The ol’ Rovemeister is packing up his bag of dirty tricks and hitting the road at the end of August. Early reports indicate he’ll return to Texas, either to spend more time with his family or sacrifice small animals to some unspecified dark overlord.

Nunc Scio has long been an opponent of evil in politics, and is thus happy to see the end of Rove. Nevertheless, you’ve got to admire this guy’s legacy. Not many politicos can say they took an alcoholic C student with the business acumen of a turnip and turned him into a president. Did I say admire? I meant curse.

Rove announced his impending departure in an exclusive interview with the WSJ. True to form, he took the opporunity to fire some parting shots. Describing Hillary Clinton as a “a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate,” he thinks the Republicans have “a very good chance” to hold onto the White House in 2008. Zing!

Adieu, Mr. Rove. You’re a jackass, but you’ve managed to crawl into the history books anyways. 

UPDATE: Jay Rosen at Pressthink has a great perspective piece on the strange fascination reporters have for Rove.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), long the most useless US government agency and target of pop-culture ridicule from Ghostbusters to the new Simpsons Movie, is continuing its evolution into a corporate lackey and pollution facilitator. Only problem is, its crapulence is now threatening the health of Ontarians.

The Toronto Star reports today that the EPA is attempting to relax emission rules for coal-burning power plants in the USA. The new regs are designed to making aging plants more ‘efficient’ and ‘flexible’. In short, the relaxed rules will help make the power plants more profitable for the Big Coal lobby.

All of this would be fine if the toxic emissions of stayed south of the border, fouling the lungs of everyone stupid enough to vote for the Bush Administration. Unfortunately, nature does not respect the geographic origins of idiocy.

Every time the wind blows from the southwest, the offal of these powerplants floats into Ontario. The result is quite the butcher’s bill:

It causes an estimated 2,700 premature deaths and 12,000 hospital admissions here each year. It also harms forests, farm crops, water quality and buildings. The damage totals nearly $10 billion – including $6.6 billion in health bills. 

All told, the 600 coal plants in the American midwest account for about 50 per cent of the airborne pollution in Ontario. Thank you, Uncle Sam. And of course, the really irritating thing is there is exactly nothing we can do about it, short of acquiring a strategic nuclear arsenal.

And the hits just keep on coming. We hate terror, but we love sinking to their level.

The Feds de-classified 1,500 pages of the Arar inquiry report today, revealing the following mildly horrifying facts:

• CSIS liaison staff in Washington were aware of the U.S. practice of “extraordinary rendition” – deporting terror suspects to countries that extracted information through torture.
• By applying the erroneous label of “terror suspect” to Arar, the RCMP indirectly led to the U.S. decision to deport Arar, first to Jordan and on to Syria, where he was tortured.
• CSIS second-in-command in Ottawa, operations director Jack Hooper wrote in a memorandum on Oct. 10, 2002 – shortly after Arar’s arrest at JFK Airport by U.S. immigration authorities – saying, “I think the U.S. would like to get Arar to Jordan where they can have their way with him.” 
• Syrian authorities viewed Arar as a “nuisance” and not “as a major case.” But, in the interest of thoroughness, they tortured him anyway. 
• When the RCMP sought a telephone intercept warrant against Arar, the Mounties failed to reveal to the presiding judge that its information was based on a confession by another suspect, Ahmad El Maati, that was likely obtained under Syrian torture.

What price apathy and fear? The responsibility for this crime lies not only with CSIS, the RCMP and the Federal Government. It sits squarely on all our shoulders for failing to hold our law enforcement agencies to account and upholding our civil liberties.

Never again.

The Rhinocerous Party of Canada has announced it will run a candidate in the Sept. 17 federal byelection in Montreal’s Outremont riding, ending a 17 year absence from the national political stage. The Rhino president, who has recently changed his name from Brian (Godzilla) Salmi to Satan, made the announcement on Tuesday.

The party is also launching a $50 million lawsuit against the Government of Canada over a 1993 election law that stripped the Rhinoes of their registered party status. The law, overturned in 2004, required a political party to run in at least 50 ridings to be officially registered and thereby be able to distribute tax receipts to supporters. The lawsuit is officially recorded as Satan v. Her Majesty The Queen.   

