Here are some places to send donations to help keep the tsunami catastrophe from becoming even worse:

Canadian Red Cross
1-800-418-1111
(or donate through your local Red Cross office)

UNICEF Canada
1-800-567-4483
UNICEF Canada
2200 Yonge St., Suite 1100
Toronto, Ont.
M4S 2C6

Oxfam Canada
1-800-466-9326
Asian Earthquake/Floods Relief, Oxfam Canada
200-215 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, Ont.
M5T 2C7

CARE

According to Doug Ireland’s blog, the Democrat leadership is responding to the results of the last election by rethinking their support for a woman’s right to choose. Quoting the LA Times:

Addressing supporters at a meeting held by the AFL-CIO, Kerry said he discovered during trips through Pennsylvania that many union members were also abortion opponents and that the party needed to rethink how it could appeal… Read more...

If you’re nauseated at the thought of two more friggin’ days of treacly goodness and light before we get to the real holiday — Boxing Day, and its attendant retail orgy — then here’s a quick dose of desperately needed sourness: the reviews for National Treasure. A sample:

“People run. Things blow up. Sometimes, just to add another layer of nuance, people run away as things blow… Read more...

Andrew Potter over at ThisMagazine’s blog has kindly graded Canada’s national columnists. You can’t accuse him of suspending his judgement in favour of ideology; Andrew Coyne and Margaret Wente each get a B+.

Which makes me think — maybe what we really need is a Rotten Tomatoes of Canadian columnists, aggregating reviews from across the blogiverse (and the political spectrum). Some kind of jury would be needed… Read more...

A few days ago, the Victoria Times-Colonist treated us to a profile (we use “profile” here, but you may prefer the term “panting hagiography”) of newly-minted senior B.C. cabinet minister Ida Chong, who will now be responsible for higher education in the province. (Maybe they mean higher-priced education. If so, you can stamp that “Mandate More Than Fulfilled”.)

The only actual information in the piece is the news… Read more...

Most of the interesting things I could say about Gary Collins’ departure from the Campbell government (to, I kid you not, head up an airline) have already been said by Ian King. He notes in particular the gushing kudos from the Canadian Press coverage, particularly the claim that “During his four years as finance minister, Collins took the province from a $4-billion deficit to a $2-billion surplus while… Read more...

A decade ago, on June 9, 1994, you would have found virtually every New Democrat staffer at Queen’s Park (including yours truly) riveted to their TV screens, waiting and hoping against hope that Bill 167 — a law that would recognize same-sex relationships — would pass second reading that afternoon in the Legislature.

With some New Democrat MPPs threatening to bolt party ranks over the issue, the Rae government… Read more...

“Attention, valued viewers:

“The next thirty seconds were going to be devoted to a public service ad raising awareness of prostate cancer and potentially saving thousands of men’s lives. The ad comes from the Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital.

“However, in the interests of defending the sensitivity of our viewers and preserving the dignity of Canadian broadcasting, we have declined to air this ad. It… Read more...