Have fun Kate,and stay away fom the fish :)

And another poll gone horribly wrong heh
http://calsun.canoe.ca/Comment/

Sounds adventurous!
Have a great time Kate.

AND authentic Chinese food as well!
Maybe we'll see some pictures?

Have fun! Kick some commie butt! ;)

Kate "bent over a motorcycle tank" ?

(drool) conservative women are sooooo hot.

Hmmmm..."bending over a motorcycle tank". Reminds me of that old line:

Some people say they want their women bending over the stove and laying on the bed...but I prefer them laying on the stove and bending over the bed.

Have fun in China. Maybe now is a good time to start a fast. Beer should be safe to drink, though.

Being a gentleman I will not comment on "bent over" but if I did...

Seriously, have a safe trip and enjoy.

Laying, isn't that what hens do?

Don't know how that Cal Sun poll on Khadr would go in Toronto their hometown.

Another poll in Toronto Sun asks "Do you think panhandlers make Toronto less desirable for tourists"? It's at Yes-89% No-11%. Rather surprising because that Socialist haven has made no attempt to clear the streets.

Be as good girl over there Kate! "Bending" over a hot motorcycle might be considered anti-communist.

The Silent Scream of the Asparagus

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/065njdoe.asp

Because plants are people, too.

Not being a gentleman and knowing that nobody says it any more, but...

SHWING!

If the 'plant rights' movement gains enough momentum, maybe vegans will stop eating altogether.

And here I thought Darwinism didn't work in modern society.

Youtube video - The Arrogant Worms - Carrot Juice Is Murder

Listen up brothers and sisters,
come hear my desperate tale.
I speak of our friends of nature,
trapped in the dirt like a jail.

Vegetables live in oppression,
served on our tables each night.
This killing of veggies is madness,
I say we take up the fight.

Salads are only for murderers,
coleslaw's a fascist regime.
Don't think that they don't have feelings,
just cause a radish can't scream.

Chorus:
I've heard the screams of the vegetables (scream, scream, scream)
Watching their skins being peeled (having their insides revealed)
Grated and steamed with no mercy (burning off calories)
How do you think that feels (bet it hurts really bad)
Carrot juice constitutes murder (and that's a real crime)
Greenhouses prisons for slaves (let my vegetables go)
It's time to stop all this gardening (it's dirty as hell)
Let's call a spade a spade (is a spade is a spade is a spade) . . .

Love that customer service!

>"One lawyer who was not registered with CanLaw, >but asked CanLaw to stop sending her unsolicited >emails, received a response calling her 'another >stupid little girl who got through law school on >her back'..."

Just think of me as the Blogger Business Bureau...
http://www.fivefeetoffury.com/:entry:fivefeet-2008-05-06-0000/

Two things on the technology front, one is a "duh!", the other is pretty cool.

1) From The Guardian no less, police in the UK say CCTV doesn't catch criminals. To which I can only say, DUH! They should fire every cop above a sergeant in that country, I swear.
www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/06/ukcrime1

2)Amazing cleverness on display today, news release on a new method for fixing defects in computer chips. Long story short, you melt the traces for a couple miliseconds and let surface tension smooth things out for you. BRILLIANT!!!
phantomsoapbox.blogspot.com/2008/05/this-is-so-clever.html

When I read about Kate being bent over a motorcycle, I only thought of her painting a motorcycle tank and nothing else...

Who knows, maybe global warming is affecting my "dirty-mind" ?

either that or I am getting old...

Have a good trip, Kate.

Robert Satloff, Just Like Us! Really?

Gallup says only 7 percent of the world's Muslims are political radicals. Yet 36 percent think the 9/11 attacks were in some way justified.

Catch John McCain speech going on right now, about the Constitution, and the Judicial philosophy of the United States.

The appointment of judges, and the lack of appointment of judges, and the whole process is included....worth a listen.

Maybe Inwood married into the Kermani family or went to the Kermani School of Business?

Editorial: Muslim extremism and wars

The ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan, HE Mr Ali S Awadh Asseri, in an interview given to Daily Times, has made some thought-provoking remarks on the state of the Muslim mind that need to be dwelt upon. Correctly, he said that there was a need to revisit “the logic behind the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq” and engage the fighting sides there in dialogue. He spoke of Muslim extremism in the same context: “Those few who are engaged in their nefarious effort to promote the cult of extremism and violence are heretics and deviants. They must be controlled through a combined effort of all peace-loving nations of the world”...

The collapse of Arab nationalism tilted the Arab world into a new-found faith in Islam. This movement was greatly encouraged in all kinds of ways by Saudi Arabia which emerged as the ideological antithesis of Nasserism. But what was seen as the victory of Islam against secular nationalism was also objectively the victory of the United States in the Middle East against its Cold War rival, the Soviet Union. It is tragic that every time we help the US to win, the Muslims are the biggest sufferers...

Speaking of "justice" review the DUI case against Maggie Trudeau. Blows 1.07 which is over the limit of .08. Police give her the right to a lawyer by giving her a list of them to select one. She does but when the police call the number they get an voice answering machine. They inform her there was no answer at that number so she selects another lawyer and the case proceeds.

Forget the fact she was guilty of the DUI the case hinged on whether her right to select a lawyer of her choice was infringed by the police not saying they reached an answering machine rather than saying there was "no answer".

After going up the chain with back and forth decisions she struck gold with the Ontario Court of Appeal acquiting her. Now she did not know any of the lawyers on the list so what difference did it make to her case. It did when you have our Charter of Rights and Freedoms which any lawyer can twist into anything if you have the money and time to do so as this took place in 2005 and settled yesterday. Again the fact that she was guilty of the charge meant nothing. Any wonder why the police are so discouraged by the "legal" system.

Fiction from Jack Binlayton*s website.

A holiday visit to Fort FrozenMurray. .

**Of course I just had to see all the sights right away. I wanted to start with the Ralph Klein Environmental Pavilion, but, unfortunately, it was closed for repairs. Just as well. I was a little tired from the trip, and all I really wanted to do was lie on the beach and enjoy the sun. So, I grabbed my bathing suit and jogged over to the Ralph Klein Waste Water Park.

And that was certainly the right choice. I’ve never seen a water park quite like this. The park looked, for all the world, like a series of interconnected toxic-waste holding ponds right on the Athabasca River.

I was so impressed that I even stopped and read the information plaque at the entrance to the Waste Water Park. It said that a single barrel of oil from the oil sands produced three times more greenhouse-gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil and that the ponds and beach areas were one of largest human-made structures in the world and could be seen from space.

Even more impressive, ninety percent of the water used in processing the oil sands was so toxic that propane cannons had to be used to keep migrating water fowl away.

