The latest Climate Denial Crock of the Week from Peter Sinclair.

The media is banging the drums of war again. Did their failure vis a vis Iraq teach them nothing.

Update: Pogge has more including links to a couple of interesting articles from Glenn Greenwald and the Daily Beast.

On Wednesday CPAC aired In Conversation with Macleans: Our Democracy is Broken. Here’s a clip from the show that was, in my opinion, the highlight of the night.

When the leaders of the political parties can essentially appoint Members of Parliament to the House of Commons it’s more than clear that our democracy is broken and needs to be fixed. One possible solution to this particular problem comes from Macleans’ commenter Jack Mitchell.

There’s a quick and simple answer to that one: require that all political donations — all political donations — go to the riding association, not to the central party. That will put the spotlight on local candidates by crippling the leader-driven national campaign, and it will allow riding associations to defy party HQ’s. One regulation, one revolution.

Is this the solution to the appointment of MPs to the HOC or is there a better one?

You can watch the entire program here.

I don’t know why I’d want to give advice to the Liberals considering the way they’ve been acting lately, but after reading this scattershot list of gripes it’s clear they need it.

There’s a result in the recent Ekos poll that should worry the Liberals. When you look at the breakdown in support according to age, the Conservatives are crushing the Liberals 40-45% versus 30-33% in the 45-64 and 65+ age demographics. This is where Harper is getting the support that’s keeping his party ahead of the Liberals in the polls. These two age demographics is where the Liberals must focus their attention.

Anyone who isn’t a Liberal before the age of 30 has no heart …. and anyone who is still a Liberal after the age of 30 has no brain.

Conservatives love that quote attributed to Winston Churchill. And there’s some truth in it. Not for the reasons it states, but because Conservatives are believed to be the party of the status quo and the older you get the more resistant to change you get. The Harper Reformacons are not the party of the status quo however. They are a party of change. “You won’t recognize Canada when I get through with it,” Harper said a few years ago. The changes Harper is making or wants to make is where the Liberals must focus their attention.

In just a little more than half a year from now I’ll be joining the 45-64 demographic. Most of my friends have either just joined it or like myself will be joining it very soon. Most of my peers are in the 65+ demographic. You know what worries almost everyone I now associate with. Our health and finances. I don’t think I’ve had a conversation with a friend or peer in the last year that didn’t to some degree revolve around deteriorating health or financial security. These are the issues where the Liberals must focus their attention.

So let’s put these three things together to rewrite the aforementioned list and add some possible counter measures.

1) Financial Security! The Harper government changed the tax laws in order to tax income trusts after saying he wouldn’t and wiped out tens of billions of dollars in retirement wealth. The Harper government refuses to protect your pensions. The Liberal Party will repeal Harper’s changes to the tax laws and insure that the pension you’ve paid into all your life will be there so that Canadians can retire with dignity and retired Canadians can live with dignity.

2) Health Care! The Harper government wants to change our single payer health care system to allow money grubbing insurance companies to make your health care decisions. The Liberal Party will protect our single payer health care system that has always been there for you in the past so that it will always be there for you in the future when you need it.

That’s it. The Liberals don’t need an unfocused list of twenty items; they only need those two. Every criticism of the Conservative government should be focused at voters over the age of 45. Every criticism of the Conservative government should be focused on the radical changes they are making or want to make. Every criticism of the Conservative government should be focused on either financial security or health care. And the Liberal Party needs to hammer away at this every single day in order to weaken the heart of Harper’s support.