fall session

We hope you all enjoyed yesterday's Gomery Day festivities. We sure did.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programing.

Cut to set of Channel 17 Broadcast News

News Anchor: "Good Morning and thank you for joining us."

"In today's bizarre news feature, the Alberta Legislature will be meeting this fall to pass what is commonly known in other provincial juristictions as 'legislation,' and participate in a even more bizarre ritual known as 'Question Period.'"

"Our investigative reporters were not able to determine what shape or form this 'legislation' will take, but local officials are warning parents to bring their children in before dark and keep their animals in the safety of their back yards. If you see this elusive legislation, please contact your local police deparment immediately."

"It is also being reported by an anonymous source within the Legislature that the fall session, which begins on November 15 and will run for two or three weeks, is starting just in time for the rural Tory MLA's to bring their wives into the city for some Christmas shopping on the taxpayers tab."

"We will keep you updated as this story unfolds."

(FADE TO BLACK)

(End Scene)

chretien time.

We're sitting here watching the Chretien press conference. And we've learned a number of things...

1. Jean and Aline Chretien like music. So does Michel Béliveau.

2. He really doesn't like Paul Martin. Or Jean LaPierre. Or Stephen LeDrew. Or Stephen Harper. Or the NDP. He just about slagged everyone.

3. He's either really really smart, or insane. The press conference was so random. Balls? Invading the United States? Wha?

4. Jean Chretien is WAAAAY more entertaining than Paul Martin.

12:30 gomery recap.

arg. We should have been spending the morning writing papers, but instead we found ourselves sitting in front of the television watching CBC Newsworld's coverage of the Gomery Report.

Watching QP right now.

As for the press conferences...

Jack Layton's press conference was interesting. He now needs to be fairly careful in what he decides to do. He called the Liberals corrupt, so can he now save face if the NDP continues to prop up Mr. Martin's minority government or will the NDP move to topple the Liberals.

Stephen Harper didn't do a bad job. His press conference went well in our opinion. He was calm and not overly angry, which looked good.

The Prime Minister's press conference wasn't bad. He mentioned the Liberal Party as little as possible. He also had a good game for the most part, but we could tell he was getting tired come the end. He was starting to bumble by the end. We doubt Mr. Martin got very much sleep last night. He did fairly well in not answering questions about Jean Chretien, referring them to the Gomery Report. Gagliano=BANNED. $1.14 Million refunded...

Former Prime Minsiter Jean Chretien's press conference is going to be held at 5pm eastern time (3pm Alberta time). That one should be interesting...

and... can someone explain to us why is Jean LaPierre in Cabinet, again?

gagliano.

BANNED.

bo bomery.

Last night, on Halloween, we joined around 100-200 University of Alberta students on the annual Trick or Eat event, collecting donations for the campus foodbank in the neighbourhoods around campus (Belgravia, Windsor Park, Garneau). It was alot of fun and felt like being a little kid again! Our group alone collected about 3 bins of food! Also... lots of candy!

We thought about dressing up as our favorite Whitehouse character, Scooter, but we didn't think anyone would get it. So, we dressed up as a business student instead. ;-)

Also.... our advanced copy never showed and Johnny G. wasn't answering his cell, so....

gomery gomery bo bomery banana fana fo fomery. fee fie fo fomery... GOMERY!

advanced gomery

We're sitting here waiting for our advanced copy of the Gomery Report to arrive via Fedex... it hasn't arrived yet. We're only waiting 1 more hour before we call Johnny G. to see where our copy is.

indeed.

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. Do what you can."

Sydney Smith
1771-1845, Writer and Clergyman

cold hearted bastard.

Though we deplore AIDS and Cancer jokes, we are less than partial to the odd tsunami joke...

(Props to Nastyboy for the quiz linkage)

kick.

We went to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra last Friday (with our noses tilted slightly higher).

It was nice. Bill Eddins, the conductor, rocks. He was all over the place. It was entertaining to just watch him.

(Also, Canada Post has earned a spot in our naughty book this past week. No Christmas card for them this year.)

boo!

