Tossing Pebbles in the Stream: 10/01/2008

Friday, October 31, 2008

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

When you live out a country road and do not have young children, there are few signs of ghost and gobblin (or Obamas and Palins ) showing up at your door. There was a time when I drove my son into town so he could panhandle some treats from people. In 30 years, I have had less than a dozen children show up at my door.

Hope springs eternal. Each year I get goodies for the chilldren, just in case they show up. For years, once we were convinced no one was coming, my son and I would eat the treats. I wonder who might show this year? I expect I will be eating the treats alone tonight.

For a number of years, when I had foster children and had some children in town hanging out at my place, I would make candy apples. For me, as a child, they were the ultimate Halloween treat. I made enough candy apples so a young friends of mine could take them to school and give everyone a candy apple. Our local school in those years had about 50 children spread over 8 grades. ( Now there are just under 30)

In those days, I could eat candy apples. When you get my age your teeth are not good enough. . . . even if you have enough teeth.

Oh! to be a kid again, dashing from house to house. . . .

"Trick or treat. . . . Trick or treat!" "Shell out, shell out or I will turn your windows inside out!"

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Another Wedding

One of the things I still do as a minister is officiate at weddings. I enjoy this ceremonial/priestly function of a minister. It is nearly always a joyous time when people are at their happiness and full of hope and promise for their future together. Although there have been a few weddings I have been involved in that probably should not have taken place.

I also am willing to officiate at funerals when asked. I have always said I enjoy wedding the most but I grow as a person most over funerals. I prefer to do funerals for people I knew in life. It is at funerals that we are given the opportunity to rethink the great questions of Life.

Below is a photograph from the last wedding I did a couple of months ago. They were a nice couple and the wedding was in North Bay at the site of a former monastary. The property is now owned by the local college. It is a pretty spot in a natural setting.

The couple just sent me this photo. I usually try to stay out of photographs but I thought this one was pretty good. I am the little guy with the beard. In scanning the picture I cut some of the right side off. Maybe I was sub consciously trying to make myself look thinner! In any case, it was not worth redoing as the scanner was being problematic.

The bride, in appearance, reminded me of my bride so many years ago.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Out for A Root Around

After three weeks of being penned up. Ruby and her herd got a chance to root around the yard with the warmer weather and the snow melted away.

(click on photo to enlarge)

A puddle is a fascination.

Ruby has lost her girlish figure, the price of motherhood.

The little ones will try for an early dinner if Ruby will stand still long enough.

Heidi elegantly looks on.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

A Frosty Morning

We had a good frost last night! Invariably two things spring to mind!

"When the nights are hot and sticky,
That's no time for dunking dickie.

When the frost in on the pumpkin,
That's the time for dickie dunkin'."

I can't even remember who taught me this ditty.

The second is cooking on my wood stove. Somehow the aromas and heat is more embracing that cooking on the electric stove.

A bracing breakfast of bacon and eggs is called for. I prefer peameal bacon (it's a Canadian thing) but strippy bacon will do.

Bacon, eggs, fried onions, toast and coffee

Heidi thought I should share. "Down Heidi!" She is still learning to lie down while people eat.

Reinforced by a high caloric breakfast, it is time to return to splitting wood. I am running being in this task again this year. My limiting aches and pains make it slow going. Dave helps piling sometimes. (That is him in the background getting his walker over the electric fence.)

The snow we got a couple of days ago will be melted over the weekend. Hopeful deep snows will hold off for a while.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

First Snow

After a day of rain, the temperature dropped overnight and we got our first offering of snow.

Snow is still falling at first light.

There are a couple of inches of accumulation

With the wind blowing if feels a lot colder than it is. They are calling for the sun to come out today so this snow may disappear by the end of the day. It will be even colder overnight.
I am not quite ready for this. It is about a month early.

The piglets have formed a pig pile to keep warm. They are waiting for their mother to come back to bed after having her morning feed. They will then pile uo against her and even on top of her to share her warmth.

Monday, October 20, 2008

More Piglet Photos

It seems some people just can't get enought cute pictures of piglets.

(click on photo to enlarge)

Here they are in the open shed part of the building.

I tossed some loose hay in the pen and the piglets started rummaging through it. Mamma sow will organize it to improve her nest.

This is the only red piglet.

