From the Swedish mop tops’ latest waxing.  Saw ’em last night, for about the hundredth time.  They’re still the best live performers in rock’n’roll.  Why they aren’t bigger than the Stones is beyond me.

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…received via email, this morn. There’s a link, too, wherein one thing explains the other.

I guess.

Deborah Coyne @DebCoyne is now following you (@kinsellawarren).

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Radio Canada International’s shortwave service was, quite literally, Canada’s voice to the world for nearly seventy years – through wars, through triumphs and disasters, through it all. It has literally been part of our history. When I was an election observer in Bosnia in 1996, billeted with a Serbian family, I was glued to my tiny shortwave radio at nights. I’d listen to the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the news from back home, and I was pretty grateful that RCI existed.

You may not know it, because so many of you are in Canada or Internet-dependent, but RCI went off the shortwave airwaves this week. Last night, my sons and I actually pulled over to the side of the road to listen to RCI’s Marc Montgomery say goodbye.  Even for my youngest son, it was emotional.

Why should you care? Does it matter? It matters. Billion-dollar fighter jets and super jails, before a pittance for a radio station that subtly promoted democracy, and decency, around the world. In small but undeniable ways, the Conservatives are chipping away at the notion of what Canada was, and what it is. It is thoughtless, it is ideological, it is done without any appreciation of our history or our shared culture: the Harper regime are denuding us of the things that make us uniquely Canadian. To ourselves, and to the world.

I urge you to watch this man saying goodbye to RCI. By the very end of it, I suspect some of you will be left feeling as I did – namely, hating the guts of some of the bastards in this “government,” and determined to do something about it.

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Here.

I’ll be on David Akin’s show tonight to discuss this stuff.

Sure wish it was 2014, and not 2012. We could win the damned election!

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The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the governor general informs us on a slick vice-regal website, is “a new commemorative medal … created to mark the 2012 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada.”

The medal, enthused the GG, “is a tangible way for Canada to honour Her Majesty for her service to this country. At the same time, it serves to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.”

How nice! How “tangible!” In all, around 60,000 Canadians will receive the shiny silver medals, which have a likeness of the Queen on one side, and her insignia and some maple leafs on the reverse side. To get one, you need to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you need to have made “a significant contribution” to the country, and you needed to be alive as of February of this year.

It also doesn’t hurt, apparently, if you are a Conservative Party hack, a separatist, a banker, a conservative tax lobbyist, a conservative cheerleader, or even a member of an organization with links to white supremacy and homophobia.

Many people who have received the medals are deserving of recognition, of course. But others associated with the medals don’t deserve them, at all.
Here’s a sampling:

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It ain’t bad, either:

But the best thing about the ad? The best thing is what one genius political pundit had to say, just last week, when he explained why Angry Steve was “going easy” on Angry Tom, and not running attack ads (like, er, the one above) against him:

“…Harper is happy to see Mulcair rise. The Liberals, who governed Canada for most of the 20th century while the Conservatives didn’t, are left squeezed from both sides but too stubborn to disappear. The left-of-Conservative vote remains split. With the Liberals dominant in the centre, Conservative parties won three elections between 1963 and 2004. With the NDP dominant on the left, Conservatives would win more. Harper doesn’t control all of Canadian politics or anywhere close, but if he left a landscape like that behind him, he could retire a happy man.”

Paul Wells, super-smart political analyst. Damn, he’s just so good.

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TORONTO—No exaggeration: there is actual excitement back in Canadian politics. Why?

Justin Trudeau, that’s why. 

In the days leading up to Bob Rae finally acknowledging reality—that, despite his smarts and experience, he was never, ever going to be Prime Minister—I started hearing rumours that Trudeau was considering a shot at the top Grit job after all. I posted some of the speculation on my website. 

The response I received was astonishing. Literally hundreds and hundreds of comments—from Grits, sounding more hopeful than I’d heard them in years. And from Cons and Dippers, too, who sounded actually concerned. Worried, even. 

Based on the polls and based on the buzz, they should be. If Trudeau throws his hat in the proverbial ring, he could transform the Canadian political scene. 

Or he could flop, spectacularly, like Michael Ignatieff did.

…With the Parti Québécois becoming competitive again, Canadians will likely be looking for a federalist champion again. Harper, who is despised in Quebec, isn’t it. Nor is it Mulcair, with his party’s despicable Sherbrooke Declaration. 

Trudeau, meanwhile, is effortlessly bilingual and thoroughly multicultural and an avowed federalist. Ask any cabbie, in any urban centre, to predict who they think will be Prime Minister one day. Ask them who could speak for Canada again, when no one does so anymore. Trudeau’s name is the only one they know—because he appeals to demographic tribes where Harper and Mulcair simply don’t.

…Justin Trudeau is the leader the Liberal Party needs. There’s no question that most of my fellow Liberals feel that way. 

The only question is whether Justin, and his young family, feel that way, too. 

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Of Toronto, Conservative. Trying to find him for a special delivery. Think he tweets under jpeterson67. Anyone got contact info?

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1. I’ve known some guys who were affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, here in Canada. Most moderate people I’ve ever met. I suppose that puts me on the side of the terrorists, now?

2. I wonder if Egypt would have narrowly elected this (allegedly) hardline guy, if Israel hadn’t previously elected an (allegedly) hardline guy, too?

3. I still find the naming of boys after the prophet Mohamed noteworthy. Why don’t non-Hispanic Christians name their sons “Jesus” more? And why do Hispanics do so?

Questions, questions. Answers, anyone? Anyone?

Bueller?

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Lord, it’s long!

Lotsa good names, too.

If you couldn’t win your seat, however, you shouldn’t run. Same goes for those who carry debt from previous runs.

See? I just shortened the long list, big time. You’re welcome.

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