1 THE COST OF IMMIGRATION HYSTERIA One of my favourite American bloggers takes a look at how Alabama’s method of combating immigration has rebounded on the state’s economy – Christmas trees and cash crops left to rot in the fields because they can’t find enough people to work to bring the harvest home (Bob Cecsa).The state’s solution? Use state prisoners and contract them out to work. So, they become indentured servants – i.e. slaves – owned by the state. What could possibly go wrong? (Google)
2 COME SEE THE FUTURE STARS OF THE WEST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE Reginans are expected to pony up greater-than-NHL prices to see a less-than-NHL game. (Leader-Post). Hey, with that ‘allowance’ Brad Wall gets from the Sask. Party, he’ll be able to afford a ticket! (CBC Saskatchewan).
3 HEADSHOTS Speaking of hockey, The Leader-Post’s Rob Vanstone produces a good and brave column calling for an end to fighting in hockey – but stop hockey fighting? It gave Derek Boogard a reason to live … damn, keep forgetting (Toronto Star). Seriously, though, the major reason for keeping fighting in hockey is that, in soft markets (much of the United States), the NHL fights for crowd share not so much with the NBA or NFL, but ultimate fighting and professional wrestling. Just like many people watch NASCAR for the wrecks, many people watch hockey for the fights. And in most cases, hockey fighters are what people on Canada’s political right call Good Canadians – they’re small-town farm boys with little skills (Boogard didn’t even complete Grade 10, according to the New York Times series on him). That’s why you’ll see Viktor Tikhonov replace Don Cherry on Coach’s Corner before you see fighting banned in hockey.
4 THEY NEVER TALKED ABOUT THIS ON FIREFLY, WHICH IS ANOTHER REASON TO HATE THE FOX NETWORK Science fiction enthusiasts debate the future of sex and relationships. (BigThink)
5 FROM ONE INSTITUTION TO ANOTHER It doesn’t look like Harper’s tough-on-crime agenda is going to do any favors for people who need mental health assistance. (National Post) Well, let’s define mental illness … Peter Van Loan, who says spreading rumours is free speech, is delusional (London Free Press), while Peter McKay, who threatens to sue people (Winnipeg Free Press) after he treats a government search and rescue helicopter as if it’s his personal fleet, (Macleans) is paranoid, and Gerry Ritz has been called out as a bully by the courts (CBC Saskatchewan). First, they demand a hard line approach from the courts and demand respect for the uniform of people in the Armed Forces, then they make a mockery of both.
6 YOU KNOW, THIS SHOULD BE HOW YOU FIGHT THE WAR ON DRUGS …
Yeah, I’m going to give LiLo’s Playboy pictorial a miss. (PerezHilton)
YOUR MUSICAL MOMENT OF ZEN They played the Regina Folk Festival a couple of years ago, and I just checked out their most recent release SuperMagique. It’s really good – there’s even a version of Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4 which, unlike the original that was played OVER AND OVER AND OVER by Saskatchewan rock radio in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, is actually listenable. , with Dolce Meses.
