Tuesday morning digest

- According to this author, everything that's wrong with the White House these days can be chalked up to one thing: it's too manly.

No doubt the author prefers the previous administration, which was led by a President who abused his power, trust and honour by shoving a cigar up an intern less than half his age and who was barely out of her teenage years. I suppose this demonstrated a softer, cuddlier, and "in touch with one's feminine side" approach.

- Despite the undeniable fact that socialism makes people worse, I have to hand it to Canada's socialist party, the NDP. They are going to introduce a law banning floor-crossing a la David Emerson, Belinda Stronach and Scott Brison when Parliament resumes. Good idea. Floor crossing only increases cynicism in the political process at a time when Canada cannot afford it.

- An Afghani man faces the death penalty for converting to Christianity from Islam 16 years ago. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai needs to intervene, pronto, or else the credibility of the entire regime change exercise in in that country will be less than zero. Speaking of Afghanistan, see here for a nice reality check.

- This is a HUGE issue in the US that no one seems to have the political will to really tackle (despite Bush's efforts, which he had to abandon). How much better are we doing in Canada, as the baby boomers move into retirement age and will want to see a return on their Canada Pension Plan contributions, not to mention increased health care costs? This is all the more troubling when you consider that the Liberals and Conservatives alike want to expand the welfare state by involving the government in the provision of pre-school age day care. (To all the Tory kool-aid drinkers, don't forget, the $1200 a year payment was promised alongside more money for the creation of day care spots.)

Question: Just who the hell is going to pay for all of this?

- Speaking of state-run babysitting, see this. I'm telling you, once this genie is out of the bottle, there's no getting it back in.