LINKS April 4, 2011

BORDER

Border officials violated rules in forwarding photos [CP]

International search is on for missing Canadian couple [Spokesman-Review - WA]

Border guards to scan air, waterways, and shore [CTV]

US and Canadian officials celebrate longer hours at the Wild Horse Port [KFBB- Montana]

LABOUR/LABOR

Canadians decry Wisconsin anti-union labor law [presstv.ir]

MILITARY

War in Libya used to defend need for better fighters [Ottawa Citizen]

Canadians protected amid Qu-ran protests: Cannon [CBC]

ARCTIC

First-ever US Arctic investment summit [pr-usa.net]

TRADE

Stalking the savvy shopper [The Province - Vancouver]

Bills trying to raise their profile in Toronto [Globe and Mail]

ENERGY

No to a new tar sands pipeline [NY Times]

US media divided on proposed Keystone XL pipeline [Postmedia News]

Exxon test mega-load will roll Monday [Boise Weekly - Idaho]

Big rig opponents: Exxon comments validate fight [The Missoulian - Montana]

Environmentalists sue over mega-loads [The Independent Record - Helena, Montana]

Lawsuit tries to stop oil sands equipment from moving through Montana [Calgary Herald]

Liberal energy plan smacks of Trudeau: economist [Calgary Sun]

Leach: Liberals’ significant climate plan cloaked in silence [Globe and Mail]

Politicians need to see this: oil sands workers [Edmonton Journal]

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On Twitter at luizachsavage

Category: Today's Links

LINKS April 1, 2011

Updated 8:25 pm EST

BORDER

International weapons smuggling ring was based in Alberta: police [CP]

Canadian closes 3 border crossings [UPI]

Miller seeks 100 percent secure borders by 2016 [Detroit News]

Secure border act would tell DHS to prevent all illegal entries within 5 years [HSToday.com]

Canadian man arrested in Maine after bogus detonator threat made on bus [AP]

US Border patrol report [The Northern Light - WA]

Israeli traveler humiliated in Germany, Canada [ynetnews.com]

DIPLOMACY

High on the job: Ambassador Doer thrives on the adrenaline rush [Winnipeg Free Press]

Practical politics at work [Winnipeg Free Press]

TRADE

Harper talks trade, but is this just an outreach exercise? [Globe and Mail]

CRIME

Court documents link second polygamous leaders to cross-border marriages [CP]

MILITARY

No Canadian boots on the ground in Libya, Harper vows [Postmedia News]

Gates says other nations can arm Libyan rebels [NY Times]

NATO warns rebels against attacking civilians [NY Times]

Lawmakers batter Gates on Libya [Washington Post]

ENERGY

Enormous Kearl-bound oil sands shipments target of Montana lawsuit [CP]

100 US landowners tell Clinton Keystone XL pipeline too risky [NRDC.org]

Former State Dept. envoy backs Keystone pipeline [Reuters]

Republicans make ‘urgent case’ for TransCanada’s Keystone [Globe and Mail]

Republicans press Obama to approve oil sands pipeline [Postmedia News]

Republicans make ‘urgent case’ for Canadian oil [CP]

Pembina: tough but fair regulations would drive oil sands regulation [Petroleum Economist]

Indigenous activists fight building massive pipelines from tar sands through US [alternet.org]

Enbridge pushes for political support of oil sands pipeline [Globe and Mail]

Alberta oil sands ‘greening’ good news for Ontario [Edmonton Journal]

Layton would slash oilsands subsidies [CBC]

Okla Commissioners to discuss Cushing oil suppply [COKO TV - Oklahoma City]

The Koch brothers come to Canada to promote their oil sands interests [rabble.ca]

***

On Twitter at luizachsavage

 

Category: Today's Links

D.C.’s black squirrels invaded from Canada

April 2, 2011
By Luiza Ch. Savage

John Kelly, a Washington Post columnist, explains where all the black squirrels in the D.C. area come from:

They came from Canada, specifically from Rondeau Provincial Park, a peninsula in Morpeth, Ontario, that juts like a uvula into Lake Erie.

The first batch of black squirrels — eight in number — was sent to the National Zoo in 1902 by Thomas W. Gibson, Ontario’s superintendent for parks. Smithsonian secretary Samuel P. Langley, in his report to Congress that year, wrote that the squirrels were accepted “in exchange,” and, indeed, checking Canadian records, Answer Man discovered that Rondeau park received an unspecified number of gray squirrels from the Smithsonian. (They are “doing nicely,” reported park caretaker Isaac Gardiner.)

Don’t blame Canada, though. Officials at the National Zoo decided to release them from their cages to live free onto its grounds, from which they have spread in all directions.

Kelly’s column also solves a minor mystery: high in a tree in my back yard, a single nest is home to both black and gray squirrels. Kelly explains that black squirrels and gray squirrels are the same species – Sciurus carolinensis; the black ones just have a recessive gene for a different color of fur.

 

 

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