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This is the 2nd time today that I've seen a reference to Wile E Coyote. The first was by Ian Vaughan in regard to Bob Rae.

Aren't strange things supposed to happen in threes?!

Hudak unveils the PC Party's election platform for this fall's election in Ontario.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/29/hudak-unveils-election-promises

These days, with all the terrible news of floods, fires, earthquakes, and devastation, it's good to pause for a moment, and think of the truly victimized.

Fortunately, for that, there's always this site:

Microaggressions

"Was This Trip Necessary?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrnB1OMhETI

Video clip from the film, 'Battleground' (1949), where the roving chaplain addresses the men of 101st Airborne near Bastogne at Christmas time 1944.

"The organist is hitting those bass notes a little to hard for me to be heard, so let us each pray in his own way, to his own God."

You can't do anything in San Diego anymore without first spending time and money on an environmental review.

Fireworks shows need new environmental review

"What started as a battle over fireworks shows led to a sweeping legal victory Friday for environmentalists that could stymie a wide range of events needing city permits, from the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon to birthday parties held at parks."

“According to the strictest interpretation of this, jumpy-jumps and everything else would be subject to environmental review if this ruling stands,” said lawyer Robert Howard, who represented the La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation in the case. “It’s a breathtaking ruling.”
...
“What’s next, a lawsuit against swimmers for polluting the ocean with their suntan lotion?”

Hey, you Tea Party-ers: let's see your Environmental Review Certificate for this meeting!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/conservative-bill-to-set-term-limits-allow-elections-for-senators/article2039317/

The PM follows through with yet another promise. Article is from the G&M so it's funny to read the comments claiming that while the appointments were bad, this will be worse, somehow.

Our Numbered Days
Certain Death & the Last Lectures of Socrates & Jesus

by Randall B. Smith

Read more: http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=24-02-030-f#ixzz1No8E1ALR

Surprise! Unexpectedly posted. Not by an expert.

...-

"Pro-Obama Media Always Shocked by Bad Economic News"

"Unexpectedly!

As megablogger Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, has noted with amusement, the word "unexpectedly" or variants thereon keep cropping up in mainstream media stories about the economy.

"New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed," reported cnbc.com May 25.

"Personal consumption fell," Business Insider reported the same day, "when it was expected to rise."

"Durable goods declined 3.6 percent last month," Reuters reported May 25, "worse than economists' expectations."

"Previously owned home sales unexpectedly fall," headlined Bloomberg News May 19.

"U.S. home construction fell unexpectedly in April," wrote The Wall Street Journal May 18.

Those examples are all from the last two weeks. Reynolds has been linking to similar items since October 2009.

Mainstream media may finally be catching up. "The latest economic numbers have not been good," David Leonhardt wrote in the May 26 New York Times. "Another report showed that economic growth at the start of the year was no faster than the Commerce Department initially reported -- 'a real surprise,' said Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics.""

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2727070/posts

OK ....... "the worm has turned"
Canada has a stable majority 'conservative' government, and SUN TV has emerged in Canada.

So far so good, but can SUN TV establish its self credibly in Canada as FOX Cable News has in the US?

For those of us Canadians who have looked south to FOX at 8:00 Pm for our fix of conservative sanity in commentary ..... need thicker gruel from SUN TV than we have so far.

Which SUN TV commentator will take the initiative to give Kate McMillan a regular guest spot?

Millions of SDA readers know Kate would draw more attention in one guest spot to SUN TV than any other Canadian at this critical time for SUN TV.

Although Conrad Black is a long shot and trashy TV is not to his liking, he would add instant conservative gravitas to any SUN TV programming.

OR Lorne Gunter.

Or Patrick Muttart.

Are you listening Kory Teneycke?

OK ....... "the worm has turned"
Canada has a stable majority 'conservative' government, and SUN TV has emerged in Canada.

So far so good, but can SUN TV establish its self credibly in Canada as FOX Cable News has in the US?

For those of us Canadians who have looked south to FOX at 8:00 Pm for our fix of conservative sanity in commentary, need thicker gruel from SUN TV than we have so far.

Which SUN TV commentator will take the initiative to give Kate McMillan a regular guest spot?

Millions of SDA readers know Kate would draw more attention in one guest spot to SUN TV than any other Canadian at this critical time for SUN TV.

Although Conrad Black is a long shot and trashy TV is not to his liking, he would add instant conservative gravitas to any SUN TV programming.

OR Lorne Gunter.

Or Patrick Muttart.

Are you listening Kory Teneycke?

Thank-you for the link to the last lectures of Socrates and Jesus Christ, Our Lord; Revnant Dream. I agree with your suggestions for Sun TV Joe Molnar.

So apparently, the Israeli prime minister phoned Harper to get him to kill the 1967 borders language from the communique. What an awesome revelation. The unfortunate thing is it's politically dangerous to admit that. It really shouldn't be but we know what the "tolerant left" thinks of Israel.

