When I read the comments section of any website that covers political news, I get the urge to destroy the very Internet that Al Gore invented and that I perfected.

Yes, some of the reader comments are insightful. Some are witty. This is especially the case with Sun readers! But it pains me to note that most of the comments on most websites most of the time are comprised of conspiracy theories, sweeping generalizations, random thoughts and ugly venom. If you struggle with depression, please avoid reading them.

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My buddy Ian, always worth reading:

“Federal Liberals would do well to look closely at the recent election of Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto. Though political analysts talk about anger or attach labels of left, right, liberal and conservative, the truth is that Ford’s success had less to do with these things than with his ability to focus a message of change. For the most part, Torontonians recognized one thing about their city after two terms of David Miller: Taxes had gone up but services had not increased or improved. While most mayoral candidates debated how to provide better or more efficient services (in essence, how to spend your money), Ford focused on taxes. He had the right message in the right place and repeated it with clarity and determination.”

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Awesome look, great concept, terrific writing. (They wrote to me a while ago to say they’d be featuring web sites and blogs and whatnot, and here they are. But Werner Patels? Good God. Not an auspicious start. What’s next, Five Feet of Hate and Blazing Crosses?)

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I don’t want to make this personal, so I will not – not! – call him a rude, pompous, soulless rageaholic who is, was, and always will be a tourist in the Liberal Party of Canada.

I won’t do that. I just won’t.

Thank you.

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“For years to come, political scientists will ponder how a genial, peace-loving former NDP politician was transformed into such a tough-talking hawk. After all, this is the same man who once declared that Canada’s participation in such conflicts “isn’t the wisest and best course for the world or Canada.” He said that in January 1991, when he was Ontario’s NDP Premier, and when the Mulroney cabinet chose to help remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

Said Rae at the time: “Is this a cause for which I would be willing to go to the desert and fight for? The answer is no.”

Well, that was then and this is now, I guess. If asked, Rae will have a suitably plausible explanation for his change of heart about all this war stuff. He usually does.”

POST-SCRIPT: Rae was apparently livid, last night, that I posted on Thursday an email I received from within the federal Liberal family questioning his motives (which was picked up by NNW, days later). He even posted a Facebook status update about it, because I’m a “blogger” who makes stuff up, etc. W/e. Here’s what I posted on FB in response: “A politician like Bob Rae should know that his caucus colleagues are questioning his motives. It may not make him happy – but they are.” I’ve heard from MPs, Senators and many grassroots folks – they’re extremely unhappy about what Rae has done. And shooting the messenger will be about as effective as it usually is.

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No SNL sketch: this awaits you on your next trip Stateside.

I am a big, big Obama fan, as regular lurkers will know. But I think these new Transportation Security Administration rules – wherein they are permitted to paw your privates, in effect – are insane. And Obama is insane for letting them happen.

I don’t give a rat’s ass what the Fourth Amendment says. If some bureaucrat touches my kids, I’m drifting him.

From the New York Times:

In the three weeks since the Transportation Security Administration began more aggressive pat-downs of passengers at airport security checkpoints, traveler complaints have poured in.

Some offer graphic accounts of genital contact, others tell of agents gawking or making inappropriate comments, and many express a general sense of powerlessness and humiliation. In general passengers are saying they are surprised by the intimacy of a physical search usually reserved for police encounters.

“I didn’t really expect her to touch my vagina through my pants,” said Kaya McLaren, an elementary schoolteacher from Cle Elum, Wash., who was patted down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last Saturday because the body scanner detected a tissue and a hair band in her pocket.

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The news that the Raptors have decided to trade Jarrett Jack has sent me off the deep end. Officially. I cannot believe the stupidity of Raptor managment – or their ownership.

I’m a season ticket-holder, and I’ve had it.

As such, I have written (while at my sons’ back-to-back hockey games, fittingly) the following three-chord ranter, which will clock in at about a minute. It’ll be on the next SFH record, if we can fit it in. In Toronto and environs, I predict it’ll be a huge hit.

Sing along – I know you want to.

MAPLE LEAF DORKS

I hate Maple Leaf Sports
The place is run by dorks
They make lotsa dough
But all three teams, they blow

CHORUS
Raptors – stink!
TFC – stinkier!
Leafs – stinkiest!

Maple Leaf Sports think its funny
To steal all of your hard-earned money
They won’t think it’s so great
When we burn them at the stake

CHORUS (fade)

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To wit:

“The country is essentially split into big blocks defined by geography, traditional voting habits, language and identity (see the Bloc), and nothing any of the parties tries shakes the grip of the other. Occasionally, it looks as if a party might be making a move on one front (Conservatives for a while in Quebec; NDP in B.C.), only to watch the offensive go nowhere. Meantime, no policy has caught the public’s imagination enough to cause major shifts.”

Professor Simpson identifies the disease. But who has the cure?

Hands up, class. We welcome your comments.

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…(highlighted) so I decided to post it.

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…criticism of Israel doesn’t have to mean playing host to a mean-spirited polemicist.

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