Work in Progress

and the winner of the Toronto Indy is...

her husband, what's his face.

Here's a shocker

More proof Vice President Voldemort was the leader of the "let's keep this illegal program a secret" club.

From the NY Times:

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

A report that former Vice President Dick Cheney was behind the decision to conceal a C.I.A. program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it.

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy.

Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.

Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives and associates were unsuccessful.

The question of how completely the C.I.A. informed Congress about sensitive programs has been hotly disputed by Democrats and Republicans since May, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the agency of failing to reveal in 2002 that it was waterboarding a terrorism suspect, a claim Mr. Panetta rejected.

The law requires the president to make sure the intelligence committees “are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity.” But the language of the statute, the amended National Security Act of 1947, leaves some leeway for judgment, saying such briefings should be done “to the extent consistent with due regard for the protection from unauthorized disclosure of classified information relating to sensitive intelligence sources and methods or other exceptionally sensitive matters.”

In addition, for covert action programs, a particularly secret category in which the role of the United States is hidden, the law says that briefings can be limited to the so-called Gang of Eight, consisting of the Republican and Democratic leaders of both houses of Congress and of their intelligence committees.

The disclosure about Mr. Cheney’s role in the unidentified C.I.A. program comes a day after an inspector general’s report underscored the central role of the former vice president’s office in restricting to a small circle of officials knowledge of the National Security Agency’s program of eavesdropping without warrants, a degree of secrecy that the report concluded had hurt the effectiveness of the counterterrorism surveillance effort.

Read the rest here.

It is going to take 20 years to undo the mess the collection of Bush Administration craven incompetents left behind. A pox on their houses. A blight on American history.

Still, it must really suck to be a supporter of these buffoons these days and watch all their hard work go down the drain as Obama corrects their thousands of mistakes, one by one.

how much is that protein in the window?

I got a bit of a life lesson this evening. It was my first time in a grocery store since seeing the Food, Inc. flick the other night and I walked in determined make good choices, new choices: to look for locally grown, organic food and I was prepared to spend more than usual for this, knowing there will be a cost to eating better.

Anyway, can't be done. No way. I walked around a specialty grocery store, where they sell some of the most exotic, expensive food in the city (think I'm kidding? Once a year, coffee beans eaten and pooed by a monkey go on sale once a year, $400 a pound) and it was not possible to get organic beef without spending what I considered to be an obscene amount of money ($58 for two small steaks). For that amount, I'd rather eat the monkey after he's crapped the coffee beans.

I was stunned by what I saw on the screen the other night and it raised so many questions in my mind about the role consumers play in perpetuating the immorality in some parts of the system but give me a break, 30 bucks for 8 ounces of beef?  There has to be a line between food that is obscene because it is cultivated, raised and processed in ways cruel and inhumane to both animals and workers and food that is raised with respect and care to the beasts, the environment and the workers without costing a family of four $300 for a simple summer barbecue.

Anyway, we had to eat so I drove home with some Abu Gharaib burgers and Bataan Death March Italian sausages but I tell you, I didn't feel good about it and realized this is not going to change overnight. I also drove home with the notion that we will need a plan to make this work. If our family is going to change our diet, it won't happen until we can score some local homegrown stuff. There is a well-known organic farm up north from which we've gotten meat in the past so we will contact them to find out how we go about organizing ourselves to eat better and shop better.

As I walked through Pusateri's, I saw the "Official Couscous of the Vancouver Olympics" on a shelf and realized that getting off the grid may not be easy, but it will be worth it.

If any of you have any advice or tips to offer, I would really appreciate it.

how's your summer goin' so far?

Are you having so much fun you're doing cartwheels on your way to the ice cream truck?

Are you gleefully beheading anyone who talks trash about your beloved team?

Well, here's hoping you are.

Still, it's not all fun and games. Sometimes, due to the impetuousness of youth, there are casualties.

this just in: Gainey not crazy, Robert feeling much better

Today was a very good day for Habs fans as the Canadiens signed two free agents that address their need for more size throughout the lineup.