The piglets are slipping out of the sow's pen throught this broken bottom rail. They are quite adventuresome going outside, travelling as a herd even acrossing the gully behind the shed. At the first sign of threat they scurry back to mamma as a group.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Swine Update

Some readers have asked me about my pigs. It was nearly two weeks ago that the duroc sow, Ruby, gave birth to a litter of piglets.

(Click on photo to enlarge)

This sow is Babe. I have decided she is not pregnant. I guess that good looking boar chap from Club Porcine, lavished all his attentions on Ruby. Babe, if she was pregnant, should have had a litter by now. So this is what a really healthy sow looks like. I remember how thin she looked after her last litter. Free range feeding as well as my twice daily ration of grain suits her well.

Since Babe is June's pet (I let her keep one from Ruby's first litter.) I guess she will be an unproductive guest over the Winter. I will try to have her bred so that she has a litter in the Spring.

This is the largest piglet. She looks really good for not being quite two weeks old. They are still nursing.

Here is a pig pile of six piglets. The piglets have been adventuring outside their pen and shed.
When they feel threatened they scurry back into the shed to mother. I believe the two small black piglets are the one's I rescued, took into the house to warm them up and then returned them to their mother. They remain smaller than the others but are very vigorous.

One of the distasteful things that one is supposed to do at this time is castrate the boar piglets. OUCH! It's a male reaction. This is done without any pain killer. As one person holds the piglet by the hind feet securing it between his knees the other person takes a razor and cuts the scrotum between the testicles. One at a time the testicle is pulled until it snaps loose. When finished a little medication is sprayed on the wound and the piglet is let free. They heal really quickly.Well this is how the government literature instructs how to do this procedure.

I have never actually done this. I am opposed to castrating piglets. "Let piglets keep their balls" is the title of a supportive article on Radio Netherlands website. The Europeans are ahead of North America in concern for farm animals. The European Union for example is moving to having egg producers only have free range hens. In this article it reports two food chains are going to only sell pork from uncastrated hogs.

The argument is that if you do not castrate boars the meat has a very strong taste. Some think it tastes like swine urine. (I don't know how they know, I have never been tempted to drink swine urine.) The truth is , as the article points out, strong tasting pork is a rare occurance.
So my little boar fellas will be keeping their 'jewels" (as well as their tails). They grow faster when not cut. This is a bonus.

Here is Heidi enjoying a few extra ZZZZZZZ's. She is luxuriating with my duvet. I just had it dry cleaned (at a dreadful cost). I can't stop dogs and cats from having litters in the middle of my bed.

Oh! about Heidi and the pigs. She does not attack the full grown sows. I guess she knows they out weigh her by six or seven times. I have not introduced here to the little piglets although when I brought the two little black one's in I think she was curious about them as she is with the kittens.

Now for the bad news. I shipped the young pigs from the last litters. I was having difficulty selling them privately. Sadly, the Runt had to go too! If it is any comfort for you who disapprove, I lost my shirt on selling them. There is a glut of pigs on the market although you would not know it by the price of pork in the stores. (They have slaughters 10% of the breeding herd in the province to try to bring the price up. (Commercial producers have just killed the piglets at birth rather than raise animals they will lose money on due to the high cost of feed and low price, on the hoof.) The government paid to have the meat processed and it was distributed through the food bank to those who have having hard financial circumstances.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Hmmmmmm.. . .

Well, the election was predicted. We have a another minority Conservative government, under Stephen Harper. He broke his own law of having a fixed term for government to call this election as a play for a majority government. He failed at this and will have to be more cooperative in parliament with the opposition parties. What frustated his ambition was his policy of increasing the correctional punishment of youth and eliminating 50 million dollars in arts and culture funding. Quebecois learned that the Conservatives did not share their values, failing to give them more seats in Quebec.

It was nice that Justin Trudeau won a seat for the Liberals in Quebec. He is the suave charming eldest son of former Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau. He could have a promising career ahead of him.

I am disappointed that the emphasis on the environment and climate change will move to the back burner. The Liberals had made the carbon transfer of tax to polluters (to encourage conservation) central to their legislative program. The Liberals just could not make the case for this mild effort to decrease carbon emissions. They let the Conservatives get away with calling it a tax increase rather than the tax neutral transfer of tax it is. Our environment will pay the price.

