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NEWS
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A SPEED READ OF ALL TODAY'S METRO NEWS
3.11.10 - 9:00 AM
The premier will pay bar society fees.
HERALD Darrell Dexter says he’ll cover the fees from his own pocket and will change his status from practising lawyer to non-practising, which has a fee of $250 plus tax. The Premier said, "simply put, this is getting in the way of us being able to communicate on many of the other issues that have to be talked about." 
Give pedestrian safety more priority, mother asks after daughter's death.
METRO Four years after 16-year-old Mary-Beth Chaulk was killed after being hit in a crosswalk on Portland Street in Dartmouth her mother is calling for the installation of “half-lights” — a stoplight that pedestrians can activate — at busier intersections and repainting of crosswalk lines erased by winter salt and snowplows.
Taxpayers Federation 'honours' Nova Scotia MLAs for dubious spending.
CBC At an Ottawa press conference the tongue-in-cheek Teddy awards were presented, complete with tuxedos and a pig mascot called Porky the Waste Hater. "The all-star from the scandal was Len 'The Master of Multitasking' Goucher for expensing 11 computers, 12 printers, five digital cameras, four video cameras and the Xbox game Dance Dance Revolution over a three-year period."
Retirements of two veteran judges lead to shuffle in provincial courts.
HERALD Associate Chief Judge Brian Gibson and Judge Bill MacDonald, who both sit in Dartmouth, retire June 30, but will continue presiding on a part-time basis. Starting Sept. 7 Judge Pamela Williams will move to Dartmouth and take over MacDonald’s duties, including the mental health court. Judge Jamie Campbell will take her place in Halifax. Judge Anne Derrick will move to courtroom No. 6 in Halifax, and Judge Ted Tax will move to Dartmouth from Pictou County and assume Gibson’s courtroom duties.
RCMP open HRM detachments in show of gratitude.
NEWS 95.7 The Mounties are holding a series of open houses at detachments in Tantallon, Lower Sackville and Cole Harbour over the next couple of days to show their gratitude for support during city council's recent debate on the future of policing in HRM.
Provincial and city officials meeting to discuss Goodwood tire recycling plant.
HERALD Kelly says the city wants "clarification" from the Environment Department about the private-sector plant that will handle more than 900,000 discarded tires a year.
New $9.5 million Dartmouth bus terminal
expansion plans revealed.
COAST Architectural drawings for the new terminal were displayed at a public meeting in Dartmouth on Monday night that show it stretching between Nantucket Avenue and Thistle Street in what is now a wooded "urban wilderness" behind the Sportsplex parking lot.
Government downplays taxpayers' risk in Trenton turbine parts plant.
HERALD Marvin Robar, executive director of investment in the Department of Economic and Rural Development, says there are huge potential benefits from its $60 million investment with South Korean manufacturing giant Daewoo in the old TrentonWorks plant. The province owns 49 per cent of the venture.
Crown Attorney’s group calls for tougher security in courtrooms.
METRO Rick Woodburn says the province isn’t doing enough to keep courthouses safe and wants a mandatory weapons-security system put in place at each courthouse, like the one in Halifax.
Officials say older records won’t be in new elelctronic health database.
METRO A new electronic health database will not have people’s existing health records but will start with a two-month “memory” of peoples' medical histories and everything going forward will be recorded. The system is optional for physicians.
New Cyclone helicopter replacing Sea Kings being tested on HMCS Montreal.
HERALD A Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone was placed on the frigate’s deck by crane Monday in Halifax Harbour and eventually the ship and helicopter will be taken to a nearby bay to practise landings and takeoffs and at the end of April trials will move to open seas.
Black firefighters say Halifax Fire Department failing to address racism.
COAST A black firefighter assigned to Station 50 on Hammonds Plain Road who found a racist and sexist "poem" written on the back of the clipboard reported the incident to superiors but the Halifax Association of Black Fire Fighters says management did not issue a condemnation of the incident until after they complained.
Studies say 15 per cent of Nova Scotia households can’t afford food.
HERALD Patricia Williams, a professor at Mount Saint Vincent University, is leading a $1 million, five-year research study looking for solutions to "food security" in the province and says 70 per cent of people on income assistance experience hunger. "Some people go without for many days at a time."
POLICE STORIES
HERALD Firefighters carried three teenagers off a rock to safety shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday night at the Frog Pond, off Purcells Cove Road. Residents had called 911 believing a child had fallen through the ice. Firefighters had to hike about 10 minutes to find the teens who were only about 10 feet offshore. No one was hurt.
METRO Police have released this sketch of a man who sexually assaulted a 20-year-old woman who was walking home with a friend Feb. 7 in the Queen and Morris street area. Police say the man reached under the victim’s skirt and touched her. The suspect was scared off when a bystander approached from the area of Morris Street. Neither woman was injured.
CBC The Dartmouth courthouse was locked down Wednesday following a disturbance after a sentencing hearing for Tyrell Ramone Beals, who had entered a guilty plea on Wednesday and was sentenced to four months in jail. Police say about 30 people in the lobby were involved in a huge melee that spilled out of the court. One person was injured.
HERALD A young Bangladeshi couple, Ashiqur Rahman, 24, and Jane Elizabeth Gomes, 23, were arraigned in Halifax provincial court Wednesday on charges of manslaughter in the July 27 death of their baby daughter, seven-week-old Aurora Breakthrough. They were arrested July 24 had been charged with aggravated assault after IWK staff reported a serious case of child abuse. The baby died on July 27 after spending several days in critical care.
