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Today In History
On July 8, 1902
John McGraw, accused by Ban Johnson of trying to wreck Baltimore and Washington clubs, negotiates his release from the Orioles


musiclibre web media sharing and recommendations
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WHAT DO DEXTER AND MOUSAVI HAVE IN COMMON .. and/or what does change in Nova Scotia mean?  
Written by Citizen X  
Saturday, 20 June 2009  

SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2009. On a day when politically obsessed people around the world are haunted by the latest tense reports about “Fierce clashes on streets of Tehran,” it may seem a bit quaint to pay brief homage to yesterday’s installation of Darrell Dexter’s first New Democratic government in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. But then again why not? From one not entirely hyperbolic view, the people of Nova Scotia have just decided to turn a corner not altogether unlike the corner trying to be navigated by the people of Iran (or at least some of them — and not every Nova Scotian voted NDP either). Premier Dexter symbolizes the intriguing new political fact that one of the most traditional provinces of the present Canadian confederation is about to move in new directions. In some respects these directions are obvious enough, and have grander analogues in neighbouring places. (Note the first “African-Nova Scotian” Lieutenant Governor Mayann Francis, who administered Premier Dexter’s oath of office on June 19, and his African-Nova Scotian cabinet minister, Percy Paris too.)  In other ways just what the new “conservative progressivism” of the Nova Scotia New Democrats really means — for Nova Scotia, Canada, and the NDP at large — remains quite obscure. And its future is almost fascinating (especially if you drink a lot of Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale).

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 07 July 2009 )
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IT'S NOT EASY BEING THE THIRD HOTTEST POLITICIAN IN THE WORLD .. Ruby Dhalla and Ontario politics  
Written by Randall White  
Friday, 08 May 2009  

UPDATED MAY 11, MAY 12. Ontario residents, it is often said, are Canadians first. And nothing illustrates the sometimes bizarre linkages between federal and provincial politics in Canada’s most populous province quite so bizarrely as the demand for the resignation of Ontario provincial Liberal labour minister Peter Fonseca, over his failure to aggressively investigate alleged complaints against Ontario federal Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, from two nannies (and now one other former domestic employee), in a Brampton, Ontario house used mostly by her mother and brother! Even as an issue in federal politics no less Liberal-partisan an Ottawa pundit than Don Martin of the National Post, Calgary Herald, etc, etc has written:  “Something doesn’t smell right in having two former nannies step forward a year after they left the Dhalla family’s employment to suddenly complain about conditions that don’t seem unusually onerous.” And now the estimable Queen’s Park commentator Jim Coyle from the Toronto Star, which broke the story in the first place, is saying: “It's doubtful that many think Fonseca should resign over this. Ontarians don't expect their politicians to be perfect ...” If the deepest truth is known, you start to think, this just may be what always happens when you are “Canada’s first MP Beauty Queen,” and the “third hottest” politician in the world. [SEE BELOW FOR MAY 11 AND 12 UPDATES, AND FRESH INTELLIGENCE ON MARA CARFAGNA, FIRST HOTTEST POLITICIAN IN THE WORLD.]

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 23 June 2009 )
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ARE THE MOUNTIES GETTING TOO MANY MEN WHO DON’T NEED TO BE GOT?  
Written by the counterweights editors  
Thursday, 12 March 2009  

Gordon Gibson had a column in the Vancouver Sun earlier this week, urging that British Columbia should stop re-negotiating its contract for provincial police services with the RCMP — and re-establish the old BC Provincial Police, disbanded back in 1950. (As matters stand, only Ontario and Quebec now have their own police forces. All eight other provinces contract out provincial police services to the federal Mounties.) An article in the same paper the next day reported that "BC Solicitor General John van Dongen said ... he's open to the idea of replacing the RCMP with a provincial police force ... he's currently reviewing all options before making a final decision on whether to renew the RCMP's provincial contract, which expires in 2012." According to the Vancouver Sun, all this has something to do with the notion that "Ottawa is not known for running things well." (Though in Ontario we are also bound to wonder about the federal Bank Act, which has apparently helped give Canada an unusually sound financial system?) In the end, Gordon Gibson’s call for a new approach to provincial policing on Canada’s Pacific Coast is at least equally a reflection of a broader loss of faith in the once iconic Mounties, in all parts of the country. According to a recent opinion poll, "Robert Dziekanski's death [by taser] at Vancouver's airport [in October 2007] has eroded public confidence in the RCMP. " (And, when you dig even just a little deeper, Robert Dziekanski's death is far from the only case in point!)

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Last Updated ( Sunday, 31 May 2009 )
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THE END OF THE BAY STORE DOWNTOWN WILL END SOME MINOR MAGIC .. and what good will that do?
TWO WEEKS AT PAVILION LAKE .. studying freshwater microbialites that may approximate ancient Mars?
CANADA AND ITS PROVINCES .. did not really do anything at Harper’s first first ministers’ dinner?
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