Happy Halloween.

now with 60% more hippies.

The Green Party of Canada is holding a logo design contest... we couldn't help but join the fun!

Here's what we came up with...

olympia.

The Turino Winter Olympics are going to be held February 10-26, 2006.

We're looking forward to it.

what happened after...

...we posted the leaked Alberta rebate cheques designs.

banff vs. jasper.

Being the political nerds we are, we thought we'd look back at some of the results from last November's Provincial Election.

Today, we look at the results from two of Alberta's well-known Rocky Mountain towns: Banff and Jasper. Though this post shouldn't be mistaken for a "cognative analysis" of any kind, we hope you enjoy the charts we made. ;-)

We didn't find it very surprising that Banff voters supported a more right-wing party, but we were a little surprised at the political plurialism found in the beautiful mountain town of Jasper... we knew there was a reason why we like Jasper more than Banff...

A quick look at the electoral history of Jasper, in the West Yellowhead riding, will show that it has elected opposition MLA's in the past. New Democrat Jerry Doyle (1989-93) and Liberal Duco VanBinsbergen (1993-97). In 1997, VanBinsbergen was edged out by Tory Ivan Strang. In 2001, Strang cruised to re-election and was also re-elected in 2004. So, West Yellowhead has a tradition of sometime electing opposition MLA's...



Banff, in the Banff-Cochrane riding, voted fairly solidly Tory, though we were very surprised at the strength of the Alberta Green vote in Banff, edging out the Liberals for second place.



Not that was wanted to prove anything critical with this post. We just like making charts.

AA = Alberta Alliance
AG = Alberta Greens
LIB = Alberta Liberals
ND = Alberta NDP
PC = Progressive Conservative

welcome to the mother ship.

Nice to see that 10 years after the boom began, they're finally thinking about coordinating development in the Oil Sands...

...in a press release from Alberta's Public Affairs Bureau and Alberta Energy released the other day titled "Province Developing a plan to Coordinate Oil Sands Development."

Also...

"The environment is our Mother ship, and it is important that we focus on sustainable development that preserves the natural resources and beauty of our province."
- Alberta Environment Minister Guy Boutillier

Welcome to the Mother Ship...

our scoop.

Holy smokes...

It appears our scoopage of the Globe & Mail on the Alberta rebate cheque designs story (much to the dismay of mr. c-lo) has boosted our blog traffic up a little bit from to the usual daily 90-100ish to around 400 visitors today.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed and come back to visit. :-)

(Extra props go to Calgary Grit, Dust My Broom, Red Between the Lines, and Matthew Good (we own 3 of your CD's...) for the linkage - which had much to do with the boost in traffic - sorry if we missed anyone).

prosperity cheque designs leaked!

The designs of Alberta's upcoming rebate cheques have been leaked to us at daveberta by a crafty individual with close ties to the Alberta government.

Here they are....













UPDATE/WARNING: It's been insinuated that these may not actually be the real Alberta rebate/prosperity cheque designs. As disappointing as this is, we urge you to view them at your own risk - and yes, we realize the irony of having the 'warning' at the bottom of the post... (also, if you like ponies and pachyderms)

diamonds are forever.

It's very windy outside.

For those of you interested, we're currently reading the Canadian Institute for Resource Law's Independent Review of the BHP Diamond Mine Process (June 30, 1997) for our Canadian Public Policy Seminar.

It's more interesting than it sounds.

Also, has anyone listened to the new Franz Ferdinand album? (which of course, could never be good as the first Franz Ferdinand) We're sorry to say we're slightly disappointed this time around...

more tory patronage...

Alberta's Conservative government launched another round of fairly obvious patronage appointments last week...

Karen Kryczka, Tory MLA for Calgary West (1997-2004), was appointed to the Board of the Alberta Foundation of the Arts.

Bob Clark, Social Credit MLA for Olds-Didsbury (1960-81), Socred Leader (1977-81), and Alberta's "Ethics Commissioner" (1992-2003), was appointed to the Natural Resource Conservation Board.

the question is alberta?

