

born with a tail on martin.

Don Martin that is.

Derek, from Born with a Tail, has posted his review of National Post columnist Don Martin's inward looking five-part series on why Alberta is better than the rest of Canada. We very much enjoy the Raymakerian-style of blog posting.

Check it out.

everytime a bell rings, a political hack loses his moustache.

Rod! Say it ain't so!

From Wednesday's Edmonton Journal...

"...the moustache, Love said he "hacked it off" because he got tired of looking at it after 35 years."

Rod Love (seen here), who is "not a lobbyist," recently re-left Premier Ralph Klein's Office as Chief of Staff for the second time to rejoin the private sector. He also parted ways with his trademark massive moustache.

Mr. Love, who has been heavily involved in Kleinesian politics since 1980 was also one of the geniuses behind Stockwell Day's "leadership" of the Canadian Alliance, and Belinda Stronach's Conservative leadership bid. He is also very supportive of the Jim Dinning camp of the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership race, so don't rule him out briefly coming back to the Premier's office after Dinning smacks the bejesus out of the Ted Morton/Lyle Oberg/Mark Norris group only to be defeated in the next election (yes, you heard it here first!).

Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft is suggesting that the Alberta Government instate a cooling off period for insiders like Love, who hop in between the private consulting jobs and high level political positions. The issue came up after Mr. Love's new consulting firm took out a large advertizment in last Tuesday's Globe & Mail business section praising the experiences of Mr. Love.

Currently, there is a one year cooling off period for retiring or defeated Cabinet Ministers.

We tend to agree. A cooling off period for political insiders wouldn't be so bad.

And yes, if you would like to see the newly moustachless Mr. Love, check out this coverage by Kevin Rich at CFCN Calgary.

when is a blog dead?

How long does a blog have to be dormant before it's considered to be "dead?"

Is the Child of Reagan dead?

gross? yes.

Warning! Only the eight year-old in us found this funny. Be warned.

the two faces of u.s. senator mary landrieu.

Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu...

Last week: "I'm not angry at anyone."

This week: "If one persons criticizes our sheriffs, or says one more thing, including the President of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - might likely have to punch him - literally."

(props to Mr. Taylor for the CNN coverage).

debt is good: hancock

From the Calgary Herald...

[Advanced Education Minister Dave] Hancock disagreed that graduating with student debt totalling as much as $20,000 is unacceptable.

"It's the best investment you'll ever make," he said, adding it took him a decade to repay his student loans.

So, at what point did personal debt become good and government debt become bad?

klein on e-bay

Klein auctions off his "maverick brand" on E-Bay...

one good lookin' blog

After some back-to-school shopping, we've brought back some of the latest blogging fashions from the far east.

Any comments?

wtf

Dr. Phil is on Larry King Live talking about New Orleans with US Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

Seriously: WTF?

how mr. smith got his groove back.

As per his email request, we'd like to announce that Mr. Steve Smith has resumed his blogging ways.

the fire that daveberta built...

Isn't it nice?

blog of the week: the wingnuterer

Do we even need to explain this one?

Check out the Wingnuterer!

walk the line

Sweet.

We're looking forward to this one, but we're a little concerned at Joaquin Phoenix's acting... it usually sucks... hopefully he'll pull it off...

links galore...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

zorph is relentless!

and the saga continues...

...as the armies of darkness muster their armies in the west...

the evolution of daveberta...

...according to the Ontariocentric Zorpheous...



...in which we totally kickass.

happy birthday alberta.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the only province that we have ever had the pleasure of calling home. Today in 1905, the Province of Alberta and its sister Province, Saskatchewan, were officially born from the great expanse known as the North West Territories and its respected Districts.



We love our province. We love its natural beauty and diversity. We love that you can drive through the near deserts of Drumheller and Milk River to the majestic and amazing Rocky Mountains to the incredibly beautiful north filled with forests and lakes and the bald-ass prairie which spans as far as the eye can see all within one province. We love that an area so diverse and vast in its own is also part of an even vaster and more diverse country.



Our family first came to Alberta in 1896 as pioneers. They traveled from Sorel, Quebec and settled north of Edmonton. They were hard working farmers, breaking land and farming through brutally hard conditions. Along with thousands of other pioneers, they started with nearly nothing, but together they succeeded in building healthy and vibrant communities across this province.

We remember hearing our grandfather telling us stories about the 1930's when he and his brother drove a covered wagon to homestead in the Peace Country because the local mine had shut down due to the Depression.

We remember our grandfather telling us the story of how our great-great-uncle, Lionel Tellier (who also served as the Independent MLA for St. Albert from 1940-44), fought the Canadian government to the Supreme Court for the right to have French enlistment forms in Alberta during the First World War.



Albertans live in an incredible place. As a Province, we have an unbelievable amount of wealth in natural resources, but we also have incredible potential and an untapped wealth of resources in the form of our citizens.

Alberta has the potential to do great things as we moves into the 21st century; incredible things for our people, and incredible things for Canada.

