the blog quebecois

The Examiner:

President Obama's green energy push is rapidly proving to be a crooked racket. It works like this: Revolving-door political hires rev up subsidy programs that enrich their former employers. Then they cash out themselves, pocketing taxpayer loot while turning out energy products that range from inefficient technologies to total failures. Faster than the turbine on a subsidized wind mill, the "clean-tech" revolving door spins out green bandits who get rich off the subsidies they helped craft.

Cathy Zoi, an Al Gore acolyte, has left her job as assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy to go to work for a new fund that invests in green energy. It was started by Democratic donor George Soros.

Her former "special assistant," Peter Roehrig, joined DOE's renewable energy office from the U.S. Renewable Energy Group. The latter is a company founded by lobbyists who saw they could pocket taxpayer dollars by acting as cutouts for Chinese windmill barons trying to get their hands on stimulus money.

Via Jack's Newswatch:

name tags.

The story (such as it is) here.

My demo of what would become one of our better -- musically, at least -- songs. I wasn't concerned about adding lead guitar, as I knew that my cousin could easily come up with better ideas than anything I could suggest or play. This freed me up to concentrate on the vocals and bass. Too bad I didn't spend some of that time on the lyrics, which were stupid and somewhat obscure.

More on them on a later take.

National Post:

The CBC's Ombudsman has blasted businessman and commentator Kevin O'Leary for using the term ''Indian giver'' on his CBC News Network show, denouncing the term as "unambiguously offensive."

Not nearly as offensive as the term ''CBC Ombudsman,'' though maybe that's just me.

The executive producer for the show, The Lang & O'Leary Exchange, has apologized directly to Alex Jamieson, an aboriginal man who complained, but Mr. O'Leary is a contract commentator and cannot be forced to express regret, ombudsman Kirk LaPointe writes in the report, published last week.

Mr. O'Leary, known for his brash, provocative commentary, heads up global investment firm O'Leary Funds.

He cancelled an interview with the National Post Monday because, according to his assistant, he was ''advised'' not to speak publicly about the issue.

On Monday, the CBC was looking at making an on-air apology for the comment and has yet to speak with Mr. O'Leary about potentially doing the same, according to spokesperson Jeff Keay.

Mr. Jamieson filed the complaint in December, nearly two months after the episode in question aired on Oct. 4, 2010, the report said.

Co-host and CBC journalist Amanda Lang and Mr. O'Leary, who also stars on the popular CBC show Dragons' Den, were in a heated exchange about a report from the Conference Board of Canada on the financial implications for Saskatchewan if crown corporation PotashCorp. was taken over by Australian-based BHP Billiton.

Mr. O'Leary did not trust the report and said the private sector should be looking at the deal, instead of the government commissioning a report on a government deal.

Ms. Lang defended the conference board, saying it was credible and independent.

The province must see if a takeover would benefit its citizens, she said.

When she said there were likely a few people in the province who want PotashCorp. to remain a crown corporation, Mr. O'Leary responded angrily.

"You know, you are an Indian giver with a forked tongue. You sold these rights to somebody who paid hard cash for them. Now you don't like it anymore," he said.

Ms. Lang immediately criticized his choice of words. "Is there any other kind of backward example or statement phrase you want to use? Because that came from the 19th century and I do not approve."

She's on to something there. Most Indians want absolutely nothing to do with "giving" these days. "Taking," on the other hand . . .

Vanity Fair:

As long as the lights were still on, though, the geek squads stayed focused on trying to figure out exactly what this worm intended to do. They were joined by a small citizen militia of amateur and professional analysts scattered across several continents, after private mailing lists for experts on malicious software posted copies of the worm’s voluminous, intricate code on the Web. In terms of functionality, this was the largest piece of malicious software that most researchers had ever seen, and orders of magnitude more complex in structure. (Malware’s previous heavyweight champion, the Conficker worm, was only one-twentieth the size of this new threat.) During the next few months, a handful of determined people finally managed to decrypt almost all of the program, which a Microsoft researcher named “Stuxnet.” On first glimpsing what they found there, they were scared as hell.

An interesting (not too technically-intimidating) look at the American(?)/Israeli(?)/Iranian(???) piece of mischief besetting the world's computers (or some small subset thereof).

Another one with me alone. This was at a time when conflicting schedules/commitments meant that we couldn't get together for weeks, even months at a time. I'd keep in touch by sending tapes of what I was working on. That way my cousin would be familiar with the new material, and could start to work on his guitar contributions for the next time we sat down to record.

This one wasn't bad. I even added a coherent guitar solo, much to the surprise of all.

Previous: Walkaway

Toronto Star:

. . she's quite the accomplished moron, too.

A prominent Manitoba Conservative MP facing accusations of ageism after she referred to a 68-year-old Liberal MP as having “passed her expiry date” is standing by her statement, saying her remarks were not intended as a slur against seniors.

Saint Boniface MP Shelly Glover raised the ire of both the Liberal Party and Canada’s national association of seniors Monday night after making the controversial comment about Liberal Anita Neville, longtime MP for Winnipeg South Centre, during an interview with Global Television.

“We need some fresh blood, we need some new people who have some new ideas and who are willing to stand up for their constituents. And I’m afraid Ms. Neville has passed her expiry date,” Glover told Global when asked who she thought the Conservative candidate in the riding should be.

The remark immediately sparked calls from the Liberal Party for an apology and accusations of ageism from CARP, a national organization of seniors committed to promoting equitable access to health care and freedom from discrimination.

“Ageism seems to be the final frontier of acceptable discrimination,” CARP vice-president of advocacy, Susan Eng, said in a statement released late Monday night.

“Even when all the parties are actively wooing older voters, a sitting MP thinks this is appropriate . . . Ms. Glover should retract her comments about Ms. Neville and apologize to the voters of her riding and Ms. Neville’s riding for offending and marginalizing a significant portion of their voter base.”

But in a statement issued Tuesday, Glover did not apologize, opting to defend her original comments, saying they referred to Neville’s performance as an MP only.

“My remarks were clear: I was referring to Ms. Neville’s performance as an MP, and only that,” Glover said. “In my opinion, Ms. Neville has ceased to be an effective representative of her constituents. I believe someone new, of any age, with new ideas would be a more effective representative for the people of Winnipeg South Centre.”

You doubt me? I need only remind you that Ms. Neville inherited the seat once occupied by Lloyd Axworthy. That's one big pair of clown boots to fill; but fill 'em she does; and she dances the Charleston in them quite fetchingly.

In trying to explain himself when bombing foreign lands, It behooves a modern president to keep his prose in hand. One little slip in lexicon accounting for the rubble Will end up in congressional investigative trouble.

Ohhhhhh!
Overseas-contingencies-kinetic-aliocious
I must admit the messaging is really quite atrocious
But if you say it soft enough, you'll always sound precocious,
Overseascontingencieskineticaliocious!

Yep, the one and only.