I recently happened upon an article about a Canadian campaign financing loophole that was written in 2007.

The Globe and Mail reported yesterday that Elections Canada cannot track or cross-check donations to riding associations of less than $200. As a result, a donor could send dozens of contributions to riding associations that, put together, widely exceed the legal limit of $1,100 a year.

With 308 ridings across the country, a series of $199.99 cheques to each one would total $61,596.92, and could go undetected.

http://nationalcitizens.ca/cgi-bin/news.cgi?rm=display&articleID=1186055872&search=&category=3&order=&page=1

Apparently this loophole became a thing in 2003 under the Liberal government but the Tories have refused to close it up. I was a little unsure if, in the 4 years since that article had been published, the loophole might have been closed. I found the Elections Canada website a little time consuming to parse so I just ended up emailing Elections Canada to get the definitive word:

…only donations of more than $200 need to be included in the return of a candidate, political party, third party or registered association…

So yes, the loophole still exists. So, the next time you’re told about the wonderful merits of the Federal Accountability Act, be sure to bring this up as it is it paints a much different picture of the potential for influence peddling at the federal level.

I was going through some of my photo albums today when I came across this:

It’s a photo I snuck a picture of at the Vancouver Art Gallery a while back. Unfortunately I failed to get the name of the artist and had no idea when I took the photo. I decided to head over to tineeye.com in the faint hope that maybe it would return something – and unbelievably, it did!

http://www.tineye.com/search/90a61cb0fdc3ce0501eaaa839c6d98535213c923/

Turns out there’s a Globe and Mail article about the VAG Olympic exhibition that this painting was displayed at. Unfortunately I hit another snag, the article was behind a pay wall.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/subscribe.jsp?art=1458364

So I looked high and low for some kind of cached version of the article without success. Again, in a last ditch effort, I decided to see what kind of options there were to ‘license’ the article – maybe I could just pay a small one time fee and get the information. Amazingly, clicking ‘print’ at this stage actually gets you completely around the pay wall.

http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MTM3MDM0MTA%3D

I was almost there, except that the picture tineeye returned was nowhere to be found and there was no specific reference I could see to it. The most I found was a reference to some surrealist native art by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun – bingo! This was it. The man sure has some fascinating art:

http://www.lawrencepaulyuxweluptun.com/retrospective.html#null

And here finally was the picture:

Guardian Spirits on the Land: Ceremony of Sovereignty, 2000. Acrylic on canvas

Now I just need to figure out how to order a print of this and I’m set!

For those of us growing up in the 80′s, Lorne Greene’s New Wilderness was something special. These were nature documentaries that would easily give Planet Earth a run for its money. Lorne Greene had a touching and soulful way of talking about the animals that appeared in the 104 episodes of his show.

But looking around the Internet, you would think that these films are gone forever. You can order several episodes on VHS off of eBay and Amazon but that’s kind of pathetic. Where is the DVD box set?

To answer this question, I emailed CTV who previously had the syndication rights. They said the rights are held by Lorne’s son Charles, and there is no current contact information for this person. Try as I might, I was unable to locate any contact info for Charles Greene or his sister.

If anyone out there knows how to get a hold of these people so that we can politely request that they share these films with a new generation, let us know in the comments. Come on Internet, we can do this!

This was all just too true.

1. -I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.

2. -More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

3. -Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

4. -I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?

5. -Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

6. -That’s enough, Nickelback.

7. -I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

8. -Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you may know” feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

9. -Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.

10. -There is a great need for sarcasm font.

11. -Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.

12. -I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.

13. -How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

14. -I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

15. • I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

16. -The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

17. • A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
18. • Was learning cursive really necessary?
19. • Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.
20. • I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
21. • Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
22. • My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro.
23. • Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.
24. • How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
25. • I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
26. • Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies”

27. -What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

28. • While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.
29. • MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
30. • Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
31. • I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

32. -Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

33. • I would like to officially coin the phrase ‘catching the swine flu’ to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: “Dave caught the swine flu last night.”

34. -I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

35. • Bad decisions make good stories

36. -Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!

37. • Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

38. -If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

39. -Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….

40. -You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

41. -Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.

42. -There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

43. -I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

44. • “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.

45. -I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’

46. -I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

47. • I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

48. -When I meet a new girl, I’m terrified of mentioning something she hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

49. -I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

50. -Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…

51. • As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

52. -Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

53. -It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

54. -I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

55. -Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

56. -Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…

57. -My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?

58. -It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

59. -I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

60. -I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

61. -I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

Ingredients:

Two jalapenos

Some garlic

Half an onion

Some chopped mushrooms

Diced Tomatos

Basil

Oregano

Sushi seaweed

——Pics!——-

Preparing to get wrapped!

Wrapped up and ready to serve - you might say "That's a wrap!"

So, you listen to me. Listen to me: Television is not the truth! Television is a God-damned amusement park! Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, side-show freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We’re in the boredom-killing business! So if you want the truth… Go to God! Go to your gurus! Go to yourselves! Because that’s the only place you’re ever going to find any real truth.

