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I just want to thank you for the Christmas Music Vitruvius; I hope you have a happy, healthy and successful 2010.

One of my favourites that didn't make the cut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu2NgoaxGz8

"Quote of the Day

"At Belmont Club, under Spin versus spool post by Wretchard:

80. NahnCee:

You do realize that you’re expecting the same people who have been tracking weather the last 20 years and reporting fur shur global warming is happening to get it together to successfully track bad guys? Surely bad guys are just as erratic as the weather. If they have a blindered mind-set that there *is* global warming, what sort of blindered mind-set do you suppose these geniuses will have on whether or not Abdul is a terrorist?

Dec 28, 2009 - 6:01 pm

Folks, as I suggested in my last post, it is time for we adults (that is, those who have finally shucked off the adult suppression programming wrought by our rotting institutions) to come up with words that will help our neighbors better understand what their government has morphed into."

http://pascalfervor.blogspot.com/2009/12/quote-of-day.html

a repost from Fritz

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/6771

somehow chicken legs can more than support an empty suit

Vitruvius, thank you for the Christmas concert you provided for us.

Here's Christopher Hitchens on the ol' familiar two-step pattern wherein an individual of curious provenance whom authorities have been duly warned about strolls onto an airplane with explosives on him, and then, in response, airport security starts giving little blonde grandma from Duluth the hairy eyeball and a thorough search:

"Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent? The answer to the first question is: Because we can't—or won't. The answer to the second question is: Because we can. The fault here is not just with our endlessly incompetent security services, who give the benefit of the doubt to people who should have been arrested long ago or at least had their visas and travel rights revoked. It is also with a public opinion that sheepishly bleats to be made to 'feel safe.' The demand to satisfy that sad illusion can be met with relative ease if you pay enough people to stand around and stare significantly at the citizens' toothpaste. My impression as a frequent traveler is that intelligent Americans fail to protest at this inanity in case it is they who attract attention and end up on a no-fly list instead. Perfect."

A report out of Chicago says that a couple of the terrorists behind the Detroit terrorism were released from Gitmo. Of course,the leftards will still demand Omar to be set free,he is such a dear.--=http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/12/men-believed-behind-airplane-plot-were-freed-from-gitmo.html-

You're welcome, SDH & Ken. Thank you Kate, for making that possible.

Ever wonder why the world's atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration measurement is taken on top of a Hawaii volcano ?

[Elimination of data occurs with the Mauna Loa readings, which can vary up to 600 ppm in the course of a day. Beck explains how Charles Keeling established the Mauna Loa readings by using the lowest readings of the afternoon. He ignored natural sources, a practice that continues. Beck presumes Keeling decided to avoid these low level natural sources by establishing the station at 4000 meters up the volcano. As Beck notes “Mauna Loa does not represent the typical atmospheric CO2 on different global locations but is typical only for this volcano at a maritime location in about 4000 m altitude at that latitude.” (Beck, 2008, “50 Years of Continuous Measurement of CO2 on Mauna Loa” Energy and Environment, Vol 19, No.7.) Keeling’s son continues to operate the Mauna Loa facility and as Beck notes, “owns the global monopoly of calibration of all CO2 measurements.” Since Keeling is a co-author of the IPCC reports they accept Mauna Loa without question.] TB

Well, we can add one more attempted solution to the "failed solutions" file: finger-painting.

From Wallyj's 12:22 link:

"Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanomo prison in November, 2007..."

"American officials agreed to send the two terrorists to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an 'art therapy rehabilitation program' and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials..."

I want to jump on the bandwagon and thank Vitruvius and Kate too.

Check out the expression on Montgomery's face throughout
tonight's show, Black Mamba. That's the key to the good life.

The natural end result of multiculturalism:

"The police are here in force, too. 'Take that mask off,' barks a sergeant to one young man. He does so immediately but protests: 'Why are they allowed to wear burkas in public but we're not allowed to cover our faces?'

'Just do what you're told,' the policeman snaps back."

