Sorry, don't get the banter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rKYL0tW-Ek

The Charlie Callas video should be one of Kate's "I don't give a damn" series.

Iraq begin civil suits for collusion with Saddam in Oil For Food.

The Iraqi government has slapped dozens of foreign companies with a 6 billion-euro ($10 billion) civil lawsuit. German companies Daimler, Siemens and B. Braun were among those accused of colluding with Saddam Hussein.

The corruption of the United Nation's food-for-oil program in Iraq is described in a new lawsuit as "the largest financial fraud in human history."

A lawsuit filed by the Iraqi government in US federal court in New York alleges that 2,200 companies from 66 countries paid a total of $1.8 billion in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime in exchange for supply deals.

25 years ago I used to bust a gut laughing at Charlie. Now I just bust a bigger gut laughing at Charlie. He was a unique and funny talent that I really enjoyed. Thanks for that, Vit. I hadn't seen Charlie in quite a few years. It was fun.

http://tinyurl.com/5mz6d2

Paul Well's Blog @ Macleans

Michael Byers
Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law
University of British Columbia

And now NDP Candidate for Vancouver Center, Hedy Fry's stompin grounds.

Serious blow to the Dion Liberals and purveyors of Carbon taxes everywhere.

Will Suzuki ask that Byers be taken to court and tried as well now?

The NDP, Greens and LPC all fighting over the moonbat vote in Vancouver center. LOL

I'm going to have to disagree with that conjecture, Shaken, I think the UN and others' so-called "Climate Change" scam is probably "the largest financial fraud in human history". Or if not that, Communism. The oil-for-food scam was, I think, in the grand scale of things, a trifling matter. Not to say, of course, that fraud should not be denigrated even when trifling.

One question, especially for Canadians - "does it have a heater ?"

[To me, major advances in batteries — twice the energy storage, a tenth the weight, and the ability to recharge in the time it takes to fill up a tank of gas — are needed before electric cars can possibly displace gas guzzlers.] Tierney Lab, NYT Blog

Assuming the above could be over come, an electric-only car may very well be more economical to operate than a gas job but in Canada, for most of the year, the heater knob is supreme. (The heater runs for free in a gasser)

The gasoline engine in a Hybrid would get you back home if you wonder outside the 40 mile range of a Chevy Volt, say. It could also be run to provide heat inside when it is minus twenty outside. The gasoline sorta defeats the purpose though.

[Electricity costs about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour in the United States. One kilowatt-hour will push a car about three miles, so the cost of the fuel is about 3 cents a mile. For a gas-powered car getting 20 miles per gallon and gas costing $4 a gallon, the cost of fuel is 20 cents a mile.] NYT Blog

But a gas job the size of a Volt should get 40 mpg, so the cost per mile would drop to 10 cents. If gas would drop back to $2 a gallon, like it was before the greens and specs joined forces, it would be down to 5 cents per mile. Just above the 3 cents of an oversized golf cart - without a heater.

Maybe in the future, but today ?

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/would-you-buy-an-electric-car-now/

Heather Mallick rains on Alberta's recruitment of skilled UK immigrants, writing in the Guardian, naturally.

Rain can be good, therefore Heather Mallick never rains on anything ;-)

Composer rejects the unthinking dogmatism of the left.
...-

"James MacMillan explains why he hates the assumption that he is a liberal left-winger

In my travels I see myself frequently described in foreign media as a ‘left-wing and Scottish nationalist’ composer. The latter label is ludicrous, and I just put it down to a foreigner’s ignorance and justifiable disinterest in the parish-pump tedium of devolved Scotland. It doesn’t bother me too much. The first, however, disturbs me much more.

I used to be on the Left — I joined the Young Communist League in 1974, when I was just 14. Part of the motivation behind this was no doubt to annoy my devoutly Catholic relatives, who were all Labour supporters, but anxious, to the point of distraction, about insiduous Marxist manoeuvrings in the unions and in the workplace. My grandfather was part of a Catholic rearguard action in the NUM in the 1930s and 40s to safeguard the union from a far-left takeover. He, and most of the politically active working class in places like Ayrshire throughout the 20th century, were old-style socialists. They tended, also, to be moral and cultural conservatives. There was a tradition among Irish descendants, but also in other communities throughout the country, of Roman and high-Anglo-Catholic orthodoxy that was also politically radical, favouring social justice through economic distribution. The Labour movement was their vehicle to build the just society that was promised in the gospels; the welfare state and greater access to education were seen as fruits of moral Christian activism in society.

