The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/
EDITORIALs ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/
MONTREAL GAZETTE -
Charest should resist election temptation
OTTAWA CITIZEN -
Now he tells us
TORONTO STAR -
Twilight of the oracles
GLOBE & MAIL -
Online addiction is not a game
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081024.weinternet25/BNStory/specialComment/home
NATIONAL POST -
Hopeful signs from Pakistan
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=907039
HAMILTON SPECTATOR -
We'll all feel financial chill
WINDSOR STAR -
EU trade
SASKATOON STARPHOENIX -
Gov't, labour need to end feud
CALGARY HERALD -
Arts groups sing premier's praise
Ruling that leads to shanties cannot be allowed to stand
Teens today need our help to traverse the tough tightrope
GRANDE PRAIRIE DAILY HERALD TRIBUNE -
Tension builds in wake of bombings - Precarious situation for oilpatch workers
EDMONTON JOURNAL -
It's time to rethink elections
LETHBRIDGE HERALD -
Canada's priorities are all messed up
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1543&Itemid=56
VANCOUVER SUN -
Recession or not, Christmas gift-giving tradition worth the price
In dying, philosophers teach us how to live
Bloc's the big winner in election financing
VANCOUVER PROVINCE -
We're sure you will agree/agree
'Spoofing' fraud should be banned
VICTORIA TIMES-COLONIST -
Prescribed drugs a step forward
End discriminatory voting rules
Tough economy not the real cause of violent crime
ISSUES
ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS -
No time for blame, Strahl says of LaForme resignation
AFGHANISTAN -
Survivors of the 'mouth of hell' back with tales of a deadly tour of duty
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/26/military-afghanistan
US claims Afghan opium progress
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7690422.stm
Britain may be in Afghanistan 'for decades'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5014727.ece
US chiefs plan troop surge in Afghanistan
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5014730.ece
Myriad militant groups operate on Pakistan border
CANADIAN FORCES
Soldiers to target Afghan drug labs, not poppy fields
Frigate crew feels Somalia mission did some good
Brit Hercules report doesn't worry Canadian commander
CANUSA/USACAN
Pair detained in Guantanamo take Mounties, CSIS to court
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Asia, Europe discuss economy, call for IMF help
GM, Cerberus step up Chrysler sale talks: sources
Chrysler to cut 25 percent of salaried work force
HL: Some Canadian charities struggling amid financial meltdown
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081025/national/economy_charities
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HEALTH CARE RELATED
Health care: slow progress, but direction clear
Listeria fear prompts recall of 10 kinds of sandwich sold in Ontario
JUSTICE SYSTEM
MIGRATION
Economy will need more immigrants
POLITICS IN THE PROVINCES
Dumont brushes off rumours of more ADQ defections
Driving on phone to be banned: Report
PARTY POLITICS
POLITICAL OPINION -
Deficit slayer sees legacy cut to pieces MORE...
Martin: Tory tax cuts risk Canada's financial health
August red ink points to 'rough times' ahead
We shouldn't need a Green party. MORE...
Wounded party rallies to sound of trumpet. MORE...
Harper must hike GST to avoid deficit MORE...
Mr. Harper, it's time to ditch some campaign vows MORE...
Send Iggy packing?l.. MORE...
Bloc's the big winner in election financing. MORE...
Time to bury the gun registry. MORE..
Don't believe in climate change? You still need a carbon tax MORE...
Memoirs of a PM foiled by predecessor.. MORE...
What Dick Pound said was really dumb - and also true
Wente: Was Canada once a land of savages? .. MORE...
Advice to publishers: Go private MORE...
Liberals pressure former premier to quit waffling over leadership
McGuinty disses McKenna
McKenna's French? "..he is a preternaturally powerful orator -- in both English and French"
Dosanjh mulls run for Liberal leadership
Tobin firmly rules out run at Liberal leadership Conservative Co-Chair gets plum lobbyist assignment
Flaherty says surplus still in cards
Ottawa dips into the red
Deficit foes face bleak choices as budget shortfall seems certain
A guide to debts, deficits and surpluses
Liberal demise blamed on Chretien
Stéphane's Québec lieutenant says: I ain't goin' nowhere
Liberals oust Bloc in suburban Montreal following recount
Quebec ridings that voted Tory will be better served, MP says
Jean-Pierre Blackburn saved himself in the last election campaign by repeatedly pointing out that he spread $247-million in federal pork as a member of the Harper government.
