Second Gen (2003-2016, 2016- )
From the BBC’s In Pictures page, the caption reads “Russian sailors rehearse a Victory Day military parade in Moscow commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany”. All a bit odd in light of the bit of history chess being played out between the USA and Russia, as noted by Ben, in the lead up to GWB’s visit to Moscow.
Plans including photographs of recent tests, right and above, have been uncovered this week for what is being called the Tantrama City SlingTide project, 
heralded in leaked draft press releases from both Ottawa and the provisional government of the pending Maritime Union located at Tantrama City as a “a cornerstone of economic development” for the new Maritime mega-city and the entire mega-province being created under Liberal Party of Canada direction as part of its effort to “rationalize the Canadian reality” as it enters leadership its third minority government in two years. Apparently working on the principle that the mightiest tides in the world can create shipping speeds unheard of in conventional docking and disembarking ports, a new harbour area in the Tantrama City Economic Zone, provisionally called Port Archibald, has been identified as the base for this new marine transport technology.
Presented with the leaked plans for the mega-project, and its estimated cost of 23 billion dollars, First Minister Designate of the Tantrama City Provisional Government, John McDonald MacKay Archibald, the Federal Liberal appointee, announced this Thursday: “We are planning to apply a lot of new technology, a lot of technology, yes, and a fair chunk of ACOA funding as well to make this dream of a new city for all peoples within the Maritime Union zone.” When asked what economic purpose the SlingTide project might actually serve, FMD Archibald, after a moment’s pause, stated that given access to the St. Lawrence Seaway has been restricted, it is expected that Port Archibald will return the new Maritime Union to its rightful place in world shipping lanes, providing access to Maritime goods throughout the northeastern of the United States and what he called “the Caribee” on a “for profit” basis, mentioning something about coal and potatoes as well as “a fair chunk of ACOA funding.”
Word from Ottawa is that Opposition co-Leader Belinda Stronach is outraged at the transfer of so much of Ontario’s funding for the proposed mega-province, mega-city and mega-projects, including the Tidnish-Minas Canal and Northumberland Tidal Power, at a time of national crisis given Alberta’s default announced by Prime Minister Harper of that province from Calgary this month as well as the on-going negotiations with the national government of Quebec. Opposition co-Leader Peter MacKay has not issued a statement to this point.
Yesterday was “Star Wars Day” in the elementary school playgrounds apparently – kids falling over each other to say “May the fourth be with you” in a Daffy Duck sort of way. Today is one of the 12 days of the century which have the same number in the day, month and year columns.
Be prepared for the end of the world coming on next yea’s version, June 6th.
This is a great way of putting it from David Lodge in this morning’s New York Times:
The Labor Party under Tony Blair has occupied much of the center-right territory formerly held by the Conservatives, while the Liberal Democrats, who used to offer a wishy-washy compromise between those two, have moved to the left of Labor. So, as the columnist Simon Jenkins put it in The Times of London the other day, if you want a Conservative government vote Labor, if you want a Labor government vote Liberal Democrat, and if you want a Liberal government vote Conservative. Got that?
Most polls have predicted that Labor will be returned with a comfortable majority, but polls that count only respondents who say they are certain to vote make the gap much narrower. There is widespread dissatisfaction, mainly related to the war in Iraq, among people who supported Labor in the last two elections, but nobody really knows what proportion of them will reluctantly vote Labor, or register a protest vote for one of the other parties, or abstain.
It is not looking good for the Tories, especially if this poll as displayed at the BBC and released yesterday is to be believed:
Despite it being half a century since UK politics heavily influenced ours, if you compare the Canadian and UK scenes, they are not that different – exchanging Gomery for Iraq, gaelic spearation for gallic. A voting populace in flux. The centre has become the party of natural power after a harrowing experience of Tory government in the 80s and early 90s. The moderating left is being accepted as a viable alternative by the low 20s in percent. Toryism is now limited to core regional areas. One key factual difference is the acceptance of asymetrical constitutional rights for the Irish, Scots and Welsh which has diminished tension but, still, legitimized parking the vote there – each main party would love to get at that 10% of the vote…not so different I suppose in effect form the block of votes for the Bloc. Will there be any lessons in the outcome for our Parliament come Thursday evening our time?
Never fear for top reportage, however, as the Flea is on the scene for the vote and V-E day.
Summer is a comin’ like…like…like a very fast and unexpected thing. We have rejigged our big trip staying farther north, hitting Lake George in New York to see if what they say about Craig is true, South Portland and the beaches, Rhode Island for beaches and the Pawsox, eastern Connecticut for Bill’s seafood. The theme appears to be mini-putt, beach, ice-cream, repeat. Beyond the big trip there is soccer, camping, BBQ skill refinement, ice cream, mini-putt and beaches.
What would you do at this time of year if there was no winter to get through, no reason to find the impending carnival of sweaty late sunny evenings a brief gift of the gods?
Click for a wider shot of the Adolphustown to Glenora Ferry. Battery died in the camera so no shots of the Black River Cheese Company. Maple cheddar is a good thing.
I keep thinking I have posted my last post this Saturday morning, this is simply stunning and has to be noted:
“Ever since I was there [in 1998], there was a guy who told us that one cafeteria was for whites, one was for black.” But his eventual complaints, along with those of three other black workers, led to a damning decision recently by Quebec’s Human Rights Tribunal against Centre Maraîcher Eugène Guinois Jr., one of Canada’s largest commercial vegetable farms, located about 40 minutes southwest of Montreal. In her 32-page report, Judge Michèle Pauzé said she was “stunned, even scandalized” by the racism, neglect and segregation that took place at the 1,300-acre farm where Mr. Michel and scores of other black workers were hired to pick and process vegetables. The judge was so shocked by the case that she prefaced her decision with the phrase, “The events you are going to read happened here, in Quebec, during the years 2000 and 2001.”
While the Globe and Mail, instead of invoking the US south, could have as easily said this sad story sounded like something out of the segregationist elementary schools of forty or fifty years ago in my Nova Scotian hometown or the segregated movie theatres there then, too, the point is the same. Read the whole story and check the labels in your vegetable drawer.
This is a fantastically useful tool for the true nerd which displays coverage for AM and FM radio stations in the USA. It shows Canadian stations as well but there is no map underlay for north of the border stations.
I haven’t reminded you for a while – so do not forget to read my upstate NY neighbour Brian’s posts from Iraq where he is working as a paralegal with the 10th Mountain Division. He has been involved with some of the biggest non-combat news stories coming out of the war and, while he maintains his professional cone of silence, he is able to deftly tell fthe story of what it is like to see what he is seeing. Today, he writes about seeing photos of an entire village Saddam had murdered as part of the making of the case against the former dictator.