Alberta Senate Nominees Links 2012

The Alberta Senate nomination bid will be a sideshow in this year's election, but that does not mean voters should pick a random name off the ballot.  Here is a list of links to individual pages for those who care to be informed.  It should be noted that the Prime Minister is not legally bound to selecting those senators that are nominated, but to go against a senator selected by Albertan's would be a severe political gaffe for Conservative Party.


Rob Gregory, is one of three Wildrose Party members

The other Wildrose candidates are Vitor Marciano
and
Raymond Germain.
 Youtube video regarding Germain's  inspiration for senate run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY_u-E4WEL4

All three intend to join the federal Conservative caucus if they are appointed to the Senate.

The Progressive Conservatives now have three candidates on the ballot
 Mike Shaikh,

 Scott Tannas

and Doug Black.

The sixth candidate so far, Paul Frank, is running as an independent.
 Len Bracko and Ian Urquhart have also said they intend to get on the ballot as independents.
Elizabeth Johannson said she will be the candidate for the Alberta Evergreen Party.
David Fletcher is also an independent.  Youtube video promoting EEE senate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQrLJWTZY6k
 Perry Chahal  has not updated his website since running as Public School Board Trustee
William Exelby

The NDP and Liberal parties chose not to nominate candidates for the race.

Some of the text above is from the following CBC article:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/albertavotes2012/story/2012/04/10/albertavotes2012-senate-race-candidates.html

Guns and Roses November Rain video Church Identification

My lying brother once told me that it was at the McDougall Church in Morleyville, Alberta, that Slash performed his gratuitous guitar solo in the video for November Rain. Apparently, the church is in fact one which was portable (ie. on wheels), and they filmed the scene in New Mexico.  So much for a local connection to rock and roll sleaze!

McDougall Stoney Mission Church, Morley, Alberta.

Slash rips in up in New Mexico.

Give a Hoot Don't Pollute

Jay Wexley's contribution to McSweeney's this week show's the frustrations of Woodsy the Owl in his attempt to battle pollution in the modern age.  It seems that "Give a Hoot Don't Pollute" just doesn't have the same resonance these days!

Here is an old video from 1977 that emphasizes the generation gap:

 

For a more serious treatment of Woodsy's history, including an interesting justification of his genesis due to U.S. federal government strictures on the role of Smokey the Bear as being purely against forest fires, see this excellent tribute to Woodsy's creator, Harold Bell.

Sten Gun Grannies

Perhaps you've heard of the Bren Gun Girl? Veronica Foster was a worker at the John Inglis Company plant in Toronto which manufactured the Bren Light Machine Gun.  "Ronnie" the Bren Gun Girl's image was used for propaganda purposes to boost the war effort. 

Nothing like a smoke after a hard days work.

Less familiar will be this group of Sten Gun Grannies, who worked at the Lakeview Small Arms Munitions factory.  The Sten submachine gun was generally not admired by front line troops, due to its tendency to misfire, fire on fully automatic when in the semi-auto position, or discharge an entire clip when dropped.  The accompanying article from the Toronto Star of 1943 noted that some 70 "grandmas" worked the factory and were eager to show they could shoot as well as make guns. 

None of these matriarchs shot from the hip.

While propaganda depicting women in the workforce was used to recruit more workers, the idea that the Second World War opened the manufacturing industry up to women is not universally accepted by historians.  Conservative print media during the war suggested that women in the workforce would undermine family values, which, in part, explains their general retreat from industry at the close of hostilities.  Women were a valuable source of labour during the war, however, and their wartime integration into the industrial sector helped later arguments for equality.

John A. Macdonald and the Dancing Bear

Most Canadians when asked to describe something about their first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald will report that he was a drunk.  It must be admitted that the man had a particular affinity for the bottle, and legendarily was caught clutching his desk for stability during the crisis of the Fenian raids.  It is reported that when delivering a particularly tricky oration in the parliament of the Province of the Canadas, that a number of his supporters, not knowing of each other's efforts, delivered a glass of gin to the speaker, cleverly disguised as a glass of water.  John A. Macdonald (not yet knighted for his service to Britain as architect of confederation) was inspired by the juniper juice and treated his listeners to a rousing speech.  For all these myths of debauchery, however, it seems slightly sad that a man whose later life was so dedicated to the national dream should be primarily remembered for falling off the waggon.

This being said, a recent read of the first volume of Donald Creighton's classic 1956 biography of the PM, The Young Politician provoked a contribution to the legend of JAM's party life.  Apparently Macdonald befriended a young Scotsman by the name of John Rose, living in Montreal in the early 1840s or late 1850s.  The following is Creighton's amazing description of a badly behaving man in his thirties:

"They were lighthearted and still fairly irresponsible young men who enjoyed life to the full without taking it very seriously; and once, when Macdonald at least was old enough to know better, they went off on an absurd adventure in the United States, and wandered around as travelling showmen, with Rose capering around as a dancing bear, and Macdonald playing some 'rude instrument' in accompaniment."  (Creighton, 243).