No offence to schnauzers, but I think bull dogs make better skaters. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQzUsTFqtW0&NR=1&feature=fvwp

So it's finally happened: Vitruvius can't stand us anymore and he's stormed out.

Even a schnauzer on a skateboard can't make it better.

Reposted:

Can someone explain the ongoing TV ad war between cable companies and private TV stations in Canada?

Is it a fight as to who gets to get tax dollars? I'd like to get some insight as to why this is happening. Both groups seem to be spending a lot of money promoting their side.

Vitruvius _deserves_ a break every now and then. What he's been doing is nothing short of amazing.

OK. Since you brought it up, where are this years hunting pics?

I want to see a sking schnauzer running over a sking squirrel!!!
And after the big hostage taking thing here in Edmonchuk at WCB,all civil servant scums back working.And on the news,not a peep of how they f**ked this guys life over. WCB...just another insurance company/scam.

My Internet connectivity failed about four hours ago and just
returned now. Thanks for posting tonight's Reader Tips, Kate.

Sorry all, I'm just getting to the discussion at http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/012484.html#comments

Fascinating.

Vit....you mean you don't have solar/windmills to back up that connection??? It's the way of the future you know...lol

Something very interesting is occurring in America.

It reminds me a lot of the early days of the Reform Party in Canada.

If Doug Hoffman wins in 11 days, I don't expect it'll mean the birth of a 3rd party but rather a clear sign that the Republicans should not be betraying their core values and anointing RINOs.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/afghanistan-electrification-effort-looses-spark.htm

After communications with many American and British officers, a sad picture emerged.

The following message was provided by a well-placed officer. The message has been slightly edited by me for clarification.

Michael,

ISAF's initiative [at Kajaki] to light up southern Afghanistan following the successful delivery of a third turbine to the Kajaki hydro-electric dam has run into major problems which could set the project 24 months behind schedule.

Last September, US and British special forces spearheaded a 100 vehicle convoy from Kandahar 180 miles across open desert, much of it owned by the Taliban, to Kajaki. The Operation, codenamed Oqab Tsuka, included 4,000 British, US and Canadian troops in what was hailed as the biggest demonstration since 2006 that ISAF is delivering progress in the south.

The heavily guarded convoy contained what was called T2 (Turbine 2) and was successfully delivered to the US AID built dam after a six-day operation which saw significant fighting by British paratroopers and advance clearance operations by special forces. As it crawled north up the Sangin valley the Brits mounted the biggest deception operation seen since World War Two.

With just one road available which was an obvious target for insurgents' IEDs, special forces located a second, more difficult and remote route. After confirmation that it could be used, a battle group was flown into the area of the main route, giving the enemy the clear perception that the convoy was heading that way. Then a dummy convoy headed up the road, while the Brits used the alternative route out of sight.

But despite last year's success it is now becoming clear that little progress has been made. At the time of the operation a US contractor, known as Kajaki Joe, stated that the turbine would be installed by April 2009 with all three turbines in action by September 2009. However, problems with engineers and missing elements of the turbine have caused significant delays.

When the turbine was delivered only one turbine was in action, another was being overhauled on site with the aim being to install the new one and commission all three into service. Now exactly a year on a report submitted to US AID in Lashkar Gah has suggested that the turbine which was being overhauled needs replacing. Sources in Lashkar Gah say this is a gross overestimate of the situation and that there will be no mission to deliver another turbine.

In 2006 US AID representatives in Lashkar Gah asked the British to play down the project and not to raise people’s expectations about when power would be delivered. The British Foreign Office was quick to try and hijack the public relations spin of last year's success, even though the UK gave no funding to the project.

The overall aim of the turbine mission was to support the power grid in southern Afghanistan. In fact Canada pledged millions of Canadian dollars to the Kandahar economy once the power was plugged into the grid and supplying business in the city. But the Canadians seem doubtful that power will be switched on before 2014—by which time they will have pulled their troops out of Afghanistan.

Cheers

Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief

1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North"

Avoid Flu Shots, Take Vitamin D Instead

A systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;1:CD004879).
Randomized controlled trials are the most reliable way to determine the efficacy – and safety – of a given treatment. No randomized trials show that flu shots reduce mortality from influenza or flu-related pneumonia.

Randomized controlled trials are the most reliable way to determine the efficacy – and safety – of a given treatment. No randomized trials show that flu shots reduce mortality from influenza or flu-related pneumonia.
From-
http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller27.html#

'Just not paying attention ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/distracted-pilots-overshoot-airport-by-240-kilometres/article1335002/

Hey, guys, believe me, seeing as I'm in the trenches every day: We're going to see a lot more of this EVERYWHERE. Kids today seem to have absolutely no attention span, no ability to focus on one thing at a time.

Multi-tasking is a good thing, as so many "educators" declare, trying to convince us, and themselves, that today's students really aren't as on-task challenged as they seem?

No, multi-tasking, like listening to your i-pod in the classroom or studying, or using your cell-phone when at the wheel of your vehicle, is a recipe for disaster.

Be afraid, be very afraid -- and reject all arguments which insist that our kids are doing a great job "multi-tasking." What our kids are doing, is tuning out and just not paying attention.

Kids grow up to be adults -- or at least, that's what used to happen.

batb, multi-tasking is a lie and a great dis-service to society. Women are supposed to be the masters of multi-tasking yet on Canada's Worst Driver, they failed just as miserably as men when doing the tests.

My own definition of multi-tasking is the ability to screw up 2 things at once to the point of utter failure and be proud of it.

Lebanon, Iran, Ronnie Reagan:

"Oct 23 1983

An Islamic Jihad suicide bomber drives a truck loaded with 2.5 tons of TNT into the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The explosion kills 241 American servicemen. Simultaneously, a smaller truck bomb strikes another base in Beirut, killing 58 French soldiers. Even though the NSA has proof that the Iranians are behind the attacks, President Ronald Reagan begins delivering them weapons for hostages only 39 days later."

what the hey, you people keep dredging up the record of Tommy Douglas . . .

Bank of Nova Scotia says No to veterans.

""Scotiabank at Cedarbrae Mall", Toronto.

>>Boycott Bank of Nova Scotia.

SDA gets results.
...-

" Veterans told no place for poppies
It's time for Poppy Bill of Rights
By MIKE STROBEL
The Toronto Sun"

"Veterans Dave Coxworthy, Alf Beese, and Mike Priaulx are upset that a Scarborough area Scotiabank won't allow them to sell poppies. (Sun Media/Ernest Doroszuk)"

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/10/23/11500146-sun.html

Islam.
...-

"Videos show Toronto 18 members handling bomb materials
The National Post ^ | Tuesday, October 20, 2009 | Stewart Bell

BRAMPTON -- The two scrawny terrorists are unloading bags labeled ammonium nitrate from the back of a delivery truck when one of them looks up and recoils in shock, while his partner backs into a wall and raises his hands in surrender.

A four-member police tactical team dressed all in black descends, laying them spread-eagled on the floor of the warehouse and cuffing their hands behind their backs before one of the officers raises his thumb to say mission accomplished.

The dramatic arrests of Saad Khalid and Saad Gaya, members of the "Toronto 18" terrorist group that was planning to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto, was captured on a video released on Tuesday by the court."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367844/posts
...-

"Link between child porn and Muslim terrorists discovered in police raids

Paedophile websites are being used to pass information between terrorists.

A link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography is becoming clear after a string of police raids in Britain and across the Continent, an investigation by The Times has discovered. Images of child abuse have been found during Scotland Yard antiterrorism swoops and in big inquiries in Italy and Spain.

Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists.

British security services are also aware of the trend and believe that it requires further investigation to improve understanding of terrorists’ methods and mindsets.

Officers have noted that child sex abuse images have been found during investigations into some of the most advanced suspected plots. However, it is understood that the proposed research project was never implemented because the AntiTerrorism Branch was overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases it was having to deal with.

It is not clear whether the terrorists were more interested in the material for personal gratification or were drawn to child porn networks as a secure means of sending messages. In one case fewer than a dozen images were found; in another, 40,000.

British security sources confirmed that such a link had been discovered in several cases. They noted the contradiction between people supposedly devoted to theocracy and Islamic fundamentalism and their use of child pornography. “It shows that these people are very confused,” a source said. “Here they are hating Western decadence but actually making use of it and finding that they enjoy this stuff.”"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367887/posts

"We still do not have the actual knowledge of who did the bombing of the Marine barracks at the Beirut Airport, and we certainly didn't then."
~Caspar Weinberger, President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense from January 21, 1981- November 23, 1987 in a 2001 PBS interview

"The science is pretty clear..."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091023/ap_on_sc/us_climate_poll_19

Liberals losers.

Throw da bums out.
...-

"Supreme Court won’t hear Irving appeal of sub refit contract

OTTAWA — The country’s top court has dismissed an appeal by an Irving-owned company challenging a multibillion-dollar submarine maintenance contract that went to a competing firm.