METRO Halifax Police say they issued 144 tickets to drivers failing to yield to pedestrians last year, 53 fewer than 2006. The number jumped up to 258 in 2007. The fine for failing to yield to pedestrian has increased to $682.
CBC Police seized an array of drugs in three separate incidents Tuesday. In Wellington, a community just west of the Halifax airport RCMP say a man was seen putting a suspicious package into a car outside of a house and when officers followed and stopped his car on Highway 2 they seized five pounds of marijuana and arrested the 26-year-old. A second man observed leaving the same house was arrested and another pound of marijuana, 9.5 five grams of cocaine and a small amount of cash was seized. The two men arrested were 26 and 23. RCMP officers then raided the house where the packages appeared to be coming from and seized five grams of hash oil, cocaine and Valium tablets and a 33-year-old man and a 34-year-old women were arrested.
HERALD Glace Bay police and firefighters were called to a house just after 8 p.m. Wednesday where a fire caused extensive damage to the interior of the building. No one was home at the time. Authorities have dealt with numerous suspicious fires in Cape Breton over the last year and the number of fire-related insurance claims in the area has prompted one company to cancel coverage for hundreds of clients.
LOCAL BUSINESS
HERALD The Port of Halifax is projecting that 240,000 to 250,000 cruise ship passengers will visit the city this year but Gordon Stevens, president of the Uncommon Group, owner of Rum Runners Rum Cake Factory and Sugah! Confectionery and Ice Cream Emporium at Bishop’s Landing on the waterfront and a former investment banker says the rising value of the Canadian dollar "will definitely hurt the spending of U.S. tourists."
HERALD Halifax businessman Mickey MacDonald who bought full control of Vin Art Wines, one of the province’s four privately owned specialty liquor stores last week says he is renaming the store Harvest Wines and Spirits and moving it to the Bedford Highway next to Clearwater Seafoods.
HERALD Empire Company Ltd., owner of the Sobeys grocery store chain, reported a third-quarter profit of $68.3 million Wednesday, up from $61.3 million in the same period a year earlier. President and CEO Paul Sobey says revenue rose one per cent to $3.84 billion.
HERALD Scott McCrea, president and chief executive officer of Overland Realty Ltd., says that despite a $70.9-million acquisition by Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust he will stay on with the firm indefinitely.
HERALD Chantale Hache, president of the Truro and District Chamber of Commerce says "Victoria Park is the best location for TreeGo," and is upset entrepreneur Martin Laviolette is considering other locations for his adventure park and is being courted by other municipalities.Truro residents were strongly opposed to TreeGo locating in Victoria Park.
HERALD Rick Janega, executive vice-president and chief operating officer at Nova Scotia Power Inc. said growth in the green economy will open opportunities for firms involved with offshore energy development at a forum hedl by the Offshore/Onshore Technologies Association of Nova Scotia.
HERALD Paving contracts worth over $12 million have been awarded to Dexter Construction Co., for part of the twinning of Highway 101, and S.W. Weeks Contracting Inc. for a section of Highway 104.
Get National, World and Sports headlines on the homepage.
COLUMNISTS
BRUCE WARK O, Canada! A deserving nation deserves a proper anthem, one for all the people.
CHANTAL HEBERT Will Olympics afterglow dim sovereignty’s shine?
BOGDAN KIPLING U.S. trade tremors may send shock waves north.
MARLENE WELLS Marine Atlantic funding could use a little less Vision.
ROGER TAYLOR Survey: Employers upbeat.
RICK HOWE Dexter does about face! and The Teddy Award goes to...!!!
OBITUARIES
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NEWS
Rebuttal to Kelly Regan’s demand that we have faith in our elected officials.
Submitted by Views to Make You Think on 03.11.10 at 7:54am.
Kelly Regan tells us we must have faith in their elected officials. No Kelly, they must earn it: they’ve destroyed it. Liberal’s in particular.
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To change Spryfield's unfair image - why not do the unexpected?
Submitted by The Arcadian Recorder on 03.11.10 at 7:51am.
I am giving a powerpoint presentation tonight at a public internet town hall being put on by the Captain Spry Public Library and Chebucto Community Net.
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Why a [U.S.] Big Mac costs less than a salad
Submitted by Contrarian on 03.11.10 at 7:13am.
This comparison, from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, is, of course, based on U.S. farm subsidies and U.S. dietary guidelines. Any data geeks out there want to take a stab at Canadian pyramids?
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Darrell Deals with his Demon — Me
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 03.11.10 at 7:05am.
A very accountable and courageous Canadian Premier showed up in the studio today. Premier Dexter faced every question, loaded or otherwise, that I had to throw his way. Nor did he blink when I purported that, when you factor in his Barr Association legal fees at $3,400 per year, the Premier has a...
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The nation that pees together
Submitted by Contrarian on 03.10.10 at 6:36am.
Here’s a curious Olympic postscript: a printout of Halifax water consumption on the afternoon of the Olympic gold medal hockey game:
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Hope for Healing
Submitted by Angmombo on 03.9.10 at 8:12am.
The final week of February was busy with events of great significance to all Nova Scotians, particularly Nova Scotians of African descent.
The news was a mix of good and bad.
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Revolving into light
Submitted by Contrarian on 03.9.10 at 7:27am.
Around this time of year, I like to dig out You May Know Them as Sea Urchins, Ma’am, Ray Guy’s 1975 collection of newspaper columns, and re-read the last essay in the book: “This Dear and Fine Country (Spina Sanctus).”
