There appears to be a shortage of Laphroiag in this city.

Update, Dec. 29

It was on the shelf at the Ossington LCBO on Bloor West yesterday. Who knew? The clerk at Spadina told me that only Summerhill or Queen's Quay would have had it. In any event, it'll have to wait until I work through a bottle of GlenDronach, which is okay, but doesn't have that peatiness I'm looking for.

ABC News is reporting that al Qaeda is urging Islamist terrorists to conduct a strike in Britain over the Christmas period. The reporters base this claim on web postings and other Internet "chatter."

However, the story also contains this proviso:

While there are no specifics to the concern -- no targets, no corroborated intelligence and no very specific timing -- authorities are taking the information more seriously than they otherwise might.  Their concern stems from the knowledge that at least 1,200 al Qaeda operatives are at large in Great Britain, with about 18 key al Qaeda members among them and at least two highly placed linchpins to al Qaeda operations, who may have made Britain their home base.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

Oddly, neither the UK-based BBC, the Guardian, the Times Online, the Independent or the Telegraph are prominently reporting this dire news on their websites at this time.

I'll check back and see if that changes.

Meanwhile, the big news is the holiday travel havoc at London's Heathrow Airport due to a thick bank of (terrorist-caused?) fog.

Update

The closest news story I could find about a terror threat was this BBC story:

Defending the high security levels which have been maintained in London, Sir Ian (Blair, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police) said the threat of terrorism was "far graver" than those faced during World War II, the Cold War or the IRA.

He said although there were no details about a terrorist attack during the Christmas period, the country faced a "level of unparalleled threat".

He added: "I think the threat of another terrorist attempt is ever-present.

"We have no specific intelligence but listeners may remember that there was a terrorist plot in Germany against one of their Christmas markets in 2002, so it's a possibility."

That story was played "below the fold" (the first screen) of the UK home page in a subsection entitled "England."

Now, maybe it's not big news on Friday in Britain because Home Secretary John Reid made a similar warning last Sunday (see this Dec. 11 Guardian article).

However, here is what Sir Ian Blair said in a Dec. 23 Guardian article:

There was no specific evidence of any immediate threat, he said, playing down a recent suggestion from the home secretary, John Reid, that an attack was highly likely before Christmas.

I then went to the home page of MI5, Britain's domestic security agency (the Brit equivalent of CSIS).

That page hasn't been updated since Dec. 15.

They do describe the threat as "severe" -- as of Aug. 14, 2006.

"Severe" means an attack is highly likely. "Critical" means an attack is imminent.

However, if the agency hasn't updated its threat level, perhaps MI5 doesn't consider the al Qaeda chatter to be as threatening as ABC News does.

I posted the following at CTV.ca in the comments area of David Akin's post on the Great Journalists' Contract Hunt initiated by Conservative MP Scott Reid:

Read this.

However, I believe the Done Right Inn on Queen West, here in T.O. (land of government regulated liquor sales) has been doing this for some time.

My buddy and CTV News Parliamentary reporter David Akin has an interesting post at the CTV Politics blog (and cross-posted to his own) about a question put on the House of Commons order paper by Ontario Conservative MP Scott Reid. An excerpt from Akin's post:

Q-104 2 — October 17, 2006 — Mr. Reid (Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington) — In each of the fiscal years 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, did any government department, agency, or Crown corporation enter into a professional services contract with a vendor whose name matches a name on the current public list of members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery published at http://www.gallery-tribune.ca , and, if so, for each contract of each vendor: ( a) to which department, agency, or Crown corporation were the services to be provided; ( b) what type of service was to be provided; ( c) what was the start date and final end date of the contract; and ( d) what was the total amount of payments made to the vendor?

After I saw that question on the Order Paper, I called Reid’s office several times to ask what it was he was interested in. Reid never returned my call.

On his personal blog, Akin also has this: Why journalists ought to pay attention to bloggers. An excerpt:

I’ve long argued that journalists ought to establish a routine to monitor blogs and other online sites that are germane to their beat. It’s a great eay to learn more about your beat and to find new sources.

But here’s another good reason: Public relations and communications professionals — the spin masters — are targetting blogs.

Tell me about it. :) (Also see this).