As is its usual practice, the Supreme Court of Canada did not give reasons for its decision not to hear the case.

Irving Shipbuilding Inc. of New Brunswick sued the federal government in 2007 after Ottawa informally awarded the first phase of the $1.5-billion contract to B.C.-based Canadian Submarine Management Group."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1149058.html

I saw my specialist on Wednesday and he told me to get my flu shot. Lets see now........medical specialist......Oz......medical specialist.....Oz. Gee, I think I'll take advice from Oz? NOT!

On the issue of arms to Iran - as I recall President Reagan was taking the oath of office as the hostages were being released. What the hell are you talking about, curious_george?

Did you read the link I provided, special bob?
No?
You probably couldn't comprehend it anyhow.

Did you ask your "specialist" if he believes in AGW?
The evidence that flu shots are efficacious is similar to evidence of AGW.

"I saw my specialist on Wednesday and he told me to get my flu shot. Lets see now........medical specialist......Oz......medical specialist.....Oz. Gee, I think I'll take advice from Oz? NOT!"

Yeah it's not as if he might be telling you to get one because he/she may be getting a kickback! every one knows doctors have the highest ethical standards!

oh wait

http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/35243688/Drug-makers-to-reveal-payments-to-doctors

re. flu shots, vitamin D - did you read this? Seems relevant.

http://tinyurl.com/yfj9lov

Ross Rebagliati to run for Liberal's In Stockwell Day's riding, in the Okanagan. This has been a strong hold for conservatives for years. Ross will find out now, what it is to fight and "up" hill battle. Ross better have on all of his protective gear as Stock doesn't play nice.

a different bob,

Just my 2 cents...there are a large number of medical specialists who are quoted as saying the H1N1 "scare" is just that...a scare...that this flu is no worse and probably less so than others to come our way. The post comments have aluded to a number of realities (specialists getting kickbacks, etc) but I'll just say this: the worst flu I ever experienced was the one and only time I succumbed to the hype and got one. The other 59 years of my life have been affected with only minor, run-of-the-mill wintertime afflictions.

That being said, it's wonderful to have choices...get one or don't get one. But don't take your specialist's advice unquestioned. A couple of comments have suggested you read up on it and I suggest you ask your specialist informed questions and see what his/her response is.

You've obviously chosen your GP wisely (hopefully) and trust him/her. Personally, I always ask questions of ALL the professionals I deal with, in my life. I don't accept carteblanche answers, from any of them, without informing myself (to the best of my ability) and then questioning them on things that relate directly to me.

Get your shot and feel protected but, why not ask some informed questions and let us know how your specialist answers them. You'll know if you still feel you made the right choice.

Cheers.

OBTW, the WHO & the big pharmaceutical companies have this issue covered with their fingerprints...that alone is enough to make me ask questions...news @ 11!

**alluded**

I've been getting the seasonal flu shot every year for the last 11 years. I will get it again today. I have a compromised immune system and fear the flu more than I fear the flu shot. Simple as that.

The same reasoning will see me getting H1N1 shot also.

Fear mongering by those who are against the flu shots will result in death for alot of folks me-thinks. (and thats not fear mongering - its just my opinion)

a different bob,

You've just answered one question that wasn't in your original post. That being said, your specialist is playing the odds...risk management per se.

The latest is that children should be kept away from the shots...valid?...I'm not sure but, if mine were still young I'd be investigating/researching it before any injections.

Hope you have a flu-free winter and keep healthy!

BTW - just heard on radio that a several dozen kids in Estevan are home sick with the flu. Do you think that flu shots might have helped that situation?

Just wondering.

I'd be interesting in comments from folks from that part of the province on that situation.

"multitasking" is just another way of saying that nothing gets your undivided attention.

Thanks for he link Oz.

Good point Garry re: choice on flu vaccines.
However, health care employees in some hospitals in Ontario are being forced to have vaccines or they will not be allowed to work.No choice.Keep in mind employees are well versed and well educated on infection control and PPE-personal protective equipment (masks, gloves , etc.)But hospitals take away the 'choice' factor.One hospital invested time in checking the local drug stores to make sure employees were puchasing the Tamiflu (the only option for some... another story)Next step: "Report to OcHealth and the Tamiflu police will watch you take your pill."
All this last year in reaction to less than 5 cases of flu in hospital...none fatal.
No stats are being kept on the employees who become ill and miss work after taking the vaccine. I have personally observed a high incident in my department. The irony of that...the whole purpose of the vaccine program for staff is to avoid 'sick time pay'.

