thomas homer-dixonmania!

For those of you interested, the University of Alberta Students' Union will be beginning their annual Revolutionary Speakers Series next week!



The first speaker of the 2005-06 series will be Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon (on October 18th!).

Dr. Homer-Dixon is the author of The Ingenuity Gap, and Director of the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto.

His lecture, titled: The Ingenuity Challenge: Surviving the 21st Century, will epically cross the following terrain...

"Global warming. Emergent diseases. Energy shortages. Infoglut. International financial instability. Mega-terrorism. Are the problems we’re confronting as individuals, societies, and a species becoming more difficult? If so, can we solve them? Thomas Homer-Dixon will address these questions by looking at how societies adapt to complex change. The 21st century promises to be among the most perilous in humankind's brief history, but it will also offer unprecedented opportunities for renewal and social creativity."

This will be a great lecture, so make sure to come and check it out!

corporate sponsorship....

We just found out last night that next week we'll be attending the Canada 2005 Conference as a guest of the Edmonton Journal. Though we may have many issues with the general declining quality of the CanWest newspaper chain, we thank the Journal for their generous payment of our delegate fee. :-)

It should be an interesting event. You can check out the program here.

So, as you can see (after you check out the program), the political star-studdednes of this conference will make for some VERY interesting blogging. Be prepared for multi-day blog action next week.

The political nerd in us can't wait to chat it up with the likes of Bob Rae, Lorne Calvert, Ralph Klein, Don Getty, Jeffery Simpson, Allan Blakeney, and Grant Devine... more soon.

wine and cheese evening...

This evening, we attended a reception/lecture care of the University of Alberta School of Business at the Westin Hotel. The evening, which hosted guest lecturer Dr. Mark Jaccard of the School of Resource and Environment Management at Simon Fraser University, was interesting.

Dr. Jaccard made a hour-long presentation titled "Sustainable Fossil Fuels: How Alberta's fossil fuels can be this century's cheapest source of clean energy." As he flew through the hour-long lecture fairly fast, it was very clear that the entire evening was a sales pitch for his new book.

As we discussed with fellow attendees at the reception following the lecture (hosted by EPCOR), our definition of 'sustainability' and that of Dr. Jaccard were clearly two different entities (ours being a source of energy that will last potentially forever-hence, sustainable, and his being one which would last for about 100 years-maybe). Also, his seemingly pro-nuclear undertones were fairly alarming.

All things aside, we did have a nice conversation at the reception with Tory MP Ken Epp and Alberta Liberal MLA Bill Bonko, who were also around to check out the show.

Also, the free Chardonnay was nice.

seriousness

People who take their blogs too seriously are knobs. We do it for entertainment. Once it isn't fun anymore, we're gonna shut this thingy down.

Luckily, it's still providing us with ample entertainment.

the guru says...

"...Peter Mackay's visit to campus has been cancelled."

candidatatorial websites

Aside from floating the idea of a K-14 education system, it looks like Advanced Ed Minister Dave Hancock is setting up a leadership website here (it also has a better picture than this one).

Also, for those of you who haven't yet checked it out, Nicole Martel is running for the Federal Liberal nomination in Edmonton East and has set up a website with a cool blog (some you may know of Nicole from her former blog: GoPolitical.ca - which is now automatically linked to her new site). Currently, Nicole is running unopposed for the nomination, but rumours are floating around that Dan McLennan, President of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, and potentally former Edmonton Mayor Jan Reimer (Mayor from 1989 to 1995) may take a run for the Liberal nomination in Edmonton East.

So far in Edmonton East, the Tories have renominated the wanna-be President of Turks & Caicos, Peter Goldring, and the ND's have nominated former coordinator for the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters, Arlene Chapman.

We've known Nicole for a number of years and can definitely say with extreme confidence that she will make a great candidate come the next Federal election.

mari-ju-an-a!

We're currently sitting here in SUB looking at the paper that will not end. The sheer suckiness of it is sucking the life forces out of us. Literally!

We started it last Wednesday and don't feel like it’s EVER going to end. It's not a big paper by any stretch of the imagination. We planned for it to only be 7-8 pages. But, like a mole in a hole, we are approaching the eight pages with no end in sight. Arg! We really dislike these small paper types. All we want to do is write our little heart out, and they restrict us... anyway...

We're sitting here in SUB and we can only be described as a refugee from our massive pot-headed housemate. We're like the Palestinians of Garneau! (kidding...) We have nothing against mari-ju-an-a on its own, it’s the moron on the other side is the problem. 24/7 can be a little overwhelming. It’s like living with Cheech or Chong (the non-cool one-the one that wasn’t on Nash Bridges). Our friend thinks he's a dealer. We don't think he's smart enough to pull that off.

