A Few things that amuse, confuse, and confound on a Saturday afternoon.....

- Stephane Dion's wife ends up being a bit too candid on Facebook, and it ends up as the lead item on National Newswatch. Is anyone really surprised that this is what she thinks?

- It seems that twitters cost several politicos (including MPs Dean delMastro, Michelle Simpson, and Stephen Carter, advisor to Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith)headaches this past week. It would seem that using twitters - which limit messages to 140 characters - end up being a temptation that ends up diminishing those who want to be taken seriously in politics. Its a medium whose risks outweigh its benefits, unless it is used simply as an information service (which admittedly is boring but effective - Politician X is entering Y building for a policy announcement today.)

- Ian MacDonald opines that Parliament will last for more than year; Thomas Walkom thinks that Mr. Harper is really changing things. Both provide additional arguments to those made on this page earlier in the week.

- This item is important enough to reprint entirely, and the implications of this ought to be carefully thought through by all Canadians.

The recession has kept Canadians from embracing their charitable side. Figures released by Statistics Canada this week reveal that charitable giving dropped 5.1% in 2008, from $8.65-billion to $8.19-billion -- the largest decline in 40 years. Manitobans were the most charitable Canadians -- 27% were donors -- followed by a three-way tie with Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Saskatchewan, with 26% donors. For the past three years, the national median donation has stayed the same at $240. Nunavut had the lowest percentage of donors (10%), but the highest median donation at $500. The median donor age was 53, unchanged from 2007. Of course, the numbers do not account for the hours of volunteer work donated to charities every year.

- I have been taking a fair bit of heat from friends (?) who suggest that the current performance of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I need to repost (before going to watch the Leafs find an ingenious way to lose again) my 2007 confession that some things in life are done out without rational explanation and that fan is shortform for fanatic.) When (if) they win in my lifetime, it will make the joys of victory sweet. Go Leafs Go.