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san quentin

“Johnny Cash at San Quentin” has become our latest obsession. It’s on the office itunes, but we bought the CD this weekend. Sweet. Johnny Cash rocks.

A little busy this week (translation: less time to slack), so posting won’t be as frequent in the off-season of August.

BTW: One of the best song lyrics EVER…

Folsom Prison Blues

When I was just a baby,
My Mama told me, “Son,
Always be a good boy,
Don’t ever play with guns,”
But I shot a man in Reno,
Just to watch him die,
When I hear that whistle blowin’,
I hang my head and cry.

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premiers annual golf tournament

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“Toot toot!” The “Premiers Express” goes to Banff.


Canada‘s provincial Premiers will be meeting in Banff this week (August 10-12) to hold their annual golf tournament, which is also known as the “Council of the Federation.”

The week will start off with a train-ride from Calgary to Banff (see above).

According to the Globe & Mail:


“[d]eveloping a national plan on post-secondary education and training will top the agenda when the country’s provincial and territorial leaders gather this week in the
Rocky Mountains for their annual meeting.”

Well, as much as we hope that they seriously discuss and take action on this issue, we’re willing to bet that it won’t take long before the meeting becomes another bickerfest between the provinces and the feds.

PREMTIVE NOTE TO PREMIERS AND FEDS: Both of your funds come from the same taxpayer. Quit acting like 8 year-olds and start some action on PSE!

You can find more info on the “Council of the Federation” annual golf conference in Banff here.

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c’est moi?

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Thanks to the incredible chris-face for this wonderful South Parkization of daveberta’s Editor in Chief.

BTW: To the ladies, in real life, his guns are way bigger. Watch out for his guns. They’ll getcha. 😛

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under seige?

Thanks, C-lo. Look what you started!

Look who was dropped by yesterday.

Domain Name army.mil ? (Military)
IP Address 206.37.243.# (Naval Ocean Systems Center)
ISP Naval Ocean Systems Center
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : California
Language English (United States)
en-us
Operating System Microsoft Win2000

We’ve barred the gates of the city, but we still can’t believe the US Army is still using Windows 2000!

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daveberta readers rebuke the alberta ndp

The once mighty Alberta NDP-Army flees daveberta.

For Immediate Release
August 5, 2005

Edmonton – In the wake of the recent “Shannon-gate” scandal, daveberta readers have responded in full force.

On Monday, August 1st, Ms. Shannon Phillips, the Communications Director of the Alberta NDP Caucus responded to a recent daveberta post regarding Edmonton Strathcona ND MLA Raj Pannu’s rumoured intention to step down in order to make way for Larry Booi to run for the Alberta NDP in a by-election.

Since the “Shannon-gate” fiasco began, daveberta has received many comments and emails in response to Ms. Phillips comment. Many were received after the official daveberta response to Ms. Phillips.

Though the daveberta editorial board does not officially support comments left in said section, in the spirit of open and transparent blogging, included below are reactions from loyal daveberta readers on “Shannon-gate“:

Aaron said: “NDP? Who are they? They’re from Ontario, right? 😛

Tyler said: “Who ever thought the Alberta NDP could afford to be that smug! Woo Hoo! 4 seats!

Baghdad Bob said: “I won’t believe Raj until he signs a reporter’s notebook that says 3 3/4 years!”

Holtopia said
: “The Alberta NDP is definately hiding something…

Ken said: “I am glad to know the NDP still has many over confident individuals, such as yourself. I would like to assure you personally that although the candidate your party elects may propose many ideas that begin with a dollar sign and end with a lot of zeroes, my candidate will have more than “nice ideas”. I already have multiple candidates actively seeking [the Alberta Liberal] nomination, and these are people who believe in education and health care.

I appreciate your suggestion that “the riding association will remain as moribund as it has been for the last few years”. Please continue to spread this rumour through your party circles, because it will lead to many of your volunteers staying home, and make my job that much easier.

and finally…

Allie said: “”… if it was simply a chalked up rumour, then why is it even worth a response? Especially from someone as high in up the Alberta NDP echelons as Ms. Phillips?”