After battling against the acolytes of Joe Stalin in the mid-20th century, my grandfather and his friends witnessed a new usurpation of their beloved Labour movement coming from the convulsions of the 1960s. A new generation appeared, whose interest seemed less in economic inequality and more in confronting the traditional values of people like my grandfather, whose beliefs had underpinned the very idea of social order. Marx was giving way to Nietzsche and Freud; Bolshevism was moving over for nihilism. The Left, which had been shaped as much by the muscular Christianity of the 19th century as by anything else, was now being colonised by something very foreign indeed. The cherished values of generations, the foundation of correct, well-ordered structures and relationships were under attack from a formidable foe. The traditional family and education, sexual mores, artistic aspirations, religious belief — all were now seen as coercive strategies of the powerful, designed to enforce conformity and slavish obedience.

The ‘progressive’ liberalism of the new Left, its destructive atheistic iconoclasm, was miles away from the vision of the early Scottish socialists such as John Wheatley, Manny Shinwell and James Maxton.

I muddled along with the Labour party for a few years even though, deep down, I knew instinctively that an essential breach had taken place. Even today, I manage to survive trendy dinner parties by keeping my mouth shut, nodding at the received wisdom of the bien-pensant, and avoiding nasty and surprising arguments. Anything for a quiet life. But the political education I received from old Catholics like my grandfather and even from old Marxists I met at Communist party meetings in the 1970s has made me contemptuous of the simplistic banalities of the modern progressive élites. They lack intellectual rigour and ethical integrity, their politics are bland and sentimental, their hatred of Christianity is fundamentalist.

My revulsion is particularly acute in the artistic circles I sometimes find myself in."
http://tinyurl.com/54sdoo (spectator)

Watching Chalie Callas bought back a lot of memories of comedy in that era, especially if you watch some of the other clips also featured on that page. Johnny Carson was a master of the straight face line delivery. Watch his interview with Carol Wayne. Funny how these guys could get you laughing without any swearing or racial crap.

Maz2, thanks for that. 'Bolsters what I've been saying for many a month, though I've never been a fan of any leftie stuff as it all seems to end up in the same place: you know, good intentions paving the way to Hell, and all that.

Very illuminating piece. 'Especially instructive for Canadians:

"The Left, which had been shaped as much by the muscular Christianity of the 19th century as by anything else, was now being colonised by something very foreign indeed. The cherished values of generations, the foundation of correct, well-ordered structures and relationships were under attack from a formidable foe. The traditional family and education, sexual mores, artistic aspirations, religious belief — all were now seen as coercive strategies of the powerful, designed to enforce conformity and slavish obedience."

"...the simplistic banalities of the modern progressive élites...lack intellectual rigour and ethical integrity, their politics are bland and sentimental, their hatred of Christianity is fundamentalist."

Charest and the G-M engaging in Big Lies.
From where/what does the premier of Quebec receive the authority to speak for Canadians?
Quebec's official language is French only.
Is that Charest's definition of bilingualism?
It's Charest-Globe's NewSpeak: bi = one.
...-

"Charest applauds bilingualism on eve of Quebec City's birthday

QUEBEC — On the eve of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City and the arrival of the French language and culture in North America, Quebec Premier Jean Charest praised bilingualism yesterday for offering Canadians more freedom and opportunity."
(g-m)

"How the West was won

Alexander Stoddart unravels the relationship between art and politics"

"The Left, early in the last century, failed to secure direct revolution in the West, so another tactic was adopted — to dismantle the institutions of the Occident in a long, piecemeal slog. The focus fell on the arts, and this explains why the high music and visual arts of today are so startlingly different from anything you might encounter in undeconstructed times. Where the family, say, was singled out as a sinister and coercive societal institution, so certain artistic forms likewise became suspect: the tune; the rhyme; the moulding; the plinth. Today they are half-heartedly trying to reconstruct the family; but the cultural institutions are proving harder to patch up and this can be attributed to something in the artistic forms of traditionalism that the newly barbarised human being deeply dreads. The Modernism of the last century has forged a sub-sensibility, where man is engineered to be a healthy kind of ignoramus — a Superman — unneedful of the analgesic mercies that art of the old sort delivered into the veins of suffering humanity. The pain is the gain — so let’s write poems that are merely chopped prose, boil our testicles to win the Turner prize, build houses that look like washing machines for living in and, if we make statues at all, make sure they are bolted down at pavement level, so we can ‘interact’ with them (usually with some vomit on a Saturday night)."

