Tonight Sunny Lohmann displays her thespian talents as she reenacts the recent debt-ceiling negotiations between the Democrats and the Republicans.
The comments thread is open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
Tonight Sunny Lohmann displays her thespian talents as she reenacts the recent debt-ceiling negotiations between the Democrats and the Republicans.
The comments thread is open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
Best Canadian Blog
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007
Why this blog?
Until this moment
I have been forced
to listen while media
and politicians alike
have told me
"what Canadians think".
In all that time they
never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me."
homepage
Economics for the Disinterested
...a fast-paced polar
bear attack thriller!

Want lies?
Hire a regular consultant.
Want truth?
Hire an asshole.
Click to inquire about rates.
"I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick
Holy hell, woman. When you send someone traffic, you send someone TRAFFIC. My hosting provider thought I was being DDoSed. - Sean McCormick
"The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle
"Thank you for your link. A wave of your Canadian readers came to my blog! Really impressive." Juan Giner - INNOVATION International Media Consulting Group
I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs
"You may be a nasty right winger, but you're not nasty all the time!" Warren Kinsella
"Go back to collecting your welfare livelihood."Michael E. Zilkowsky
Hide The Decline
The Bottle Genie
(ClimateGate links)
You Might Be A Liberal
Uncrossing The Line
Bob Fife: Knuckledragger
A Modest Proposal (NP)
Settled Science Series
Y2Kyoto Series
SDA: Reader Occupation Survey
Brett Lamb Sheltered Workshop
Flakes On A Plane
All Your Weather Are Belong To Us
Song Of The Sled
The Raise A Flag Debacle
(Now on Youtube!)
(.mwv Video)
Abuse Ruins Life Of Girl
Trudeaupiate
Kleptocrat Jeans
Child Labour
I Concede
Small Dead Feminist
Protein Hoser: THK Interview
The Werewolf Extinction
Dear Laura (VRWC)
We Wait
Blogging The Oscars
Jackson Converts To Islam
Just Shut The HELL Up
Manipulating Condi
Gay Equality Rights
Drudge Report
Bourque (Canada)
Memri (Middle East)
Newsmax
Military News Spotlight
Watching America
Int. Free Press Society
Newsbeat1
Rawlco local news
Dates in History
Newseum
Oilprice.com
My Westman
Instapundit
NRO The Corner
Weekly Standard
Outside The Beltway
ScrappleFace
Day By Day
James Lileks
Hugh Hewitt
Mark Steyn
Belmont Club
Powerline
Den Beste (archived)
American Thinker
Victor Hanson
Michelle Malkin
Michael Yon (Iraq Imbed)
Tim Blair (Oz)
Protein Wisdom
Captain Capitalism
Kathy Shaidle
David Warren
Damian Penny
Publius
Cjunk
Conservative Grapevine
Newsosaur
Edward Michael George
Long War Journal
Eric Anderson
Charles Adler
Climategate 2.0:
The emails unredacted
Search the database
Climate Audit
Prometheus
Planet Gore
Icecap
Anthony Watts
Climate Debate
HK Climate
Climate Depot
Anthropogenic Global Bias
Professor Bainbridge
Stephen Green
Wizbang
Daniel Drezner
Dean Esmay
Right Wing News
Patterico
Medienkritic (Germany)
I Could Be Wrong
Mystery Pollster
Maggies Farm
Maxed Out Mama
Bill Roggio
Musing Minds
Pajamas Media
Newsbusters
Blackfive
Day By Day
Cox And Forkum (archives)
Brussels Journal (EU)
Argghhh!
Ed Driscoll
Don Surber
Obsidian Wings
Tygrrrr Express
Brutally Honest
Karl Rove
Tom Nelson
Call Me Stormy
The Last Tradition
CPC Youtube Channel
The Shotgun
Bow. James Bow
Ghost Of A Flea
The Black Rod
Blog Quebecois
Catprint
Calgary Grit
Proud To Be Canadian
Fighting for Taxpayers
Quotulatiousness
Arcologist
Uncle Meat
Editorial Times
Halls of Macadamia
Full Comment (NP)
Andrew Keyes
Brad Farquhar
Steynian
Blazing Cat Fur
myWestman
Inspiringyoutothink
Prince Arthur Herald
Freelance Conservative

Cocktail Party propagandists:
"Networks blamed shutdown on GOP in 41 stories --- 0 for Dems"
Related: "Media Cover Shutdown Victims over Obamacare Victims 100 to 1"
Caledonia redux:
That's when the RCMP got really serious:
h/t Bourque
Under the get out of my life dept. Busybodies never quit.
http://news.msn.com/us/ny-court-to-hear-bloombergs-appeal-to-restore-soda-ban
Ironihilarious...http://twitchy.com/2013/10/17/irony-all-around-piers-morgan-cautions-politico-reporter-about-rush-to-judgment-over-fox-news-correction/#.UmBvvdl
Fire them all
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/10/17/nbc-news-if-the-obamacare-website-were-a-patient-it-would-probably-be-in-intensive-care-by-now/
Can you imagine the RCMP reaction if someone in High River, Alberta, had fired a shot into the air during this summer's flood / firearms fiasco?
