Mid-week Post

Wednesday is the crease of the week and that isn't a bad thing.


A man is demanding better programming on the Discovery Channel. Clearly, he has never watched Shark Week. Seriously, though, I hope this ends well.


Obama has waved a magic wand and the Iraq War is over (more or less). There is an election in 2012.


Sarah Palin is the ultimate political bookie:

In a major upset, Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded her GOP Senate primary race Tuesday night to Tea Party Express favorite Joe Miller.

Beslan. May it never happen again.


Give Pakistan nothing:

The Taliban hinted today they may launch attacks against foreigners helping Pakistan respond to the worst floods in the country’'s history, saying their presence was “unacceptable”. The UN said it would not be deterred by violent threats.

The militant group has attacked aid workers in the country before, and an outbreak of violence could complicate a relief effort that has already struggled to reach the 8 million people who are in need of emergency assistance.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq claimed the US and other countries that have pledged support are not really focused on providing aid to flood victims but had other motives he did not specify.

“Behind the scenes they have certain intentions, but on the face they are talking of relief and help,” Tariq told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

“No relief is reaching the affected people, and when the victims are not receiving help, then this horde of foreigners is not acceptable to us at all.”

What spokesman warns people that he will kill aid workers feeding children?


OH NO!

As ye spend, so shall ye reap. Faced with a $19.3-billion deficit of his own making, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has now decided that everyone in the province has to pitch in to pay it back. This includes a million unionized public sector workers, on whom Mr. McGuinty is attempting to impose a two-year wage freeze as part of their "shared responsibility" to get the province back in the black.

Unfortunately for the Premier, the province's labour unions aren't in a mood to share anything, let alone pain in the pocketbook. Negotiations have broken down and union leaders are threatening strike action. The Premier reportedly is dismayed that this would end five years of "labour peace" -- purchased, of course, with wage increases the government conceded over the same period.

Ontario voters have seen this movie before. In 1990, they elected the province's first (and only) NDP government, under premier Bob Rae. Faced with a recession, Mr. Rae attempted to spend the province back to prosperity, throwing money at welfare, public sector wages and government-sponsored job creation. To pay the tab, he hiked the provincial tax rate from 53% to 58% of the federal rate, and racked up annual $10-billion deficits.

In response, the economy stalled and unemployment doubled, from 5% to 10%. By 1993, the province was so far in the red that Mr. Rae forced outraged civil servants to take unpaid holidays -- dubbed "Rae Days" -- under his much-maligned Social Contract. Needless to say, the NDP lost the labour unions' support and Mr. Rae was turfed out in 1995. Exasperated taxpayers opted instead for the Progressive Conservatives' Mike Harris and the tough love of his Common Sense Revolution.

When I was a girl, I remember the ire of teachers expecting to baby-sit- I mean- teach for five days and get paid for four. My father (who has since retired) called it when he said Rae would never get away with it and never be let back in. When is that going to happen to McGuinty?

Linda Gibbons has spent as much time in prison than Karla Homolka (who murdered her sister).

One would-be pundit quipped:

The way I understand it, you can't pick and choose which laws you would like to obey. Ms. Gibbons made a conscious decision to not obey the law. There are consequences. Period. She is trying to portray herself as a martyr, which she is not.



BTW this has nothing to do with Karla Homolka. Karla committed her crimes, did her time. She did not go back out repeatedly and break the law (that we know about.)

Discuss.