Stephen Harper's High School Yearbook Photo

The scariest thing about this? I found it on the INTERNET. Anyone can access this. Even your children.

Stephane Dion's interview train wreck

Last night a CTV affiliate aired an interview with Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion. The interview had a couple of false starts, which happens occasionally to anyone who talks with the press on a regular basis. As it typically goes in these situations, the station said they would not air the gaffes and the candidate was relieved. As may typically happen in election season when sensationalist journalism is all the rage, the newscasters went back on their word and aired it anyway. Nice.



I think Dion's problem is that he's too smart for his own good. Query: "If you were Prime Minister now, what would you have done that Mr. Harper has not done?" Results: 1) If I had been PM for Harper's whole term, our economy would be in much better shape because I would have done A and B and C. 2) If I am elected PM on Tuesday I will do the following D and E and F. 3) If I was PM for the last two days or weeks or months I would have...

I don't fully understand that question, and English is my first language. Hypothetical questions are among the most difficult to answer. Some critics are saying he should have defined his own timeline, given an answer and have been done with it, but I think he tried and the interviewer gave him no room. He tried to clarify the question to no avail. I think this journalist knows Dion's not the best talker (which doesn't mean he's not the best thinker) and was trying to trap him and make him look foolish. I think this is a low blow by a journalist who's not really worth his salt. I think Harper trying to capitalize on it is an even lower blow and a complete mistake. I think Dion's Liberals have the best economic plan out there, and I really hope they blow the Tories out of the water.

If you agree with my assessment; if you disagree; please comment.

Financial crisis and the collapse of the American economy

Well, it's happening for sure. I'm just glad I sold my AIG funds. Actually, my financial advisor sold them, God bless her. She's been really good for me. But enough about me, there are many people out there suffering: losing their homes, their nest eggs, their incomes. For instance, these gentlemen, featured recently in the New York Times... (if this doesn't make you sick to your stomach, I don't know what will). Also, if you want it, that's \/ a fullscreen button down there.

McCain gets Rick Rolld... or do I mean Barack Rolld?

For those who aren't yet familiar with the term, from Wikipedia:

Rickrolling is an Internet meme typically involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch: a person provides a Web link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand, but the link actually takes the user to the Astley video. The URL can be masked or obfuscated in some manner so that the user cannot determine the true source of the link without clicking (and thus satisfying their curiosity). When a person clicks on the link given and is led to the web page he/she is said to have been "Rickrolled". By extension, it can also mean playing the song loudly in public in order to be disruptive.

For those who already are, my post: Well, the US presidential election is shaping up to be quite the barn burner. McCain, who has long been criticized as too liberal, has imported as his running mate a woman who is slightly to the right of Mussolini. Obama, on the other hand, seems to coast along on his golden cloud of oration, and now, apparently, song.



In the video: I just learned you can do picture-in-picture using Overlay.TV's player. Neato!

Natural male enhancement

You have to love advertising that makes no specific claim. Head On! Apply directly to the forehead! It doesn't claim to do anything at all, but we all know what it's supposed to do. Perfect advertising. You can't say it doesn't do what it promises, because it promises nothing.

Not so for Ohio "businessman" Steve Warshak's product Enzyte. A few months ago he was found guilty of 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. A few days ago he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and told to pay $93,000 in fines. His company, Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals of Cincinnati, Ohio other defendants were ordered to forfeit more than $500 million. Why, you ask? Their non-specific claim was not non-specific enough:



Evidence in court showed that the product did nothing, testimonials were false, and worst of all, customers' credit cards were automatically billed for pills they never wanted or ordered. The paltry defense was to claim that the company expanded too rapidly to keep up with the demand for customer service. Kudos to Judge Arthur Spiegel, who found the evidence against Warshak and the rest of the defendants overwhelming and the defense "unconvincing." Let's hope more judges sit up and take notice of stiffer convictions and sentencing for white collar criminals.