I am pleased I finally voted for a party that won the riding. The New Democratic candidate won in Nickel Belt. If fact, the New Democrats took three Northern ridings away from the Liberals. There are now five new Democratic ridings of the seven in Northern Ontario. Hopefully, they was make a powerful block within the NDP caucus and work to bring some services to the North where employment has been a problem for some time. I look to the New Democrats to frustrate the Conservative's agenda.

We had the worst turnout ever of voters at 58 %. It is time to pass a law requiring voting. This works in Australia.

Heidi watch the returns on TV with me. Most of the time she gave me this "Who cares!!!" look.
For her loyalty and companionship I occasionally tossed her a dog buscuit treat. Such is our relationship.

'A propos' of nothing, I thought the Labrador Flag looked good flying from the porch post. We have had some lovely weather lately. Time to get some outside chores done.

I missed getting pictures of the annual cattle drive past my front door. My neighbour each year moves his cattle from the pasture up the road and across the river back to him home farm. I heard his cows mooing this morning. He has taken the calves away from their mothers. The mothers will "cry" for two days or so at the loss of their young. I always hated this part of raising cattle. I always felt sorry for the cows and then guilty at selling their "children".

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Voting Day

After five weeks of listening to the leaders of the parties debate (misrepresent each others positions) the issues the big day is here. I went and took the voting stroll. ( see diagram below)

I dropped by the voting booth #163 at Le Club d'Age d'Or (Golden Age Club) mid morning to find myself alone with Denise and her mother, the two poll officials. I showed them my drivers license ( a new security requirement as proof of who I am. There is a long list of documents one could use or, if you have nothing, a friend of neighbour can vouch for you.) After finding my name on the voters list I was handed my ballot and took the stroll.

The ballot looked like this. This is an example of a ballot in an Inuit riding, probably in Nunavut. I made my X in the circle opposite my choice after first looking thoughtfully, for a moment, at the Marxist-Leninist Party line. I resisted the temptation and voted for the only party I have ever voted for, The New Democratic Party. Finishing the stroll I handed my folded ballot to Denise. She tore off a strip, handed it back and I slipped it in the slit in the box. My civic duty has been fullfilled. It is all so simple. It bewilders me that our American neighbours make the voting process so complicated. Our system does everthing it can do to facilitate voting, including supplying interpreters for any language, including sign language. or they will help with any other special need. The explanatory information mailed to our house is available in heritage or aboriginal languages. The voters list is maintained by Elections Canada with the understanding voting is a right. The American system acts as if it is a privilege that must be earned evry time.

Our riding is called Nickel Belt. It is very compact as Northern Ridings go. It includes Greater Sudbury, French River, Warren-Markstay and West Nipissing. It is a riding that is traditionally a Liberal Riding. There actually is a chance to elect a New Democrat this year. The incumbant is not running and the NDP candidate finished a strong second last election. The Conservatives trail far behind here. This is a working class riding with lots of miners and forestry worker's families. Perhaps, my vote this year will be for a winner.

Tonight, the results will be in. It appears it will be a minority government. Most likely Conservative under Stephen Harper. The election called early, by Harper, will have proved nothing other than Canadians still do not trust the Conservatives enough to give them a majority government.

In the meantime, the Americans will drone on with their laborious election process. It is getting a little painful for even a political junkie like myself.

Monday, October 13, 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

'A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God
for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.....
to be observed on the second Monday in October.'

Today, across Canada, families are gathering to give Thanks for the blessings we share. Central to this is the traditional Thanksgiving meal shared with family and friends.

We need to be reminded that is this not a reality for all of us. There are the poor and homeless for whom a Thanksgiving meal with family and friends is not a reality. At best, it is an act of charity and a meal with strangers. Having adequate food and shelter should be a right and not a privilege. Until we no longer have food banks in Canada, celebrating our blessing and bounty
should always fill us with a feeling of unease. We are a much blessed country, shaped not only by our three founding cultures but also a multitude of cultures from around the world. May it always be so.

The Labrador Flag

I will be flying my Labrador Flag today. My friend, Denis, brought it back from Labrador for me a couple of years ago. Since there is no Labrador Day holiday I have had trouble finding a nice occasion to fly it. I chose today. I am flying it in honour of Martin Frobisher, who explored much of Labrador and Newfoundland. It was Martin Frobisher, who held the first Thanksgiving Celebration in North America in 1578.