They even had times posted when you could watch the park staff blast teals and canvasbacks and buffleheads and northern pintails along with common loons and Canada geese out of the sky to keep them from landing on the water.
================ NDP website
Hmmm, Seems like fun. I heard there was not a single NDPeer elected in Alberta /Sask. = TG

Bret Stephens, Israel's 60-Year Test

For reasons both telling and mysterious, Israel has become unpopular among that segment of public opinion that calls itself progressive. This is the same progressive segment that believes in women's rights, gay rights, the rights to a fair trial and to appeal, freedom of speech and conscience, judicial checks on parliamentary authority. These are rights that exist in Israel and nowhere else in the Middle East. So why is it that the country that is most sympathetic to progressive values gets the least of progressive sympathies?

Anne Applebaum, A Warning Shot from Moscow?

Before it happened, nobody imagined that the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo would set off World War I. Before the "shot heard round the world" was fired, I doubt that 18th-century Concord expected to go down in history as the place where the American Revolution began. Before last weekend, when the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS declared that the government of Georgia was about to invade Abkhazia, nobody had really thought about Abkhazia at all. As a public service to readers who need a break from the American presidential campaign, this column is therefore devoted to considering the possibility that Abkhazia could become the starting point of a larger war.

Mark Steyn's blog is a must read today. Interesting updates as regards the HRC issue(s).

Background on Dr. Naiyer Habib - the co-plaintiff with Elmasry re the filing being heard before the BCHRT.

Hearing is set to commence June 2. Like who knows? No indication of whether or not this hearing is going to be open to the public. Where in the hell is the press/media in all of this - very few people even know that this hearing is happening and what is at stake.

It seems that M.S may be having a debate with the 3 Sock Puppets - 8 pm EST/Wed - with Steve Paiken. It really does beg the question as to why these 3 Puppets seem to be getting the attention as point people, when in fact they are not.

Have fun Kate...New information about Joooos...

Pakistani Scholar : Dogs And Pigs Are Favorite Animals Of Jews...He also asked the Pakistani government to ban the use of sniffer dogs in the investigation of cases by police.

Charles MacDonald asks:
So why is it that [Israel,] the country that is most sympathetic to progressive values gets the least of progressive sympathies?

Because Israel is a democracy, and the left-wing extremists that are constantly attacking it hate democracy more than anything, more even than racism and homophobia.

Tried to watch the proceedings in HofC today...i know,I need to get a life!Started off with Mrs.BinLayton arguing about some obscure immigration law,and it was truly painful to watch.This woman has got to be,the most boring,rambling incoherent member in the House,and I just had to turn it off.Just un-frikken-believable.

Doug,

If you were to follow posts closely you would know that Kate is not a Conservative. She has mentioned her leaning but since it's a personal thing I won't speak for her.

Here's some wisdom for surviving Beijing traffic (ancient Chinese proverb):

"Man who run in front of car get tired"

There's another saying by Bruce Lee's stuntman: "I got run over by a Datsun once...oh what a feeling!"

Another poll goes horribly wrong!

Should Ottawa intervene to save Omar Khadr from a military trial in Guantanamo?

http://www.calgarysun.com/

Good news and bad news for those who would profit from a Aug/Sept IPO from the battery-pack maker for GMs new Volt.

http://TonyGuitar.blogspot.com
=======================
= TG

The city's panhandler's union has launched a million-dollar civil suit against the city, arguing its move to gate an underpass where a street kid was murdered violates their constitutional rights.

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2008/05/06/5480671-sun.html

Wonder if it'll end up that beggars can collectively bargain with passers-by?

charles macdonald - I disagree that the movement into Islamism, ie, fascism, was due to the 'collapse of arab nationalism'.

It was due, I suggest, to the retention of a tribal political and social system within a population base that was too large for tribalism and within an economic mode that had moved from agriculture to industrialism.

When you have a large (millions) population base within an industrial economy, you absolutely cannot have a political infrastructure that operates by means of tribal hierarchies and powers. The society has to move out of this hereditary and static infrastructure and into one that enables the development of a middle class.

Membership in the middle class is not hereditary (as it is in a tribe); it is flexible, it is dynamic and this class must have political power.

Instead, the arab nations refused to enable and empower a middle class; they kept control of, by means of both military force and religious extremism, all the new oil wealth within elite tribalism, reducing the majority of the population to a status 'kept' by the state and without power.

This is the reason for the rise of Islamic fascism. Nothing to do with 'collapse of arab nationalism'.

And Bush's move into Iraq was correct. It moved Islamic fascism from its diversionary agenda against the West back into the ME - which is where it belongs. Why? Because the fight for political and economic power and for a middle class has to be fought by Muslims within their own nations - against that tribal hierarchy.

Mark Steyn gets interviewed by some chick @ a book store, wed. 7 pm Manulife Building (Bloor and Bay).

(The same bookstore that pulled The Western Standard and "turtled" when it mattered)

Also tonight @ 8 with Steve Paiken on TVO with the suck puppet 3.

Have a nice trip, Kate, you deserve it.
Please say "Hello Moe" to fearless leader !

Mark Steyn gets interviewed by some chick @ a book store, wed. 7 pm Manlfe Building (Bloor and Bay).

(The same bookstore that pulled The Western Standard and "turtled" when it mattered)

Also tonight @ 8 with Steve Paiken on TVO with the suck puppet 3.

Hey everyone: don't forget, Mark Steyn gets to have a word with the sock-puppet three on television tonight, on TVO at 8pm eastern.
(The Agenda).

This is the reason for the rise of Islamic fascism. Nothing to do with 'collapse of arab nationalism'. Posted by: ET at May 6, 2008 11:59 AM

You need to do more reading ET. And you have a western views/mores that is irrelevant to apply. If you disagree with that, maybe you can describe the sunni/shiite conflict within the context of arab/farsi duality. None of that is tribal (in relevance at least), any more than wahhabism is a ruling clique for its' favored members, while ignoring the idea of a 'caliphate'. The presence of infidels in the holy land is more important to extremism than a bunch of backwater rubes.

Here is a CBC article from yesterday that is chilling...doctors deciding who gets to die in a pandemic.

cbc.ca/health/story/2008/05/05/doctors-pandemic.html

With a chronic disease, I will likely get to be one of the first to die...oh well, survival of the fittest! I'm sure that there's gotta be a charter challenge in there somewhere...

That "some chick" referenced by richfisher re the interview with Mark Steyn is none other than Chapters/Indigo founder Heather Reisman who is the same person who also had Mein Kampf pulled from her chain.

Steyn is interviewed Thursday, May 8 on CTS Michael Coren Show with guest host Tim Denis, in Michael's absence.

Mark Steyn is busy today. He'll also be on the air in Calgary this evening:

Rob Breakenridge, The World Tonight
CHQR 770 AM
8:00 p.m. MDT

Save the Carrot ... and spare those microbes!

Horticulture is abuse of plants.... Europe is at the forefront of moonbattery on so many issues!

....A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms." No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology to figure it out. The resulting report, "The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants," is enough to short circuit the brain....

Check this out. I was under the impression that my personal government records were not for public consumption. Silly me. Can anyone comment on this please?

http://gov-reports.net/ca-search.php?search=CABACK&title=Background%20Records

Does Liberal Ron count as a troll? Just wondering because I cannot ignore the obvious...that he doesn't know the difference between Conservative and conservative.Is that a liberal tendency or a Liberal trait?
Hey Kate...so much for the assumption that life is all quiet and cozy down on the farm for you in Saskatchewan.Sounds like life in the fast lane.Hope all goes well.