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How would you vote now?
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 03.9.10 at 7:14am.
New Nova Scotia poll numbers just announced by Corporate Research Associates show that the honeymoon is definitely over for the Dexter government. But, more importantly, the numbers show the opposition not gaining political ground significantly.
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Haligonian Graffiti
Submitted by Blogger on 03.8.10 at 7:29am.
Graffiti and vandalism angers me. This is the first time someone has vandalized the bar I work at that I felt sorry for the vandal. Obviously education (or lack there of) is the root of this issue.
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Anonymity in news stories
Submitted by Contrarian on 03.8.10 at 6:43am.
A mea culpa in yesterday’s Washington Post, criticizing the use of anonymous sources in a story widely regarded as a puff piece on Obama lieutenant Rahm Emanuel, sparked these comments from Salon.com’s excellent Glenn Greenwald:
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Dispatches from the Cuckoo’s nest
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 03.8.10 at 6:16am.
In England – they are spying on the trash.
A pro-privacy group in the United Kingdom is warning citizens that the government has placed microchips in trash receptacles to monitor how much trash people throw away, claiming it’s an attempt to fine those who toss too much.
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A promise is not a law until it is
Submitted by Stephen Kimber blog on 03.5.10 at 7:47am.
It happened so long ago that Alexa McDonough was still the leader of a rag-tag band of New Democrats in the provincial legislature. And I was a still-young-ish reporter.
McDonough had just introduced a private member’s bill to reform the ways in which political parties got financed.
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Harvard Report says Canada pays too much for older, slower, Internet while Developing Nations leapfr
Submitted by The Arcadian Recorder on 03.5.10 at 7:37am.
Spryfield residents to hear how community-controlled "Fiber-Optics-to -the-Home" could make Mainland South area a Canadian leader in High Speed Internet
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The Big Fear
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 03.5.10 at 6:52am.
Here’s the concern, and it’s a whopper: Twenty-five years from now 60 per cent of the population of Nova Scotia (and to a similar degree New Brunswick) is a senior citizen and the overall population is reduced considerably by natural causes and by relocation.
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Quote to note
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 03.4.10 at 7:01am.
One step forward at the legislature. One step back at city hall.
With Nova Scotians thundering for a public clean-up of a system that permitted abuses uncovered by the auditor general, the groundhogs on the IEB finally submitted to the principle that deliberations about their loosey-goosey allow...
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A nation of ‘fraidy cats?
Submitted by Contrarian on 03.3.10 at 7:08am.
This is what a snow day looks like in Nova Scotia in 2010:
Ridiculous. Ludicrous. How does this happen? Is it yet more proof that Environment Canada/CBC weather hysteria has destroyed our ability to distinguish normal weather from that which is dangerous?
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Dolly Donations :: Halifax Dolls for Haiti
Submitted by Third Street blog on 03.2.10 at 6:38pm.
The dollies are done !!
Katharine, Michele, Sonia and I have finished our dolls for the children of The Abundant Ground orphanage in Haiti!
We were all looking for a way to help the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake, and like many of the crafters contributing to ...
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An important meeting about Sable Island
Submitted by Contrarian on 03.2.10 at 8:13am.
In addition to her invaluable work on Sable Island, Zoe Lucas has, for the last five years, hosted annual public meetings where scientists, government officials, industry representatives, and naturalists like herself have briefed the public on developments affecting the island.
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Haiti, A Poor Baby
Submitted by The Newcomer on 03.1.10 at 8:10am.
I do not think much of parents who attempt -with notoriously contrary results- to forcefeed their own beliefs and ideas into their children’s head. At home, I tend to shy away from dangerous topics- S.E.K.S, R.E.L.I.G.I.O.N, and who Mr. Ahmadinejad is and why we all love talking about him in hyst...
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School funding issue examined
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 03.1.10 at 6:32am.
We are happy to post a submission from David Daniels on
THE SCHOOL FUNDING LAWSUIT
I spent time at the Kentville Justice Centre reviewing some of the documents in the lawsuit between Kings County versus Wolfville, Kentville, Hantsport and Berwick.
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Is the Premier Responsible for His Own Administration?
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 02.26.10 at 7:21am.
People who work for you screw up. It happens. Things are missed. But, as a political leader, you can’t pass the buck. In the case of the Provincial scandal de Jour over illegal political donations, passing bucks is what it’s all about.
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Who is watching the store?
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.26.10 at 7:16am.
We often see parallels with Wolfville in stories around the province. We know that if irregularities are happening here, they are happening elsewhere as well, although it seems you need to get the ombudsman or the provincial auditor involved before it gets press coverage. The latest narrative is...
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Africville… a look back at the struggle for redress
Submitted by Stephen Kimber blog on 02.24.10 at 8:19am.
Today's announcement (February 24, 2010) of an agreement between the Africville Genealogy Society and various governments will mark the culmination of a decades-long, sometimes seemingly endless and too often hopeless struggle.
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"Shaping Your Digital Future"
Submitted by The Arcadian Recorder on 02.24.10 at 8:14am.
Spryfield Area's potential New Image : a Pioneer in Fiber Optic high speed Internet to the home
For 15 years, the Chebucto Community Net, CCN, has been Nova Scotians' "go-to" place whenever they need help in getting their community connected to the internet.
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Taxpayers livid
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.24.10 at 7:08am.