Happy Thanksgiving, Eh!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Margaret knew. . . .

why didn't the banking, business, political and economic leaders know?

Margaret Atwood, Canadian Writer.

I listened to Margaret Atwood discuss her new book , Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth" on the radio the other day. She began this book back in 2003 when she came to believe an economic collapse in the US was a real possibility. The timely publication of this book of the role of debt throughout history, within culture, religion and as a theme in literture is a testiment to her prescient skill.

For those who may not know, Margaret Atwood is a major Canadian writer, perhaps, the most important Canadian author, of poetry , novels, short stories and non-fiction. I love to hear her talk with great intelligence and wit in her very characteristic style.

In 2003 Margaret Atwood wrote an essay, "A Letter to America" where she expressed her admiration for American culture and literature. She then goes on to express her concern for what she saw as the coming demise of the America she admired. (She has degrees in American Literature from Harvard.) It is amazing how much she predicted the tragedies that has befallen the Great Republic. I think the only thing she did not foresee was the United States becoming a State that uses torture. For her, and many of us, this must have been unimaginable. I remember reading this essay at the time and feeling it reflected much of how I felt as an admirer of the best of the US and how troubling things were becoming. I urge you to read her essay so caringly crafted.

It was at this time she started to write her new book on the role of debt throughout history. I have yet to read it. It is not just an economic tract but a study of culture and literature through the ages. I shall put it high on my Christmas wishlist. Are you reading, Penny? (My sister who always gives me a book)

Near the end of the essay, Margaret Atwood writes,

"You're running up a record level of debt. Keep spending at this rate and pretty soon you won't be able to afford any big military adventures. Either that or you'll go the way of the USSR: lots of tanks, but no air conditioning. That will make folks very cross. They'll be even crosser when they can't take a shower because your short-sighted bulldozing of environmental protections has dirtied most of the water and dried up the rest. Then things will get hot and dirty indeed.

You're torching the American economy. How soon before the answer to that will be, not to produce anything yourselves, but to grab stuff other people produce, at gunboat-diplomacy prices? Is the world going to consist of a few megarich King Midases, with the rest being serfs, both inside and outside your country? Will the biggest business sector in the United States be the prison system? Let's hope not."

It is a mystery to me that this woman ,who is not an economist, could see the handwriting on the wall. Granted she is a well educated, intelligent woman but so are all the men, (and a few women) who make the economy move. Perhaps, these economic technocrats need to study more history and literature to broaden their understanding 0f the Society.

If you want to learn more about Margaret Atwood, visit the CBC archives of their broadcasts about her over the years http://archives.cbc.ca/arts_entertainment/literature/topics/1494/

Here is a little extract from her book http://archives.cbc.ca/arts_entertainment/literature/topics/1494/

Here is an interview with Margaret Atwood about her book http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4830742.ece

Margaret Atwood will be giving the Massey Lecture this year on the theme of her book. If you have access to CBC radio, it will be broadcast on the program "Ideas" in November.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Anyone But Harper

Well, Canada's Federal Election is a week away. The process has gotten very interesting. A week ago, there was talk that the Conservatives under Stephen Harper could form a majority government. This week there is a chance the Liberal's under Stephane Dion could lead a minority government. Urban Canadians have just shown a preference for the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives.

In the party leaders' debates Stephen Harper did not do as well as expected and Stephane Dion, did much better. Dion has been under a relentless attack personally by the Harper Campaign in the US style of personal attack politics. At the same time Harper's advertising of himself was definitely similar to the American Republican style of self promotion as a populous virtuous, family man. (Harper is a George Bush admirer and disciple) I don't think Canadians like this attempt to make over himself or his rude personal attacking style against Dion.

Harper has made some other irritating gaffes I will not list here. His dramatic cutbacks on support and funding of the Arts is one of the best reasons to turf him out. His latest which seems to have made him finally fall below the Liberals among Urban Canadians is that he declared that the financial crisis is "a good opportunity for investments". When people are worried for their job and investments they don't appreciate this, seeing it as insensitive.

