small dead animals

SIDS Gene Uncovered

A form of SIDS (crib death) has been linked to a recessive gene in Amish populations.

BBC - They looked at 21 infants who had died suddenly and came from two generations of an American Amish community. All died before 12 months of age from sudden cardiac and respiratory arrest.

Dr Stephan's team looked at the genes of four of these infants and found a defect common to all them. All four infants had two abnormal copies of a gene called TSPYL which is located on chromosome 6.

It opens up the possibility that mutations in other genes may also contribute to some sudden infant deaths.

The researchers looked at DNA from the parents of each of the children and found the parents carried only one abnormal copy of the gene. The researchers believe having two abnormal copies of TSPYL affects the nervous system and causes sudden death by interfering with the brain's control of the heart and lungs.

It also raises questions about the cases in which multiple SIDS deaths in a family have led to murder charges. From a Slate article on the Noe case in which 8 children allegedly died of SIDS...

...experts now believe that losing one baby to SIDS does not increase the likelihood that a family will lose another. However, Wecht points out, there have been cases of two and three unexplained infant deaths in a family in which homicide was ruled highly unlikely. Parents of SIDS babies have been wrongly accused in the past. And most troubling, as I said before, we don't know what SIDS is in the first place. We may have lumped several different diseases together in describing the syndrome. Perhaps multiple natural deaths in a family are possible.

Indeed. A simple recessive defect carried by both parents would produce statistical odds of one in four children being affected. And as probabilities are extremely unreliable in small samplings, the chances of two or three SIDS cases from two carrier parents would be pretty good.

And those are the odds for simple autosomal recessive mutations. If there are other gene defects that predispose children to crib death that are incompletely dominant (meaning that a single copy of the mutation can cause death, but a minority of carriers are spared and survive to reproduce), half of their children would inherit the defect. If a simple recessive, such as the TSPYL gene is survivable through fetal management and monitoring, 100% of the children of survivors would inherit it.

Prediction: In recent years, the recommended practice of laying infants on their backs to sleep has reduced SIDS deaths dramatically. This may mean that some SIDS deaths are purely mechanical - or it may be that the position compensates for respiratory problems in children with a mild underlying gene defect..If the latter is true, expect a sharp increase in SIDS deaths in a decade or two, when the survivors move into adulthood to have children of their own.

Canola

Today was a little busy for blogging. But I got out the camera on the way home from town as a thunderstorm was rolling towards Saskatoon behind me. The yellow flowers are canola, and the bloom is actually beginning to wane - the colour on the fields was a little more intense last week. Driving through the countryside, canola perfume hangs in the air - subtle and pleasant. About 40% of the farmland in this region is planted with the oilseed this year. The aerial view must be spectacular.

I had almost forgotten what it was like. Three years of dust storms, unrelenting heat, grasshoppers, high wind, barren pastures and withered crops. This region of the province had a drought that surpassed that of the 1930's - the land saved only by modern no-till cropping methods.

(Dust storm, late May 2002. The street looking west from my house.)

But this year, the rainfall has been normal, the dust storms are gone. Summer heat was slow to arrive and crops are late, but they're healthy and catching up fast. And the cold and wet meant trillions of grasshoppers perished, unhatched.

If anyone is considering a road trip into this province, this is the year, this is the time.

Organic Reality

Yum!

UN Oil-For-Terrorism Program

NY Post

American officials believe that millions of dollars Saddam Hussein skimmed from the scandal-plagued U.N. oil-for-food program are now being used to help fund the bloody rebel campaign against U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government, The Post has learned.

U.S. intelligence officials and congressional investigators said last night that the "oil-for-insurgency link" has been recently unearthed in the numerous probes now under way into the giant U.N. humanitarian program, in which Saddam is believed to have pocketed $10.1 billion through oil smuggling and kickbacks from suppliers.

[...]

Investigators have traced some of these accounts to banks in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Belarus, where money was either laundered or converted into gold and routed back to Iraq or into other accounts.

The network of bankers, front companies, couriers and money-launderers involved in handling Saddam's oil-for-food kickback schemes still appears to be active, investigators say.

U.S. intelligence officials believe a portion of the funds in these hidden accounts — possibly millions— is now being used to fund the Ba'athist guerrillas responsible for much of the postwar violence against coalition troops, sources said.

Yet another justification to charge Kofi Annan with war crimes.

hat tip - James Joyner

Of Botox And Girly Men

As I've noted in the past, Matt Drudge is so funny.