It’s a revolt all over the country. In Nova Scotia taxpayers are livid about MLA’s picking taxpayers pockets to feather their own nests.
Dexter said he told the leaders about a plan for legislation this spring that will replace the secretive Internal Economy Board, which set expense rules, with ...
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Comic Book Store
Submitted by Things to do for Two on 02.24.10 at 7:04am.
With visions of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory dancing through our heads, we visited our local comic book stores for the first time. Though we aren’t comic book collectors by any means, we did find plenty of things to enjoy at both Strange Adventures and Quantum Frontier.
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Rail debate returns to Halifax
Submitted by Waye Mason's blog on 02.23.10 at 7:12am.
I had an opportunity to talk to Tim Outhit, councilor for Bedford, for an hour or so last week. The conversation was wide ranging, covering topics from passenger rail to community councils to taxes.
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Fighting Town Hall – part II
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.23.10 at 7:08am.
We are pleased to post here the second part of the submission from Mr. Becker on the Town’s secrecy concerning Mr. Brideau’s overly generous contract terms and the non-disclosure of the closing sentence of the “Stead letter”.
“The Town closed the barn doors after the horse got out.” (Part II)
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Safely ashore
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.22.10 at 6:17am.
Two Nova Scotians with Acadia connections were on the Concordia.
Known Nova Scotia survivors were Truro’s Kate Braedley, 24, and Wolfville’s Maurice Tugwell, a retired university professor. Both were instructors aboard the ship.
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MLA expenses a scandal but….
Submitted by Stephen Kimber blog on 02.19.10 at 7:39am.
Yes, the MLA expenses scandal is a scandal. Some of what some MLAs filed as legitimate expenses were not. A few claims may even be criminal. Let’s make MLAs pay back what they can’t justify, and prosecute those whose actions crossed the line. Let’s fix a screwed-up system. Then let’s move on.
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The answer is time. And an absence of back fat.
Submitted by Halifax Broad on 02.18.10 at 8:02am.
It was standing room only for Terry O'Reilly's speaking engagement in Havenot last night. I dragged the little bastard off of the sofa to spend and hour and a half in a library, surrounded by CBC types with nose hairs and sensible, crepe-soled footwear from 1972.
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False positive – II
Submitted by Contrarian on 02.18.10 at 7:55am.
A few weeks ago, a swab test of Contrarian’s laptop at Stanfield International Airport registered traces of nitroglycerin, leading to an additional interview and a 95% thorough physical pat-down. Details here.
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Blogging Frank 579
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.18.10 at 6:53am.
Leave it to Frank Magazine to break the press silence on the court case between resident Lutz Becker and Town of Wolfville , and the mayor himself, a case which some of us are aware of but which the Town doesn’t really want to mention at all if it can help it.
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MLAs’ pay and public begrudgery – feedback
Submitted by Contrarian on 02.17.10 at 8:58am.
Contrarian reader Kirby McVicar responds to our post on MLAs’ pay and public begrudgery:
The question that springs to my mind is: “Who are you and what have you done with Parker Donham?”
What I hear you say is, ”Well, MLA’s only stole a little bit, and it’s the media’s and the public’s fault fo...
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Of Olympic Efforts and Health Centres…
Submitted by Happy Annapolitan blog on 02.16.10 at 7:09am.
As I just watched Alex Bilodeau win Canada’s first gold medal of the games, and in fact the first ever Olympic Gold won by a Canadian on Canadian soil. What a great moment! I thought about the Olympics in general and a few similarities to our current ACHC situation.
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Should Ordinary Citizen’s Oversee MLA Expenses?
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 02.16.10 at 6:26am.
Hell yes! But, of course the professional politicians hate the idea. Why wouldn’t they?
This recommendation came yesterday on my broadcast from former Chief of Staff for Premier John Hamm, Jamie Ballie.
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The impact of Metro Transit’s five year plan on downtown Halifax
Submitted by Spacing Atlantic on 02.15.10 at 9:12am.
Metro Transit's new 5-year transit operations plan was recently "approved in principle" at an HRM regional council meeting on February 9th. The 187-page report [PDF] suggests a number of upgrades, route changes, terminal changes, price changes and additions to their service. But what does it mea...
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MLAs’ pay and public begrudgery
Submitted by Contrarian on 02.15.10 at 9:11am.
A friend asked recently why I had not written about the MLA expenses flap, and I confessed that I have trouble summoning much outrage over the issue. While I admire Brian Flinn’s dogged pursuit of the facts in AllNovaScotia.com, I fear that the public and the media are almost as much to blame for...
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Wind warning
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.15.10 at 6:25am.
People have questions about wind power. One question is raised in an article in the Chronicle Herald by Rachel Brighton :
SHOULD an international company operating in eight countries qualify as a “small, community-based” producer of wind power?
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All the single ladies (and guys) in Halifax
Submitted by steeleworthy on 02.14.10 at 2:16pm.
This Valentine's Day, find out where all the single ladies (and all the single guys) in Halifax live. This map shows you which parts of town offers you the best chance of finding your FFL, MFEO best mate.
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HRM Name Change
Submitted by ThingsInHFX on 02.12.10 at 9:28am.
Halifax City Council wants to re-think HRM’s name. The Coast called for new name suggestions… some fun ones included iFax, Halifax and Friends, and… DARTMOUTH.
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"Shaping YOUR Digital Future: Community-based Fiber Networking"
Submitted by The Arcadian Recorder on 02.12.10 at 8:08am.