There are lots of good reasons to not vote for Stehen Harper and the Conservatives. They generally do not represent Canadian shared values. All of the other parties are to the left of the Conservatives who can garner enough votes to win the election with only 34% (or so) of the vote or even form a majority government with 40% of the vote.

Watch the You Tube video below to see some of the damage the Harper government has done as a minority government.

There is considerable sentiment that people should vote for "anyone but Harper". The Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Danny Williams, a fellow Conservative, has been very vocal in this approach due to his feeling Harper lied to him and did not follow through on a program which was good for his Province.

Coming down to the wire the mantra has begun. Don't waste a vote on the smaller party that will only help to elect the Conservatives. The last election, the New Democrats numbers were down because many tried to elect the Liberals and stop the Conservatives. It did not work. It only saw fewer New Democrats in Parliament. There are lots of efforts to encourage such strategic voting. Here is one web site http://www.votepair.ca/ This is a creative way to vote strategically without "wasting a vote."

I am not a fan of the Conservatives, in general and Sephen Harper ,in particular. I guess you figured that out by now. Below is a video on Stephen Harper which reflects how his critics feel about him.

Make sure you vote!

Monday, October 06, 2008

John Hogan, Our Brief Encounter

One of the interesting moments when one is a clergyman is a brief encounter with the famous and/or infamous. While serving a church in New Haven, Connecticut during the tumultuous '60's, I had my share of these.

One interesting, but brief encounter, was being approached by a couple to perform their wedding celebration. The man was John Hogan. He just recently died. Who he was did not click with me at first. He was a mild soft spoken shy kind of man. As I remember, his future wife did much of the talking. It was to be a quiet modest affair. I ageed.

It took another person to point out who John Hogan was. He was one of the Catonsville Nine. I would have liked to have talked to him about that but I also wanted to respect his privacy and thought he should bring it up.

The Catonsville Nine were a group of militant, antiwar Catholics, lead by Philip and Daniel Berrigan who were priests at the time. They broke into the Draft Board Registration Office in Catonsville, Md and removed the files outside and set them on fire. Then waited for the police to arrive to arrest them. Their trial was of wide interest in those days. It was a form of protest against the draft and the war in Vietnam, one of many in 1968. ,that critical year in American history. It was an act of civil disobedience, direct action. The Nine were found guilty and and sentences to a few years in jail.

Daniel Berrigan wrote a play "The Trial of The Catonsille Nine" which I had read, when I met John Hogan. There was also a movie made I believe.

I have long been an admirer of militant Catholics such as liberation theologians or the Catholic Worker's movement. Their commitment always strong to serve the poor and social outcast in the spirit of " comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable". In combination with the tool of civil disobedience and militant direct action, they were often a force for good in their witness to the power of Christianity.

Many of the Catonsville Nine went on to actively live the rest of their lives in the spirit of their radical faith. I have often wondered how prominent activists of the '60 came to live out their lives. Sadly, many I learn of through their obituary. I encourage you to click on the highlight obituary (above) published in the Baltimore Sun.

For those who might want to read more about the Catonsville Nine go here. Or view the action on You Tube.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

One piggy, two piggies, three piggies. . . .

After a week of watching and waiting I had a porcine surprise this morning.

Ruby, the Duroc sow had a litter of 18 this morning. Ruby had gotten very big. She has been having trouble getting up onto her feet. I was getting worried for her. And yet, she was not having contractions. So i had to be patient. If she was and no piglets were coming, I would have to soap up my arm and push it up the birth canal to find the blockage. I had a lady friend do this once when I was not home. She must have loved me to kneel in the pig shit and bury her arm up to the elbow in the back of the sow! Better her than me. I prefer cows. I have had my arm in a cow's vagina up to my elbow. For me there are no more female secrets. Such is life raising livestock!

"Philip, what is going on? They keep coming."

Did they hear the dinner bell?

Finally, life calmed down for the first meal. The light is the heat lamp corner. They have found it and are using it already.

Now the trick is to keep the little one's alive. They are at risk of being laid or stepped upon by the fat moma sow. Sow am piglets need quiet and gentle time together to work out the arrangements. Hopefully, I can intervene only in an emergency.

Two were still born and I have two little one's in the house that were not competing too well. One was stepped on. It looks like I can take them back to the sow as they have warmed up and taken some feed. They are both females and look like the runt did at that age.

