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Michael Coren: God Bless America.

(In French accent): "Tekk your feeelthy money helsewhere…"

"British owners of holiday homes in France are to be hit with punitive tax rises under plans announced by the new Socialist government..."

The extra taxes are being described as a "social charge."

ObamaNation,,,rules are for thee, not for me.

So Harper is replacing Oda with...Fantino. Harper: always finding ways to do worse.

To paraphrase the unctuous personal injury lawyer played by Phil Hartman, "Were you in a workplace accident that left you uninjured? Well, you might be more injured than you think":

"When they said Obama would be a historic president, they weren’t kidding. The Obama reign of terror has set yet another record. Last month, 8,733,461 workers took federal disability insurance payments. Beat the record set in the previous month. Compare this with with George H.W. Bush’s last year in office in 1992 when there was a similar lousy economy, and 'only' 3,334,333 workers took federal disability insurance payments in June of that year."

h/t Bad Blue

Found at "The People's Cube"....

http://www.thepeoplescube.com/

An invitation to go mess with the LIberals and their "Save Our Network" campaign.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on why Louisiana won't be participating in Obama's health care exchanges:

"Let's step back and realize what they're doing. In the middle of the greatest recession since the Great Depression, the president has created yet another entitlement program. We can't afford the ones we've got. $1.76 trillion in new spending, over $500 billion in tax increases, over $500 billion in Medicare cuts. This is simply not affordable, it's not sustainable.

"You know, we used to celebrate when we got people off of government programs. Instead, this president seems to want to make more and more Americans dependent on the government."

h/t

Further to the slightly heated discussion about power lines in this comments thread, here's an article in The American Interest Magazine about the relative merits/practicality/costs of burying powerlines instead of stringing them up.

Re: Bev Oda.

How much did Bev Oda cost the Cdn taxpayer as compared to say, Chretien and Sponsorgate?

Maybe about one millionth, Plainzdrifter, but in certain quarters her ten-dollar (or whatever it was) orange juice created an even greater amount of media outrage.

RT: "We are all Kulaks now."

Does that Star-Spangled banner yet wave? Excerpt from David P. Goldman's "A National Anthem that Begins and Ends with a Question":

But now the first light of the dawn has come. The bombardment has ceased. The poet asks that the listener say whether, in the dim sunrise, he still can see the flag above the ramparts. It is an anxious moment; the hearer has watched through the night to see if the US position has held or fallen; in a few moments he will see in the first light of day whether the flag is still there. All the fears of the nightly vigil are bound up in this moments of anticipation. Even more: the hopes and fears of generations hang upon what the hearer will see as day breaks..

And then the poet repeats the injunction “Say!” and changes the question. The opening question — can you still see our flag? — is a synecdoche of sorts for a bigger question — does that flag “yet wave/O’er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”? The second question refers not only to the battle at hand, but to the destiny of the country. The question is not only whether the flag of freedom still flies over America but also whether America itself is still brave and free.

The fearful vigil through the nocturnal bombardment, the fleeting glimpse of the national colors, the moment of truth in the gathering light of dawn — these are a metaphor for the national condition. The flag enduring the enemy bombardment is only a symbol for the true subject of the poem, namely the reaction of the hearer himself. The opening “Say!” placed us at the poet’s side at dawn; the second “Say!” makes this a metaphor for the national condition. Key addresses the second “Say!” to all generations of Americans: Are you still brave enough to be free? Your national existence, implies the poet, will be a long vigil, in which America’s true character will be glimpsed sporadically in the reflection of enemy attacks.

Beauty.

Japan panel: Fukushima nuclear disaster 'man-made'

The crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was "a profoundly man-made disaster", a Japanese parliamentary panel has said in a report.

The disaster "could and should have been foreseen and prevented" and its effects "mitigated by a more effective human response", it said.

The report catalogued serious deficiencies in both the government and plant operator Tepco's response.

It also blamed cultural conventions and a reluctance to question authority.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18718057

No. That was not Boogie, Red Hot or otherwise. It was lukewarm crap. Boogie's precursor, ragtime, was in fact much more versatile than boogie woogie. You could have full band versions of ragtime; Gunther Schuller did fabulous stuff that way.

But boogie needs a piano bass. It could be plucked with a double bass, but you'd have blood all over the instrument and onto the floor, and a huge hospital bill for lacerated fingers and a demolished mind.

Better to stick with Albert Ammons or (my favourite) Pete Johnson showing the ivories just what it's all about.

Great song EBD. Thanks Richard in Van, for the hot tip. Never too old to expand my musical library.

Citoyen MulcairBloc MIA.

"details on the NDP's financial records for 2011 were not released because the party requested an extension to the July 3, 2012 deadline."

...-

"Tories raised nearly $23 million in campaign funds last year: Elections Canada"

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Tories+raised+nearly+million+campaign+funds+last+year/6884467/story.html

That ad keeps popping up on several websites I visit.

Now Canada wants to deport the best kind of immigrants (again).

Perhaps they should convert to Islam.

Gifted Hungarian Immigrant Faces Deportation This Friday.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/1220995--teenage-prodigy-thomas-bacsi-facing-deportation

I promised The Wailing Jennys, so time to deliver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSsA5WUsFsU

The Devils paintbrush road, delivered.

