For all you 'crack'berry users out there

Rick Mercer presents a new must have accessory (CBC.ca)!

So I may have jumped the gun

Last Wednesday when I said that Stephen Harper had been the PM-Elect and the Canada was still standing, well it turns out his powers of destruction were not apparent at the time because he was casting his net wider than just Canada. His evil plans to destroy all of North America have now made plain for all to see.

How else can you explain this!

Words just fail me. There can be no other explanation than we are in the final days.

May God have mercy on our souls.

She's at it again

I know most centrist and right wing people could care less what Cindy Sheehan has to say (h/t LGF) but until the far left and the Democrats who pander to them finally stop listening she will just not go away.

Please for everyone's sake, STOP IT!

While I deeply respect and admire her son's sacrifice for his country, his comrades and the Iraqi people, there is no way in the world you will ever convince me this women gives more than a passing thought to Casey's memory as she travels the worlds spouting her bile (that's two posts in a row I've managed to use the word bile).

Wow! Al-Guardian indeed!

For anyone who just doesn't understand the concept of 'moral equivalency' which is a mainstay of the far left ideology, just check out this Guardian column from today.

I mean WOW! I pride myself on being able to see things from other peoples points of view but I don't think I'm even capable of beginning to understand the thought process that goes through a persons mind when they write something like that.

It's hard to read anything past the first paragraph without feeling the bile start to build up.

About the only thing I can agree with is the articles title, "The Palestinians' democratic choice must be respected" after that I'm sorry, it's all nonsense to me.

Just think on this little gem:

"Murdering a Palestinian politician by a long-range attack that is bound also to kill innocent civilians is morally and legally no better than a suicide bomb on a bus. Hamas's refusal to give formal recognition of Israel's right to exist should also not be seen by Europe as an urgent problem."

Feel free to read the rest, if you can stomach it.

(h/t LGF)

Canada vs the US: The appointment process

Seeing how one the hot button issues in US politics right now is George Bush's nomination of Judge Samuel Alito for Supreme court, I thought I'd take the time to do a quick comparison of the difference in the Canadian way of appointing judges vs. the American way.

In Canada:

1. Step 1 is the Prime Minister chooses from a pool of candidates who he or she would like to make a Federal Justice. I'm kind of assuming they at least created a pool of qualified candidates first; there is actually no requirement for a pool of any kind but it's nice to think that they at least considered some alternatives. Anyway, back to the process,
   
2. Step 2, the person chosen in Step 1 becomes a Federal Judge.
   

Note: Some limited vetting of the candidate is permitted after the fact but only indirectly through the Federal Justice Minister's office.

In the US:

1. Step 1. The President chooses from a pool of candidates who he or she would like to make a Federal Justice. In this case the pool usually does exist as the names are often given to interested members of both parties.
   
2. Step 2. Once the formal declaration of the nominee is made a special Senatorial committee reviews the nominees qualifications. This review process can be quite quick or take several days/weeks depending on partisan bickering or specific issues related to the nominee. This is in accordance with the Senate's role to Advise and Consent on Presidential appointments as outlined in the US Constitution.
   
3. Step 3. The committee holds a vote as to whether or not to release the candidates name to the Senate floor. If okay'd by the committee, the nominee's name is sent to the floor of the Senate for an up or down vote. If not okay'd, the nomination is effectively quashed.
4. Step 4. There are open debates held on the floor of the Senate as to the qualifications of the Presidents nominee. Like the committee hearings, this has no set time table and can be completed in a matter of hours or days/weeks.
   
5. Step 5: After the debate on the floor is completed, the Senate votes either for or against the Presidents choice. Again, as in the committee hearing, if the nominee gets less than 50% of the vote the nomination process is effectively stopped.
   
6. Step 6. If the nominee passes the various votes, they are sworn in in their new position as Federal Justice.

Note: In some cases, although rarely exercised, the President has the power to make appointments while the Senate is in recess. This is generally only used when the President deems that the position cannot be left vacant until after the Senate comes back into session. Appointments made this way, unlike the regular process, are only temporary and still require Senatorial approval once they return.