The media and the government have been responsible for a paranoia that is causing overcrowding in the hospital ER's as we speak. People will wait up to 8 hours to see a doctor who will tell them...yes, you have the flu...go to bed! Why are they sitting in the waiting room coughing? Fear...fed by the media and so-called specialists.
Meanwhile...pharmaceuticals are laughing all the way to the bank.
Too much government interference with our bodies.
Back off gvernment!!!

"...just heard on radio that a several dozen kids in Estevan are home sick with the flu. Do you think that flu shots might have helped that situation?
Just wondering."
~a different bob

NO, flu shots would not have helped that situation.

Read this:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller27.html#

There is NO PROOF that flu shots work at all.

I and my wife, have had the flu shot every year for the last 10 years(and yeah I paid $20 for each shot and now I'm 50 yrs old and they're free) and I'm not getting any this year or ever again until they stop putting:
-mercury
-aluminum
-formaldehyde
-Triton X-100
-ethylene glycol
–neomycin
-streptomycin
-gentamicin
in the delivery serum and then prove, through blind testing, that flu shots even work at all.

IF Obama or Ignatieff gets a flu shot, how many people here won't?

I wouldn't believe it if I saw it on TV, if I watched TV, but I don't.

Kinda like how Ralph Klein made a show of eating at a Chinese restaurant during the SARS epidemic.
How many illegals do you think worked at the restaurant that Ralph ate at?
None is my guess.

health care employee,

Well said! I left some of your thoughts out of my post (originally it was for brevity but I now know one with more "front line experience" would fill in the spaces)...there certainly is an oxymoronish quality to the reality..n' est pas ?? !!

Some extreme thinkers have suggested this is just one more step along the path to 'World Guvmt'...get everyone to jump-in-step...I echo your closing statement.

Cheers.

SY @1045

I heard PM Harper is getting a vaccine. I support most if his decisions, not this one. However it's his choice.
My reasons for choosing not to have the vaccine are about individual rights and freedoms ...I'm not a crowd follower.
What's your point?
I could ask if lefties hear that Obama and Iggy are having the vaccine...they will mindlessly follow the leader?

I wondered if the same knee-jerk conservatism would dictate people's interests in this regard, as they do so much with other things here.

Not surprising we have a lefty troll here missing the whole point, and advocating "Line up and get your shot 'cuz the guvament sez so.Leave your brain at the door.You are no longer an individual"
Proof again that conservatists advocate more liberalism today.

Re Maz2 post: canoe news Mike Strobels article Veterans Upset Scotia Bank wont allow to sell Poppy's @ 8:25am

I post on this subject Every Yr.
To begin with i wish the Media would do there homework first, But no not to be just looking for a eye catching story.

The Poppy in Canada is a Registered product of the Royal Canadian Legion. The Royal Canadian Legion "Does not solicit" for the poppy. In other words "We Do Not Sell the Poppy". It is by Donation & thats If you wish to donate or not to donate.
We just encourage all to Please Wear a Poppy during the Remembrance Campaign.
This is why it is called the Remembrance Poppy Campaign.
The only thing branches sell during the campaign are Wreaths for the Cenotaph's or church services, store windows etc...
On the subject of the Business, The business has every right to Not allow a Poppy tray. Which of course is Unfortanate, The problem is we see every yr. thefts of the Tray's from Business's & the business feels that they are responsible for the tray. Alot just dont want them anymore Even though the branchs quite understand Its not their fault.
Finaly Please Please wear your Poppy properly it should always be worn on the left side pref. Lapel above the heart, & it is the only thing that is allowed to be worn above the queens crown Eg: Legion lapel Pin has the crown in its logo.
Dont wear it on the Rt side or your hat(if your weaing it there aleast the left side)
And lets all Remember Our Veterans on Nov.11th

Chavez's dirty little secret.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569223,00.html?test=latestnews

"Mafia experts have said the practice exists elsewhere in Canada."

Funny how Nicholson the Shrew will use his pulpit to advocate minimum sentencing (how's that working out in the states Robbie?), yet runs for his hole when confronted with a national issue.

Shows the true depth of the politician.

"Rob Nicholson expresses confidence in Quebec's ability to sort out allegations of corruption and mob ties driving up price of infrastructure projects

Ottawa — The Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009 11:40AM EDT Last updated on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009 11:41AM EDT

Don't expect the federal government to get involved in the murky allegations of corruption and mafia ties enveloping Montreal's city hall.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson indicated Friday morning that Ottawa will leave the mess to Quebec, and expressed confidence that the province can sort it out.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest has repeatedly rebuffed calls for a public inquiry but announced that a task force of 60 Sureté du Québec provincial police officers will be set up to investigate the corruption allegations.

