well, holy shit.

Huh. So it turns out that all the cabinet-job-dangling the Liberals had been doing for the last few weeks seems to have totally paid off. As the Guardian online reports, former Conservative Party leadership hopeful Belinda Stronach has switched sides, joining the Liberals so she could accept her appointment as the new minister of human resources. Countless media sources are predicting this all but assures the Liberals will win the non-confidence vote scheduled for Thursday.

You know, I was thinking that all this non-confidence shit was getting blown out of proportion... but man, handling out ministerial positions in exchange for votes is pretty fucking underhanded. I mean, I'm well aware that neither Stronach nor the Liberals have any real sense of shame, but yee. I'm surprisingly disillusioned.

more bigger cats!

When I post, I fucking post, fools. Anyhow, here's yet another discovered instance of our blog's title on this vast, unknowable beast we call the internet. This one appeared on a site called Borko's Magical Moombah in the caption to this photo:



"Some cats are bigger than others.
We brought some leopards up from Wildlife Safari.
I must admit they made me kinda nervous."

Me too, Mr Borko. Me too.

elections: the other white meat.

As promised earlier, here's my take on the impending federal election, in the form of a block quote from my column this week:

With Martin’s government expected to fall by the end of the month, something’s going to have to fill the void, and, amazingly, there are actually people out there who hope that something is Stephen Harper. Honestly: is wanting to punish a complacent and longstanding Liberal regime really a good enough reason to hand the steering wheel over to the Conservatives? Really? Bear in mind that this isn’t even the comparably huggable, Mulroney-style old Progressive Conservative party we’re talking about here; this is the gun-lovin’, immigrant-hatin’, hardlinin’, whoop-whoop-whoop-holy-fuck-we’re-crazy Conservative Party of Canada. I mean, yes, there should be some repercussions for the whole sponsorship thing, but surely there’s a way to punish the Liberal party without also setting our country back 30 years ideologically by voting in a party that opposes gay marriage and relaxed drug laws and would love nothing more than to make Canada into America’s economic and political lapdog.

Can’t we just take a few seats away from the Liberals and give them to some slightly less crazy party, like the NDP? What are they going to do—go mad with power and plant too many trees?

My stance in a nutshell: the problem is with the system, not the party in power. Had it been the Conservatives, they would have likely done the same thing. To hand over the government to the Cons just to spite the Libs would be foolhardy--especially considering how horribly the Cons have acted of late. Best-case scenario? Maintain a Liberal minority government, but with a stronger NDP. So, in conclusion, I'm voting New Democrat.

Thoughts?

when there's nothing left to burn...

Yep, well, as those of you who received Kristine's email yesterdays, Edmonton continues to celebrate its centennial year by burning itself the fuck down, cool building by cool building. Last month, it was the historic (and slummy) Arlington apartment block downtown, just a few years shy of its 100th birthday; a couple weeks ago, it was Hub Cigar, which stood on Whyte Ave since 1894 when it served as an outfitters for prospectors heading north to the gold fields; and just yesterday, it was the most amazing set of townhouses in the city, the Garneau Mews, a block away from Kristine's place. (We're having trouble putting up a pic, but one will be added as soon as we figure things out.)

While not historical in any readily apparent way, the Mews were the most uniquely designed split-levels available on the rental market; when my friend Nathan and his wife were in town about ten months ago, we stopped by at a friend's who lived there, and I was floored by the two-and-a-half-story open-air plan complete with sunlights and an open staircase going right up the middle. Seriously--I wish I had taken a picture of what it was like, because it was pretty much exactly the kind of place in which I only dream of living in.

But anyhow, wuh-boom: they're totally gone. Well, not yet; the one block is still there, mostly untouched by flames but possibly made uninhabitable, while the afflicted adjacent block still smoulders, the sun poking through the rooftop beams exposed by the fire. I guess they'll probably tear it all down; even if the flames didn't spread that much, the sheer amount of water they doused these homes with probably took care of the rest.

It all begs the question: what the fuck is with all the fires? Don't forget about the Ashbury Place fire and the Whyte Ave Albert's Pancake House/pet store blaze of two years ago, too... all those poor kitties and uneaten breakfast foods. But seriously: what's causing this? Wiring's the usual suspect (although the Arlington fire is still being investigated as an arson--and knowing the tales told about its corrupt asshole owner and how he'd would have loved to sell the place and turn the lot into condos, I would put it past him), but do Edmonton's electricians suck this bad at their craft? Who knows. Point is, I should really, really look into fire insurance. Someday, the whole city's gonna go.