| Merry Christmas, Everyone! Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our 2009 SDA Late Nite Radio Christmas Extravaganza. Tonight, for your delectation, here are: - The King's College, Cambridge Chapel Choir performing God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen ¤ in 1998 (3:35). This is my favourite inter- web version of my favourite Christmas carol.
God rest ye merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ our saviour,
Was born on Christmas Day.
To save us all from satan's power,
When we have gone astray.
Oh good tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy.
Oh good tidings of comfort and joy. | |  |
- The Vienna Symphony Orchestra performing Adeste Fideles (Oh Come, All Ye Faithful) ¤ in 2008 (3:39).
- News Magazine of the Screen presenting Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men ¤ in 1950 (5:17, Canada is from 3:41 to 4:15).
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Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.
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Thank you for your Christmas greetings and kind thoughts both here on the blog, and by email.
I was going to write a Christmas post, but there's not much I can do to top this one, so I'll simply add my own Merry Christmas! to Vitruvius' effort here, and wish all of you the best for 2010.
I have a couple of posts scheduled for later to entertain those of you who are also spending a quiet holiday at home, house training 9 week old puppies. - Kate |  |
As an ex-lead violinist I'm impressed.
Though I've only met in person a tiny fraction of the SDA regulars, I wanted to let all of you I converse with on a regular basis how much I've enjoyed the conversation this past year. Thank you!
I don't if it's the same for you, but SDA and the voices herein provide a great amount of sanity for me that I don't get from the MSM, nor in large part from many of my friends here on Canada's Left Coast. In many ways, what I read here on SDA reminds me of when I read Ayn Rand's landmark novel, Atlas Shrugged. It's most reassuring to realize that there are other free thinking individuals who have separated themselves from the group think of the herd.
For all of that, may I take this opportunity to wish you all and your families a Very Merry Christmas!!!
Vit - excellent choices for an evening such as this. A Merry Christmas to you and to all who visit here - as well as to you, Kate.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas all. Thanks for all you do to maintain this site Kate.
Merry Christmas to all my fellow stainless steel rats!
Vit - an inspired choice...I forwarded the link to an Cambridge alumnus, a good friend, presently tormented by the imps of perversity.
And I beg a prayer, and a note of encouragement, for Robert Laird http://www.instapunk.com/#IP1980, wounded in battle, but not abandoned.
I'm not even close when it comes to being a christian, but whenever someone says "happy holidays" especially in the few days before christmas, I'm quick to correct them with a "merry christmas".
So Merry Christmas to all!
Thanks for tonight's selection Vitruvius. Particularly the King's College Chapel Choir.
Robert W., my sentiments exactly. We don't all agree on everything, but in the basics of freedom there appears to be a consensus.
Most of the comments, laced with a good dose of humour, are a serious reflection of free people.
Hey theredsuit, you forgot to eat the cookies left for Santa. Guess I'll have to eat them.
Merry Christmas to all.
Do you ever get the impression that the big arts pushers are more interested in big showy projects to impress the world (with plenty of government money, of course) than in quality artworks?
There's an arts columnist in the Toronto Star named Martin Knelman who, I suspect, falls into this category. On Monday he calls for a "cultural champion" as well as certain items for the city:
- a contemporary art museum
- a city of Toronto museum "that goes beyond colonial history and celebrates the stories of multiculturalism and diversity"
- a media museum
- a portrait museum for Ontario
- "at least one iconic building on the waterfront"
Yeah, we need to plan an icon, right after we get some fresh platitudes ...
This is mostly about showing off, not about quality works of art. It's not that any of these items are bad, it's just that if you try to create them to cement Toronto's reputation as a "world class city", you're almost guaranteed to foul up. And a "cultural champion" won't produce a single work of art.
As for the arts generally, I personally will continue to purchase CDs of rock bands that I like (and a few other things). But I'm not particularly interested in these museums. No doubt others have their own niches of interest too.
The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal of a court decision that rejected a legal challenge to the upcoming Vancouver winter Olympics over its failure to schedule a ski-jumping event for women (the only sport for which there is no women's event).
The lower courts ruled that it was the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and not the Canadian organizing committee (VANOC) that made the decision to exclude, and the Charter of Rights does not apply to the IOC. I think this is the right decision but for the wrong reasons.
First of all, there is a dangerous notion that sometimes shows up, even in SCC decisions, to the effect that "the Charter applies to government while human rights codes apply to private individuals". A right is a boundary across which no person - private or government official - may transgress, and the purpose of a constitutional declaration of rights is to set them in stone, as it were. We have the right to life, and this means that neither government officials nor private individuals may kill any other person (barring self-defense, of course). Some rights, such as freedom of the press, refer specifically to a restriction on government. Ditto for legal rights such as the right to a fair trial - it's something the government must provide. So the Charter is a mixed bag that is somewhat confusing in its makeup. But it's supposed to be the single repository of our rights.