This morning, the team announced the signing of Paul Mara, formerly of the hated NY Rangers. Mara is a very solid six-foot four-inch, 212 pound, rugged two-way D-man who may play on the top pairing with Andrei Markov though he is probably more of a top-4 guy. Still, a very good pick-up that eases the sting of losing Mike Komisarek & Francois Beauchemin to the even more-hated Maple Leafs.

Then this afternoon, it was announced the Habs had signed another six-foot, four-inch tough guy, Travis Moen, late of the Anaheim Ducks. This dude is a beast.

Safe to say that with these additions, as well returning goons tough guys Big George Laraque & Gregory Stewart, plus 6 foot 7 Hal Gill, the Habs will be as tough as anyone they play this season.

I think they are remain the second best team in the division but who knows? If Boston falls back a bit... The Bruins are a good team but it's also possible a bunch of guys had career years: Kessel, Lucic, Savard and especially Thomas could all see small to huge drop-offs from last year and that brings them back to the pack.

BTW, we've heard a lot of cackling from Leaf fans the past ten days as the Habs brought on a pack on little people but if you think about it, Leaf fans shouldn't talk about our tiny forwards with Grabovksy and Blake as two thirds of their top line. At least our top line is very talented. Theirs would not even beat out our second line of Plekanec and the Kostitsyn, or Max Paxioretty.

The Maple Leafs have a solid D, made up of Kaberle, Komisarek, Schenn and Beauchemin, but otherwise, the Habs are significantly better at every position. In fact, even on defence, Markov is better than Kaberle and while Schenn, Komisarek and Beauchemin are solid, they are not light-years better than Mara, Spacek and Hamrlik, with O'Byrne and Gorges growing into bigger roles. Not to mention that both of Komisarek and Beauchemin had serious injuries last year and must show they are fully recovered.

And even the supposed "Monster" goalie they signed this week, Gustavsson, reputedly "the best goalie not in the NHL last year" may show that he is the 30th best goalie in the NHL this year. He remains way more unproven than Habs goalies Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak. Starting Leafs goalie Toskala is lousy and streaky. Yes, the Leafs have a ton of cap space in 2010 but who will be left to sign next year, Ilya Kovalchuk? I wouldn't blow my brains out on him.

I really thought GM Bob Gainey had lost his mind a few days ago but honestly, how many big men with great hands are there, anyway?

Iginla, Thornton, Vinny, Malkin, Ovechkin. Don't talk to me about Marleau being great.

There really aren't more than a dozen of them and Leaf fans will find that out the hard way: Mats Sundin was here for so long they're going to find out the world is made up of talented small guys and slow-footed Ponikarovkys. The Sundins and Forsbergs are a tiny minority. So the Habs got 3 hobbits. At least they're really good and we won't have any cancers in the room. Sounds like Gainey just took a look around and broke out the ammonia. That room must have been festering putrid last year.

In all this, what still makes me sick is losing Ryan McDonagh in the Scott Gomez trade but other than getting screwed on that trade, and he certainly was, Gainey has done a good job of completely rebuilding the roster. I remember how the team last year drove me around the bend all winter bexcause it just seemed like something wasn't right the whole year. It turns out there may have been a horrendous groove going on in there and they all had to go. Time will tell but Gainey has to be commended for his work in bringing in undeniable free-agent talent, especially when you consider the zoo that was the team and the city last year and how unattractive that would have been to UFAs. On top of that, Montreal is a tough place to play, taxes in Quebec are always an issue and the language issue can be a hassle for many players. Gainey, though, did not only attract talent, he did so while also avoiding Quebecois retreads looking for a place to end their career like Patrice Brisebois or Mathieu Dandenault.

All in all, it's been a crazy few weeks but I have to pronounce myself satisfied and pleased that we will be entering the year with a new coaching staff that will implement a solid, defence-minded system and work to take our young talent to the next level; a fast, talented group of forwards who are not afraid to get their noses dirty and a solid corps on defence that should move the puck well and clear the front of the net for our two solid young goalies. We need to see if Price is the real deal next year but if he isn't, we may have a very capable netminder in Halak. I'm sorry for what I said about you, Bob, and I take it back.

On top of that, the team is back in the capable hands of the Molson family and that feels like a welcome homecoming as well.

Again, only time will tell but for the moment at least, I'm off the suicide watch.