I doubt they'd have simply exited until calmer heads prevailed.
Ontario, our hearts bleed for you. Don't forget to vote Liberal.
http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/10/17/hydro_bills_to_rise_as_offpeak_power_rates_jump_sharply.html
A hint that there could be a terrorist at the airport.
https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1381398_665022500208962_950518049_n.jpg
Here's something you will never, ever, EVER see on the CBC:
http://www.terpconnect.umd.edu/~pnc/allen-ss-grad.pdf
"Children living with gay and lesbian families in 2006 were about 65% as likely to graduate compared to children living in opposite sex marriage families. Daughters of same-sex parents do considerably worse than sons."
Who knew facts were so homophobic?
"Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky."
-- Attributed to Charlemagne.
Somebody's been watching too much Indiana Jones lately.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/10/17/hezbollah-claims-endangered-eagle-israeli-spy-after-shooting-down-bird-with-university-research-band-on-its-leg/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/26/turkey-clears-bird-suspected-of-spying-for-israeli-secret-service/
Globe and Mail, Thursday, Oct. 17. Konrad Yakabuski on the throne speech, the economy, and the middle class:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/middle-class-angst-bottom-rung-vision/article14893506/
The sub-header in the newspaper sums it up best: "There's nothing wrong with consumer policies, but the Conservatives (and the rest) have no idea how to address stagnant incomes."
Well, I do. An economy consists of all acts of production, trade and consumption among individuals by which they support their lives, lifestyles, and families. The key concept of an economy is voluntary trade for mutual benefit, based on the individual value judgments of the actors in it (i.e., consumers). This way, each trader gets richer, as free trade between persons is not an action by which one person wins and the other loses, but a win-win proposition. A corporation is essentially organized production, and by finding ways to make more or better or less expensive products, the business makes monetary profits in exchange for raising the standard of living of the consumer. The antipathy toward profits is the single most misguided notion of our times, because both sides profit in an exchange in a free market.
The real problem is the sclerosis of the economy caused by vast amounts of government intervention, such as subsidies to the inefficient paid from the taxes of the efficient - these lower the standard of living. There is a huge bureaucracy to impose rules on businesses that make it more difficult for them to survive, and also lowers the standard of living. The problem is coercion through government; the solution is free market capitalism. Coercion does not produce, invent, discover or innovate; all it can do is destroy. But the facts don't interest the collectivists who want to seize political power, so great is their hatred of themselves and their own lives, and humanity.
In Canada the problem is a combination of the actions of federal, provincial and municipal governments. A policy at one level might be proposed to solve a problem that is caused by actions of another level. For instance, one contributor to a housing shortage is municipal regulations that preclude the construction of compact homes. So naturally the activists scream for a national policy to build "affordable housing", even though it is never affordable to taxpayers. One major cause of traffic congestion and air pollution is municipal land use policies like zoning that prevent many people from living near where they work. The solution is not federal money for pie-in-the-sky infrastructure projects but just to repeal the regulations.
One ridiculous example is Ontario's green energy policies, which are a serious drain on the economy, and actually turned it into a have-not province. Producers of wind and other green energy are paid vastly inflated prices for energy that the province sells at a loss to neighbouring states and provinces much of the time. This policy likely makes Dalton McGuinty the single most destructive Ontarian in history.
Governments (and their citizens) need to learn that actions have consequences, and that interventionist policies will have the consequence of slowing down the economy and making people poorer, including those who think they will benefit from policies that loot their fellow citizens. That is what all governments have done for many decades in Canada.
Government policies that interfere in the free market, at all levels, should be repealed as quickly as possible. Government handouts to individuals, groups and organizations should cease as soon as possible, with the exception of basic welfare, and in the meantime economic productivity and job creation should be enabled through deregulation and otherwise reducing the size of government. The tax system should be streamlined as much as possible, with as few exemptions as possible so as to keep the highest rate from going too high.
A hundred million bucks donated to 1/2 of one percent.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/plug-ins-account-less-half-1-auto-sales-year
Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau to be suspended [by the Senate] for 'gross negligence'
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/senate-to-debate-suspending-duffy-wallin-without-pay/article14908111/
A thought just occurred to me -- or maybe it's too early in the morning.