"This is England:

Masked like terrorists, members of Britain's newest and fastest -growing protest group intimidate a Muslim woman on a train en route to a violent demo

Their aim? To drive out Islamic extremism. Their weapon? The thugs of Britain's most violent football gangs"

"Some of the most violent football hooligans in Britain head towards Manchester to support a march by the burgeoning English Defence League (EDL), while a woman dressed in a black hijab appears intimidated"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1238213/This-England-On-trail-English-Defence-League.html

one actually doesnt have to be reminded that this is ugly.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2009/12/28/rom-crystal.html

Mao Stlong: "'horrific, barbaric and outrageous'".

The end result? Socialist brothers feud: Brown vs Mao. What's new?

Georgian Socialist-communist Joe Stalin feuded with Viennese National Socialist-nazi Adolf.

Socialism is a cannibal.

The "Briton"'s name? Akmal Shaikh.
...-

"Akmal Shaikh: Briton Executed by Chinese Firing Squad, Body Will Not Be Returned

British man Akmal Shaikh has been executed in China, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

Mr Shaikh was due to be put to death at 2.30am UK time, and just after 4am his execution by firing squad was reported. He was said to have been buried immediately following his death and his body will not be returned to the UK.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown immediately condemned the execution, while Sally Rowen from legal charity Reprieve described the killing as 'horrific, barbaric and outrageous'. Mr Brown said: 'I condemn the execution of Akmal Shaikh in the strongest terms. I am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests clemency was not granted.'"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416762/posts

The Snatcher State*: Persia, aka Iran.

"(1) The basic analogy reverts to Part 1, where we cited the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In the film, alien “Body Snatchers” produce giant legume Pods that replace living people while appearing to be identical to them. From the Pods develop the new Body Snatchers who cultivate further Pods etc.

Snatcher State, per this central metaphor, is a state governed by an elite that seems to be so crazed and indifferent to Earthly reality as if it had come from outside our galaxy."

"From Meccania to Atlantis - Part 1: The March of the Body Snatchers"
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3612
...-

"The Iranian Body Snatchers at Work (Michael Ledeen)

In their desperate search for a way to quell the growing revolt of the Iranian people against the Islamic Republic, the regime’s storm troopers are arresting, beating and assassinating the families of the leaders of the Green Movement. Sunday, as millions of Iranians took the opportunity of the Ashura mourning day to take to the streets, a hit team gunned down the nephew of Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Seyed Ali Moussavi Habibi was witnessing a 4WD Neissan Patrol car running over a few people in front of his house before being shot and killed with the same people in the car. After running over a few people 5 people get off the car and one of them comes very close to Seyed ali Moussavi and shoots him with a gun in a way that the bullet passes through his chest and comes out from his back. Then all 5 get on the car and run away.

Seyed Ali’s corpse was taken to a hospital, where all could verify the nature of his mortal wound, and the regime ghouls decided to cover up the evidence. They carted off the body, saying they wanted to investigate the circumstances of his death. Yes, really.

The demonstrations raged over three days, including today, and you can find good videos all over the net. Here are two examples:

* Tehran, the evening of Ashura

* A wounded or dead person

The online coverage was excellent, from the New York and London Times to the Guardian, all of whom liveblogged it. And today there was plenty of reportage. I will leave you to their tender mercies. There are several key points to make, and then I will look forward.

First, in line with my basic sermon these many years, if you study the videos you will see many many women in the front ranks. They have every reason to be there, as the Islamic Republic (as so many Islamic regimes) is built on the sludge of misogyny.

Second, many of the evil Basij goons wore masks. This is new, and indicates fear that they will be identified and hunted down. The conflict is ever more violent; on several occasions crowds attacked security forces, even dragging them out of cars…and then, cursing them, letting them run away.

Third, in another ominous development for the regime, people from the southern (lower class) neighborhoods of Tehran joined in. The revolt is now very broad based. But it is not yet powerful enough for the Bazaaris to join; today the Tehran Bazaar was open for business."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416890/posts

Ralph Peters, Lying to ourselves

On Christmas Day, an Islamist fanatic tried to blow up an airplane whose passengers were mostly Christians. And we helped.

