What else is there to say? The year has been a good one and, even with the recession looming, I look ahead with naive optimism cut with a dash of the early on set of being an old grouch. We traveled a bit but not enough. I could have eaten more types of meat but when isn't that the case. For …

I wonder of the Liberals have fallen on their feet. You know there are only 360 degrees in a circle and anything can happen once in a while. But all of a sudden there are noises coming out of Ottawa which appear to have a little uumph to them:  •  ...Though the new Liberal Leader is widely seen as …

What a great looking headline for a blog post. I have no idea why I never thought of this before. I have a need to coast between Christmas and New Year's Day like everyone else so this is perfect. All I have to do is think of something I have already thought. of. The weird things is I have done …

You never know what is out there waiting to enrich your life in unexpected ways. The DVD sets of Dr. Who include clips of BBC "continuity" - meaning the bits between shows telling you what is coming up. Suddenly, I am back in my grandparents house in the 1970 visit to Scotland face glued to the …

We now Wii. We practically Wii non-stop...except when we have to wee. Wii is all. All praise Wii. I am sure that Dr. Who would be able to explain how Wii is actually a Dalek in disguise, taking over our brains as it is.  •  Kill the wren. That is all I am saying. Kill it.  •  You're It Update: I …

Tony McKegney and Bruce Cockburn seen within an hour and a block of each other.

We all wish very well and have glad hearts at this time of year but this 450th comment to the original post about Trevor is a important reminder:  •  Toni Grzesiczek - December 24, 2008 10:48 am  •  http://www.legacygroup.ca/home.html  •  Thank you from the family for all your kind words and …

I think I am a softie. I have taken to handing out twoonies for the slightest sign of good behaviour and calm in these hours before the binge. I am even talking to them by name rather than the usual "now!" But I don't know whether it is a good think that I picked up a few episodes of Dr. Who from …

Bagged, I tell ya. Walking around the mall last night with a ten year old who was walking around the mall making sensible selections for a bunch of people as I handed out five dollar bills at the proper moments without flinching, discussing how Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive" has echos of Gary …

We have actually planned this season out well. Or maybe we have just had it planned for us. However it happened, here we are still looking at the stretch from Monday to Thursday and there are no trips on the road to relatives required, there are no "official" office parties or clinky-drinkies left …

You know you should be doing something, lighting a bonfire at the least, but friggin' modernity has taken away all understanding of what we ought to be up to. When do we kill the wren? Need we protect ourselves from elves? Are we awaiting these sorts of mummers or these or even these?  •  I do … read more »

Why so special? Because I took the day off, of course. We have stuff to get in, stuff to put up and stuff to eat. We have a snow storm coming a guests tonight. Ball cap wearing guests, fortunately. But there is that eternal question - how much booze to buy in anticipation of a party that may be …

Has anyone else noticed that the days-long coalition of the opposition (COTO) has somehow become a source of conservative party economic theory? The mere existence COTO, which seems to have had a life span of six days, has caused Ontario to gain of 20% in its seats in Parliament (thus alienating …

While I am the sort of guy who will be required at the auld kirk at suppertime on the 24th watching the kid's choir when other more sensible people are gazing at the dripping roast or wrapping the final parcels with a glass of oloroso nearby, I am aware that there are many who will not be occupied …

There is a certain class of blogger who thinks it is their God-given right to say whatever they want about whoever they want and if those harmed and those enforcing the law don't like it, well, they are going to have to...err...put the silly moo with the garbage mouth in their place??? It appears …

I really like Danny Williams, perhaps the most gutsy politician in Canada these days. This move is particularly sweet:  •  “We were just basically kicked out of the province by a last-minute piece of legislation,” Mr. Cote said from Montreal. “Because of what we have on the table, we will have to …

Rogers: But the police have film of Dinsdale actually nailing your head to the floor.  •  Stig: (pause) Oh yeah, he did that.  •  Rogers: Why?  •  Stig: Well he had to, didn't he? I mean there was nothing else he could do, be fair. I had transgressed the unwritten law.  •  Rogers: What had you …

You know, there is something about George W Bush that I just can't not like. Sure he over saw disaster after disaster but he keeps grinning - sort of a failed Jean Chretien...unless you think Jean was a abject failure, too. Man throws shoes at Bush, the lowest form of insult in Iraq apparently …

I am off on the road. Talk amongst yourselves.

