Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Scott Tribe and I, your Progressive Bloggers head moderator and webmaster, have updated the Climate Clock. A kind PB affiliate (Leaping Rabbit) updated the text of Wayne Chu’s Flash code, and the new Flash file is in place so that anyone with the old clock on their blog will see the new one when they refresh their page.

The Conservatives latest bungling of the environment file is something Canadians ought to punish them for. This isn’t just a matter of not funding a government program where there are ideological differences. This is about a government’s deliberate attempts to conceal the danger of air pollution, and to keep rubbing shoulders with industries that are long overdue for regulations that put us in line with forward thinking (and acting) governments around the world. I don’t like the fact that Canada isn’t a world leader on combating energy inefficiency and air pollution, because I think we ought to be at the top of the “good list”. Is there anything more defeatist, and un-Canadian, as to say that we can’t turn our bad air quality around in less than 13 years?

Of course the Conservatives’ first bungling of the environment file was the fact that they had no “Made In Canada” plan ready from the outset of their minority government. It’s almost like they didn’t expect to win, so they had no formed policy on an area that is crucial to Canada’s future economy and health. More than half a year later, their “Made in Canada” plan was so badly received, that Rona Ambrose was turfed from her spot as Environment Minister. Now Baird is doing a worse job, if that’s possible. It’s so utterly ridiculous that the Conservative nincompoops in charge of finding a plan can’t even figure out that they can copy their homework right from the Green Plan Squared, and Canadians will be well served. The Green Party doesn’t mind if the Conservatives steal the environment portion of the plan and call it their own, so long as it gets implemented.

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On Sunday I roll out of Yorkton with the last of my things, down the #10 to Regina. I’ll probably be back to visit, since my new job (if I take the one I’m offered) has a branch office here.
So my computer(s) will be unplugged for a little while, and the blogosphere will be safe from my insights for a day or more. Then I’ll be in Saskatoon at the TLt IT Summit.

I was in Foam Lake Tuesday, and the town is buzzing with talk of the Fishing Lake flood, where many residents have cabins. The cabins are gonners in many cases from what I’ve heard. That makes these advertisments in the local paper all the more strange:

The second one kills me, the part about “Filling up fast”. With water perchance?

Foam Lake just repaired their elevator’s top panels, after the annex was destroyed in a fire last year.

Fosti looks like a small school ;-)

I wonder if that’s where biting midgets go to school. I killed my first mosquito of the year Tuesday, and sighted one other in my car before I chased it out the window. The age of innocence is over in 2007; we now have blood sucking bugs lurking around every corner. The carefree days of Spring have left us, with itchy welts on our untanned arms, and croaking hungry frogs in the distance.

I know quite a few non-Liberal bloggers will get a hoot out of this letter to the membership. Perhaps Dion will be a green leader, but for the Liberals to run on them being better than the Conservatives on the environment, is like trying to decide between a Ford Explorer or a Chrysler 300 when you can get a Toyota Echo [Greens].

Yesterday I heard Buzz Hargrove on Adler telling us that we’re destroying our “children’s future” by not buying GM vehicles, even though the vehicles from other markets pollute less. He has a point about buying locally, but he completely misses the point that it’s hard to have an economy when no one can breathe in southern Ontario where they make the cars and trucks. Buzz, you may be an old fart who doesn’t plan on living past 2025, but some of us would like to have air of a quality at least as good as we’ve got today, and we won’t do that if we double our Humvee production just so there are jobs in the North American unimaginative auto industry.

Turning up the Heat!

[Le français redacted].
Dear Friend,

We know the Conservatives are vulnerable on Climate Change. Their record is abysmal, and appears to be getting worse.

That’s why we launched a TV ad campaign focusing on Stéphane Dion’s call for leadership on this issue. Grassroots donations are powering up this campaign. Thanks to many donors, we are reaching more and more viewers across Canada with our message.

It’s urgent that we keep up the pressure. This is our best way to highlight the lack of leadership coming from Stephen Harper and John Baird in Ottawa.

Here’s a preview of Ad #2 being launched today on Canadian stations across the country.

I urge you to you join in, now, and strengthen this appeal to Canadians, preparing our country to rise to the challenge of climate change by electing a REAL leader!

Click here to make a contribution of $75, $200, $400 or more.

For every additional dollar we generate from today’s appeal, we will reach 186 more Canadians. If you donate $75 right now, almost 14,000 more Canadians will see our TV ad.

As a Liberal, I know we Canadians are “stronger together.” I am convinced that we have the capacity to act together on problems … and climate change is upon us! Won’t you contribute now to give this new advertisement the hearing it deserves? It is a wake-up call for the environment … and brings the Dion leadership style into the livingrooms of Canadians.