"Alexander Stoddart’s statue of Adam Smith will be unveiled on the Royal Mile of Edinburgh by the Nobel-prize-winning economist Professor Vernon Smith at noon on 4 July."
http://tinyurl.com/5qdmr5 (spectator)

Stoddart nails the basic tenet of the Left: "The pain is the gain".

Here is the Leninist-Marxist Citoyen Dion, aka the SnakeOil Salesman.
Saskatchewan is the fulcrum for Citoyn's lever; Big pain for no gain.
...-

"The worse, the better, Dion believes
Frances Russell"

"Some commentators say the year 2008 is a watershed, the year when the three great challenges of the early 21st century -- climate change, the energy crisis and food shortage -- have merged. The future of humanity depends on addressing them as a single emergency."

"Earlier Friday, he promised a Saskatchewan radio audience they "will be at the centre of something big happening in the world, whether it is for bio-diesel, for CO2 capture and storage, for wind power...""
http://tinyurl.com/69v9gr (wfp)

Oh boy, it is now central Ontario's turn to feel what we have been feeling in eastern Ontario for a few years now.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080703/auto_jobs_080703/20080703?hub=TopStories

If chimpy mcidiot does not lower Ontario's business tax rates now, this is only the beginning.

But, I forgot, studying Ontario's polar bears and finding money for homo-erotic art are higher priorities for that crew down in Queen's Park.

At least I know that while there may not be any jobs left in Ontario, I can always get an OHIP covered second penis attached.

Thanks for nothing chimpy, you useless idiot!

Via maz2 and batb, James MacMillan writes, "...the simplistic banalities of the modern progressive élites...lack intellectual rigour and ethical integrity, their politics are bland and sentimental, their hatred of Christianity is fundamentalist."

He also mentioned, "Even today, I manage to survive trendy dinner parties by keeping my mouth shut, nodding at the received wisdom of the bien-pensant, and avoiding nasty and surprising arguments. Anything for a quiet life."

Ah, I know only too well the elite's fundamental "hatred of Christianity" and their "nasty and surprising arguments". At my own dinner table, twice in the past week, I've heard the most astonishing rubbish from lefty friends: Christianity IS, right now, as bad as or worse than Islam; low tech Muslims are forced to, and justified in, suicide bombing innocent civilians and the Israelis do it too (!); the Allies in the ME are trying to force Christianity on those poor, victimized—by us—people; but all religions are the same!! Among other things, I pointed out that, unlike Muslim countries, there ARE no democratic theocracies—a term that seemed to puzzle them—in the West. I may as well have saved my knowledge and breath.

As MacMillan points out, these things sometimes come up in the most surprising ways and the arguments from the left are often nasty—and usually dead wrong. I remain calm and try to explain as carefully as I can another point of view. But it's usually best to try to move on to something else as lefties seem inured to logic and facts. (I seem to have an “out of body” experience, as my mind—and emotions—try to absorb the disconnect between people I care for, who, at the moment, seem like aliens!)

I'm actually very fond of many of my lefty friends—I'm surrounded on all sides where I live and work—but, amply fed by the propaganda of the elites of the West, they live in a parallel, Alice in Wonderland universe. (When will they ever learn?)

lookout - I have always worked in the business field and have by in large been spared the leftist 'wonderland.' However, my university experience was utterly harrowing at times. The socialists just could not wait to limit my speech – shouting me down or personally attacking me. I will never forget one of my professors telling me outright during class that I would no longer be allowed to comment. In hindsight it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I learned how to read, think and write and perhaps more importantly, to accept those I disagreed with. By enlarge leftists/socialists/liberals are very poor at inductive reasoning – they never learned the process or had too use it at university – they just regurgitated whatever the professor told them. They are like sheep….

I just finished the above comment and found this article in the NYT - of all places.
'The ’60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire' Wasn't liberalism on the upswing?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/arts/03camp.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

More bad news for the AlGoricals/Sazuki-ites!
'Charlotte temperature hits 123-year low'
http://www.charlotte.com/news/story/695929.html

another CTV poll not going the way it should.