The second in a series of Internet Town Halls is being held by the Captain Spry Library in Spryfield and the Chebucto Community Net - Wednesday evening, March 10th, 630 PM to 830 PM.
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Whose best interests?
Submitted by Stephen Kimber on 02.12.10 at 8:06am.
For Family Court Judge Beryl MacDonald, the question seemed simple. Does she have the authority to order the minister of community services to provide a service the department, by policy, doesn’t offer? Her answer, delivered during a family court hearing this week, was equally simple. She does not.
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People need to know
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.12.10 at 7:10am.
The headline reads - “Wolfville Mayor: people need to know political game”
The story is in reference to the case the town has with Kings Co. over education funding and Mayor Stead is reported to have said:
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Cross the town and hope to ride
Submitted by Spacing Atlantic on 02.11.10 at 8:54am.
The Halifax Cycling Coalition (HCC) has its sights set on an ambitious goal for 2010: the establishment of the CrossTown Connector (CTC) bike route, connecting the many tentacles of cycle-unfriendly Windsor Exchange in the north to Point Pleasant Park in the south.
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Visual data: landing an Airbus in the Hudson River
Submitted by Contrarian on 02.11.10 at 6:57am.
Still on the subject of aircraft, remember US Airways Flight 1549, the Airbus 320 that set down safely in New York’s Hudson River after losing both its engines to a collision with Canada geese? Exosphere3D, a Denver company that “specializes in technical animation and scientific visualization of ...
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John Percy should be Green candidate in Yarmouth by-election
Submitted by The Arcadian Recorder on 02.10.10 at 7:49am.
The Greens do not expect to win the Yarmouth by-election - nor does anyone else expect them to.
(By contrast, a candidate running in a winnable by-election should live in the riding or have strong roots in the riding.)
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Tax Diversity – part 2
Submitted by Halifax Politics on 02.10.10 at 6:42am.
I talked about how to make sure we have some fairness across the region in my last post. This discussion is all driven by the recent “tax reform” debate. Really, the failed and arguably unfair HRM Tax Reform proposal was not conceived strictly to enrich the wealthy, though it clearly would do so.
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Too true to be funny
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.10.10 at 6:41am.
Some super bowl commercials you probably didn’t see in NS:
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Economic Leadership Begins with Those Who Represent the System
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 02.9.10 at 6:40am.
The Nova Scotia expense account scandal has revealed a couple of things: deep political corruption and that the lack of a moral compass is endemic, even socially codified; that expense accounts and no-receipt travel and “living expense” allowances are really an extension of income (as proof, no o...
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Latest numbers
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.9.10 at 6:25am.
The newest Nik Nanos Poll has the Liberals and the Conservatives in a dead heat. [BTW - why do they always say the Harper Conservatives and never say the Ignatieff Liberals?]
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Locavores
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.8.10 at 6:15am.
From the last ish of the Mud Creek News:
COMMUNITY FARM
By letter dated June 10, 2009 the Community Farm asked the Town to contribute $6000.00 toward the farm manager’s salary. The Community Farm made a presentation to Council on Oct. 10th which was very well received.
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Halifax Unemployment Data, 2006 Census
Submitted by steeleworthy on 02.8.10 at 5:56am.
This post projects unemployment data from the 2006 Census onto a map of Halifax. Unemployment numbers ranged from a low of 2.1% to 12.8%, with an average of 6.3% across all of HRM; the unemployment rate for all of Nova Scotia was 9.1%.
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Visionless NS Tories look for leader before vision
Submitted by Stephen Kimber blog on 02.5.10 at 7:23am.
Tonight, 600 Nova Scotia Tories will gather at the Westin Hotel to pay perfunctory tribute to Rodney MacDonald, their thankfully former, now hardly ever mentioned leader.
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Common Complaint
Submitted by Dang blog on 02.5.10 at 7:18am.
For about ten years before I moved to the little house I live in now, I lived within a two-minute walk of the Halifax Common.
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Only 40% finish in 4?
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.5.10 at 6:36am.
“...39 per cent of students who began studies in 2001 had left university without completing a degree.“
Does that figure seem high to you? Not only that, only 39% graduated within 4 years.
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[Re]Presenting Halifax #2: Against the Grain
Submitted by Spacing Atlantic on 02.4.10 at 9:08am.
This map is a representation of the waterfront area, city centre, and suburbs of Halifax in 1835. Despite the passing of nearly 90 years since its founding, the original layout of the city remained intact in 1835. The only noticeable expansion is evident in the suburban growth in the north and so...
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Socialist Hordes reassured NSers: we will handle your $ like Grits & Tories ...
Submitted by The Arcadian Recorder on 02.4.10 at 7:58am.
That's what we were all desperately afraid they'd do.
And they did.
Turns out that the new NDP MLAs seem to have wasted taxpayers' money via their expense accounts at least as adroitly as the more practised Libs and PCs MLAs ever did.
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Love letter to Barrington Street
Submitted by East Coast By Choice on 02.4.10 at 7:24am.
Earlier this week, my guest addressed the renewed concern about the decline in business on Barrington Street here in Halifax. When Cokebaby and I moved here over ten years ago, the street was facing similar hard times but was able to turn it around with some interesting shops.
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Sheep from Hell
Submitted by Daimnation on 02.4.10 at 7:03am.
The really freaky stuff starts around 2:20. (Via Hot Air)
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Pigs at the Trough: the “Legal Crime” of MLAs
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 02.4.10 at 6:58am.
