January 2005 Archives

Canada moves to counter U.S. privacy threat

The government will revamp the wording of future federal contracts with the aim of countering U.S. powers, granted under anti-terrorism laws, to tap into personal information about Canadians.

The move is intended to prevent the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation from seeing sensitive Canadian data the government supplies to American firms doing business with federal departments in Ottawa.

The government has also asked all agencies and departments to conduct a "comprehensive assessment of risks" to Canadian information they release to U.S. companies carrying out work under contract.

The U.S.A. Patriot Act, passed following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, gave the FBI broader access to records held by firms in the United States.
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Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says that if a federal institution hires a U.S. company to process personal information about Canadians, then American laws apply to the data if the work is being done south of the border.

The federal Treasury Board leads a working group that is now busy finalizing special clauses to be used in future business proposal requests and contracts.

The group is consulting with Stoddart's office on clauses "that we believe to be fundamental" to include in future request proposals and contracts, says a federal notice recently circulated to departments.
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[Treasury Board spokesman] Makichuk said the overall goal is to try to ward off any concerns about how sensitive Canadian information will be used when contracts are contemplated.

"We're starting at the planning stages now, as opposed to looking at it at the back end," he said. "Call it a culture shift if you wish, or just more awareness."
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Last October, departments were asked to examine their contracting practices as they relate to the handling of personal data, commercial secrets and information concerning national security.

The Treasury Board wants each agency to devise a strategy for dealing with possible risks the Patriot Act might pose to the privacy of Canadian information.

It only took them three years but I guess we should be thankful they're moving at all. Of course it remains to be seen whether there are, in fact, any "clauses" they can insert in contracts that will effectively ward off the powers that the FBI had dropped in their lap by the Patriot Act.

The notice circulated to departments lists several contracting scenarios, suggesting the solution in one hypothetical case might be to "have part or all of the work completed within Canadian government facilities, especially when dealing with information of national security interest."

Now why do I see a NAFTA challenge in our future?

There's a new player in the debate on same-sex marriage in Canada.

U.S. Christian leader wades into debate

An evangelical leader from the U.S. Christian right urged Canadians to oppose same-sex marriage in a broadcast heard on more than 130 radio stations across the country Wednesday.

"It is clear here in the United States that the American people do not want same-sex marriage," said James Dobson, chairman of the Colorado-based Focus on the Family. He was speaking in a pre-recorded program with leaders of the group's Canadian wing. "I would hope that Canadians who also do not want same-sex marriage would be encouraged by what has happened down here."

Dobson suggested same-sex marriage is not a human rights issue and that passing such a law would destroy the institution and undermine society.

Great. Now we're getting advice from a man who has recently distinguished himself by picking a fight with a cartoon character and earning himself the nickname Spongedob Stickypants.

Were I an opponent of same sex marriage in Canada, I think I'd be inclined to tell Spongedob to sit down and shut the hell up lest his agenda be confused with my own. Because let's be clear, Dobson and his allies have an agenda that doesn't end with preventing gays from marrying. They want gays back in the closet. They long for a time when men were men. And women and children were property.

It's not that I don't think Dobson has a right to his views and a right to express them. As far as I'm concerned, they can give him a half hour on the CBC evening news. Let everyone get to know him better. I suspect that the more Canada learns about him, the more millions of moderate Canadians will be reminded of why they remain at least a bit nervous about installing Stephen Harper in Sussex Drive.

So speak up, Spongedob. What else is on your mind?

If you're a regular reader at Just a Bump in the Beltway, you'll know that Melanie and Charles have been closely watching the avian flu story and the possibility that the bug responsible, H5N1, could mutate into a form that could pass from human to human and lead to a global pandemic with devastating consequences.

Yesterday Melanie pointed to a Denver Post story with the comment: "The US press finally wakes up."