On CAIR and PM Stephen "Mr. Accountability" Harper:

"One need not subscribe to theories of conspiracy to recognize the merits of a thorough evaluation of the operations of the CAIR system."

That is not to say that access to information has fared very well under the first two years of the Conservative government. The Access to Information Commissioner has noticed a 60 per cent jump in the number of complaints filed with his office in the past year. Many departments aren't even paying lip service to the legal deadlines to answer access requests - sending out letters claiming delays of 200 days and more before files are even analyzed. The requirement to "consult" the privy council on far more requests than in the past has created a bottleneck that has choked the flow of information to Canadians about what their government is doing.

Opening up access to documents held by bodies the Conservatives have long disliked like the CBC and the wheat board, while laudable, does little to compensate for the fact that information about what the rest of government is doing has virtually ground to a halt.

That's the real danger to democracy.

Source: http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/blogs/onthehill/archive/2008/05/06/why-cair.aspx

hardboiled - your opinions (you need to do more reading; western view..etc..) are without evidence. Discuss the situation; don't just assert. I suggest you read a bit on tribal socioeconomic and political organization, and the relation of demographics to societal/economic organization.

I stand by my analysis. Tribalism is the basic cause of the emergence of Islamic fascism because it kept the majority of the population out of power within an economic mode that had changed from stable, unchanging agriculturalism to industrialism.

hardboiled - your opinions (you need to do more reading; western view..etc..) are without evidence. Discuss the situation; don't just assert. I suggest you read a bit on tribal socioeconomic and political organization, and the relation of demographics to societal/economic organization.

I stand by my analysis. Tribalism is the basic cause of the emergence of Islamic fascism because it kept the majority of the population out of power within an economic mode that had changed from stable, unchanging agriculturalism to industrialism.

McGuinty's LIEberals in Ontario marches on:

Potato chips in schools - BANNED
Pesticides for lawn care - BANNED
Smoking in cars with kids - BANNED
Scraping the Lord's Prayer in Legislature - IN PROGRESS
New OPP plane to police speeders - WOW

Meanwhile back at the ranch...
-Caledonia lawlessness
-Gun crime in Toronto
-Provincial slide into have-not status

"remember not to respond to trolls or drive by provocateurs."

I'm swearing an oath on this one. No matter how tempting, no matter how enraging. Gonna be like gandhi with slightly more hair.

You didn't have to say it twice :-)

I am only challenging what I see as a myopic viewpoint. Maybe I am wrong - if you would please describe how the sunni/shiite conflict (within the context of arab/farsi nationalism) is tribal and providing an economics driven extremism, it would help. That is discussing, not asserting.

ted, in your eagerness to express your neurotic hatred of Harper, you are ignoring that the fault is due to, and only to, the civil service bureaucracy, who are all Liberals. It is your beloved Liberals, ted, who are obstructing access to information.

Ahh, the Liberals. No policies. None.
Just unprincipled activities.

When in gov't, stealing from the taxpayer to fund their election campaigns; using taxpayer money for buying votes from ethnic groups, expensive travel and meals in the best restaurants and etc..

When out of gov't, resorting to constant unethical and ungrounded smear campaigns, resorting to their buddies in the Liberal controlled MSM (CBC, CTV, papers) to misinform and disinform the public.

Resorting to their Liberal appointed bureaucracy, who engage in unprincipled and illegal obstruction, leaks, thefts of documents etc..
Nothing like a Liberal, eh Ted?

hardboiled - sorry about the double post. One more thing - arab and farsi aren't tribes but ethnicities. Sunni and Shia are tribes and fight for political and economic control. That's the problem. A civic mode of organization moves out of hereditary power bases (and fights for such power) and focuses only on the individual as he is now. Not as he is within his hereditary tribe.

Strange, how the CBC will allow Global Warm-Mongers on, hour after hour and yet allow Rex Murphy to slice and dice them all - effortlessly ! In just five minutes !

The Media business - just a game ? Duh !!

http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/23745/thenational/archive/rex-050108.wmv

The NP comes through again with this fine article from Dianne Francis:http://tinyurl.com/4eo49p
Offshore fraud artists

Have fun in China. Maybe now is a good time to start a fast. Beer should be safe to drink, though.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 6, 2008 8:55 AM

The beer here is certainly safe to drink. Beats Canada, it 12%

"Well, it's good to have hobbies when pursuing the very exhausting full time demonization of the world's fastest rising boogie man: Islam."

"Remember folks, ignore the trolls, speak freely but deny the same freedom to those who disagree"

Maudlin, aka, freedom speaker, or whatever disordered personality is making itself known now:

You are denied because you are an idiot. You clearly know nothing about Islam, therefore any so-called disagreement you choose to pursue is completely without merit. Get it?

ET,

Once again, I disagree with you. Islam is a totalitarian ideology which has manifest fascist roots from as early as Mohammad's Medina period. There may be an ebb and flow in terms of its fascist face being shown throughout history, however, that is only based on an Islamic position in terms of power and wealth at any given time - a negotiating tactic clearly stated and understood in their texts.

It is now resurgent once again, due to mideast oil wealth, the immigration deals brokered in the 70's and Saudi financing of Islamic conquest (passive jihad) throughout the west, amongst other things.

I do agree with you though, that there is and has been no room for a middle class in Islamic countries. Pakistan compared to India is currently as good an example as any. This, however, is not the whole problem. There is still a 1350 year old hyper violent ideology of conquest and supremacism the west has to deal with, yet again.

Sunni and Shia are tribes and fight for political and economic control - Posted by: ET at May 6, 2008 1:06 PM

That's why I suggested more reading ET - sunni & Shia are to each other what Catholicism is to protestants.

Sunni and Shia are tribes and fight for political and economic control - Posted by: ET at May 6, 2008 1:06 PM

That's why I suggested more reading ET - sunni & Shia are to each other what Catholicism is to protestants.

test
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/065njdoe.asp

Sock Puppets wimp out on Steyn...Pull a Hank Snow on TVO Debate

http://www.steynonline.com/

"UPDATE! Sock Puppet pantywaists wimp out! Three Sock Puppets against one Islamophobe is apparently unfair odds as "they would not have the time to prepare for the debate." More developments to come. But for the moment the Socks are refusing to go mano a mano a mano a mano with Steyn. Later tonight, Mark will join Rob Breakenridge in Calgary: see the box at right for full details. And don't miss Mark and Heather Reisman in conversation at Indigo Books at Bay & Bloor in Toronto tomorrow night at 7pm."

Now I know that Harper is really a Liberal. Also explains why this snivelling coward keeps mum about kangaroo courts, he supports them.

http://www.privacylawyer.ca/blog/labels/lawful%20access.html

"Dispute over costs holds up plan to
reintroduce Internet policing legislation

The Harper government's plans to reintroduce legislation that would make it easier for law-enforcement agencies to monitor Internet and wireless communications have been held up by a dispute with industry over who should cover the costs, according to documents obtained by Canwest News Service."

