Stageleft: life on the left side

A Palm Reading From Palin’s Future

balbulican — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:20:10 +0000

It's 2013. Sarah Palin has been elected President of the Unites States. In her first foray into international affairs she announces that she's going to resolve this pesky and long standing dispute between North and South Korea. Her adoring supporters revel in her steely resolve, and her self proclaimed willingness to "take the bull by the tail and look it firmly in the eye".

My Inheritance Should Be Here Soon

stageleft — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:00:09 +0000

I have been trading emails for the last week with a very nice Nigerian man named Reverend David Johnson who is very concerned that I get the inheritance that is due to me and thought you all might be interested in how that's going :-)

Every Now And Again –

stageleft — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:15:31 +0000

-- you just want to grab people and shake them until they quit being so f*cking stupid.

It sounds like something from a distant, darker time. Acting on anonymous calls to a snitch line, authorities single out people on the basis of their race and order them to leave town. "We trust that you understand the seriousness of this letter and will govern yourself accordingly," the eviction letters conclude.

But it was just this week that the letters were delivered by Mohawk chiefs to non-natives residing in Kahnawake, a reserve southwest of Montreal. The recipients' offence was moving in with a Mohawk lover, and they were given 10 days to pack up.

When the law is wrong people have an obligation to not only ignore it, but to actively work at overthrowing it, along with those who instigated it.

What Happens In Iraq –

stageleft — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:40:23 +0000

-- apparently doesn't always stay in Iraq

U.S. soldier 'waterboarded his own daughter, 4, because she couldn't recite alphabet'

Because That’s The Way It’s Always Been Done

stageleft — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:01:17 +0000

A short video that sums up the political process very nicely.

Dear CBC Radio In Ottawa

balbulican — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:01:25 +0000

Dearest CBC: without wishing in any way to disparage the anecdotal prowess of your hosts, if I wanted ersatz bonhomie I would be listening to stations that feature "personalities" with names like "Woody" or "the Shark". These are not examples to emulated, CBC: these are object lessons in how horribly wrong radio can go - distilled stupid, boiling iodine rubbed directly into our frayed and quivering early morning minds.

I Suppose I Should Feel More Sympathy Than I Do – But…….

stageleft — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:50:56 +0000

The cops in Inuvik are apparently feeling demoralized because a man who assaulted one of their own got a light sentence for doing so - I've tried to work up a bunch of sympathy for their plight but, because of things like 15 year old girls being tasered while handcuffed and the officer pulling the trigger being cleared by his mates, and others of the brotherhood quite literally getting away with killing folks, it's sort of a tough job.

Every Once in a While the Mask Slips…

balbulican — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:00:53 +0000

...and the real ugly shines through.

Spring Is Coming !!

stageleft — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:27:31 +0000

Yes folks, not one, but two (count 'em two!!), of our great nations most famous furry prognosticators have emerged fromtheir dens to tell us that spring is coming early for Canadians this year.

Apologia pro absentia sua

balbulican — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:23:14 +0000

I won't be very present here for the next few weeks, for the usual seasonal reasons, and then some. Stay calm. Be brave. And watch for the signs.

Oh Jeeze, They Let Both Secrets Out Of The Bag

stageleft — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:13:20 +0000

We all assumed that the biggest secret in Olympic history, and the biggest secret in Canadian National history, would remain ..... well ..... secret - now we want to know who talked.

Just Trying To Do The Right Thing?

stageleft — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:01:38 +0000

Ten American Baptists were being held in the Haitian capital Sunday after trying take 33 children out of Haiti at a time of growing fears over possible child trafficking.

[......]

“In this chaos the government is in right now, we were just trying to do the right thing,” the group’s spokeswoman, Laura Silsby, said at the judicial police headquarters in the capital, where the Americans were being held pending a hearing before a judge on Monday.

Let Them Eat Eskimo Pie!

balbulican — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:57:05 +0000

In which Charles Anthony of the Politic dons his Marie Antoinette ruffles and prescribes a cure for Inuit infant mortality.

Who Says Growing Old Has To Be Boring

stageleft — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:40:50 +0000

The FBI says the so-called “Geezer Bandit“ has struck again in San Diego.

The FBI says a frail, elderly man gave a clerk a note demanding money and pulled a handgun Wednesday at San Diego National Bank. He left with an unspecified amount of cash.

Shorter PMO

stageleft — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:38:59 +0000

Other than the fact than a whole bunch of people saw three of them in the sky, and took pictures, there is absolutely no indication of a rocket launch over Newfoundland.