Tomorrow, on the U of A campus, the Question is Alberta, and some local and not so local politicians will be speaking...

From 4pm to 5pm, Parkland Institute Executive Director Ricardo Acuna and Edmonton Strathcona NDP MLA Dr. Raj Pannu will be speaking on "Alberta's Lack of Vision for the Surplus" at Dewey's.

From 5:30pm to 6:30pm, Alberta Liberal Leader and Edmonton Riverview MLA Kevin Taft and Calgary Currie Liberal MLA Dave Taylor will be speaking on "Where is Alberta?" at Dewey's as well.

If you have the chance, come out and meet some of Alberta's premiere opposition MLA's and critics...

corn chips are no place for...

...a mighty warrior. The tenth issue-versary edition of teengirl squad is out.

(props to peter and geoff for the link)

Also... new Strongbad email!

from the depths of alberta hansard

"I hear a rattle, Mr. Speaker, I think the minister just had an idea."

Nick Taylor, Liberal MLA for Westlock-Sturgeon (1986-93) and Redwater (1993-96), and Alberta Senator (1996-2002)

if penguins could fly would they make a "THUD" on impact

busy weekend. most posting soon.

in the mean time... this has quite the political message, plus, it's kind of funny...



(props to Mr. Ryan Payne for the pic)

how appropriate...

The idealistic speechwriter is well-liked by just about everyone. He's known for his excellent writing, sense of humor, and tendency to be clutzy. Although being younger than the rest of the staff, he's often treated as so, much to his dismay.

:: Which West Wing character are you? ::

(Ironic props to Sam for the quiz linkage)

better than dingwall.

Ahh. Tonight, as we read about the general lameness of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA), we are also reminiscing about how good the magical first four seasons of the West Wing were. Josh, Sam, Toby, CJ. Political superstars. Total fun entertainment. The assassination attempt, the MS scandal, the re-election.

Last Sunday night, we caught part of the West Wing for the first time in an entire season, and were surprised and confused at what was going on and who was now working for who. Gladly, we weren't the only ones... Ainge from Lotusland also feels the confusion. We recommend other West Wing-a-holics (*cough*henderson*cough*sam*cough*) check out the Lotusland post...

blog of the week: john gushue...dot dot dot

That's right folks! Hailing from St. John's Newfoundland, John Gushue... Dot Dot Dot is this week's blog of the week.

We enjoy John's posts and they're always quite entertaining and informative. His 'Daily Dot's' are also quite cool as well.

Make sure to check out John Gushue... Dot Dot Dot!

dingwallaby.

Due to the entire rediculousness of this issue, we haven't been paying much attention to it. But, today (right now), as we write a paper, we also have the Dingwall hearings on in the background.

Here's our translation of the Dingwall hearing:

Backbench Tory MP: "Mr. Dingwall, are you corrupt?"

Dingwall: "uhhh... Mr. Chair, let me talk to my lawyer."

Backbench Liberal MP: "ohhhh, Mr. Dingwall. Yoou're soooo gooood."

Dingwall: "Bless you my child."

Backbench Tory MP: "For crying out loud Mr. Dingwall! Do you eat babies?"

Dingwall: "Mr. Chair, I'm not an expert on that and I wish to consult my legal council."

Backbench Liberal MP: "ooohhh. David Dingwall, you are soooo goood!"

Dingwall: "Ooohhhh. Legal advice..."

NDP: 19 - 1 = 18

Looks like Ms. Desjarlais will be joining the likes of Ms. Parrish, Mr. Kilgour and Mr. O'Brien in the realm of Independent MP's.

blogging excuses.

okay, yes we realized the lameness of all these random blog posts. We believe Ms. Lo has hit it right on the head. No more posts for a while... blogging will lead to our exile one day.

Also, MSN Messenger is on our list of the Top 10 Coolest things EVER! In one day over MSN, we chatted with our friends in India, the UK, Calgary, Vancouver, and Montreal. How cool.

papus e. barnum.

Perhaps Mr. face can correct our latin...

If you haven't already, head over to one of our favorite blogs: ask the pope. It's just so delightfully entertaining. :-)

Another late night of paper writing ahead... only two more left to do this week...

