The Passing of King Ralph

Anyway you dice it, the legacy of Ralph Klein will be in essence divisive, but on the surface one can't help but admire the man who sadly passed away yesterday at the age 70. He helped usher in a new era of western Canadian leadership and was one of Alberta's strongest and most steadfast spokespeople. That, naturally, sometimes got him into trouble in the short term, but Klein's impact as Calgary mayor, Alberta premier and leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives will be long felt.

I Hope They Serve Beef in Hell

So this was the kind of royal screw up that Twitter was invented to exploit...

The 'Bozo Eruption' Vote

It was one of those "Dewy Beats Truman" moments, the type of political upset where the decision of voters goes entirely against the media marketed expectations, as Alison Redford led the Progressive Conservative party to it's 12th straight provincial victory in Alberta yesterday after weeks of absolute certainty that Danielle Smith's upstart Wildrose was about to end the PC dynasty.

But the PCs didn't just barely win, they won a landslide majority of 61 seats. Wildrose now forms a distant opposition with only 17 seats, which almost doubles the number of seats won by the Liberals and the NDP combined with 5 and 4 seats, respectively. Considering that some polls had Wildrose up by 15 per cent over the PCs earlier this month, the fact that they fell so hard with only 17 seats to show for their efforts is being attributed to the "Bozo Erupion" and the strategic voting it prompted.

Strange Bedfellows

Crisis of Conscience?

If you've been following recent developments in the culture wars south of the border, you'll know that in some places in the U.S., if you want to have an abortion, you have to now jump through several proverbial hoops both invasive and bizarre. For instance, before the holiday weekend, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law stipulations that women can't get an abortion through a provision in the Healthcare Reform Law (Obamacare) when it goes into effect in 2014, and that they have on confer with a doctor one-on-one to prove that they're not being pressured into having an abortion by a friend or family member.

Believe it or not, this might not be the most draconian, anti-abortion measure taken in the last week in the United States. Over in our old friend Arizona, some language in a new bill would ban abortions for some women depending on how long they've been pregnant. The big deal? You ask. Well, according to the language in the bill, a woman might be considered pregnant even before she's pregnant. As quoted from the website RT: