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Whenever Andrew Coyne steps away from retail/party politics and related issues - which isn't often enough - he writes some superb columns. This is one of them: "Crossing the Rubicon, Supreme Court seems eerily complacent about ramifications of assisted suicide ruling"

Brief excerpt:

Once we have embraced the idea of suicide, not as a tragedy we should seek to prevent, but a right we are obliged to uphold; once the taking of life has been converted from a crime into a service — “physician-assisted death” — to be performed at public expense; once we have crossed these sorts of philosophical and legal divides, how is it to be imagined that we could stop there?

The whole thing is well worth reading, IMO.

" Morrison said she saw a Caucasian man come out of the Tim Hortons with a bucket and proceed to pour a great deal of water under a homeless man... "
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/homeless-man-allegedly-gets-soaked-with-bucket-of-water-outside-vancouver-tim-hortons-1.2949390

F'en caucasians and their uppity ways of dealing with problems. Close the borders now.

Replace 'Caucasian' with any other race and what do you think the chances are that the CBC would print it ?

Maybe if we throw more carbon tax at the problem it will go away.

http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2015-02/07/content_34760971.htm

We should really convince our most foam at the mouth feminists to attend more equality meetings in Saudi Arabia.

http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/saudi-arabia-womens-conference-had-no-women-653376

This singer/songwriter once ran for governor of Texas;

Kinky Friedman - "They Aint Makin Jews Like Jesus Anymore"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0ZMj5RksbE

His books are worth reading. Nothing too deep, but entertaining.

William Teach at RWN: "Bobby Jindal Provides Perfect Response to Obama's Silly Christian Blaming".

Top comment at the NP on Coyne's column;
" Asked about his views on euthanasia, Trudeau replied, "Youth in Asia are just like kids everywhere else."

Moving on. Assisted suicide should not be a slippery slope.

I'm getting up in my years. If I decide that it is time to remove myself from this mortal coil. So be it.

This court decision allow someone who is incapable of ending their life to have professional assistance, without that person being charged with a crime.

Our abortion laws allows the ending of a life before it starts.
'Assisted suicide' allows the ending of a life lived.

If you're a woman that has decided to abort a child for anything less than grievous reasons, I will not criticize your choice.
But I will think less of you.

If I may offer a correction - I believe that you mean to refer to "Bob Wills" the king of western swing, not "Bob Mills".

[Thanks! Fixed it. - EBD]

Ahaaam athinkin that's Bob Wills.

I'll give you a perfect example of why assisted suicide is a bad idea. I know someone who's family member overdosed on drugs. She was in a coma for weeks and the doctors said she'd likely be a vegetable or die soon. She walked out of the hospital completely normal last week. If we had assisted suicide and she had some kind of directive she'd be dead. When the time comes it may very be too late to communicate that you have changed your mind. For that reason I've instructed everyone I know that I want every effort made.

The 'assisted suicide' decision is a good ruling.

The 'slippery slope' that many fear is real,it is there.
But if we are aware of it, then we should be able to deal with it.

Fear of the future should never stop you from doing what is right today.

IN the old days we had suicide prevention strategies to help people who were suicidal or threatening to kill themselves. I guess in future we will be obliged to help them instead. Instead of talking someone down from a window ledge, we'll hand them a gun.

Irony is that the law bans capital punishment because of the fear of a wrongful conviction allowing convicted killers protections that are now denied to the unborn and now those seen as inconvient.

The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever
New data shows that the “vanishing” of polar ice is not the result of runaway global warming.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/globalwarming/11395516/The-fiddling-with-temperature-data-is-the-biggest-science-scandal-ever.html

And speaking of GTA residents, um, "exposing themselves" (see the story on the main page about "Riding Mass Transit..."), I personally want to thank Professor Wiseman for this moment of exquisite candor:

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/02/07/canadas-2008-election-offers-lessons-for-2015-vote.html

Heck, he's practically got the Liberal-NDP coalition cabinet already picked out!

Tell me, again, which federal political parties have the "hidden agenda" (no quite so well hidden now)?

"It is apparent that the country is now morally and mentally dead, though still locomoting on the zombie principle.

[...]

The journalists go a little beyond the judges, in using flagrantly emotional arguments which they identify as “rational,” and mocking conscientious arguments as “emotional.” Most then announce that a debate in which they could never have participated — given their cruel intellectual limitations — is now closed because the Oracle has spoken."

http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/2015/02/07/the-insanity-offence/

"Greek leader to reject EU's austerity, lay out leftist programme"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/08/eurozone-greece-idUSL5N0VI0GE20150208

...-

"The Socialist Phenomenon"

"World socialism as a whole, and all the figures associated with it, are shrouded in legend; its contradictions are forgotten or concealed; it does not respond to arguments but continually ignores them--all this stems from the mist of irrationality that surrounds socialism and from its instinctive aversion to scientific analysis, features which the author of this volume points out repeatedly and in many contexts.

The doctrines of socialism seethe with contradictions, its theories are at constant odds with its practice, yet due to a powerful instinct--also laid bare by Shafarevich--these contradictions do not in the least hinder the unending propaganda of socialism.

