Like Ben, I watched the infomercial. It's hard to say that you can have any idea where this all is heading. Fair to say that Obama gave some light statements on general policy between the vignettes about hard working Americans in financial trouble. There was just not a lot of detail but, I suppose …

It is odd living in Kingston sometimes and no odder when there is a foot or more of of snow within fifty miles as the crow flies but nothing here. That is from WWNY TV from Watertown, NY up top and to the side is the scene this morning in Ottawa. Here is the Ottawa Citizen's report on the snowfall …

...there is a week to go and everything is going to hell. Even Christopher Hitchens if a certain sector of the populace is wrong. His column from yesterday on Gov. Palin and one possible future which may come into being eight days from now, however, is quite instructive even if it may help him on …

What a sensible thing. And a court agreed last week.

What does the world need now more than anything else? Al Franken in a position of moderate authority. And it just might happen:  •  For months, Mr. Coleman had been leading his Democratic opponent, the entertainer Al Franken, 57, whose campaign seemed doomed earlier this year. But an abrupt change …

Oh, to be not driving. The last two two weekends worth of driving could have seem me somewhere deep in Central America had I aimed in a different direction. Don't get me wrong - I like a long drive. But I like not doing it was well. What did I learn? PEI is a long way away but most places aren't …

I have to say, I have really been having a hard time understanding where Mr Obama stands on...you know...things. This news today makes it even more puzzling:  •  Sounding presidential, Senator Barack Obama said Wednesday he would order a surge of U.S. troops – perhaps 15,000 or more – to …

This is quite a charming piece. Doc Searle. Remember him? Rob1 (there used to be a Rob2) to the right posted it on Twitter and I thought it was worth asking you about. I, obviously, have something about blogging as I do it daily and have done so for about 12% of my life. But is it actually that …

The work of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission is something I think is one of the most important challenges facing Canada. So, I suppose, it is no wonder it didn't cause a blip on the radar of the last election. But today's news that Commission chair Harry LaForme …

It was an interesting thing to do, drive 3400 km to see some old friends and meet other people I have only known through blogs and other web media. Not nearly as creepy as it should have been. Except the location. A bit too Ibsen for me. A bit too howl-yowly wind rattling the window pane. I asked …

[Ed.: Everything has changed. Before, there was the future but now even that has changed and what was beyond the future is today. Harper is back in Ottawa heading another minority. It's seems like what we see around us. Something like Tantrama revisited.]  •  The two men walk towards each other …

No, it was a good point. I made a note and looking back the point was good.

Now you know - the damn thing actually does reverse. That was at about km 4187 of the tour. Click for glorious detail.

Blogging is funny stuff. I use it to wake up in the morning, note taking as I read the news. So it's a dependent process - needing news to come into being. And coffee. I am off to Zap Your PRAM 2008 today and, being a conference about the web in a general sort of way, I am wondering whether I …

Hey! It's election night!! Excellent. I have a beer from Quebec - Péché Mortel, an Imperial coffee stout - and another from Alberta - Alley Kat Olde Deuteronomy, a barley wine - one of which will be consumed depending on how the Conservatives fare. Because, as we've been told since Preston Manning …

What to do? A Tory, like the vast majority of them, I do not know. A Grit who is Speaker. A Dipper who I know through municipal council. A Green I have not met. Are there any fringier candidates? Apparently not. Where is Rosie the Clown Elston when the nation needs her?  •  I do not tend to vote …

If the polls are to be trusted, it has come down to an election no one really needed to get a result pretty much the same as we had before, all the action within the bookends being about how inept the leadership of the nation is. That is more than a bit sad. Issues which got no real hearing …

The idea that ATV'S Steve Murphy could play a role in an election - or any decision for that matter - amazes me. That it is based on his utter contempt for the worth of his own giving of his word does not.  •  I trust the French-language media do-overs for every political leader in Canadian …

Like many of you, I am heading away for the long weekend before the election - away from the politicians, pollsters and the media. I have to be at the other end of the province on Friday for work so may not be able to post again until election eve, even if then. The road will decide. But I am …

Jay is bored but Ben suggests there will be some sort of October surprise that may pull the Conservatives out of the nose dive death spiral self-fulfilling prophecy of a vicious circle that has found them where they are - possibly about to lose the election. Why are they there and what could help …

Were these the "famous last words" of the campaign?  •  "My own belief is if we were gong to have some kind of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now."  •  That was our Prime Minister on Day 10, just three weeks ago. For a man who has done his utmost to not say much - even …

In what has got to be [Ed.: oxymoron alert!] the most excruciatingly boring Canadian election ever, it is nice to realize that today is the last working Monday left before the vote. Yes, the days have dwindled down to a precious few and the only recent trend I can see is that steady slipping of …

This was unexpected. And good. Two games up and going home against the best team in the AL. Bay is wonderful. Have you noticed?  •  Other news for day 28:  •  Tory support collapses in Quebec.Nanos has the Grits up to 30%! Can this be trusted? Or wanted?

Did you know there was a $400,000,000 investment scandal in little PEI related to a Federal-Provincial program which includes the giving out of immigration rights? Here is a good place to start if you know nothing. Just for the record, that sum equals about $3,000 for every man, woman and child in …

...and what have we learned? One thing is that Stephen Harper and the rest of them can have a fairly civilized discussion when they sit at a table rather than point and pontificate from a podium. Next election, some beer and bags of sour cream and onion chips in the middle, please. Other than that …

Darcy and Ben live-blogged the French debate. I just obsessed in their comments about the squeeky voiced translators and the weird table they sat around. And kept switching to the Cubs game on the other channel.  •  Seriously, the table rather than podium set up was good as it made it more …

A stolen speech from 2003? Who cares? Not me. Not really. The issue is not that the speech was poached. I have every expectation that in a crisis a staffer will plagiarizer. "Plagiarizer, plagiarize: let no man's work evade your eyes." I was told that in my articling year and it makes sense. After …