American Health Care Debate

I'm not an American yet I'm getting fatigued by the ongoing debate over the American health care system. So much stupidity and prejudice on parade. I hope Americans get a better system under President Obama so the average person doesn't have to choose between a simple procedure or owning a home. Or suffering silently then dying.

Here's a video of NY State Senator Tom Duane giving an impassioned and angry speech about people dying needlessly. Via Blabbeando.


Please recommend this post

Shocked But Not Surprised

When you have a radio station that caters to middle age guys who are predominately conservative, what could go wrong when you start a drive home show conversation about aboriginal issues?

On the way home I tuned in briefly to hear the tail end of a conversation about aboriginal property rights and the Indian Act. The two hosts made a segue to the story about the makeshift border crossing re-opening on Cornwall Island. One of the hosts made the comment, and I'm paraphrasing, that the Mohawks obviously don't want armed guards because they're afraid they'll be shot trying to smuggle cigarettes.

Even for talk radio, I found this unusually inflammatory. I guess this is why these people want to end the Human Rights Commissions, so they can make this kind of talk normal and mainstream.

The background to this, I think, is the fact that the Tsuu Tina nation recently rejected a half billion dollar offer from the City of Calgary and the Province to build the south-west ring road through the Nation's land. This rejection has certainly led to a lot of negative commentary about Tsuu Tina, and aboriginals in general. Please recommend this post

This Just in...Woman's Tennis Sexist

This article about woman's tennis was making the rounds on Twitter today, and to be honest it didn't surprise me much. It seems the centre court matches at Wimbledon are not decided on seeding or talent so much as the looks of the players. I was looking at this picture of Serena Williams and I couldn't help but think what a wicked athlete she is. Those biceps...

If you remember, Anna Kournikova was never ranked higher than 8th in the WTA, and never won a Grand Slam, a Major, or an Olympic Medal. Yet she was always on centre stage courts, got huge endorsements and transitioned into a successful modeling career.

I want to see the best players in the marquee matches. I want to be challenged and to think about what athletic excellence means.


PS. ESPN still holds a hottest female athlete online constest every year. Seems a little outdated to me. Frat boys, what can you do. Please recommend this post

Download This

Download the MP3 and share it. Pass the link around to all your friends. Maybe even your ex-friends. Not to mention future friends, casual acquaintances, parole officers, one night stands, and so on.

Update: Forgot to mention the MP3 has no DRM. It is intened to be shared freely. Please recommend this post

Carrington Fire Apparently Arson

My 80 something mother had been living at the Carrington Assisted living apartments in Edmonton. She lived in the building on 106st and 40th avenue. On May 31, in the middle of the night, the building went on fire and over 200 seniors were out on the street. Miraculously, none of them were hurt. The EFD, EPD and passers by did a great job in making sure everyone got out in time.

The western wing of the building went up in flames and was destroyed completely. The east wing where my mother's suite was, was thoroughly damaged by water. None of these seniors will return to the building as it is condemned and it is unlikely any personal effects can be recovered.

The Carrington facility at Riverbend was under capacity so they took in most of the displaced seniors on short notice. However, imagine the circumstances of having no personal possessions, no furniture. This was a highly traumatic event for people who shouldn't have to deal with something like this at their age.

TV's and couches can be replaced by insurance. But family bibles and love letters from the 1940's are gone forever.

The City of Edmonton announced this morning that the fire is believed to have been deliberately set and the EPD is investigating. The fire was briefly discussed in the AB Leg QP a few weeks ago, relative to fire code adherence and evacuation protocols. As expected, the Government said everything was fine.

Check with the Salvation Army or Red Cross in Edmonton to see if they still need donations of money or personal effects. Or phone Riverbend facility at (780) 433-2223 to see if they still need anything.

Update: Edit for Clarity. The Whitemud facility burned down. Most Seniors were relocated to the Riverbend facility which was under capacity. Please recommend this post

Unintended Widget Side Effect

I've been using the newest version of blogger templates for a few months now. Generally I like them better. These templates support some custom xml tags that allow easy integration of generic widgets. If you look to the right you will see a widget that displays a list of blogs and their latest post, with the leading text. I like this widget and don't mind promoting other blogs. I you want your blog over there drop me a line and tell me I'm the sexiest person you've ever seen.

The side effect is the text from other blogs gets built into my html on the server side when the page is built. Then google ends up indexing it as if it were my content. So if you google some phrase you may end up on a blogger site and be mystified why you were sent there. The widget updates content quite frequently.

I'm not sure if this is considered a bug or not, or just a weird side effect of dynamic content. Depends on your viewpoint. Please recommend this post

Lying For Jesus. Part...Sorry Lost Count

I was surprised when I mistyped my blog URL and found out that a wacky Christian cult had registered www.rwmcbean.blogpot.com to host their dubious bible studies. The web site titled LIFE IS A TEST.ORG looks a bit suspicious to me. It could be a spam/spyware repository, or maybe there's even a back door to child porn. You never know these days. You never know with these type of people.

