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I'm going to get the single biggest uncovered news story of the last month out of the way right off the top: a Saskatoon woman is "Overwhelmed by Poplar Fluff."

It's a tragedy of epic proportions:

"I begged the city to come and look and they said to me 'It's just a little fluff problem.' I don't have a little fluff problem. There are ten (trees) and it is a humongous problem."

The Washington Examiner's senior political analyst Michael Barone:

"It's racially discriminatory to prohibit racial discrimination. That's the bottom line of a decision issued Friday, just before the Fourth of July weekend, by the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The case was brought by an organization called By Any Means Necessary to overturn a state constitutional amendment passed by a 58 percent majority of Michigan voters in November 2006."

[...]

"(The ballot proposition's) chief goal was to ban the racial quotas and preferences long used in admissions by Michigan's state universities. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 overturned the explicit quotas used by the University of Michigan's undergraduate college but, in a controlling opinion by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, approved the 'holistic' admissions process of Michigan's law school."

[...]

"The argument for racial quotas and preferences is that every sort of talent and ability is equally distributed among every conceivable category of persons, but that quotas and preferences are needed to identify qualified members of groups that were objects of discrimination in the past.

"But the idea of equal distribution of talents and abilities, as Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray showed definitively in their 1994 book 'The Bell Curve,' is simply factually wrong."

The whole thing here.

The Great Madness of 2004-10

The First Symptoms of Hatred—2004 to 2008

For about seven years the nation lost its collective mind — and was only partially coming-to in November 2010.

During the years of insanity, Al Gore won both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award for his propaganda film An Inconvenient Truth — before the disclosures of ClimateGate, new data on everything from the Himalayan glaciers to polar bear populations, realization that temperatures had not risen in the last 12 years, and the rather blatant and various money-making schemes of Gore, Inc. (that parlayed green advocacy into a billion-dollar, medieval exemption/carbon offset empire, several homes, and a propensity for carbon spewing private jet travel).

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-great-madness-of-2004-10/

http://www.newstalk980.com/audio/john-gormley-live/20110711-john-gormley-live-july-11-2011-wcwga-saskatchewan-vice-president-ge

The above is a link to the excellent interview given by my good buddy Geoff Hewson, the vice-president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association to John Gormley this morning.

Some good callers too. I'll let them speak for themselves!

Also a shout out to John for doing a good job sitting in for Uncle Chuck. I'm glad one is on in the afternoon and one in the morning and I don't have to choose.

Both John and Charles need there own shows!

not one but 10 poplars. . .

the horror , the horror.........

agreed the world has too many news reporters.

Canada leads where My Hero, Zero fears to tread:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/11/us-downplays-north-korea-chairmanship-un-disarmament-panel-calls-position/

Obviously Saskatoon city council needs a fluffer.

Poplar fluff isn't the only menace -- check out this article, in the Norwich Evening News, about a "dangerous" playground in Norwich. It describes how fourteen-year-old "youngster" (photo at the link) Sam Shepherd required stitches in his leg after falling in the playground. "He was running when he fell on a curb next to the main slide."

Said Shepherd of the concrete curb: "It was very hard and sharp."

A nine-year-old girl broke her leg after "falling off a pole slide", and a fourteen-year-old girl hit her head when she was sitting in a swing: "I was sitting cross-legged and my friend grabbed the rope and I bashed my head."

According to her mother, "the blue ring around the swing was too hard."

The news report ends with this:

"Has your child been hurt at the playground? Contact Evening News reporter Annabelle Dickson at..."

Even if the poplar fluff comes from females, my friend Keith calls it "tree sperm".

The walleye bite like crazy that time of year too, I might add. Keith also fishes lots.

I would recommend that the poplar fluff lady watch the movie "The Day of the Triffids". There are a few tips on how to deal with unwanted plants.

Ezra Levant interviews one of my favourite podcasters, Adam Carolla.

Carolla, who is known for lacing his rants with more than a few F-bombs, is clearly tempered down in this interview. When he appears at the QE Theatre in Toronto, he won't be so polite.

h/t Matt from Mississauga

Hi, Kate.

Maybe, in light of the the next post, an SDA regular "book club" may be a great idea?