As we celebrate this 100th Anniversary of this great province, let's not forget the potential all Albertans have, not as politicians or protectionists, but as leaders in strengthening our position as the best province in the best country in the world.

We love our home, our province, and our country.

Happy Birthday, Alberta!

if we had money...

...this is what our blog would look like.

Unfortunately, the "$7 Billion" surplus we thought we had turned out to be a measly $2.8 Billion.

rath of the patronage gods

It seems the patronage gods are having a hard time quenching their thirst...

...two new Senate appointments today...

Yoine Goldstein (Quebec-Liberal): A Montreal Lawyer

Francis Fox (Quebec-Liberal): Corporate Executive; Martin Confidant; Former Trudeau Cabinet Minister who was forced to resign from cabinet in 1978, when it was revealed that he had forged the signature of his girlfriend's husband on a form granting permission for her to have an abortion. (At the time, the husband's consent was needed for the procedure.)

There are now three vacancies in the Senate: two in New Bruswick, and one in Prince Edward Island (Stompin' Tom still has a chance!).

The current party standings in the Senate are...

Liberal - 67
Conservative - 24
Progressive Conservative - 5
New Democratic - 1
Independent - 5
Vacant - 3
TOTAL - 105

fire at our house

We had a fire at our house this weekend. An electrical cord shorted out and set the couch on fire.

Thankfully (or luckly), a buddy of our housemate was too un-sober to drive home that night and was sleeping on the couch when it started burning. He put it out before it burnt our house down.

No one was hurt.

Crazy.

jedi?

Mainly for the benefit of Socialist Swine, who apparently likes online quizzes. :-)


how jedi are you? :: by lawrie malen

bye bye love baby.

As of October 3rd, Premier Klein will a new chief enforcer.

The (twice, third time?) resignation of the perennial Chief of Staff of the Premier's Office, Mr. Rod Love, has happened again.

Mr. Love, who recently announced his departure from the Premier's office, will be returning to the private sector.

Mr. Love, who served as Klein's Chief of Staff from 1992 to 1997, replaced Peter Elzinga as Chief of Staff earlier this year (Elzinga, who served as the PC MP for Pembina from 1974 to 1986 and the PC MLA for Sherwood Park from 1986 to 1993, replaced Steve West as Chief of Staff following the 2004 Election and later replaced defeated Tory MLA Drew Hutton as the Executive Director of the Alberta PC Party - a position he currently holds).

Mr. Peter Kruselnicki will replace Mr. Love.

According to a press release from the Premier's Office:

"Peter Kruselnicki, a former deputy minister and long-time public servant, will assume the duties of Premier Ralph Klein's Chief of Staff effective Monday, October 3.

...

Mr. Kruselnicki is currently on secondment from the government of Alberta to the University of Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand, Faculty of Public Administration."

Mr. Kruselnicki was Alberta's Deputy Minister of Labour under former Minister Murray Smith (now Alberta's "Ambassador" to Washington DC) and Deputy Minister of Finance under former Finance Minister's Stockwell Day (before Day's jump into the Canadian Alliance leadership race), Steve West (who didn't seek re-election in 2001 and was Klein's Chief of Staff before Elzinga), and Pat Nelson (Nelson did not seek re-election in 2004). Mr. Kruselnicki left for New Zealand following the November 2004 election.

Just as interesting as the incestuous nature of Alberta PC politics is that this seems to be the first "non-politico" to fill the Chief of Staff position in as far back as we can remember... (props to Duncan for pointing this out to us).

live to 200 like pat robertson!

Through the miracle of google, we've been able to discover the secret to Evangelical Christian rock star, Pat Robertson's longevity!

Mr. Robertson, born in the early 1800's, has been preaching the good word of forgivness and charity since 1830 and he's still going! Here's the secret to his immortality: Pat Robertson's Age-Defying Protein Shake!

To make one of these holier than thou shakes and be just like Pat Robertson, follow these directions...

"In a blender, mix 10 to 12 ounces (1 1/2 glasses) of water with:
• 1/2 scoop Lindberg Protein Blend (11g protein, 55 calories)
• 1 scoop Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex (27g protein, 130 calories)
• 5 grams Fitness Labs L-Glutamine Powder (20 calories)
• 1 Tbsp. Lindberg Organic Flax Oil (130 calories)
• 1 Tbsp. Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar (0 calories)
• 1/2 Tbsp. Safflower Oil (65 calories)
• 1 Tsp. Lindberg MSM Powder (15 calories)
• 1 packet Now Foods Stevia Extract (0 calories)

Total nutrients are: Protein 38g, Carbs 3g, Fat 23g, Calories 412g. (These calculations do not take into account carbs or calories from the fruit you may optionally add. Recipe is for a medium sized man or a large woman.)

Next, add in frozen strawberries and blueberries or your favorite fruit, natural sweetener (if desired), ice cubes and blend. Makes one delicious shake."

Rumour has it that he and Rasputin shared one in 1916!

God Bless and Enjoy!

liberals to win majority.

We thought this was a little funny.