Fearing an outbreak of a new flu strain capable of killing millions, the nation's public health agency is quietly preparing a plan that proposes quarantines, school closures and rationing vaccine to counteract an epidemic.
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Even as they plan, health officials worry those steps won't halt a deadly bird flu if it mutates and starts spreading among people. An outbreak of avian flu in humans - if it happens - would kill millions worldwide.

Scientists say it's not a question of if but rather when a flu that people lack immunity to emerges, triggering a pandemic. A mild form of avian flu has already spread among a small group of people in Europe.
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Avian flu, which plagues birds in Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, lacks the ability to spread from person to person. Of the 37 deaths that have occurred worldwide, most of those who died had direct contact with infected birds.

But influenza viruses mutate constantly, which is why people need vaccines each year to fend off the latest strain. The longer that avian flu persists in birds, the greater the likelihood it will mutate into a form that is contagious among people.

If that happens, "then you have a virus that essentially the vast majority of people have no protection against, but it transmits well in humans," said Lynette Brammer, an epidemiologist at the CDC in Atlanta. "That's when you get a pandemic."

As if on cue, there are a couple of stories in the Canadian media today on the same subject. At CTV, there's a Canadian Press story that reports on a debate among flu experts over the possibility of stopping a pandemic in its tracks.

With a rising death toll in Vietnam and almost daily warnings that an influenza pandemic is imminent, a number of flu experts are wondering whether a pandemic could be averted with swift and decisive action.

A stockpile of anti-viral drugs deployed in Southeast Asian countries battling outbreaks of the deadly avian flu might temporarily stall or even stop a pandemic, two experts hypothesize in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

Their articles were released ahead of schedule Monday to coincide with a conference on pandemic influenza organized by the University of Michigan's Bioterrorism Preparedness Initiative.

The director of the World Health Organization's global influenza program mused that if the H5N1 virus experts fear is poised to trigger a pandemic only gradually acquires the genetic changes needed to easily spread from person to person, an unprecedented effort to stop a pandemic might bear fruit.

"Though it is an attractive option, no attempt has ever been made to interrupt the transmission of an influenza virus; the results of such an enormous and costly undertaking remain uncertain,'' Dr. Klaus Stohr acknowledged.

"The option deserves further investigation, however, particularly when viewed against the profound effect a delay in global spread and a flattening of the peak in disease prevalence could have during the initial phase of a pandemic.''

But a leading U.S. epidemiologist suggested the idea was unworkable. Dr. Michael Osterholm said there are neither enough anti-viral drugs available globally nor a way to quickly find all possible cases of human-to-human transmission and get drugs to their close contacts -- and there isn't time to find solutions to those problems.

Meanwhile the Toronto Star reports on a company that claims it can quadruple the production of flu vaccine.

A Canadian biotech company could be about to spark what the head of the WHO's influenza program says may be a mini-revolution in the manufacture of flu vaccine.

Microbix Biosystems Inc., a Toronto company, has developed a mysterious "process" it claims produces a four-fold increase in the yield of influenza virus incubated in eggs. It recently announced it's in negotiations with a major player in the flu vaccine world for an exclusive licence to the process.

It's not uncommon for the biotech field to make extravagant claims that never come to pass. Still, this one has some global flu experts watching closely.

They see the Microbix process ? if it pans out ? as a possible partial solution to what will be a massive global vaccine shortage when the next flu pandemic hits.

But there's a fly in the ointment and it raises an issue that needs looking at, especially in light of the potential consequences of something as deadly as avian flu.

But the proposed exclusive licensing deal with the potential buyer worries some experts concerned about the inadequacy of the global vaccine production in the face of a looming influenza pandemic.

"Exclusive licensing of a technology like this is simply not in keeping with the interests of global public health," says flu vaccine specialist Dr. David Fedson.

"Assuming that this is something that can either be synthesized simply or is naturally available in what are, in effect, limitless quantities ... then the needs of public health really demand that it be made available to every vaccine company that's interested," says Fedson, a retired executive of vaccine giant Aventis (now Sanofi) Pasteur.