The one we're working on now is quite interesting. We're discussing the similarities and differences between economic diversification strategies and over-all economic transformation in Alberta and Saskatchewan between 1950 and 1990.

Only 600ish more words to go...

only...

...one month left! huzzah!

too early...

Well, after a great weekend of fun and partying (Sunday night was particularily fun), we went to the Canada Conference which began last night (but we only showed up this morning).

Breakfast at 7:30am took some effort (considering we were up until 2am writing papers...). One of the most interesting parts of the morning was when we got lost looking for the Sutton Place Hotel, where the conference was being held (considering we used to live downtonw... we chalk it up for being 7:00am).

The breakfast was interesting. Some of the early morning risers included U of A Board of Governor's Chair Jim Edwards (who is also a former Tory MP), Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, and U of A President Indira Samarasekera. The breakfast was interesting.... but too early...

The luncheon was interesting as well. :-) More details soon.

Also, did anyone in Edmonton hear the thunderstorm this afternoon??? It's October!?!?! Rain and thunder? Weird.

bless sundays.

It's a beautiful fall Sunday here in Edmonton. Warmish. Sunny. Big blue sky. Very nice.

John Duffy has a review of Stephen Clarkson's new book"The Big Red Machine: How the Liberal Party Dominates Canadian Politics" in this weekend's Globe & Mail. Mr. Duffy, as some may know, is the author of one of our favorite Canadian Political books: "Fights of Our Lives: Elections, Leadership, and the Making of Canada" (We're a little surprised we beat Mr. Cherniak in posting this, he must be busy this weekend. ;-)

Also, as Mr. Ramson has posted, Federal NDP MP Ed Broadbent has released his party's democratic reform package and it's about darn-toot’n time (yes, darn-toot’n!) someone brought the democratic reform to the forefront in Parliament (save the lame "fighting the democratic deficit" rhetoric). We look forward to seeing how it the package is received in this fall's session in the House of Commons.

Also, the Sugarbowl has the best coffee EVER! yum

ADDENUM 1.1: Care of a link from Will McBeath's blog, the Edmonton-area Federal Tories have set up a central site with links to their candidates websites. It's an interesting semi-website, though the massive picture of Stephen Harper is slightly frightening.

ADDENUM 1.2: Damn. WFT, daveberta readers. It's Sunday and all of our formerly favorite rightie bloggers are suddenly returning from the dead! First, Rempel. And now, Young. Craziness. We thought all the right-wingers were supposed to be in Church on Sunday (or something?)?!?!

the return of sauron.

It seems our favorite right-wing blogger, the infamous Peter Rempel, has returned to his old haunt of RempeliaPrime after a sojourn over at thepolitic.

Welcome back, Mr. Rempel.

presidential wankering.

This is a little outside the realm of Albertus Politika, but if you haven't yet, check out the video of US President George W. Bush's 'video teleconference' with US troops and an Iraqi troop. Not only was this one of the funniest staged and scripted stunts we have EVER seen, but it was also one of the most blatant pieces of political masturbation that we have seen from this President.



This piece had some very memorable moments. The part when Bush dropped his pencil was particularly funny.

Best scripted quotes (in no particular order):

1. THE PRESIDENT: "By the way, you're in Tikrit, as I understand it, as well. It's kind of an interesting place to be."

2. SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Good morning, Mr. President. I'm Master Sergeant Corine Lombardo, with the Headquarters 42nd Infantry Division and Task Force Liberty, from Scotia, New York. First, I'd like to say that this is a pleasure to speak with you again. We had the honor of your visit in New York City on November 11th, in 2001, when you recognized our Rainbow Soldiers for their recovery and rescue efforts at Ground Zero.

THE PRESIDENT: Were you there?

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: We began our fight against terrorism in the wake of 9/11, and we're proud to continue it here in North-Central New York -- North-Central Iraq.

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something. Were you there when I came to New York?

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Yes, I was, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: I thought you looked familiar.

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Well, thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: I probably look familiar to you, too.

3. THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Sergeant Akeel, thanks for joining us. I appreciate -- appreciate your service. You've got something to say, Akeel?

SERGEANT AKEEL: Good morning, Mr. President. Thank you for everything. Thank very much for everything.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, you're welcome.

SERGEANT AKEEL: I like you. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate that.

(heaps of props on Mr. chris-face for coming down from his tower and informing us of this wonderful video)

gordon gets 42 months for $43 million.

Another Michael Ritter connection from Bloomberg.com...

Ex-Merrill Trader Gordon Gets 42 Months for Stealing $43 Mln

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Daniel Gordon, once the top energy trader at Merrill Lynch & Co., was sentenced to 42 months in prison for embezzling $43 million from the firm.

Gordon, 29, pleaded guilty in 2003 to federal charges that he stole the money by creating a phony energy trade with an offshore company that he'd set up. He also admitted that he helped falsify records at a Merrill energy-trading unit before its sale. Gordon later cooperated with a federal probe of Merrill, which ended without any additional charges.

...

Gordon said after he was told to reduce the risk of a transaction that Global Energy was involved in, he created a fictitious entity called Falcon Energy Holdings SA. He said he told co-workers that Falcon would enter into a deal to reduce Global Energy's risk in return for $43 million. The money was wired to an overseas account Gordon set up for himself, he said.

Gordon pleaded guilty to single counts of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to falsify records of a public company.

...

Last month, in a related criminal case, authorities in Alberta, Canada, charged Michael Ritter with theft and money- laundering for helping Gordon steal money from Merrill. Gordon hid money in offshore accounts that prosecutors say were set up by Ritter's Newport Pacific Financial Group.

...

UPDATE: MORE DANIEL GORDON/MICHAEL RITTER CONNECTION STORIES HERE, HERE, AND HERE.

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

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!

grandinite's dream meme

Aaron, of Grandinite fame, is trying to start a new blog meme.

The meme includes answering the following 10 questions and then tagging a couple other bloggers to answer the questions.

1. If money were no object, what would you be doing with your life?

Sleeping, volunteering, writing, reading, & traveling.

2. Money is just that - an object, so why aren’t you doing it?

Money - the object - pays our rent. If we could pay our rent and buy food with good thoughts, we’d be all over that like a fat kid on an Oreo.

3. What’s better: horses or cows?

Horses. Because they rock.

4. What do you think the secret to happiness is?

Humility and patience.

5. When was the last time you had a dream that you either remember well or did not want to awake from? Can you share a bit?

Something about being a pirate.

6. When you were a little kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A pirate or a fighter jet pilot.

7. Complete this statement: Love is . . .

...warm and fuzzy.

8. Can you tell a good story? (write one!)

Once upon a time there was this guy who wanted to start a blog-meme. His name was Aaron.

9. Can you remember your last daydream? What was it about?

It was in our Canadian Public Policy seminar. We were dreaming what we would do if we could change Alberta’s natural gas royalty scheme. Nerdlicious.

10. If you were to thank someone today, who would you thank?

Our family, for being so great (and tolerating us).

And so, we tag:

c-lo

interluctor

mark at section 15

socialist swine

steve smith

paul wells

race to the right: the alberta alliance story

You may not know it, but the race for the leadership of the Alberta Alliance is going on as we blog.

The right-wing Alberta Alliance, which was formed in 2003 and led by former Social Credit leader Randy Thorsteinson until March 2005, is in the midst of finding a new leader.

As many of you know, in 2004, the Alliance elected a massive one-MLA caucus and nearly matching the Alberta NDP's massive 1997 and 2001 caucuses by nearly electing a second MLA.
The elected being Mr. Paul Hinman in Cardston-Taber-Warner, and the near-elected being Mr. Dale Leuken in Dunvegan-Central Peace.

So far, the Alliance leadership race has drawn the gaze of three contenders:

Marilyn Burns

Website: www.geocities.com/marilynaburnsllb/

Slogan: A Brighter Future

Political BG: Ms. Burns is a lawyer who ran for the Alliance in the Stony Plain riding where received just under 2,000 votes. She's the Alliance's Justice Critic and that her son , Jeremy, also ran in the 2004 election (in Edmonton Strathcona).