As expected, Mr. Cherniak has the official Ottawa politburo spin on his blog.

save our cbc

The good people at Our Public Airwaves have fixed up the above button. You may have noticed it on our sidebar and you can find the html code for the button here.

As long-time listeners of CBC Radio, we are getting more and more annoyed with the message "due to labour distruption..."

We want our CBC back. We want our As It Happens and Sounds Like Canada. We miss listening to Edmonton AM and the Current. We miss Global Village.

We miss the quality, and are really learning to dislike the new suplementary "national programing" that the CBC is using since the strike began.

It's time for this strike to end.

We believe it's time for the Liberal Government to seriously start funding the CBC.

arg.

It's raining again today.

rain deprivation...

Well, it's been a busy couple of days for us here in daveberta.

Here's a quick recap...

Saturday...

Fringe! Saturday afternoon, we made our way to the International Fringe Theatre Festival in Old Strathcona with our friends Dan and Ryan.

For the first time in what seemed like 9 years, it wasn't raining in our fair municipality. Though we all suffered from severe moisture deprivation from the lack of rain, it was extremely pleasant to enjoy what was know to generations past as "sunshine" and "summer."

As luck would have it, we spent most of the afternoon and evening in the beer gardens, though we did break to see a show. We enjoyed a splendid rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat by Alberta Lyric Theatre, which was held in the basement of the Strathcona Presbyterian Church. It was fun. It was youth theatre, but it was fun.

We also had a nice chat with our favorite MLA, Laurie Blakeman, who was also enjoying the Fringe-festivities.

Following Mr. Joseph and his Amazing Dreamcoat, we excused ourselves back to the beer gardens for another round of refreshments. Our night finished itself off with...

1. An impromptu techno session on Whyte.
2. Randomly getting invited to a rave and a frat party within 5 minutes of each other.
3. A nearly lost car.
4. A donair.
5. EH-OH!

Sunday....

After waking up at 1:30 in the afternoon, we slowly made my way back to the Fringe to enjoy some shows (after stopping for coffee at the Sugar Bowl of course!).

After chillin' wit some of our peeps for a bit, we took in some of the free shows. This included the half-naked torch juggling lady, Australian "mating" rituals, and two Yanks who did some more juggling. We also saw one guy do 100 push-ups in 1 minute! It was crazy!

Later hooked up with the Boggmaster and Ms. Catrin. We again ended up in the beer gardens. Intellectual discussions ensued. All is well.

Indeed.

The three of us ended up going to one of the best Fringe shows we've seen in quite a while: ANTOINE FEVAL (we added the caps for effect). Seriously folks, if you get the chance to see this show this week, TOTALLY GO. It was awesome funny.

Following Mr. Feval's production, we seem to remember returning to the beer gardens...

(FADES TO BLACK)

Monday...

Following a restless night of severe "rain withdrawal," we made our usual 5 minute walk to work in typical Monday morning fashion... slowly but surely.

Monday afternoon progressed into a Tuition Policy Seminar at University Hall with Dr. Dan Lang from the University of Toronto. Dr. Lang is working on a study with the United Nations on tuition models in G-8 Countries. We try not to comment on work stuff here on our blog, but seeing as how it seems we've already broken that rule, we're just going to say that it was an interesting seminar and not quite what we expected…

Monday evening, we progressed to what was known as the Prime Minister's BBQ in Edmonton.

Yes, that is correct, the one and only Right Honourable Paul Martin, PC was in Edmonton and at a BBQ (600 people and sold out).

We were joined by the lovely Misses Sarah and Samantha, along with the always hip Misters Adam and Dan. There were alot more people at the BBQ than we expected, including the striking CBC Workers/Telus Workers/Prison Guards outside the event. Though we felt a little dirty "crossing the line," we felt redeemed after signing their petitions and posing for some pictures (see below).

Ms. Sarah, Mr. Adam, and daveberta's editor-in-chief in solidarity with the striking workers.

We attempted to bring one of the prison guard union flags into the event, but unfortunately, one of the RCMP goons thought otherwise. He grabbed it from us and proceeded to put it "where it belongs"- which turned out to be the garbage. Fortunately, my level-headed intellectual friend, Dan, snatched the flag from the goonish cop and returned it to the workers.

Shame on that RCMP officer. Shame.

Even the entire membership of the Alberta Separatist Party showed up!

Of course, being the political Casanova’s that we are, as we entered, we smoothly put our "schmoozing hats" on and delved into the crowd.

Hot Dogs and wine had the pleasure to grace out palate that evening. We had a nice chat with a number of people and we even got to sit at the same table as the amazing Todd Babiak! We thought he was a pretty cool guy (which we discovered he is).

Some other notables at the event included Senators Claudette Tardif and Grant Mitchell, Minister Lucienne Robillard, Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, Liberal MLA's Rick Miler, Bruce Miller, Dan Backs, the lovely Nic, and the blogging hipster himself, Mr. Sheamus Murphy.