If Rick Hillier decided to run for office, would you vote for him?
Yes
4729 votes (70 %)
No
2051 votes (30 %)

Total Votes: 6780

More bad news for the AlGoricals/Sazuki-ites!
'Charlotte temperature hits 123-year low'
http://www.charlotte.com/news/story/695929.html

More bad news for the AlGoricals/Sazuki-ites!
'Charlotte temperature hits 123-year low'
http://www.charlotte.com/news/story/695929.html

Out of sheer boredom last night I turned on CBC radio while I was driving home. I immediatly regretted it as they were interviewing some dippy lawyer who was representing some of the American "war resistors" or as they really called, deserters.

Somewhere along the line he touted that Parliament had passed a motion calling to give safe haven for the deserters and the latest poll suggested the vast majority agree. Did I miss something while I was driving across Canada? Since when did the Canadian Parliament start to sanction the harbouring of criminals? These aren't draft dodgers here. At least the dodgers had a technicality of being out of the country when their draft notice was sent. This current stream of cowards actually joined the military of their own free will and got paid for doing what they swore they would do.

Hell, if it is true then we can open up a whole new cottage industry. Three strikes and it is off to Canada.

Another 'ass kicking' according to Warren. At least he was 'sworn to secrecy'.

http://warrenkinsella.com/index.php?entry=entry080702-135733

You make an excellent point, Jim. Thanks for your input. I've been involved in a number of public debates with various lefties. I've been right on top of the facts and could thrust and parry well.

The lefties? Regurgitating their standard pap, devoid of the facts, with no ability to analyse or synthesize new information (and no sense of humour either!), they were completely outmanoeuvred. (So, of course, any lefty establishments hosting the debate usually made sure I never came back!)

Yes, those of us on the right have had no free ride: we’ve had to rely on the facts and our wits. As you say, that’s not a bad thing.

Texas Canuck - Unfortunately it is true - the socialists (Liberals, NDP and Separatists') got together to support a bill to import more American born socialists. It passed - but fortunately it is not binding. Its not enough that the last bunch of imports control our universities, the bureacracy and the CBC. This new bunch should help the liberal/left/socialist parties turn us into the socialist republic. These Americans will finally get their utopia and we will be their slaves.....

Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Islam Speaks for Itself

I went into the discussion "Who Speaks for Islam?" assuming that it would be an informative but relatively tame chat between two like-minded people. The speakers listed on the program--Irshad Manji and Dalia Mogahed--were both women intellectuals raised and educated in the West; based on their bios, it was hard to imagine either one of them advocating anything but a modern, democratic approach to the Muslim faith.

But as soon as I glanced at the stage, it was obvious that the discussion was going to be edgier than I'd expected...

[Video clips available below the story.]

Texas polygamists as fashion icons:

New for summer 2008: the polygamist look

Now that the [Texas FLDS child seizure] case is over and the children returned — the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the authorities did not have enough evidence — the sect has seen an opening for a lucrative business opportunity: a church-branded clothing line.

“We don’t know what to expect on demand but we have a flood of interest,” Maggie Jessop, a sect member, told The Salt Lake Tribune.

The clothing is available through the church’s website, fldsdress.com, which promises that its lines for children and teenagers “meet the FLDS standards for modesty and neatness” and asserts that “each piece is made with joy and care”.

"Dirty" joins the left's Dirty Word List: Farming is "dirty".
The Dirty Word List includes: dirty, farmer, rifle, pistol, tar sands, profit, private property, freedom of speech, dissent, agriculture, stocks, redneck, Albertan, Christian, Jew, hate, suicide bombers, murderous Muslim Islamist terrorist, etc.

All, and more, now "illegal words" banned by the Left.
Let the Left eat "dirty".
...-

"At the open: Ag-stocks look dirty"
G-m)

no alabama porch monkey jokes.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080703/Watermelon_Viagra_080703/20080703?hub=TopStories

Free Republic has the mooonbat story up.

A commenter has said:
"Bottom line: humans cause global warming, therefore all non-essential humans must be eliminated.
This is not a joke."

"Non-essential humans"?
That's it.
That is the message/practice of Henry Morgentaler, Holocaust survivor/abortionist.
Abortion is population control.
The Mother of the Abortion Industry was eugenics.
Morgentaler is Margaret Sanger/Eleanor Roosevelt with a beard.
Bonus: Ridding the earth of "Non-essential humans" is preventing global warming.
..-

"Plasma, LCDs blamed for accelerating global warming"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040254/posts

Obama and his housing policy scam. Also involves his convicted pal Tony Rezko. Rezko and his ilk pocketed the federal subsidies for the properties leaving the buildings to crumble. Then Rezko helps BO out financially - campaigning, fund-raising and purchasing his own home. BO is just another Liberal working another Adscam operation.
===============

CHICAGO - The squat brick buildings of Grove Parc Plaza, in a dense neighborhood that Barack Obama represented for eight years as a state senator, hold 504 apartments subsidized by the federal government for people who can't afford to live anywhere else.