I look forward to the lefty head explosions when one of your well-read, well-educated, and generally intellectual readers suggests "Mein Kampf" as a historical learning tool.

I read it many years ago in a university English class. The prof did not like my essay on the work, however. I drew too many examples of similar NDP policies...

PET Cemetery/FDR Cemetery Book Club Now Offers Free:

O'Cemetery.

H/T Pontius the Pilate.

"It appears that the left is washing its hands of Obama."

...-

"Dunn: The Left Starts to Dump Obama"

"It appears that the left is washing its hands of Obama. In recent days we’ve seen a number of left-wing spokesmen ranging from Bill Maher to Frank Rich dismissing Obama as a disappointment — too centrist, too moderate, not at all the American Lenin they’d ordered. Even Mark Halperin, who would fracture his nose if any Democratic politician ever stopped short, dismissed the messiah as a “dick” on MSNBC.

On the face of it, this is nonsense. Barack Obama stands as the most left-wing president on record. No other president comes close to matching him. Franklin D. Roosevelt was a pragmatist, willing to try anything that worked, even when it didn’t. He was also pliable enough to be manipulated by people like Adolf Berle and Rexford Tugwell, authors of the NRA and AAA, and both pure leftists. (In the Goldbergian sense — they both admired fascism just as much as they did communism). Lyndon B. Johnson exhibited a political split personality in combining a domestic leftism with an international anti-communism that made no political sense and finally wound up destroying him. As for Jimmy Carter, he probably matched Obama for left-of-center tendencies, but he was so ineffectual that it went nowhere. Bill Clinton, under the direction of Dick Morris, governed as a moderate conservative, whatever his personal proclivities.

[More]"

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/the_left_starts_to_dump_obama.html

http://www.jacksnewswatch.com/

O'Cemetery: An Introduction.

Ich Bin Ein Aktion Mit Der O's Button.

"... because for me it helps illustrate how some of the debate about Obama is unproductive.”

"“We asked people who had Obama buttons in their closets to bring them and wear them —".

...-

"Keystone XL: Liberal activists plan civil disobedience outside White House"

"Free publicity:"

"Bill McKibben’s Call to Action: “I want to tell you about an upcoming action — it looks set to turn into the biggest civil disobedience protest in the history of the North American climate movement. It will take place at the White House from August 20-Sept. 3, and we need your help spreading the word. But I want to explain the reasoning behind it in some detail, because for me it helps illustrate how some of the debate about Obama is unproductive.”

"President Obama has recently been criticized by former VP Al Gore in his rambling Rolling Stone article. But apparently that’s been “unproductive” and some damage control is in order. McKibben has the perfect solution in order to lobby the President to kill the Keystone Pipeline: “We asked people who had Obama buttons in their closets to bring them and wear them — many of us still remember the shivers that ran down our spines when he said, on the eve of his nomination, that with his election “the rise of the oceans would begin to slow and the planet begin to heal.“

Continue reading →"

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/07/12/keystone-xl-liberal-activists-plan-civil-disobedience-outside-white-house/#more-43295

This campaign appears to be ripe for parody and mockery: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/07/12/sex-work-advocacy-group-tries-to-remind-that-prostitues-are-people-too/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K_rHFKRwv5Y

The history channel is running a miniseries about John Adams right now. Last night's premier was pretty good. Given that I went to public school in BC, I know very little about American history so I find these kinds of shows very interesting. During "social studies" we focused on "world religions" (islam) and european history. It was as if the US did not exist at all.

Italy: Too Big To Fail.

"But unlike Greece, it is definitely too big to fail."

...-

"The Next Domino?"

"Italy Suffers from Euro-Zone Contagion Fears"

"Italy has slid into the speculators' crosshairs amid concerns that the euro-zone crisis could hit the country next. In many respects, Italy is much better off than its neighbors on the periphery. But unlike Greece, it is definitely too big to fail."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,773818,00.html

Canada is no. 185 on a list of 191. China of course is no.1

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html

What I found odd was Greece is no.180.

Al Gore is back with a new climate change alarmist initiative called, ironically enough, Climate Reality.

http://climaterealityproject.org/

The take away from the site seems to be that weather events are now indicative of climate change.

For instance the page on Mexico City makes the following blanket claim:

While Mexico City has always experienced droughts and floods, both types of extreme weather are expected to get worse as the climate changes.