"And for those vaccine companies that aren't interested, their national governments should come around in the middle of the night and persuade them ? make them an offer they can't refuse ? to get interested in this and test it."

As the article reports, there's still a great deal of mystery surrounding the "process". But with the media starting to pay attention to this, I suspect we'll be hearing more in the near future.

'The best, a star and a gentleman'

Johnny Carson may never have played Toronto, but the people of this city welcomed him into their homes for 30 years.

The long-time host of The Tonight Show died of emphysema yesterday morning in his Malibu home at the age of 79.

"This is the end of an era," said comic Joan Rivers, who credited her 1965 appearance on Carson's show with launching her career. "If you had his blessing, the whole world knew you were funny."

From 1962 through 1992, he held late-night North American television audiences enthralled. Many challengers tried to unseat the king from his throne, but no one even came close.
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He made his debut on Oct. 1, 1962, and his first guest was comedy legend Groucho Marx.

At the height of the show's fame, Carson had 15 million viewers nightly, generated 17 per cent of NBC's profit and was the single most lucrative show in the network's history.

Carson was a class act. He'll be missed. In fact, he's already been missed since no one else doing late night television comes close to replacing him.

Union certification drive succeeds at second Wal-Mart store in Quebec

A union certification drive at a second Quebec Wal-Mart store has succeeded, according to the United Food And Commercial Workers (UFCW) union.

The union said Wednesday that workers at a Wal-Mart in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec have been certified as a bargaining unit after a majority of its 200 workers signed UFCW membership cards.
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The Saint-Hyacinthe location joins the Wal-Mart in Jonquiere, Quebec as the only other unionized Wal-Marts, not just in Quebec but in all of North America. UFCW Canada said it is currently attempting to negotiate a contract covering workers at the Jonquiere store.

Wal-Mart, which the UFCW calls "staunchly anti-union", is also facing certification applications at about a dozen other locations in Quebec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia ? including applications representing workers at seven Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express departments in B.C.

If you can read it, this Globe and Mail story will describe how Wal-Mart recently unveiled a multi-million dollar PR campaign designed to convince everyone that they're not the monsters they're purported to be. I guess the workers in Saint-Hyacinthe hadn't heard.

And I suspect this will be the second of many.

I must be a liberal because I just won Best Liberal Blog for 2004. The full results of the 2004 Canadian Blog Awards are here.

Thanks to Robert McClelland for putting on this event. Congratulations to all the other winners. And obviously thanks to whoever nominated and voted for me.

And I hope everyone who voted took the opportunity to look at the other nominees and discover how much interesting stuff is out there. If Robert runs this again next year, I bet the results will look a lot different.

Now if everyone will kindly remember that's it's liberal, not Liberal. I have no intention of taking it on the chin for Paul Martin, who I understand won the award for Best Impression of a Prime Minister Without Actually, You Know, Being One.

Update:

I figured I should throw in a link to the song from which I stole the title.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Inherit the Wind. It dramatizes the famous Scopes Monkey Trial in which a Tennessee teacher, John T. Scopes, was charged with the crime of teaching evolution in a public school. The trial became the focus of national attention with the anti-evolution forces bringing in famed populist William Jennings Bryan to lead the prosecution while the defence was conducted by Spencer Tracy Clarence Darrow, a leading Chicago attorney of the time. The highlight of the film is when Darrow, in an unusual move, calls Bryan to the stand for a dramatic examination in which he makes Bryan look like a pompous, old fool. Darrow would go on to lose the court case but win in the court of public opinion. (Of course the names of the characters were changed for the film. And if you look closely, you'll see song and dance man Gene Kelly doing a dramatic turn as a cynical reporter covering the trial.)

The story, and the trial on which it's based, took place in 1925. I wonder what Darrow's reaction would have been had he been told at the time that eighty years later the same kinds of battles would still be going on.

The school board in the community of Dover, PA recently became the first in the U.S. to mandate the teaching of intelligent design in public school biology classes -- intelligent design being the modern, pseudo-scientific version of creationism. And just to add a 21st century spin to the story, the man who led the charge on behalf of the change in curriculum seems only too happy to invoke the War on Terror™ in the course of imposing his views.

