Globe and Mail cover photo today

Canadian, U.S., and international politics; and life in general. Heck, whatever strikes my fancy...
The Mounties are looking into allegations that information on the government's tax policy for income trusts had been leaked, leading to a sharp rise in the price of trust units ahead of the official announcement.
Headline: On Gulf Coast, Cleanup Differs Town to TownStory: The cleanup from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was 45 percent finished in jurisdictions that called in the corps, and nearly 70 percent complete in communities that employed private contractors.
ACCORDING TO OTTAWA insiders, Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier has put his senior staff at National Defence Headquarters on notice that as of now, the Canadian military is on a war footing. Armed with the moral support of Defence Minister Bill Graham, Hillier is trying to implement a rapid and radical rationalization of the befuddled bureaucracy and the ponderous procurement process. Those who voice objections to Hillier's reforms are being told to hand in their security passes and shuffle off into early retirement.
Using his vast operational field experience, Hillier is applying the combat arms "mission is paramount" mantra to remove or eliminate all obstacles in his path. The primary objective the good general has lined up in his sights is the deployment of a 2,000-strong, combat-capable expeditionary force in Afghanistan next spring. These troops are to serve as the nucleus of a NATO-based allied rapid reaction corps that will conduct offensive operations against the Taliban insurgents in the volatile Kandahar region.
Or is it? Iraq at this stage from perfect, but Iraqis seem to be embracing a more peaceful way to settle their differences. Even the Sunni minority is taking part in this election, and the gereral appetite seems to be for a relatively secular government. (That last link via SDA)
Mick sent me a good overview of the election process. Let's be thankful that we will soon have a relatively peaceful and democratic country in the heart of the middle east. Amidst all the violence much good has already come out of the overthrow of Saddam, and I think we can expect much more. Not a perfect country mind you, but there is no such thing...
Update: did I mention it went very well?
Surprisingly, given the insurgents' attacks on Iraqi civilians, more than six in 10 Iraqis feel very safe in their own neighborhoods, up sharply from just 40 percent in a poll in June 2004.
Average household incomes have soared by 60 percent in the last 20 months (to $263 a month), 70 percent of Iraqis rate their own economic situation positively, and consumer goods are sweeping the country.
In early 2004, 6 percent of Iraqi households had cell phones; now it's 62 percent. Ownership of satellite dishes has nearly tripled, and many more families now own air conditioners (58 percent, up from 44 percent), cars, washing machines and kitchen appliances.
"With $33 billion, you could eliminate the GST," Garth Whyte, CFIB's executive vice-president, said. "$33 billion represents 2.6 per cent of our national GDP."
A top Liberal strategist is suggesting Canadian parents could blow their child-care money on beer and popcorn under a funding proposal championed by Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.Scott Reid, Prime Minister Paul Martin's director of communications, says there's nothing in the Harper plan to make sure that cash allowances intended to pay for day care would actually be spent for that purpose.
Reid says parents could take the cash windfall and spend it on anything they want - including beer and popcorn.
That's right Scott - you can't control us lazy, know nothing parents. Maybe we think beer is good for kids! Popcorn certainly is.
If only someone would come up with a plan where parents don't get a say, where a whole new level of government administration is required, and families with a stay at home parent, rural parents, and shift working parents, don't really benefit.
Oh wait, someone did.
Update: Paul Wells rightly points out that giving parents money has been the Liberal policy until just recently. Martin has acknowledged this as well. An interesting debate.
Ottawa has been charging us billions more per year than they're paying out in EI benefits, providing them with a tidy profit to spend on whatever hare-brained, flavour-of-the-month boondoggle they dream up. They keep track of the accumulated surpluses for accounting purposes. But the money's not sitting in an account somewhere. It's spent.
...Goodale met with investment leaders just hours before announcement... ...Trading volume for Trust linked to PM was 3400% higher the day before announcement... ...TORONTO SUN: Liberals must explain the income trust 'leak'... ...Do it yourself Income Trust investigation (for the mainstream media).. .
Fun exercise: Try to find mention of this on the CBC website. Last night Paul Hunter said there was absolutely no evidence of any wrong doing. None.
Martin announced that a Liberal government will ban all handguns. All of 'em, except for the police and collectors. Never mind that most crimes committed with handguns are committed with illegal handgunds already. But this is a good wedge issue, and good politics, even if it is terrible policy. (What? Criminals commit crimes? Use illegal handguns?) To be fair there is also talk of more police officers and border enforcement.
Belinda Stronach's safe in her riding, despite crossing the floor. Probably.
Yesterday there was a lot of hot air on Kyoto. Believe what you will...
Finally, it looks like Goodale's office did leak something on the income trust announcement.
Just because the Conservatives are paranoid about reporters doesn't mean the media isn't out to get them.
An analysis of newspaper coverage in the opening days of this campaign concludes Stephen Harper received the most negative coverage of the four main party leaders, even more negative than the coverage he got in the disastrous final week of the 2004 election
To paraphrase Mark Twain: Suppose you're an imbecile. Now suppose you're Howard Dean. Oops, I repeat myself .
What is there to say, what is there to do, other than throw up one's hands in despair? Canadians and their representatives have no role in reviewing judicial appointments - they are hand picked by the Prime Minister and there's not a thing we can do about it. Maybe you thought judges should interpret the laws passed in the legislature. Fool. Judges are the great overseers of all that is good. They get to make and break laws as they see fit. Our chief justice says so."The rule of law requires judges to uphold unwritten constitutional norms, even in the face of clearly enacted laws or hostile public opinion," said a prepared text of the lecture [Canadian] Chief Justice McLachlin gave to law students at Victoria University of Wellington late last week.
"There is certainly no guarantee or presumption that a given list of constitutional principles is complete, even assuming the good faith intention of the drafters to provide such a catalogue."
Chief Justice McLachlin set out a blueprint for when judges must rely on unwritten principles, which she defined as "norms that are essential to a nation's history, identity, values, and legal system."
Christmas is fast approaching, and with it, the dilemma of what to give the less likable people in our lives: office mates, ex-spouses, born-again Christians. -- Globe and Mail Dec 3, 2005
1. Cancelling the Sea King replacement
2. Sponsorship scandal
3. Gun Registry
4. HRDC boondoggle
5. Problems with Transition Job Funds program
6. Tainted blood
7. Radwanski Spending Affair
8. Pearson Airport
9. GST Flip Flop
10. Airbus Investigation
11. Voting against Red Book promise of independent Ethics Commissioner