Note that if the dangerous notion I referred to above is true, then "human rights tribunals" are not subject to the Charter, and don't have to respect our legal rights. In fact, s.11 of the Charter specifically says that "a person charged with an offence" has the right to a fair trial. The targets of so-called human rights proceedings are not considered to be "charged with an offence". The Supreme Court, which likes to claim it takes an "expansive" view of the Charter, refuses to do it on this issue. The whole purpose of the human rights machinery is to do an end run around justice and due process.
Anyway, back to the ski jumpers' case, which is obviously about "discrimination". As I've said before, the anti-discrimination rules should apply to the law itself and to the actions of government officials in the performance of their duties. They need not apply to private individuals. So the IOC should be subject to the Charter, but freedom of association is the right involved here and the committee, regrettably, chooses not to associate with female ski jumpers at this time. Its excuses sound a bit weak to me, and I think they should say "we haven't got around to it yet" and then get around to it. But it's a private organization and has the right to make its own decisions, even if they seem unfair to most observers.
As always, the subject of taxpayer support for the Olympics is a consideration. As I've said, there is no way to spend taxpayers' money so that everyone is completely satisfied. Since I don't believe there should have been any subsidies here, it doesn't affect my comments.
I've noticed recently that the Toronto Sun has shifted rather weirdly to the left. For example, there was a bizarre editorial on Wednesday flogging a "national food policy".
More land is being farmed, but the number of farms has dropped by 47,000 over a decade; corporatization is not a bad thing, it says, but "without a national food policy, there is no guarantee that the goals of the company will mesh with those of the country."
Countries don't have goals in this area. Individual consumers, who require food for sustenance, have the goal of choosing what they want to eat from what the companies decide to produce. And companies always want to produce what consumers want to consume. The capitalistic economy is based on voluntary trade for mutual benefit. A company that finds ways to produce more food more cheaply will make a profit while providing consumers with more to eat. Win-win.
Also, the editorial notes that Canada exports $317 million in dairy products, eggs and honey, while importing $553 million of the same, which "makes little sense. Governments at all levels need to rectify this situation quickly."
Perhaps the exports are from B. C. to the northwest U. S. while the imports are from New England to Atlantic Canada. Or vice versa. You know, "local food" and all that. Anyway, it's not a problem. What can turn it into a problem is government "rectification", with loads of parasitical, unproductive bureaucrats who push around the productive citizens and/or corporations, like they always do.
This may be the single most idiotic editorial I've ever read in the Sun. It's signed, too, by a name I've never seen before (and which I won't repeat, to save the author further embarrassment). I suspect this person is fresh out of journalism school, has been brainwashed by all the nonsense about the alleged wonders of Big Coercive Government, and has absolutely no idea how and why free market capitalism works. What a shame.
And a Merry Christmas to everyone!
Merry Christmas to all. Thank you all, also, for my daily dose of truth. Goodness knows I can never get it from the tv news or the papers.
Now I have to get to bed before Santa shimmies down the chimney.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Merry Christmas all
And a special thought to all my wingers kcking up dust in the sand box, to the crew of HMCS Fredricton digging holes in the water off the east coast of Africa and all the rest of the CF, where ever you are standing your post this day.
"Chinese dissident handed 11-year jail sentence"
"Veteran Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo is seen in a March 1995 file photo. Reuters
Liu Xiaobo is a prominent critic of the Communist government who co-authored a manifesto calling for political reforms"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/chinese-dissident-handed-11-year-jail-sentence/article1412002/
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I don't have time to comment as often as I'd wish, but I check out SDA several times each day. Kate does a great job and I really enjoy the comments. Merry Christmas to all.
Thank you for this choice, Vit. I've always enjoyed the King's College Choir Christmas carols and the Vienna SO's rendition was magnificent. Every time I hear performances such as these, I wonder what will happen to the traditions that have rendered such uplifting music if Islam takes over Europe. There are no great choral or orchestral masterpieces connected to that religion as there are to Christianity.
And in parting, let us think of the family of Lt. Andrew Nutall, 1PPCLI, killed in Afghanistan Dec. 23. Sadly, every Christmas from now on will remind them of their loss. It is small comfort for them but they need to know that we will remember him.
May the gift of God's truth and Christ's love fill you this year and guide your hand.
Kate and SDA has been a light in a pall of consuming darkness. SDA readers and posters give me hope for this nation and western civilization. May you continue to pass your strength of reason, truth and love of human justice on to a world deeply mired in fallible thinking and politicized avarice.
A peaceful and joyous Christmas to you all!
Agree with all the comments here.
A place sanity...amidst a mixed up world.Thanks Kate. Wish we could all get together for a backyard party sometime and chat.