"This country wasn't founded on Muslim beliefs or evolution," Buckingham, a stocky, gray-haired man who wears a red, white and blue crucifix pin on his lapel, said at the meeting. "This country was founded on Christianity, and our students should be taught as such."

Cute, eh? There's a trick William Jennings Bryan could have used.

Never mind the fact that teaching students about the founding of America would be better done in history class, not in biology which is supposed to be about science. And never mind the fact that the framers of America's founding documents went out of their way to try and insure that there would be no state religion, mindful as they were of the fact that many who had come to live in the new world did so to escape religious persecution.

The link is to a story at Salon that will require you to sit through an ad for a day pass if you're not a subscriber. The story will describe how defenders and opponents of evolution alike are jockeying for position in front of the cameras and microphones every chance they get because, as happened in Tennessee in 1925, this story has garnered national attention.

On Dec. 14, the ACLU announced that it was representing 11 Dover parents in a lawsuit against the town. The school board's intelligent-design policy, their complaint said, had violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, "which prohibits the teaching or presentation of religious ideas in public school science classes."

But the story also describes why this one may not be the ultimate showdown. The school district is almost broke and can't afford the legal fees that would come with a loss in court. And the real movers and shakers behind intelligent design seem ready to back away for now.

Buckingham may have started the Dover crusade himself, but the Center for Science and Culture laid the groundwork years before. The group provides the "scientific" and philosophical arguments to bolster the opponents of evolution in local political struggles.

CSC operates out of the Discovery Institute, a Seattle think tank that's funded in part by savings and loan heir Howard Ahmanson. As Max Blumenthal reported in a 2004 Salon article, Ahmanson spent 20 years on the board of R.J. Rushdoony's Chalcedon Foundation, a theocratic outfit that advocates the replacement of American civil law with biblical law.

The Center for Science and Culture also aims, in a far more elliptical way, to put God at the center of civic life. Originally called the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture, CSC usually purports to be motivated by science, not religion. At times, though, it's refreshingly candid about its true goal -- a grandiose scheme to undermine the secular legacy of the Enlightenment and rebuild society on religious foundations.
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On Dec. 14, CSC put out a statement calling Dover's policy "misguided" and saying it should be "withdrawn and rewritten." The statement quoted CSC's associate director John West as saying that discussion of intelligent design shouldn't be prohibited but it also shouldn't be required. "What should be required is full disclosure of the scientific evidence for and against Darwin's theory," said West, "which is the approach supported by the overwhelming majority of the public."
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Matzke, from the National Center for Science Education, is convinced that the CSC wanted to wait for a better test case and a friendly Supreme Court, which they'll get if Bush is able to nominate a few new justices.

It seems the forces of creationism have learned a thing or two since Bryan's time. They'll pick their battles carefully but they're not going away.

Since 2001, the National Center for Science Education, a group formed to defend the teaching of evolution, has tallied battles over evolution in 43 states, noting they're growing more frequent.

They're well funded, organized and just waiting for an opportunity to revenge the humiliation of William Jennings Bryan. And in addition to whatever propaganda value they can wring out of the current national fear of Muslims, they've got the fair-and-balanced school of journalism going for them, too. That's the one where, in the interests of ?balance?, intelligent design is entitled to presentation alongside evolution in the media stories as if it's a legitimate, scientific theory. Even though it's not.

Folks like Ann Coulter have had a lot of luck lately channeling the spirit of Joe McCarthy. Witness this characterization of the ACLU by one of the anti-evolution spokesmen:

Jarboe, who introduced himself as a former assistant professor of chemistry at Messiah College, a nearby Christian school, was convinced that the parents were being used by the ACLU to further its sinister agenda. Like a great many members of the Christian right, he sees the ACLU as a subversive, possibly demonic institution. Quoting James Kennedy, an influential Fort Lauderdale televangelist, he called the ACLU the "American Communist United League." "I maintain it's a communist front," he said.