PROGRAMMES
PRESSURE POINTS
OPINION AND INFORMATION
Human species 'may split in two'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm
We're all socialists now
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/index.html
French gird to contest British victory at Agincourt, 600 years later
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/10/24/french-gird-to-contest-british-victory-at-agincourt-600-years-later.aspx
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
http://www.chronique.com/Library/Knights/crispen.htm
Salmon Collapse: Starving on the Coast
The Global Crisis: The End of an Age of Reaction
INFOS
L'Armée du salut souffre des répercussions de la crise économique
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081025/N102550AU.html
Ottawa est toujours en voie d'afficher un 'modeste surplus', dit Jim Flaherty
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081024/N1024171AU.html
Le chef d'état-major de la Défense estime que les Hercules sont sûrs
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081024/N1024212AU.html
Bactérie E. coli: une action collective contre le propriétaire de Harvey's
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081024/N1024167AU.html
Augmenter l'immigration pour assurer le bien-être de l'économie
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/national/200810/25/01-32923-augmenter-limmigration-pour-assurer-le-bien-etre-de-leconomie.php
Pas de pouvoir pour les libéraux sans unité
http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/10/25/212573.html
BELOW(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)
Michael WatkinsEmerson-Free Vancouver Kingsway
http://www.fin.gc.ca/FISCMON/2008-08e.html
Its official: Stephen "No Recession" Harper and Jim "No Deficit" Flaherty
post a whopping 1.7 billion deficit in August. What will September record?
I noted during the election Canada's growing cash flow deficit. Only
post-election has the subject of debt, deficit, and recession gained
traction in the popular media.
From April to the end of August the Conservative government has racked up
$17.6 billion in new debt and reduced Canada's cash balance by $2 billion.
It has run deficits in two of five months already this year, and the
borrowing rate of this government has outpaced all governments this
decade.
There is every expectation this fiscal year will be the worst Canada has
faced in decades. Previous governments have retained sufficient reserves
to deal with economic turmoil, but the Harper government is not so
prepared.
It will be tempting for the opposition to merely claim the Harper
government are bad managers. Don't make that mistake. Focussing on the
amount of red ink alone will cause many to miss the more important point
which is the Harper government, in the final analysis, doesn't care if it
runs some red ink. Why? Harper's primary mission is to keep shovelling out
tax cuts and transfers to provinces in order to reach its final objective:
a permanent weakening of the power of the federal government.
Surpluses and deficits are ephemeral. Whatever fleeting angst one feels on
review of the latest federal government balance sheet will not compare to
the pain we shall experience in the future thanks to a weakened Canada and
its dismantled federal government, one Harper wishes to design using the
1867 era as his pattern.
Was Canada better off in 1867 than it is today?
An explanatory graphic and more detail at:
http://mikewatkins.ca/2008/10/24/conservatives-post-another-deficit/
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From: Charles Tupper
Subject: Integration with the United States?
« Harper's Agenda Must be Stopped by Liberals, NDP and Bloc »
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From: "Robert Ede"
To: "jflaherty@fin.gc.ca" <jflaherty ...snip... Stephen Harper" <pm@pm.gc.ca>
Subject: Deficit Reported for Aug2008 in monthly Fiscal Monitor report
Cc: consltcomm@fin.gc.ca ...snip... Digest" <joe.hueglin@bellnet.ca>
Mr Minister & Mr Prime Minister,
Very fast work.
The election was over less than 10 days ago and already you've produced new data on the annual budget's progress that was unavailable to you and us at that time.
Bourque.com alerted me that the Fiscal Monitor had been released today (html last rev 10/24/08) and I thank you and your department/government's zeal in distributing this newly gathered info in such a timely fashion.
Talk about dedication - you must have gone right back to work to get this out so fast. I had half-expected you folks to have taken some time off ... to relax a bit after the election campaign.
Boy, was I wrong! Again ... thanks for the extra effort.
Oh, by the way, is there anything else we should know - Fiscally, Monetarily, Economically, Militarily etc that you've become aware of since the 14th?
--
Robert (Rob) Ede,
Thornhill ON
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From: "Brian Graff"
Hi Joe:
Regarding the PC Party, I have written to you before voicing my view that the party fails to provide any useful purpose.
If we were to switch to a system of PR, then maybe the PCP would stand a chance of growing, but even then it would be a long uphill battle.
The Liberal Party, under Paul Martin, was in many ways a Red Tory Party - people like Martin, Roy McLaren and John Manley could easily have been confused for Progressives Conservatives - I don't think that philosophically that are all that more to the left of John Tory or Brian Mulroney.
In the short term, if PC Party members want to continue, at the least they need to link up with some other group, like the Canadian Action Party, in order to prevent further shrinkage.... or possibly join the Green Party - the former leader was a ex-Progressive Conservative, so I assume that others have also found a comfortable home there.
But, as a disgruntled Liberal who fears even 1 more year of Steven Harper, I would even like to see the Liberal party and the NDP merge rather than to continue to split the vote... so I am one who puts strategy and compromise over adherence to a particular party "Brand Name" or narrow philosophy
Brian
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Subject: On the lighter side ... Silly science and caustic comments
From: "Efstratios Psarianos"
Hi, Joe. We've all been pretty despondent recently. Give us DDers a shot of this ..
Have a good weekend!
Stratos
Light Friday: 2008 Ig Nobel Prizes
By Jorina Fontelera
The annual Ig Nobel Prizes - the light-hearted version of the Nobel Prizes - honor the unusual and imaginative works of scientific research. This year's winners revealed how to make potato chips seem crisper, found new uses for Coca-cola and that plants have dignity.
Organized by the Annals of Improbably Research, the annual Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate scientific achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative - and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology."