“High up in the NDP echelons?” That’s “the most preposterous thing I have heard all day!” With only FOUR MLA’s what on earth is high up anyways? Don’t make me laugh. Ms Phillip’s just has this much time on her hands. Scanning local blog posts for slights against the NDP (a fulltime job in itself I imagine) and responding to them in her trademark “I’m better and know more than you” fashion. It’s exactly this type of response that leads people to dismiss the NDP as anything but serious.

Someone catch Ms Phillips before she falls off her chair.

For More Information Contact:
daveberta media centre
email.daveberta@linuxmail.org

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god bless ezra and his western standards.

It appears as if Aaron is in a full pitched epic battle with Western Standard Editor, Ezra Levant (Who apparently got an “A” in “undergraduate stats.” Of course, Ralph Klein got a “B” on his Chilean History paper, so we here at daveberta remain more than a little skeptical).

We recommend that Aaron use the trusty “left hook jab” in his battle.

Most sincerely,

daveberta editorial board

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blog of the week: folk fest blog!

For pure entertainment purposes, we recommend that EVERYONE with access to the blogosphere stop and check out the hip and cool Folk Fest Blog.

We first discovered this blog about 3 months ago, and we sincerely thank the always wonderful Sheamus Murphy for letting us know that it’s back up and running in preparation for this weekend’s Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

And on that note, the Folk Fest Blog is this week’s “blog of the week.”

Sadly, us folk fest loving cowboys over at daveberta won’t be joining the Folk Festivities this weekend. 🙁 Instead, we’re spending our weekend moving Daveberta’s International Headquarters from the awesome west-downtown Oliver area to the chic-University area of Garneau.

But rest assured, we will only be listening to Johnny Cash, Ruthie Foster, and Allison Krauss. 😉

Cheers.

D 🙂

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mtv ad’s banned by us gov’t

Thanks to the always cool and attentive daveberta readership for passing these images our way.

We’re not sure if this has hit the MSM yet, but apparently, these are clips from a MTV commercial that were recently banned by the US Government.

According to the email, they only aired once before the strong arm of the US Government took them down.

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We haven’t heard anything else about this issue, but they make some pretty bold and strong statements.

So, either it’s a hoax, or it just hasn’t hit the MSM yet. Does anyone know? Thoughts? Comments?

UPDATE: Geoff over at What the Deuce? has written his take on this.

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daveberta rebuked by the mighty alberta ndp

The mighty Alberta NDP Army marches on daveberta.

It seems that we may have struck a nerve with a recent post (now we know how Warren feels 😉

In our post titled, “raj resigning?” we mused about a rumour that we had heard from two separate individuals that ND MLA Dr. Raj Pannu may be planning to resign this fall to make way for Larry Booi to run in a by-election.

Now, we must reiterate, these are simply rumours. Rumours come and rumours go. Most of them actually die when they’re left be. The editorial board at daveberta was perfectly fine in letting this post simply be that: one post.

One post, left to wither for eternity, forgotten in the archives of this great blog.

But alas, through the miracle of blog comment sections, the Communications Director of the Mighty Alberta NDP Caucus of 4, Ms. Shannon Phillips, has responded in full force to our post and the comments left by ourselves and your fellow daveberta readers.

Of course, we would never dream of letting daveberta’s loyal readers miss out on such an exciting event. So, here is Ms. Phillips response in full to our post, followed by our response to Ms. Phillips.

Ms. Phillips Response:

This is the most preposterous thing I have heard all day.

First, Raj is not resigning anytime soon.

Second, people have been lining up to contest the NDP nomination in Edm-Strathcona, for like, 5 years. There are lots of them. There are even some in the rumour mill that would rival Larry in the name rec department. Not that Larry is interested in running, at least not at this stage.

