Author: Dave Cournoyer

In the past couple of days, there has been a sizable amount of noise in the blogosphere about the editorial piece that Senator-in-Waiting, Link Byfield, wrote in this past weekend’s Calgary Sun. The piece, which spoke in favour of Alberta separation from Canada, quoted former U of A Prof Leon Craig’s recently written paper supporting Alberta separatism (which no one wants to publish). Duh, I wonder why.

Now, I’m going to lay it all out. I have absolutely no tolerance for the tiny right-wing fringe that so desperately wants Alberta to leave Canada. I have NEVER heard an argument in favour of Alberta separatism that has reached beyond the usual wing-nut banter and paranoid xenophobia. Until this group of crazy right-wing 60-year old white guys come up with a better argument than “because the Liberals suck” or “because of Trudeau and the NEP,” I will no longer waste space on this blog dignifying their bunkness.

These extremists do not represent the views of even a fraction of mainstream Alberta society and their main competitor will continue to be the Alberta Communist Party. These people do not speak for Albertans, just like I don’t speak for Albertans.

They speak for themselves, the small disgruntled crazy-right. These are the same crazies that thought Stockwell Day was too much of a socialist to lead the Canadian Alliance, the same crazies that post on the Free Dominion webboards, and the same crazies that thought Canada would suffer the rath of God if C-38 was passed. These guys are loonies.

Wow, that felt good to get that off of my chest. Thanks.

If you are still interested, there are posts on this topic at Go Political, MyBlahg, A View from Calgary, and Calgary Grit.

UPDATE: Sheamus Murphy at The Muck Shoveller has written an awesome post on this topic.

On Saturday, an article was published in the Financial Post which talked about the corporatization of blogs and the newly emerging blog markets…

I encourage you to read the article.

In the story, there was an interview with Mr. Om Malik, a senior writer with Business 2.0 magazine, which got my attention.

“I’m very patient so I know one day my blog will make money,” said Mr. Malik, a senior writer with Business 2.0 magazine whose technology blog can be found at gigaom.com. “The problem is at some point I do need to make money. I have enough traffic and enough money from Google ads to pay the bills but the profits [now] are just enough to buy me a carton of cigarettes.”

I find it a little discouraging that more and more corporate blogs are joining the blogosphere. With the exception of a few, the quality of corporate blogs seems to be lacking in a major way.

While I don’t think the majority of bloggers are in it for what little money the average blog could potentially generate, it seems to me that the more and more people who become ‘in it for the money,’ the more diluted the ideas and debate will become. I look at the Canadian newspaper industry for example and the downward turn in quality of the Canwest papers for example.

Am I right or wrong?

Any thoughts on this?

UPDATE: It just dawned on me that this kind of turned into a rant against MSM blogs. Out of those, I still only think that a few are read worthy.

…but the Stampede kicks the bejesus out of Klondike days…

Just got back from Calgary this afternoon… tones of awesome posting to come… i’m currently operating on a 4/72 sleep/hour ratio for this weekend, so you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow for daveberta’s exclusive Calgary Stampede recap…

Gossip going around Edmonton says that tomorrow’s long awaited recap will include:

– Alberta PC Leadership gossip…
– Ministerial “invisible” organ playing and rumoured bottom groping…
– Liquid Breakfasts…
– Belinda Stronach, Joe Volpe, and Paul Wells… oh my…
– Cowgirls with pink hats… 🙂
– and much much more…

It’s gonna to be a fun post… 🙂

Well, i’m off to the Calgary Stampede in a couple hours.

I should be in Cowtown until Sunday, so you’ll have to bear without me until then.

Here’s some weekend reading…

Wonderdog has a great post on terrorist groups.

Ahab’s Whale has more reaction to the London bombings.

I’m hoping that Mr. Rempel (aka the Ambassador of Conservative Maturity) will have some Calgary Stampede commentary.

Rick from the BC Heartlands the hackishness of the BC Liberals.

And last but not least, Calgary Grit has started rating Stephen Harper’s Glad as Hell Tour ’05.

INSERT: Today, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow visited Alberta’s tarsands in search of the missing WMD’s… (yes, that was my lousy attempt at humour… 😛 )

Wow. Well, it looks like I’ve officially ‘made it’ in the dark realm of blogdom. As of this morning, I’ve been added to Angry in the Great White North’s quote list.