Our government gets no thanks for preventing a tragedy. Only the bomber's ineptitude preserved the lives of nearly 300 innocents...

cal2: re the addition to the ROM: "one actually doesn't need to be reminded that this is ugly."

That's for sure.

What we may need to be reminded about, however, is that the architect of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, is none other than Stephen Lewis' brother-in-law. Daniel Libeskind is married to Lewis' sister.

How else to explain this multi-million dollar disaster which, opines the Washington Post's Philip Kennicott, "surpasses the ugliness of bland functional buildings by being both ugly and useless."

Another thing we may need to be reminded about is that Daniel Libeskind got richer at Toronto taxpayers' expense.

Willy Stern, Inside Our 'Secret' Afghan Prisons

So why are the mainstream media, human rights groups, and civil libertarians all bent out of shape about the Field Detention Sites? Attribute it to the secrecy. The locations of the FDSs are secret. This is just plain common sense in a war zone. How else can you maintain operational security? Why tell the bad guys--who, after all, are trying to kill our soldiers--where their friends are being held? Some of these facilities are out in the hinterlands where our forces are stretched thin. Public knowledge of the FDS locations would put both our soldiers and the detainees at risk. But for reporters from the Times and the Post, secrecy means there must be something illegal going on.

But the Defense Department takes the secrecy a little too far, generally not allowing any media access to the facilities or even letting them be discussed on-the-record. This policy breeds conspiracy theories, gives rise to outlandish conjecture, and presents an alluring news hook for every muckraking scribe who is all too willing to publish detainees' uncorroborated tales of abuse...

Kenneth P. Green, Who's In Denial Now?

What's catastrophic about Climategate is that it reveals a science as broken as Michael Mann's hockey stick, which despite Reid's protestations, has been shown to be a misleading chart that erases a 400-year stretch of warm temperatures (called the Medieval Warm Period), and a more recent little ice-age that ended in the mid-1800s. No amount of hand-waving will restore the credibility of climate science while holding onto rubbish like that.

Climategate reveals skulduggery the general public can understand: that a tightly-linked clique of scientists were behaving as crusaders. Their letters reveal they were working in what they repeatedly labelled a "cause" to promote a political agenda...

Who'shhh shenator hic, Baucussh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1byjtWkE2PY&NR=1

Choo-Choo* is an AGW engineer, informed sources* say.
...-

"Why So Many Terrorists Get Their Start as Engineers

(Dec. 29) -- Of all the biographical details that have emerged about the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas, perhaps the least surprising -- at least to those who study these things -- is what he studied in college.

The terrorist suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, earned a degree in mechanical engineering from University College London in 2008, just over a year before he tried to demonstrate his skills by detonating an explosive device aboard the Detroit-bound plane. Among violent Islamic extremists, that puts him in familiar company. Indeed, the propensity toward engineering studies is an aspect of the terrorist profile that has drawn increased scrutiny of late from scholars, who have been advancing theories about the high correlation between the two.

In a study published this year, European sociologists Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog researched more than 400 known violent jihadists since the 1970s, including the 25 men involved with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Nearly half were known to have received some level of higher education, and of those, 44 percent were engineers -- including eight of the 9/11 plotters and hijackers. Engineering was by far the most popular field; the percentage of terrorists who had pursued it was more than twice as high as the second-place field, Islamic studies.

"The bottom line is that while the probability of a Muslim engineer becoming a violent Islamist is minuscule, it is still between three and four times that for other graduates," Gambetta wrote in an article in the New Scientist that summarized the pair's findings, which were published in August in the European Journal of Sociology.

(Excerpt) Read more at sphere.com"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417005/posts
...-

*Choo-Choo:
"Dr Pachauri has been elected as Chairman of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on ... University, Raleigh, NC, USA, where he obtained an MS in Industrial Engineering"
www.climatescience.gov/Library/bios/pachauri.htm

"Why So Many Terrorists Get Their Start as Engineers"

because a Art History Muslim terrorist would instill the fear of Allah in all those leftoids.

