Sorry for the disappearance. Much to the happiness of some and the dismay of possibly more, though, I am back. Just some short thoughts on a variety of things.
- While I am no fan of torture, no one in the opposition has answered the single most important question behind the Afghan prisoner debate - what do you do with any Taliban fighters captured by Canadian soldiers? Do the Libs, Dippers and Bloc want Canada to build its own version of Guantanamo (maybe Layton et al are jealous of the US left having something domestic to get all frothy at the lips over...)?
- Let David Mulroney speak. Richard Colvin attacked him in a public forum, without evidence, and the House of Commons Special Committee on the Mission in Afghanistan listened up. Now, they wish to deny Mulroney the opportunity to rebut the accusations of his former subordinate. Whether it is as part of a maneouvre by an opposition dominated committee against the government, or a simple unwillingness to admit that they were had, right now the opposition members of the committee are standing at the precipice of a public relations disaster. Apparently, someone told them it was amateur hour on Parlaiment Hill.
- I am of the group who sees the anti - Sarah Palin vitriol being spouted by David Frum and other Republican Party insiders as a sign of the death throes of the old line GOP leadership - the same leadership that allowed infighting to sabotage the '08 presidential campaign and completely lost touch with the core beliefs of the typical Republican supporter. The GOP has ended up in the same position the Ontario provincial PCs were in when Ernie Eves replaced Mike Harris. Eves was part of a group that sought to move the party to the political centre in a bid to entrench themselves in government. Instead, in a bid to gain support from the centre/centre-left, the Eves government watered down the party's principles to the point where there was very little to distinguish the Progressive Conservatives from the Liberals. Since then, the Liberals have muddled along close enough to the middle of the road to avoid overly alienating conservative, while the PCs were confused by the 'Red Tory' leadership of John Tory and his crew. Tim Hudak is a leader who seems to be putting the 'blue' back in the PCs. Maybe Sarah Palin will do the same for the Republicans.
- Just got my jacket back from the Woodland Dry Cleaners here in Belleville. They took three weeks to send the jacket out (leather is sent to Toronto for cleaning), and two more weeks to get it cleaned and back. FIVE WEEKS for a one week job (as I was originally told). They knocked the bill from $65 down to $45. Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but I think a much larger discount would be more appropriate. I won't be going back - unless it's to speak to the management. What used to be Majestic Dry Cleaners has gone way downhill.
