kevvyd is not dead…

He just smells funny.

Hot on the heels of my return from vacation I am heading out to sea for something like a month. I am currently sitting in downtown St. John’s NL awaiting the arrival of my vessel. Dan and Flash will hopefully pick up the slack while I’m away. Take care…

Ma, they aren’t listening to the phone anymore… and I’m scared…

It looks like some people have indeed partaken of the confinement loaf and actually believe that spying on the citizenry in a sort of random, unconstrained manner is a good thing. Or am I to make something else of comments like “Thanks to the NYT we are a lot less safe“.

Yeah, buddy I’d get that tingly, safe-in-momma’s-arms feeling just thinking that my phone could be tapped, too.

Sheesh.

Improvised Explosive Opportunity

So where are we now?

Hezbollah has done the predictable — declared victory based on the acceptance of a temporary cease-fire. However, also as predicted, George Bush says claims that Hezbollah has in fact been defeated:

Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis… How can you claim victory when you were a state within a state in southern Lebanon, and now you’re going to be replaced by an international force?

All quips aside, for anyone to be declared a loser implies two things; that someone won, and that it is in fact over. Can either of these statements be considered true yet? Bush apparently thinks so, and so does Nasrallah, but naturally they’re just playing for political gain right now. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope that the cease fire holds for a while…

Oh Well, At Least They Beat Turkey

As the linked article shows, a recent study of 34 countries shows the United States placing 33rd in belief in evolution. Best quote:

“American Protestantism is more fundamentalist than anybody except perhaps the Islamic fundamentalist, which is why Turkey and we are so close,” said study co-author Jon Miller of Michigan State University.

Give It a Rest Mark II

As a followup to my previous post and as evidenced in the linked editorial, we see that some people aren’t satisfied with the spectacle of their elected government looking on impotently as the courts decide the fate of their bungled legislation. No, these guys want the government to use the Notwithstanding Clause if the courts don’t rule the way they want. There are a few things we can deduce about these people:

a. They’ve a piss-poor idea of how the Clause works – as shown here, it’s not as simple as the PCs declaring it into law – it has to be passed in the Legislature and it has to be renewed after 5 years, which leads us to the second conclusion;

b. They can’t count – all the times the Clause has been revoked were with Governments who had healthy majorities. With the razor-thin margin Premier MacDonald has, there is simply no way this would survive a vote, and Rodney’s smart enough to realize this, which is why it’s not going to happen, which leads us to the final conclusion about these folks:

c. They’re idiots.

Of course, speaking as a Newfoundlander, I can’t help but be cheered by these developments, cause if this keeps up the ‘Newfie Joke’ will be a thing of the past, and instead Canadians from Coast to Coast will be saying ‘Hey, did you hear the one about the Dumb Nova Scotian?”

I’m Fairly Certain This is a Sign of the Apocalypse

Paris Hilton is giving up sex.

Takin’ some time off..

I’m taking some time off work and packing up the beast, El Gordo with kids, clothes, and food and we’re heading off into that steaming hell called Central Canada. So I leave the place in Briguy’s, Flash’s, and Dan’s capable hands. I may pipe in for commentary from time to time, but blogging will be light, if at all.

Take care, all, and dont’ bust up the place.

Friday fun

Some fond memories to end a week of mostly bad news.

Tarek Fatah

I just popped by Adam Daifallah’s blog this morning to see what how my favorite optimist neo-con is doing now that the Bush Administration is beginning to talk of a possible “coming” Iraqi civil war. Naturally, all is silent, because it’s hard to maintain that optimism with all that reality fogging it up.

However, he does have a note about Tarek Fatah, one of the strong voices of reason within the Canadian Muslim community stepping down after receiving death threats for daring to voice moderation against extremism. Adam is 100% right – this deserves coverage and Mr. Fatah deserves support from those of us that would have peace between the religions and cultures of the world.