So perhaps those of us in the reality-based community should try a little magical thinking of our own. Maybe we should all join hands, have a séance and see if we can reach the dear, departed spirit of Clarence Darrow. After all, he has some experience in dealing with these people. I'm beginning to think we're going to need him.

It's the end of the first work week of 2005. I don't know about you but I'm badly in need of a calming influence. Since this handsome creature looks pretty calm, I thought she might do the trick.

     
   Could I trouble you to eat in the kitchen? I'm just getting comfy here.

This is actually a blast from the past since, sadly, Oyster is no longer with us. I'm told she was absolutely fearless, a ruthless hunter of spiders and The Queen Of All She Surveyed.

I certainly believe that last part. Look at that regal bearing.

The Russians have a new toy and Scott Ritter seems to think it means trouble for George Bush's Ballistic Missile Defense System.

On Christmas Eve 2004, the Russian Strategic Missile Force test fired an advanced SS-27 Topol-M road-mobile intercontinental ballistic Missile (ICBM). This test probably invalidated the entire premise and technology used in the National Missile Defense (NMD) system currently being developed and deployed by the Bush administration, and at the same time called into question the validity of the administration's entire approach to arms control and disarmament.
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the Bush administration's dream of a viable NMD has been rendered fantasy by the Russian test of the SS-27 Topol-M. According to the Russians, the Topol-M has high-speed solid-fuel boosters that rapidly lift the missile into the atmosphere, making boost-phase interception impossible unless one is located practically next door to the launcher. The SS-27 has been hardened against laser weapons and has a highly maneuverable post-boost vehicle that can defeat any intercept capability as it dispenses up to three warheads and four sophisticated decoys.

To counter the SS-27 threat, the US will need to start from scratch. And even if a viable defense could be mustered, by that time the Russians may have fielded an even more sophisticated missile, remaining one step ahead of any US countermeasures. The US cannot afford to spend billions of dollars on a missile-defense system that will never achieve the level of defense envisioned. The Bush administration's embrace of technology, and rejection of diplomacy, when it comes to arms control has failed.

If America continues down the current path of trying to field a viable missile-defense system, significant cuts will need to be made in other areas of the defense budget, or funds reallocated from other nonmilitary spending programs. With America already engaged in a costly war in Iraq, and with the possibility of additional conflict with Iran, Syria, or North Korea looming on the horizon, funding a missile-defense system that not only does not work as designed, but even if it did, would not be capable of defending America from threats such as the Topol-M missile, makes no sense.

The Bush administration would do well to reconsider its commitment to a national missile-defense system, and instead reengage in the kind of treaty-based diplomacy that in the past produced arms control results that were both real and lasting. This would not only save billions, it would make America, and the world, a safer place.

Has anyone mentioned this to Paul Martin?

Via babble.

Just to follow up on the post immediately below this one, Senator Barbara Boxer did join with some of her Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives today in challenging the Ohio electoral votes. She didn't get much in the way of support, though.

Democratic leaders distanced themselves from the effort, which many in the party worried would make them look like sore losers.
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The Senate session lasted just over an hour and ended when the chamber voted 74-1 to uphold Ohio's votes. Boxer was the lone vote.

Somehow I don't think the Democrats quite have the hang of this official opposition thing. I understand that they weren't going to win but right now winning isn't the point. The point is to provide an obvious and highly visible alternative to this:

"There's a wise saying we've used in Florida the past four years that the other side would be wise to learn: Get over it," said Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla.

It was entirely predictable that some GOP hack would say that. In fact I predicted it. And by leaving Boxer hanging by herself, the Democratic senators denied themselves the opportunity to go on the record as saying that "get over it" isn't the proper response to voters when there's any question about their votes being counted and an election being conducted fairly. We're talking about one of the most fundamental processes in democracy. The GOP are sneering at the idea that serious problems should be investigated and the Democrats just let them get away with it.