Now, going by the televised Alito hearings as well as all the comments the various Senators have felt the need to say to the press, you may get the impression that the American system is way too adversarial and time consuming, in cases like Alito I'd have to agree. When every single person, black, white, male, female, conservative or liberal comes out to say what a great Judge someone is you'd figure the appointment process should be a cake walk. The fact he has twice been through this process for less Federal court positions and that the American Bar Association gave Alito it's highest rating, and you'd have to wonder what these elected officials are smoking to make them doubt his worthiness to sit on the bench. But that's the point, Senators are elected and therefore are a safety system to make sure their constituents get a voice in the process.

Contrast that with the Canadian system in which one person, who unlike the US is not even directly elected to their position of power, gets to make all the decisions. So instead of 101 elected people debating the worthiness of a candidate you get 1. It's that type of vetting process that is meant to shine the light on patterns like this (h/t Stephen Taylor).

It may not be perfect, but in this regard, I'd take the US system over the Canadian, any day. Anything that takes the power out of the PMO's office and puts it into the hands of the elected representatives is a plus in my book.

It's Been One Whole Day

.. with Stephen Harper as PM-elect and still no hellfire and brimstone. I guess my investment in that asbestos raincoat was a complete waste of money.

Well congratulation to Harper and his team for finally wrestling power away from the Liberals after all these years. Not too bad considering just 12 years ago the PC party of the time received only 2 seats in the house (that despite still receiving a significant portion of the overall vote). Hopefully he can use this time between now and the next election to show Canadians that us conservatives are not the scary monsters under the bed the Liberals and NDPers would have you believe.

This is just my suggestion, but I think the smart thing to do would be to launch into parliamentary reforms right away. It's a topic Conservatives, NDPers, Bloc and even a lot of backbench Liberals agree needs to be done. If Harper can bring everyone together to fix some of the more outstanding issues (the Senate and the appointment system being two of the biggest in my opinion), it would show the other leaders that they could indeed work with a Conservative government, a sharp contrast to last decade+ of Liberal rule from on high.

On a more personal note, my riding, for the second straight election, elected Pierre Poilievre as our representative in the House. And I'm happy to say he one with a clear majority of 55% of the vote with his closest competitor only managing 28%. While I don't necessarily expect him to get a cabinet position, he is only 26 after all, with the help of John Baird, the winner in our neighboring riding, I'm sure we will have a very strong voice in the Harper government.

Congrats to all the winners, and yes that even includes the Liberals.

An honest liberal (notice the small l)

Joel Stein, in his LA Times piece today, actually admits to what most of the extreme left anti-war crowd dance around, (he doesn't) support our troops.

I disagree with him 100% but at least he has the guts to actually state the obvious. When you spend all your time insulting the armed forces and/or cheering the insurgents in Iraq or Afghanistan, you can not then turn around and wrap yourself in the flag for protection.

It is still possible to be anti-war and pro-troop, but once you step across the line and actively try to sabotage the US war effort to score points, you've lost the right to make that claim.

Important news from the Nation's Capital

The Sens Leafs game is about to begin.

This rivalry, one of the biggest in the NHL, has been a little one sided this year. In the last 3 faceoffs the Sens have outscored the Leafs 23-2. I just like to type 23-2. Nice and symmetrical. With any luck the final score tonight will be 8-1 making the 4 game total a nice 31-3.

Well have to head off to watch the game on my other TV. There is a reason this RCA is heading to the cottage as soon as the snow melts.

One second in and Ottawa already has a powerplay.
=)

Game Update:
Final score: 4-3 Ottawa

The election campaign

Another year, another election and still not one candidate came knocking on my door.

Come to think of it there was a day a week or two ago where I was looking for a $20 I thought I had in my wallet only to find it empty. So I guess the Liberal candidate was around. I guess that's something.