You’d think because we are broke, that members of the Provincial legislature would be less piggish, less corpulent, less avaricious and cavalier about their expense accounts.
No; unfortunately, no. Not when there is a credit card with the public’s name on it.
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Die With Your Boots On
Submitted by Crooked House on 02.3.10 at 6:53am.
A couple of months ago we had to take Sylvie to our local ER. It turned out that she had nothing more worrisome than an ear infection but we spent a few hours there waiting for test results.
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Brrrrrrr
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 02.3.10 at 6:47am.
The groundhogs have spoken and gone back to sleep.
Our own Shubenacadie Sam agrees with Wiarton Willie and Punxutawney Phil that we will have 6 more weeks of winter. No surprise to us.
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Halifax Population Density, 2006 Census
Submitted by steeleworthy on 02.3.10 at 5:18am.
Today’s maps visualizes population density in Halifax Regional Municipality as recorded in the 2006 Census of Canada. This map demonstrates the clear urban-rural split in Halifax since the majority of census tracts outside of Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford/Sackville have a population density of ...
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To Haiti WIth LoveTo Haiti WIth Love
Submitted by One Blue Marble Blog on 02.2.10 at 8:26am.
A wonderful auction of all things creative, organized by Joshi Sims of fruityfantastica and Nova Scotia author (and friend) Kate Inglis of sweet | salty.
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On copyright infringement
Submitted by Blevkog on 02.2.10 at 6:48am.
I’m sending the following question to the CBC via their comments page:
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The death of Barrington Street?
Submitted by East Coast by Choice on 02.2.10 at 6:44am.
Barrington Street. The traditional main street of the city of Halifax; the finest collection of commercial heritage buildings in English Canada; Spring Garden Road’s less-travelled sister, sits in disarray and uncertainty. Since its heyday in the 1950s and ‘60s, there has been collective and spec...
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China in the news, again, a lot.
Submitted by Waye Mason's blog on 02.2.10 at 6:39am.
My family has been boycotting China for some time. We try not to buy Chinese made products, over concerns regarding safety, quality, human rights in China, and Tibet. I often am heard to make the statement “Hard drive crashed, eh? Cheap crap made in China.”
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HRM’s Active Transportation Committee revs up for 2010
Submitted by Spacing Atlantic on 02.1.10 at 9:07am.
On January 21, HRM's Active Transportation Advisory Committee (ATAC) held it's first meeting of the year in order to make plans and set goals regarding expansion and improvement of HRM's Active Transportation network (AT).
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Confined to ship – update
Submitted by Contrarian on 02.1.10 at 7:24am.
Nancy Waugh, executive producer of CBC News: Nova Scotia at 6 (And 5 and 530….) takes issue with the anonymous Contrarian source’s suggestion that CBC sent Rob Gordon Craig Paisley to Haiti with out realizing their disaster zone training had expired:
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Having our history and swallowing it too
Submitted by Stephen Kimber blog on 01.29.10 at 7:44am.
So here is our question for today.
Should the Charles Morris House—a down-at-the-heels, 240-year-old wooden structure that once served as the headquarters of Nova Scotia’s chief surveyor but today sits, forlorn, beached and abandoned in a downtown parking lot—be resurrected and spiffed up to ser...
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On Twitter and Tax “Reform”
Submitted by Waye Mason's blog on 01.29.10 at 6:39am.
I love reading Twitcoast on twitter. Tim Bousquet, the Coast news editor, manages to infuse his 140 character per post updates with a well balanced mix of wry observation and essential factual information.
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Trojan Park
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 01.29.10 at 6:38am.
Here is a submission as received from Lutz Becker on what has been known as Clock Park but which might now find itself tagged with a new name.
The “TROJAN HORSE” a reality for Wolfville?
Lutz E. Becker
During the Council meeting on January 18, 2010 the motion for the transfer of the Clock Towe...
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Market Watch Wednesday
Submitted by Halifax Real Estate Guy on 01.28.10 at 9:13am.
This week on Market Watch Wednesday I am discussing the stats for 2009 in the Halifax Condo Market. Condos in Halifax have increased in price by 6% and sales increased modestly compared to 2008.
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Protecting Sable – IV
Submitted by Contrarian on 01.28.10 at 7:12am.
Essentially, nobody has ever come up with a reliable way to fund the weather station and maintain a crew of experienced folk out there so a plane could land or stranded people (from oil or gas rigs say) could be accommodated safely in a disaster.
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Property Tax Fairness
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 01.28.10 at 6:51am.
When it comes to municipal tax reform, Halifax (HRM) is way out in front. According to investigative reporter Tim Busquet of The Coast, there is no municipality anywhere else in the country that has tried such a radical reformation, and, yesterday, in a council meeting, the tax reform proposal we...
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Protecting Sable – II
Submitted by Contrarian on 01.27.10 at 9:07am.
Lots of developments in what promises to be a continuing thread here.
The ineffable Zoe Lucas has started a discussion forum on the question of a National Park vs. National Wildlife Area on her wonderful Green Horse Society website, your definitive source for news and information about Sable. Di...
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Democracy mocked
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 01.27.10 at 6:36am.
The headline in The Advertiser of this morning caught our restless eye. Is Democracy in peril? it asked. Not a letter to the editor protesting prorogation as we first thought, but a letter about ” recent attempts by a few Kings County council members to minimize citizen input at public hearings ...
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Buddy and the Airport Buffer Zone
Submitted by Dang on 01.26.10 at 7:30am.