Wallin and Duffy, members of Canada's Hyena Media Cabal, are appointed to the Senate by PM Harper in the hopes they will do some effective PR and bring in funds for the CPC. They, true to the entitlement mentality of most of the consensus media, and perhaps to stay in the good graces of their former media pals who must hate them for joining the Senate as Conservatives, embarrass and seriously compromise the CPC by overspending and misreporting expense claims.
That would be called having your cake and eating it too: Enjoy the "perqs" of being a Senator -- until you're caught -- and damage the CPC while you're at it.
PM Harper's got to wonder what he ever did to deserve this kind of disloyalty. (Perhaps Wallin and Duffy were never loyal in the first place.)
Socialism: the religion of the stomach.
...-
"Seventy Two Hours"
"“A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has been victorious in some way; however, the heavy toll negates any sense of achievement or profit.”
That about describes the academic achievement of Heinz Dietrich, one of the leading exponents of the Socialism of the 21st Century who is now distancing himself from the economic disaster about to overtake Venezuela, a country which conscientiously followed his advice.
The man credited with pioneering the idea of 21st Century socialism, which was championed and put into application in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez, recently made a damning condemnation of current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
German sociologist and political analyst Heinz Dieterich said Maduro has a “complete inability to deal with the serious problems of the country.” He added that if the Venezuelan president doesn’t do something to rectify the economic and political problems facing his country soon, he could be out of office by April of 2014.
Foreign Policy sums up it up succinctly. “Venezuela’s economy is in an endless state of disarray.” It took Dietrich’s medicine and died."
http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2013/10/17/seventy-two-hours/#more-32528
...-
"The Coming Food Stamp Riots"
"It may not happen this month, or even this year, but food stamp riots are coming to America. In fact, we got a small preview of the coming food stamp riots this past weekend when a “temporary system failure” caused food stamp cards to stop working in 17 U.S. states. Within hours, there were “mini-riots” at Wal-Marts and other retailers that rely heavily on food stamp users. So what would happen if food stamp benefits were cut off or reduced for an extended period of time? As you will see below, if Congress had not pushed through a “deal”, the USDA would have started cutting off food stamp benefits on November 1st."
http://peakoil.com/consumption/the-coming-food-stamp-riots
Check out what's happening in Caledonia, as we speak. In solidarity with their oppressed N.B. brothers, they decided to close the highway-again.
Can I recommend a post on my own blog? It's a reaction to Dr. Charles Krauthammer's opinion on the Washington Redskins name.
http://odsblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-real-world-of-ethnic-slurs.html
But it is good, and I am a former president of the Editors' Association of Canada, so I'm kind of an authority and all.
"EU, Canada Finalizing Landmark Free Trade Deal"
"Canada and the European Union were set to finalize Friday a landmark free trade agreement to boost growth and employment.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso were expected to hash out final details at a meeting in Brussels before announcing the tentative deal, which has been negotiated since 2009."
"The European Union, a $17 trillion economy, is Canada's second-largest trading partner behind the U.S. The deal would also help reduce the dependence of Canada's $1.8 trillion economy on imports from the U.S."
"The talks with the U.S. suffered a minor setback this month when the U.S. side had to cancel a long-planned negotiation round in Brussels because of the government shutdown. The next round is likely to take place next month."
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-canada-finalizing-landmark-free-trade-deal-20608345
Facts show correlation not causation.... you rush to conclusions here.
There are simple reasons for the number and they do not surprise me what so ever and it has zip, zero. nada to do with the parental units being same sex.
AlMohammed rejects seat "on the prestigious Security Council."
H/T Canadian UNaBomber Maurice Strong.
...-
"www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/10/12/15662311.html
by David Akin - in 690 Google+ circles
Oct 12, 2010 - In a stunning swipe at Canada's foreign policy shift under the Conservative ... rejected Canada's bid for a seat on the prestigious Security Council."
...-
"Day after election, Saudi Arabia rejects seat on UN Security Council
Montreal Gazette - 13 minutes ago
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia on Friday rejected its freshly-acquired seat on the U.N. Security Council, saying the 15-member body is incapable of resolving world conflicts such as the Syrian civil war."
As an 81 year old Canadian, I was disappointed that the Harper Conservative administration would not want individual "Property Rights" enshrined into our Canadian Constitution.
Oh well, perhaps if enough Tim Hortons patrons rise up with petitions....... well..... who knows.... eh?
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Libyan+security+official+says+gunmen+have+killed+head/9052611/story.html
"Gunmen" killed the Libyan Chief of Police, earlier,"gunmen" kidnapped the Libyan Prime Minister.
Who ARE these "gunmen"? Do they belong to a mysterious cult,"the cult of the gun"?