Go Habs.

Toronto Strike: City Makes an Offer

From the Toronto Star:

For the first time in the 19-day strike Toronto Mayor David Miller has released comprehensive details of the city's latest offer to its striking workers.

Under the new terms presented to its striking unionized workers, management is offering a four-year deal with wage increases of one per cent in each of the first two years, two per cent in 2011 and 3 per cent in 2012.

On the controversial sick leave bank, which provides up to six months' pay when employees retire, the city is proposing a partial payout to current employees who would then be moved to a new short-term disability plan.

In a statement, the city said it believes the new offer provides a basis to reach a settlement with members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Locals 79 and 416, representing about 30,000 civic workers.

"The city wants an end to the strike but the city cannot simply agree to everything that the unions have requested to make that happen," the statement said, adding both locals have been seeking wage hikes of more than 3 per cent annually.

"The city cannot afford all of the increases to wages, shift premiums, vacation time and benefits the unions have requested."

At a City Hall news conference this morning, Miller stopped short of calling the proposal a "final offer" but told reporters there is "not much (more) room to move."

In explaining his rationale for releasing the details, he said it is "important for us to tell the people of Toronto the facts."

"I'm hopeful we'll see some movement from the unions today or over the weekend," Miller added.

Read the rest here.

Um, we are sitting on three weeks worth of garbage and the city has yet to present its final offer?

Is it me or should someone maybe get on that?

Food, Inc.

If you care about your health, you need to see this movie.
If you care about your kids' health, you need to see this movie.
If you care about your planet's health, you need to see this movie.
If you care about social justice, you need to see this movie.
If you care about your country, you need to see this movie.
If you care about your community, you need to see this movie.

If you care about morality, you need to see this movie.

I read Fast Food Nation when it came out and thought I knew this stuff but time wears down our outrage, our indignation. This movie must be seen to be believed. My kids are 9 and 6 and they will see this movie when it becomes available on DVD.

DO NOT MISS THIS MOVIE.

the meaning of the word Passion

The Habs are conducting skating drills for their draftees and other selected minor-leaguers today at their practice arena in the Montreal suburb Brossard.  The poor reporter who has to cover this for the Gazette is not too thrilled about this dreadfully boring assignment. 

The stands, however, are full. 

In July.

People brought homemade signs.

In July.

For a series of skating drills for newbies that may or may never play for the team in the NHL.

Passion?  Members of Al Qaeda are not this passionate.

Go Habs.

gone too soon

He got me.

I really can't believe it but he got me. I care and I didn't think that was possible.

When I heard the news that Michael Jackson had died, my first instinct was not surprise but a certain jaded dismissal. Here was a person with obvious failings, who had lived what I considered a massively self-indulgent life. I dreaded the inevitable media circus and figured I would not feel any sense of sadness or loss. In fact, when I thought of the motley crew that makes up the Jackson family, I found it hard to summon much sympathy.

Then, this picture, from his memorial this afternoon, got me. His little girl misses her dad, as odd as he may have been.

It is a tragedy that Jackson could not get hold of his demons to right himself once he became a father. And now he leaves behind three children who will miss him. How sad.

All Sarah, All the Time

This will be the last piece on Sarah Palin for a while, I promise. I admit it, I have been fascinated by her crash and burn from the heights of being named as John McCain's running mate last fall to the widely reported stream of consciousness speech she gave on Friday in trying to explain her stunning decision to resign as Governor of Alaska. 

Here's an interesting piece from Ross Douthat in today's NY Times in which he both defends Palin and points to her flaws.

She should have said no.

If Sarah Palin’s political career ended last Friday, 10 tumultuous months after she was introduced as the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee, those five words will be its epitaph.

Had she refused John McCain, Palin would still be a popular female governor in a Republican Party starved for future stars. Her scandals would be the stuff of local politics, her daughter’s pregnancy a minor story in the Lower 48, her son Trig’s parentage a nonissue even for conspiracy theorists. There would still be plenty of time to ease into the national spotlight, to bone up on the issues, and to craft a persona more appealing than the Mrs. Spiro Agnew role the McCain campaign assigned to her.

Most important, nobody would have realized yet how much she looks like Tina Fey.

