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Michigan couple threatens to sue local rec center for showing Fox News.

"They said they started going to the county’s recreation center on Washtenaw Avenue last fall and were dismayed to see Fox News show up on four of the 12 television screens in the cardio area during election season.."

I'm guessing the kids that get their participant ribbons for this idea, are getting them posthumously.

http://tinyurl.com/o573qen

I guessing they are leaving the weights of the cans for the parents to decide.

I was sure you were talking about Stewball the racehorse as brought to us by Joan Baez! I know all the words which dates me pretty well. I think that is what you were referring to - perhaps to throw us off. Was it a throw-back to the same horse (a mare)?

When I first saw the post I thought you were going to point me to THIS Stewball, EBD....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1l8hSBqS3E

All is good.......we're beating them. So why doesn't it look like we're beating them ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2914475/ISIS-expand-control-Syria-American-airstrikes.html

Jeez, we've been saying that for years now and someone over there is finally waking up to that fact.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/01/16/dave-bidini-cbc-needs-to-reflect-who-we-are-not-what-it-thinks-canadians-should-be/

Why is none of this ever shown on the CBC??

https://www.youtube.com/user/pmocpm

http://mobile.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/01/18/world/europe/18reuters-pope-philippines-environment.html?referrer=

The commie pope is a climate change chicken little.

I thought he shouldnt serve two gods.

I first heard this song on an old Leadbelly album, backed by the Golden Gate Quartet, about 1970,still have that album. Favorite sang was "Grey Goose".

Thanks for posting that, I haven't played it in years.

Toronto Star, Sat., Jan. 17, a very sloppy column from Susan Delacourt.

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/01/17/stephen-harper-keener-about-free-expression-away-from-home.html

"The current federal government has taken strong stands on gay rights (for), abortion (against) and maternal health (for) in foreign nations."

I don't believe PM Harper has opposed abortion in foreign nations. What he has done is declined to help pay for them out of Canadian taxes, an entirely reasonable decision. Why he's sending taxes off to pay for maternal health in other countries is anybody's guess. What do those countries ever do for us?

"[I've been] thinking about all the ways in which a government truly in favour of freedom of expression could walk the talk at home, too. Here are just a few suggestions:"

"Rein in the political-activity audits by the Canada Revenue Agency."

Most who have examined this subject have concluded that these audits are routine, not politically motivated.

"Stop demonizing the media in fundraising letters to supporters."

The media deserves to be demonized for its biases, particularly the CBC and the Toronto Star. Read the numerous comments in many threads on this site describing comments expunged on the CBC for not holding a left-wing viewpoint.

"Drop the ’enemies’ lists."

All political parties have ’enemies lists.’ There's nothing wrong with being aware of who supports and who opposes them.

On the other hand, Delacourt ignores the biggest threat to freedom of speech and expression in Canada, namely the "human rights commissions", and their harassment of anyone who does not toe the party line of ’political correctness.’ I would be curious to know if she ever uttered a peep in support of the right of Mark Steyn or Ezra Levant to express their opinions.

Toronto Star, Sun., Jan. 18, Haroon Siddiqui.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/01/17/curb-islamophobia-to-battle-jihadism-siddiqui.html

The title of this column in the newspaper is almost unbelievable: "Europe now gets it -- to battle jihadism, curb Islamophobia."

This is ridiculous. The term "Islamophobia" was never heard until after 9/11. Jihadism, or Islamism, pre-dated its arrival. Terrorists are primarily motivated by their own twisted psychologies, aided by a perception that their faith (which is not always strongly held even) encourages them to kill infidels. All the yapping about "Islamophobia" will do nothing to diminish that.

However, Siddiqui's column does not contain the sentiment expressed in the paper's headline. The subheader on the Star's web page says "the first step in fighting jihadism is to combat rampant anti-Muslim sentiment", which is not the same thing.

I agree with him that we should mourn the Muslims who tragically lost their lives in the attacks, but not necessarily that there is beginning a "turnaround in European public opinion", or that it "has been formed mostly by right-wingers".

My biggest point is that Star headline writers often invent thoughts that are not found in the columns themselves.

Toronto Star, Sun., Jan. 18, reprinted from the Washington Post. How images of the prophet Muhammad became forbidden.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/16/how-images-of-the-prophet-muhammad-became-forbidden/

To make a long story short: There is nothing in the Qur'an that forbids images of Muhammad, and the Hadith are ambiguous. There were images of the prophet in many Muslim cultures, but they were much rarer in Arab cultures than the others. Eventually, the former fell in line with the latter. It was during the era of colonialism that the process took place. But, "The most explicit fatwa banning the portrayal of Muhammad," notes one expert, "isn’t tucked into some ancient text. It arrived in 2001. And its creator was the Taliban. The ban is a very modern construct."

So when the Star and the Globe and Mail decided not to reprint cartoons, it was a gang of primitive savages, above all others, that they didn't wish to offend. The papers' problem is that their position is indistinguishable from cowardice.

It was never necessary to reprint all of the cartoons, or even more than one or two examples. But they were part of the news, and should have been part of the reportage of a newspaper.

According to pollsters Justin of Trudeau's honeymoon is over.....Mulcair is holding on in Quebec.

Je Suis Volnovakha

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30874961

Ukrainian government claims their army now controls Donetsk airport.