Fun with languages:

Commands, Warnings and Instructions (English/Pashto)

hardboiled - why should I do more reading? I'm already well aware of tribes; that's my point. Very strange. I outline the problem in the ME as due to tribalism, and you pompously tell me to read up on tribalism. Phew.

And tribalism is not similar to religious ideology; the ideology is secondary. Tribalism is a kin connection; it's physical not ideological. It assigns identity by virtue of kin relations which are hereditary, i.e., genetic.

Catholicism and Protestantism are ideologies not kinship trees.

irwin daisy - I disagree with you. Most certainly, Islam is totalitarian right from its inception. And tribal right from its inception. But I don't think it is fascist from its inception.

Fascism, in my view, is an ideology based on a utopian view, a view that considers that IF we can control the population in all its activities, THEN, we can return to the original purity of the utopian ideal. Fascism is based on a notion that at one time, such a utopia DID exist; that the people have degenerated from this ideal state, and, if we insert control, then..we can return to this ideal. Furthermore, fascism emerges only in dysfunctional states; I don't see it as an ideology by itself.

I consider that it emerged in the ME as a response to the industrialization of the ME that occurred within a tribal infrastructure. This enriched one tribe while assigning the majority of the population to irrelevance.

The middle class will only emerge in a society that is moving out of tribalism and into a civic mode of political organization. That requires a large population base, a market economy and either industrialism or incipient industrialism (ie 15th c Europe). The ME's represssion of a civic political mode is, in my view, the basis for Islamic fascism.

Charles MacDonald

Here is a two part essay by Takuan Seivo posted at The Brussels Journal. The difference between Western and Japanese culture.

Part 1: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3203

Part 2: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3222

There is a wonderful if anecdotal quote from the great Euro-Chilean-Mexican-Parisian film director and polymath, Alejandro Jodorowsky: "One day, someone showed me a glass of water that was half full. And he said, 'Is it half full or half empty?' So I drank the water. No more problem."

It is rather with bitter sweet irony to sit back and observe the finished by product of the sixties counter culture revolution on display in the Democratic primary. Gloria Stieman, Susan Sontag, David Howritz and other red diaper babies thought they could change the world for the better in bleach stained T shirts free drugs and sex, woman hating men and white imperialism/white guilt and chanting the foolish ideology of that boorish fool Karl Marx, who never did an ounce of menial labour in his life. Now that Radical Islam is a threat to the “tribe” of Mr. Howritz, he is faced with the daunting task touring the University campuses trying to put the progressive genie back into the bottle he once helped release.

Mother Nature provides no sanctuary for the naive or the loathing, only extinction

AssPress/WHO has changed its spin. Previously WHO was quoted as saying Mao Stlong's Red Orympics was safe.
This is no longer in the report. This is at the end of the report:
"The outbreak is another headache for China as it prepares to host this summer's Olympic Games, already tarnished by unrest among Tibetans in western China and an international torch relay disrupted by protests."
26 children have died? Could this figure be 360? 3600?
...-

"New disease outbreaks in China
12K children infected
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS"
http://tinyurl.com/6xohyw

I think Newman got his comeuppance today when the cbc was quick to report of another death in afghan, but no names released yet. He was back on withing minutes saying, the family has now been notified, and we realize that the news must have put many families with members there in a panic. (or words to that effect) He repeated that the family has been notified and if you have heard nothing it is not your family member.
Wonder why he and Susan had not considered that before they breathlessly reported on the death and injury of another.
Sympathy to the families involved. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Shame on the cbc.

Re: Shawn at May 6, 2008 2:20 PM
Shawn: I read that at Gates of Vienna (I think). A remarkable piece, tho' I'm not sure I fully agree with his unabashed celebration of Japanese culture. A very good contrast though with some key insights into the sickness that has infected western civilization.

Fairness, idealism and other atrocities

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-orourke4-2008may04,0,6539887.story

hardboiled - why should I do more reading? I'm already well aware of tribes; that's my point. Very strange. I outline the problem in the ME as due to tribalism, and you pompously tell me to read up on tribalism. Phew. Posted by: ET at May 6, 2008 2:09 PM

It isn't pompous to point out that Sunni & Shia are theologies - not ideologies (like Marxism/Capitalism/Socialism etc.). And there is nothing 'tribal' about them. They are faith based constructs, splinters of the same theology/faith. The same way that Catholics are different from Protestants are from Presbyterians are from Baptists.

On the upshot, you have the ethnicities part right. When you get around to factual knowledge on Wahhabism, let me know.

You'll have a better understanding of extremism's origins, which (in this case) reside in religious zealotry, not a western precept of denying the 'middle class'. Class warfare is not transnational - unless you think Mega Corp is taking everyone out. In that case, a subscription to 'Socialist Worker' might be a good idea.

CAIRS: "a tool to restrict access to government information - not to make it more available."

Citoyen Dion say, "Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion joined in the criticism, accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of running the "most secretive government in the history of the country."" (g-m)

Angry has more.
...-

Why CAIR?

There was much rending of shirts and wringing of hands by Stéphane Dion and the opposition Liberals and the Bloc Québécois yesterday over the discovery that the government was relieving civil servants of their responsibility to update the CAIRS list.

Never heard of the CAIRS list you say? You're not alone. I would venture a guess that three quarters of the politicians and journalists now bemoaning its demise have never used CAIRS, a database that detailed each access to information request filed with the federal government.

Despite the laudable efforts of academic Alasdair Roberts and then CBC reporter David McKie to post the database to a website and make it available to researchers, journalists and the public, I have always found it cumbersome to use and to search. In many cases, it was used by those who wanted to piggyback on requests filed by others - much to the irritation of those who were doing original research and preferred it to stay that way.

What is also being missed in this debate is that CAIRS - first introduced under Conservative Brian Mulroney's government - was intended as a tool to restrict access to government information - not to make it more available."
http://tinyurl.com/5tuehh (E.Thompson)
...-

"CAIRS not a tool for openness

Elizabeth Thompson has written a piece on her blog that puts the CAIRS database question into perspective.

Despite the moaning from the opposition, shutting down the CAIRS database is not about secrecy. CAIR was never about openness. It was always about making it easier for the government to limit access to information."
http://tinyurl.com/5mnfye (Angry)

hardboiled:

Here I thought Presbyterian and Baptists were Protestant sects, not something distinguished from Protestantism.

Posted by: set you free at May 6, 2008 4:04 PM

Very well could be - I am not knowledgeable about Christian sects, or the general arrangement of the Christian universe.

Probably a bad example - based upon ignorance. I'll look it up.

Gates of Vienna is a good read.

Western culture elites have some type of personality disorder. Instead of celebrating the cultures immense success, it endlessly agonizes over its faults. Its political and intellectual leaders just can't simply acknowledge the mistakes, prevent them for happening again and then let these past failures go and move on. No, they must assuage their guilt by willfully destroying the most successful parts of western culture(free speech, merit, rule of law, equality under the law, free markets, military superiority). The very parts that differentiate and protect us from dysfunctional cultures.