The PM entered, people cheered. Our favorite Liberal MP, Anne McLellan, introduced him and the reception was fairly warm (for Alberta). The Prime Minister said "tremendous" at least 8 times in his speech (6 times in the first minute). He spoke about foreign policy, training, etc....? Fairly decent speech overall. Props for campaign style delivery, but not so much for the overusage of the word "tremendous."

We continued to schmooze and drink as the evening continued.

As the evening ended, we were reminded that it is supposed to start raining again tomorrow.

Ah, summer in Alberta.

(Exit Stage Left)

(END SCENE)

in which edward t. bear gets in touch with his inner kink.

We're assuming that Mr. Bear and friends over at Blank Out Times have...

1. ...unfortunately decided to pack it in.

2. ...decided to get in touch with their inner kink.

You decide.

what's your uk movie rating?

My life has been rated:
See what your rating is!

No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video or DVD.

Theme
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.

Language
There may be frequent use of strong language (eg ‘fuck’). But the strongest terms (eg ‘cunt’) will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.

Violence
Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.

Imitable techniques
Dangerous techniques (eg combat techniques, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Horror
Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

we love saturdays

Good Saturday morning (afternoon?) to you all! Saturday, our favorite day of the week is upon us and we couldn't be happier!

This week, we had wireless internet hooked up in our house, it's great. For a while, we were leaching off the signal from the U of A Law Centre, but seeing as how slow it was, this is even better.

This week, we bided a temporary adieu to a good friend of ours who is spending the next 9 months in India. She'll be working for an NGO in a central Indian city. We would be lying if we didn't say we are enormously envious of her endeavors and that we'll miss her while she's gone. But alas, at this moment she is doing better stuff than we (lounging around my house drinking coffee).

It has been 13 months since we've stepped foot out of the province of Alberta. This is the longest we have EVER gone without at least making a weeklong expedition to the BC Rockies or the Saskatchewan side of Cypress Hills. We are getting extremely antsy as it looks like we may have to wait until next May to go on our next expedition. Last summer, we spent a month piggy backing, hitch hiking, and hostelling it across the great Canadian Maritimes. It was well worth it, but we thirst for more travel. It's in our blood. It's a thirst we have found hard to quench.

fringing it up

Well, spent a good chunk of our evening with some totally radical awesome dudes at the Powerplant. Where the patio is in the shade from 5pm to 5am! (new slogan?)

Anyway... it's the week of International Fringing here in (it's finally stopped raining) Edmonton, Alberta.

We're quite looking forward to checking out a bunch of the new plays this year. Bought our Fringe programs a couple of weekends ago and have been slowly perusing through, seeing which plays look cool enough for an awesome posse such as ours to go to. ;-)

If it makes you uncultured daveberta readers who aren't theatre lovers any better, we'll also be spending a decent amount of time in the beer gardens over the next couple of days. Sweet.

Totally check out the Fringe in Old Strathcona if you get the chance. It's one of our favorite Edmonton festivals. It's awesome.

BTW. Did anyone else read the Edmonton Sun Editorial today?

Question: What the hell kind of rag starts an editorial piece with "Un-FREAKING-belieable!?!?!?!

Answer: Not a very good one.

poet laureatez

We think the world needs more poet laureates.

some advice for anonalogue...

...and his non-sex marriage followers can be found here.

spam commenters flee in masses

new committee to crack down on freeloaders

For Immediate Release
August 18, 2005

EDMONTON- In a surprise pre-emptive assault, daveberta's Ministry of Water, Fish, and Blog Comments has announced the creation of a new anti-spam committee named "Operation Spam Comments smell like dead gophers."

This accessible, affordable, innovative, and entrepreneurial program will be headed by highly respected super-mega rock star Sabastian Bach.

Mr. Bach, who has freshly returned from a tour of the Middle East, will be joined on the committee by such hard hitting enforcers as Vince Neil, and former Canadian Member of Parliament Clarence Decantur Howe.

Daveberta Minister of Water, Fish, and Blog Comments praised the creation of the committee as "the worst thing to happen to spam commenters since Babylon 5 was cancelled."

The Minister continued, "eight to ten spam comments a day is simply unacceptable. We fully expect the combined wit and superpowers of the three committee members to form an unbearable force to be reckoned with. This committee will be the most affordable and accessible anti-spam committee in the country. I promise that."

Some of the tactics expected to be used by the new "enforcer committee" include wet noodle lashings, mouth soap washing, wedgies, blocking of anonymous comments, egging of houses, and tactical nuclear strikes.

-30-

For More Information Contact
daveberta media centre
daveberta@linuxmail.org

the most important battle of our time...

...is happening over at the Urban Dictionary. Make sure to join in on the fight.

Props to Rob over at Five of Five for the link.

UPDATE!

Because silly right-wing Emil can't seem to see through the layers upon layers of sarcasm in this blog, we have decided to post other epic battles, which can be found here, here, and especially here (we voted for #3 on this one- "ndp is hott as balls yo").

ANOTHER UPDATE!