Can you believe the world's dumbest and most corrupt politician? Not Mugabe - he is just the dripping essence of evil. Not someone other than Mugabe who could illustrate bad but who, other than Mugabe, I can't think of as illustrating really really bad other than Mugabe. Except Mugabe had the idea …

Do you feel like you've been used? Studied? Apparently Google has been tracking Canadians and for some reason there is some surprise as the results:  •  Today the U.S. Internet titan will take the wraps off its first-ever Google Canada Zeitgeist, a yearly ranking of the most common Web queries … read more »

Why, when I am up way too early, is one TV getting the regular cable transmission of CBS affiliate WWNY of nearby Watertown NY on channel seven while the one with the digital box is showing ABC 22, a station serving Vermont, Plattsburg NY and Montreal? Don't tell me I need to get used to upper …

I have two in-laws who lost jobs - or avoided losing jobs by moving first - recently in the auto parts sector so this is no idle question. It is interesting to note that both landed new work likely thanks to a Canadian dollar that wisely shed 20-25% of its value against the US buck. But, still …

Sifting the tea leaves of the place of oneself in the blogosphere and in life is entirely a mug's game. Only idiots care. Yet, I am an idiot. It struck me yesterday when I reviewed the detailed commentary James Bow has written on the 2008 Canadian Blog Awards. Admittedly, it has been some time …

I worked on this for the best part of an hour this morning and I still have a four-day backlog of 2008 Yule Beer Blog Photo Contest entries. Crazy.

It's just that no one noticed the vacuum, you know? The PM lost the grip. The leader of the opposition lost the grip. Misguided western resentment gained another notch towards gaining legitimacy as apparently the guiding principle in Canada. All nothingness. A sad week that is ending up with a … read more »

After Dion's suicide by Betamax of the other night... the transmission from Ice Station 17... the failed attempt at operating a cell phone video camera...whatever you may call it, it is good to see someone stand up and act upon the fact of Dion's passing as a person of any relevance in Canadian …

Last night was one of the most discomforting nights of TV that I can remember in a long time. This goes well beyond a botch by the current Government and has become a morality play about the dangers of bad leadership with plenty of examples to go around for everyone.  •  The Prime Minister's … read more »

Remember?  •  Update: The National Post captures the moment that Stephen Harper was overly rouged before the entire country...  •  Another Update: I am way funnier at Ben's:

Now that anyone who is not a supporter of the conservative party is not a "real Canadian", is unCanadian, or my favorite "anti-Canadian" it is clear that the only thing that has really come out of this is another wave of disconnected jingoistic insult. Even as I realize my destiny as the true VRC …

UnCanadian? What the heck does that mean? When you are a party that is built on regional nationality and leveraging regional nasty jealousies to the point that east screaming at west and west at east is part of the big picture...what the heck is left for unCanadian? Point me to anyone who is … read more »

Ja 'member? That was good.  •  Apparently that thing called "the West" that stretches from the BC's eastern border to the far western reaches of Saskatchwan is up in arms about the rest of Canada getting in bed with the separatists. They are so mad they are planning to separate. Jay seems to be …

What the hell have I done? I have led the fight for a Federal coalition waaaaay before there was any possibility that it might even have a sliver of a chance it was going to happen...and now we are maybe actually getting one. What then? What the hell happens then? I never thought of that. Good … read more »

Let's be clear: the entertainment value alone is worth the current schlamozzle Ottawa finds itself in these days. One of the glorious things Jean Chretien did was leave the fiscal house in such good shape that anyone could pretty much keep the program going, claim it as their own and leave plenty …