It's just not a Canadian Election ...

... until Michael Moore has had his say. And just to clear things up Mikey, we've already elected a PM who was for the Iraq War and against same sex marriages; his name is Paul Martin. But like so many other Liberal values, his beliefs were essentially written in sand and changed whenever it became politically correct to change them. Now he's the champion of everything he was once against. Not-withstanding clause anyone?

Oddly enough, I don't recall any public statements from anyone in the current administration telling Canadians to "roll over and fetch and sit". The only thing close was a request, that has been repeated for years and by more than the current US admin, for us to finally properly fund our military to both live up to our international obligations (we are well below the numbers of able bodied men and women necessary to meet even our current peacekeeping commitments) and protect Canadian sovereignty. That's of course opposed to Moore's repeated interference in our election process. Not that I really have a problem with people, or even Moore, speaking their minds, just that if there was ever a case of the pot calling the kettle black, this is it.

Even so, the US admins requests to me are like a next door neighbor who has allowed you to use his snowblower for the past 20 years, as well as his minivan whenever you need to bring your kids to soccer practice, all the while you spend your money on large screen TVs and a new paint job every other year, finally asking you to pay your fair share. He's even willing to allow you to still use the snowblower and van as long as you at least help pay for gas and upkeep. Hardly an unreasonable request.

It's time for us Canadians to finally step up and reclaim our position of respect on the world stage, and as it was the Liberals who managed to get us pushed into the background in the first place, let's just say I have little faith in their ability to lead us anywhere except further into the realm of irrelevance.

The Truth about Kyoto

CPAC has been pretty much a staple on my spare room/office TV since the English debates and right now they have one of the Burlington town hall meetings of candidates. There was really nothing new as all the candidates basically just echoed the various party lines, but there was one issue that really annoyed me, Kyoto. For the record, Kyoto is a complete waste of paper. It in no way improves air quality or in any way decreases greenhouse gases on an international level.

Really, all Kyoto does is transfer large sums of money from 1st world nations to 3rd world nations. Due to the costs involved in implementation, 1st world nations that have signed Kyoto, instead of actually forcing any pollution cutting measures on the companies that drive their economies, are just saving up money to buy pollution credits from the 3rd world nations that do not have to meet the same reduction levels. Canada apparently already has a billion dollar slush fund set up to purchase these credits when the time comes.

So please, everyone, get off of it. There is a reason so many countries that have signed Kyoto are beginning to opt out and not all of those governments are being run by conservative parties. It's just a bad accord and as long as it's in place, there will be nothing better coming down the pipe.

A Long Farewell - R.I.P. Miller G.

It's been almost 3 years since Miller first began showing any signs of sickness but despite the loss of fur and weight loss, it wasn't until about two days ago that he actually began really acting like he was ill. He was just a little slower hopping up and down from his hammock, or leading the little parade of him and Foster throughout the condo.

Even then he was the same old Miller, hanging around my feet just fighting the urge to just take a quick nip of that forbidden sock, an urge that truth be told, he more often than not did not try to fight. So regular were he relapses into sock biting that it had become standard operating procedure for anyone spending much time at my place to either keep their feet off the floor, which would never deter him for long, or to take their socks off to avoid the wrath of Miller.

Last night, when I arrived home I found him just laying at the bottom of his cage, not that an unusual position, but after tapping the cage lightly a couple of times and receiving no response I noticed the lack of chest movement. Even up close, with my head only a foot away, he looked like he was just snoozing the evening away, one of his favourite pastimes, but sadly that wasn't the case.

Oddly enough, it was only a few months after I brought Weiser home, almost 8 years ago that I thought that he should really have a friend to keep him company while I was away all day, and so Miller entered the household and things were never the same. Now, 8 years later, only a few months after Weiser made that trip into the great beyond, Miller has finally decided it was time to join his brother. Knowing Miller, he was just waiting for Weiser to get comfortable before busting in and 'Millerizing' the place.