Another epic (and entertaining) battle... just because we live in Edmonton....

blog of the week: section 15

This week's blog of the week is none other than the awesome blog known as Section 15.

Sec15 is one of our daily reads. Mark's posts are entertaining and insightful as he covers national and international current events.

Make sure to check it out.

D :-)

anonalogue promoting mumbo-jumboism

daveberta calls on right-wing blogger to come clean on his secret agenda of non-sex marriage

For Immediate Release
August 15, 2005

EDMONTON- Following today's shocking accusations from right-wing blogger and Anne Cools-a-holic, Anonalogue, daveberta is calling on the Blogging Tory member to come clean on his secret agenda.

In an email dated Monday, August 15, 2005, Mr. Anonalogue denounced the wonderful chris-face original Southparkization of daveberta's Editor-in-Chief. In his email, Mr. Anonalogue cried that he was "shocked and outraged" and that "the word 'Liberal' does not belong in the same .jpeg as an assault rifle."

Anonalogue continued his rant with bold statements that "[t]here is no such thing as a South Park Liberal..." only "…South Park Conservatives," and that "[y]ou can be a Liberal. Or you can be a South Park fan. But you cannot be a Liberal and a South Park fan."

Earlier today, Mr. Anonalogue continued to pontificate his cartoon-induced rage in the comment section of the great blog known as daveberta by "DEMAND[ing]" that the editors of daveberta remove the "viciously heteronomative… picture from his website and replace it with a… less heterosexual image more befitting of a gun registry and gay marriage supporter, like this."

Daveberta's Editor-in-Chief responded, “Mr. Anonalogue’s attack on chris-face's masterpiece is an attack on all artists and freedom lovers. We are incredibly proud of the work which Mr. face has done and feel privileged to have graced his artistic vision. This right-wing blogger is clearly on a mission to spread the dark ideas of mumbo-jumboism. One day he professes his love for libertarianism and Anne Cools, and then denounces freedom of the arts in the next."

The Editor-in-Chief continued "it is quite clear that Mr. Anonalogue's statements regarding the ‘vicious heteronomative’ images in the masterpiece are signs of his secret agenda of implementing non-sex marriage in Canada."

In response to this shocking revelation, Daveberta’s Editorial Board unanimously endorsed the following statement: "Conservative ducks such as Mr. Anonalogue have lost their battle against same-sex marriage and now they want to ruin it for everyone by imposing non-sex marriage. Not only is the principle of non-sex marriage clearly opposed by a majority of the human race, it's just not cool. We will fight against Anonalogist non-sex marriage to the bitter end. It's just not natural."

For More Information Contact:
daveberta media centre
daveberta@linuxmail.org

Anonalogue promoting mumbo-jumboism

FOR IMEDIATE RELEASE

Anonalogue promoting mumbo-jumboism
daveberta calls on right-winger to come clean on his secret agenda of non-sex marriage

EDMONTON- Following today's shocking accusations from right-wing blogger and Anne Cools-a-holic, Anonalogue, daveberta is calling on the Blogging Tory member to come clean on his secret agenda.

In an email dated Monday, August 15, 2005, Mr. Anonalogue denounced the wonderful chris-face original Southparkization of daveberta's Editor-in-Chief. In his email, Mr. Anonalogue ranted that he was "shocked and outraged" and that "the word 'Liberal' does not belong in the same .jpeg as an assault rifle."

Anonalogue continued his rant with the bold statements that "[t]here is no such thing as a South Park Liberal..." only "…South Park Conservatives," and that "[y]ou can be a Liberal. Or you can be a South Park fan. But you cannot be a Liberal and a South Park fan."

Earlier today, Mr. Anonalogue continued to pontificate his cartoon-induced rage in the comment section of the great blog known as daveberta with the "DEMAND[ing]" that the editors of daveberta remove the "viciously heteronomative… picture from his website and replace it with a… less heterosexual image more befitting of a gun registry and gay marriage supporter, like this."

Daveberta's Editor-in-Chief responded, “Mr. Anonalogue’s attack on chris-face's masterpiece is an attack on all artists and freedom lovers. This gentleman is clearly on a mission to spread the dark ideas of mumbo-jumboism. One day he professes his love for libertarianism and Anne Cools, and then denounces it the next." The Editor-in-Chief continued "it is quite clear that Mr. Anonalogue's statements regarding the ‘vicious heteronomative’ images in the masterpiece are signs of his secret agenda of implementing non-sex marriage in Canada."

Daveberta’s Editorial Board unanimously endorsed the following statement: "Conservative ducks such as Mr. Anonalogue have lost their battle against same-sex marriage and now they want to ruin it for us all. Not only is the principle of non-sex marriage clearly opposed by a majority of the human race, it's just not cool and we will fight against Anonalogist non-sex marriage to the bitter end. It's just not natural."

---30---

For more information contact
daveberta media centre
daveberta@linuxmail.org

russian political porn

Yes, you read the title correctly.

From today's Globe & Mail.

