You may have noticed that [highly enjoyable] seasonal activities replaced blogging over the last few days, we’ll get back into the swing of things soon enough, for now, here’s some quickies…..

It’s not a joke, it’s lo brow and pathetic; if this is how political campaigns are waged these days in Canada we’re obviously as pathetic as they are at this.

A Liberal cabinet minister’s comment that Jack Layton has a “boiled dog’s head smile” is culturally insensitive and disrespectful to the NDP leader, party representatives say.

[…..]

But Industry Minister David Emerson has said he used the phrase as a joke.

This I can get behind, the numbers are low but it’s a start.

People who buy monthly public transit passes will be given a tax credit of 16 per cent, saving the average user about $150 per year, Harper said in Vancouver while campaigning for the Jan. 23 federal election.

He’s wrong, if for no other reason than to appear reasonable. I have no doubt that the CPoC will keep this in the spotlight and more wait and see what the investigation brings will not help the Liberals.

Prime Minister Paul Martin insists there’s no need for the finance minister to step aside while the RCMP probes a possible leak of information from his department.

Another good plan

Mr. Harper said a veterans’ bill of rights would mean that the government would accept the word of veterans in disputes with Veterans Affairs, and the onus would be on the ministry to prove it did not treat former soldiers unfairly.

… according to the Liberals they proposed the same thing - they should have done it while they were the government.

Can the Canadian-American friendship be fixed? Not under the current administration, and probably not for years to come — nobody likes an arrogant bully, they broke it, let them start fixing it.

— the best news money can buy: US military websites pay journalists to write articles and commentary supporting military activities in Europe and Africa.

Just what the world needs - more landmines

Today, Washington not only stands in opposition to an international treaty that bans the use and production of antipersonnel landmines, but intends to make new ones too.

Indeed

If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that four years after bin Laden’s attack our president would admit that he broke U.S. law against domestic spying and ignored the Constitution — and then expect the American people to congratulate him for it — I would have presumed the girders of our very Republic had crumbled.

Had anyone said our president would invade a country and kill 30,000 of its people claiming a threat that never, in fact, existed, then admit he would have invaded even if he had known there was no threat — and expect America to be pleased by this — I would have thought our nation’s sensibilities and honor had been eviscerated.

If I had been informed that our nation’s leaders would embrace torture as a legitimate tool of warfare, hold prisoners for years without charges and operate secret prisons overseas — and call such procedures necessary for the nation’s security — I would have laughed at the folly of protecting human rights by destroying them.

… there’s more, go read — a sad state they have allowed themselves to fall into; the larger question is can they raise themselves back up to what they once were, are they interested in doing so, or do they even care?