Earlier this week, Mr. Nicholson refused to rule out a federal inquiry, but on Friday he the federal government sees no reason to step in.

“My understanding is that the province of Quebec has launched an investigation, and we have complete confidence in that,” he said.

A retired Quebec bureaucrat-turned-whistleblower has said outside firms would be intimidated and shut out while participating companies would alternately set the bid price on contracts. The rest would then submit higher bids.

The collusion is reported to have driven up the price of public-works projects in the Montreal area by 35 per cent.

Mafia experts have said the practice exists elsewhere in Canada but is particularly worrisome now that Ottawa and the provinces are embarking on the most expensive infrastructure program in Canadian history.

The Lost History Of Helmand Afghanistan

an explanation for the younger generation.

http://fun-videos.net/mama%20hat%20gesagt,%20ich%20darf.html

right on cue to help (easily) illustrate my point notyoursatall - attaboy!

How e-mail rots your brain

John Freeman, the author of The Tyranny of E-Mail: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox on why “any email correspondence is always a few exchanges away from a fight”
by Brian Bethune on Thursday, October 22, 2009 2:02pm - 3 Comments

How e-mail rots your brainJohn Freeman, 34, is the American editor of the eminent British literary magazine Granta, a job he took on in May after 10 years as a book critic, regularly writing for 200 English-language publications around the world, including Canada (which he calls “the only matriarchal literary society”). In other words: a literati’s literati. Yet his own first book is not a novel, but The Tyranny of E-Mail: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox (Simon and Schuster), an impressive piece of literary nonfiction that blends history, sober judgment and controlled rage. Freeman spoke with Brian Bethune about what e-mail is doing to our work productivity, spare time, attention spans, eyesight, brain function and relationships:

Q: The e-mail stats are truly mind-boggling: 650 million messages every 10 minutes, 37 trillion a year in total, and each one of us office drudges getting 200 or more a day. It’s endless.
A: It’s out of control. I was getting two or three hundred a day in my job as president of the National Book Critics Circle. I thought this is just me because I’m in touch with a thousand book critics, but when I saw that figure I thought this isn’t just my problem. And if everyone has this problem it’s going to make us all incredibly tetchy and angry and more prone to talk rather than listen...."

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/10/22/how-e-mail-rots-your-brain/#more-88149

FWIW-
Saw my sawbones yesterday and got the flu shot.
When I enquired about the H1N1 vacinne, she told
me healthy folks over 60 won't be getting it because they don't need it. She claims the whole thing is overblown.

I to am a bit sceptical about the flu shot, I have only had one once or twice and in 45 years I have only been really sick with what might have been a flu once. I feel that the H1N1 is being massivly over played, for what purpose, I don't know.

However, the concept of vaccination goes back a very long time and I am pretty sure that the science is the same whatever the vaccine is supposed to protect against.

Vaccines have all but eradicated many diseases that used to kill millions of people. Anyone want to take a chance with polio, measles, yellow fever, whooping cough?

That sound you just heard was Columbian coffee getting more expensive to support manufacturing in Ontario.

Another lever in the battle to preserve regionalism in this country is pulled....

"Intervention an option, Carney repeats
Stronger dollar biggest risk to economy, he says

Paul Vieira, Financial Post Published: Friday, October 23, 2009

Mark Carney, Bank of Canada governor, said it again -- this time with emphasis.

He reiterated his warning that a stronger Canadian dollar presents the greatest risk to the economy. Asked by reporters yesterday what he might do if the loonie soars too high, he indicated one option at his disposal is foreign-exchange intervention, a threat he wielded as far back as June.

The central bank has not gone down that route since September 1998, and analysts aren't convinced it would do so again. To date, Mr. Carney and company have turned to talking the dollar down, known also as "jawboning" or "verbal intervention."

Yesterday, the jawboning got a little more determined.

http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=2135858#ixzz0UmhW3dLN

A little martial music to lift morale (and prepare for Remembrance Day):

Soldiers of the Queen

"He added that the money from the six fake invoices, which he had approved, was used by Mr. Morselli to organize two Liberal events in 1999 and 2000. The goal was to pack halls with supporters of then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, whose loyalists were involved in internal fights with the supporters of then-finance minister Paul Martin..."

Liberal official seeks discharge in kickback scheme

Benoit Corbeil, former director-general of the Liberal Party's office in Montreal, leaves court on Friday, April 18, 2008.