And so is the Governator.

"If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ... if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men," Schwarzenegger said to the cheering crowd at a mall food court in Ontario.

The governor lifted the term from a long-running "Saturday Night Live" skit in which two pompous, Schwarzenegger-worshipping weightlifters repeatedly use it to mock those who don't meet their standards of physical perfection.

Democrats said Schwarzenegger's remarks were insulting to women and gays and distracted from budget negotiations. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl said the governor had resorted to "blatant homophobia."

"It uses an image that is associated with gay men in an insulting way, and it was supposed to be an insult. That's very troubling that he would use such a homophobic way of trying to put down legislative leadership," said Kuehl, one of five members of the Legislature's five-member Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus.

Oh, boo hoo, ya whiney bunch of pansies.

Hamas Pats NZ On The Back

Via the NZ blog, Silent Running;

New Zealand has an unexpected friend in Hamas, a militant Islamic group feared in the Western world, which has thanked this country for its diplomatic slap to Israel over the spy passport scandal.

Word of Hamas' endorsement will spread quickly throughout the Islamic world and will bolster the safety of Kiwi troops working in Iraq, according to Victoria University religious terrorism expert Jim Veitch.

Citing a statement from the Hamas stronghold of Gaza, the Islamic resistance movement's website says Hamas "has highly appreciated the daring position of the New Zealand Government against the Zionist entity".

Professor Veitch said: "To do something like that almost offers (Kiwi troops) protection. Groups inside Iraq are really picking off the partners the United States has... Maybe New Zealand has offered itself some sort of protection."

Yeow.

Perhaps NZ prime minister Helen Clark is hoping for a few more Jewish grave desecrations to strengthen this fledgling relationship. Apparently, official condemnation from her office has been a little slow in coming.

Summer Pulse 04

The reason I sleep better at night knowing Bush-Rumsfeld are at the helm.

As a seafaring friend of mine once remarked, an aircraft carrier is not really listed on the books as a "ship," but as a "strategic asset." And when a country starts to move 7 out of 12 of these assets around on the global chessboard, it might betoken something more than just a summer 'exercise.'

Indeed, if this were wartime (What? It is? Who knew?) moving this much killing power out onto the seas would be thought of as a fleet surge.

Truman, Enterprise, Stennis, Washington, Kennedy, Reagan, Kitty Hawk. It could all be, of course, just prudent planning and practice. On the other hand, given the various signals being sent by Homeland Security, the nearness of the Olympics, and the advent of the elections, it may be a case of "Fortune favors the forward deployed."

Oh, did I mention that another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln is listed by the Navy as underway as well?

It's also interesting that the same page: U.S. Navy - Status of the Navy tells us that 92% of our surface ships are currently underway or deployed, and that 91% of our submarine fleet is either underway or deployed.

This is a lot of activity.

hat tip- Stephen Green who has this too.

update - By way of contrast, this item courtesy Pol:Spy

The Canadian navy will sit out the war on terrorism for one year in an effort to give exhausted sailors a chance to recuperate. HMCS Toronto left the Arabian Sea and the American George Washington Carrier Strike Group July 4 with a broken Sea King helicopter on deck.

And the navy has quietly decided against dispatching a replacement ship until spring 2005 at the earliest.

The Sea King on HMCS Toronto has been grounded since June 25 after particles were discovered in its gearbox.

Naval Capt. Bruce Belliveau, Toronto's commanding officer, said the Sea King was available to hail foreign ships during 80% of the six-month deployment. It broke down during the frigate's preparations to leave.

Urgh.

Pickup Lines; The Winners

I promised this on Friday, but I was indisposed. So, belatedly - the speed dating winners;

First: Jeff Goldstein -"Are you beansprout toward the walkway antelope? Or is it? Because it's hard for me to sleep trunk ebony, you know?"

Runnerup: Lisa - Walk up to him. Look him straight in the eye and say, to no one in particular, "Have him washed and brought to my tent."

(I'd offer a week of guest blogging to the winner, but I think I"ll just link him profusely instead. )

The Incredible Shrinking Budget Deficit

There's a pattern in the mainstream Democrat-cheering media these days. Just like the poll numbers that go unreported when Bush is ahead of Kerry, they remain curiously muffled on economic good news.

Larry Kudlow, at NRO;

If it's not bad enough that rapid economic recovery has neutered Sen. Kerry's principal domestic criticism of President Bush, now comes even worse news for the Democratic campaign: The budget deficit is starting to substantially shrink.

