News Flash: 62% of Free Press Readers are Idiots

Online poll results from the Free Press website:

The death of Robert Dziekanski was regrettable, and the police may have been a little trigger-happy with their 50,000 volt toys, but it is undebatable that the use of a Taser is still a far better option than the use of a gun in subduing an unruly person in close quarters. May is either very short-sighted or a political opportunist who doesn't mind seeing people die if it means more votes for her. I hope it's the former. But you would think Free Press readers would know better after reading this.

Awakening in Baghdad

Every once in a while I like to wander over to Last Of Iraqis to get another perspective on what's going on over in Baghdad, and keep me grounded when I consider the relatively minor controversies back here in Canada.

Many of his posts contain depressing and sometimes gruesome stories and pictures, but the past couple of stories give a glimmer of hope for at least one part of Baghdad. As Mohammed, the author, tells it, an organization composed of former members of various insurgent factions, called Awakening has come together for a common cause -- to route Al Qaeda out of the area and restore order ... ultimately for money and personal gain most likely, but nevertheless there has been a temporary reprieve from the violence that plagued the area, which is a good thing.

Now, I can't vouch for the accuracy of this guy. I don't know if he is who he says he is, but he does seem credible. Anyhow, it's worth a look. Make a point of checking out the "Art of death in the mesopotamian" post if you're in the mood.

Letter to the Mayor on Transit Fares

I sent an email to the mayors office recently. Here is part of it:

I am sure the mayor's office is familiar with basic economic concepts such as elasticity of demand.  Let me suggest that we may be at the point where increasing fares could result in less revenue and an increased burden on the city.  There are a two main reasons for this:

a) parking in downtown Winnipeg is relatively cheap.  Saving money is the primary motivator for most people to take public transit, so as the cost of riding the bus approaches the cost of parking downtown, the incentive is reduced.

b) the increase breaks a psychological and convenience barrier.  It is a simple matter to pay for transit using a toonie, but I suspect that increasing the price above two dollars will discourage many people from taking transit if they have other alternatives.

I believe the city should encourage use of public transit and is misguided in this latest increase.  While attempting to increase revenues for future improvements, you may actually find that revenues decrease, or increase only marginally, while taking more money out of the pockets of those who have no choice but to use transit ... and I am sure you know that most of those people are part of a low income demographic.

To summarize, I recommend that you reconsider the transit fare increase. It will reduce ridership and add to the burden of low income users while failing in it's purpose of generating additional revenues for the City.

The response: "Please be assured that your comments are valued and will be brought to the Mayor's attention."

I've got a Schreiber in my poll

What do we make of this whole Schreiber / Mulroney / Harper thing that's been going on? Is this the big break that the Liberals have been waiting for? A new poll has come out showing that support for the Conservatives has dropped and Liberal support has spiked several points, especially in Ontario. Wow, with results like that the Liberals might be tempted to actually vote on a confidence motion in the House. Can they parlay this into lasting support? A minority government? A majority government? An airport named after Stephane Dion?

Of course, just a few days earlier, this poll came out:

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper is soaring as Canadians' top pick to lead the country, while Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has plunged to third spot behind the NDP's Jack Layton."

Contoversy in the Conservative camp does not make Stephane a good leader. The impact of this depends on how Harper responds. What's happening here is that a shady business man is fighting tooth and nail to keep his ass out of a German jail, and if he's going down he wants to take everybody else with him. The only thing connecting Harper to this mess (so far) is a 7-month old letter that NDP MP Pat Martin considered important enough to throw dierctly into the trash can. Harper has shown that he can navigate tricky situations and end up more popular then before. From his first day appointing unelected individuals to cabinet, to the same sex marriage debate, to his backtrack on Income Trusts. If I were Stephane, I would not get too excited. Unless the Liberals can form a cohesive party with a compelling platform, they're still going nowhere.

Lest We Forget

Win it for the Turtle Man

In all likelihood, this Sunday will Winnipegger's last chance to see Milt Stegall catch a football. It's the end of an era, boys and girls. The Stegall era. Throughout all of those crumby years of losing records and playoff disappointments Milt suck with us and gave us hope. He was a beacon of light in a dark and cloudy time. He sacrificed himself for our sins. Okay, maybe not that, but he certainly did catch touchdown passes .. more than anybody in CFL history.

And now we approach his last game in Winnipeg. Possibly (but hopefully not!) his last game as a Bomber. I for one am grateful that he committed so much to this team and this city, and it would be a crime against humanity if he retires without holding up the Grey Cup. So DAMMIT win this bloody game! And the one after that and the one after that!

I have noticed that there have been uncharacteristic dropped passes these past few games, Milt included. I think the knowledge that this is the end of an era is putting extra pressure on everybody. I hope that they regain their focus and crush their opposition in all three playoff games so we can put a big happy stamp on the end of Milt's career.

The "hidden agenda" is back!

*Whew* I hadn't heard anything about it and I was worried that it had dissappeared. But thankfully the prickly hidden agenda blanket that comforts Liberal and NDP supporters across the country has reappeared in the form of capital punishment:

The Harper government scrambled Friday to clarify its position on capital punishment amid opposition accusations that the Tories are harbouring a hidden agenda to bring back the death penalty in Canada. The accusations followed Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's surprise announcement Thursday that Canada will no longer seek clemency for Canadian murderers sentenced to death in other democratic countries after a fair trial.

It's good to see that the Liberals now have something to clutch on to while they abstain their way through parliament. It's been a rough year for them, what with the Conservatives giving tax breaks to everybody and all, and not a same-sex marriage debate to be found. Finally there's a social conservative bogeyman the Liberals can use to scare the public, while they try to figure out how to make Dion look like a leader of some kind.

Boo.