Here's hoping that Angels have the good fashion sense to not where white socks with sandals.

=)

For those who haven't gotten over the last US Election

I present to you, VelocityArcade.com's - Bush Vs. Kerry.
Check out the other games on Velocity's site.

(h/t to Eric although from a messenger msg and not his site)

Loss of Feeling

Looks like the D- Man has finally joined the world of the blogs. His entry into the blogosphere just happens to coincide with his healthy eating kick so for the time being it's probably going to have a few interesting meal suggestions on there. After that, who knows, dismembered clown paintings, poems about clouds and bunnies, anything is possible so check it out: Loss of Feeling

Give me a C. Give me an A......

It seems to me that Paul Martin's main campaign strategy, besides attacking Stephen Harper specifically or the Conservatives in general, is to stroke the ego of Canadian voters. In Paul Martin's Canada we are the #1 country, respected above all others, with not a care in the world. Being a cheerleader for Canada is indeed one of the PMs jobs, but it's reserved for situations like when talking to a bunch of school kids or giving a Canada Day speech, but the sad fact is, our health care system is no where near #1 and our economy, while good, is based largely on the US market and on a more local level, on what the Ontario government decides to do and on the international scene, Canada has slipped from a position of prominence to one where major international gaffes by our Prime Minister (just look at any of Chretien's or Martin's trips outside of the country in the last 12 years) are more likely to make the entertainment section of other nations papers than then politics section.

Just because someone comes out and speaks the truth about Canada's shortcomings does not mean they hate Canada. On the contrary, it is more often an indication that they love their country and want to do something to make it better. In the same manner I'm not saying burying you head in the sand and just repeating 'everything is perfect' means you hate the country either, but denial does not a campaign make.

Canadian roundup

Just a look at what other bloggers are talking about with regards to the current state of Canadian affairs.

• Daimnation has a look at the soon to be released Liberal attack ads (note: they may already be playing in Quebec).
• The Captain puts in his 2 cents from south of the border.
• Small Dead Animals has been hitting them out of the park all week. Of course, with material like this it's hard not to.
• Radio stations 980 CJME and 650 CKOM have decided to jump into the fray with their own line of Liberal inspired attack ads. (h/t SDA)
  

Just a little over a week left in the campaign ...

... and everyone is just trying to steal everyone else's idea and make them their own.

Just the other day the Liberals announced a new 'Heroes Fund' for the families of police officers, firefighters, etc. who have died in the line of duty. A fund that sounds suspiciously like the NDP proposed plan that the Liberals voted against just a few months ago.

Not to be out done the Conservatives have decided to try and swoon the corrupt/immoral vote which has always been a strong group of Liberal supporters, by announcing one of their candidates in a BC riding is currently being investigated for smuggling a car plus 112 containers of alcohol. Though no criminal charges have been laid in Zeisman's case, I'm sure the Conservatives will do better next time.

Of course the Liberal's weren't about to take the intrusion into their turf lying down, so they almost immediately announced, or more technically tricked the NDP into announcing, that one of their candidates had tried to bribe an NDP candidate not to run. That's showing the Conservatives not to mess with the big boys.

Then the biggest surprise of all came when it was released to the public that Jack Layton had actually used a private clinic in Ontario for a hernia operation some 10 or so years ago. Now we all know that the use of private clinics is purely a Priministerial prerogative. I hear to make it up to his constituents he's offered to help Paul move all his stuff out of the PMO's office come next week so that he can reaggrivate the injury and then stand in line at the General.

All I can think of is all the work the poor Liberals will have to do for the next election. By the look of things right now, they'll actually have to come up with a coherent policy to run on next time as their rehashed 'hidden agenda' and 'Harper is scary' ads won't carry as much weight against a sitting PM.

Civility in politics, Liberal style

Just take a look at these new ads from the Liberals. (h/t to the CJOB telecast on CPAC).