Updated below.

Tomorrow is the day when the American Electoral College casts its votes to confirm George W. Bush's second term. And tomorrow is the day when we may see something unusual happen. A group of congressmen led by John Conyers is set to challenge the electoral votes from Ohio because of the volume of irregularities in the voting and problems in the recounts. For that challenge to have any significance those members of the House of Representatives must be joined by at least one senator. Otherwise the challenge has no effect.

As of this writing there are rumours swirling that at least one senator will join in the challenge with attention focused on Barbara Boxer of California, who so far will neither confirm nor deny.

This has been a controversial issue at Daily Kos, with some of the Kossacks insisting that Dems should challenge the election results at every step while others feared that too many of the issues being raised amounted to conspiracy theories that undermined the credibility of those raising them.

But this post, which went up earlier today, seems to signal a change in heart for some in the latter camp. It summarizes some of the more blatant problems involving Ohio Secretary of State (and Republican) Kenneth Blackwell and makes a pretty compelling case that Blackwell's behaviour should be closely investigated. The post amounts to a call to arms for Democratic senators to join with Conyers and the other congressional representatives who intend to challenge the results.

At this point there are few, if any, who believe that the outcome of the election will change. But as Hunter, the author of the post, writes:

... we should expect and encourage, on the floor of Congress, a debate and a reinforcement of the basic belief that, of all our American institutions, the conduct of free and fair elections is among the most sacred, and that to act in such a way as to erode the basic fairness of those elections is to act against the interests, and against the ideals, of America.

Works for me. A week after the election I wrote that restoring the faith of Americans in their own electoral process was badly needed and that it shouldn't be a partisan matter. But with the GOP in control of both houses and the Oval Office, it is a partisan matter. If an obviously flawed electoral system is to be reformed, it seems to me that it's up to the Democrats to push the issue in as public a way as they can.

Tomorrow could be an interesting day in DC.

Update:

Apparently she will.

California Senator Barbara Boxer is planning to stand up and join House democrats in their requests for an investigation into the Ohio presidential vote. Certification of the vote takes place today in the Senate and due to Sen. Boxer's objection, a two hour debate will take place regarding Ohio election irregularities.

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Many may recall the scene in January of 2001 in which the members of the Congressional Black Caucus were chastised on the floor of the Senate when they attempted to contest the Florida vote. Ironically, Vice President Gore in his role as President of the Senate had to reject their requests personally. The scene was made popular when included in Michael Moore's documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11.

Today history will record a different story as those same members, led by Michigan Congressman John Conyers will be heard due to the action of Barbara Boxer and possibly other Senate democrats.

It will be interesting now to see how the press covers this.

American ambassador Paul Cellucci, long known around these parts as the Mouth from Massachusetts, has now confirmed that he will be leaving his post in March of this year to enter the private sector.

If I said he'll be sadly missed, I'd be lying through my teeth. Hopefully his replacement will understand that the role of an ambassador is to represent his own country, and not to tell us how to run ours. Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Via True North. I'll take you up on that beer, mahigan. Or an orange brandy. Or a rum, rye, scotch or whatever else is lying around. On an occasion like this I'm not gonna be fussy.

I've put a copy of the Blog Awards button up at the top of the sidebar and I'll leave it there until the voting ends on the 15th of this month. Clicking on that button will take you directly to the voting page. I've given it top billing above my tribute to Paul Cellucci. If Cellucci doesn't like it, he can go back to Massachusetts in a snit. Or a fit of pique. Or even a rage. As long as he goes.

But I digress.

The good news is that I got through today without another crisis surfacing. The bad news is that a few of the old crises are still lingering. But I'm caught up enough that a ringing telephone no longer makes me quiver in fear that it's going to mean another page added to a long list of things to do.

