Wednesday digest

- Over the weekend, there were a number of protests to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Let's have a look at just how angry the Angry Left is these days.

First, we have two pictures from San Francisco. Not quite sure what the second feller is trying to say here, but he's pissed off about something, while you can be sure the first guy went to Berkeley (and not just because he knows how to spell).


Next, we have a conspiracy theorist from LA, holding a sign which may have been inspired by the observations of one Rosie O'Donnell who recently suggested that 9/11 was a plot launched by American authorities to cover up, among other things, the Enron scandal.

And finally, from Portland, Oregon, we have a US soldier being burned in effigy. I'd be willing to bet that the person who lit the match is also a proud owner of the collected works of Noam Chomsky.

Meanwhile, although I'm generally dubious about polls, having worked in the public opinion research industry for a couple of years, a survey with a sample size of 5,000 can't be ignored. While there's a lot of negatives in this recent poll of Iraqis, a total of two-thirds of those questioned say that life for them is the same or better as it was before the invasion despite the lack of basic infrastructure throughout the country.

That's an important yardstick, by any means, and demonstrates that even though the doom-and-gloom crowd is winning the PR battle hands down, the jury may still be out on the coalition effort to oust Saddam Hussein, protests like those above aside.

- Here's another indie film that you probably won't hear about at your local art house or campus movie night: Indoctrinate U.

- You've heard of Islamofascism? Here's a new term: Islamosocialism.

- Lost in the media coverage on Monday's budget from the Conformatory party (more on that pathetic disgrace here, here, here and here) was this story about how not even the time-honoured tradition of the springtime jaunt to the sugar shack remains sacred. I'm convinced that there is more intolerance in Quebec than there is in pretty much any other Canadian province - the "blueneck" phenomenon - but things are getting out of hand. If your religion forbids you from eating pork, why is it so difficult to simply decline it when it's offered to you instead of making it some kind of human rights issue?!?

- The Government of Ontario is apparently going to raise the minimum wage by over 25% by the year 2010. Watch youth unemployment increase by a similar amount.