Day: November 28, 2005

The 38th Parliament died tonight after a no-confidence vote from opposition parties. A federal election will be officially called by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin tomorrow.

The most notable quote came from Conservative Stephen Harper, who didn’t mince words.

“My friends, over the last few days the Liberals have made it clear that their biggest issue is not wanting to face the voters. Given their position, I don’t blame them. Let the Liberals complain about facing the people. We’re interested in facing the future as a party and a country.”

Only four federal governments have ever seen a swifter collapse: in 1926, 1958, 1963 and 1979. Voters will head to the polls on or around January 23rd.

Duke’d out, as a matter of fact.

Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and tax charges and tearfully resigned from office, admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes to steer defense contracts to conspirators.

Cunningham, 63, entered pleas in U.S. District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004.

And it cost him…

Cunningham agreed to forfeit to the government his Rancho Santa Fe home, more than $1.8 million in cash and antiques and rugs.

In a statement, prosecutors said Cunningham admitted to receiving at least $2.4 million in bribes paid to him by several conspirators through a variety of methods, including checks totalling over $1 million, cash, rugs, antiques, furniture, yacht club fees and vacations.

 And that’s that. Shamed and shunned, and rightly so. Buh-bye Duke.

By now I’m sure you’ve read about Pajamas Media, who became Open Source Media, then reverted back to Pajamas Media due to more than a few start-up problems. The story continues today as one PM/OSM/PM member decides to exit, for now. Will there be more?

MORE: Conspiracy theories.

An ex-Green Party member will run against Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in an attempt to take over her seat in the U.S. Senate.

A former Green Party member who advocates an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq says he will challenge incumbent Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2006 Democratic nomination for Senate.

“She’s in favor of the war and in favor of continuing the occupation,” Steven Greenfield, a professional saxophone player, told The Associated Press.

Greenfield, 44, who has a degree in economics, switched to the Democratic party just last month so he could challenge Clinton. He says he likely will need 15,000 petition signatures statewide to get on next September’s ballot.

Quick! Someone check to see if Mr. Greenfield is on Hillary’s payroll.

I’m serious. Let’s not forget her scheme for 2008. ‘Hillary the Leftist’ must present herself as ‘Hillary the Moderate’ if she has any hopes in gaining support for her party’s presidential nomination. If she spends time during her reelection campaign answering challenges from an ultra-liberal like Greenfield, she’ll come off as sensible, reelect-able, and more importantly, MODERATE.

If Greenfield isn’t on the dole, watch for Hillary’s capos to exercise the necessary legal maneuvers to keep him off the ballot.

What a tragedy.

AP – Teen With Peanut Allergy Dies After Kiss

A 15-year-old girl with a peanut allergy died after kissing her boyfriend, who had just eaten a peanut butter snack, hospital officials said Monday.

Christina Desforges died in a Quebec hospital Wednesday after doctors were unable to treat her allergic reaction to the kiss the previous weekend.

Desforges, who lived in Saguenay, about 155 miles north of Quebec City, was almost immediately given a shot of adrenaline, a standard tool for treating the anaphylactic shock brought on by a peanut allergy, officials said.

I have three sons and all of them are allergic to peanuts, so I know first hand just how severe a reaction can be. Our entire lives have been affected by the allergy, and we have to take extreme measures to ensure they never come into contact with them. Problem is, accidents do happen, and we’ve ended up in the hospital a couple of times with minutes to spare. It’s a very scary thing.

We guard our kids from eating foods that contain peanuts, but this story puts a much different twist on our preventative methods. We do everything we can to guard against contact in our home, but it’s harder when they are out in the real world. My boys are a bit young to have girlfriends, but it’s easy to forget about the risk involved in kissing a relative of theirs who might have come into contact with peanuts. To the average person, it sounds strange to think that we have to ask Grandma or Auntie if they have eaten anything with peanuts before our kids give them a friendly peck, but that is the reality of living with this affliction.

This story is a real wake-call for me, and it should be for anyone who knows someone who is allergic to peanuts.

UPDATE: Boyfriend was unaware of Desforges’ peanut allergy.

The trial of Saddam Hussein continued today, then abruptly adjourned until December 5th because of complaints from the former dictator and his co-defendants. Among the various problems cited by Saddam, a chief gripe of his is that his pen and paper has been taken away from him. After being assured by the judge in the case that the police would be informed about his complaints, Hussein became agitated.

“I don’t want you to tell them, I want you to order them,” Hussein replied. “They are invaders and occupiers, and you have to order them.”

Kinda sounds like a child who had his ball taken away by the ‘big kids’ on the playground.

Security threats and untimely deaths continue to slow the progress of the proceedings, making it likely that a decision won’t be reached until we’re well into 2006.