1 HOUSE BLOWS UP, TWO INJURED A couple’s home on 1000 block Shannon road (south Regina) exploded this morning. CBC has the report and the pics.
2 LOCAL MAN PROTESTS MAY-EXCLUDING DEBATE SHENANIGANS Friend O’ The Dog John Klein, A.K.A. Saskboy, will march with indignant purpose against the evil decision to exclude Green Party Leader Elizabeth May from the party leader’s TV debates. Good for John. And because you didn’t ask, here’s my suggestion to permanently balance fair debate participation with everybody-gets-a-turn anarchy: Up to the top seven vote-getting parties that receive a minimum five per cent of the vote in the previous election get an invitation to the TV debates. Because this is ridiculous. Excluding May is just a sick joke. By the way, May will answer the debate questions in real time in an online chat session.
3 “MISLED” IS SUCH A POLITE WORD A Canadian Press story reports that, well, I’m not gonna bother paraphrasing. Here’s the quote:
The Auditor-General says the Harper government misinformed Parliament to win approval for a $50-million G8 fund that lavished money on dubious projects in a Conservative riding. And she suggests the process may have been illegal. The findings are contained in a confidential report Sheila Fraser was to have tabled in Parliament on April 5.
More here. The article’s much too short, might update this post with a better link later.
4 FRENCH FREAKOUT French idiots are arresting and/or fining Muslim women for covering their faces with religious veils. I come down pretty heavily on the side of religious freedoms so I’m going to have to issue an official PD Hosepail Of The Day ticket to France. Having said that, covering up women’s faces for religious reasons is icky. Head scarves like the hijab are a better option. Plus, styley!
5 THE NDP RELEASE THEIR PLATFORM Story here. BoingBoing has some very favourable coverage of the party’s Internet policy proposals.
6 MEANWHILE IN THE UNITED STATES The government didn’t shut down after a Teabagger tantrum over funding to Planned Parenthood, which boils down to Teabagger craziness over sex and pregnancy and women and religion. Also, this from the same gang of allegedly deficit-fighting goons that increased the U.S. federal deficit by extending Bush-era tax cuts. On the bright side, if this kind of bullshit is your thing you can vote Conservative in three weeks and help move Canada closer to looney U.S. style values.
Okay, time to cleanse the palate. Here’s a new cartoon of a great Tim Minchin song about a dinner war between an exasperated rational atheist comedian and a dippy superstitious flake. Tim Minchin always cheers me up.