I'm guessing one reason so many of us are still checking in here today is that it feels like family on this site.
Make that better than family. I have some serious lefties in my family. Discussion is shut down quickly at our gatherings.
Awesome meaningful music too, Vit! Thanks!
I'm at work...typical for 'health care'.
Merry Christmas to all the great people here at SDA!!
AGW eats, shoots, and leaves, kills, and is "alert level".
"Filed Under: Disasters (general)".
A volcanic eruption is a disaster? When is an expert a "resident volcanologist"?
...-
Mayon shoots ash column, major eruption nears—Phivolcs
LEGAZPI CITY – (UPDATE) Alert level 5 could be declared any time on Mayon Volcano but volcanologists are waiting for one important sign – a chocolate-colored mass of ash column shooting straight up into the air as high as 10-15 kilometers from the crater.
“Parameters are high until now and the intensifying activity might force us to raise the alert level to its highest level but it would happen only when Mayon shoots a straight ash column containing pyroclastic materials and molten, burning rocks as big as houses or buses from its crater, accompanied by intense rumbling and jittering of the ground felt as far as this city,” said resident volcanologist Eduardo Laguerta."
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20091223-243624/Mayon-shoots-ash-column-major-eruption-nearsPhivolcs
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AGW kills:
"Snowy highways likely factor in two Manitoba highway deaths
CJOB"
Merry Christmas to all but especially Kate. SDA is a haven - thank you so much.
Merry Christmas Kate, Vit, guest bloggers, SDA's commenters and readers.
And a Merry Christmas to the person(s) who leaked the AGW "scam" which in turn has felt like a Christmas present to the rational side of things and thanks to these dedicated bloggers.
Much appreciated and needed these days.
Kate, Thank you so much for your site. It is a breathe of fresh air in this crazy world. Merry Christmas you you, puppies and all SDA fans.
My good thing come to all in 2010.
Merry Christmas, one and all!
Merry Christmas Kate and all, just a quick warning about 112 minutes you may well waste on a movie over the holidays. District 9 is by far the worst movie I have ever watched, beating Kevin Costner's water world out of bottom place. You will be saying WTF was that over and over.
Cats rule! ;-)
Merry Christmas to you and yours Kate. Just remember: No Christmas Day is complete without a visit from the CHRC.
Merry Christmas to Kate and all SDAers. Enjoy all the blessings of the season.
4:45 a.m., BCF?
Let's hope the parasites aren't getting overtime on top of their government-union salaries.
A Very Merry Christmas Everyone!!
In the "and now for something completely different" department...
Shaw Cable has RT (Russian TV News) available for free on channel 179. Its a different perspective.
I didn't say better.. just different.
Merry Christmas to everyone here!
One of my favourite blogs.
Thank you Kate, and an enjoyable restful Christmas season to you. I value SDA beyond words. I can't honestly remember how I came across it (was it six or seven years ago??), in any case it opened up the great world of the conservative blogosphere to me. You're still my homepage because no one else brings so much great stuff together (and with a Saskabush flavour to boot). Blessings!
Merry Christmas to all SDA patrons - including those with whom I often disagree! - and all the best to everyone in 2010. And thanks, Kate, for all the work and heart you put into this site. There are precious few free-thinking sites in this country for conservatives, and this one tops the list.
mhb23re
at gmail d0t calm
Merry Christmas to all! I'm not house training puppies; I'm overhauling the bearings in a couple of bicycle wheels, which is even more fun!
Merry Christmas to all.
It's my favorite blog, thank you Kate!!!
"Steam train’s snow rescue ‘glory’
Passengers were rescued by a steam locomotive after modern rail services were brought to a halt by the snowy conditions in south-east England.
Trains between Ashford and Dover were suspended on Monday when cold weather disabled the electric rail.
Some commuters at London Victoria faced lengthy delays until Tornado – Britain’s first mainline steam engine in 50 years – offered them a lift.
They were taken home “in style”, said the Darlington-built engine’s owners.
Train services in Kent were hit hard by the freezing conditions at the start of the week."
http://www.jacksnewswatch.com/2009/12/25/steam-trains-snow-rescue-glory/
AGW/MSM Arithmetic: 20 = 23.
"Hide the decline".
...-
"Winter storms blast U.S., headed for Canada
Agence France-Presse and Canwest News Service
At least 20 deaths on U.S. roads
A massive winter storm that is being blamed for at least 23 deaths in the United States has made its way north, to parts of Canada."
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2380135
A rainy day in Toronto and a green Christmas. Snow would have been nice to see but at least we don't have to shovel the rain. Had a wonderful Christmas and I hope yours was too. All the best for the New Year for Kate and company.
That schnauzer's just so darned cute!
MERRY CHRISTMAS and lets forget this silly PC nonsense