The latest budget numbers show a $19.1 billion surplus for June, $3 billion higher than the $16 billion Wall Street expectation. It seems that a flood of new tax collections, spurred by fatter employment payrolls and corporate profits, is rapidly reducing the federal budget gap. Tax receipts from businesses rose an astonishing 38 percent over the past twelve months and personal income-tax collections increased almost 9 percent. What's happening? Could it be that stronger economic growth from lower tax rates is producing more tax receipts? I believe it's called supply-side economics.

Just as the 1.5 million new jobs created since last August has terminated talk of a jobless recovery, the chatter over widening budget deficits will end. The fiscal-year 2004 budget deficit now looks to come in around $435 billion, less than 4 percent of GDP. This would be almost $100 billion below early-year estimates from the Office of Management and Budget and about $50 billion less than Congressional Budget Office forecasts. The administration is also getting its arms around federal spending. Fiscal year to date, domestic discretionary program spending has slowed to 2.7 percent from 6.8 percent a year ago.

This will come as surprising news to Canadians, who have been sold on the notion that tax cuts undermine revenue. Or, at least it would if there was a snowball's chance in Hell that they'll hear about it.

hat tip - The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Referrers

For reasons unknown, my top referrer this month is Bourque.
Anyone have a clue as to why?

Storm Warning

I just caught the taill end of the *beep beep beep* of a weather warning, and got to the TV in time to read "DO NOT WAIT FOR FURTHER WARNINGS. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY".

Unfortunately, the station covers a warning area a few thousand square miles in area, so I don't know who they're talking to. Not us at the moment - the sky is clear overhead. But it sure isn't clear to the north and east. The skies over Saskatoon, 25 miles to the northeast, are a million dollar light show at the moment.

(A photo I took a couple of years ago)

Methinks some grain bins are going to be rolling cross the prairies like bowling balls tonight.

ooops... as I finish this, another warning. Caught it this time. It's for us as well as most of the area surrounding. Too bad it's so dark - there are sure to be some freaky photo opportunities.

The Dignified Antonia Zerbisias

Toronto star writer, Antonio Zerbisias, pops in to comment on Bob Tarantino's blog. With her favorite pet troll at her side. A snippet;

(And Bob, don't cum all over your keyboard because I am posting here. Marc Weisblott suggested I pop over here into your little playpen for a laugh.)

I can see why they pay her the big bucks.

blah

I've been sick all day. Migraine.

Update. Saturday. Still sick. Went to the city and got some medication and a couple litres of fluids by IV. I feel a little better, but not up to staring at a screen and thinking coherent thoughts.

Not too sick to delete a troll, though.

*Cackle*

Please, let it be true, let it be true....

Elections Canada to Charge Moore

Elections Canada will lay charges against shockumentary filmmaker Michael Moore.

Officially, Elections Canada will neither confirm nor deny plans to lay formal charges against Moore. However, Canadafreepress.com has learned through sources that charges are imminent and expected by the end of next week.

The anti-Bush Moore, who often lets his mouth get ahead of him, may think he got away with the boner of the Canadian release of Fahrenheit 9/11 just days ahead of the June 28 federal election, but there is the little matter of election law infringement.

Two birds with one stone. Bitchslapping Michael Moore with Canadian anti-speech laws. How delicious.

Dear Alan Fryer

I sent an email to CTV news today. I asked them where their coverage is on Joe Wilson's exposure as a liar and fraud. Considering the breathless reporting they gave to the infamous "16 words" in the State Of The Union address, and the "Iraq trying to buy uranium from Africa" contraversy, one would think they'd be over this complete vindication of the Bush administration like white on rice.

A search for the words "Joe Wilson" produced only this year old item on the initial contraversy.

The 16 words in the State of The Union Address last year in which Bush stated that British Intelligence had reported that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium in Africa have been upheld by the Senate Intelligence Report.

Did you know that?

The same report quite clearly exposes Joe Wilson, husband of the infamous "outed" cia agent Valerie Plame, as an out and out liar.

Now, Mr. Fryer et al - why have you not revisited this information to correct it for Canadian viewers? The SOTU address recieved tremendous coverage at the time.

Or, does anyone at CTV actually READ the reports you "report" on?

Over at Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds is gloating.

LIKE MILLI VANILLI'S GRAMMY AWARD, this "Restore Honesty" website by the now-discredited Joe Wilson is mostly of comedic value now. But wait, there's more -- scroll to the bottom and you'll see that it's "Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc." Quite an embarrassment.