Let’s say you had a buddy who was a drummer. Your buddy, when he wasn’t out playing massive stadium concerts, liked to practice his drumming, nice and loud, pretty much 24/7.
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Protecting Sable Island
Submitted by Contrarian on 01.26.10 at 6:57am.
Harper Environment Minister Jim Prentice wants to protect Sable Island by turning it into a national park. He has a funny notion of protection:
* Prentice would protect the island by ending the current ban on visitors.
* He would protect the island by inviting the private sector to ferry touris...
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Beaver Trimmed
Submitted by Blevkog on 01.26.10 at 6:16am.
Even the New York Times has taken notice that the Canadian history magazine, The Beaver, has been forced by changing times to change its name to the less snicker-worthy Canada’s History.
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More ferry tails.
Submitted by Waye Mason's blog on 01.26.10 at 6:11am.
Today I would say the Halifax III on the way to Woodside was rocking back and forth, port to starboard, from level to 10% up on the starboard side.
Rock rock. Rock rock. Rockrock.
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Prorogue protests
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 01.26.10 at 6:08am.
We know there have been a few people out there on the streets protesting the latest prorogation of Parliament, which is only one in a long string of them [105] in Canada’s parliamentary history. We even hear there were a few protesters out in Wolfville.
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Meek slags Ormiston’s grief porn
Submitted by Contrarian on 01.25.10 at 7:18am.
Herald columnist Jim Meek takes a shot at CBC reporter Susan Ormiston:
Ormiston-130In one story, the viewer was treated to moving pictures of CBC-TV reporter Susan Ormiston, who held the hand of a small Haitian child as they walked through a devastated, crowded neighbourhood.
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Monday Morning Musing
Submitted by RGM Unlimited on 01.25.10 at 6:49am.
Mr. Goddard makes a good point and I think it should be extended to its logical conclusion. After the Olympics are over this forthcoming spring and early summer will feature the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the rest of summer and early autumn will have baseball and the World Series, and the winter month...
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The Sixth – The Cabinet Draft Picks
Submitted by I Call the Prime Minister Every Day on 01.22.10 at 8:12am.
Do the cabinet shuffle.
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Protecting privacy or covering up?
Submitted by Stephen Kimber blog on 01.22.10 at 7:39am.
On Dec. 2, 2008, an RCMP constable shot and killed John Andrew Simon, a member of Cape Breton’s Wagmatcook First Nation. Simon, everyone agrees, was alone inside his house, drunk and suicidal, at the time he was killed.
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Nationalistic capitalism: The new threat
Submitted by Andrew Krystal's blog on 01.22.10 at 7:04am.
For many years, it was Soviet Communism. Today, the threat is a divergent form of capitalism called “nationalistic capitalism”.
Soviet Communism, while dedicated to the establishment of the supremacy of the worker and the control of the means of production, at its height in the early ’60s only g...
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The Economy is Alive and Kicking! (Part 1)
Submitted by Smart City blog on 01.21.10 at 8:02am.
The world is just emerging from a pretty deep recession. The US and Britain have been hit fairly hard, along with some parts of Canada – particularly Ontario and Alberta. But generally, we didn’t feel the bit of the recession as hard in Canada.
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Homeopathic overdose – (cont.)
Submitted by Contrarian on 01.21.10 at 7:14am.
Contrarian reader Andrew Bourke points us to this trenchant sketch on the plausibility of homeopathy from the British comedy duo Mitchell and Webb:
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Films we’ll never see …
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 01.21.10 at 6:43am.
We are pleased to announce a new theme here at WW, ie. films we will never see at Acadia Cinema [or CBC !].
First in our series:
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Code Census Rap, yo
Submitted by Blogger on 01.20.10 at 8:45am.
The emergency department at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax was pretty busy back in early January. Every time they turned around they were calling Code Census to help clear the backlog of patients waiting to be admitted to a bed in the facility.
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Log On To Help Haiti
Submitted by Dale Zak's blog on 01.20.10 at 7:23am.
NBC News just profiled our efforts at The Extraordinaries to help find Haiti earthquake survivors.
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UK skeptics plan mass homeopathic overdose
Submitted by Contrarian on 01.20.10 at 6:57am.
A British group calling itself 10-23* will stage a mass self-inflicted overdose of homeopathic remedies to protest the Boots pharmacy chain’s continued sale of the worthless** nostrums. At 10:23 a.m., January 30, 300 protesters will down a whole bottle of homeopathic pills each.
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Ramona’s world
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 01.20.10 at 6:38am.
Ramona Jennex held an open house at her constituency office a week or so ago. Apparently LOTS and LOTS of people were there. Just not the right people. It was a hug in.
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Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics – Don Mills on the radio again
Submitted by Waye Mason's blog on 01.15.10 at 9:19am.
Don Mills kills me. Don is a pollster, so you would think that he would live by facts and figures. Two days ago he was speaking on CBC Mainstreet (Halifax edition) and his thesis was that Halifax lagged far behind every other city of size in Canada in growth in the 2000s because we didn’t approve...
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Halifax’s winter parking ban woes
Submitted by Spacing Atlantic on 01.15.10 at 9:19am.
HALIFAX - If you happened to be one of the many unlucky car owners who left their cars parked on your neighbourhood street on the night of December 14th, you would have woken up to a $50 ticket on your windshield.
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Shipping off troubled kids not a solution
Submitted by Stephen Kimber's blog on 01.15.10 at 8:04am.
The real question, Dr. Charles Emmrys testified, is, “What works?”
