Big playas

One of my favorite writers, Murray Dobbin, has a great piece on one of Canada's most influential, yet least known, politicians: the head of the Canadian Chief Executive Council, Tom d'Aquino.

"[D'Aquino's] list of demands is a virtual summary of what Paul Martin accomplished, or tried to, in his nine years as finance minister. Martin rarely strayed from the Ayatollah's orthodox prescription and ran the most fundamentalist free market government in Canada in over 60 years."

Meanwhile, in rare combination of sports and politics, 4 time Stanley Cup champion, and Conn Smythe winner Scott Neidermayer has endorsed a campaign to stop a "$900-million ski development in the Jumbo Creek Valley". No mention of whether this is influencing his decision to return to hockey...or the fact that it is on stolen native land.

Finally, the mother of all understated news stories of today has the Iraqi government kicking out Blackwater USA from the country. Blackwater, a private military contractor making billions in Iraq, and possibly the largest private mercenary army in history killed 8 people. What no one seems to be taking about is, as previously reported in the One Honest Party, that private mercenaries make up almost 50% of the US presence in Iraq and Blackwater is the largest. Expect chaos to ensue.