You just have to love the military drums, sarcastic voice over, and once again, inferences to the US as that evil empire. Makes me feel all warm and tingley inside.

Just a word of warning..

Not that I have any problem with winter, hey I'm from Labrador where we have winter 9 months of the year, but when both my rear tires are, let's just say, 'traction challenged', I may have to slap the next person I hear singing 'Let it snow'. Enough is enough.

Overhauling the US Patent System

This could be great news for the world in general. Just imagine a world with patents that made sense, it's almost unthinkable.

The Leader's Debate

If I had to rank the performances of the four party leaders in last nights debate, I'd have to go with:

1) Stephen Harper (Conservative)
2) Gilles Duceppe (BQ)
3) Jack Layton (NDP)
4) Paul Martin (Liberal)

For the most part Harper managed to get his message across without having to sling mud. He basically kept to his points, while at the same time quickly reacted to statements from the other party leaders. I especially liked his whole bit about how him, his family, his friends, etc.. have always operated under the flag of Canada and fully believe in building a stronger country. This was just a beautiful statement in that it both re-enforced his patriotism (something Martin and Layton continually question despite Martin's claims to the contrary) and poked into the whole Martin/CSL issue without even mentioning Martin directly. He also did a great job of following up on the insults being sent his way by Martin and Layton by keeping his cool and defending himself or his party, without sending an insult back to them. Basically a class act.

Duceppe managed to give good examples as to how the BQ have managed to working the system to help out their constituents. It was hard to fight with him as he often had real word examples to back up his claims as opposed to the Martin's world of woulda, shoulda, couldas. He also managed to make things a little easier on Harper in that by directly challenging Martin's credibility as a leader, he allowed Harper to stay above the fray while still ensuring the scandals got mentioned.

Layton, as he usually does, sounded like a broken record for most of the evening. I was getting pretty sick and tired of hearing the words "working family" after about 5 minutes in but Layton, bless his soul, decided to stick with it and keep hammering the phrase home no matter what effect it may have on the audience. And his continual slips into infomercial like statements about the NDP being a "third choice" got tired, fast, but despite all that, he did manage to differentiate his party from the Liberals as a valid choice for left leaning voters.

Now, what can be said about Paul Martin, our current Prime Minister. He looked like a fish out of water for most of the debate. He was obviously uncomfortable answering any questions about the myriad of scandals plaguing his party, so instead of answering he basically tried and turn the tables and make them appear to have all been unfounded opposition accusations, and not in fact, payouts to party friends and members. What really go me was how he repeatedly requested more civility in Federal politics while at the same time directly attacking Harper's love for this country (even the commentator caught that although a minute later Martin denied even doing anything of the sort). Even his opening statement barely mentioned the Liberals at all and was instead a directed attack at the Conservative party. Compare that to Harper's statement which was a classical "this is what my party will do for you .." type and you could quickly see who was the cause of the loss of civil discourse on the Hill.

It was just amazing to see Martin make unfounded accusations and disparaging remarks, one after another, and then moments later completely deny they ever happened. It was like watching the last 12 years of Liberal party politicking in fast forward.

While anyone could easily come out of this debate and say they were not convinced to change their minds, it is very hard to make a case for those who claim that Martin won. You may not agree with me that Harper won, you could pick Duceppe or even if you are a die hard liberal leaning voter (notice the small 'l'), Layton (lucky for him, having no real chance to form the majority and become PM his often ludicrous statements about how he would solve all of Canada's ills were generally ignored by the other leaders) but I can not see how anyone with even the slightest impartial bone in their body could give the win to Martin. Then again, after seeing this mornings ratings of the various leaders performances, I can understand why somehow, no matter what they do or say, the Liberals always seem to get votes.

Just two more weeks for this all to play out.