Indeed.

Now, I think it's time for an experment, fellow Canabloggers - Join me in emailing CTV. (I don't watch CBC tv at all, so email them too if it's appropriate). Ask them where the "Joe Wilson lied and Iraq did try to buy uranium from Niger" story is.

Let's see if we can get a reply.

Al-Libzeera

Coming to a cable channel near you - the Official News Service Of The Islamic Jihad;

Globe & Mail;

The federal broadcast regulator is expected to announce today that it will permit Canadians to subscribe to the Arabic Al-Jazeera network but is turning down an application to offer Italy's RAI International as a digital specialty service through cable or satellite. The decision, more than a year in the making, will be announced by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in Ottawa.

Brought to you by the federal licencing body that protects Canadians from the propogandist FoxNews.

Tough Toke

Evidence that extended use of marijuana can turn you into a whiney tit.

Well, nobody should be surprised. The whole "I want my medical marijuana legalized" campaign has been one long activist whine-fest, long on outrageous claims and short on fact. Hoping they'd metamorphize into grateful recipients by giving them what they want is expecting too much.

No, I have no special sympathy for their suffering. There are too many other suffering people out there who will never recieve bona fide drugs and new treatment protocols because they must first pass rigid safety and effectiveness standards. They will wait, in sickness and pain, and many will not live long enough to recieve them.

Marijuana got a free pass. If you're using it for medicinal purposes, and think it helps, great. I'm happy for you. But you didn't want to wait for marijuana to jump through the testing and development hoops that all other drugs must clear, so stop complaining about the quality.

Stupid Darwin Tricks

On the scale of stupidity where a "one" is walking out the door with your shoelaces untied... and "ten" is lobbing oxyacetelene-filled party balloons into a bonfire - this is a twelve.

hat tip Flea

Bowling For Sarnia

Mike Bradley, the mayor of Sarnia, wants to make Michael Moore an honorary Canadian citizen.

Bob Tarantino wants to kick his ass.

Over at the Shotgun, commentor Rick McGinnis speculates...

It's interesting to think what would have happened to Moore, had he been born Canadian.

He'd have been born in Oshawa, the son of a middle management worker at GM. His dad would get him a job, but he'd quit the line after a day. He'd have dropped out of York University, and gotten a job at NOW magazine, where he'd experience a meteoric rise but would suddenly be fired after one too many personality conflicts with publisher Michael Hollett.

He'd turn to filmmaking, parlaying his connections into a short documentary that would get programmed at Images or the Perspectives Canada section at the Toronto International Film Festival, but would never see commercial release, and take several years before getting video release with an independent distributor who went bankrupt with most of the copies still in boxes in their warehouse. (Copies of the DVD of Moore's film, "49th Paral-hell", would turn up in sell- off bins for years.)

Moore's best hope would have been to be Rick Mercer, except that he's nowhere near as charming as Mercer, and we already have one, so he'd basically be relegated to the occasional underpaid rant in This Magazine and sporadic work as a production assistant on American TV movies being shot in Toronto.

Frustrated by the lack of opportunities for a (straight, white, but overweight) cinematic propagandist in this country, he'd move south, where so many other Canadians have found not only opportunity, but the mysterious freedom to dissent publicly in "facist Amerikkka".

About right.

Paging Howard Stern

For those who are making a career of being outraged over the FCC fines directed at Howard Stern's behavior - The CRTC has pulled the broadcast license for Quebec City's most popular radio station, because of offensive comments by a couple of radio personalities. They recieved 47 complaints.

We should all complain more about the CBC, methinks.

This is the same CRTC that will not allow Fox News on Canadian cable, but has no problem with CBC's "it's not porn if there are subtitles" or with CTV scheduling the Sopranos uncut and Nip/*uck-fests on prime time.

Science Reinventing The Window

Translucent concrete

Hat tip Jim Jeffers

Speed Dating Pt II

A cold, windy spring, interrupted by travel and a fairly heavy work schedule. Then, rain and more rain. But the wind has stopped, the streets have dried and the sun has broken out.

Tonight I pushed her out of the corner of the garage, rinsed and filled the tank, reinstalled the battery and cleaned and tightened down the plugs...

"Alive, she cried."

I positively reek of gasoline. It's better than perfume.

Come to think of it ... I don't own any perfume.

Now, this is my idea of a speed date.

Questions For Speed Dating

According to John Gormley this morning, Saskatoon will be seeing its first ever speed-dating night at one of the local hot spots. Think drive-thru meat market.