Speaking of McGuinty, if anyone really cares, he's the asshole who said he'd ask/listen to the people.
He's decided to stop saying the Lord's prayer in the Legislature in favor something more universal or whatever. He's heard from thousands against doing this but guess what, he's doing it anyway. HE LIED AGAIN.
It's one thing to be a liar but it's much worse when a population votes for a proven liar who broke virtually every promise he made the previous election. It's more than the Lord's prayer we have to worry about.

BTW Kate, if you spot Moe Stlong in your travels, send us a picture, we haven't seen him in a while.

I have been following the Mark Steyn debate drama. It is obvious that these law students are afraid of debating him directly. That alone says a lot about their integrity and character. They are only brave when the situation is manipulated in their favor by either the MSM or HRC.

Shawn, thank you for the Brussels Journal articles. I agree with MND regarding Japanese culture but the author certainly highlights the gaping defects in Western civilisation. There are times when we need to drink the water, or take a sword to the Gordian knot.

Liz J:

Are there any words in the Lord's Prayer that suggest it was introduced by Christ at the Sermon on the Mount?

I've just reviewed the text and it seems pretty universal to me.

Any idea which phrase McGuinty objects to?

hardboiled - and you aren't knowledgeable about tribalism. Sunni and Shia are religious ideologies but held within different tribal filiations. The ideology isn't something you take up as an individual choice; it's part of the identity of your tribe. Therefore it can't be compared to Protestant/Catholic, neither of which have anything to do with a kinship system and both of which can be an individual choice.

The most important alliances in the ME are your tribal filiation. The ideology of that tribe (whether within the Sunni or the Shi'ite) doesn't obliterate or supercede that tribal bond.

Equally, you don't seem aware of the fact that an 'ideology' can mean a 'theology'; the latter is simply an ideology about 'theos' (god).

I don't know what you are talking about re 'class warfare'. That has nothing to do with the ME. The salient point of the ME is its failure to enable a middle class to develop - this class would no longer operate within tribal filiations but within economic and political activities.

SYF, you'd have to ask McGuinty about what part of the Lord's prayer could be offensive. Guess he's playing to Toronto's religious diversity, wants to keep his ass safe. It makes no sense, so all one can do is speculate.

"At Last I Changed My Mind Because There's Proof Obama Was a Muslim and Daniel Pipes Has It"

I'm more disturbed that he lied, than I am about his being a Muslim while very young. And Pipes has proven it to my satisfaction. He was a Muslim and he did lie.

Now I'll have to tell my mother who I've adamantly said was being silly for saying Barack Hussein Obama (first time I've used his full name like this) was a Muslim.

So now I feel foolish about not only believing, but defending his lies.

So now, what does this mean? Do all fundamentalist Muslims have a religious duty to kill him now as an apostate? Does this complicate U.S. international relations by having a Muslim apostate as President should he be elected?

Arguably worse, does this explain his radicalism, his attraction to Jeremiah Wright, and is there more here than meets the eye? Is it pure coincidence Obama's pastor, of all people, largely hates the U.S., loves Louis Farakhan, Nation of Islam founder, and had pro-Islamic terrorist messages in the church newsletter? A church so radical even Oprah left?

Why does Obama seem so eager to withdraw from Iraq, victory be damned, and talk to Iran?

You have to read this article from Power Line:

Kurtz inevitably considers the question of Obama's decision to remain in Wright's church. He writes: "Nearly every sermon Wright preaches, as well as his now-infamous bulletins and church magazines, is filled with his radicalism, and it's therefore impossible not to conclude that Obama was broadly attracted to Wright's politics."

Significantly, Wright's radicalism sparked a mass exodus from the church on several occasions. By 1975, nearly all of the members who had invited Wright to become their pastor in 1972 had defected. In 1983, "a group of particularly active and prominent members uncomfortable with Wright left Trinity. . .for a local Pentacostal Apostolic church." Wright's radicalism also caused his relations with the United Church of Christ to be rocky at times.

These facts make Obama's decision to remain in Wright's flock all the more telling.

Obama has a lot of explaining to do. Without lies, preferably.

I don't know what you are talking about re 'class warfare' Posted by: ET at May 6, 2008 4:41 PM

Instead, the arab nations refused to enable and empower a middle class; they kept control of, by means of both military force and religious extremism, all the new oil wealth within elite tribalism, reducing the majority of the population to a status 'kept' by the state and without power. Posted by: ET at May 6, 2008 11:59 AM

Sounds alot like class warfare to me or maybe it's 'tribal' class warfare ;-)

Posted by: ET at May 6, 2008 4:41 PM - Sunni and Shia are religious ideologies but held within different tribal filiations

sigh.

At a certain point, when one discovers they are talking to someone who is not rational, continuing to do so is also not rational.

Ignorance is a deep, dark pit dude.

ET, to the slight extent that the political and religious spheres are distinct in Islam, a religious response to the "collapse of Arab nationalism" is hardly unexpected. Just as, following the suppression of the Great Mutiny, Deobandi Islamofascism took root on the Subcontinent. Similarly, you once remarked that the Shi'a messianism described by Mehdi Khalaji is predictable among people who have very little control over their lives.

The question remains why the various strains of Islamofascism have come to the fore now. We may argue whether they represent Islam's last gasp, and if so, what cause of death should be listed on its death certificate. I'm sure we'll debate the roles of tribalism, pervasive Western culture, and other factors at length in future.

There are 41,000 people that Canada wants to deport but cannot find, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser announced Tuesday in her latest report on the efficiency of government operations.

“Due in part to a lack of exit controls, there is a growing number of individuals whose whereabouts are unknown...

I thought news was supposed to be 'new'. The AG has been on this for years. Same with the passport fee screw.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080506.wauditor_main0506/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

Pollster Anderson spouts the socialistLiberalTO line: Big Daddy-Mommy Government is "normal".

"Anderson said it is normal for people to turn to the federal government for answers in an economic slump."
...-

"Ontarians blame Ottawa for their descent toward have-not status: poll
By Julian Beltrame, THE CANADIAN PRESS"

Well, I've looked at Daniel Pipes' material, and all it shows is that Obama was born into a Muslim family (which he's never disputed), was registered as a Muslim in his first three years at school (and he had to be registered as something, and he didn't register himself), and went to prayers at the mosque with his family occasionally. All at a time in his life when he simply wasn't capable of taking a serious theological position. Sorry, I just don't think that's good enough to brand him a liar. Go for one of the thousand other things he's plainly lying about.

Seriously, the most you can say is that he had a Muslim upbringing for part of his early life. We're into the same addled thinking that labels Hitler a Catholic here. He doesn't consider himself a Muslim today, and he doesn't remember ever being a Muslim (and you wouldn't expect him to remember those years very clearly). You'd need pretty convincing evidence to conclude that he was lying, and this ain't it. No thanks, I've got good reasons to despise the man, I don't need this.

