The War on Warming

If the left argues that the War on Terror is simply a slogan to exaggerate a real but smaller problem in order for their right-wing counterparts to advance bad and expensive policy, then what of their War on Warming?

If we don’t do it for the polar bears, then what about the kittens? Won’t somebody think of the kittens?

Droves of cats and kittens are swarming into animal shelters nationwide, and global warming is to blame, according to one pet adoption group.

Several shelters operated by a national adoption organization called Pets Across America reported a 30 percent increase in intakes of cats and kittens from 2005 to 2006, and other shelters across the nation have reported similar spikes of stray, owned and feral cats.

The cause of this feline flood is an extended cat breeding season thanks to the world’s warming temperatures, according to the group, which is one of the country’s oldest and largest animal welfare organizations.

If Al Gore announces that he’s running for president, many observers predict that he’ll have a good shot at the White House. If so, are we about to see an escalation of The War on Warming on a full scale, spending billions upon billions to fight an invisible but determined enemy?

Casey votes against the budget he liked

Today, Nova Scotian MP Bill Casey from Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley voted against his party’s budget by voting against C-52, a budget implementation act.

This is odd, because Casey has spoken favourably about the budget in the past. Consider this article from the Truro Daily News on March 22nd of this year:

TRURO – Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley MP Bill Casey feels the 2007 federal budget is a boon for his riding.

“I have never seen a budget that has had more in it for the people of my riding than this one does,” Casey said from his Ottawa office, yesterday.

He said benefits can be easily pinpointed throughout the budget for the high population of seniors, working families with children and low-income families in his riding.

Casey was surprised by the controversy caused by the federal budget because it provides extra funding for health, infrastructure, and post-secondary education through equalization payments and other programs.

The vote, of course, is one of confidence and if parliamentary tradition is any guide (and it usually is), Casey will find himself outside of caucus tomorrow.

UPDATE: According to government whip Jay Hill, Casey is out of caucus.

Blogging Tories launches Facebook applications

Blogging Tories was the original political blogroll/aggregator in Canada and today it continues to break new ground.

As many readers already know, the Facebook phenomenon is getting blanket coverage in the media and among bloggers and it is the largest online social network assembled in the history of the world (that may sound like hyperbole… but it’s true). People have reconnected with old buddies from high school, are announcing social get-togethers across their network of Facebook friends and are associating and assembling among shared groups with common interests.

The last time I checked, Facebook had over 9 million users and has recently edged out eBay for daily page-views. (I just re-checked. Facebook has 20 million users)

So, what does this mean for the future of the Internet? I’m not sure, but like Blogging Tories, Facebook is inherently community-based and it would be useful to bridge both media. That’s why when Facebook opened up it’s web architecture to developers and other nerds, I got going trying to figure it out so that Blogging Tories could leverage the ‘other Internet’ that is Facebook.

I’ve developed two Facebook applications. The first application displays the most recent five Blogging Tories postings from the BT aggregator. Now you can add the most recent news and gossip from the Blogging Tories bloggers into your Facebook profile page. There are also useful links into other facets of the BT community available from the application.

The other Facebook application is a “I support Stephen Harper” image switcher. A set of images is contained within the application and the installer of the application can switch to a favourite image and fix it in place for visitors to their profile. Simple yet functional!