Here.

I note, without comment, that Bob Nixon endorsed Gerard Kennedy last time.

Not this time, seems.

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Paikin – the younger one, who I like – has offered up a very thoughtful and very timely piece on the widening chasm within the Canadian Jewish community.  It is a must-read.

And not merely because it aligns with what I’ve said myself many times in the past.  Paikin’s column is important because too many are afraid to say it out loud – namely, their Canadian “leaders” are mostly reactionaries, closer in outlook to Likud than they are to the people they profess to serve. They’re a propaganda arm of the Conservative Party of Canada, in fact.  And, as I’ve also said before, Stephen Harper’s support isn’t for Israel, per se – it’s for Likud.

Do they care?  Obviously not.  But when a change in government happens – as it always does – they will, they will.  They will profoundly regret abandoning the Jewish community’s multi-partisan approach of the past. Like I told UJA a few years back:

Look at me, folks. I am a latté-sipping, Kyoto-loving, One-World Government Secular Humanist. I probably got here today in a black helicopter, piloted by Hilary Clinton.

But to echo that great line in ‘Jerry Maguire’ – you all had me at “hello.” I will always support you, always. After hearing my little rant, today, some of you may not want me, but too bad. You’ve got me.

There are others like me – many, many others, and they’re all a lot smarter, too. There are others like me, who admire Israel for being a beacon of democracy in a sea full of tyranny. For its generosity, for its wisdom. There are others like me, who see Israel’s continued existence as a precondition to a safer, saner world.

There are others like me! So, by all means, vote for conservatives, sometimes. But vote liberal sometimes, too. Our enemies – and I say that as a Zionist, and as someone who loves Israel, and as a proud member of the team – always want to isolate us, to identify us with only one cause or one choice. Let’s not give them that.

Let’s be smart and let’s be strategic. Israel, and Israel’s people, is owed no less.

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The inclusion of Rush was big news on this side of the border, as it should be.  But for me, recognition of PE is bigger news.  They weren’t just an amazing rock and roll band, I told a doubting Son One this morning – they were an amazing punk band.  Their occasional lapses notwithstanding, they will forever remain God-like Geniuses.

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Team Hair and Teeth© were on all of the party’s debate-rules conference calls and agreed to everything that’s happened since.

This is, as I say, bollocks.

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Has a certain Opposition party been caught trying to infiltrate a certain leadership campaign?

Stay tuned.

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…as here, is like comparing the Beatles to Milli Vanilli.  Like comparing Kobe beef to ground chuck.  Like comparing Stephen Hawking to Johnny English.  Like comparing a Harley to a Moped.  Like comparing Olympic wrestling to pro wrestling.  Like comparing a Ferrari to a Ford.

You get the point.

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…so says The Hill Times. Thanks, Hill Times!

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As they grimly devote themselves to the task of reviewing 2012 — filled, as it was, with declining poll numbers, widespread public disinterest and no achievements whatsoever — Canada’s members of Parliament are today filled with undisguised envy for one figure.

One who will be long remembered by history. One who is recognized from coast to coast to coast. We speak, naturally, of Ikea Monkey.

Canada loves Ikea Monkey. Members of Parliament? Not so much.

Ikea Monkey became Canada’s best-loved, er, Ikea Monkey over the weekend.

As chronicled in a Pulitzer-winning report by Sun Media on Sunday , Maryam Shah wrote how the monkey in question — a rhesus macaque, youngish, somewhat stressed — had decided to explore a North York Ikea store on a Sunday afternoon. It was in its owner’s car, and it somehow got out.

“It’s a smart monkey,” a Toronto police spokesman said, and he would know.

Normally, voluntarily going to any Ikea location on a Sunday just before Christmas is a clear indication of mental illness.

But Ikea Monkey was driven to the Toronto-area store, one assumes, and left to its own devices.

Being “a smart monkey,” it got out of the car it was in, and likely went in search of “banan,” which is Swedish for “banana.”

(Other helpful Swedish banana-related phrases: “Och som stoppade en bil med banan?” and “Bananskalle, jag satsar åt dig,” which mean, respectively: “Who disabled an unmarked unit with a banana?” and “Listen, you stupid banana head.”)

Anyway. The Ikea Monkey delighted Ikea shoppers, who snapped photos that were immediately uploaded to the Internet. Some of the best Twitter tweets about Ikea Monkey: “BREAKING: #IkeaMonkey named Raptors starter. Can’t do any worse than humans.” And: “Peter Gabriel’s latest: “Shop the IkeaMonkey.” And: “It’s a lot of laughs until you recall Planet of the Apes started like this.”

Actually, those were all my tweets. I thought they were pretty funny, if I do say so myself.

But the point — and there is a point to this Swedish simian exegesis — is this: Ikea Monkey, in his little tailor-made shearling coat, and his thoughtful custom diapers, became more famous than any Canadian politician you can name.

Faster than you can say Instagram, the image of Ikea Monkey — natty, cute, and understandably bewildered by Ikea-issue Allen wrenches — went all around the planet.

Nearly 3,000 news stories. Tons of social media updates. Untold numbers of fake Twitter accounts.

(Personal favourite: #IkeaMonkey4TOMayor. He can’t do any worse than the incumbent.)

In the years to come, as social historians debate the enduring significance of Ikea Monkey, one thing will emerge as an empirical fact: In just a few brief moments, Ikea Monkey became the best-known Canadian of 2012. The whole world knows about Ikea Monkey, now.

For Stephen Harper and his government — who never seem to do much of anything, parliamentary majority notwithstanding — Ikea Monkey provides a cautionary tale.

To wit: When a rhesus monkey becomes better known, and better admired, than you (and in record time, too) it is perhaps time for a change in approach.

My advice? Dress the Conservative caucus up in little shearling coats and diapers, and make them visit shopping centres on weekends.

They’ll do a hell of a lot less damage to the country.

And, who knows?

Maybe they’ll get better known, too!

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…the most experienced support, too.

Both count.

Ms. Pupatello stands head and shoulders above the rest. She has the support of 17 caucus members, including Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and other cabinet ministers such as Bob Chiarelli, Brad Duguid, Mike Colle, and Michael Gravelle. Ms. Pupatello also has the support of three former MPPs. The regional distribution of her support is impressive: seven of her caucus supporters hail from ridings in and around Toronto, three from Ottawa, three from Northern Ontario, three from Southwestern Ontario, and one from Eastern Ontario.

Her supporters also have more total experience than her rivals. Including former MPPs, Ms. Pupatello has a combined 180 years of experience in the Ontario legislature in her camp and 60 election wins.

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