The AG has called the fact that 41,000 people who were to be deported have disappeared a serious breach of our immigration rules and a threat to our country's security. Our gov't voted down the use of security certificates just a little while ago. Not my gov't,but the libs,bloc and dippers.Hopefully this will give the conservatives some ammo to tighten up the rules,particularily the one that gives anyone charter rights if they land on Canadian soil....Have a fun,safe trip Kate.Try to avoid eating anything on a skewer,though seahorse on a stick does have a certain appeal.

charles macdonald - as I've said, the reason for the emergence of Islamic fascism now is emergence of industrialism in the ME and the failure of the arab states to enable a civic political system (which means a middle class) to develop in this type of economy; the political system has remained tribal. That means - power held within a dominant tribe.

hardboiled - tribalism has nothing to do with class. And check out the tribal allegiances to Sunni and Shi'ite ideologies.

Mao Stlong say, fascist autalky goody fol Adorf, goody fol Duce, goody fol you.
...-

Beijing Embraces Classical Fascism

In 2002, I speculated that China may be something we have never seen before: a mature fascist state. Recent events there, especially the mass rage in response to Western criticism, seem to confirm that theory. More significantly, over the intervening six years China's leaders have consolidated their hold on the organs of control--political, economic and cultural. Instead of gradually embracing pluralism as many expected, China's corporatist elite has become even more entrenched.

Even though they still call themselves communists, and the Communist Party rules the country, classical fascism should be the starting point for our efforts to understand the People's Republic. Imagine Italy 50 years after the fascist revolution. Mussolini would be dead and buried, the corporate state would be largely intact, the party would be firmly in control, and Italy would be governed by professional politicians, part of a corrupt elite, rather than the true believers who had marched on Rome. It would no longer be a system based on charisma, but would instead rest almost entirely on political repression, the leaders would be businesslike and cynical, not idealistic, and they would constantly invoke formulaic appeals to the grandeur of the "great Italian people," "endlessly summoned to emulate the greatness of its ancestors."

Substitute in the "great Chinese people" and it all sounds familiar. We are certainly not dealing with a Communist regime, either politically or economically, nor do Chinese leaders, even those who followed the radical reformer Deng Xiaoping, seem to be at all interested in treading the dangerous and uneven path from Stalinism to democracy. They know that Mikhail Gorbachev fell when he tried to control the economy while giving political freedom. They are attempting the opposite, keeping a firm grip on political power while permitting relatively free areas of economic enterprise. Their political methods are quite like those used by the European fascists 80 years ago.

Unlike traditional communist dictators--Mao, for example--who extirpated traditional culture and replaced it with a sterile Marxism-Leninism, the Chinese now enthusiastically, even compulsively, embrace the glories of China's long history. Their passionate reassertion of the greatness of past dynasties has both entranced and baffled Western observers, because it does not fit the model of an "evolving communist system."

Yet the fascist leaders of the 1920s and 1930s used exactly the same device. Mussolini rebuilt Rome to provide a dramatic visual reminder of ancient glories, and he used ancient history to justify the conquest of Libya and Ethiopia. Hitler's favorite architect built neoclassical buildings throughout the Third Reich, and his favorite operatic composer organized festivals to celebrate the country's mythic past.

Like their European predecessors, the Chinese claim a major role in the world because of their history and culture, not just on the basis of their current power, or scientific or cultural accomplishments. China even toys with some of the more bizarre notions of the earlier fascisms, such as the program to make the country self-sufficient in wheat production--the same quest for autarky that obsessed both Hitler and Mussolini."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2012128/posts

Al Gore Calls Myanmar Cyclone a 'Consequence' of Global Warming. (via Drudge)

Good freekin' grief.

bluetech,

Yes I count as a troll.

That doesn't change the fact that most righties would have a hard time distinguishing between what constitutes a small and a large cee.

Doug's statement borders on the lecherous side. What does that make his defender? A small 'c' or a large 'C'?

Mark Steyn is pissed. First time I've seen Paikin lose control of a guest.

Too stupid to read? Join the army says Stephen King.

For the first time in almost 44 years I have tossed books in the garbage. No recyling here, green bag this garbage all the way.

Video at Newsbusters

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/05/05/writer-stephen-king-if-you-cant-read-youll-end-army-or-iraq

Hahaha! Steyn got spanked on The Agenda! I'm lovin' it!

Hahaha! Steyn got spanked on The Agenda! I'm lovin' it!

Just watched the Agenda on TVO, Mark Steyn vs the three Osgoode Law School Children, how sad, what a weak pathetic trio. Even Steve Paikin was a little dumbfounded by their position. McLeans won't publish our response to Mark Steyns piece, so it's off to kangaroo court we go, We're supposed to be living in a mature civilized democracy and this is what passes for offense.

http://tinyurl.com/4oep58

Interesting take on Ontario's newfound have not status. Too funny by half. Harper could stake a majority on this one. Enjoy.

WLM Redux...pulled a Hank Snow.. haven't heard that since back in the eighties when I was playing hockey 4 a livin. Thanks for the laugh.

Cheers

Funny how a left winger would take the handle of bin Laden. Or not.

Anyhoo, Mark did the spanking of the Sock Puppet Three. Video to follow.

And an exercise in hypocrisy:
Save the ducks? Sure. But I'd rather liberate Saudi women....

As long as someone else does the bleeding, right Ezra Chickenhawk.

"You Want To Be A Martyr"

Does Osgoode Hall have a class in "Advanced Evil Eye" ?

Un freekin believable!!!!

Mao Stlong say, fascist autalky goody fol Adorf, goody fol Duce, goody fol you.

I realize maz is retarded, but why do you knuckledraggers tolerate his inanity?

"Mao Stlong say, fascist autalky goody fol Adorf, goody fol Duce, goody fol you.

I realize maz is retarded, but why do you knuckledraggers tolerate his inanity?

Posted by: manny at May 6, 2008 9:58 PM "

Well manny. Let's just his inanity has more sense then yours. Mind you,your inanity does prove that you aren't even smart enough to be employed as a spell checker in an "M & M's factory.

The three law students were talking, interestingly, outside of the law and ignoring facts.

Steyn essentially made them 'debate' with him, after their first refusal. But, it wasn't a debate because the students weren't interested in anything other than presenting their point of view. They weren't interested in facts or analysis.

First, they ignored that, legally, a private magazine is private. If you dislike an article or even set of articles, you cannot, as they insist they should, be allowed the unedited insertion of their own rebuttal to these articles. They misinformed the public by neglecting to state that they insisted on no editorial oversight, and instead, kept playing The Victim, and stating that all they wanted was 'rebuttal space'.

As Paikin and Steyn pointed out - you've had lots of publicity, in theGlobe, the Star, the Gazette, the NP, on television. They insisted that because Macleans reaches 'two million' they should have the right to publish their article in Macleans. Why? Why should they? What right is this?

Does disagreement with a point of view mean that you then have the right to essentially, ignore private ownership, editorial jurisdiction, etc?