Vitruvius at 1:25 AM said:

"Check out the expression on Montgomery's face throughout
tonight's show, Black Mamba. That's the key to the good life."

Montgomery was a mellow listen but his innovation came mostly from having to achieve technique with the handicap of his self-taught thumbing style.

OTOH Lenny Breau was pure delight because his technique was clean, well defined and passionately intense. Breau never had Montgomery's notoriety even though he was a far superior virtuoso guitar player - maybe it had something to do with being Canadian.

Globe and Mail, Monday.

Ten years ago the Supreme Court of Canada ordered the country's courts to try to keep aboriginal offenders out of jail, but not much seems to have changed. Aboriginals comprise less than 4% of the population, but 24% of inmates ...

The decision referred to is named Gladue. It concerned a 19-year-old aboriginal woman who, while drunk, killed her common-law husband on suspicion of infidelity. She was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. Section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code requires sentencing judges to consider "all available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances" and to pay "particular attention" to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders. The Supreme Court decided that a jail term for an aboriginal offender could in some circumstances be less than for a non-aboriginal. It did not, however, lower the sentence in this case.

Note that the victim here was also an aboriginal, as are many victims of crime by aboriginals. Might one not think that lesser sentences in these circumstances show a lack of regard for them?

Gladue highlights (some from the summary):

The Court: "in sentencing an aboriginal offender, the judge must consider: (a) the unique systemic or background factors which may have played a part in bringing the particular aboriginal offender before the courts; and (b) the types of sentencing procedures and sanctions which may be appropriate in the circumstances for the offender because of his or her particular aboriginal heritage or connection"

First of all, noting "unique systemic or background factors" is a political statement, which the courts are supposed to avoid (although I can see where that might be difficult). And while special sanctions such as "sentencing circles" (an aboriginal tradition involving penitence) might not be inappropriate given their meaningfulness to the accused, they would be more applicable for minor crimes and where the victim consents (thankfully, the Court does make a comment that the more serious and violent the crime, the more likely the prison terms will be the same without regard to background).

The Court: "The jail term for an aboriginal offender may in some circumstances be less than the term imposed on a non-aboriginal offender for the same offence. However, s. 718.2(e) is not to be taken as a means of automatically reducing the prison sentence of aboriginal offenders; nor should it be assumed that an offender is receiving a more lenient sentence simply because incarceration is not imposed."

S. 718.2(e) does not mention reduced prison terms at all; it refers only to alternatives to sentencing.

The Court: "As a general principle, s. 718.2(e) applies to all offenders, and states that imprisonment should be the penal sanction of last resort. Prison is to be used only where no other sanction or combination of sanctions is appropriate to the offence and the offender."

Nor is the term "last resort" found in s. 718.2(e). The judges made this up too.

The Court: "The next question is the meaning to be attributed to the words 'with particular attention to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders'. The phrase cannot be an instruction for judges to pay 'more' attention when sentencing aboriginal offenders."

If anyone can figure out a way of giving "particular" attention to something without giving it "more" attention, please inform the rest of us.

The Court: "Sentencing, like the criminal trial process itself, has often been understood as a conflict between the interests of the state (as expressed through the aims of separation, deterrence, and denunciation) and the interests of the individual offender (as expressed through the aim of rehabilitation). Indeed, rehabilitation itself is a relative late-comer to the sentencing analysis, which formerly favoured the interests of the state almost entirely."

It is in the interests of all other individuals within that state and in the world that an offender faces the consequences of his crime. That is where the "interests of the state" derive from, and that is why excessive leniency from the state is not justified. To take any other attitude is to regard the state more as a "merciful God" overlord than as the servant of the people with a specific function.

The Court: "The parties and interveners agree that the purpose of s. 718.2(e) is to respond to the problem of overincarceration in Canada, and to respond, in particular, to the more acute problem of the disproportionate incarceration of aboriginal peoples."

Surely crime is the real problem, not "overincarceration"?

The Court: "Canada is a world leader in many fields, particularly in the areas of progressive social policy and human rights. Unfortunately, our country is also distinguished as being a world leader in putting people in prison."