But it's not safe to live here.

[...]

The campaign did not respond to questions about whether Obama was aware of the problems with buildings in his district during his time as a state senator, nor did it comment on the roles played by people connected to the senator.

[...]

Campaign finance records show that six prominent developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively contributed more than $175,000 to Obama's campaigns over the last decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other donors. Rezko alone raised at least $200,000, by Obama's own accounting.

http://tinyurl.com/44fbm4

These Americans will finally get their utopia and we will be their slaves.....Posted by: Jim O'Brien at July 3, 2008 10:37 AM

Honestly, I think the British influence of trade unions, a welfare state, and Marxists are far more influential in the creation and formation of our modern socialist backwater.

The Yanks aren't fooled into being statist slackjaws. Canadia was the boiling frog, and now, never to go back to a freedom loving/aspiring/cherishing time. Instead, we've become a banning culture of hand-wringing fretfulness, cowering from the challenge and dignity of facing life with self-reliance, self-responsibility, and self-achievement. Instead of education, we teach victimization, and flail against the notion that life sometimes can be unfair, that some actions and objects are inherently dangerous, and that outcomes not always just. Rather than enabling and empowering the populace through awareness, respect, and ultimately - personal responsibility - we've figuratively ensured that our children wear helmets while playing in the yard, ensuring the victimization and grievance industry thrives.

While the left have been a part of it, we ourselves are at fault. Where logic breaks down, Canadians themselves in the form of Ontario and Quebec (the vast majority of Canadians) have directed our nation to mediocrity. A quasi-socialist land of envy and bitterness. Where successful and monied people are viewed with suspicion. Where wealth and comfort are coveted by a mouthbreathing hoard that constantly searches for entitlement. Through the thuggery of municipal unionism, to the monopolies and monopsonies of our telecommunication and cable industries - Canada is a backwater lacking innovation, drive, and aspiration beyond the next long weekend's butt scratching exercise after a flat of Pilsner.

Thank you central Canada - your socialism andn export of victim inducing policies and inequitable treatment of regions - and citizens - has built a nation that would be taken out in a minute - if our forefathers and explorers were to happen upon us several centuries ago.

As it is, we'll simply be assimilated into the greater economy of the U.S., or virtually any entity that has enough ka-ching. The end result of a nation so far removed from the concept of personal responsibility, self-reliance, and mutual respect.

Has anyone seen the breakdown of the Librano's financial statements as just released to Elections Canada? It doesn't show the cash position, but the first quarter results show the Conservatives pulling in money at a 5/1 rate over the Libs, with most of the Consevative money coming from donations under $200. How much cash on hand do the Libs have versus the Conservatives? I think there's an under-reported news story there.

Did all you Saskatchewan farmers read the latest collection of socialist and anti-American propaganda in the last WESTERN PRODUCER?? Ask yourself this question. If so many people are reading the PRODUCER, why does this week`s edition contain only six letters to the editor?? The answer is simple. The province of Saskatchewan has less and less followers of the Tommy Douglas cult!! We shall overcome!! As Grant Devine once said, "Give 'er snoose." We'll clean house before too long!!

Taliban Jack Layton-NDP say,
Citoyen Dion is an also-ran; MByers is my first choice, my Paul Revere; if the weather's clear.

Jack assks:
"What I say?
I got the horse right here,
the name is [Michael Byers]
And here's a guy that says
if the weather's clear
Can do, can do
This guy says the horse can do
If he says the horse can do
Can do, can do*"
...-

"Potential Liberal enviro-candidate switches to NDP
UBC prof Michael Byers bails on Stephane Dion for forcing Canadians "to change their behaviour""

""We weren't going to hand it to him on a silver platter so he went to a riding that would. . . . The NDP is his second choice."

"In an interview with The Vancouver Sun, Byers defended the discussions with the Liberals, saying he was approached and that he "would meet with Stephen Harper if he asked me to."