Second, when Steyn pointed out that Elmasry in his blog posts lots of things which he disagrees with - shouldn't he, Steyn, then have his views posted there? The students refused to accept this analogy. Their focus was only on Maclean's two million readership vs Elmasry's blog which is 'only read by a select small readership' and therefore, there's no point in Steyn's posting there. That's an invalid argument.

Third, Paikin pointed out to them that the statements the students objected to were actually written by Muslims, and one, by a Norwegian imam. Why didn't they go and object to the imam? They didn't answer that but diverted, saying that he was 'just a minor figure' but that Steyn's use made him 'major'. Steyn then pointed out that the imam wasn't minor but was the only Muslim the Norwegians wanted to deport because of his radicalism. They were asked repeatedly why they didn't go after Muslims who made statements like this - and there was no reply.

They were also informed that the original intent of the HRCs was around employment and housing. They denied this; referred to the SCC case that supported Section 13.1(ignoring that McLaughlin wrote a strong dissent)and insisted that Section 13 was, right from the start, important. Not true.

Fourth, the students supported the Ontario HRC, with its illegal declaration that Macleans was 'Islamophobic'. This declaration by Hall was absolutely illegal; the OHRC made that statement without jurisdiction and without hearing any defense from Macleans. Yet these young lawyers didn't object to such an illegal act!!! They used her words to support their claim!

Fifth, they were asked if it is 'illegal' to offend anyone. They tried to divert this by saying that it's illegal to post 'hate speech'; when asked by Paikin if they could prove that hate had emerged as a result of the Maclean's articles - and that this emotion hadn't existed before - they asserted that the articles had resulted in hate.
I'll claim that such a linear causality is impossible to prove.

Sixth - they tried to denigrate Steyn by claiming he just wants attention and wants to be a 'martyr'.

Seven, they refused to debate the issues of the article, i.e., that there is a 'significant percentage' (in the 35% range) of Muslims who promote violent jihad; that second generation Muslims can be more violent than first generation. Steyn and Paikin wanted to discuss this, but the students wouldn't deal with it.

So, essentially, they are misinforming the public, misusing the OHRC illegal statement, demanding something unprofessional of a private journal, and playing the victim card.

"Do not respond to trolls and provocateurs."
I'm a moderate right wing new watcher. An instruction like that is scary. If you wonder how extremism and fundimentalism begins and maintains itself, religious or politcal? You are there!
Time to troll elsewhere. Enjoy your self massage
guys and gals. This will edited no doubt.

Charles, I don't know for certain which part is considered offensive (and to whom) but I do know that calling God "Father" would be offensive to Muslims. They have no conception of God as our Heavenly Father. It is possible that they would be satisfied if the prayer began God, who aren't in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Not sure whether they realize that the word used by Jesus that is interpreted in scripture as 'father' is actually the even more affectionate and informal 'daddy'. That would indeed be blasphemy to them.

Time for a thread re Mark Styen and the fallout from his Canadian appearances.

He must by now be the source of quite a stir with the politicians/bureaucrats charged with directing/setting the process & procedures (legislation) for the HRCs.

Oh to be a fly on the wall and catch the... what are we going to do about of all this????? No doubt the conclusion will be to wring hands in unison, do nothing, take a deep breath and hope it all goes away - or at least, let's let Macleans do all the heavy lifting and see how it goes in BC on June 2.

M.S. was on Rob Breakenridge Tues Evening and continued to make his points - like Barbara Hall is not fit for public office - as well as many other points that we are familiar with but the general public is not. It will be interesting to see what comes of this in AB.

Don Braid (opinion columnist, Calgary Herald) criticized the AB minister of Culture and Community Spirit (Tues) for ducking expressing an opinion to him about a health issue when he chose to defer to the minister of Health.

I wrote him an e-mail and asked him why he didn't ask this same minister about the increasing negatively as regards the AB HRC (this is in his department) and suggested he ask the minister about the negative letters, e-mails, faxes, and phone calls received by the HRC in the last five months. As well, I suggested he ask the minister about where he stands in terms of inclusion of freedom of speech/the dracionian investigative powers of the HRC

His response: as this minister is in caucus, he should be prepared to express opinions on anything in or out of his own department.

His second comment was priceless. "regarding the
commission issue, our editorial pages have been full of comment on those problems. You must have missed it". The end.

This is the same response I got from the Editor a while ago. Totally pathetic for a regular columnist from the Calgary Herald, right in the middle of where the action is.

I guess he really believes, and his editor(s) believe, that they are not blatantly and intentionally under-reporting the HRC controversy and what is at stake in the next 3 months. Incredible.

In fairness, they have had the odd item somewhere in the ballpark but not anywhere near the coverage that the HRC issues deserve.

Nicko - OK your edited!!!!! Tell everyone!!!!!

Shoot me. I meant (above) they might not be offended if the prayer began, God, who ART in Heaven.
Just finished watching the 11.00 p.m. Steve Paikin show. Everyone should watch it and hope as it moves across Canada, millions do.
The views of those innocent-looking young people are scary to an old-timer. Maybe we should all take out a subscription to Maclean's in support.
I've already written an email to my MP, but I also can see a wringing of hands and inaction.
Who has the gonads to tackle this?

Kate - you have that way to stur the mind. "bent over the tank" thing. Others have commented about that, I won't - except to say - you have that mischievous little streak in you - that little "je ne sais quoi" quality. Back when I was a kid we would call you a "---- teaser." Glad you didn't send any pics with that little description. My wife already thinks you and I have something going. Ya know?

One of the students said Mark Steyn wanted to be a "martyr"; Mark Steyn said he'd received numerous death threats but that he *didn't* want to be a martyr -- that's when the female student sitting on the left gave him a look that could only be described as "well too bad for you, what you want is going to have nothing to do with it."

I'm sure she's going to regret what her mask-dropping little moment of indulged self-satisfaction did to the credibility of the three students for anyone watching to program, but unfortunately for the students the damage done is not limited to whatever particular argument she was or wasn't making.

We all understood going in, based on the huge amount of publicity the students received, that her feelings were hurt. But *she* evidently doesn't understand that, up here in Canada, when someone mentions to her that he has received numerous death threats from her co-religionists, she should not stare through narrowed eyes and smile meaningfully.

It does more than obviate any argument she might or might not have made, it betrays the source of her argument.

I don't know how many commenters here saw the show, but one could see that she and her fellow students are -- if we're going to be frank -- carrying profound cultural baggage that renders them incapable of seeing how ridiculous their position is. It's sadly evident also that they have calculated into the extent of their argument that our -- traditional Canadian -- sense of self-defense/right-wrong is now upside-down and underwater and just weak and conciliatory; our certainty has disappeared into a loaded pseudo-language of hideously time-bound political code, where certain coined words carry a set of unassailable presumptions. They know it, otherwise they wouldn't deadpan the ludicrous demand that a magazine is "obligated" to publish their unedited views.

