Tuesday digest

- So an elected official in the US abused his position of power by making sexual advances towards interns. What's the big deal? It's not like he lied under oath or anything.

- Thumbs up to John Baird for undertaking an audit of the federal government's $200-million contribution to the City of Ottawa's light-rail-boondoggle-in-the-making. If those who are in favour of the light-rail project are so convinced it is a good idea, then why fear a seemingly harmless value-for-money audit, municipal election or not? And for those who argue that the feds shouldn't interfere in the policy decisions made by another level of government, the next time Alberta or another province tries to innovate with health care delivery, I expect you'll be the first to complain should the federal health minister threaten to withhold funds unless that province sticks to the status quo.

- Seems union boss Buzz Hargrove isn't as interested in the environment as some of his fellow travellers on the left would hope him to be. When asked about the rumoured Tory plan to introduce a new Clean Air Act, he said,

"This idea of putting in stiff regulations that the companies have to meet or face a penalty is going to cause major damage to an industry that's already on its knees," Hargrove said in an interview.

"They're not going to do anything that's going to cause a detriment to Alberta, so if they hit Ontario I'm not sure that's the smartest political move," Hargrove said.

I'm not sure a former Svend Robinson campaign manager is well-placed to be giving anyone advice on strategy, not to mention the fact that his candidate in the last election, Paul Martin, proved to be the biggest bust in the history of the Liberal party. However, auto workers can take heart that their union leadership is wary of over-regulation. Heck, Buzz is already musing about the harm of government interference before he's even seen what the feds are proposing. Could this mean that after twenty years of towing the misguided, wrong-headed and extremely damaging socialist line, ol' Buzz is finally starting to get it?

- Is there any better indication of personality than a book collection, or for that matter, a lack thereof?

- Finally, I'd like to pay tribute to all Polish readers of this blog by way of this article.

(It's a slow news day. Sue me.)