Wednesday digest

- Even the trendiest, faddiest, most pretentious poser/hipster mag out there can't deny the greatness of one of the last of the real, authentic American rock bands. "Appetite for Destruction", hands down the best debut album of all time and the record that changed my life, was released twenty years ago this summer. Danger. Soul. Sleaze. Riffs. Screams. Solos. Hunger. Piss. Vinegar. Larger than life. That was what the original lineup of Guns n' Roses brought to the table and is exactly why we'll still be talking about them twenty years from now and twenty years after that.

"Rocket Queen".

"Out Ta Get Me".

"Jungle".

"Nighttrain".

"It's So Easy".

Unmatched.

- Remember a few years back how the surest way to know an argument was over was when you heard the losing side accuse the other of being "anti-democratic"? I have a feeling that the accusation of "treason" is about to take hold in similar fashion. A few weeks back, after the Live Earth extravaganza, we had Bobby Kennedy Jr. tell us that anyone who didn't believe in man-made global warming was a "traitor". Now the far left/mainstream Democratic website the Daily Kos is upping the ante by running drivel like this as a recommended diary over at their site:

"Now is the time for us, as a nation, to stand together and face the criminals inhabiting and infesting our government. It's time for Congress to impeach, convict and remove all elements of this dangerous infection, preventing them from ever holding office again.

And anyone -- Liebercrat or Republican -- who stands to oppose impeachment, conviction and removal should be tried for their role as accomplice in the sedition and treason against the United States. No more should they be permitted to hide behind snivelling protocols and talk out both sides of their mouths -- either they are with the nation, or they are part of the criminal conspiracy currently thwarting the will of both Congress and the People."

You'll be hearing a lot more about Kos in the next few weeks as the Democratic front runners line up to kiss the ring.

- A look at the recent gun violence in Toronto, here.

Does anyone still think that kids who grow up without a father in the home aren't at higher risk of certain outcomes than those who do?

No government program is going to change the answer to that question.

- A look at the social spinoffs of economic growth, here.

- The man who left Canada divided, broke and decimated its founding political party beyond repair in the process loves Stephen Harper.

It's not like I needed yet another reason to spoil my ballot next time around, but I'll just add this one to the list.