Read the 3rd comment, from Darwin O'Connor: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081215.WBwbradwanski20081215151042/WBStory/WBwbradwanski

R.I. P. Dan Fogelberg

December 16 marks the first year aniversary of the death of Dan Fogelberg from prostate cancer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NmdFgFyhnk

This one resonates with many folks, this time of the year in particular.

Robert W. Well.If that mountain of evidence includes living in subsidized housing while making over a 100G's,yeah,I guess they have the economics down pat.I left him a little note asking for this "evidence".Any bets on when I will see any factual answers??

I got to thinking about what the "NDP Criteria" would be in such times . . .

1. Do zero research on what the longterm effects of bailing out different sectors of the economy would be.

2. Do zero research on what companies have made efforts to be competitive and productive.

3. Determine which companies have the biggest number of union members and use that as the primary criteria for the handouts.

4. Give as much money as possible to carmakers who have not enough customers to buy their products AND to lumber producers who have not enough customers to buy their products.

That's lil' Darwin's "mountain of evidence" in a nutshell.

Robert W - your link leads to a blank page - did you save a screenshot by any chance?

Jema, I just checked and it does work. But here's a shorter version I created just for you:

http://tinyurl.com/ndp-dec2008

Don't ask me how I know this, but here are two quotes from the same man:

"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true."

"Because sometimes the only way you can feel good about yourself is by making someone else look bad. And I'm tired of making other people feel good about themselves."

Now, when I first saw them, I immediately thought, "Ahhhh, Jack Layton!"

But no, they're actually from ... Homer Simpson.

There is a niggling question in my mind though, which just won't go away: "Has anyone ever seen Jack Layton and Homer Simpson in the same place at the same time?"

Think about it!

Czech leader in shock after EU assault

A bizarre confrontation in Hradcany Castle confirms the inablilty of the Euro-elite to accept anyone else's opinions

http://tinyurl.com/6eq25q

Ural,

Wow! Thank you for that. I listen to BBC London Radio a lot so know how deeply many British citizens resent the undemocratic nature of the EU. They're not directly elected by the people of any country so thus have much more autonomy to do whatever they want.

And no surprise at all that Radical Left elements within the EU elites have taken control of it.

Does this remind anyone of something that has been going on here in Canada? Dion & Layton absolutely wanted to start taking it down the path to Canuckistan. One of these thugs was stopped. Now let's see what happens to the other.

Manitoba the envy of the rest of Canada?

http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/editorial/2008/12/16/7762306-sun.html

Key findings in the Foundation's report include strong non-residential construction activity, robust crop production and a surge in contracts won by local aerospace and bus manufacturing industries.

Add to this a population that is growing faster than other areas thanks to international immigrants and Canadians leaving Alberta and Ontario.

In other words, the Foundation predicts Manitoba will weather the current economic storm and continue to grow.

http://www.cwf.ca/V2/cnt/publication_200812091059.php

The Canada West Foundation is forecasting that Manitoba's real GDP growth will be 2.3% for 2008 and 2.0% for 2009.

Interesting to say the least, Doer will be pleased. But again, that nasty severely lagging GDP per capita, giving us an equalization payment of $2 billion.

Not only that, we're still severely lagging even Ontario in GDP per capita.

http://tinyurl.com/5ny8py

h/t: Lucy gets another $40,000 HRC settlement. Judge up holds findings of $30,000 plus an additional $10,000 for legal fees. Unbelievable!

h/t: http://tinyurl.com/5ny8py

HRC judgment upheld, with legal fees added.

Socialist pelted with shoes by his natural allies.

If the shoe fits ....

"ADELAIDE'S greenies have given our Prime Minister the boot".
...-

"Rudd the puppet pelted with shoes outside SA Parliament

ADELAIDE'S greenies have given our Prime Minister the boot - hurling their shoes at a papier-mache puppet of Kevin Rudd at Parliament House today.

The North Tce protest echoed an Iraqi journalist's shoe-hurling attack on US President George W. Bush yesterday.