Third, it’s a nice idea that the Libs could run a strong campaign, but nice ideas aren’t what carries the day in politics. I suspect that when it comes to the next general election (or the one after that, one never knows, especially if Ralph retires sooner rather than later), the Strath NDP will have nominated someone of sufficient calibre that the Strath Liberals will have a hard time, as a central campaign, justifying putting money into that race (given the state of the finances, still after all these years since that disastrous MacBeth campaign), and the riding association will remain as moribund as it has been for the last few years.

Of course, the Liberals could just step up their fundraising efforts from corporate Alberta, which is certainly how they financed a large chunk of the 2004 campaign. Maybe Big Oil would be willing to bankroll someone?

Our response:
“Thanks for the post, Shannon.

Hope you at least enjoyed the rest of our blog!

First, thanks for so suspiciously promptly refuting our post.

Second, we’re sure there are those who will run for the ND nomination in Strathcona when Raj resigns. We never challenged that.

Third, “nice ideas aren’t what carries the day in politics” is why the Alberta NDP will never come even close to forming Government or Official Opposition in Alberta. But, seeing as how you are seem to be so connected with information on the Alberta Liberals, we’ll just have to take your word for it. 😉

Fourth, we don’t speak for the Alberta Liberals or control their fundraising. If you don’t like their methods, we suggest you call their office.

Cheers,

D :-)”

Perhaps the rumours are simply that, rumours. We’re willing to accept that. But, it makes us wonder, if it was simply a chalked up rumour, then why is it even worth a response? Especially from someone as high in up the Alberta NDP echelons as Ms. Phillips?

Is the Alberta NDP hiding something?

    UPDATE: We thought “Jim’s” response to Shannon was pretty fun:

    “Yes, the staggering financial power of the “Alberta Views”-backed Alberta Liberal Party is really indicative of the large piles of corporate cash they’re rolling in, Shannon. [/sarcasm]

    Honestly, when Alberta Views magazine is your largest business backer, the case that the Alberta Liberal Party is fueled by corporate cash is weak at best. Corporations have better things to do with their money than buy the Alberta Liberal Party — like buying the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, for instance.

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holy schmoly! senate appointments!

Today, the gods of patronage have blessed five lucky Canadians with Senatorial tenure to 75.

The PMO released the names today of 5 new Senators.

Here’s the list:

Andrée Champagne (Quebec-Tory): Former Mulroney Cabinet Minister

Dennis Dawson (Quebec-Liberal): Former Trudeau Cabinet Minister.

Hugh Segal (Ontario-Tory): Former Chief of Staff to Brian Mulroney; Former PC Leadership Candidate; and President of the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

Larry Campbell (BC-Liberal): Mayor of Vancouver; DaVinci’s Inquest guy (but not as cool as Quincy).

Rod Zimmer (Manitoba-Liberal): Businessman; Liberal Bagman.

You can read their full bios here

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grandinite’s top 40

Aaron over at Grandinite has put together a top 40 annoying Canadians list. Check it out.

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raj resigning?

I’ve heard two separate rumours that Edmonton Strathcona ND MLA Raj Pannu is planning to retire this fall to clear the way for Larry Booi to contest the seat in a by-election for the Dippers.

Pannu, 71, was elected as the MLA for Edmonton Strathcona in 1997 in a close 3-way race which saw Pannu defeat Liberal Mary MacDonald by less than 60 votes with Tory John Logan less than 200 votes behind. He was the Alberta NDP Leader from 2000 to 2004 and led to them to a massive 2-seat landslide in 2001!

Larry Booi, former Alberta Teacher’s Association President, ran for the ND’s in Edmonton Glenora during last November’s provincial election. He was defeated by Liberal Bruce Miller.