Benoît Corbeil did not receive any cash for influence peddling crimes, Quebec Court told

Daniel Leblanc

Montreal — The Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009 2:15PM EDT

Former Liberal official Benoît Corbeil did not benefit financially from a $117,000 fake-invoice scheme and a $50,000 kickback, and deserves a conditional discharge for the two crimes to which he has pleaded guilty, court was told Friday.

Mr. Corbeil, the former director-general of the Liberal Party's Quebec wing, testified at his sentencing hearing that the only cash he ever received was $5,000 to pay for the cost of adopting a girl in China in 2000.

Mr. Corbeil said he did not know where that money was coming from and insisted it was not linked directly to either of the two criminal incidents.

However, he did acknowledge the money was given to him by Liberal fundraiser Joe Morselli during a Christmas party.

Mr. Corbeil said the money derived from the $50,000 kickback was redistributed to Mr. Morselli, as well as two Liberal riding associations outside of Montreal Island, prior to the 1997 general election....."

Poor Benoit. Poor poor Benoit. Those Libranos didn't even look after him - after all he did.

FWIW-
Saw my sawbones yesterday and got the flu shot.
When I enquired about the H1N1 vacinne, she told
me healthy folks over 60 won't be getting it because they don't need it. She claims the whole thing is overblown.

imagine the reaction if you put a bearded guy on an arabian horse or camel and left it in oxford circus.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/theweekinpictures/6416224/The-week-in-pictures-23-October-2009.html

However, the concept of vaccination goes back a very long time and I am pretty sure that the science is the same whatever the vaccine is supposed to protect against.

Vaccines have all but eradicated many diseases that used to kill millions of people. Anyone want to take a chance with polio, measles, yellow fever, whooping cough?
~minuteman

Good point, minuteman.
I've had polio, 2 types of measle, and small pox shots many years ago so I am a believer in vaccinations.

Vaccines have all but eradicated many diseases that used to kill millions of people.

Do you know how many polio, measle and smallpox vaccinations I've had since being vaccinated many years ago?
None.

Do you know how many flu shots I've had in the last 10 years?
Ten(10) flu shots.

Why is it, do you think, that the flu hasn't been all but eradicated and the new shots are required every year?

Do you think, maybe, that the flu isn't like the other viruses?

Just maybe, flu shots don't work.

Read this:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller27.html#

Craig Oliver, chief parliamentary correspondent, CTV News

Date: Thursday Oct. 22, 2009 3:55 PM ET

It's possible that Stephen Harper may be well on his way to becoming one of the most successful Liberal prime ministers in many years. He may even be close to achieving his long sought goal of seeing the Conservatives replace the Liberals as Canada's natural governing party. If he gets there he will have done it in the good old-fashioned Liberal way.

It's a long time since he and the Reformers came riding into town from the West guns blazing, contemptuous of everything having to do with Ottawa. Not for those penny-pinching moralists, fancy dress balls, fat bureaucrats and soft-on-crime judges. But Stephen Harper knew that a base that narrow would never take them to national power.

He undertook the tricky business of putting his shoulder under the Conservative Party once he and Peter MacKay had brought it together and heaved it into the political centre. Which is where that great Liberal thinker Keith Davey used to say is where Canadians are at, and where elections are won.

Having seized that high ground, Harper went on to seize three of the most skillful liberal techniques for getting and holding power.

Divide the enemy forces and thus weaken them. That's why the Conservative Government these days is doing anything it can to help Jack Layton look good. Whenever the NDP runs strong it bleeds votes from the Liberals, electing Conservatives in many ridings.

For years, Conservatives including Mr. Harper railed against big spending liberalism. Then along came the global economic meltdown. It allowed Harper to get the gold medal as the biggest spender of them all; even better, doing it without any blame being attached.

Since bribing Canadians with their own tax money worked so well for years for Liberals, Conservatives aren't going to let Canadians forget to whom they owe thanks for all that cash flowing into their communities.

Finally, of all the arts of Liberal necromancy, none served them better than this: do whatever, say whatever to win.

Once in government leaders always find ways to fudge and muddify past pledges.

Remember Chretien's no GST, Pierre Trudeau's no wage and price controls. And Harper's promise to pensioners that he would never eliminate dividend paying income trusts.

Come to think of it, who was it that was a strict disciplinarian, a pillar of the business community and almost certainly a small "c" conservative when he entered politics?

Why, Mackenzie King of course, who was always comfortable being whatever he had to be at any given moment.