Bank Losses From Swiss Currency Surprise Seen Mounting

“The losses will be in the billions -- they are still being tallied,” said Mark T. Williams, an executive-in-residence at Boston University specializing in risk management. “They will range from large banks, brokers, hedge funds, mutual funds to currency speculators. There will be ripple effects throughout the financial system.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-19/bank-losses-from-snb-surprise-seen-mounting.html

AGW Kills. AGW RIP.

"“Cold does kill, even in places where the temperatures aren’t at their lowest."

...-

"5 killed as ice, snow glaze highways across Northeast"

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/us/weather-freezing-rain

...-

"UK Met Office issues severe weather warning after coldest night

Warning is one level below ‘national emergency’, with the elderly, very young and chronically ill most at risk from low temperatures"

"“Cold does kill, even in places where the temperatures aren’t at their lowest."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/19/britain-wintry-weather-coldest-night-snow-ice

So Palestinians thank Canada for aid by tossing eggs and shoes at our Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird because we are friends with Israel? Sorry, they need to be cut off and be told they don't tell us who to align with, certainly not telling us to support Israel, the only democratic country in the turbulent hell hole known as the Middle East.

Great post by William M. Briggs, "Statistician to the Stars!":

That "1-in-27 Million Chance that Earth's Record Hot Streak Is Natural Is Preposterous

Do read.

Load up the spaceship, we're done, 2014 WAS THE HOTTEST (LAND AND OCEAN SURFACE MEASUREMENT ONLY, BUT'S THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT WINK+, NUDGE+) SINCE HUMANITY, I MEAN, RECORDS BEGAN; WELL ACTUALLY, SINCE 1880, AND THEY WERE THE HIGHEST BY .02C, ONE-FIFTH OF THE RECORDS' MARGIN OF ERROR - NO WAIT - IT HASN'T LIKE BEEN THIS HOT IN LIKE YEARS:

http://thefederalist.com/2015/01/19/global-warming-most-dishonest-year-on-record/#disqus_thread

Obvious justification for dismantling the oil economy. In Canada that is. We better get a tax going for the "artificially low" oil prices. Just before an election too - oh boy.

Not so much I think.

Canada special forces clash with IS in Iraq
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Jan-19/284636-canadian-special-forces-clash-with-is-in-iraq-military.ashx?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

AGW RIP.

...-

NOAA, NASA:

"GLOBAL WARMING marches on ...
The numbers are all in. The experts have pored over them, relating them back to weather records from the past 134 years, and it's now official. 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded, revealing a clear trend of global warming and climate change."

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/36-hour-weather-forecast/canada/ontario/ottawa?intcmp=twn_topnav_fx_36%20hours

...-

"Gavin Schmidt now admits NASA are only 38% sure 2014 was the hottest year"

"I said the vaguest scientists in the world lie by omission, and it’s what they don’t say that gives them away. The “hottest ever” press release didn’t tell us how much hotter the hottest year supposedly was, nor how big the error bars were. David Rose of the Daily Mail pinned down Gavin Schmidt of NASA GISS to ask a few questions that bloggers and voters want answered but almost no other journalist seems to want to ask."

http://joannenova.com.au/2015/01/gavin-schmidt-now-says-they-are-only-38-sure-2014-was-the-hottest-year/

Matt Ridley today.

http://www.thegwpf.com/matt-ridley-a-lukewarmer-against-dogmatism/

Matt Ridley, Dec 18th 1997

http://www.economist.com/node/455855

"There were people who in 1970 predicted abundant food, who in 1975 predicted cheap oil, who in 1980 predicted cheaper and more abundant minerals. Today those people—among them Norman Macrae of this newspaper, Julian Simon, Aaron Wildavsky—are ignored by the press and vilified by the environmental movement. For being right, they are called “right-wing”. The truth can be a bitter medicine to swallow."

David Warren: "truly contemptible politicians".

"One thinks, for instance, of the forty truly contemptible politicians who were leading that Paris demonstration, and the hundred more heads of state and government who now rue that they weren’t there, too, elbowing to get in front of the cameras."

"The intelligent political mind is something extremely rare, and its appearance at any location, in time of crisis, must appear sheer luck."

...-

"Into the desert"

"Demonstrations achieve nothing good. Mass demonstrations, and mass idiocy, provide us only with facts, which every statesman must work with. The wise place themselves outside such facts, so far as they are able. What can be done, given what has happened? The intelligent political mind is something extremely rare, and its appearance at any location, in time of crisis, must appear sheer luck. The typical politician keeps no distance at all. He will go with the flow, ride with the tide, mud with the flood. One thinks, for instance, of the forty truly contemptible politicians who were leading that Paris demonstration, and the hundred more heads of state and government who now rue that they weren’t there, too, elbowing to get in front of the cameras."

http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/

...-

"Stephen Harper’s puzzling Parisian no-show"

"Why wasn’t Stephen Harper in the front row with world leaders at the massive demonstration that followed the terrorist attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo? Incredibly, Canada’s Prime Minister chose instead to spend the day in Kingston to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald’s birth."
(290 comments)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/stephen-harpers-parisian-no-show/article22441877/

Political correctness claims another life.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/makayla-sault-girl-who-refused-chemo-for-leukemia-dies-1.2829885