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All Hip Hop has an article about an NAACP gathering on Monday to discuss the use of the N-word in popular media. All of this comes in light of Michael Richards’ outburst last week in he apparently went batshit crazy, tried to come back by making some enlightened point about “words”, saw that it was going nowhere, dropped the microphone and left. Classy.

Jesse Jackson called for a boycott of the Seinfeld season 7 DVDs. Jerry must be pissed.

It’s a good thing Chamillionaire seems to have his head on straight and notes the hypocrisy

“Its not just rappers its as African-Americans in general, we do a lot of things that are opposite of past history, We wear flashy jewelry and brag like its a trophy, when people in the present and past history would get killed for the diamonds. We promote violence and drugs but complain about violence and drugs. We don’t vote but complain about who is in office. We throw the ‘n-word’ around like its a good thing, when in the past it was one of the most dreadful words. All this stuff has grown to become a part of the culture.”

I’m watching the Paul Martin tribute on CPAC (one of my favorite channels on cable) and am confused as to whether or not I should be laughing or crying. On one hand it’s more self-congratulatory wank followed by seal-like applause. On the other hand it may embolden the Liberals after their leadership vote of which Michael (gone for 30 years and back again) Ignatieff seems to be a frontrunner. It should make for an interesting next few days.

Stephen Harper plans to revisit the same-sex marriage debate by debating it in the House next week or so.

As he’s pretty much stuck to the rest of his election promises he gonna stick with this one. Like the issue of Quebec nationhood, I think it’s a moot point. The motion will be voted against by pretty much everyone in the other parties as well as other Conservatives like Jim Prentice who’ve voted for same-sex marriage in the past and that will be that.

Part of me thinks (or rather hopes) that this is a strategic move by Harper to appease the rest of the Conservative party by going, “Hey, I tried” and then moving on to more important matters. The downside being that it might polarize voters and further the stereotype that all people who vote Conservative are Alberta cowboys which in a lot of cases they are not.

The Globe & Mail says that Calgary’s economy outstrips the rest of Canada and for a resident that doesn’t surprise me. There are consequences of course; rising housing prices etc. But with that comes a generally higher wage so I guess it all sort of works out.

On the same day the Globe also published an article stating that because of our high-living lifestyle we’re eating less healthy in favor of drinking, smoking and fucking. So what’s the problem? Okay, the problem might be that you become a fat fuck but I think I have that part under control by going to the gym often and not starting the day with McGriddles. The smoking I’ve never really done, the drinking often, and the sex none of your fucking business.

According to a Globe & Mail article, while it seem that most of the politicians (with the exception of Conservative MP Michael Chong) can agree on the issue of Quebec nation within Canada-hood, 77% of Canadians are opposed.

Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is as it’s telling me something that I knew already; that the Québécois are just like us but charmingly different. It all comes down to semantics, I feel and it just may keep Jacques Parizeau from crying like he did on that nailbiter of a night over ten years ago.

Frankly, I was surprised at such an opposition by the public but then again so did the Conservatives when they brought forth that motion.

I wonder though, in the years to come when Quebec finally achieves its sovereign goals, being an Anglo born in Montreal can I claim dual-citizenship?

God bless the Qu?©b?©cois for putting out a video as brilliant as Pierre Lapointe’s “Deux Par Deux Rassembl?©s“

I know that Ralph Klein began his political career using the St. Louis Hotel as campaign headquarters in his big for mayor 26 years ago - most likely because it was within stumbling distance of city hall - but the place is a dive and probably was years ago. However it was use as his retirement party last evening during the provincial Conservative election of which I didn’t vote (I’m a federal Conservative, dummy). Also, any place that serves beer in plastic cups and has fold-up tables and some guy who tries to sell you meat out of his backpack by the rear entrance is not the place for me.

A Liberal policy paper by Tom Axworthy obtained by the National Post is a smidge less than nice when it comes to talking about key Liberal beliefs

Liberalism’s dirty secret [and it is not so secret these days] is that government doesn’t seem to work well much of the time,” he says, citing such examples as the 800,000 potential immigrants waiting for their applications to be processed; massive cost overruns at the gun registry; lengthy procurement delays for military equipment; poor water quality on aboriginal reserves; and the Jean Chretien Pledge to Africa Act, which promised to produce generic drugs to help fight AIDS but has yet to export a single pill.

I don’t think it’s so much an indictment of Liberalism so much as it is Cretien and Martin.

And regarding Stephen Harper’s Quebec nationhood motion earlier this week

We are being drawn willy-nilly into the dead end of constitutional negotiations…. In 2006, we are back to the future. Once again, though more wearily, Liberals should take up the defence of One Canada against the siren song of deux nations.

It’s hard to be pissed off at anyone who uses the words “willy nilly” in a sentence. Oddly, he seems to be taking a defiantly federalist stance on the issue. But it’s too little too late it seems. I do agree with him that potentially the issue could open a constitutional can of worms.

Dang! The anti-war protesters don’t have to worry so much about the US killing Iraqis. They seem to be doing fine killing each other.

Mark Steyn can’t find his book “America Alone” in Chapters. Neither could I when I looked for it in the Chinook Shopping Center in Calgary. The computer kiosk said they had 24 copies. I couldn’t find one. I suppose I should have asked an employee but I figured it would either be displayed prominently at the front seeing as it’s sold an assload of copies on Amazon (where I got my copy) or in the current affairs/politics section. Maybe it’s in some dark corner somewhere.

It’s kind of like Nintendo music. Speaking of Nintendo, the Wii is looking really good. I’ve even convinced my serioso to go halfers. Nice.

Wow! Didn’t see this one coming. Prime Minster Stephen Harper passes a motion to have Quebec declared a nation within Canada. Get this! All parties agree. Huh!? More info here.

I like to think I’m in pretty good shape as I become a disgusting, sweaty mess on a treadmill and track several times a week. Staying in shape and looking totally fucking awesome is my motivation.

The Monks of Mount Hei are of a completely higher calibre than even the best trained marathon runner. I mean these guys are devoted. They run 100 successive marathons around Mount Hei in 100 days. They carry with them a white rope or a knife of which they have the option of either hanging or disemboweling themselves if they can’t go on.

It gets better. If the monk completes the 100 then he has the option to petition to run another 900 times over a 7 year period. It’s not that bad though. After the fourth year they’re allowed to wear socks with their sandals when running.

I was never part of the BBS scene myself having only really gotten into computers in the mid-90’s. But I know a few people whose experience with the internet preceded web browsers.

That being said, this is a nice list of active BBS site that one can access by Telnet.

I don’t know if mannequins on skateboards can be considered art but it is damn funny for some reason.

If you were ever wondering if you are able to blend marbles, the answer is yes. Okay, maybe if you have one of the crazy-ass Blendtec blenders. Then if the mood hit you, you’d be able to blend a rake into sawdust. The videos are a must-see.

The final report by the 9/11 commission in comic book form.

Of interest to AV nerds only. Pictures of vintage broadcast microphones.

Seriously, one of the better recipe sites out there.