The quote follows the announcement that that Angry in T.O. had won the official daveberta ‘most moonbatish wacko right-winger post of the year’ award for the post “London Bombings: Canadian socialists aren’t much better than British socialists”

It looks like my quote will be joining those left by right-wing blogging sensations and heartthrobs such as Mike Brock and Stephen Taylor on the sidebar of Mr. Angry’s blog… wow.

I’d like to thank Angry in T.O. for this dubious honour…

This is a sammers and wheat puffs inspired post…

CBC is reporting that 4 bombs went off in London during their rush hour. Reports say that over 30 are dead and 300 injured. My thoughts are with the people of London, what a terrible day.

More coverage:
CBC
BBC

Foreign Affairs has set up a hotline for Canadians with strong reasons to believe their relatives might have been travelling in London transit this morning. They should have on hand the missing person’s full name, date of birth and passport number before calling the toll-free hotline at 1-800-387-3124.

I’ve been trying all morning to get ahold of some friends of mine in London: Amika, Charlie! If you read this, return my email and phone message!!!!!! I’m worried!!!

UPDATE: I did get ahold of Ms. Amika Schodie in London and she is fine. She’s decided not to go to work this evening. I feel a world better right now.

This week’s ‘blog of the week’ goes to Little Man in a Toque!

As far as I can tell, Mr. Toque is a Brit living in Edmonton. I’ve become quite addicted to his entertaining and witty posts. They’re damn funny! Make sure to check it out!

More notable blogaction includes…

– Scott Tribe over at the Blogs Canada E-Group and Progressive Bloggers has written a great mini-essay on Canada’s Maple Leaf flag.

– There’s a huge boondogle going on in the Republic of Holtopia!

– Robert at Five of Five has a hilarious Canada Day list.

– Mark at Section 15 and I share the same opinion on Mr. Ezra Levant.

Russian astrologer, Marina Bai, has launched a lawsuit against NASA for “ruin[ing] the natural balance of forces in the universe” after their Deep Impact probe punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday.

According to Associated Press, Bai is seeking damages totalling 8.7 billion rubles ($300 million US) – the approximate equivalent of the mission’s cost – for her “moral sufferings,” Izvestia said, quoting her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would “deform her horoscope.”

London is set to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games!

For more info on upcoming Olympic Games, here are some websites…

Turino 2006

London 2012

Also, Lyle Oberg is somewhat of a superhero… Can anyone think of a Lyle Obergesq superhero name????

And, the University of Alberta is interested in buying the Hudson’s Bay Building in downtown Edmonton. Read the story here…

How cool is this?

According to the US magazine, Inside Higher Education, “[w]hen it comes to convincing kids at low-income high schools that they can find a way to pay for college, a single optimistic adviser can make the difference for hundreds of students…” read the rest here…

Alberta’s Human Resources and Employment Minister told reporters yesterday that the Tory Government would not revisit changes to the province’s employment rules that make it easy for 12-14 year-olds to work in restaurants.

From an interview with the Edmonton Journal: Minister Mike Cardinal said Albertans as young as 12 should have the opportunity to work if they want to.

“Work is healthy, it doesn’t hurt. That’s what keeps our high standard of living in Alberta and in Canada,” he said. “People work, everybody works.”

How about improving social programs to help low-income families so their 12-year old son or daughter won’t have to go out and find a job? How about allowing 12 year-olds to concentrate on their schooling so that they can increase their chances of one day attending a post-secondary institution? What happend to childhood?

Quotes from the story: Child labour law will work, minister says
Cardinal notes some families need cheques from 12-year-olds; child advocates say education should be bottom line in the Edmonton Journal.

I’ve decided that it would be a good idea to go to the Calgary Stampede this weekend. So, away I go.

According to the CBC, the Federal Tories raised twice as much as the Federal Liberals in 2004.

The numbers, released by Elections Canada show that the:

Conservatives raised $10.9 million.

Liberals raised $5.2 million.

New Democrats raised $5.19 million.

Bloc Québécois raised $897,000.

Look at the Liberal-ND numbers. Wow. That is quite close.

In the spirit of money, here’s an appropriate zinger…

 
For The Love Of Money

People dont let money,
Don’t let money take you!
Oh my desire! Keep on tellin you
People want their money,
But don’t let money take you!
Oh My desire!