There are a couple of things I'm working on for the blog. Back in December I started to look at the options available for RSS aggregators, aka news readers, and I decided to do a post on the subject. It was motivated partly out of frustration with the product I was using and partly because a couple of other people asked me for a recommendation. It won't be an exhaustive review by any means because my own demands and biases meant that quite a few of the products available didn't make it to the short list. But I'll explain those demands and biases and the reasoning behind them when I do the post. And I'll be relating some experience as a user with four different online services and at least that many desktop products.

The other project at hand probably won't surprise regular readers of this space. A couple of months back the Arar Commission published a consultation paper on the RCMP, in keeping with the commission's mandate to review the Mounties' role in that mess and make recommendations on a better method of oversight and accountability for the force. At the time it was indicated that there were eight background papers to be published at a later date so I put the whole matter off until that information was available. I noticed just before Christmas that links for those eight papers are now up and I intend to read them all, or at least scan them all, and then try to summarize the whole batch in a post. I've already indicated my own opinion: the RCMP shouldn't be in the intelligence business. I'll be interested to see what the commission has to say.

Both of those pieces will require some additional research and some time to put together. Meanwhile, I hope you'll see at least some short posts pointing to interesting stories either in the media or elsewhere in the 'sphere.

There's a rumour that my feline friends are being a bit difficult. Something about going on strike for more luxurious litter boxes and flakier tuna. We'll have to see how that plays out. My marketing consultant had suggested I switch to tree blogging since trees are much easier to get along with and you generally know where they're going to be when you're ready to snap the pic. I'll get back to you on that.

In what appears at first to be part of his current fund-raising drive, Steve Gilliard offers up an interesting comparison between the dot-coms that went bust and blogs, which are flourishing. Steve is pretty well-placed to make this kind of analysis. One of the major draws at the now-defunct NetSlaves was Steve's analysis of the foibles of the dot-com era. Now he's a full-time blogger and suggests what blogs have that the early efforts at content-based websites missed.

People read a blog either because it challenges them or says things they agree with. They don't read it because it mimics the local paper. Or because it's cool. Blogs are the opposite of cool. They're involved, concerned, thoughtful. Even Wonkette, who pretends to be a drunken gossip, cares. The stories she runs are not random and not just about what is hip. If anything, blogs are the anti-hip. They aren't about detached irony. Because that is what drives Viacom. The hip, the cool, the new. The Daily Show is a hit because it is done by people who cares what happens, a Viacom exception. And this isn't a virtue of lefty blogs either. The right also cares what happens. In this, no one is too cool for the room.

No one cared about dotcoms, it was all about money in the end. It was a mercenary mentality and got mercenary result. Blogs are a rejection of that and about the work of people who care and who think ideas matter. That it isn't just about who gets rich first.

If there is any success to blogs, it is because it has made the content on the computer human.

It's an interesting read.

If you click on the image just above, it will take you to a page where you can vote for your favorite Canadian blogs in eight categories.

I'm more than a little slow drawing your attention to this. Voting began on Jan. 1st. But it's not too late to get in on the fun. You can vote once a day, every day, between now and the 15th.

Thanks should go out to Robert McClelland at My Blahg for running this. The real value of something like this is the exposure it brings to blogs that you might not otherwise know about. The list of blogs on the voting page also serves as a list of links. Explore. There's lots of good stuff out there and more surfacing all the time. If you're like me, you'll find the Best New Blog to be the hardest category to deal with.

There was supposed to be a Friday cat blog yesterday but the intended subject started partying too early and wouldn't hold still for a picture.

Today he's just hungover.

     

That's Phillie, short for Filbert. I hope y'all are in better shape today than he is. And if not, I hope it was worth it.

And I hope everyone out there has a healthy and prosperous 2005. I'll also echo mahigan's sentiment:

And a global outbreak of sanity and cosmic justice would be nice as well. But that might be asking a bit much.

Lest J. Kelly think I really have "posted the cat" I do promise to resume ranting about real issues both domestic and foreign in the near future. I just know better than to promise exactly when right now.

One thing I'm not going to attempt is a year-end list of any kind. I'm in the process of updating my list of things to do and that's all the listing I can handle right now.

Peace.