"Ukraine, Georgia fuming over planned Russian sex film

By GRAEME SMITH
Monday, August 15, 2005 Page A10

MOSCOW -- Alexei Mitrofanov, deputy leader of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party, says he cannot understand the ruckus over his dirty movie.

What's so wrong, he asks, about writing a film script that imagines a steamy rendezvous between a buxom woman named Yulia and a darkly handsome gentleman named Mikhail?

What does it matter if the porn star selected for the role of Yulia wears the same braided hairstyle as Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko? Or that she climbs into a Russian attack helicopter, zooms over the mountains along Georgia's northern border and makes love to someone who resembles Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili?"

You can read the rest of the article here.

Crazy Russians.

council scrapbook

Snapshots of a weekend in Banff at the Council of the Federation.


Campbell: "Yo digity! West-coast!"
Doer: "I came all the way to Alberta to wear a garbage bag???"


Klein: "Don't f*** with Alberta!"


Lord: "tee hee hee!"
Charest: "Bless you my children. Tonight, I shall part the Red Sea."
McGuinty: "Why did I leave Toronto, again? Only two more days. Two more days. Two more days..."


Calvert: "So I says to Mabel, I says..."


"Goin' off the rails on the crazy train (with the fine china)..."

old fogy club.

Has anybody noticed how aged some of Canada's provincial Premiers look?


Sask Premier Lorne Calvert


Alberta Premier Ralph Klein


Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm


BC Premier Gordon Campbell

and kind of...


PEI Premier Pat Binns

party at jim's!

We thought this was pretty cool.

Apparently, Green Party of Canada Leader, Jim Harris (affectionately known to millions as: Jim who?) is hosting a pool party! The party, which is to celebrate the Green Party's rise in the polls (which I've lost track of- the plethora of late has given me poll fatigue), is going to be held in Jim's own backyard!

Now, we just think this is the coolest thing ever. When was the last time Paul Martin had a kegger at 24 Sussex, or Stephen Harper had a BBQ party at Stornoway? (maybe they have and we just don't know about it).

*100% props to Lex Luthor for this one.*

paul and stephen do hollywood.

We're overtired, bored, and just got our internet connection set up in the new house. Henceforth, we decided to create this in celebration of our move to the south side of the river.

Please enjoy responsibly.

Sincerely,

daveberta editorial board.

*100% props are sent to Allie via Duncan for showing us this wonderful feature on that website.* :-)

san quentin

"Johnny Cash at San Quentin" has become our latest obsession. It's on the office itunes, but we bought the CD this weekend. Sweet. Johnny Cash rocks.

A little busy this week (translation: less time to slack), so posting won't be as frequent in the off-season of August.

BTW: One of the best song lyrics EVER...

Folsom Prison Blues

When I was just a baby,
My Mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy,
Don't ever play with guns,"
But I shot a man in Reno,
Just to watch him die,
When I hear that whistle blowin',
I hang my head and cry.

premiers annual golf tournament

"Toot toot!" The "Premiers Express" goes to Banff.

Canada's provincial Premiers will be meeting in Banff this week (August 10-12) to hold their annual golf tournament, which is also known as the "Council of the Federation."

The week will start off with a train-ride from Calgary to Banff (see above).

According to the Globe & Mail:


"[d]eveloping a national plan on post-secondary education and training will top the agenda when the country's provincial and territorial leaders gather this week in the Rocky Mountains for their annual meeting."

Well, as much as we hope that they seriously discuss and take action on this issue, we're willing to bet that it won't take long before the meeting becomes another bickerfest between the provinces and the feds.

PREMTIVE NOTE TO PREMIERS AND FEDS: Both of your funds come from the same taxpayer. Quit acting like 8 year-olds and start some action on PSE!

You can find more info on the "Council of the Federation" annual golf conference in Banff here.

c'est moi?

Thanks to the incredible chris-face for this wonderful South Parkization of daveberta's Editor in Chief.

BTW: To the ladies, in real life, his guns are way bigger. Watch out for his guns. They'll getcha. :P

under seige?

Thanks, C-lo. Look what you started!

Look who was dropped by yesterday.

Domain Name		army.mil ? (Military)
IP Address		206.37.243.# (Naval Ocean Systems Center)
ISP		Naval Ocean Systems Center
Location		Continent : North America Country : United States (Facts) State : California
Language		English (United States) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft Win2000

We've barred the gates of the city, but we still can't believe the US Army is still using Windows 2000!

daveberta readers rebuke the alberta ndp

The once mighty Alberta NDP-Army flees daveberta.

For Immediate Release
August 5, 2005

Edmonton - In the wake of the recent "Shannon-gate" scandal, daveberta readers have responded in full force.

On Monday, August 1st, Ms. Shannon Phillips, the Communications Director of the Alberta NDP Caucus responded to a recent daveberta post regarding Edmonton Strathcona ND MLA Raj Pannu's rumoured intention to step down in order to make way for Larry Booi to run for the Alberta NDP in a by-election.

