Thursday digest

- Failed businessman, painfully unfunny "comedian" and insufferably far-left liberal Al Franken is going to run for one of Minnesota's seats in the US Senate as a Democrat.

Does he look qualified to you?

- A nuclear Iran? No big deal, according to Jacques Chirac.

- With Al Gore touted as a potential Nobel Prize winner, has anyone asked Hillary what her thoughts are on the issue given that her husband refused to send the treaty for ratification to the US Senate back in 1997?

Inquiring minds want to know.

- Recent events in the socialist utopia of Venezuela proves Hayek's theory correct.

- The US economy? As Borat would say, "great success"!

- Looking for a place where you can engage in free and respectful debate on these and other issues affecting the very heart of our society? Don't head down to the local university because you certainly won't find it there.

- Here's a great example of why I hate monopolies, especially government-owned monopolies.

Yesterday at 2:30 PM, Ottawa's transit service, OC Transpo, sent out a news release saying that over 100 routes were going to be scaled down effective this morning because they had to take buses off the roads in order to perform maintenance over the next couple of weeks, with off-peak hours such as evenings and weekends are not going to be affected. So, during the coldest week of the year, they've given riders way south of 24 hours notice that they may be waiting an extra 15-20 minutes in the morning for the next bus to show up. This is expected to impact over 100 routes across the city this morning.

No doubt they could have organized this public information campaign a little better, and also no doubt they could have spread out the schedule for the required maintenance so as to not massively inconvenience everyone within a two-week period in the middle of winter.

This snafu, on top of a proposed fare increase to $3.25 a ride this week, isn't going to do a thing to get people out of their cars and on to public transit, which, as we're told ad nauseum, is supposed to be the way of the future if our cities are to remain "livable" - whatever that means.

Unreliable, unaccountable and unapologetic - that's a monopoly for you.

- Speaking of buses, I've been taking them more frequently lately and one thing I've noticed is that when someone is trying to get past someone else on the way to the exit, often, the person who needs to leave will just stand there impatiently and wait for the other daydreaming, Ipod-listening rider in their way to just notice that someone needs to pass by them.

What I'd like to know is what's so difficult about uttering the phrase "excuse me"?

- I'd also like to know why, whenever one of the teams goes on a power play during an Ottawa Senators hockey game, they play that little sound effect that sounds like many a doorbell I rang as a pre-teen when collecting subscription fees for my paper route.

I don't get it.