Pet Policies: unknown (website didn't say).

Conclusion: She's an educated woman, which gives her an automatic +1 for running in the first place. -1 point for not having a website with content. So, she sits at 0 points until we find out more.

David Crutcher



Website: http://www.davidcrutcher.ca/

Slogan: New Alberta

Political BG: An engineer and businessman who ran for the Alliance in the Calgary Egmont riding in 2004 and gained a surprising 15% of the vote (the largest amount for any Alliance candidate in Calgary). His connections are strong with the Progressive Group for Independent Business and former Federal PC leadership candidate and Concerned Christians activist, Craig Chandler.

Pet Policies: Alberta Pension Plan, Alberta Police Force, Triple-E Senate, disband the Canadian Wheat Board, Charter Schools, anti-Child Pornography, no Same-Sex Marriage, Referendum, Recall, end of manditory Union membership, Elimination of Corporate Subsidies, Independent Ethics Commissioner.

Conclusion: Perenial right-wing platform issues. We agree with an Independent Ethics Commissioner. We can't really name a politician that isn't "anti-Child Pornography." +1 point for the entertainment purpose of brining Craig Chandler on his team.

Mr. Paul Hinman
MLA Cardston-Taber-Warner



Website: http://www.paulhinman.ca/

Slogan: Moving Forward

Political BG: Hinman, the grandson of former Socred Provincial Treasurer Edgar Hinman, narrowly defeated two-term Tory MLA Broyce Jacobs. From what we recollect, during the last Legislative session, Hinman tended to concentrate his Question Period time on fighting icky gay marriage and mad cow disease.

Pet Policies: Lower Taxes, Smaller Government, Democratic Reform, use the "notwithstanding clause," creation of an Alberta Constitution, put a fixed percentage of natural resource revenue into the Heritage Fund, no more Same-Sex Marriage, protect Alberta's resources from Ottawa, referendum, recall, free votes, develop a tax structure that reflects family values, and the one we loved the most: "Protect families from unnecessary intrusions by the government." Just give yourself a couple of seconds to think about that one.

Conclusion: Perenial right-wing platform. We're not quite sure how a tax-system can "reflect family values." We're also not quite sure how he plans to "protect families from unnecessary intrusions by the government." Maybe he's running to be the leader of Krypton? -10 points from creapy picture. He'll probably win because he's already an MLA.

Thoughts?

Is the Alberta Alliance simply a blip on the radar of wacky right-wingness?

Many speculate that Tory leadership candidate, Ted Morton, may cross the floor to the Alliance if he loses the Tory leadership (and the Premiership in turn).

Is the Alliance the next NDP-of-the-right in Alberta?

Will the Alliance usurp the deep rural Alberta ridings from the Tories if the uber-urban leadership dauphin, Jim Dinning, becomes Premier? Will they split the right-wing vote with the Tories and allow Kevin Taft's Alberta Liberals a foothold in rural Alberta?

Your thoughts?

and yes, the question is...

For those of you on the University of Alberta campus tomorrow, the Students’ Union is going to be starting its ‘The Question Is…’ speakers series.

Tomorrow’s question is… Sustainability.

The day will include:

• A bike workshop from the People’s Peddle and ECOS (in Quad from 12-4pm)
• A session on Forest Purchasing Policies by Christy Ferguson of Greenpeace (from 1-2 in Education 165)
• A session on Presicides and the Community Gardening with Franny Trawluk, and Meredith James of the Sierra Club (from 2-3 pm at Dewey’s)
• A session on Alberta’s Dangered Foothill Forests with Rebecca Reeves (from 3-4 in Education 164)
• A forum on Sustainable Transit with Clare Stock, Linsday Telfour of the Sierra Club, and NDP MLA David Eggen (from 3:30-5pm at Dewey’s)
• A lecture with Dr. David Schindler on Water Issues in Alberta from 5:30-7pm in Education 129.

So, stop by if you get the chance.

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!