During your 8 minute interview, you aren't to ask age, phone number or occupation. Okey dokey.

"Is that your Porsche out there with my breast prints on it?"

"If you were a horse, would one say you were 'hung like a human'?"

"What if I told you I can breathe through my ears?"

"Do you have an older brother?"

"Is that oxygen line permanent?" [if you can't afford a private nurse, you can't afford me]

Add your own suggestions in the comments section. If I decide to do this, I'll need material of all types.... Let's make it a contest. I'll announce the winners Friday.

Mutual Of Islamic Jihad: Claims Up

I wonder what the actuarial tables say about Palestinian terror leaders?

The head of the Islamic Jihad in Jenin was killed Tuesday afternoon by undercover IDF troops, Israel Radio reported.

Na'aman Ta'aimeh, was killed near the city's Jordanian hospital when the IDF force, disguised as Palestinians and driving a Palestinian taxi, tried to stop two cars laden with Palestinian fugitives wanted by Israeli security services, al-Jazeera reported.

One other Palestinian was wounded. Three Palestinian fugitives were arrested, Israel Radio reported.

Ta'aimeh has been on Israel's wanted list since the first intifada for masterminding numerous terrorist attacks.

Getting Out Of The Kitchen?

This report from Strategy Page;

July 12, 2004: Al Qaeda operations in Iraq have encountered unexpected problems. Iraqis have become increasingly hostile to al Qaeda's suicide bombing campaign. Religious leaders, which al Qaeda expects to get support from, have been openly denouncing these bombings. Iraqis, aware that they are more likely, than American soldiers, to be victims of these attacks, are providing more information on where the al Qaeda members are hiding out. Most of the al Qaeda in Iraq are foreigners, and easy for Iraqis to detect. As a result of this, many of the al Qaeda men have moved back to Fallujah, which has become a terrorist sanctuary. The interim government is trying to convince the tribal and religious leaders of Fallujah to back a military operation in the city to clear out the various al Qaeda, criminal and Baath Party gangs. But the gangs of Fallujah are quick to threaten any local leader that shows signs of supporting the government. While the Fallujah leadership is intimidated, many residents of Fallujah are not, and are providing information to the coalition, which has led to attacks, with smart bombs or coalition and Iraqi troops, on buildings used by al Qaeda, or other gangs, as headquarters. 

Al Qaeda has found the atmosphere even more hostile elsewhere in Iraq, and many of the terrorists have returned home. This is especially true of those who came from Saudi Arabia (and other Gulf nations, particularly Yemen) and Syria. Few, if any, al Qaeda came from Iran, which is Shia Moslem. Al Qaeda is dominated by Sunni Moslems who are often violently anti-Shia. While the hundreds of returning al Qaeda veterans are still determined to achieve al Qaeda's goals of world domination, they are also more realistic. Fanaticism was not sufficient to chase the foreigners from Iraq, and the Arab media's sensational, and largely false, reporting of the impact of al Qaeda's attacks contributed to the disillusionment. 

Via James Joyner

Philosophy Quiz

"Ayn Rand, 100%"

Not entirely surprising. Take the philosophy quiz for yourself.

Gender Reassigning Nemo

And he was worried about that little fin?

Iraq, Uranium and Niger, True or False?

True.

Or, Joe Wilson is a liar.

Can't Keep His Fat Mouth Shut

Michael Moore had an opinion on the Canadian federal election a few weeks ago...

"Your election comes before ours, and it will be such a blow to those of us trying to get rid of Bush" if Harper wins.

"I've spent a lot of time trying to convince Americans that Canadians are smart people, and you're going to make me look really bad. I really need you to make sure that Mr. Harper does not take over," Moore reportedly told the crowd of approximately 600 in attendance at the screening. 

Moore said Harper "has a big pair of scissors in his hands and wants to snip away at the social safety net that distinguishes you from us. The primary difference between Canadians and Americans is that you have a general basic ethic that says, 'We're all Canadians. We're all in the same boat, and if one of us doesn't have health care, we all suffer as a result of that. If one of us isn't helped when we hit upon hard times, then we all hurt as a result of that.'"

Moore said that the America ethic is "every man for himself. Me me me me me. To let people in your country to have that ethic take over and destroy that thing that makes you wonderfully Canadian is something that must be resisted on June 28 (The Election Day in Canada). "

Here's your chance to enlighten Mr. Moore about something else that is wonderfully Canadian - limits on speech.

it is an offence for "[Any] person who does not reside in Canada [to], during an election period, in any way induce electors to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate unless the person is (a) a Canadian citizen; or (b) a permanent resident."

