I've heard it said many times over the years that if you know three people who would take your call and bail you out of jail at 3 o'clock in the morning you are indeed fortunate. You have true friends. I have to consider myself very fortunate. I know without a shadow of doubt that I have five such friends.

(warning for those on dial-up. This diary will be relatively image heavy).

Confession.

I don't do ribbons. Red, white, yellow, pink, purple, or plaid. AIDS, cancer(s), peace, solidarity, no matter what the cause. I just don't do ribbons. I didn't say that I haven't contributed time and money to the causes behind the ribbon campaigns. I have, and do. I just don't have the need or compulsion to 'validate' my contribution to people I barely or don't know. I'm also sceptical of the real 'contribution' of many people who do wear these ribbons. Yeah, some of them are simply attempting to validate their own bona fides, deserved or not.

I do, however, do poppies every November. No need to review and examine the significance of that small gesture. I assume that our readership is comprised of rational, sentient people who know some history.

Second confession.

With most everyone in Canada busy talking about 'veiled intentions' the Canadian federal government playmakers are hoping the crowd is distracted enough for them to try a sneaky wraparound play from behind the net and slip one past the goalie.

I think we've all seen this movie. Part of a bigger story. Having a long, lucrative run in the United States. Now it appears we have a Canadian adaptation.

Government agencies are moving to gain access to telephone and internet customers' personal information without first getting a court order, according to a document obtained by CBCNews.ca that is raising privacy issues.

Things have been fairly quiet on the political scene up in Canada. Parliament is currently on a Summer recess and MPs (Members of Parliament) are for the most part working quietly back in their constituencies while the party leaders travel the summer BBQ circuit in hopes of boosting their electoral chances whenever the next general election may be called.

Most importantly, without a Summer session in Ottawa's Parliament buildings there is no daily Question Period, a time when opposition members of the House hold the ruling party to the fire, putting every decision, policy and proposed legislation to scrutiny.

The political dog days of Summer. Perfect conditions for a tenuous minority Conservative government to possibly slip a little 'interference' right by the Canadian public and media since few are paying close attention.

Thankfully progressive Canadian bloggers were paying attention and have hopefully nipped a quite subversive, anti-democratic plan in the bud. Because representative democracy is, like, sooooo yesterday.

It's a semi-sordid tale of Conservative dirty tricks, put upon elected MPs, an iconoclastic Liberal MP/bloggers, a Canadian blogswarm, and a 'Nekkid Mayor'.

Follow me over the fold for more

This is going to be very brief as information is just now breaking, but after explicitly denying the use of undercover agents at the SPP protests at the Montebello North American summit, the Surete Quebec, the provincial police agency, has admitted having undercover agents..

Quebec provincial police admitted Thursday that their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators during the protests at the North American leaders summit in Montebello, Que.

The police came under fire Wednesday when protesters accused the force of planting undercover officers in the demonstration to provoke violence. A video surfaced on YouTube that appeared to depict disguised police in the crowd.

Cross posted at A Creative Revolution

More to come

Yesterday (well, at this point it's the day before yesterday), as we well know, was a 'National Day of Action to Oppose the SPP'- While the major activity was in Ottawa Valley resort town of Montebello, Quebec where the Three Banditos held their North American Summit, events were held across the country in opposition to the secretive political-corporate discussions and study groups proposing a more extensive economic integration of the three North American countries.

Cross-posted at A Creative Revolution

I attended a rally in Vancouver which took place in the area on and near the front steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery on Robson Street.

Most unhappy that they were not Canada's government of the day in 2003 when the decision was made in the White House to wage pre-emptive war on Iraq, Canada's (minority government) governing Conservative Party of Canada is starting to beat on drum of wars in the event of a conflcit with Iran.

This caught my eye today and I thought I should put it out there.

(hat tip to buckdog in the Canuck bloggerdome)
I also think someone on the opposition benches in the HOC should be asking this question (or questions) of the government - "Is Canada prepared to go to war with Iran?"

Why do I ask this question?

More over the flip.

I believe that's the correct term for it.

Hornswoggled. An unusual word like discombobulate or skeedaddle with murky origins from the early to mid-19th century American frontier.

Hornswoggled.

trick somebody: to cheat, trick, or deceive somebody ( informal )

That's exactly what has happened to Canadian lumber producers and, yes, the Canadian public. We've been hornswoggled.

Never mind all the rhetoric around the Softwood Lumber Agreement. The bottom line is that everything the Canadian lumber industry said and knew was absolutely correct. The NAFTA and WTO panels knew this to be true. I would say that even Mr. Emerson knew this to be true. Canadian lumber is not subsidized, the duties imposed by the United States were 100% illegal and any harm that occurred to US lumber producers were due to market forces not any actions by Canadian lumber producers nor Canadian laws governing lumber production.

It's now official. I'll show you over the flip.

Cross posted at The Next Agenda.

Crossposted at The Next Agenda.

So why exactly would Condi Rice spend the 5th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks in Halifax instead of New York or Washington? I don't really know the quality of Haligonian cobblers but wasn't Dubya himself in Halifax just last year? And offering the very same 'thank you' that the Secretary of State did yesterday? Halifax gave him a warm welcome, at least those who waved with all five fingers.

I think this was really all for Stephen Harper's benefit.

While we were chuckling at the starchy double goodness of Rice (Condi) and Potato (Peter Mackay) ordering double-doubles at Tim's, Harper was setting up for the rear end of the dog and pony show.

More after the intermission.

Sad news came yesterday that 4 members of the Edmonton-based PPCLI (Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry) were killed in action in Afghanistan.

"They were targeting us," another soldier said as he returned from the fighting, his hands trembling as he put a cigarette to his cracked lips.

"They were too organized. We had to pull back."

Neither man wanted to be identified after another day of carnage in Afghanistan that saw two roadside bombings and a hail of grenades kill four Canadian soldiers and injure 10 more in the single heaviest day of death and injury Canada has endured in the strife-torn country.

In addition to the three soldiers killed in the school near the village of Pashmul, west of Kandahar city, a fourth Canadian soldier l. Christopher Reid of Truro, N.S. -- died when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb planted on a nearby highway.

Crossposted at The Next Agenda.

Considering this announcement was made today in Canada, I have doubts this will get any significant coverage in the US MSM. It just might make a few rightwingnut heads explode.

"Obey your country's laws, Iraqi cleric urges Muslims"

In a Montreal news conference held earlier today Sayyed Sayed Nabil Abbas, the North American representative of Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a call to action urging Muslims to obey a religious edict that condemns violence and sanctions peace.

There's more as we take the flip.

Feeling tired and cranky? I know I have been today. And I wanted nothing more than a nice, cold, frosty beverage when I left work, in particular a bottle of Phillips IPA (brewed in beautiful, scenic downtown Esquimalt), possibly Canada's best brew. But alas, my local liquor outlet was out of stock. So I'm making do with a subsitute.

But, that's not all that has me feeling tired and cranky. So, what else, you ask? Well, maybe the amount ink spilled, trees sacrificed, and bandwidth exceeded on commentary regarding the weekend arrest of 17 Canadians suspected of terrorist activities.

This site is no exception. Just look at the number of diaries on the subject today and over the past few days.

So, think you can handle one more? More on the flip.