So step aside Mackenzie, make way for the new King, Harper...maybe.

(FWIW - excellent stuff Oz)

Muslims killing Muslims.

Stand back.
...-

"24 killed in Pakistan militants' guerilla warfare campaign

Times Online - Zahid Hussain - ‎2 hours ago‎
Attacks by Taleban militants killed at least 24 people across Pakistan today in the latest surge of violence sparked by the Army's offensive in the border region of South Waziristan."
...-

"Bomber hits Pakistan military base
By Asif Shahzad, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A suicide bomber killed seven people near a major air force complex in northwest Pakistan on Friday, while a car bomb wounded 15 others in the region, the latest in a surge of militant attacks this month."

Iffy: "“There’ll be more and we’ll tie it up in a big bow and hand it to Canadians and say, ‘There you are.’"

Iffy'O'narcissist.

I = 9.
He = 7.

"It’s very visceral."

"I don’t think I’m dreaming.”

"*Bragging and false autobiography – The narcissist brags incessantly. His speech is peppered with "I", "my", "myself", and "mine"."
...-

"What happened, Michael?"

“I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I’m still learning. And there are three or four other pieces that have to be there before Canadians start to think, ‘Yeah, well, he’s at least thinking about our future,’ ” he says, again casting forward. “He’s not up there at 50,000 feet, he’s trying to address the anxieties and anguish that I saw in that food line, that I see in the supervisor’s face. And you have to make that connection. And it’s not enough to just have lots of ideas, lots of policies. People have got to feel, ‘That guy, he’s in my corner. He’s a little funny, he’s got a funny name, he’s been outside the country, but he’s in my corner.’ I mean, that’s the connection you have to make. It’s very visceral. And I feel I make the connection constantly. I don’t think I’m dreaming.”

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/10/23/what-happened-michael/print/

*http://www.globalpolitician.com/25109-barack-obama-elections

If this comment from the NYT doesn't typify our betters on the liberal side of things.

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/us/politics/23fox.html

the fact that Fox News is simply a place for right wing idoligy should come as no surprise to anyone. It is not news but a place for all those on board to "intertain " those right wing " Chaney " conservatives. Mom 89 year old mother watches them all day long and they put out so much " fear news " that it has made her ill. We have had to block fox news from her tv for health reasons. While Fox spreads fear and hate, their entertainers make millions off books and appearance fees .

That's right Grandma. It's better if you don't know what's coming.

As if Grandma didn't listen to the news or read the papers during WWII, which we were losing until June 1944, or see all those A-bomb tests on the news and in papers and magazines at the height of the Cold War, including the Cuban Missile Crisis.
meh.

hardboiled @2:57

I notice in the G&M article re Corbeil, that they say that part of the stolen money went to two Liberal riding associations outside Montreal Island, but again they will not say which ones. I understand there was a total of 12 riding associations that received stolen Adscam money however so far the Liberal Party have been able to keep the id`s suppressed. This should be public information after all it was OUR money they stole!!

I notice the G&M has closed comments on this article for legal reasons...no wonder...people are pissed off!!

tim in vermont - Goneril subscribes to the NYT. Figures.

""multitasking" is just another way of saying that nothing gets your undivided attention.

Good point potatoe. The ideal situation is everybody paying attention to everything all the time (with a greenish tinge of course), following the dear comrade leaders.

bryanr: I wear the same poppy every year (thus doing my part for carbon sequestration) and have two pins for attachment - one is a maple leaf and the other is a mini Canadian flag, depends on my jacket. I usually drop $20 and say thank you.

GR-8 article by Barbara Kay in today's National Post: "The Problem with the Pink Book."

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=6cb8ddd5-e278-4ff4-886c-a893e4e668cb

She debunks every one of the Liberal$' same old, tired old, radical feminist shibboleths.

Can't these Liberal$ EVER move forward? As it is, they're st...st...stuck on stupid in the far distant NAC/SOW past.

ONTARIO's DEBT

If you ever wanted to hear a detailed explanation of how delusional Public Sector Unions are then just listen to this beginning at 34:00.

Burned GI's Portrait Smithsonian Bound
October 23, 2009
Associated Press

Burned GI's Portrait Smithsonian Bound

SAN ANTONIO -- Retired Army Sgt. Richard Yarosh has gotten used to the stares. His face is blanketed in knotty scar tissue. His nose tip is missing. His ears are gone, as is part of his right leg. His fingers are permanently bent and rigid.

All is the result of an explosion in Iraq that doused him in fuel and fire three years ago.