EBD - You say the Prairie Chiefs "sang" the theme song to Gunsmoke? Didn't know there were words to that theme. Have you got a link to that or failing that - what the words are?

Surprise! Another "stronger than expected".

>>> "The economic handoff into the second quarter was stronger than expected".

...-

"Canada's GDP Expands 3.9%"

"Canada's economy expanded at a 3.9% annualized pace in January through March, the fastest clip in a year and more than double the rate in the U.S., as businesses replenished inventories and boosted investment spending and exports rose while consumer and government spending stalled, Statistics Canada said Monday.

Gross domestic product growth was marginally below the consensus call of 4%, and also undershot the Bank of Canada's 4.2% forecast.

GDP growth accelerated from a downwardly revised 3.1% in the fourth quarter, which was originally reported at 3.3%. The economic performance was the reverse of the U.S. where growth decelerated to 1.8% in the first quarter from 3.1% previously.

On a quarterly basis, GDP in Canada accelerated 1% from 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303745304576355170933584418.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Surprise! Another "stronger than expected".

>>> "The economic handoff into the second quarter was stronger than expected".

...-

"Canada's GDP Expands 3.9%"

"Canada's economy expanded at a 3.9% annualized pace in January through March, the fastest clip in a year and more than double the rate in the U.S., as businesses replenished inventories and boosted investment spending and exports rose while consumer and government spending stalled, Statistics Canada said Monday.

Gross domestic product growth was marginally below the consensus call of 4%, and also undershot the Bank of Canada's 4.2% forecast.

GDP growth accelerated from a downwardly revised 3.1% in the fourth quarter, which was originally reported at 3.3%. The economic performance was the reverse of the U.S. where growth decelerated to 1.8% in the first quarter from 3.1% previously.

On a quarterly basis, GDP in Canada accelerated 1% from 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010."

urlm.in/hudt

wee doan neeed no steenking fans senior.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/05/30/18210471.html

I was so relieved when my daughter quit the army cadets last year. I look at the wars we have been involved in lately and all I see are canadians dying in foreign deserts in defense of some filthy unworthy foreigners who would just as soon see us dead anyway. If you ask me we should send our troops to bomb switzerland and execute the international profiteers for whom so many Canadian have died. Well at least my kid won't be sacrificing her life so some scumbag banker can make a profit.

We drove down Denman St yesterday (Stanley Park area). Never saw so many spaced, ancient hippies - feet seemed not to contact the ground, heh.

Most of the blog post is anti-coal, pro-AGW mumbo jumbo but I just found this section hilariously funny in a Rex Murphy kind of way:

Germany turns to witchcraft to decide energy policy

Germany prides itself on its green credentials. The list of things you are not allowed to do in the Federal Republic in the name of environmental correctness is eye-watering.

There are rules governing where you can wash your car (can’t have those nasty detergents running into the groundwater). Putting the bin out in Munich or Aachen requires a post-doctorate qualification in recycling theory. My car is German and its handbook is peppered with endless green naggery. And it is 16 years old; nowadays German cars come equipped with a Greenpeace warrior to shout at you from the back seat.

http://hanlonblog.dailymail.co.uk/

Paul @1:07 It is good that she quite.We need people who wiil stand up and say "here am I send me"

Paul (above) may wish to visit Jin Libin "who set himself on fire one day in April and burned to death."

Paul, you will find Jin Libin here*:

*The PET Cemetery.

H/T Liberal leader Bob Rae, Mao Stlong's nephew.

...-

"China’s slowdown"

"Starts with a spark"

"CHINA’S economy has, at least on paper, survived forces that have overwhelmed much of the rest of the world. But the recent round of bank tightening seems, at least indirectly, to be hitting with real force. Slowly, word has spread of Jin Libin, a resident of Inner Mongolia who ran a business empire encompassing supermarkets, mining and transport, who set himself on fire one day in April and burned to death. According to the Global Times, a government-run newspaper, he left private debts of $1.3 billion yuan ($191m) of private loans and another 150m yuan of loans from banks.

Still to be reflected is the impact of his collapse on his lenders, which, the Global Times says, included local banks, pawnshops and guaranty companies that had lent him money. No doubt there were also substantial loans from an impersonal network, a form of credit that is commonly used in China, though not legal. The consequences will not be trivial. Many other explosions driven by the same financial forces that brought down Mr Jin are sure to come.

In part, the travails of private businessmen stem from well-known trends in China: higher costs for wages, pressure from overseas buyers facing turmoil in their own countries, a (slightly) rising yuan, higher direct payments for energy—and sometimes indirect payments as well, as power producers hit capacity and send their buyers on the to grey market. But another important factor is China’s deliberate effort to use financial tools to undermine inflation. The search for a soft landing is beginning to take its toll.