More than 1,000 spectators attended the gala ceremony for the 18th annual Ig Nobel Prizes held at Havard University's Sanders Theatre on Oct. 2. The prizes were presented by 1976 Nobel Laureate William Lipscomb and honored the scientists who discovered that heaps of hair will always get tangled, slime molds can solve puzzles and why armadillos are a pain to archaeologists.
The following are the 2008 Ig Nobel Prize categories and winners:
Nutrition Prize: The Italian-British duo of Massimiliano Zampini of the University of Trento, Italy, and Charles Spence of Oxford University, UK, were able to electronically modify the sound of a potato chip to make the person eating it think it is crisper and fresher than it really is. Their study, The Role of Auditory Cues in Modulating the Perceived Crispness and Staleness of Potato Chips, first appeared in the Journal of Sensory Studies.
(Stratos: "And now, in addition to their great taste, Pringles feature saliva-activated, nano-crisp electronic technology that not only electrically charges your taste buds . it RESONATES at your skull's natural frequency!")
Peace Prize: Perhaps the most intensely watched of the real Nobel prizes, the peace prize was awarded to the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) and the citizens of Switzerland for adopting the legal principle that plants have dignity.
(Stratos: Politicians, aka vegetables, aka potted plants, rejoice! Respect is at hand .)
Archaeology Prize: Brazilian archaeologists Astolfo G. Mello Araujo and Jos Carlos Marcelino of Universidade de S o Paulo, Brazil, discovered how the contents of an archaeological dig site can be scrambled by the actions of a live armadillo, thus potentially jumbling history.
(Stratos: With this knowledge, we will throw off the bonds of Earth, our home of old, and fill the galaxy. Plus, now we know that ancient civilizations really WEREN'T ruined by hordes of raging armadillos.)
Biology Prize: French scientists Marie-Christine Cadiergues, Christel Joubert, and Michel Franc of Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse, France, proved that dog fleas jump higher than cat fleas.
(Stratos: Zees ees why zose Eengleesh peeg-dogs conqeurrred ze weurrrld and not oss Franch.)
Medicine Prize: Showing that price does matter, Ziv Carmon of INSEAD (Singapore) and American scientists Dan Ariely of Duke University, Rebecca L. Waber of MIT, and Baba Shiv of Stanford University, demonstrated that high-priced fake medicine is more effective than low-priced fake medicine.
(Stratos: "And now in pharmacies . double-sweet SHUGAH-brand (TM) placebos. Twice as strong and twice the price of competing sugar-based medecines. Proven MORE EFFECTIVE than aspartame!")
Cognitive Science Prize: Proving that there's more to mold than meets the eye, Japanese scientists Toshiyuki Nakagaki of Hokkaido University, Hiroyasu Yamada of Nagoya, Ryo Kobayashi of Hiroshima University, Atsushi Tero of Presto JST, Akio Ishiguro of Tohoku University, and Hungarian got T th of the University of Szeged, showed how amoeba-like slime mold was able to find the minimum-length solution between two points in a labyrinth. In short, it solves puzzles.
(Stratos: I had a boss like that once. He always found the shortest way to my lunches, which I'd always hide from him at work. That, and he always found the lowest-energy way to please HIS boss at my expense .)
Economics Prize: Helping lap dancers everywhere, Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tybur and Brent Jordan of the University of New Mexico, exposed the fact that professional lap dancers earn higher tips when they are ovulating.
(Stratos: This is news? Male Chippendales dancers make more dinero when their parts swell up, too. I could've done that study for free! Uuuuhhh ... I mean my wife .)
Physics Prize: Detangling shampoo manufacturers beware. Dorian Raymer of the Ocean Observatories Initiative at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Douglas Smith of the University of California, San Diego, proved mathematically that heaps of string or hair will inevitably tangle themselves up in knots.
(Stratos: 1. There''s GOT to be a way to generate power from spontaneous hair-fusion energy. 2. Ladies, give it up . Use Brand X Tangles-Are-Inevitable-So-Don't Worry conditioner, now 20% off with every purchase of SHUGAH (TM) Anti-Anxiety Elixir.
Chemistry Prize: Nothing like contraception to cause controversy as joint chemistry prize winners proved and disproved that Coca Cola is an effective spermicide. Sharee A. Umpierre of the University of Puerto Rico, Joseph A. Hill of The Fertility Centers of New England (USA), Deborah J. Anderson of Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School say it is, while Taiwanese scientists Chuang-Ye Hong of Taipei Medical University, C.C. Shieh, P. Wu and B.N. Chiang say it is not.
(Stratos: So it's official, now. Alcohol PROMOTES fertility, and Coca Cola INHIBITS it. However, please note that Coke serves for morning-after mop-up, whereas Diet Coke shuts down repro systems.)
Literature Prize: David Sims of Cass Business School in London, takes home the literature prize for his lovingly written study on behavior entitled, You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations.
(Stratos: Inspired by my former boss!)
For more information about the Ig Nobel Prizes, visit Improbable Research's Web site where you can watch the 2008 ceremony, learn about past winners and find out how to nominate other wacky scientific works for 2009.
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