Up at the lake with assorted sons, daughter, mother, cousins and dogs. Out tubing, with abandon over big waves, and oil indicator – and, more seriously, engine temperature indicator – start flashing. When Merc 150-equipped Larson  is going straightish – or pulling kids water skiing – no red flashing lights.

I think I’m getting false warning lights, due to all the tube-related zigs and zags.

Am I right? Am I wrong, and the boat should be towed to the deep part of the lake, and sunk? Over to you, team wk.com!

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I’m not sure what that saying means. I think it was popular in the forties, or back before WW2.

In any event, I’ve heard from his own supporters the same thing over and over: that if he’s popular in two years’ time, the party would be “crazy” to let him go.

Heard that again today, in fact.  Doesn’t sound much like a kept promise to me.

Anyway, happy birthday wishes to Mr. Rae.  An uncharitable person would say he isn’t getting better, he’s just getting older.  But I’m a nice guy, so I won’t say that.

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Here.

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In fact, in the view of a growing number of Liberals, Rae and his inner circle are busily at work on making the interim job permanent.

Assisted by a group of take-no-prisoners strategists who haven’t been seen since the brief Paul Martin era, Rae is making plans to jettison the many Michael Ignatieff loyalists who still make up much of the Liberal Party executive. Once that is done, Rae apparently intends to secure the approval of his own loyalists to seek the full-time job.

That is something that should never, ever be allowed to happen.

For starters, the Liberal Party needs new blood. Too many of its MPs had been in the House of Commons for too many years, which is one of the reasons it lost so badly on May 2.

Offering up a leader like Rae — who will be closing in on 70 by the time the next federal election takes place — is a big, big mistake.

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The story about Hudak signing the petition emerged on a blog by a smart woman who keeps an eye on things. She noticed that Hudak’s stance, or lack of one, was reported on the ARPA website.

I’m sorry I missed it but I thought it was an Association of Retired People. But it was the Association for Reformed Political Action, which the Star reported is a group that “aims to make members of reformed churches more a part of public debate.” Fine. What troubled me is that the group’s executive director, Mark Penninga, didn’t think the mention on his website, while accurate, was newsworthy.

The blogger “had a chip on his/her shoulder,” Penninga said.

And yes, she did. But what he and Hudak and Harper should understand is that abortion is not a “chip” on a woman’s shoulder, it is her body and her life, her internal sanctity and her choice.

I am warning those who want Canadian women to lose their right to abortion that this will not be a skirmish. It lives in the hearts of girls and women. We will fight you on this.

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Honestly, I don’t know what is worse — the Norway massacre, or various right-wing pundits’ bizarre response.

I’m overstating my case deliberately, of course. There can be no doubt Anders Breivik’s mass-murder was a horrific crime, one that has shaken Norway and the world. It left nearly 80 dead, most of them young people — and some of them as young as 14.

To target and murder children, as Breivik did, was sick, inhuman and — clearly — profoundly evil. Of that, there can be no doubt.

But some right-wing commentators have sounded profoundly indifferent to evil in the days following the Norway massacre too. Variously, these commentators actually seemed to suggest the victims deserved to die, or the killer wasn’t entirely bad, or Breivik — who had views about Muslims and immigrants eerily similar to their own — wasn’t in fact motivated by those views. Here is sampling…

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Read her.

And, BTW, it amazes me how this issue has been driven – almost completely – by Ontario-based feminist/pro-choice bloggers. Truly amazing.

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Um, you’re wrong.

The poll also suggests Hudak’s views on abortion may have hurt him.

(The polling firm) found 56 per cent of Ontarians think women should be allowed to terminate a pregnancy in all circumstances with 35 per cent agreeing in some circumstances. Only eight per cent are outright opposed to abortion.

Hudak once signed a petition calling for an end to government funding for the procedure but has said he will not reopen the divisive debate, although he considers himself “pro-life.”

“The one thing that can kill the Tories is to be caught out on a social issue and there’s nothing like abortion in terms of a social issue,” said Bozinoff.

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My daughter, back from a month at camp, was singing this with me in the car last night (we saw AF, as did Daisy colleague Josh, at a simply amazing show at the Phoenix last month).  The song reminded me of Tony Grenco, I told her.  I don’t know who that is, she said.

“You never will, either,” I said.  “No one will.”

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