But, man, you’re never going to get any truth from us. We’ll tell you anything you want to hear; we lie like hell. We’ll tell you that, uh, Kojak always gets the killer, or that nobody ever gets cancer at Archie Bunker’s house, and no matter how much trouble the hero is in, don’t worry, just look at your watch; at the end of the hour he’s going to win. We’ll tell you any shit you want to hear. We deal in illusions, man! None of it is true! But you people sit there, day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds… We’re all you know. You’re beginning to believe the illusions we’re spinning here. You’re beginning to think that the tube is reality, and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you! You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even think like the tube! This is mass madness, you maniacs! In God’s name, you people are the real thing! WE are the illusion! So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off! Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence I’m speaking to you now! TURN THEM OFF…

You’re beginning to believe the illusions we’re spinning here, you’re beginning to believe that the tube is reality and your own lives are unreal. You do. Why, whatever the tube tells you: you dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even think like the tube. This is mass madness, you maniacs. In God’s name, you people are the real thing, WE are the illusion.

I had to repost this from Reddit (user: Pilebsa)

Reagan in a nutshell

Criminal:

• Iran-Contra treason.
• Lied about it.
• Likely encouraged Iran to keep US Embassy hostages until he was into office.

Fiscal:

• Supply-side economics.
• National debt tripled.
• $12 billion trade surplus –> $100+ billion trade deficit.
• Deregulated savings and loans, precipitated huge economic crisis.
• Tax raiser.
• Taxed the poor, cut taxes for the rich.
• SDI “Star Wars” boondoggle.
• Military spending increased to match imaginary spending in USSR.
• Deregulation caused oil bust.
• Broke air traffic control union.

Social:

• Gutted social welfare.
• Release of mental patients without recourse, homeless population up.
• Ignored AIDS crisis.
• Abstinence-only sex education.
• Strengthened ATF, banned automatic weapons, blamed Democrats for it.
• Increased spending for War on Drugs.
• National drinking age of 21.
• Underfunded NEA.
• EPA Superfund grants manipulated to help Republicans in local elections.
• Deregulated kids’ tv, initiated 22 minute toy ads.
• Killed energy programs.
• Crack in the ghettos. (? Due to support for Contras and Noriega?)

Foreign:

• Wars all over Central America, incl Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras.
• Promoted Iran-Iraq war.
• Sent Marines into Beirut, abandoned mission after terrorist bombing.
• Broke detente with USSR until Gorbachev personally made things better.
• Backed Contras in drug running schemes.
• Supported right-wing dictators and movements everywhere, including:
• Apartheid regime in SA.
• Marcos regime in Phillipines.
• Saddam Hussein and Baathist regime in Iraq, even after Kurds gassed.
• Taliban in Afghanistan.
• Manuel Noriega in Panama.
• Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

Concepts:

• Welfare queens.
• Trees cause pollution.
• Ketchup as a vegetable.

Appointments:

• 30+ convicted appointees.
• Ed Meese at Justice, porn freak.
• James Watt at Interior, idiot, corrupt.
• William Casey at CIA, religious nut, strikes into Uzbekistan. (? Uzb part of USSR, maybe mean Afghanistan?)
• HUD a corrupt mess in general.
• Politicised CIA.
• Robert Bork to SCOTUS (failed), segregationist and asshole.
• Antonin Scalia, same but he got in.

Personal:

• Unfit to serve due to Alzheimer’s disease by term’s end.
• Horrible excuse for a human being in general.
• McCarthyite.
• Neo-Conservative.
• Backed Moral Majority.
• Pardoned Robert Walker, who went on to kill his wife.
• Started presidential campaign at racist murder crime scene in Philadelphia, MS.
• Laid wreath and made speech at SS cemetery in Germany.
• Vietnam War a “noble cause.”
• Helped start right-wing noise machine. (? By promoting myth of liberal media?)
• Hated sex, made Ron Jr. feel like a sissy and quit ballet.
• Dumb as a stump.
• Believed in astrology and used it to run government.
• Innovated “talking points” cue cards.
• “I don’t recall” to weasel out of press questions.
• Confused movies with reality.
• Outlawed Russia forever, started bombing in five minutes.

One of the responses answered the next question: “And he has hero status why?”

A Reagan supporter once told me:

“Reagan didn’t take shit from anybody”.

Another supporter once said to me:

“You gotta admit, Reagan dealt a death blow to Communism”.

My simple interpretation: A lot of people (including smart people) liked Reagan’s style. Unfortunately, they were terribly ignorant of his actual policies.

In fact, even people who hate Reagan are often ignorant of the full scale of his damage. They just remember something that hit them personally, for example: (quote) “he cut my student loan”

Bottom line is presidential charisma + ignorant populace = reason #1

Reason #2 is a vast right-wing conspiracy that knows the truth but is trying to rewrite history. They’re the ones reponsible for plastering Reagan’s name on buildings everywhere, etc.

МенЯ На ПеревôдбІ ≈ “put me on the line”