By KONRAD YAKABUSKI, Toronto Globe and Mail

WASHINGTON - The "Tea Party tidal wave" that Rand Paul predicted was headed for Kentucky has indeed left the Bluegrass State submerged in a bitter infusion.

WASHINGTON - Political scientists will tell you that American protest movements typically come and go. Adherents can't sustain their indignation indefinitely. Sooner or later, the source of their grievances dries up.

But what if it's a geyser?

GREENE COUNTY, Pa. - Almost anywhere you plant your feet in fatefully named Greene County, Pa., you are likely to be standing on a bed of coal, the condemnable, combustible rock whose future is now being framed 6,500 kilometers away at a global climate-change summit in Copenhagen.

The Las Vegas strip is sullen and Macau is morose. But Cirque du Soleil, which has more than half of its business tied up in the world's gambling capitals, somehow seems able to contort itself out of any tight spot.
Canada's top cultural export will post growth of 15 percent this year, with 10.5 million tickets sold and revenue grazing the $1 billion mark .