What doesn’t work—what research shows doesn’t work, he adds—is shipping troubled kids out of their home provinces, away from family and community, and into residential institutions where they are more likely to be warehoused than...
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A father responds to the Down’s ‘cure’ debate
Submitted by Contrarian on 01.15.10 at 7:23am.
Silas Barss Donham responds to posts on the New York Times Motherlode blog criticizing those who would reject potential chemical treatments intended to improve intellectual function of infants with Down syndrome. This difficult topic provoked a debate here on Contrarian that was remarkably though...
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Another Disaster: Human Nature
Submitted by Blevkog on 01.15.10 at 6:39am.
As I was watching coverage of the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake this morning, absolutely gobsmacked by the level of devastation and agony that has resulted from the disaster, when a sudden, horribly pessimistic thought entered my mind:
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The fifth call – That Smarmy Mansbridge
Submitted by I Phone the Prime Minister of Canada Everyday on 01.14.10 at 8:04am.
Peter Mansbridge is so smarmy.
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Classy…
Submitted by Blevkog on 01.14.10 at 6:51am.
Not satisfied (or sufficiently chastised) with blaming abortion in New Orleans for Katrina and moral decay for 9/11, Pat Robertson blames Haitians “deal with the devil” (literally) for this week’s earthquake.
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Another outburst
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 01.14.10 at 6:47am.
We didn’t witness the incidents mentioned in this second submission by Lutz Becker but don’t find them hard to believe as we have seen and heard similar incidents in the the past. We are copying Mr. Becker’s piece in full as we received it.
Behavioural Problems at the Council table?
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The Politics of Prorogation
Submitted by RGM Unlimited on 01.13.10 at 7:13am.
In the past year, prorogation has entered into the Canadian political lexicon in a big way. It is a tool that hasn't been infrequently used throughout Canadian history but it has never been used as often or with as much of a self-serving political purpose as it has been by the current Prime Minis...
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Cafe Chianti and Taj Mahal restaurants are ablaze
Submitted by Blevkog on 01.13.10 at 7:12am.
Just as the title says: The block of buildings on South Street in Halifax that houses Cafe Chianti and Taj Mahal are on fire. There are a number of fire engines on scene…
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Just when I think I have the whole cross border thing figured out
Submitted by To Halifax and Gone on 01.13.10 at 7:07am.
Since the “Nigerian bomber” as the news reporters have succumbed to calling the event, Canadian travelers have been warned about the rigors of security to expect between Canada and the US.
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Clock Park – yes, no or maybe
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 01.13.10 at 7:06am.
Here’s another perspective on the clock park issue. This was sent in by David Daniels and can also be found in flyer form at the post office ( if there are any left).
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The real CBRM stands up
Submitted by Contrarian on 01.12.10 at 7:52am.
At long last, someone on the Cape Breton Regional Municipal Council has delivered a stinging rebuke to Mayor John Morgan’s portrayal of Cape Bretoners as helpless victims of Halifax.
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The Fourth Call – Going Prorogue
Submitted by I Call the Prime Minister Every Day on 01.12.10 at 7:11am.
I called Prime Minister Harper to thank him for opening my eyes to the notion of prorogation.
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I phone the Prime Minister every day
Submitted by Blevkog on 01.12.10 at 7:06am.
Actually, I don’t. But this very funny Cape Bretoner does. Check out his site! I can’t listen to the calls right now, causebe of orkwe ilterfeing (even though this is unchletime), but I can’t wait to check it out at omhe!
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Clock Park a Trojan horse?
Submitted by Wolfville Watch on 01.12.10 at 6:56am.
The following submission was received from Lutz Becker concerning The Clock Tower property – a “TROJAN HORSE” for generations to come?
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Thoughts on a lazy Sunday afternoon
Submitted by Waye Mason's blog on 01.12.10 at 6:55am.
My friends Craig and Liz are in Brazil for three weeks. He is blogging the thing, and he calls the place, Florinopolis, “laid back”.
This got me thinking about the RiP A Remix Manifesto movie that we watched in class and played at HPX this year.
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Free-range forums for the crude crazies
Submitted by Stephen Kimber blog on 01.11.10 at 7:26am.
Mainstream media online comments sections were supposed to be one of those glorious triumphs of citizen democracy in the new Internet age. They offered a public space where ordinary readers could talk back to writers and to the people they wrote about, a free-range forum for spirited, intelligent...
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Walk out to winter*
Submitted by To Halifax and Gone on 01.11.10 at 5:59am.
(*with apologies to Aztec Camera for title rip-off)
Unlike last year, this winter is unfolding delicately. The cold is deepening and the snow doesn’t melt away before more blows atop what’s fallen.
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The Local Dish 022309
02.23.09
D’Entremontt takes over from Baker as Nova Scotia's Finance Minister. As the province prepares a new budget Michael Baker, who has been battling cancer since 2006, is stepping aside and Community Services Minister Chris d’Entremont is taking over. Baker, MLA for Lunenburg served as just...
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The Local Dish 021009
02.10.09
Officers sent emails warning of bad pilot training before helicopter crash. A military report into the July 2006 crash confirms there were numerous warnings of poor training before the accident, one of which said, "Prepare for incoming wake-up call!" An air force captain "voiced his dis...
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FAITH WEST
Faith Evan West left her position as Senior Director for an international consulting firm in the pharmaceutical industry in 2004 and opened her coaching business even before graduating from the Adler School of Coaching in Toronto. Faith says, in life and in bu...
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