It two or three weeks it will be Babe's turn to drop a litter.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Political Debates Canadian Style

The debates among the leaders of the political parties in the Canadian Federal Election begin tonight. It will be interesting to compare them with the American political debates. Two obvious differences is that in the Canadian debates will have 5 participants as opposed to two. Also, in Canada there are two debates. The one tonight is in French and the English one is tomorow night (opposite the US Vice Presidential Debate). [ This is a cynical decision of the broadcaster. Since they must provide prime time space at the minimal charge, they put it opposite the US debate since their revenue would be low there if they had regular broadcasting at thst time.]

I shall watch the French debate tonight,( a good test of my struggle with French comprehension.)

One of my favourite radio progammes, C'Est La Vie, which tries to share with English Canada what is interesting in French Canada, had a show with discussed the quality of the French language skills of the debaters. It ranges widely. Only Stephane Dion and Gilles Duceppe are native French speakers. The others have French as a second language.

Here is the evaluation as I remember it. Stephen Harper, (Conservative) has been improving his French. As Prime Minister he has been called upon to use it more. He has also made a real effort to have his party gain acceptance in Quebec so he has worked hard at improving his French. Stephane Dion, (Liberal) speaks wonderful French, refined and gramatically perfect. He had a career as an academic. It is his English that is painful, as a result of a hearing problem, for which he has been unfairly criticised. I heard him on the radio talking to callers and he was very good and managed to explain clearly the wisdom of the carbon tax his party is promoting as a way to decrease carbon emissions. It is a way of shifting the tax burden to environmental damaging things and reducing the tax on income.

Unfortunately, Stephane Dion cannot win linquistically. In Quebec, they criticise him for not speaking "popular" French. I guess he is seen as elitist. Gilles Duceppe, (Bloc Quebecois) speaks just the right Quebec French that makes him acceptable in all level of the community. Jack Layton,(New Democrats) who grew up in Quebec speaks French which is not consistent in the idiom and style . (Perhaps, he gets interference with his Mandarin Chinese, which he also speaks.) Elizabeth May (Green Party), who crashed the old boys club and got herself invited to the debate, is from British Columbia and is the weakest in French. She is a fiesty speaker and will be mixing it up unabashedly. She will get high marks for trying. I hope I did not misrepresent what the programme reported. It will be interesting to see how they interact.

French Canadians are very forgiving of the French speech of English Canadians. What is important is that one tries to speak French. They are very patient and appreciative. After you have tried and are having trouble they will say, "Say it in English." Where I live the custom is, where there is a group of people and one person speaks only English the French Canadians all switch to English. Unlike some of my Anglo neighbours I am not offended if French speakers speak French in front of me. I sometimes even say "It's OK go ahead and speak French." If there is something I want to know I will ask. I had an elderly Anglo neighbour who used to say to French nieghbours in a very sarcastic tone, "I don't speak French , but my English is real good!" (With his fourth grade educacation it was not all that good). I think he felt threatened and at a disadvantage. Awe !!,the politics of language in Canada!

Political debates in the US tend to be not debates at all but parallel monologues. It would be nice if they followed a more formal debating format speaking to an issue interacting with each other.. The Canadian debate, with five participates, sitting around a table may result in a more relaxed give and take. There will still be two sides to the Canadian Debate. Everyone will be attacking Stephan Harper, who is leading in the polls and who was Prime Minister in the Conservative Government. A side debate will be Jack Layton vying to become the leader of the opposition if he can displace the faultering Liberals. Gilles Duceppe, who has been trying to justify his party's existence among some in Quebec, while be relating every issue to Quebec, society and culture. Elizabeth May is a fresh face and an unknown quantity.

It would be fun if they behaved a little like the debaters on the CBC radio show The Debaters.
I try to never miss this funny show as a group of comedians debate topics (breaking all the rules, of course). In the end, there is a vote of the audience as to who is the "best Master Debater". (I love this verbal joke.)

I hope everyone enjoy the political debates. I don't think I will be able to resist watching the Biden/Palin debate. Governor Palin is so wrong and ill prepared to be a vice-President. She should step back. "I cannot do this job. I thought I could. I have a very young handicapped child and a teenager going through a life changing experience. They need their mother. I have ask that another candidate replace me." Sadly, this will not happen. I hope I will not feel embarassed for her during the debate.