"I know people are curious," he said. "They'll stop in their tracks and look. I guess I can understand. I probably would have stared, too."

Soon, a lot more people will be staring at Yarosh's face but in a very different way: A life-sized oil painting of him will go on display at the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington later this month. The portrait, by Matthew Mitchell, is a finalist in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, which recognizes modern portraiture at the gallery known for its collection of notable Americans.

The gallery received more than 3,300 entries. Many are less conventional portraits, including video and photos, but others, like that of Yarosh, draw strength from the traditional head-and-shoulders composition, said curator Brandon Fortune......"

http://www.military.com/news/article/burned-gis-portrait-smithsonian-bound.html?wh=wh

the bear: "My own definition of multi-tasking is the ability to screw up 2 things at once to the point of utter failure and be proud of it."

Touché!

Liberal Ad$Cam: "agent C4590".

Liberal Chretien-MartinJr-Dion-Hezbollah Coderre, et al: "brothers".

The Ad$Cam sisters included, Our Lady of the Cliches, aka Sheila Copps.

Closer and closer to the Liberal Ad$Cammers.

To the RCMP: Keep the heat on. There will be more rats surfacing.
...-

"Benoît Corbeil's downfall linked to friend
who became agent C4590

Citing ‘vengeance' rather than cash payments, Alain Renaud offered to work with the RCMP to help bring down key figure in the Liberal sponsorship scandal

Benoît Corbeil and Alain Renaud were best of friends in the heyday of the Chrétien government, calling themselves “brothers” as they organized for the Liberals through the 1990s and early 2000s.

The friendship seemed strong enough to last a lifetime – except that in 2004 Mr. Renaud embarked on a secret mission as “C4590,” a key informant in the massive RCMP investigation into the sponsorship scandal.

In a previously unknown tale of intrigue and betrayal, Mr. Renaud wore a wire to help the Mounties nail Mr. Corbeil on charges of fraud and influence peddling last year. For his work, he received $29,000 plus a $50,000 performance bonus, and has now been relocated into the witness protection program, with the RCMP effectively granting him immunity from prosecution. And his labours could bear further fruit: Mr. Renaud provided information on at least two other players in the scandal, with the potential for more bonus money, documents show.

Mr. Corbeil, now 46, former director-general of the Liberal Party's Quebec wing, pleaded guilty last year and underwent a sentencing hearing in Montreal Friday."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/benot-corbeils-downfall-linked-to-friend-who-became-agent-c4590/article1336323/

Yours truly has volunteered to sell poppies next Tuesday, Oct 27th from 10:00AM until 2:00PM.
I will be canvassing in front of my local bank, The Bank of Nova Scotia.
As a long-time client of said bank and a shareholder of record, I can't wait to see them
kick my ass to the curb.

- notyoursatall....right on...!!

- SpuriouslyYours...DI*KHE*D...!!!!!!!!!

_ atric (3:12pm)...you at least checked it out ...
kudos!!

- SpuriouslyYours...D***H**D!!!!!!!!!!!!!

health care worker...

"New York State suspends manditory (seasonal + H1N1) flu shots for health care workers"....go figure...only in NY...EH!!...!!

Cheers!!

Thanks Garry.

http://wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/mandatory.h1n1.vaccine.2.1252672.html

health care worker,

You beat me to this post...to fill in the situation in NY, it appears that a shortage of vaccine may have also played a role in that decision. And I am still open to think that, if patients with suppressed immune systems are receiving services from a health care worker, and the patient's own specialist has recommended the patient receive the shot...should the patient be able to expect that the service be provided by a worker who has also had the flu shot?

I believe it to be a fair question but would leave the answer to someone with more knowledge/experience, than myself, on the subjest.

Cheers.

** subject **

Have to quit typing with my toes or, at least, polish my editing skills.

Garry,

There is a difference between mandated and recommended.
Also there can be a false sense of control with a health care worker who has been vaccinated assumes that since they have the vaccine they can be slack on infection control exercises(handwashing,etc.)and PPE.(masks,etc.)

It really is a huge can of worms. or germs.

My beef is the government attempt at control, when they take away choice with no answers about future consequences, and no guarantee of effectiveness.

HCW,

I understand the difference and agree with your post and your beef. My question could be more about what patient right(s) could/should be applied to a specific issue of a suppressed immune system and a valid expectation of a 'level' of service. I guess the bottom line is the right to choose a specialist who taken the shot, if that helps establish the 'level' of service desired/needed. As you say...a real can of worms/germs!!

Thanks for your reply.