Here are the results from Edmonton Strathcona since 1989:

1989
Gordon Wright, ND- 6,696
Philip Lister, Lib- 4,237
Jack Scott, PC- 3,724

1990* By-Election
Barrie Chivers, ND- 4,927
Nadene Thomas, Lib- 2,252
Eric Young, PC- 1,512
Betty Paschen, Grn- 424
Robert Alford, SC- 224

1993
Al Zariwny, Lib- 6,542
Barrie Chivers, ND- 5,121
Don Grimble, PC- 4,071
Patrick Ellis, SC- 460
Betty Paschen, Grn- 253
Ben Toane, NLP- 108
Noami Rankin, Com- 47

1997
Raj Pannu, ND- 4,274
Mary MacDonald, Lib- 4,214
John Logan, PC- 4,096
John Forget, SC- 552
Myles Kitagawa, Grn- 236
Eshwar Jagdeo, NLP- 47

2001
Raj Pannu, ND- 6,998
John Logan, PC- 4,749
Jim Jacuta, Lib- 1,944
James Lakinn, AFP- 136

2004
Raj Pannu, ND- 7,430
Shannon Stubbs, PC- 2,256
Steven Leard, Lib- 1,850
Adrian Cole, Grn- 287
Jeremy Burns, AA- 275
Kelly Graham, SC- 162

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hmmm. can’t think of a generic title. any ideas?

Me in the morning.


Well, it’s hot outside and I watched all 3 Jurassic Park movies last night. I was up until 4:20am.

It wasn’t worth it.

I’ve been thinking of how much I miss chillin’ with Ms. Amika Schodie (both of them). Alas, September will come and the former Ms. Schodie is off to Toronto (York Uni) and the latter Ms. Schodie is still in London, UK.

Well, if all works out, I’ll join the latter Ms. Schodie in Prague next May.

Tonight: Finish Finnish PSE Case Study.

I’m going outside now.

D 🙂

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2 random lists.

List One: Random things that annoy me (in random order).

1. People with honourary Ph.D.’s who go around calling themself a Doctor. ie: Dr. Joe Smith.
2. People who stand on the “walk” side of an escalator and then are too daft to move when 20 people are waiting for him or her to move.
3. Cell Phones. In general.
4. People who talk really loud on their cell phones on the bus or train.
5. People who turn their iPod or Diskman up so loud that everyone with a 20 feet radius can clearly hear what they’re listening to! It TOTALLY defeates the purpose of having headphones in the first place!!!
6. Pretentious rich kids who brag about not having to work while going to school.
7. Bouncers at bars. In general.
8. Reality TV.
9. How artificial the cheese in Kraft Dinner tastes.

List Two: DVD’s I own
(This list is more of a response to the gazillion DVD’s that my chum C-lo owns)

1. Family Guy Seasons 1 & 2 (Box Set)
2. Family Guy Season 3 (Box Set)
3. Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2
4. Back to the Future I, II, & III (Box Set)
5. Chicago
6. Good Bye Lenin! (German)
7. Get Shorty
8. Bowling for Columbine
9. Buena Vista Social Club (Cuban/German)
10. City of God (Brazilian)
11. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
12: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
13: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

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good dtimes.*

It’s a beautiful summer day and I’m semi-tired and semi-hungover. After a wonderful dinner last night at the U of A Faculty Club (where I dined like I was a member of the bourgeosie) I went out partying. It was good dtimes*.

Started at the Billiards Club on Whyte at about 10pm-ish and ended at Hudson‘s at closing time. It was great. I’m tired. Big thanks to Ms. Cassie Brown for letting me party and chill with her and her urban intellectual hipster friends (There’s nothing like sipping Martini’s while discussing the finer points of post-modernism). 😉

Also, a big “hej” to the Swedish women’s rowing team that I was dancing with at O’Byrne’s (I’m assuming they’re in e-town for the Masters Games).

Sweet.

D 🙂

PS. The Amazing Wonderdog has a pretty interesting post on the UK’s controversial shoot-to-kill policy. Check it out.

*Pronounced goou-de dimes (the “t” is silent).