From globeandmail.com:

Torstar Corp. is cutting 85 jobs across its newspaper operations, a move that will save the publishing giant about $5.5-million a year. The company said yesterday it will take a restructuring charge of about $11-million in its fourth quarter because of the cuts, which will be both "voluntary and involuntary." Union representatives said most of the cuts involve voluntary buyout packages, and are not involuntary layoffs. Mike Sullivan, unit chair of the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild, which represents workers at the flagship Toronto Star newspaper, said about 10 people were offered packages at that paper. A small number of managers were also let go, he said. Unionized and non-unionized employees also took voluntary packages at The Hamilton Spectator, The Kitchener-Waterloo Record and at the Metroland community newspaper arm, union and company spokesmen said. TS.B (TSX) rose 1 cent to $19.26.

I speak of none other than Turkmenistan's Sapurmurat Niyazov, who built himself the biggest cult of personality this side of Pyongyang.

Dozens of eyewitness reports indicated that former vice president Al Gore deliberately attempted to raise the earth's temperature in order to boost box office receipts for An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary film about global warming that was released in May.

DESPERATE MEASURES Former vice president Al Gore takes a flamethrower to the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica to boost weekend ticket sales for An Inconvenient Truth.

"We have accounts from concerned citizens that Mr. Gore purchased a Cadillac Escalade SUV several months before [his film] opened in theaters," said Kimberly Blume, spokeswoman for the California-based environmental group Friends Of The Earth. "Not only did Mr. Gore use his new gas-guzzler to make short trips to the grocery store, he also left the vehicle running 24 hours a day in the driveway of his Tennessee home with the air-conditioning on full-blast."

In the weeks following the film's release, witnesses reported additional sightings of Gore engaging in activities such as discharging can after can of 1980s-era, CFC-laden aerosol into the air, and single-handedly clear-cutting over 6,000 acres of Amazon rain forest.

Gore is also rumored to have set a four-acre tire fire outside Akron, OH, and ordered his Secret Service detail to shoot on sight anyone who attempts to put it out.

"It's sad to see a man we thought was a passionate defender of the environment despoiling it for his own monetary gain," Blume said.

From The Onion

From the BBC:

Turkish author Ipek Calislar has been acquitted of insulting modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Prosecutors said Ms Calislar had insulted Ataturk when she said, in a biography of his wife Latife, that he had once fled disguised as a woman.

She faced up to four years in prison under Turkey's tough law against denigrating "Turkishness".

The European Union has pressed Turkey to reform the law, which it views as a bar on freedom of expression.

I went into a local video store recently, one with a royally-themed name on a street of higher education.

On a whim, I decided I wanted to see a particular Rambo movie. I approach the counter, where a clerk, about 22-23 years old, sat doing whatever.

"Do you have Rambo IV?" I asked.

The anger welled up from a place deep within his film geek soul, but still, he's a retail professional, and he tried to hold it back.

Which is why he hissed, and not screamed, "There is no Rambo IV."

"Whoops," I said. "I meant the one where he goes to Afghanistan."

The other film-geek clerk, who I would estimate is more like 19 or 20, stiffens and snaps, "That's Rambo III" -- with an unspoken "you fucking idiot" tacked on the end.

Both of them are staring balefully at me.

This triggered a brief outburst of sniggering on my part. I apologized for any upset I might have caused by getting my Rambo movies mixed up, and then I escorted myself from the premises.

Too many ambitions, too little money. Too much politics, too little business sense. That sums up the main problems faced by Air America Radio as it struggles to reorganize under bankruptcy protection.

Some v-e-e-e-r-y big media companies want to build something to compete with YouTube. However, the numerous tentacles of the various players could make playing nice together almost impossible.

Visually, TheStar.com, online presence of the Toronto Star newspaper, appears much cleaner than its predecessor, and more in keeping with current design norms.

In an era where transparency is on the rise as a way to build credibility with readers, however, the Star is most definitely behind the times.

From the BBC:

Muslims' sense of belonging could be eroded by European nations not tackling discrimination, a watchdog has warned.

A report by a European Union-backed anti-racism body says the number of Islamophobic incidents in the 25 member states is probably under-reported.

The report calls on governments to speed up Muslim integration - but says Muslims must also do more to counter stereotypes and fears of extremism.