Environment groups organised emergency protests across the country over the Rudd Government's lower-than-expected target for carbon pollution reductions, which was announced yesterday."
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,27574,24808667-2682,00.html

MSM: critics blast, anonymous sources say, economists warn, experts say, surveys tell, research shows, and now:
"observers".
MSM wants a thesaurus for Xmas.
...-

"Holiday retail sales more resilient than expected: observers

TORONTO - The Canadian holiday shopping season was widely expected to be a bust, but deep discounts have kept shoppers scouring the malls for deals and spending more money than the industry expected."
http://tinyurl.com/5b8tax (canpress)

I noticed the electronic signs on some Calgary city buses flashing "Merry Christmas" this morning. No word if they'd been hijacked by the dangerous fundamentalists who abound here. It may be the Christian equivalent of Sudden Jihad Syndrome: they snap and start spreading good will and Good News...

"Isotope Supply back to Normal

The medical isotope supply will return to normal on Thursday.

A threatened shortage of the medical isotopes used in cancer tests and treatments has been averted.

Atomic Energy of Canada says shipments of the radioactive elements have resumed.

The Chalk River reactor restarted on Friday after a routine maintenance shutdown lasted a couple of days longer than expected.

The Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine says no patients were hurt by the shutdown in supplies.

The Ottawa Hospital says all nuclear diagnostic tests will continue as usual this week."
http://www.cfra.com/?cat=3&nid=61792
...-

"NRU Status Report

Chalk River, Ontario, 2008 December 12 — Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s (AECL) NRU reactor was restarted on Thursday, December 11, following the completion of a maintenance outage. Today, the NRU reactor is operating at high power and the medical isotope production process has resumed.

The NRU’s regularly scheduled maintenance outage was to have started on December 7, 2008 and last five days. However, the reactor was shut down in the late evening of December 4, 2008 to carry out a required configuration change to conduct research, unrelated to medical isotope production. The outage was extended to address unanticipated technical challenges and AECL decided to couple this with the regularly scheduled five-day shutdown for maintenance.

Prior to required maintenance outages, AECL produces additional isotopes within the reactor, allowing it to maintain delivery of isotopes to its customer, MDS Nordion throughout the outage period. Any possible impact from the shutdown is expected to be short-lived as the NRU has come back on schedule.

Now that the NRU reactor has restarted, AECL will continue to help alleviate the global demand for medical isotopes resulting from technical problems with a European reactor."
http://www.aecl.ca/NewsRoom/News/Press-2008/081212.htm

There is a very good reason that Christmas shopping is higher than expected this year. According to a CBC radio hostess its because you can't just change your shopping plans on a dime.

I want a looney tune for Christmas. Does anyone know where the CBC gets theirs or are they all sold out?

(Via SWJ) The Bulge

It began at dawn on Dec. 16, 1944, 64 years ago today, with rapid assaults through the Ardennes forest, as the Germans blitzed one last time, hoping to split the Allied armies and take Antwerp. As Guderian reportedly liked to say, “Man schlägt jemanden mit der Faust und nicht mit gespreizten Fingern.” You punch with the fist and not with the fingers spread...

Ahh ... Nat King Cole AND Bing Crosby, just as comfortable as two old, well-worn slippers. 'Loved both videos. Thanks, Vitruvius.

I did notice the twinkle in Nat's eye when he sang about the mistletoe (I hear he liked the ladies), and couldn't help noticing that not only did Bing not play that piano, there was no piano in the accompaniment! His ringing the Christmas tree bells with pipe in hand was so-o cheesy, it was delicious. ;-)

"Coalition will protect families"
"Malcolm Allen is the New Democrat MP for the Welland riding."*
...-

Here are the ancestors/forebears of the Separatist Coalition: Lenin's Bolsheviks.

"TSAR BOOT SALE

History's Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks
[...]