Anyway, I dropped them a note in their contact form and like clockwork their Jesus-bot responded:

Dear rwmcbean,

We want to thank you for your guestbook message.
The administrator has to revise your message first, therefor it is not visible yet.

Your entry ( Today at 03:08 ):
---------------
your choice of URL makes you a liar and a thief.
---------------

our guestbook:
---------------
http://www.bibledesk.com/cgi-bin/firebook/firebook.cgi
---------------

best regards,
i-dreams.net Gästebuch Team

It raises some ethical questions, but I'm not really angry. I just think its kind of ironic unethical people are cranking out bible studies.

Do you think I'm being too hard on them? Please recommend this post

Eds new BFF

The one and only sentence in the press release: Premier Ed Stelmach met with His Excellency Lan Lijun, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Canada.

In keeping with the opaque operations of the GOA, God only knows what Ed is discussing with the Ambassador of China. After Bill44, I may be better off not knowing. But they do look happy together.

Could be they're discussing China's stake in the Alberta Oil Sands.

Maybe Ed is reassuring the Ambassador that he will never ever be in a photo op with the Dalai Lama.

Maybe they're discussing ways to subvert human rights, environmentalism, or how to kill citizen engagement. China does a pretty good job of terrorizing people into silence. Maybe they're not discussing the Tiananmen Square massacre that didn't occur.

Or maybe, with the Chinese Government taking over the GM Hummer division, they're discussing plans to build a Hummer that runs on Bitumen.

All lame sarcasm aside, the fact is we'll never know what goes on in that office. Ed Stelmach campaigned on a new era of transparency, but it turns out he has a different dictionary than everyone else.

Please recommend this post

Ashamed

I stayed up late to listen to the final reading of Bill 44 in the Alberta Legislature and to follow the Twitter feeds from #ableg and #bill44.   About 1:30 MST the bill was passed 35 to 7.  Half the PC Caucus didn't bother showing up. The Premier came in late just in time to vote and didn't listen or participate in the final debate.  As an additional insult to the Opposition members they invoked closure, which may have saved them a whole ten minutes.  Petty and undemocratic.

The 7 opposition members raised one compelling argument after another against this horrible law. The government provided nothing useful, and tossed out brainless cliches like the silent majority and severely normal Albertans.  That's the problem when you govern on the advice of special interest groups, you pretty much have to turn your brain off.  

When they started talking about natural families it was a dead give away they were pandering to homophobes, but homophobes who chose to stay in the shadows.

Bill 44 is indefensible and I'm ashamed.

Please recommend this post

Time to test Torture Theory

The alleged murderer of Dr. George Tiller, who is now in custody, may be part of a larger terror cell planning more killings. Presumably the supporters of torture in the war on terror would agree that torturing this suspect would be prudent, and would help settle the debate over whether torture is an effective tool.

I say waterboard the man. See if there are any other ticking time bomb snipers out there.

Yes, I'm in a *great* mood today, thanks for asking. Please recommend this post

Children of a Stupid God

...he's our child and is a very very bad boy...

Please recommend this post

Dear Brain

I really hate it when you walk by some thing 20 times a day and your brain chirps at you we really ought to do something with that thing,  and you talk back to your brain ok ok,  maybe tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes and you remember and you say to your brain,  where's that thing we were supposed to do something with and your brain says,  what thing?  and you say that thing we saw 20 times yesterday.  And your brain say, no idea what you're talking about hummina hummina hummina....

I also hate it when I wake up at 4am with a brilliant idea that's going to revolutionize some software project I'm working on. Before noon the next day I will have mentioned it to someone only to have them tell me what a completely shitty idea it is.  I know they're right.  They know I know they're right.  They know I was up at 4am "thinking".  I vow never to be a visionary again, and to only do dull and repetitive work.

Thank you for your forbearance.  Please proceed to the next item in your reader. Oh,wait. The McGarrigles and Emmylou Harris:

Please recommend this post

Karma and the Prop 8 Ruling

On the same day that the California Supreme court released its ruling on the request to overturn Propisition 8, the Alberta Legislature continues to debate Bill 44.  There is some irony there and both Twitter feeds are fascinating and highly emotional.

The key issue in the California ruling is the sad reality that referendums can be used to alter the State's constitution, even in areas that affect minority rights.  This is basically what the Reform/Alliance party wanted for Canada. 

If there's any sunshine in this ruling, its that payback is a bitch.  The precedent has now been set and can actively be used by liberals just as well as conservatives.  If a referendum is passed demanding all Christians die their hair read, so be it.  No recourse.  

And I'm sure they wouldn't try to overturn such a thing in the courts, because as we all know they're against judicial activism.