Anyway… for the record, the wireless connection here in SUB sucks in a major way. So far, we've been sitting here for over 3 hours and have had to reconnect over 20 times. We're willing to accept that it could be our lame PC laptop, but we're not ruling out that it's the fault of that shady organization known as the 'Students' Union.' Shady bunch, indeed. ;-) Maybe we’ll write an epic story for this blog soon. We’ll see… Anyway, back to the paper mill...

ADDENUM 1.1: We see that the scoundrel of Calgary himself, Mr. C. Grit has linked us up in a post again. Props for the linkage, Mr. Grit. You are a lady and a gentleman.

ADDENUM 1.2: For those of you interested in heckling, Mr. Peter Mackay will be on the U of A campus on Thursday speaking about how he gave up the chance to be Nova Scotia's Premier or something.

arg.

arg. papers. mindshattering of late.

случайный

At least an hour of wasted time here.

Also, there's a new Strongbad email.

placing odds on the next king of alberta...

We meant to post this a while ago...

For those of you who haven't seen last month's edition of Alberta Venture Magazine, odds have been placed on successors to King Ralph's throne*...

Here they are...

Jim Dinning (former MLA Calgary-Lougheed): 2-1
Dave Hancock (MLA Edmonton-Whitemud): 5-1
Iris Evans (MLA Sherwood Park): 16-1
Ted Morton (MLA Foothills-Rockyview): 8-1
Mark Norris (defeated MLA Edmonton-McClung): 9-1
Lyle Oberg (MLA Strathmore-Brooks): 8-1
Ed Stelmach (MLA Ft. Saskatchewan-Vegreville): 4-1

Obviously, many of the rumours being flushed through the grapevine come our way and trying to filter through them is a definite challenge.

But, if the rumours have a trend, the trend is:

1. Klein will be gone sooner than later (emphasis on *sooner*). Many of the rumours hint of recent and past health problems coming to roost. This shouldn't be surprising when speaking of a career politician in his mid-60s (stress, age, history of drinking problems, etc).

2. Though it's very early in the race, it's looking to be a Dinning/Stelmach race. If Dinning can take it on the first ballot, then he's got it. If not, look for Stelmach to be a force to be reckoned with on the second ballot. We've also heard rumours that the Godfather of Alberta Conservative politics, Speaker Ken Kowalski, has endorsed Mr. Stelmach's campaign... this is huge when it comes to pulling the rural PC vote.

3. Don't underestimate the darkhorse of the race: Dr. Ted Morton. Our sources deep in the Calgary Tory establishment tell us of a right-wing insugency with hundreds of pro-Morton PC memberships being sold. This is a scary thought.

4. Don't forget that in many ways, this leadership race is a battle between the rural and urban factions within the Alberta Tory caucus. There are some pretty deep divisions. Look for them to manifest into some fairly entertaining firework shows in the coming months as the urban and rural leadership candidates begin to seriously position themselves publicly.

*The odds were produced by an anonymous panel of seven Albertans drawn from business, labour, academia, and journalism.

wtf alberta (continued)

(Opening scene: two beautiful maiden's bathing in pristine pools of Alberta crude)

Maiden #1: "ahh. To be an advertizing firm in oil-rich Alberta."

Maiden #2: "Indeed."

(End scene)

voltaire's bastard party.

Watch out Paul. Stephen. Jack.

There's a new political force to be reckoned with.

"The Art of Natural Family Planning: An Examination of Political Upheaval in Paradise."

Stroff Waggardly

Columniste politique and professional pedant.

The political establishment rolled on with its customary inertia today, barely cognizant of the shifting political landscape. And how the landscape did shift, like the earth that moves in a slow slump annually. Today, a new party arose from foam and seashells off the coast of the Hadriantic Sea: not a party of love or of myth, but rather a party politic. Yea unto them who have grown a-weary of Hot Datum's vegetable and vegetative tyranny. The members of the newly-constituted Voltaire's Bastard Party established an executive, a charter, and a raison d'etre en retard. The political parties of convention occupy an ever-wavering position on the left-right political spectrum, but for these Voltacrats, that is passe compose - a tired relic of the political paleontological record. Instead, the Voltaire's Bastard Party intends to occupy the realm of "the unstupid, rather than the unwashed."

Read the rest here.

randomness...

Lawyer, n. One skilled in the circumvention of the law.

Theories are always very thin and insubstantial, experience only is tangible.

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.

You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.

