Is it just my imagination, or is there a pattern here:
John Ibbitson: “Debating multiculturalism gives a voice to the angry, the frustrated and yes, the bigoted. It makes newer Canadians feel less welcome.”
Barbara Kay: “Last Thursday, environmentalist guru David Suzuki stormed out of a Toronto AM640 radio interview with host John Oakley because Oakley dared to suggest that global warming might not be the “totally settled issue” Suzuki insisted it was . . . Suzuki’s very public censure of Oakley for his perceived blasphemy is disquieting because it smacks of the totalitarian impulse to silence and humiliate the dissenter –or even, as in this case, the dissenter’s messenger.”
Michael McBane, Canadian Health Coalition: “[Canadians] have told us they flat-out reject Dr. Ouellet’s proposal to provide us with American-style, two-tier medicine.”
Might there be a connection between the fact that so many Canadians have tuned out of political debate in our country and that one side continuously says there’s nothing left to discuss?
Update: And now Avaaz.org is trying to stifle Sun TV News, or as they call their campaign, “48 hours to save Canadian journalism“.

A constant that one hears from all recovered drug addicts is that what was necessary to get them onto the path to recovery was to hit absolute rock bottom. Prior to that, denial holds too strong a grip on the brain to let them see the error of their ways.
In a not too dissimilar way, such is the case with communities that for too long have consumed the “drug” of Leftism. In this regard, Detroit, Michigan is clearly the poster child in North America for failed cities run into the ground by the policies of the Left. This earlier post on SDA and the comments therein explain this most succinctly.
Yesterday Mark Steyn guest hosted Rush Limbaugh’s radio program and had a few biting, but accurate, comments about Detroit. Some in Michigan were not pleased.
This morning Steyn appeared on Detroit radio station WLQV-AM. The full interview can be listened to and should be by all because the points raised have repercussions far beyond the hulking ruins in what was once an industrious, thriving city.

Language Warning:

If these two ladies lived in Canada, which political party(s) do you think they’d likely be voting for?

Is it just my imagination or is there a striking similarity between the economic problems of Egypt today and where Obama was clearly taking America?

To open a small bakery, our investigators found, would take more than 500 days. To get legal title to a vacant piece of land would take more than 10 years of dealing with red tape. To do business in Egypt, an aspiring poor entrepreneur would have to deal with 56 government agencies and repetitive government inspections.

Update: Excellent video showing how bureaucratic red tape destroys economies.  h/t Oz

Listen to this video but try not to actually watch it. After listening to it, answer this question:
Was this a video of:

1. An anti-bullying campaign for children.
2. Any group of CBC News staffers, talking about Conservatives.

John Ivison nails what I believe a lot of Canadians are thinking. You know, those outside of the liberal elitist circles in Ottawa & Toronto.

In what may well turn out to be the run-up to a federal election campaign, Jeffrey Simpson is doing his duty as a loyal apparatchik for the Liberal Party of Canada by reassuring the base that all is well in the Leftist Echo Chamber known as Toronto.
Like a cop waving pedestrians past an accident, “Nothing to see here, folks, move along”, Simpson is assuring his narrow minded focused audience that all is okay in their elitist worlds/minds.
It’ll be interesting to see if the rest of the country has a different opinion.

The lead headline on Drudge this afternoon was most interesting:

Though in related news, Michael Ignatieff is all over the lingerie file. No word, as of yet, whether the Liberal Party of Canada has an official position on lingerie.

That would be none other than Adrian Dix, chief architect of former BC Premier Glen Clark’s successful plan to bankrupt the province, who has been deemed to be on “the leading edge of 18th-century socialism”. So says opponent George Abbott after Dix promised “higher taxes for corporations, [and] a proposed tax shift that sends shivers down the collective spine of the province’s business elite.”
Who would have ever guessed that a devout socialist, heretofore never known for any prowess as an inventor, has figured out how to travel back in time!
N.B. Lest you think otherwise, Comrade Dix has a legion of loyal [low rent*] Bolsheviks who get a thrill up their legs with such talk.

Here’s a most educational video from a recent “progressive” rally in Palm Springs, California. It was sponsored by Common Cause, The Ruckus Society, Greenpeace, Code Pink, the Progressive Democrats of America, and others. Watch the peace & love spew forth:

“Progressives” say the darndest things don’t they? It’s interesting how, when you let them open up their hearts & minds, you too often find absolute darkness and unparalleled hatred towards all who disagree with them. Plus, the added bonus of being a “progressive” is that you never have to say you’re sorry for … anything! Undoubtedly, if any of these folks were called out for what they’d said, they would have been “joking” and wondered why YOU don’t have a sense of humour.

Listen to Charles Adler and Mark Milke discuss the latter’s new column, Give
a hoot, in which he shreds to pieces the mythology that people on the Left are the
only ones capable of caring about the Earth.   Related

As a final post at the tail end of my guest blogging gig I would like to share this video I put together from a discussion yesterday between Dick Morris and Dennis Miller. Most of it is focused on America’s Failed Education System but I think there is direct relevance to what’s going on here in Canada. It seems that barely a week goes by when we don’t hear of one provincial teachers’ union or another doing something that is clearly not in the best interest of the students. In the interview, Morris pulls no punches in his disdain for American teachers’ unions and provides example after example why.

Related: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie proposes forfeiting raises and losing tenure for the worst unionized teachers. My opinion: A good start but in the REAL world NO ONE should have tenure.
A big thanks to Kate for the opportunity I was given and much thanks to all of you, the regular participants here at SDA. The conversations were most enlightening and I learned a lot. A pretty good way to start 2011, I think!