But she said yes. It wasn’t the right thing to do, in hindsight, but it was certainly the human thing. She was coming off a charmed rise through statewide politics. John McCain was offering her a spot on a national ticket. It was the chance of a lifetime.

And now, seemingly, it’s over. Oh, maybe not forever: she’s only 45, young enough (and, yes, talented enough) to have a second act. But last Friday’s bizarre, rambling resignation speech should take her off the political map for the duration of the Obama era.

One hopes that was intentional. A Sarah Palin who stepped down for the sake of her family and her media-swarmed state deserves sympathy even from the millions of Americans who despise her. A Sarah Palin who resigned in the delusional belief that it would give her a better shot at the presidency in 2012 warrants no such kindness.

Either way, though, her 10 months on the national stage have been a dispiriting period for American democracy.

If Palin were exactly what her critics believe she is — the distillation of every right-wing pathology, from anti-intellectualism to apocalyptic Christianity — then she wouldn’t be a terribly interesting figure. But this caricature has always missed the point of the Alaska governor’s appeal — one that extends well outside the Republican Party’s shrinking base.

In a recent Pew poll, 44 percent of Americans regarded Palin unfavorably. But slightly more had a favorable impression of her. That number included 46 percent of independents, and 48 percent of Americans without a college education.

That last statistic is a crucial one. Palin’s popularity has as much to do with class as it does with ideology. In this sense, she really is the perfect foil for Barack Obama. Our president represents the meritocratic ideal — that anyone, from any background, can grow up to attend Columbia and Harvard Law School and become a great American success story. But Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal — that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without graduating from Columbia and Harvard.

This ideal has had a tough 10 months. It’s been tarnished by Palin herself, obviously. With her missteps, scandals, dreadful interviews and self-pitying monologues, she’s botched an essential democratic role — the ordinary citizen who takes on the elites, the up-by-your-bootstraps role embodied by politicians from Andrew Jackson down to Harry Truman.

But it’s also been tarnished by the elites themselves, in the way that the media and political establishments have treated her.

Here are lessons of the Sarah Palin experience, for any aspiring politician who shares her background and her sex. Your children will go through the tabloid wringer. Your religion will be mocked and misrepresented. Your political record will be distorted, to better parody your family and your faith. (And no, gentle reader, Palin did not insist on abstinence-only sex education, slash funds for special-needs children or inject creationism into public schools.)

Male commentators will attack you for parading your children. Female commentators will attack you for not staying home with them. You’ll be sneered at for how you talk and how many colleges you attended. You’ll endure gibes about your “slutty” looks and your “white trash concupiscence,” while a prominent female academic declares that your “greatest hypocrisy” is the “pretense” that you’re a woman. And eight months after the election, the professionals who pressed you into the service of a gimmicky, dreary, idea-free campaign will still be blaming you for their defeat.

All of this had something to do with ordinary partisan politics. But it had everything to do with Palin’s gender and her social class.

Sarah Palin is beloved by millions because her rise suggested, however temporarily, that the old American aphorism about how anyone can grow up to be president might actually be true.

But her unhappy sojourn on the national stage has had a different moral: Don’t even think about it.

I disagree with Douthat's premise that class had anything to do with Palin's downfall. I think she's been brought down by the simple fact she is not ready for a national role and does not have the experience to bring much to the table. In fact, I would argue that had she not been a hockey mom with religious views that appealed to the right-wing of the GOP, we would never have heard of her because she would not have been given the position on McCain's ticket. If Barack Obama's career shows the world how much opportunity there is in America, Palin's shows that one must have the steak to back up the sizzle. Other than delivering a whiz-bang speech at the convention, she has done nothing but show how unready for prime time she is and she has the misfortune of following in the footsteps of another wildly unready politician, but one that had the backing of the party elites because of his family connections folksy nature.

The George W. Bush experience hurt Palin's chances more than anything. Now the world knows just how much damage an ill-prepared, albeit jovial, fool can do when handed the steering wheel. So while whack jobs will rail against the MSM, the real culprit in denying Sarah is cycling somewhere on the outskirts of Crawford, blissfully ignorant of the damage he did to her career, or to the rest of us.