Author: Dave Cournoyer

After some back-to-school shopping, we’ve brought back some of the latest blogging fashions from the far east.

Any comments?

Dr. Phil is on Larry King Live talking about New Orleans with US Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

Seriously: WTF?

As per his email request, we’d like to announce that Mr. Steve Smith has resumed his blogging ways.

Do we even need to explain this one?

Check out the Wingnuterer!

Sweet.

We’re looking forward to this one, but we’re a little concerned at Joaquin Phoenix’s acting… it usually sucks… hopefully he’ll pull it off…

A couple of things…

A week ago, we were tagged by Mark from Section 15 to complete a quote meme which is going around. This looks like it’ll be a project to do next week. Hold your horses! It’ll rock y’r socks!

Mr. Calgary Grit is continuing the Greatest Prime Minister contest – go and vote!

We’ve also been cleaning out our bookmarks section on our computer, which was filled with over 200 links… here are some of the fun links we’d forgotten about…

1. Map of the 38th Parliament. A map of Canada with the colour coated riding-by-riding results of the 2004 federal election.

2. The Livingroom Candidate. For the political geek in all of us.

3. US Congressional Biography Directory. A search engine for bio’s of US Members of Congress past and present.

4. MapZone. One of our personal favorites. A map which has riding-by-riding results for every Alberta provincial election since 1905.

5. Communist Threat! Anti-Commie comic books from 1950’s USA.

6. Political Shagmatch. “The No.1 game with politicians screwing you for your vote!“

7. Don’t Buy It. Design your own cereal box!

8. Batman Boner. Click to find out.

9. Goyk.com Videos. Awesome video clips of random stuff.

We’re sure we’ve picked these up at random blogs and whatnot, so claim them if you feel the need.

and the saga continues…

…as the armies of darkness muster their armies in the west…

Today is the 100th anniversary of the only province that we have ever had the pleasure of calling home. Today in 1905, the Province of Alberta and its sister Province, Saskatchewan, were officially born from the great expanse known as the North West Territories and its respected Districts.

We love our province. We love its natural beauty and diversity. We love that you can drive through the near deserts of Drumheller and Milk River to the majestic and amazing Rocky Mountains to the incredibly beautiful north filled with forests and lakes and the bald-ass prairie which spans as far as the eye can see all within one province. We love that an area so diverse and vast in its own is also part of an even vaster and more diverse country.

Our family first came to Alberta in 1896 as pioneers. They traveled from Sorel, Quebec and settled north of Edmonton. They were hard working farmers, breaking land and farming through brutally hard conditions. Along with thousands of other pioneers, they started with nearly nothing, but together they succeeded in building healthy and vibrant communities across this province.

We remember hearing our grandfather telling us stories about the 1930’s when he and his brother drove a covered wagon to homestead in the Peace Country because the local mine had shut down due to the Depression.

We remember our grandfather telling us the story of how our great-great-uncle, Lionel Tellier (who also served as the Independent MLA for St. Albert from 1940-44), fought the Canadian government to the Supreme Court for the right to have French enlistment forms in Alberta during the First World War.

Albertans live in an incredible place. As a Province, we have an unbelievable amount of wealth in natural resources, but we also have incredible potential and an untapped wealth of resources in the form of our citizens.

Alberta has the potential to do great things as we moves into the 21st century; incredible things for our people, and incredible things for Canada.

As we celebrate this 100th Anniversary of this great province, let’s not forget the potential all Albertans have, not as politicians or protectionists, but as leaders in strengthening our position as the best province in the best country in the world.

We love our home, our province, and our country.

Happy Birthday, Alberta!

…this is what our blog would look like.

Unfortunately, the “$7 Billion” surplus we thought we had turned out to be a measly $2.8 Billion.

It seems the patronage gods are having a hard time quenching their thirst…

…two new Senate appointments today…

Yoine Goldstein (Quebec-Liberal): A Montreal Lawyer

Francis Fox (Quebec-Liberal): Corporate Executive; Martin Confidant; Former Trudeau Cabinet Minister who was forced to resign from cabinet in 1978, when it was revealed that he had forged the signature of his girlfriend’s husband on a form granting permission for her to have an abortion. (At the time, the husband’s consent was needed for the procedure.)

There are now three vacancies in the Senate: two in New Bruswick, and one in Prince Edward Island (Stompin’ Tom still has a chance!).

The current party standings in the Senate are…

Liberal – 67
Conservative – 24
Progressive Conservative – 5
New Democratic – 1
Independent – 5
Vacant – 3
TOTAL – 105

We had a fire at our house this weekend. An electrical cord shorted out and set the couch on fire.

Thankfully (or luckly), a buddy of our housemate was too un-sober to drive home that night and was sleeping on the couch when it started burning. He put it out before it burnt our house down.

No one was hurt.

Crazy.

Mainly for the benefit of Socialist Swine, who apparently likes online quizzes. 🙂

how jedi are you? :: by lawrie malen

As of October 3rd, Premier Klein will a new chief enforcer.

The (twice, third time?) resignation of the perennial Chief of Staff of the Premier’s Office, Mr. Rod Love, has happened again.

Mr. Love, who recently announced his departure from the Premier’s office, will be returning to the private sector.

Mr. Love, who served as Klein’s Chief of Staff from 1992 to 1997, replaced Peter Elzinga as Chief of Staff earlier this year (Elzinga, who served as the PC MP for Pembina from 1974 to 1986 and the PC MLA for Sherwood Park from 1986 to 1993, replaced Steve West as Chief of Staff following the 2004 Election and later replaced defeated Tory MLA Drew Hutton as the Executive Director of the Alberta PC Party – a position he currently holds).

Mr. Peter Kruselnicki will replace Mr. Love.

According to a press release from the Premier’s Office:

“Peter Kruselnicki, a former deputy minister and long-time public servant, will assume the duties of Premier Ralph Klein’s Chief of Staff effective Monday, October 3.

Mr. Kruselnicki is currently on secondment from the government of Alberta to the University of Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand, Faculty of Public Administration.”

Mr. Kruselnicki was Alberta’s Deputy Minister of Labour under former Minister Murray Smith (now Alberta’s “Ambassador” to Washington DC) and Deputy Minister of Finance under former Finance Minister’s Stockwell Day (before Day’s jump into the Canadian Alliance leadership race), Steve West (who didn’t seek re-election in 2001 and was Klein’s Chief of Staff before Elzinga), and Pat Nelson (Nelson did not seek re-election in 2004). Mr. Kruselnicki left for New Zealand following the November 2004 election.

Just as interesting as the incestuous nature of Alberta PC politics is that this seems to be the first “non-politico” to fill the Chief of Staff position in as far back as we can remember… (props to Duncan for pointing this out to us).