The return of the Rhinoes is to be applauded, mostly because of their visionary political platform. Important reforms include repealing the law of gravity, changing Canada’s name to Nantucket, and providing greater access to higher education by building taller schools. 

Genius.

A new study by the Association of Online Publishers has found that the majority of consumers now find online sources of news and information at least as trustworthy as print formats.

The survey found that 81 per cent of newspaper readers and 74 per cent of magazine readers view the internet as an equally valid source of information. Respondents also felt the internet was a faster way to locate information.

Interestingly, consumers felt he brand was more important than the medium. That is, while more folks may turn to the web for news, they’ll opt for the NYT over ‘whatmycatthinksaboutiraq.blogspot.com’.

The upshot for bloggers is that you can probably take some smug self-satisfaction in your increasing social clout, but you should probably keep linking to the MSM.

UPDATE: As if on cue, the NY Post is reporting that the NYT may soon end its TimesSelect paywall that restricts access to op-eds and ‘deep content’ to paying customers. And there was much rejoicing.

Opposition critics are working themselves into an apoplexy about the news that Tom Long’s HR firm is looking for CBC’s new News Director. Long, you’ll remember, worked for Brian Mulroney, was a top advisor to Mike Harris, and ran for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance.

Said NDP heritage critic Charlie Angus:

“Tom Long is one degree of separation from the PMO. I just think it’s too close to have someone that close, politically, to the PMO basically looking at the resumés and vetting them.”

*sigh* Yet another variation of ye olde media bias debate. I will admit this one’s approach is fairly novel, since it’s actually pre-emptive. But I am so very tired of moonbats on both sides of the aisle screaming at each other that the media is wildly biased in the other side’s favour. Media outlets are businesses. They follow money. That’s where the bias is- not towards some ideology, but the logic of the market and the financial interests of the folks writing the cheques.  Market motivations may cause ideological distortions (see also: Fox News), but we need to get the chain of causality straight. And since CBC is publicly-funded, it is slightly more insulated against market bias than other MSM outlets.

There’s a few other things people might be overlooking:

1. Presumably, the CBC gave Long’s firm some selection criteria. They probably didn’t say, “Tom Long, we trust you so implicitly, you are like Jesus to us. Go out and find someone for this job. Follow your heart. We won’t interefere.”
2. Tom Long, for all his questionable politics, is likely pretty professional. So, when he was hired by the CBC he probably set out about serving his client, rather than instituting a vast right-wing conspiracy. In fact, as a senior exec, Long won’t be that involved in the selection anyway.
3. The CBC can vet Long’s choice. So, for example, if he comes back with psycho hillbilly Rachael Marsden as his #1 choice, CBC will know the fix is in and politely demure.
4. Even if someone vaguely rightist is put in, there political damage would be negligible. The only people who watch CBC news are small ‘l’ urban liberals anyway. A right-wing news director, who demonstrated his bias on air, would only alienate the CBC’s core demographic- not cause some seismic political shift. I mean, if the only show on CBC with broad appeal- Hockey Night in Canada- suddenly skews conservative, then we have a problem. But in the meantime, c’mon now.

So in conclusion: everybody take a few deep breaths and relax. Stop gnashing your teeth and stomping around, cursing the fates and vowing revenge on the house of Harper. Everything is goint to be OK.

P.S. If you’d like some more information on why Rachael Marsden is a pyscho hillbilly, this Salon article is a good primer. Hurray for criminal harassment!

Congratulations are in order for Brian May for submitting his astronomy PhD thesis, 36 years after he left academia for the admittedly more glamorous career of a glam rocker. Full points for following through. Said May:

“It’s been the longest gap year ever. It was a tough decision back then to leave my studies for music.”

May’s work has an astronomist has received rave reviews, although sales of his thesis are not expected to top the blockbuster success of Queen’s 1975 masterpiece A Night at the Opera. Said astrophysicist Dr Garik Israelian:

“I have no doubt that Brian May would have had a brilliant career in science had he completed his PhD in 1971. Nevertheless, as a fan of Queen, I am glad that he left science temporarily.”

May will defend his thesis on August 23.

In unrelated news, Britney Spears has abandoned plans to pursue a doctorate in abnormal psychology, although apparently not for lack of relevant and easily accessible research material.

UPDATE (23/08/07): He passed! The newly minted Dr. May will receive his degree next spring.