Since the "Shannon-gate" fiasco began, daveberta has received many comments and emails in response to Ms. Phillips comment. Many were received after the official daveberta response to Ms. Phillips.

Though the daveberta editorial board does not officially support comments left in said section, in the spirit of open and transparent blogging, included below are reactions from loyal daveberta readers on "Shannon-gate":

Aaron said: "NDP? Who are they? They're from Ontario, right? :P"

Tyler said: "Who ever thought the Alberta NDP could afford to be that smug! Woo Hoo! 4 seats!"

Baghdad Bob said: "I won't believe Raj until he signs a reporter's notebook that says 3 3/4 years!"

Holtopia said: "The Alberta NDP is definately hiding something..."

Ken said: "I am glad to know the NDP still has many over confident individuals, such as yourself. I would like to assure you personally that although the candidate your party elects may propose many ideas that begin with a dollar sign and end with a lot of zeroes, my candidate will have more than "nice ideas". I already have multiple candidates actively seeking [the Alberta Liberal] nomination, and these are people who believe in education and health care.

I appreciate your suggestion that "the riding association will remain as moribund as it has been for the last few years". Please continue to spread this rumour through your party circles, because it will lead to many of your volunteers staying home, and make my job that much easier.

and finally...

Allie said: ""… if it was simply a chalked up rumour, then why is it even worth a response? Especially from someone as high in up the Alberta NDP echelons as Ms. Phillips?"

"High up in the NDP echelons?" That’s "the most preposterous thing I have heard all day!" With only FOUR MLA’s what on earth is high up anyways? Don’t make me laugh. Ms Phillip’s just has this much time on her hands. Scanning local blog posts for slights against the NDP (a fulltime job in itself I imagine) and responding to them in her trademark "I’m better and know more than you" fashion. It’s exactly this type of response that leads people to dismiss the NDP as anything but serious.

Someone catch Ms Phillips before she falls off her chair."

For More Information Contact:
daveberta media centre
email.daveberta@linuxmail.org

god bless ezra and his western standards.

It appears as if Aaron is in a full pitched epic battle with Western Standard Editor, Ezra Levant (Who apparently got an "A" in "undergraduate stats." Of course, Ralph Klein got a "B" on his Chilean History paper, so we here at daveberta remain more than a little skeptical).

We recommend that Aaron use the trusty "left hook jab" in his battle.

Most sincerely,

daveberta editorial board

blog of the week: folk fest blog!

For pure entertainment purposes, we recommend that EVERYONE with access to the blogosphere stop and check out the hip and cool Folk Fest Blog.

We first discovered this blog about 3 months ago, and we sincerely thank the always wonderful Sheamus Murphy for letting us know that it's back up and running in preparation for this weekend's Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

And on that note, the Folk Fest Blog is this week's "blog of the week."

Sadly, us folk fest loving cowboys over at daveberta won't be joining the Folk Festivities this weekend. :-( Instead, we're spending our weekend moving Daveberta's International Headquarters from the awesome west-downtown Oliver area to the chic-University area of Garneau.

But rest assured, we will only be listening to Johnny Cash, Ruthie Foster, and Allison Krauss. ;-)

Cheers.

D :)

mtv ad's banned by us gov't

Thanks to the always cool and attentive daveberta readership for passing these images our way.

We're not sure if this has hit the MSM yet, but apparently, these are clips from a MTV commercial that were recently banned by the US Government.

According to the email, they only aired once before the strong arm of the US Government took them down.

We haven't heard anything else about this issue, but they make some pretty bold and strong statements.

So, either it's a hoax, or it just hasn't hit the MSM yet. Does anyone know? Thoughts? Comments?

UPDATE: Geoff over at What the Deuce? has written his take on this.

daveberta rebuked by the mighty alberta ndp

The mighty Alberta NDP Army marches on daveberta.

It seems that we may have struck a nerve with a recent post (now we know how Warren feels ;-)...

In our post titled, "raj resigning?" we mused about a rumour that we had heard from two separate individuals that ND MLA Dr. Raj Pannu may be planning to resign this fall to make way for Larry Booi to run in a by-election.

Now, we must reiterate, these are simply rumours. Rumours come and rumours go. Most of them actually die when they're left be. The editorial board at daveberta was perfectly fine in letting this post simply be that: one post.

One post, left to wither for eternity, forgotten in the archives of this great blog.

But alas, through the miracle of blog comment sections, the Communications Director of the Mighty Alberta NDP Caucus of 4, Ms. Shannon Phillips, has responded in full force to our post and the comments left by ourselves and your fellow daveberta readers.

Of course, we would never dream of letting daveberta's loyal readers miss out on such an exciting event. So, here is Ms. Phillips response in full to our post, followed by our response to Ms. Phillips.

Ms. Phillips Response:

"This is the most preposterous thing I have heard all day.

First, Raj is not resigning anytime soon.

Second, people have been lining up to contest the NDP nomination in Edm-Strathcona, for like, 5 years. There are lots of them. There are even some in the rumour mill that would rival Larry in the name rec department. Not that Larry is interested in running, at least not at this stage.