These are political statements. It is for Parliament and the Canadian people to decide, not judges. The public may decide at any time not to be so "progressive".

The Court: "The drastic overrepresentation of aboriginal peoples within both the Canadian prison population and the criminal justice system reveals a sad and pressing social problem."

Indeed it does, but sentencing leniency is not a solution to a social problem.

The Court: "Something must also be said as to the manner in which s. 718.2(e) should not be interpreted. ... While the respondent saw the provision largely as a restatement of existing sentencing principles, the appellant advanced the position that s. 718.2(e) functions as an affirmative action provision justified under s. 15(2) of the Charter. The respondent cautioned that, in his view, the appellant's understanding of the provision would result in 'reverse discrimination' so as to favour aboriginal offenders over other offenders."

Considering that the Court had previously stated that 'In some circumstances the length of the sentence of an aboriginal offender may be less and in others the same as that of any other offender', it would not be unreasonable to regard it as favourable to an "affirmative action" of sorts here.

Finally: "The unbalanced ratio of imprisonment for aboriginal offenders flows from a number of sources, including poverty, substance abuse, lack of education, and the lack of employment opportunities for aboriginal people. It arises also from bias against aboriginal people and from an unfortunate institutional approach that is more inclined to refuse bail and to impose more and longer prison terms for aboriginal offenders."

Insofar as there are "more and longer" prison terms given to aboriginal offenders arising from "bias", this indicates a very serious problem that must find a solution.

As I've said before, the aboriginals' main problem is that they were socialized by a paternalistic state long before the rest of us. I would argue that the goal of the "social justice" activists is to have us all living the same way.

A heck of an idea!

Midget and Atom hockey players at a local tourny are wearing the names of members of the CF who have passed away, either recently in combat or vets that have passed on.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1159770.html

good laff for a dull day

dave barry's year in review

http://www.miamiherald.com/283/story/1397654.html

Posted by: nv53 at December 29, 2009 2:00 PM

excellent post nv53, and a clear example of race-based law enacted in Canada. The conditions these create is a parallel society of persons with special rights, privileges, and treatment based solely upon skin colour.

Thus, situations such as Caledonia can be created and exist, where preferred Canadians are more equal than others, and the law is applied unevenly upon citizens.

Sadly, this result stems from the Indian Industry - a self fulfilling bureaucracy of institutionalized structures that perpetuate and enhance the divisions between Canadians (props to Jim Prentice - a lifer of the Industry - who expanded Indian Affairs staff and budget by 12% during his 2 year tenure there).

The application of race based law - imho - is the most pathetic achievement of that ghoul Trudeau - who used his twisted parochial socialism to institutionalize racism in Canada.

If he wasn't dead, I'd flip the a$$hole the bird, as he did enthusiastically to anyone outside of Quebec.

"The Canadian government reacted to the parody in Copenhagen by throwing a public tantrum.

An aide to Harper sent Canadian newspapers a furious denunciation of what he called "a childish prank," and was filmed furiously (and falsely) accusing a leading Quebec environmentalist of being behind it."...

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/189467.asp

Wow. What more can Harper learn from the Iranians?

Firstly, though you may be in favour of spreading false information and other kinds of lying, Hardboiled, it remains the case that the allegedly blocked sites were in violation of section 181 of the criminal code, and secondly, I just tried the links to the sites as given in the article you referenced, and they work, so they are not actually blocked at all. Perhaps you should consider more carefully the veracity of your own public comments, at least in light of section 181.

Perhaps the Iranians learned from this guy www.cbc.ca/news/story/1999/10/26/bc_apec991026.html and da boss http://torontoist.com/attachments/erinbalser/20091711photoscanada4.jpg

Perhaps not.

Louise @ 2;13... Please Louise, Squease...... Eradicate that Trudopian memory.. I too have made judgemental errors when it came to this man. I voted for this weaselfaced a--hole. I liked his "Just watch me "quote. I think that was the last thing he did that was worthwhile for us suffering Canadians.

let me try this again

youtube michel camilo "this way out"

enjoy