At least 13 million Muslims are thought to live in European states.

While the establishment of Afghanistan's parliament has been trumpeted as a nation-building success story, this BBC article argues it really hasn't done anything.

From the blurb to NYT contributor Randy Kennedy's commentary: "Mistletoe, yes. Sleigh bells, sure. Chestnuts, why not. God, no thanks."

The former U.S. secretary of state has gone a bit further than saying he's not pleased with the level of success in Iraq: Colin Powell said the U.S. is losing -- albiet it hasn't lost yet.

Just in time for Christmas for the military geek on your list: The U.S. military has released its first new counterinsurgency manual in at least 20 years.

From the BBC:

Up to two million people are thought to have died under Pol Pot

A documentary film dealing with the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime is opening in Cambodia.

The film, Waiting To See The Truth, includes interviews with Cambodians who describe the forced labour, starvation and mass killings under Pol Pot's rule.

But it also shows footage of young Cambodians who do not believe stories of the atrocities of the late 1970s. (emphasis mine - BD)

The period is not taught in schools, and the producers plan to screen it to children to boost awareness. ...

Throughout the film older Cambodians describe the horrors of life under the Khmer Rouge, when up to two million died because of the regime's brutality.

The camera then pans to giggling teenagers who declare that they do not believe a word of what their relatives have just said.

Addendum

If you're interested in this period in history and want a cinematic experience, track down the 1984 film The Killing Fields.

Check out the scene where the Dith Pran character is nonchalantly addressed in French by a KR commander, who clearly enjoyed the look of terror that spread across Dith Pran's face.

To be caught speaking French under the Khmer Rouge would mark you for death. For that matter, so would wearing eyeglasses. Both were symbols of the intellectual class hated by the psychopathic Maoist peasants of the KR.

But the KRs had a sense of fun too. Sometimes an unsuspecting victim would be served an elaborate meal while top KRs looked on. When they had finished eating, the KRs would asked them if they enjoyed the meal. When the person answered yes, they would be garroted and the KR brass would laugh as they watched the life being choked out of their victim.

Here's some links for more information:

Yale University: The Cambodian Genocide Project

Cambodian Genocide Group

Wikipedia: Cambodia under Pol Pot

Beeb reporter Frances Harrison on how Holocaust deniers at the conference in Iran were happy to see her and praised her coverage.

From globeandmail.com:

Bell is being dropped from the name and logo of the media company that owns The Globe and Mail and CTV, reflecting an ownership restructuring that began late last year. Starting in January, CTVglobemedia Inc. will replace Bell Globemedia as the company's name and logo, though Bell Canada owner BCE Inc. still owns 15 per cent of the business. In the restructuring, BCE reduced its stake in the operation and the Thomson family's Woodbridge Co. Ltd. increased its holding to 40 per cent. The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan bought 25 per cent and Torstar Corp. picked up the remaining 20 per cent. The media company is in the midst of buying the radio and television assets of CHUM Ltd. in a $1.4-billion deal.

From the BBC:

Pakistan's Supreme Court has blocked a fresh attempt to enact a Taleban-style law to enforce Islamic morality in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

The court instructed the provincial governor not to sign the bill, which is opposed by President Pervez Musharraf.

North West Frontier Province, which is governed by an alliance of religious parties sympathetic to the Taleban, passed the legislation last month.

Last year a similar bill was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

The federal government's decision to go to the court exposes their claims that they believe in democracy Asif Iqbal Daudzai, NWFP information minister

President Musharraf, who says he wants Pakistan to espouse an enlightened, moderate form of Islam, has denounced the bill as fundamental breach of human rights.

Correspondents say it is almost unheard of for the same bill passed by a provincial assembly to be challenged twice in the courts by the federal government.

Here's the breakdown of how Americans are projected to spend their media consumption time in 2007:

1,555 hours watching television, up from 1,467 in 2000. The estimate includes 678 hours watching broadcast TV and 877 watching cable and satellite.

974 hours listening to the radio, up from 942 in 2000.

195 hours using the Internet, up from 104.

175 hours reading daily newspapers, down from 201.

A new website, Iraqslogger.com,  promises to provide 24-hour-a-day coverage of the Iraq conflict. Its creator? Eason Jordan, late of CNN.