CIVITATENSIS

Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista president of Nicaragua, elected again in 2006, is the architect of a nefarious constitutional re-arrangement in his country. The legal deal, or “el pacto” as Nicaraguans call it, divides most state powers between two corrupt signing parties, and squeezes out most other small and medium size political entities. It so happens that the delisted parties are the backbone of effective opposition.

The Arnoldo Aleman faction of the Liberals is not much opposition to the ruling Sandinistas at all. They are one of the contracting parties in el pacto, and their leader is a convicted felon, who siphoned millions from the public purse. His partner, Daniel Ortega, accused of raping his daughter for nearly a decade, has not faced justice for the crimes against a child. In short, the criminals are running the little Central American republic, and they have re-arranged the state powers to forestall prosecution against them.
Daniel Ortega and Robert Mugabe were the heroes of the North American and the Europeans Left during the 1980s. But there is a mounting wave of opposition against the rapist president in Nicaragua. Only recently having seen the light, many of his warring comrades and intellectual co-religionists are turning their backs on him in increasing numbers. Nicaragua’s youth have taken an active role. Ortega’s recent political campaign used a musical re-arrangement of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.” A group of young Nicaraguans is asking Yoko Ono to demand that Daniel Ortega and his party cease and desist in the use of her husband’s music as an unofficial anthem for the Sandinistas. Here is a link to the video on youtube.

Update: From the above mentioned youth:

The song “Give Peace a Chance” is being used by a corrupt government in Nicargua as the Party’s anthem!!!

We plead all John Lennon fans and anyone else who is in favor of Democracy to please join this group and show your support!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21281645582&ref=mf

Not entirely a surprise, but not immediately expected…? Kevin Taft quits. Recently stumped by Ed Stelmach in a general election, in the big scheme of things, Taft had little choice but to say goodbye.

Frankly, I expected a resignation the night of the election, but doing some thinking before making decisions is not a bad thing. Some of us take longer to decide what to others may seem obvious.

When Quebeckers complain about the price of gasoline, they often think that Albertans are ripping them off.

Well, Quebeckers may be getting ripped off at the pumps, but it’s other Quebeckers doing it.

Scott said the charges stem from an extensive investigation that showed gas retailers in the four markets phoned each other and agreed on a price.

“The evidence suggests that the overwhelming majority of gasoline retailers in these markets participated in the cartel,” the Competition Bureau said in a news release.

[...]

Those who were charged operated in Sherbrooke, Victoriaville, Thetford Mines and Magog, cities that are all south of Montreal.

The companies that were charged are: Les Petroles Therrien Inc., operating under the Petro-T banner, and Distributions Petrolieres Therrien Inc. ($179,000), and Ultramar Inc. ($1,850,000). One individual, Jacques Ouellet, an employee of Ultramar, also pleaded guilty and was fined $50,000.

CTV has acquired the rights to the theme song that has played on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada for 40 years.Last week, the CBC publicly announced that it could not reach a deal with the song’s copyright holders. CTV sealed the deal with Copyright Music & Visuals Monday morning.Beginning this fall, the song will now be heard in NHL broadcasts on TSN and RDS. CTV will also air the song as part of its hockey coverage during the 2010 Olympic winter games.

It’s a done deal. Just this morning I heard on the radio a CBC executive, who took part in the negotiations for the CBC’s right to continue to use the piece, saying that the author could not just take the song and sell it to just about any one else. CTV is not just any one. That’s true, but the mistake of the statement is in your typical bureaucratic mindset: CBC seems to have thought that they are the market.

CBC will moan about not being able to compete with private broadcasters, but will not stop receiving commercial revenue. In the end it’s not so much that CTV may have more money. It’s that CBC executives understand so little about markets and competition.

The candidate that will not concede.

Hillary Clinton will express support for Barack Obama’s White House bid and Democratic Party unity in the race against Republican John McCain at an event on Saturday, her campaign said in a statement.

The statement issued Wednesday did not say if Clinton would formally end her campaign or suspend activities. However, several reports indicated she would give her full endorsement.

Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, but Clinton so far has refused to concede.

See also here: reduced to lobbying and hoping for the second fiddle.

The Arrogant Worms are right. Their mayor truly is a dork.