"Mr. Dion met me one on one and told me that he wanted me to run," he said.

"I studied Green Shift and concluded that it was the wrong plan at the wrong time. The NDP is my first choice.""
http://preview.tinyurl.com/64fbn7
(*H/T Guys and Dolls)

Another poll gone horribly wrong.
From the St. John's Telegram:
'Do you agree with Dr. Henry Morgentaler being awarded the Order of Canada?'

Yes or......NO.

http://www.thetelegram.com/
Scroll down to the poll on the left-hand side of the screen,

Let's show them what we think of this travesty.

Thanks, Mark. I've just voted NO.

Results so far: 25% in favour; 70% not; 5% undecided.

I just voted No.

but always facinating is that someone would take the time to enter a poll that they cant decide on.

Max Boot, The Imaginative Analysis of Seymour Hersh

Reading a Seymour Hersh article is a bit like panning for gold: You have to dig through a lot of dirt to find any nuggets of possible value. Relying almost exclusively on vaguely described anonymous sources, he makes sweeping claims about top-secret operations that can only be known to a small number of people inside the government with access to the relevant “sensitive compartmented information” and “special access programs,” and they aren’t allowed to comment one way or the other. And his “reporting” is always colored by a sixties-leftist, anti-American, conspiratorial worldview.

In his latest New Yorker article, “Preparing the Battlefield,” the most valuable information is right there in the very first paragraph...

CBC:
"Happy 400, Quebec City!"
400:30 in Newfoundland.
...-

Happy 511, St. John's.
511 in St.John's.

June 24 is St. John's Day in Newfoundland.
"St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, is the oldest European settlement in North America, founded on the feast of St. John the Baptist, June 24, 1497. ..."
(tidespoint)

Another poll going horribly wrong @ canoe.ca

Has the last session of parliament made you lose faith in the Tories?

Yes. I want a new party in power. 12%

No. They're still the best party around. 61%

I never had faith in the Tories. 27%

Total Votes for this Question: 1467

Presidential election 2008

English bookmakers still seem to like Sen. McCain over Sen. (j.g.) B. Hussein Obama, Jr. Summaries here and here.

Do you approve of Henry Morgenthaler being awarded the Order of Canada?

Vote now @

http://cknw.com/

batb @ 7:47. That quote re-inforces my personal theory that the feminist agenda was not really about women. If it was their real concern then abortion and irresponsible sexuality, the two foremost abuses of women, would not be 'tolerated' by the left. I believe the 'hidden agenda' was an outright attack on the foundation of the nation...the old fashioned Christian family, with definite roles, and mutual respect and dependence.
Hence when the lack of response from the feminists WRT the oppression of women in'other' religions.

A Miniature Schnauzer for Obama? Kate, can you train one of your dogs to attack whenever a Mack Daddy or Long-legged Freak screams "Allahu Akbar"?

(Via Contentions) Vetting Obama's Canine Companion

The AKC [American Kennel Club] is asking Americans to cast a vote for the best qualified "first pet" for the Obama family, limiting the list of selections to hypoallergenic breeds because of Obama's daughters' allergies. The public has been given five solid canine choices including the Bichon Frise, the Chinese Crested, the Poodle, the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier and the Miniature Schnauzer...

Michael Byers
Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law
University of British Columbia

This guy is always touted by radio hosts as a specialist on Canadian military matters. Yet not once has he ever volunteered his politial underpinnings before offering his unqualified opinion.

I phoned in on one occasion, to point out that he provides both financial and policy contributions to the NDP. He simply sloughed it off as irrelevant to his studies of Canadian military policy in Afghanistan.

These guys are not just frauds, they are morally suspect.

Done, NoGuff: it's approx. 60% No/40% Yes. Thanks.

"Even today, I manage to survive trendy dinner parties by keeping my mouth shut, nodding at the received wisdom of the bien-pensant, and avoiding nasty and surprising arguments. Anything for a quiet life."

Therein lies our problem. Too many of us will do "anything for peace" a la Neville Chamberlin.

When you hear falsehoods, lies or evil you have to confront it. I'd much rather be respected than liked by friend or enemy.

If you're unsure of your facts you may wish to remain silent. But our job is to be informed about our world and to act accordingly.

Don't let these little leftist mini-fascists control the message just because they are generally both ignorant and mouthy.

I've helped make many a social gathering more interesting and entertaining by refuting and/or rebuking someone who regurgitates the platitudes of the left, only to find they've done so without ammunition.