Third, it's a nice idea that the Libs could run a strong campaign, but nice ideas aren't what carries the day in politics. I suspect that when it comes to the next general election (or the one after that, one never knows, especially if Ralph retires sooner rather than later), the Strath NDP will have nominated someone of sufficient calibre that the Strath Liberals will have a hard time, as a central campaign, justifying putting money into that race (given the state of the finances, still after all these years since that disastrous MacBeth campaign), and the riding association will remain as moribund as it has been for the last few years.

Of course, the Liberals could just step up their fundraising efforts from corporate Alberta, which is certainly how they financed a large chunk of the 2004 campaign. Maybe Big Oil would be willing to bankroll someone?"

Our response:
"Thanks for the post, Shannon.

Hope you at least enjoyed the rest of our blog!

First, thanks for so suspiciously promptly refuting our post.

Second, we're sure there are those who will run for the ND nomination in Strathcona when Raj resigns. We never challenged that.

Third, "nice ideas aren't what carries the day in politics" is why the Alberta NDP will never come even close to forming Government or Official Opposition in Alberta. But, seeing as how you are seem to be so connected with information on the Alberta Liberals, we'll just have to take your word for it. ;-)

Fourth, we don't speak for the Alberta Liberals or control their fundraising. If you don't like their methods, we suggest you call their office.

Cheers,

D :-)"

Perhaps the rumours are simply that, rumours. We're willing to accept that. But, it makes us wonder, if it was simply a chalked up rumour, then why is it even worth a response? Especially from someone as high in up the Alberta NDP echelons as Ms. Phillips?

Is the Alberta NDP hiding something?

UPDATE: We thought "Jim's" response to Shannon was pretty fun:

"Yes, the staggering financial power of the "Alberta Views"-backed Alberta Liberal Party is really indicative of the large piles of corporate cash they're rolling in, Shannon. [/sarcasm]

Honestly, when Alberta Views magazine is your largest business backer, the case that the Alberta Liberal Party is fueled by corporate cash is weak at best. Corporations have better things to do with their money than buy the Alberta Liberal Party -- like buying the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, for instance.

holy schmoly! senate appointments!

Today, the gods of patronage have blessed five lucky Canadians with Senatorial tenure to 75.

The PMO released the names today of 5 new Senators.

Here's the list:

Andrée Champagne (Quebec-Tory): Former Mulroney Cabinet Minister

Dennis Dawson (Quebec-Liberal): Former Trudeau Cabinet Minister.

Hugh Segal (Ontario-Tory): Former Chief of Staff to Brian Mulroney; Former PC Leadership Candidate; and President of the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

Larry Campbell (BC-Liberal): Mayor of Vancouver; DaVinci's Inquest guy (but not as cool as Quincy).

Rod Zimmer (Manitoba-Liberal): Businessman; Liberal Bagman.

You can read their full bios here

grandinite's top 40

Aaron over at Grandinite has put together a top 40 annoying Canadians list. Check it out.

raj resigning?

I've heard two separate rumours that Edmonton Strathcona ND MLA Raj Pannu is planning to retire this fall to clear the way for Larry Booi to contest the seat in a by-election for the Dippers.

Pannu, 71, was elected as the MLA for Edmonton Strathcona in 1997 in a close 3-way race which saw Pannu defeat Liberal Mary MacDonald by less than 60 votes with Tory John Logan less than 200 votes behind. He was the Alberta NDP Leader from 2000 to 2004 and led to them to a massive 2-seat landslide in 2001!

Larry Booi, former Alberta Teacher's Association President, ran for the ND's in Edmonton Glenora during last November's provincial election. He was defeated by Liberal Bruce Miller.

Here are the results from Edmonton Strathcona since 1989:

1989
Gordon Wright, ND- 6,696
Philip Lister, Lib- 4,237
Jack Scott, PC- 3,724

1990* By-Election
Barrie Chivers, ND- 4,927
Nadene Thomas, Lib- 2,252
Eric Young, PC- 1,512
Betty Paschen, Grn- 424
Robert Alford, SC- 224

1993
Al Zariwny, Lib- 6,542
Barrie Chivers, ND- 5,121
Don Grimble, PC- 4,071
Patrick Ellis, SC- 460
Betty Paschen, Grn- 253
Ben Toane, NLP- 108
Noami Rankin, Com- 47

1997
Raj Pannu, ND- 4,274
Mary MacDonald, Lib- 4,214
John Logan, PC- 4,096
John Forget, SC- 552
Myles Kitagawa, Grn- 236
Eshwar Jagdeo, NLP- 47

2001
Raj Pannu, ND- 6,998
John Logan, PC- 4,749
Jim Jacuta, Lib- 1,944
James Lakinn, AFP- 136

2004
Raj Pannu, ND- 7,430
Shannon Stubbs, PC- 2,256
Steven Leard, Lib- 1,850
Adrian Cole, Grn- 287
Jeremy Burns, AA- 275
Kelly Graham, SC- 162