To save time is to lengthen life.

Opportunity knocked. My doorman threw him out.

A full cup must be carried steadily.

$133.00

well, we're glad we don't have to write an entire new post about this.

To see our opinion, click here, and replace 'provincial' with 'federal,' '$400' with '$133,' and 'Ralph Klein's Tories' with 'Paul Martin's Liberals,' etc, etc, etc...

sorry, mr. speaker. the premier's on vacation.

Just in case any of you missed the news from last week, it turns out that Alberta's glorious and beloved leader, Premier Ralph Klein, is planning on missing most of the upcoming session of the Alberta Legislature to continue his 2005 Lame-Duck Farwell Tour.

While Klein spent quite a bit of time traveling through the US, Europe, and Africa this summer, he'll be continuing his tour in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and British Columbia when the Legislature is expected to resume for a 2-3 week fall session in November. Though we're not quite sure what exactly the purpose of Glorious Leader's trip is, we can bet that it'll have something to do with the reason the Harper Conservative's will lose the next election.

Though it's no secret that our dearest Premier holds not much more than arrogant contempt for the role of the elected assembly, he must think that by divvying up $400 rebate cheques to every Albertan, he somehow doesn't have to show up. Wow.

From drunkenly kicking homeless people to verbally attacking women MLA's, to now skipping out on session, this Premier continues to give Albertans no shortage of reasons to be embarrassed about him.

But, if anything, it should be entertaining to watch the candidates for the 2006 Tory Leadership Race kick the bejesus out of each other in their scramble for the spotlight when Klein's skip's town this fall.

the peace of art.

We went to the Margaret MacMillan lecture at the Myer Horowitz Theatre at the U of A yesterday evening. The lecture, which was titled "The Art of Peace," was enjoyable and from what we understand was basically a recap of her Paris 1919 book (which we have yet to read).

But it was an entertaining history lesson none the less.

The pre-lecture period was particularly interesting. It included a number of introductions.... the first began with the introduction of U of A Provost & VP Academic Carl Amrhein by an academic whose name escapes us. In turn, Dr. Armhein introduced history Professor and past-Provost of the U of A, Dr. Doug Owram, who in turn introduced Dr. MacMillan (if we missed an introduction, we apologize, it was slightly overwhelming). The post-lecture period included a somewhat lengthy 'donation pitch' from a Professor Emeritus whose name escapes us. We aren't quite sure on whose behalf he was soliciting, but after paying our tuition fees last week, we were quite happy that the lecture was free.

Interestingly enough, Dr. MacMillan, who is also the Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Trinity College at the University of Toronto has posted office hours: "available to all members of the Trinity community to discuss any subject they wish." This left us wondering whether we would be able to get an appointment to meet with Dr. Armhein if we called his office at U-Hall. hmmm....

And by the way, only 43 more days until Walk the Line is released in theatres! Huzzah!

snobbery...

You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.


What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

(props to Toronto Tory for the quiz link)

jailhouse blues for ritter...

From Thursday....

Michael Ritter will stay in jail, Court of Queen's Bench rules
Thursday, September 29, 2005

Michael Ritter will be staying in the Edmonton Remand Centre until his case goes to trial, a judge has ruled.

"The court denies Mr. Ritter's request for review of bail," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Joanne Veit wrote in her decision issued Thursday.

Ritter, Alberta's former chief parliamentary counsel, was charged earlier this month in the largest money-laundering case in Alberta's history.

It's alleged he conspired with Wall Street energy trader Dan Gordon to launder $43 million US stolen from the Merrill Lynch brokerage firm.

You can read the rest here....

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

hurricane alberta

This was forwarded to us by a very cool Daveberta reader. Thanks, Marianne! :-)

Tory Leadership Survey! Fill it out!

Daveberta reader and EMBA student, Aarn Wennekers, has forwarded us an awesome survey that he has set up as part of his studies at Queen's University (and just like Grandinite's Great Canadian Blog Survey, Aarn's survey is quite awesome).

Aarn's online survey deals with the political question that's at the forefront of every Albertns mind: Who's going to replace Alberta PC Premier Ralph Klein when he eventually decides to step down (and follow John Hamm's lead)?

Will it be former Treasurer Jim Dinning? Ted "Firewall" Morton? Minister of "Staying out of the Limelight" Ed Stelmach? Advanced Ed Minister Dave Hancock? Defeated Minister Mark Norris? Clay Aitken look-a-like Lyle Oberg?

Well, luckily for you, here's a chance to have your opinion counted in an awesome survey!

Stop by and fill out the PC Party of Alberta Leadership Survey!