Indeed, no precise, distinct socialism even exists; instead there is only a vague, rosy notion of something noble and good, of equality, communal ownership, and justice: the advent of these things will bring instant euphoria and a social order beyond reproach.

The twentieth century marks one of the greatest upsurges in the success of socialism, and concomitantly of its repulsive practical manifestations. Yet due to the same passionate irrationality, attempts to examine these results are repelled: they are either ignored completely, or implausibly explained away in terms of certain "Asiatic" or "Russian" aberrations or the personality of a particular dictator, or else they are ascribed to "state capitalism."

http://www.robertlstephens.com/essays/shafarevich/001SocialistPhenomenon.html#pagestart_270

AGW-RIP Kills.

"In this case, Spain, Italy, and the Balkans have taken it on the chin."

...-

"Snowstorms and Floods Hammer Europe; Three and Hundreds Evacuated"

"Triggering this persistent heavy snow and rain is an atmospheric clog."

"However, as that first system withers, a powerful cold front will nosedive southward from Scandinavia into central and eastern Europe this weekend."

http://www.weather.com/news/news/europe-snowstorm-floods-spain-italy-croatia-slovenia-albania

Poll spotting. Half way down RH side.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

"In a 2005 interview with Esquire magazine, (Brian) Williams said a thief drew on him in the 1970s — leaving him 'looking up at a thug’s snub-nosed .38 while selling Christmas trees out of the back of a truck.'”

Local residents call bullshit.

Group of Muslims who visited the White House last week:

"As previously uncovered by Breitbart News, the White House confirmed that Azhar Azeez, President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), was one of the Muslim leaders that met with President Obama. ISNA was founded in 1981 by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The group was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial. Federal prosecutors have previously described how ISNA funneled its money to Palestinian terrorist group Hamas (via Investigative Project):"

http://www.infowars.com/muslim-brotherhood-comes-to-the-white-house/

Mao* Strong Report.

...-

"China rues scrapping Mexican high-speed rail project"

"CHINA yesterday said it regretted Mexico’s decision to shelve a US$3.75 billion high-speed rail project and called for the interests of Chinese bidders to be taken into account."

http://www.szdaily.com/content/2015-02/03/content_11148770.htm

*Liberal Justine's favourite dictator.

Comparing Christian incursions against Muslim incursions by force through the ages can be very interesting. Wonder what Obama would say ?

http://senseofevents.blogspot.ca/2015/02/crusade-battles-muslim-conquest-battles.html

Mohammed has blinked.

...-

"Chevron Unit Said to Cut Output From Saudi-Kuwaiti Oil Fields"

"Crude production dropped 20 percent since October at a venture that a Chevron Corp. unit operates in the Wafra fields, which Kuwait is developing with Saudi Arabia, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Daily output dropped to 180,000 barrels from about 200,000 barrels last month and 225,000 barrels in October, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Two rigs are halted and more may be idled in the coming months because Saudi Arabian Chevron Inc. faces problems operating wells due to a lack of personnel after Kuwait stopped issuing and renewing work permits in October, they said."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-08/kuwait-saudi-wafra-oil-field-run-by-chevron-said-to-cut-output

AGW RIP.
...-

"British Columbia: Kitamaat Village evacuated after 3 days without power due to record snowfall -- over 5 feet; 800 residents now safe in nearby Town of Kitimat, which has snow up to rooflines"

"Telegraph: Climate fraud: Systematic 'fiddling with
temperature data' is the biggest science scandal ever"

http://www.newswatchcanada.ca/

...-

"Polar Plunge to Deliver Coldest Air This Winter to Northeast"

"With the prolonged cold expected across the region, the piles of snow are here to stay," added Elliott."

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/polar-plunge-to-deliver-coldes/41944398

Of Mnemosyne.

...-

"Sir Michael Gambon: My 'frightening' memory loss forced me to quit 50-year stage career"

"Harry Potter and Fortitude actor, who impressed Olivier and played King Lear, calls time on glittering stage career after five decades"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11398897/Sir-Michael-Gambon-forced-to-quit-theatre-due-to-frightening-memory-loss.html

...-

"Brian Williams and Memories Retread From a Perch Too Public"

"I wrote a book some years back about the nature of memory and the stories we tell ourselves and tell others. Stories tend to grow over time and, if they are told often enough, they harden into a kind of new truth for the teller. Mr. Williams has been on almost every talk show you can think of and that requires not only a different skill set — he is a gifted and funny performer — but stories in abundance.

It’s useful to note that Mr. Williams initially reported the story fundamentally as it had happened — although the soldiers on hand say he exaggerated the danger to himself even then — and over time, as he retold it, he moved into the middle of it, so that the story became something that happened to him. All those 1 percent enhancements add up and can leave the teller a long way from the truth.

The evolution of his account was evident in a 2013 appearance on the “Late Show With David Letterman.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/business/media/brian-williams-and-memories-retread-from-a-perch-too-public.html