The three students appeared to have no -- none, zero -- natural understanding that a private publication has no obligation -- or "responsibility", as they asserted -- to publish anyone else's views, and they sure seem to understand that the soft Trudeaupian platitudinous scattershot logic they employ liberally is a weapon that *we've* given them that doesn't come in any way from their culture. Needless to say, these students are not pimping for gay rights and SSM, and they don't give a rat's ass one way or another about the supposed foundations of these GTA/Lib platitudes that they're flattening common sense with. All they know is that this GTA/multi-culti bullshit has utility for them in pulling the wool over our own eyes. Their agenda is not the prog-lib agenda, but this is conveniently overlooked by anyone whose reflexes are twigged by the sound of certain platitudes.

The students' arguments were rambling and ridiculous, and yet they have been receiving ample moral encouragement from various progs like Barbara Hall -- not a good sign. Hopefully the point will come soon where we stop collectively taking any such dissembling, calculated strategists at face value, because they're crossing the line over time from disrespect into something that has waay more serious consequences.

Our most important weapon, and we need to start wielding it, is the simple force of rudeness -- the force of "NO". That's what Mark Steyn and Ezra do. Direct, assertive rudeness -- "no, that's not how we do it here" -- is actually a pre-emption of far worse outcomes. If the reaction we get is bad, it won't be as bad as if we had waited. If we continue to effetely find the exact halfway point between a reasonable position and an utterly ridiculous position and then call it a real Canadian compromise, or an act of "accommodation", we're going to be hooped. Or accommodating, I guess, depending on one's facial expressions.

Britain. . . The UK Mammary State?

Oooh, yes, they say. Tell us we've been naughty. Tell us we were wrong to let it on our streets. Tell us we should have classified it as a quadricycle!

Madame de Bruxelles will obligingly crack her whip, and what is the result? The EU's vehicle homologation committee will meet. It will decide that, if the G-Wiz is to be classified as a car, it will need to undergo complete rigidification of the chassis.

It will be fitted with airbags and side impact protection systems, and special pedestrian-friendly bumpers, and at the end of this horrifying surgical procedure - a kind of reverse liposuction - it will have doubled in weight, just as every other car on the roads is now far heavier than they were 10 years ago.

And these absurd and pointless safety measures will in turn generate two absurdities. The new obese G-Wiz would still be crushed like a beer can on collision with a cement mixer, and yet it will be so laden with safety equipment that it will be far more dangerous, on impact, to pedestrians.

Worse still, of course, it will be far harder and more expensive - and much less green - to make it move by battery alone. In fact, the whole concept will be more or less wrecked. That is why Mr Ladyman - Girly-man, more like! - should stop this drivelling appeal to Brussels to ban a brilliant invention.

He should listen to Oliver Letwin's excellent speech on Tuesday, in which he explained the Tory view of the relation between the citizen and the state. It is not just about taxing less, and running the economy efficiently - vital though those goals are.

It's about seeing the catastrophic fiscal impact of having a bossy, regulatory approach, by which new laws and new interdictions endlessly necessitate the creation of new taxpayer-funded officials to enforce those laws.

It's therefore about treating people like grown-ups, and letting them take their own risks, without endlessly and expensively substituting the judgment and protection of the state.

You have only to take one look at the plucky little G-Wiz to see that is no less (and no more) dangerous than a bicycle. We don't need the Department of Transport to tell us that, and we certainly don't need Brussels.

The customer can see that it is vulnerable; but he also knows that the G-Wiz fleet has travelled 20 million miles without a bad accident and with negligible CO2. Let him weigh it up himself.

telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/05/10/do1001.xml
====================================================
= TG

The young lady on the right said she was from Pakistan when asked to describe her background.

Funny thing though, she was born in Canada.

I was taken aback that 2 of the 3 were women. How sad. They did little to promote their arguement though, eak on all accounts. Steve did a good job asking the questions and keeping the debate going in the correct direction. ET's assessment was also bang on.

eak = weak

Kudos to Macleans - they have just responded to the condescending offer of the sock puppets and it is anything but caving. The article is in the new issue of the magazine.

Perhaps now the rest of the MSM will begin promoting open debate as have been Macleans, National Post, and the blogosphere for some time.

Surely this will pretty much put the politicians/bureaucrats between a rock and a hard place where the three monkey's approach just is not good enough.

The BC HRT hearing (Elmasry/Habib vs Macleans) is set for June 2. I sent an e-mail to this tribunal a couple days ago asking for a conformation of date(s) and if it was going to be open to the public. I also suggested that if the latter was the case, then perhaps they should re-think this. No answer as yet.

ooops... the above should read at the end - if the latter is not the case...

Wealthy Stronachs in high places Prone to error

Magna International Inc. Shareholders Approve Russian Deal-WSJ

Wed Aug 29 06:01:00 EDT 2007

The Wall Street Journal reported that shareholders of Magna International Inc. approved a deal that will see Russian metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska pay $1.5 billion for a big stake in the Company.
Holders Opposing Magna Deal See Possible Win-Reuters

Tue Aug 28 16:21:00 EDT 2007

Reuters reported that holders of about eight million shares of Magna class A stock, or about 8% of the total outstanding, have confirmed they voted against a plan to sell 20% of the auto-parts maker to a Russian billionaire, as reported by the Globe and Mail newspaper. The holders confirmed they voted against the deal in proxies that had to be submitted by Friday.

Shareholders opposing the plan by Magna founder Frank Stronach to sell the stake to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska were confident they had a chance to defeat the deal, the report said. None of the firms that said they would vote against Stronach's plan agreed to have their name published.

More shareholders have given signals of dissent behind the scenes, including the mutual fund arm of one of Canada's banks, bringing the total closer to the roughly 50 million needed to vote down the deal, the report said, citing the dissidents.

Magna shareholders will vote on Tuesday on a $1.54 billion investment by Deripaska, which the board of Magna approved in July. If approved, Deripaska would get 20 million common shares of Magna and six spots on the 14-seat board of directors of a new entity that will control Magna.

http://tinyurl.com/4mhma5
======================== /stocks.us.reuters.com/

Guess Stronach never did hear about the Canadian hotel developer / operator who lost his hotel complex to the Russian Mob. = TG

EBD well said!
Thank you.

Burka mentality has gripped Canada.
"You want to be a Martyr"

Mark Steyn should have complimented her on her rebuttal and encouraged her to use "Look what she's wearing,your honour, it's obvious she wants to be raped" as the defence for her first client's rape case, once she cruises Osgoode Hall.

Further, are we still required to recognize Osgoode Hall as the best law school in Canada?

alleged criminals attack more alleged criminals.this is actually allegedly funny.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354380,00.html

Liberal Ron...I guess that makes Dougs defender a libertarian conservative woman who happens to think Doug's comment was far from leacherous but quite wholesome, in a natural kind of way.
Ron...sounds like you have let the Liberal fembots emasculate you.

EBD an excellent analysis, and ET an excellent summary. I watched the vids(thanks to matt).
Freedom of the press baffles their brains.They would not be satisfied to publish a rebuttal, they want to stiffle Macleans.