The other good news is that gay marriage will be legal in California eventually, definitely within 5 years. Its too fundamental to be held back

Please recommend this post

Peter Lougheed: Just Visiting

As mentioned from time to time on this site, Alberta's most pivotal Premier of the modern era was shockingly absent from Alberta and shockingly returned to get elected to the Alberta Legislature. Shocking. It could be that Stephen Harper has overlooked his bio, or he just hasn't got around to slandering him yet. Harper's probably kind of busy that way.

Before his political career, in the 1950's Lougheed went to Harvard (make sour ewwy face) to obtain an MBA. Although he was a stellar student in all respects he did flunk out of How to Talk With a Parisian Accent. He just wasn't good at it. And it was an elective. In the summers he worked for an oil company in Oklahoma. He saw first hand what happens when the oil and gas runs out.

After returning to Alberta, Lougheed ran for office in the mid 60's, again shockingly, and then won the landslide election of 1971, in spite of his presumptuousness in getting an education.

Going, coming, going, coming. "Education." These elitists are all the same. I can hardly believe a true Albertan would act that way.


(I suppose I'll have to mention I'm being sarcastic. But I'm only using a very small font.)

Please recommend this post

Some Calgary Photos

Some cheap photos from around Calgary. If you have a slow connection come back in 10 minutes.



Some Squirrels on a rare piece of grass downtown.



Some Tamil protesters on the steps of City Hall.




Olympic plaza. Just finishing off an all day kids festival.




Teatro's Restaurant lunch specials. They're offering a dinner for 2 for the price of a barrel of oil. Nice Calgary gimmick, but might put a few execs off their appetite.





"The Bow" continutes rapid construction, even after uncertainty about financing. The smaller building planned for the east side of the plaza won't get built for now. This was the building that was supposed to house the arts communities, public spaces, and a daycare.



Not sure what they're building here, on the 32 avenue edge of the University of Calgary. There seems to be construction all over the campus. Conservative University in a Conservative riding? Nah, just a coincidence.



A traffic jam on Country Hills Boulevard at 9pm. Grrrrr. And I had to P. Please recommend this post

630Ched Manipulates Anger Over Tori Stafford

There's a death penalty poll up at 630ched.com. It deliberately coincides with the horrible news regarding Tori Stafford.

The usual inflammatory bullshit forms the question:

With little evidence Canada's "soft" treatment of hardened criminals is working, is it time to bring back the death penalty for cold blooded killers?

There are too many fallacies there to properly deal with in brief, but please go over and vote.

When four RCMP officers were killed in Mayerthorpe Alberta, then Premier Ralph Klein said it was no time to talk about gun control. I guess reform types like Bob Layton are into situational ethics when it comes to exploiting victims for cheap politics.

It makes me angry that 62% of Edmontonians would consider bringing back a medieval
barbarism like the death penalty. Please recommend this post

Vote Yes for BC STV

I wish I lived in BC so I could vote in tomorrow's election. I would definitely vote yes for the STV democratic reform. I hope it passes and incites citizen rebellion all over the country.

We are becoming increasingly linked with the world through globalization and immigration yet our political systems both provincially and federally, are rapidly falling behind the emerging standards elsewhere. We can no longer claim that we are leaders in this field.

If STV passes it may spread eastward, but it would likely fly right over Alberta looking for more fertile ground. We know without a question the the Alberta Progressive Conservatives oppose any kind of citizen engagement or electoral reform. In a place where a little over 50% of the vote gets you all but 7 of the seats, why change?

Speaking at a constituency association meeting, Ed Stelmach(R) had this to say:

But I will be perfectly clear that if some want to make changing our system of elections to a “proportional representation” system, put me on the record opposing it. As the Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, I will not make it my legacy to get more NDP or Liberal members elected. If they can win on the ground, or in the hearts of Albertans, then fine.

(Original PDF transcript of speech available on request)

Electoral reform requires ruling parties to take a chance and act like statesman for once. Its a very rare opportunity. Take it while its offered. Please recommend this post

Sean Avery's Therapy didn't Take

A few months ago Sean Avery was suspended for saying adolescent things about Dion Phaneuf and Elisha Cuthbert. After his suspension and league mandated counseling the Dallas Stars put him on waivers and the New York Rangers picked him up. It seems he got ripped off with the counseling thing. I remember him doing interviews and being all emo about how serious he was about fixing himself. I thought this kind of dysfunction would probably take more than a few visits to some vocational guidance counselor to unravel the long term issues. Will the Rangers or any team sign him again next year?

The way the hockey world socializes young men, from a very young age, no doubt leads a few of them to become dysfunctional.

Please recommend this post

Poll Crashing du Jour

Dr.Dobson's national prayer day poll is being crashed by PZ Myers. A lot of us support prayer in its various forms, however you can easily see the indirect question here which is about supporting an inhumane organization that sees no separation between church and state, and views gay people as less than human. Please recommend this post

Ted Morton Hates Women's Rights

Apparently Dr.Morton attended a pro-life rally on the Alberta Legislature property after a press scrum. May be covered later on the CBC Edmonton news. Please recommend this post