This book can be read in three ways. First, it is a work of considerable scholarship and the fruit of much archival probing by a fine scholar of early Bolshevism - and much of it is fresh, exciting and overdue. Secondly, it is a study of how a new, radical and illicit government used all means possible to launder the money and treasures of Russia's tsarist regime, sell them to the capitalists who hated the Bolsheviks, and use the ill-gotten gains to buy arms and fund the nightmarish, blood-spattered experiment of the Soviet Union. Thirdly, it has a contemporary relevance since it is the first study of illegal funding - or, as we would say today, sanctions busting - on a colossal scale.

'The knell of private property sounds', wrote Karl Marx. 'The expropriators are being expropriated.' Nothing could have been more true. From the beginning, the Bolsheviks had embraced violence and terror: 'A revolution without firing squads is meaningless,' said Lenin. But he had also, since the early years of the twentieth century, used 'expropriation' - the Marxist-Bolshevist euphemism for bank robbery - to raise party funds: the planning and execution of a run of violent but daring heists was how the young Stalin had first won Lenin's approval. When a worthy and prim comrade criticised this style of banditry, Lenin just laughed and said, 'That's precisely the type of man we need.' So the use of the racy word 'heist' in this book is appropriate, and it was no surprise that once Lenin and his comrades had seized power in October 1917 they would continue their policy of expropriation on a larger scale. After all, they had to pay an army and fund a war - and they found they possessed the vast treasure trove of Russia itself to achieve this. They used every means of financial skulduggery to do so, and indeed many of the key dealers, traders and middlemen were the very men who had helped organise Stalin's bank robberies and laundered the swag a decade earlier. Sean McMeekin is, as I have said, a scholar and master of the archives, but he rightly revels in this crew of shady capitalists, humbugs, thieves, crooks and assassins. Indeed the scale is eyewatering: more was requisitioned in eighteen months than the amount sent by the Nazis to Switzerland during the entire Second World War.

It begins comically with the inept attempts of the new Bolshevik masters to force Russia's worldly and cosmopolitan bankers to hand over their banks along with the contents of their safes."
http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/sebag_12_08.html

*http://preview.tinyurl.com/62xobk

Bolsheviks come in many forms.

http://www.galganov.com/editorials.asp?id=1078

THIS IS A PLEDGE TO HIM AND TO YOU! I will send Brent $1000.

No one in this country should have to stand alone the way Brent is, to fight for the RIGHTS of ALL Canadians out of his own pocket with heart and soul.

No One!

I can’t even begin to tell you how much Brent has personally lost because of his selfless defense of EQUAL RIGHTS for all Canadians. And if I did, you might not want to believe me because the price he has thus far paid to defend all of us is really beyond belief.

The reason why I began this editorial by shining a light on OTTAWA as being the problem opposed to being the solution is this:

Every time Quebec’s language laws have been challenged at the Supreme Court, and even at the United Nations, Ottawa has intervened on the side of Quebec against the RIGHTS of English Canadians.

AND THEY’RE DOING IT AGAIN!

"the Democrats and their allies, the MSM, became bored with the war because of a lack of American victims."
...-

"The Strongest Tribe

THE STRONGEST TRIBE
War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq
By Bing West
Random House, $28, 417 pp.

"The war I witnessed for more than five years in Iraq is over."

— Bing West

My business partner’s son recently returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq. His e-mails in 2005, during his first tour, showed a mixture of Marine pride in the work they were doing and frustration about the work no one was doing.

Toward the end of his second tour this year, Justin's letters to his very relieved dad were mostly complaints about boredom. The work was done.

While President-elect Barack Obama effectively demagogued the war in the Democratic primaries against Sen. Hillary Clinton, the issue basically disappeared from the discussion in the general election race. The Democrats — and, thus, the mainstream media — no longer were interested in the war in Iraq.

Why? While the young Marine was bored because of a lack of terrorist targets. the Democrats and their allies, the MSM, became bored with the war because of a lack of American victims."
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5glzkf

Sun Induces Strange 'Breathing' of Earth's Atmosphere

Oh, but no, the Sun has nothing to do with climate change.

