Wednesday digest

- Congratulations are in order to Jeffery Tambor, he of "'Hey Now' Hank Kingsley" fame and pictured above at left, on the birth of his baby daughter.

- Loonie left play of the day goes to host of "The View", Joy Behar, for not only claiming that Donald Rumsfeld has Hitler-like tendencies but also for suggesting that the Republicans somehow induced Senator Tim Johnson's (SD-D) recent stroke to wrest control of the Senate away from the Democrats, saying "I know what this, that party is capable of".

- Quiz time: Which historical figure said “(t)o send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary", referring to it as “just an archaic bourgeoisie detail”?

a) Adolf Hitler
b) Josef Stalin
c) Pol Pot
d) Che Guevara

Answer here.

- The Kossack netroots are upset and are considering employing quotas against themselves in order to negate any unintended racist, classist or sexist power structures that may have been created by their overwhelmingly white readership.

Maybe they should apply for a government grant to study the subject.

- According to the Iranian ambassador to the UN, Israel is the only obstacle to establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East as the 2006 Road Hammer International Man of the Year continues to speak the truth in the heart of the region.

- Victory in Iraq depends on whether or not the Western political class allows it to happen. In other words, are they going to get behind the effort or just stand at the side of the road throwing stones? Meanwhile, France has regrettably pulled out of southern Afghanistan but more positively, moves are afoot in Saudi Arabia.

I think it's time to cite the Right Wing News Quote of the Year:

"You may find people who will contend that patriotism is something to be a little bit embarrassed about or that honor is somewhat outdated as a notion and that concentrating on America's imperfection makes you a realist. Not so. That's the sign of a cynic. Being a cynic is easy. You can just sit back, heckle from the cheap seats, while others serve, storm beaches, build nations, meet their destinies. Idealists write history's stirring chapters; cynics read those chapters and seem not to understand. Choose to be an idealist. There have always been those who contend that what's wrong with the world is America. Don't believe it."

You can see who said it by clicking on the link above. (Hint: Joy Behar thinks he's a bit of a Nazi.)

- This is pretty bad. Who cares if the kid is against the Afghan war or is a Quebec separatist? It's about playing a damn game, not the legitimacy of one's worldview.

- The Conservative Canadian government has commmitted half a billion to homelessness. If that's nasty and mean-spirited, I'd like to know what's considered generous by Harper's critics.

- Moving closer to home, Ottawa mayor Larry O'Brien has screwed up again by preparing voters for a tax increase. First, he was against the O-Train before he was for it and then against it again, and now, seemingly, he was against tax increases but is now telling us to get ready for them, all on top of the salary increase fiasco.

I realize the power of a Mayor sitting on a council is limited, but O'Brien clearly learned nothing from the Kerry/Edwards campaign in '04.