Click here to make a contribution of $75, $200 or $400, or more.

Thank you for all the ways you support the Liberal Party of Canada.

Yours sincerely,

Senator Marie Poulin
President, Liberal Party of Canada

p.s. To see this entire advertising campaign to date… two TV spots and six Quebec radio ads… click here.

Hébert has joined the common sense crowd, and calls Jack Layton’s feeble attempts to compare the Greens to Liberals, as “flimsy”.

“Given the evolution of the election debates, the reasons to invite her to participate outweigh the reasons to keep her out.”

Hardly a ringing endorsement, but we’ll have to take it I suppose, as the tide slowly starts to turn to including May in the televised leaders debates.

“There is no hard-and-fast rule to qualify for a spot in the debates. But with 15 parties on the federal ballot in 2006, the networks have to draw a line somewhere or else the debates will turn into a cacophony. ”

I can’t say I agree with that part. There’s no line required when it comes to informing the public through our public broadcaster CBC, and even CPAC. Canadians watch TV — a lot. And to reach the largest number of Canadians, a few nights of prime time TV set aside for politicians yapping is the best way to educate the masses about who is really best suited to lead our country. TV producers can figure out how to make 16 people stranded on an island interesting and popular, but they can’t figure out how to fit the ~15 potential leaders of our country into an interesting and informative broadcast series during an election campaign? Give me a break!

It’s time for journalists with their preconceived notions about which parties are ready for prime time, to stop being our nannies. Canadians can decide for themselves who has the best platform to lead our country through the 21st century. Just present the options and throw in some raw meat topics for the politicans with killer instincts to entertain us. It’s clear to me that the Liberals and Conservatives have barely begun to think about how to lead. They are both about telling Canadians what we can’t do, or saying we should do something, but never doing it (ending child poverty, and controlling air pollution as examples). With a leader like May in the spotlight, someone who has ideas and plans for Canada to lead the world (in a positive way, not in an “I’ll take your lunch money” kind of way), Canadians would have a new sense of hope in our political system to make their lives better.

For a truly frustrating example of what Greens have to put up with in “debate” over the debates, check out ET on SDA.

ET: “The debates should be between leaders of parties that have the capacity to form the legitimate gov’t […]”
“I repeat, you cannot extrapolate a poll like that to claim that it is valid for all Canadians.”

My reply:
ET, whose fault is it that you can’t do math? It’s not impossible for the Green Party to form government until the deciding ballots are counted on election night, and they end up with fewer seats than the other parties contending for power. It’s a pretty simple concept in democracy.

In one breath you’re condemning a national poll as being inherently unrepresentative of public opinion, and the next you want to use opinion polls to guide unelected broadcasters in deciding which parties they will favour for 4+ hours of free televised advertising for their party. You’re outrageous, and fair minded Canadians do not agree with you!

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And in other flashy video displays suitable for TV, OK GO has been remade by highschool students, and they are awesome too! A Youtuber’s comment remarked that it was a talent show and not a contest so they didn’t “win”.

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Hat tip to Karen

It’s a big day, April 25, on the other side of the world. More than 90 years ago Australian and New Zealand troops were engaged in a fruitless battle in the Great War, and this day is for them.

Jack Layton has led the NDP into a dark and backwards position. Their moves don’t have to make sense any longer, so long as they make more seats in the next election.

Mrvn Mouse, and Red Tory, and many others are piling on the shaming of a party that used to be the most principled party in the House.

Layton has the party faithful scratching their heads as to what is going on. A hint: It’s for next election, not what the party’s platform stands for.

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I’ve been so swamped today with moving, applying to jobs and such, that I haven’t had time to fix the Progressivebloggers.ca front page code which went funny after an update, for Internet Explorer users. My apologies to anyone relying on that piece of turd web browser. Hang in there, or flip to Firefox, and I’ll have a fix shortly I hope.

UPDATE: I’ve managed to find the biggest problem in the code, an extra heading tag slipped in. So with that gone, IE users should have a normal experience again.

- Tonkin east of Yorkton

- Dunleath, SK Federal grain elevator

- North of Wroxton, SK

- Stenen was very wet at the north end; one ally was blocked by a flood behind the church

- WWI monument to the town’s lost boys

- It’s the stone, obviously

- Now I’ve been to Amsterdam, and there were no drugs in sight.

- Flagmen were at the site of this flood over the highway north of Canora. The water splashed past the yellow line in my lane, so there was only one lane of highway available. Some cars had to wait for me as I drove at a safe speed across.

Tim pointed me to a Swiftian Dilbert blog entry. Personally I think my SUV runs smoother and cleaner using veal or babies as fuel. In any case, using poor humans or young children as fuel would qualify as “serious misconduct” if you’re part of the US Army. I got that fact from Stageleft.