Indigenous communities warned over 'carbon-baggers'

http://tinyurl.com/5wzjne

Linda McQuaig writes in The Star - Iggy spineless. Yes, but she gets the reasons wrong.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/554266

Seems that most Iraqi's are thankful the USA paid (heavily)a visit.

http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2008/11/the-iraq-war-a.html

Bruce, interesting article. Thank you!

Courtesy of Roy Green's show, I've frequently heard Dr. Timothy Ball talking about the environment. He frequently (and correctly) asserts the point that none of the computer simulated climate models take into account the effects of the sun. That's beyond nuts, it's professionally incompetent.

But remember, we're dealing with a massive conspiracy of Left leaning "scientists" and political advocates.

You mean the question about what kind of a dog Obama should get generated MORE interest than, say, questions about dealings with Blagojevich or all those other old chestnuts like Acorn, Rev. Wright, Freedom of Choice Act, etc. etc. etc. And that CNN saw fit to develop a POLL on the question?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/16/obama.puppy.poll/index.html

Richard Warman wins defamation suit against Free Republic blog owner. Appeal court upholds earlier judgement. $40,000 awarded.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081216.wwarman16/BNStory/National/home

On Roy Green's show today (guest hosting for Adler), Lizzie May was interviewed. She mentioned that she has the Order of Canada. Yikes!

A "lovely" Coalition supporter: http://feministcatalyst.blogspot.com/2008/12/canada-communists-and-cry-babies.html

I just finished up with a post about the coalition. I suspect that I'm the first person to bring up Edmund Burke in the arguments about how our democracy works and the democratic legitimacy of a coalition vs. the minority supported Conservatives.

The people who claim that all we do is elect a parliament aren't in any position to say that people who see it otherwise are ignorant about our democracy.

ABC Williams is a socialist.

Our Enemy, The State.
...-

"Newfoundland expropriating AbitibiBowater assets
The Newfoundland and Labrador government is bringing in urgent legislation to expropriate all AbitibiBowater Inc. [ABH-N] assets in the province, except the company's mill in the town of Grand Falls-Windsor." (nnw)

Robert W: Layton = Simpson? Doh! It can't be. Say it isn't so. I actually have some respect for Homer.

Gaia has been murdered. He did it; he and his womanhandlers & manhandlers.
Socialist Rudd has committed "Gaiacide".
Shoe. Shoe.

"“We need hope,’’ one yelled.

“We’re not going to walk away from (action on) runaway climate change,’’ called out another.

And they didn’t. Guards dragged them away instead. Former Labor suck-up group GetUp! immediately demanded action:

There should be a formal inquiry into the manhandling of three protesters during Kevin Rudd’s climate change speech, a leading rights group says …"
...-

"Tim Blair
Monday, December 15, 2008 at 11:29pm

We’re a happy bunch, us right-wing death beasts, always striving – as our quest demands – to bring forth peace and light. Yet recent years haven’t been easy, what with one or two failed elections and the usual threats to contentment.

Today didn’t begin well. George W. Bush had a couple of shoes thrown at him, prompting ABC morning host Deborah Cameron to ask: What would you like to throw at George Bush? Why, I’d like to throw Deborah at him, if only to see how those things in her ears function during flight.

Then Kevin Rudd’s climate reduction announcement was due. Taking the PM at his word, you can’t blame the sensible for feeling apprehensive:

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, signalled his support for developed countries, including Australia, agreeing to making deep cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions in the next 12 years.

In a significant move last night the Australian delegation to the UN climate talks stated it “fully supports” the proposal that developed countries need to cut their greenhouse gas emission by 25 to 40 per cent by 2020.

That was one year ago. Rudd’s full support has since declined. Quite how far, few anticipated. “I never thought that I’d say this,” wrote Matt Hayden during a joy-packed afternoon, “but the PM and his Climate Change Minister have made my day. Their proposed 5 per cent cut to greenhouse gas emissions is wonderful.”