Flashback to "lone gunman": Mohammedan Gamil Gharbi.

H/T Taliban Jacques Bloc Separatist*.

...-

"Polytechnique students fight for long-gun registry

"Provincial regulation 'better than nothing'"

"Fourteen women were killed by a lone gunman at the École Polytechnique in 1989."

MONTREAL - A provincially administered long-gun registry established in case the federal registry is abolished would be "better than nothing," a spokesperson for Polytechnique Students and Graduates for Gun Control said Monday."

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Polytechnique+students+fight+long+registry/5086951/story.html
...-

*NDP leader Jack Layton:

"My head exploded that year."

http://www.gendercide.org/case_montreal.html

Game of Thrones

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/george-rr-martin-at-the-top-of-his-game-of-thrones/article2093774/

If you don't know, you'd better ask somebody!

Socialist Toomy Douglas' Death Care Watch: "went ballistic" on aides".

Free from PET Cemetery Report.

...-

"Liberal MPP breaks ranks over C. difficile outbreak
Toronto Star - ‎19 hours ago‎
Liberal MPP Kim Craitor was so frustrated with the local Niagara Health System that he says he “went ballistic” on aides to Health Minister Deb Matthews."

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1023230--liberal-mpp-breaks-ranks-over-c-difficile-outbreak?bn=1

...-

"Drinking guidelines play down cancer risks
Vancouver Sun"

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Drinking+guidelines+play+down+cancer+risks/5087832/story.html

Poll-
Only 44 percent say they "believe the theory" that carbon dioxide emissions are warming the Earth, down from 51 percent in 2009 and 71 percent in 2007

http://tinyurl.com/6c7f49k

EBD, thanks for that Star Peanuts story. I don't think such fluff belongs in a newspaper. In a magazine, maybe. Say, Poplar Mechanics...

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Indonesia+stops+Tamil+boat+likely+headed+Canada/5090449/story.html

A boatload of could-be New Canadians has been stopped in Indonesian waters by the authorities. There are 84 potential taxpaying newcomers on board,no word if Canada intends to intervene and welcome them in Vancouver in a couple of weeks.

More Goredom boredom from the Neo-AGW Progress Report. Here's the BO.

"UK Guardian eco-journalist Suzanne Goldenberg gives away the store with this line: “The campaign represents a modest comeback for Gore who has reduced his public profile on climate action in the past few years – probably out of consideration for the political consequences to his fellow Democrat Barack Obama.”

"So Al Gore’s decision to lower his profile was to avoid forcing Obama to make politically unpopular decisions? I think there are additional reasons related to his personal life."

"Lipstick on a pig: Gore rebrands climate outfit"

http://wattsupwiththat.com/

Of socialism and survival.

...-

"New bailout blueprint for Greece doubles cost to taxpayers
The Guardian - ‎29 minutes ago‎
Willem Buiter, a former member of the Bank of England's MPC, warned that the eurozone was facing an 'existential' moment."

"Is the Euro Entering Its Dying Throes? Wall Street Journal"

...-

"Starving dogs survived on owners' remains CBC.ca"

http://news.google.ca/news?pz=1&cf=all&ned=ca&hl=en&q&js=0

Kash vs more cuts to the left-liberal arts, & "CBC, arts".

It's a confluence whereby the cash, aka Our Tax Dollars, flies over the seats and out the windows.

...-

"Moore warns of budget cuts to CBC, arts
National Post"

"Kash Heed will not lose seat over campaign spending scandal
Globe and Mail"

http://news.google.ca/news?pz=1&cf=all&ned=ca&hl=en&q&js=0

San Diego is considering mandatory cat licensing as a source of revenue:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Cat-Owners-Hiss-at--Registration-Proposal-125383498.html?dr

Honestly, I think the term 'bureaucrat' should be redefined as a form of mental illness.

Tornado warning for Delisle, Kate. This one looks like it could produce. Please be safe.

Here's a headline that needs correcting!!
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/High+powered+lobby+calls+Canada+wean+itself/5091658/story.html

More like....Environmental Lobby that will benefit from reducing Oil Use calls for Canada to wean itself off oil....(so there fund makes more $$$)

The CBC comments section of a Canada Post story takes a sound thrashing