In "The Sound of Settled Science" category:
Skull of Homo erectus throws story of human evolution into disarray -
A haul of fossils found in Georgia suggests that half a dozen species of early human ancestor were actually all Homo erectu
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/17/skull-homo-erectus-human-evolution
Bravo PM Harper.
"This trade agreement is an historic win for Canada"
...-
"EU, Canada trade deal reached in Brussels after 4 years of negotiations"
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, as expected, announced Friday in Brussels they have concluded negotiations and reached a tentative agreement on a Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that the two sides have been negotiating since 2009.
Read the Prime Minister’s official statement here
It will be the largest trade agreement in Canadian history and swing open trade doors in an EU region with $17 trillion in annual economic activity."
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/10/18/eu-canada-trade-deal-finalized-in-brussels-after-4-years-of-negotiations/
"Hollywood action star and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been quietly lobbying key politicos for a legal loophole or a constitutional change that would clear the path for him to run for president in 2016.
If allowed, Mr. Schwarzenegger would face off against Hillary Rodham Clinton, The New York Post reported."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/18/arnold-schwarzenegger-lobbies-law-change-seek-pres/
Why not?
Hitler hears about Obamacare fiasco.
"Can't we call it BidenCare?"
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/10/hitler-learns-about-the-obamacare-exchanges.php
Though it's mid-day, this still seems the most appropriate place to dump this story about doctors trying to kill a patient against the family wishes.
The thing that I don't see mentioned anywhere in the comments is that the patient (that the hospital is trying to kill) was successfully treated for his brain tumour, but his hospital stay is proving terminal.
Neo-AGW PR Report.
...-
"New Study: ’2013 ranks as one of the least extreme U.S. weather years ever’– Many bad weather events at ‘historically low levels’"
"'Whether you’re talking about tornadoes, wildfires, extreme heat or hurricanes, the good news is that weather-related disasters in the US are all way down this year compared to recent years and, in some cases, down to historically low levels.'
Tornadoes: 'lowest total in several decades'
Number of wildfires: 'On pace to be the lowest it has been in the past ten years'
Extreme Heat: The number of 100 degree days may 'turn out to be the lowest in about 100 years of records'
Hurricanes: 'We are currently in the longest period (8 years) since the Civil War Era without a major hurricane strike in the US (i.e., category 3, 4 or 5)' ( last major hurricane to strike the US was Hurricane Wilma in 2005)"
http://www.climatedepot.com/2013/10/18/new-study-2013-ranks-as-one-of-the-least-extreme-us-weather-years-ever-many-bad-weather-events-at-historically-low-levels/
http://www.newswatchcanada.ca/
Poor little Omar...
"The Canadian Press
Published Friday, October 18, 2013 2:06PM EDT
Last Updated Friday, October 18, 2013 2:57PM EDT
EDMONTON -- An Edmonton judge has denied former Guantanamo Bay inmate Omar Khadr a transfer from a federal prison to a provincial jail."
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/omar-khadr-to-remain-in-federal-prison-edmonton-judge-rules-1.1503207
An old Icelandic Hymn in a train station (an antidote to all of the cacophony of downtown Toronto, not to mention of downtown Washington):
http://failblog.cheezburger.com/share/55495169
Neo-AGW Progress Report.
H/T Greenpeace from Murmansk.
"While Greenpeace has a long history of scuffles with authorities across the globe, it is clear that none of the activists expected it to come to this."
...-
"Harris said in court that her cell is heated but when the wind blows it is freezing, as there are many gaps in the windows.
Already, the temperature is well below zero in this forbidding Arctic town of prefabricated apartment blocks and decaying industrial infrastructure; from now on it will only get colder and darker, as the days become shorter and the round-the-clock blackness of the polar winter draws closer."
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/18/greenpeace-trial-winds-tears-sympathy
Sometimes you just need to have your faith in humanity restored:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/16/stranger-overhears-diagnosis-pays-tab-_n_4109542.html?ir=Women
Elitist liberal jornolist Coyne blesses CETA and PM Harper.
All's right with the world.
Say Amen. Amen.
...-
"This is creative statecraft, a leadership role for Canada that would not have been possible had we entered into a full-blown customs union with the U.S., as some had once advised. It is a notable achievement for the government, and for Stephen Harper personally. May it point the way to others like it."
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/10/18/andrew-coyne-with-his-eu-trade-deal-stephen-harper-finally-has-a-real-consumer-charter/
Potemkin Parliament
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/361644/potemkin-parliament-mark-steyn
Green Lizard May & Georges:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.1503150!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg
...-
"Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, [...] flew from British Columbia to stand at Laraque's side,".
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ex-nhler-georges-laraque-says-top-priority-now-is-to-clear-my-name-1.1502602
Wow! PM Harper get's Trudeau-extended-family-member Andrew Coyne's benediction. Perhaps there's a benefit for him and his investments?