Try it. It's kind of fun and I've found other guests quietly thanking me for saying what they wished to have said but were either too 'polite' or too afraid to do so.

It was only a matter of time.

See Edmonton Journal (Monday) - Alberta's Language Law struck down.

On the basis of an AB traffic ticket and that the ticketee was denied a trial in French on demand (2003), the finding was in favor of the ticketee. The 1988 Language Law of AB (holding that trials will be heard in English) was struck down.

Perhaps now, people will come to realize the significance of the passing of Bill S-3 into Law S-3 and then into an amendment of the Offical Languages Act (2005). This was enabled and made possible by the opposition MP's sitting in the house in 2004/05 . It was a bill very quietly initiated in the Senate, very quietly floated through the House of Commons, and given all party approval just days before the last election. The price of an attempt at power that will never be undone - regardless of who governs from Central Canada.

For about what - 3% to 4% of the francophone population of Alberta - it is not difficult to guess what the ramifications of all of this are likely to be.

Meanwhile, Law 101 stands in Quebec (the Language Law) and John C. extols the virtue of French being the language of Quebec. It's O.K. to force Bilingualism on the ROC but not in PQ.

Another one of the breaking announcements coming forth on or about Canada Day that is anything but about Canadian unity.

Remember the one 'bout the green BullFrog who jumped up onto the green lilypad? He looked around his pond and croaked: I'm so happy, I could sfdt!

Download 'Lilypad' for next Earth Day screensaver/wallpaper. Make your day; visit the Daily Mail site; it's Free.
It's a ripoff of Noah's Ark. For Mao Stlong's Gaia Ark/'Lilypad' with a recumbent, porcine, frogged Paul Martin, Jr., go here*.
...-

"Pictured: The floating cities that could one day house climate change refugees

An architect has come up with an innovative answer to rising sea levels - a city that floats around the world.

The self-contained 'Lilypad' city will be home to around 50,000 'climate refugees' from the worst hit areas - including London.

Latest research predicts that sea levels could rise by up to 88cm - nearly 3ft - by the year 2100, putting many islands in the Pacific Ocean in danger."
http://tinyurl.com/5fhcnq
(dailymail)
*http://fathersforlife.org/images/polintroughs.jpg

oops, my bad
The Edmonton Journal Reference to the Language Law should read Thursday, not Monday.

The stars come out at night in Montreal.
Hers a "strong female candidate with high media visibility." Strong female? Weightlifter?
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"Yet another star candidate to NDP?
Thursday, 03 July 2008
Montreal's CBC Radio Noon host Anne Lagace-Dowson, is rumoured to be the NDP's star candidate for the Westmount-Ville Marie by-election.... (NNW)
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At babblee:

Commenter Martin Dufresne says,
"It feels a bit bizarre to know that - for the NDP - Quebec local elections are being prepared in secrecy, with some Westerners being more in the know than we hapless Montrealers are.
But then Wstmount(sic) has always been in a world of its own..."

WARNING. The Regina Leader Post and the Star Phoenix offer a feature named "Sound Off." Those individuals who read the online edition can send in comments on certain stories that are featured every day.
A WORD OF WARNING! When you commnet on this site, the LP or the SP don`t require you to enter an e-mail address. Thus anyone can pick up your pen name and use it against your own previous comments. Unlike SDS, the editor has no ways of tracing the author of the comments. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

PS: That should read SDA--not SDS!!

"Plan C

Amir Taheri describe’s al-Qaeda’s “Plan C” in an article in the New York Post. Plan A, based on Osama Bin Laden’s assessment of the President Clinton’s reaction to the Blackhawk Down incident was that one short and sharp rap would send America tumbling down. But that didn’t work so well and so Plan B, advanced by Ayman al-Zawahiri, called for seizing power in various Islamic countries, such as Iraq. But since that didn’t turn out very successfully either, al Qaeda’s chief theoretician, Sheik Abu-Bakar Naji, has come up with a new and surefire scheme."
[...]
"What a sad belief system. What pathetic villains. There is nothing that differentiates them from all the punks in history except the imagined distinction of their appearance and phraseology. The darkness they worship is ancient. But there too from the first was the light; and life will prevail against death, though hell may bar the way."
http://tinyurl.com/6k9dku (belmont)

(Via Contentions) Christopher Hitchens, Believe Me, It's Torture

What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist—not inflict—it.