Interesting article with Ukrainian President's Doctor

The context of this piece is speculation by his adversaries that he faked his poisoning!!! Check it out here - I like the fact that the deniers never mention that his medical team would be lancing boils off the guys body, draining and changing his bandages and shirts 4 times a day so they wouldn't get drenched in blood...some faker.

Pick out your poisoner

The Russians are coddling the poisoner of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

Canadian Press reports that the Russians have refused extardition...why would this be?

Could it have something to do with this?

Something's smelly about the Minto RCMP deal

According to the Toronto Star, John Baird, Mike Fortier and Pierre Poilievre were all tied to a move to relocate the Horsemen's headqurters to the Tory riding here.

"Senior Conservatives have taken almost $8,000 in political donations from two firms set to reap a windfall from the relocation of the RCMP headquarters." Whatever happened to Harper's promise to remove the influence of lobbyists?

Test your Ukrainian here

I just did the Nash Holos Ukrainian test here. I got this nifty certificate

Nash Holos Diploma
This certifies that
Pumpernickel
of
Ottawa
has completed the
Nash Holos Ukrainian Language School
Final Exam for 2008
with a score of 98%
onJune 18, 2008

I wonder what they used to call the Reuben...

The language police in China are back and the decisions on official English food names are, well, less colourful. Gone is the "Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman," as the Beijing Youth Daily rendered the spicy Sichuanese dish, is now "Mapo tofu." And "chicken without sexual life" becomes mere "steamed pullet." Oh well, read all about it here

Oil prices - Bush Iraq invasion to blame

Britain's Sunday Independent notes here that the US led invasion of Iraq has tripled the price of oil, according to a leading expert, costing the world a staggering $6 trillion in higher energy prices.
Oil economist Dr Mamdouh Salameh, who advises both the World Bank, told The Independent on Sunday that the price of oil would now be no more than $40 a barrel, less than a third of the record $135 a barrel reached last week, had it not been for the Iraq war.
Goldman Sachs predicted last week that the price could rise to an unprecedented $200 a barrel over the next year, and the world is coming to terms with the idea that the age of cheap oil has ended, with far-reaching repercussions on their activities.

Harper Chief of Staff Brodie offed in advance of NAFTAgate report

Well it appears that Mr. Brodie's big mouth and intemperate comments about Barack Obama may be costing him his job as chief of staff to PM Steve.

How will high inflation impact the Ukrainian economy?

An EBRD conference in Kyiv says that growth predictions are being revised downward accross eastern Europe here.

Given a choice between a greenback and public service...

The McCain campaign lost its fifth senior staffer in a week. They are bleeding to thye lobbying indsutry badly.

Biden Calls Bullshit on Bush's Appeasement comments

On the same day that 2 Jewish American superdelegates endorsed Barack Obama, Senator Biden summed up my feelings and the feelings of many on the bush comments:

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”- Senator Joe Biden (Dem-Delaware)

Conservatives gyp Ukrainian Canadians

In the category of too little, even later, comes a report from the Toronto Star, that the Canadian government is backfilling a previous agreement signed between the Liberal Federal Government and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in 2005 for $12.5 million and replacing it with a smaller agreement to be divvied up among other offended ethnic groups!

According to the Toronto Star the feds announced, "$10 million grant to recognize how Eastern European immigrants were interned in Canadian work camps during World War I."
The money goes to an endowment fund that will allow the community to better educate Canadians about the forced labour camps. The 1914-20 internment affected almost one hundred thousand Ukrainians who were stripped of their possessions and forced into work camps, while thousands more were labelled "enemy aliens" and required to report regularly to police.

The most shocking thing about this announcement is that the Ukrainian community can call getting less than 50 cents on the dollar of what they had under the Liberal agreements a victory. And this one will be shared with all aggrieved Eastern European communities.

Boomer is found!!!

So the Lion cub who escaped the other day has been found and while in a Jail cell at present, will be turned over to the Granby zoo in Quebec. See story here.

lay odds

Interesting that the Province of Saskatchewan is commemorating the Ukrainian Famine genocide is not on the agenda (yet) for President Yushchenko's May State visit to Canada.

I wonder how long it will take PM Steve's brain trust to put partisanship aside and do the same thing and pass Borys Wrzesnewskyj's Bill in Parliament. I bet that they will try to do something, and that sadly, it will be partisan.

Paschal Pumpernickel

(Makes one loaf)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 square unsweetened chocolate chopped
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tsp instant coffee
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 and 3/4 cup dark rye flour
1/2 cup bran
1.5 tsps salt
1.5 cups unbleached white flour

cornmeal for sprinkling on pan
1 egg beaten with 2 tbsps water for egg wash

Instructions
Warm 1/2 cup of water. When it is lukewarm add the yeast and sugar. Stir and set aside for five minutes. It should get foamy.

Heat the remaining cup of water, chocolate pieces, molasses, coffee, caraway seeds and vinegar in saucepan over medium heat approximately 5 minutes until the coffee dissolves and the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat.

Let cool until the mixture is lukewarm, then add the yeast mixture and mix in the sugar, dark rye flour, bran, salt and unbleached white flour.

Knead for 6-8 minutes until you get a smooth, elastic ball of dough.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a large greased bowl or pot and cover with a tea towel to allow it to rise (approximately 2 hours in a warm, not hot, place.

Oil a large round oven safe container, a 1 kg coffee can, or similar size oven safe pot will do and sprinkle bottom with cornmeal.

Punch the dough down, and knead it back into a ball shape and place it into the can.

Preheat oven to 350 F .

Paint the egg wash onto the loaf with a brush, and cut a seam across the top of the loaf to vent steam. Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

If you want this to be more Eastery, add rolled dough decorations of rosettes and birds on the top of the loaf.

XPUCTOC BOCKPEC!

Now we know why they are called Cons

BREAKING STORY: RCMP RAID CONSERVATIVE PARTY OFFICES OVER ILLEGAL IN-OUT FUNDING SCANDAL

The RCMP have raided the offices of the Conservative Party of Canada as part of its investigation into the Conservatives in-ouit financing scheme which Elections Canada has ruled is illegal.

This advertising scheme, which occurred during the 2006 election, was used to enable the Cons to violate legislated election spending caps during the election campaign.

I don't know which is worse...

I am not sure which is worse. The fact that the neo-nazi heritage front was infiltrating the Conservative party or the comments by the junior Minister of Multiculturalism that ethnic groups will "be using the race card" to get nominations.

See David Akins article here.

Appeasing the base...

Every so often, PM Steve has to throw a bone to the neanderthal wing of the party, like what they are doing with C-10 - the Censorship of Film legislation.

It is therefore interesting to see what former PC Canada fund chairman and Mulroney chequewriter Senator David Angus had to say at committee today, "Even the Minister of Heritage hates the bill". Watch the video.


Shocking Conservative Harpocrysy

How bout dem Habs?

Well there were no butterflies tonight as the Habs continued their outright domination of the Bruins from the regular season into the playoffs, winning tonight 4-1. They are playing the type of exciting hockey that saw them go deep into the playoffs in their 70s and 80s glory days...Go Habs Go!

Johnston's strange proposal may be illegal

I too was struck by professor Johnston's suggestion that parts of a public inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber Affair could be held in secret. Warren Kinsella has an excellent post on the possible illegalities of such an approach here.

The public has a right to know about all the sordid and sleazy details of the relations between Mulroney and Schreiber, and deserves nothing less.