Well, to be clear, it wasn’t the cut itself that was so wonderful. It was the response from Australia’s green faithful. I didn’t expect them to be so furious; then again, those Danish cartoonists probably didn’t expect death threats. Religion is a powerful force. Rudd’s former fans were devastated. “We could be an inspiration to the world,” wailed Brian Walters. “Now we are its pariah.” Hey, Brian. Even better than that. We’re its murderer:

So Crikey saw things. Jonathan Green, editor of the Melbourne-based inbox journal, later reflected on “this strange, sobre afternoon of the Rudd climate white paper” and invited readers to contemplate an eight-minute clip of the earth’s rise, as seen from the moon. Because we may never see it again. Greens senator Christine Milne also accused Rudd of inciting Gaiacide:

The Prime Minister’s condemned by his own words, last year before the election he said unless we get a reduction something in the order of 450-490 parts per million, frankly we place the planet in grave danger of not being able to correct itself.

And, so that’s what he’s done, he’s put the planet in grave danger."
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5gvpxz

Survey of what you want to see in the budget. It has it's format but a little say is better than no say.

http://www.fin.gc.ca/scripts/prebudgetsurvey/selectMainPriorities_e.asp

I caught a bit of Lizzie May's interview also. She was whining about how embarrassed she was to be a canadian at this gabfest. For once I agree with her,I too am embarrassed that she is a Canadian.

"I too am embarrassed that she is a Canadian."

lol!

"Middle East: Saudi Offers $10 Mln for Shoe Thrown at Bush"

Dubai, 16 Dec. (AKI) — Wealthy Saudi Hasan Muhammad Makhafa has offered 10 million dollars for one of the shoes thrown by an Iraqi TV journalist at outgoing US President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday. Many in the Arab world have hailed the journalist, Montazer al-Zaidi, as a hero and rallies took place in Iraq on Monday calling for his release from custody.

Makhafa told Dubai-based Arabic satellite TV station Al-Arabiya that al-Zaidi’s shoes were “a symbol of freedom not just footwear.”

“They represent a victory for those who have disgraced the Arabs by occupying their lands and killing innocent people,” he said.

“For me, one of those shoes has more value than my lands and property. I want to bequest it to my children,” said Makhafa.

I had a lovely road trip today. Passed several car lots, overstocked with vehicles.
I'm not an economist and my only business experience was with a 'ma and pop' operation belonging to some relatives, so what do I know?
Could some of you experienced people explain to me why a great "inventory reduction sale" is not happenning at these dealers. We estimated approximately $4 million worth of vehicles on just 2 lots. Wouldn't that get the Big 3 some cash?
We have been waiting to see some drops in pricing...and it isn't happenning.

Danny Chavez Williams latest;

The government will not compensate AbitibiBowater for the loss of water and timber rights, the premier added.

The legislation gives Mr. Williams's cabinet the authority to determine a value for the hydroelectric assets, but he said he was open to discussing that with AbitibiBowater.

"If there's no agreement, we will in fact impose an agreement," Mr. Williams said. "Under the legislation, cabinet will have the power to say, 'Here's the formula, here's what the compensation is, here's your cheque."'

Good question, bluetech. Why do the Big 3 only want more of our money rather than sharing the wealth through the lowering of their prices?

They expect us to be generous to them without their having to be generous to us.

'Something really wrong with this picture ...

batb, isn't inventory reduction one of the major steps to business survival?

Accounting 101

Market failure
There was a little puff of journalistic excitement, at least in Italy, recently, when the country's finance minister, Giulio Tremonti, declared that Pope Benedict XVI -- or, Cardinal Ratzinger as he then was -- had predicted our financial meltdown in 1985.

More At: http://davidwarrenonline.com/

Car lot inventories are the Dealers responsibility as the Manufacturers have already been paid, They do Not keep vehicles on lots on Consignment Have'nt in years. So the dealer would use a bank/dealer floorplan co. to keep track of the inventory or cash flow for vehicle sales.