Update:
A little more on Martin's just awful use of double talk. I'm working from home today and it just so happened that when I turned on the TV (for the first time, honest) that Martin was giving one of his values creeds. Somehow, in Martin's mind, all Canadians share the exact same values (when talking about Quebecers and other Canadians anyway), but somehow Conservative's values, who apparently Paul Martin is not aware makes up a sizable portion of the population, are not Canadian values because they don't want to hand out money hand over fist to unmonitored public departments running under ad hoc rules. And as always, Layton is just that annoying 'everything should be for working families' record in the corner.

And on the tax cuts, here's some simple math for Layton and Martin, if you lower the rate of the lowest tax bracket, only people who make more that the lowest bracket will actually get the full refund. If you only make 20k a year, when you take out the 9k personal deduction, you only pay taxes on the 11k, 1% of which is roughly $110. If you make 70k a year, then you get the full 1% benefit from the 35k that is the top of the lowest bracket, you get back $350. So, while the higher income earner actually gets the full 1% tax break, the lower income worker actually gets only a third. Now I don't have a problem with that per se, that's the way percentages work, but normally liberals (this includes NDPers, Liberals, as well as Democrats in the states) seem to always see percentage based deductions as being tax breaks for the rich. It's just odd to see Mr. Martin trying to defend this tax cut as being for the poor when even a high school drop out could do the math and see that the moderately wealthy will get more back.

Now the proposed GST reduction of 1%, will apply equally to both groups (with of course those who spend more getting more actual $$$ back), but unlike the 1% income tax reduction, will also apply to that $9,000 of the lower earners income that is exempted from taxes. Personally, I'd like to see both but I don't have access to the government books to break down the numbers and see if we can afford it.

The Man has no Shame

Not that it hasn't been widely suspected by people the world round for some time, but this Michelle Malkin post just goes to confirm the fact that Ted Kennedy is without shame, tact or common sense.

As Wendy Long over at the NRO points out (h/t Jeff over at Protein Wisdom), he's also doesn't do to well with facts.

A funny SNL skit?

It has been know to happen. Even as recently as last weekend they managed to put together at least one funny skit and end it before beating it to death. Despite what people's old memories tell them, even in it's prime, SNL was never consistently funny with their live bits. Their commercials, on the other hand, rarely fail to make you at least chuckle. I still smile when thinking about the Chameleon car ad.

Seeing what they can do when following a more Mad TV-esque approach of pre-recording shows that there actually is some real talent running around on the show. This video from the NBC website is a perfect example and has to be the funniest skits so far this year (not a real challenge at this point, I admit, but I think it will hold the title for a while). I dare you to watch it without cracking a smile and at least once laughing out loud.

So without further ado here it is, 'Lazy Sunday'.

The Book of Daniel??

I just finished watching this off my PVR and I just have to say, it had more sex and drugs in it than any soap opera you're likely to watch. Not only is every third character gay, but at least a quarter of the scenes involve either extra marital/pre-marital sex (including the two Bishops) or alcohol and/or drug abuse. And just to top it all off they add a little blatant racism for flavor.

Now I'm not an Episcopalian or anything but I think this is pushing it a bit too far although I have to say I like the Daniel/Jesus conversations as it's hard not to like Aidan Quinn and Garret Dillahunt.

The End of the World

Just got this link from a friend of mine. It may take a little time to load on a slow connection but it's worth the wait.

So here it is, from Albinoblacksheep: The End of the World

O'Reilly on Letterman

It's hard to find a better example of liberal debating tactics than watching the Late Show segment with Bill O'Reilly a few minutes ago. David Letterman, who I personally think hasn't really been that funny since leaving his later time slot on NBC, pulled out every stop to try and shoot down O'Reilly.