Rather than merely allowing interest rates to rise, the Bank of China has steadily tightened the major banks’ reserve requirements, which now stand at 21%. That has effectively made credit more difficult to obtain without disturbing the nominal price of a loan. A consequence is that well-connected borrowers, primarily state-owned or state-controlled companies, still can get abundant cheap credit while players on the private market have an increasingly tough time. Mr Jin was said to be paying 5m yuan in interest daily before he killed himself.

Complaints about rocketing private rates are becoming increasingly common. Because private financing is largely informal, there is no way measure precisely the magnitude of these changes, nor the pervasiveness of the loans nor the fragility of borrowers. It is safe to venture this much: Mr Jin is hardly the only Chinese tycoon to be facing trying times."

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/05/china%E2%80%99s_slowdown?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/startswithaspark

Paul (above) may wish to visit Jin Libin "who set himself on fire one day in April and burned to death."

Paul, you will find Jin Libin here*:

*The PET Cemetery.

H/T Liberal leader Bob Rae, Mao Stlong's nephew.

...-

"China’s slowdown"

"Starts with a spark"

"CHINA’S economy has, at least on paper, survived forces that have overwhelmed much of the rest of the world. But the recent round of bank tightening seems, at least indirectly, to be hitting with real force. Slowly, word has spread of Jin Libin, a resident of Inner Mongolia who ran a business empire encompassing supermarkets, mining and transport, who set himself on fire one day in April and burned to death. According to the Global Times, a government-run newspaper, he left private debts of $1.3 billion yuan ($191m) of private loans and another 150m yuan of loans from banks.

Still to be reflected is the impact of his collapse on his lenders, which, the Global Times says, included local banks, pawnshops and guaranty companies that had lent him money. No doubt there were also substantial loans from an impersonal network, a form of credit that is commonly used in China, though not legal. The consequences will not be trivial. Many other explosions driven by the same financial forces that brought down Mr Jin are sure to come.

In part, the travails of private businessmen stem from well-known trends in China: higher costs for wages, pressure from overseas buyers facing turmoil in their own countries, a (slightly) rising yuan, higher direct payments for energy—and sometimes indirect payments as well, as power producers hit capacity and send their buyers on the to grey market. But another important factor is China’s deliberate effort to use financial tools to undermine inflation. The search for a soft landing is beginning to take its toll.

Rather than merely allowing interest rates to rise, the Bank of China has steadily tightened the major banks’ reserve requirements, which now stand at 21%. That has effectively made credit more difficult to obtain without disturbing the nominal price of a loan. A consequence is that well-connected borrowers, primarily state-owned or state-controlled companies, still can get abundant cheap credit while players on the private market have an increasingly tough time. Mr Jin was said to be paying 5m yuan in interest daily before he killed himself.

Complaints about rocketing private rates are becoming increasingly common. Because private financing is largely informal, there is no way measure precisely the magnitude of these changes, nor the pervasiveness of the loans nor the fragility of borrowers. It is safe to venture this much: Mr Jin is hardly the only Chinese tycoon to be facing trying times."

urlm.in/hueo

PET Cemetery's Multicultural Revenge.

"When looking for the organism, it's tricky to find," said Poutanen,".

...-

"Superbug spreads to Toronto area"

"A multi-drug resistant superbug well-known in India and Pakistan has made its way to the Greater Toronto Area, a study finds."

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/05/30/18212971.html

I agree with Joe Molnar about SunTV, which I watch every night.

More gravitas, please.

And, please, Krista and Theo, tone it down on your one-on-one. I don't mind the one-on-one, but we don't need it to be turned into a puddle of hilarity. Intelligent banter is fine but banter alone, punctuated with guffaws at, obviously, in-jokes isn't edifying.

Thanks for listening.

O'bama narcissist*: Change, as not expected; no Hope.

"The desire to own your own home, long a bedrock of the American Dream, is fast becoming a casualty of the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression."

"“The emotional scars left by the collapse are changing the American psyche,".

"*This is his sole legacy: a massive post-traumatic stress disorder."

...-

"Housing Index Is Expected to Show a New Low in Prices"

"Even as the economy began to fitfully recover in the last year, the percentage of homeowners dropped sharply to 66.4 percent from a peak of 69.2 percent in 2004. The ownership rate is now back to the level of 1998, and some housing experts say it could decline to the level of the 1980s or even earlier.

Disenchantment with real estate is bound to swell further on Tuesday when the most widely watched housing index is all but guaranteed to show prices of existing homes sank in March below the lows reached two years ago — until now the bottom of the housing crash. In February, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of 20 large cities slumped for the seventh month in a row.

Housing is locked in a downward spiral, industry analysts say, not only because so many people are blocked from the market — being unemployed, in foreclosure or trapped in homes that are worth less than the mortgage — but because even those who are solvent are opting out.

“The emotional scars left by the collapse are changing the American psyche,” said Pete Flint, chief executive of the housing Web site Trulia. “There was a time when owning a home was a symbol you had made it. Now it’s O.K. not to own.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/business/31housing.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

*O'narcissist:

http://www.globalpolitician.com/25109-barack-obama-elections