D

Island of Sanity.

...-

"Paul Coppin says:
July 5, 2012 at 8:50 am

We experienced record temperatures in several southern Ontario cities yesterday. Temperatures not seen since 1955. So what does this tell us? That its been at least this hot on July 4 in 1955 here. Big whup. That since 1955, the land mass of the cities in question have tripled(or more) in area of urban development, the bulk of which has been large scale urban/suburban residential and light industrial mix, acres of tar roofs and asphalt parking and roadways, including boxing the airport at which the readings are taken with square miles of heat entrapping materials. That the airport itself has had a probable increase of 10 fold in air traffic volume over its template. That the area committed to vehicular traffic and high speed highways mirrors the development of the airport.
So the likeliest conclusion? It wasn’t as warm yesterday as it was in 1955, in terms of climate driven temperature. Do we see UHI driven local convective activity? You betcha. Do we have more buildings to blow over and knock down? You betcha. Do we have more people to be affected and notice it all? A REALLY BIG you betcha."

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/05/putting-piers-corbyn-to-the-test/#more-66829

more than 10 years too late, but a good start nonetheless...

Muslim plane hijackers 'beaten to death'
Passengers tackle gang of 6 that tried to break into cockpit

(NEWS.COM.AU) — Two men who allegedly tried to hijack a plane in China were beaten to death by passengers and crew.

The Global Times newspaper reported that two of the suspects died in hospital from injuries they suffered during the ensuing fight with passengers and crew on board.

The men were part of a six-strong gang involved in the foiled hijack of a Tianjin Airlines flight bound for the regional capital of Urumqi last Friday.

Just minutes after the flight took off from Hetian, southwest Xinjiang, the men, all aged between 20 and 36, stood up and announced their plans to terrified passengers.

Was getting a pizza last night and standing outside in the heat beside the ice cream shop when a van parked on the other side of the street. A muslim man started walking up the street then crossing over with his full beard with a short sleeve shirt on. Following him several paces back were 4 women, 3 with niqabs and 1 in the full veil burka.

I know it should be common now but in my community it is still a rare sight. The women dressed all in black on this stifling evening waited outside after getting their ice cream. People stared at them as I did. The lady in the burka raised her veil slightly to allow her hand to wipe her face, obviously hot in that bag.

The man appeared and they dutifully walked behind him and got back into the van.

It just seemed so weird and begs the question we have asked so many times on SDA, why are they here yet we all know the answer.

Just a totally alien culture and I hope the women dressed in their typical summer gear that saw this wonder if this will be their future.

Da Proof. Not da Bosoni.

Da Roma Scienza is all Shooked Up.

...-

"SUPPRESSED PUBLIC BODIES – The national institute of metrological research, the Anton Dohn zoological station, the Italian institute of Germanic studies and the national institute of higher mathematics have all been suppressed. Also gone are the national institute of oceanography and experimental geophysics, the national institute of astrophysics, the museum of the history of physics and the Enrico Fermi study and research centre. Their functions have been redistributed to the national research council, the national institute for nuclear physics and the national institute of geophysics and vulcanology."

"Axe Falls on Public Sector"

"Cuts hit cars, procurement and healthcare. Roughly 100,000 public-sector workers to be made redundant. One per cent VAT increase put off until January"

http://www.corriere.it/International/english/articoli/2012/07/04/public-sector.shtml

Elections 'Canada' to hand liebrals yet another gift ?

since we all know there's one set if rules for the liebrals and another, much more stringently interpreted and heavily enforced one for Conservatives...pretty good deal when a $1000 fine will get you hundreds of thousands worth of debts forgiven...can I hand over $1000 and have my mortgage thrown out ?

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2012/07/05/19955486.html

OTTAWA - Elections Canada was trying to determine Thursday whether a fine for violating the Canada Elections Act would absolve four failed 2006 Liberal leadership candidates from ever having to repay about $650,000 in unpaid expenses.

The agency said it was still reviewing a two-and-a-half-page court ruling that said Joe Volpe, Hedy Fry and Martha Hall Findlay were in breach of the act.

"This is new territory for us and we need some time to look at the matter more closely," spokesman John Enright said.

The trio's deadbeat status came to light this week after an Ontario Superior Court judge refused their request for another two-year extension to clear the books.

A fourth candidate - Ken Dryden - is in a similar boat.

In the case of Dryden's leadership rivals, Justice Timothy Ray's uncomplicated ruling punted the matter back to the commissioner of Elections Canada. The act calls for a $1,000 fine or three months in jail for perpetrators.

But when specifically asked what would happen to the unpaid expenses if a fine was levied, Enright said he would get back to QMI Agency when he had a more "fulsome" response.

Depending how long that takes, the four Grits can take comfort in legislation weaving through Parliament that could kick-start their failed fundraising efforts when the Political Loans Accountability Act becomes law - likely in the fall.

The bill levels the playing field somewhat by allowing donors to contribute on a per annum basis to leadership contests and not the one-time-only contribution Liberal candidates were stuck with in 2006.

The bill would retroactively include the Liberal race - meaning anyone who contributed in that race would be permitted to contribute on an annual basis after the bill becomes law if the outstanding debt issue is allowed to continue.