Even before O'Reilly actually appeared, Dave made several remarks that ensured everyone knew of his negative opinion of the man, no big deal, O'Reilly himself admits he has a bit of a harsh personality, but once he actually came out the real fireworks began. First O'Reilly decided to use his time to push his war on Christmas message (just for the record, he's for Christmas but against those who want it removed from the public eye). Now in typical liberal fashion, despite several examples given by O'Reilly, Dave dismissed the entire idea as ludicrous because he personally didn't feel threatened. He even went so far as to accuse O'Reilly of making some of his examples up. Of course anyone familiar with the ACLU's war on anything Christian know that the smallest win for them, means everlasting suffering for everyone else. You'll never meet a group of people more determined to set even the smallest precendent and then twist it's meaning to further their cause than the ACLU. Just look at all the memorials or across the US that have had to remove crosses from their sites because they were on public land.

Now after dismissing O'Reilly arguments on a subject matter he admitted to having no external knowledge of he then went on the attack against Bush??!? From nowhere he brings up the far left case that even though every single intelligence community across the globe believed Saddam had WMDs or had program in place to resume production of WMDs, it was solely Bush's fault that he acted on their shared beliefs. For anyone truly interested in reviewing that line of thinking, the question "Why did other leaders NOT choose to act?" seems more interesting.

Then to top it all off, Letterman sinks to a whole new low and begins pushing the 'Mother Sheehan" meme, wherein Cindy Sheehan, due to the death of her truly heroic son (who joined and then re-enlisted in the armed forces directly against her wishes with the full knowledge he would be deployed to Iraq) has the unchallengable right to spout the anti-American rhetoric across the world. Under Letterman's line of thought, which he directly challenged O'Reilly with, unless you yourself have lost a child in Iraq you have no right to voice an opinion in opposition to Ms. Sheehan. Like the whole chickenhawk meme, people who put forward that line of 'reasoning' never look at the reverse, that unless you have yourself lost a child in Iraq you should not be able to voice your support for Ms. Sheehan. Under the Letterman logic, unless you have personally experienced something you should remain neutral on all topics.

Letterman even repeatedly made comments as to O'Reilly's lack of objectivity, although as many self determined 'experts' on the left are more than proud to admit, he had never even watched the show but instead based his entire opinion on other peoples opinions.

I must say, Letterman looked like a real ass while O'Reilly, although I thought the whole starting the segment with the war on Christmas was a bit cheesy, actually came off as well informed and by far the more intelligent.

Update (second attempt - the first one crashed FireFox):
Well it looks like I wasn't alone in seeing last nights idiotic display by Letterman.

• Michelle Malkin has a nice collection of opinions and links
• The Political Teen, as always, has the video
• Newsbusters has the transcript
• DUmmie Funnies takes a look at the Left's response

Well it's done

Another year come and gone and Christmas vacation is gone the way of the Dodo. Nothing signals the end of the holiday season like that first day back at work. I must say though, that this Christmas vacation was just what I was looking for, home cooked food to the point of excess (honestly, how many times in one week can you eat meals consisting of roast beef, chicken, turkey etc.. with all the trimmings and not feel full), absolutely no responsibilities (with the exception of the occasional Tim Hortons run for a large black decaf for my mother) a high speed internet connection and a TV, VCR, DVD player and comfortable couch in my bedroom. I was so into 'relax' mode that I couldn't even come up with the energy to write a blog entry. Life was good.

About the only thing that could have made things a little better would be to have weather above the -29 (that's Celsius, without the windchill) that we seemed to have everyday. I would have liked to go out on ski-doo at least once but hey, Randor got a great deal on a ski-doo here in town so the dream is still alive.

And to top it all off I just gave myself a belated Christmas gift, a new 57" Toshiba Cinema Series high def TV. I know I shouldn't have, but hey that's just the type of guy I am, a giver.

Delivery is on Friday so looks like I may have to do some rearranging and cleaning up to make some room in my living room. I was actually looking more for a set that was 50" or below, but for less than 2 grand, I couldn't resist. The only real problem is my condo is only a two bedroom and after this behemoth shows up on Friday I'll have a total of 5 TVs (57", 32", 27", 26" 20"). I'm seriously running out of space to put them all. Needless to say, I won't be going to work on Friday.