On a related topic, Pete Townsend is more than a little annoyed. Michael's been making stuff up again.

And this is fun, too. This, too.

Contingency Plan?

The blog pundits are already in overdrive over this story;

Newsweek - American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack...

James Joyner discusses the legal aspects.

Some of the voiced concerns are that this will give the tin-foil hat crowd "another conspiracy to latch onto" (who gives a rip?), that doing such a thing will mean the "terrorists will be handed a victory" (eh... no.), as well as worries that such legislation could produce "self-fulfilling prophesy". (Since when have terrorists needed an incentive?)

As a Canadian living under a parliamentary system where federal elections are set pretty much arbitrarily by the governing party, and usually at a time chosen to give them an advantage over the opposition - I can't get too bent out of shape over the idea that an election commission be granted bi-partisan authority to consider postponement of a set election date in the event of a national emergency.

It's very easy to sit back and state that "short of a nuclear attack" nothing should interfere with the democratic process. But what of an attack that took down the power grid for two days a la the summer of 2003 or caused the death of a candidate and his running mate?

It seems to me that not having a contingency plan in place to respond to such a catastrophe in a controlled manner is more dangerous than the alternative. If you buy the arguments that it would be too disruptive and politically inflammatory to delay a presidential election for two or three weeks under emergency legislation, consider the contraversies involved with going forward with an election in a nation in grief, fear and chaos, while individuals of varying authority make decisions on a "seat of the pants" basis.

The nature of Islamic fascism is to be unpredictable, to attack civilian targets and cause the most disruption possible. Rigid systems are the most vulnerable to this type of threat. It's all well and good to stand behind dogmatic resolve to see an election through come hell or high water... but in the reality of a post 9/11 world, not to have a legal contingency plan for the worst-case scenerio seems naive and foolhardy.

Oh, Goody.

And all this time, we were worrying about anthrax?

Though the technology has been available for years, the experiment marked the first time an artificial infectious virus has been created. The researchers said they carried out the experiment to show how easy it would be for terrorists to create deadly germs for biological weapons.

Make-your-own home polio kit

A Week

A week ago tomorrow, Tamara Jewel Keepness disappeared. According to media reports, her mother says she was put to bed at 11 pm. and gone in the morning. The police refuse to characterize the disappearance as anything more than a "missing person", which I suppose is beaurospeak for "we have no clue where she went or how."

Question: This little 5 year old simply got up at 3 am and walked out the door? Do you know of any 5 year old, up until 11 pm, who would not be dead to the world until well into the next morning? Things about this disappearance don't ring true on a lot of levels, including the media's insistance on describing the father as deeply distraught and "pleading" for the safe return of his daughter - the actual taped interviews of the parents show remarkably calm, underwhelmed individuals. It may be cultural.

I don't have any search and rescue expertise, and I suspect that there's information they are not releasing to the public, but it seems to me that the restricted area the police concentrated on for the first couple of days (9 block area) was a strange approach. They've since expanded the search and are finally including fields outside the city, but to me, this is very little - and very late, if this little girl had indeed just wandered away.

When I was under 2 years old, "Butch", the farm collie, and I took a saucepan and walked a mile to the neighboring farm in the space of an hour or so. I suspect I was running away in rebellion over some disciplinary action by my mother - the saucepan suggests I planned to fend for myself. Turned myself in to a neighbor, instead.

But, the notion that a lost or anger motivated 5 year old would only make it a few blocks before hunkering down or getting trapped somewhere is illogical.

Regina's Crimestoppers number is 306-545-8477 Amber Alert Website

There's a live news conference on right now. Some twit just asked if any native elders have had "visions" that have been followed up on. *sigh*

We can onlyhope they find her with a disgruntled relative, or somewhere equally benign. Otherwise, propsects are pretty dim.

Bologna Warning

What would we do without headline writers?

ALZHEIMER: NEW GENETIC RISK FACTOR DISCOVERED IN BOLOGNA

(AGI) - Bologna July 9 - Professor Federico Licastro of the experimental pathology ward of the University of Bologna has discovered a new factor to value the genetic risk of Alzheimer, related to the metabolism of cholesterol. His study was conducted in collaboration with the Don Gnocchi Foundation and the San Raffaele hospital in Milan and involved 327 patients (335 checks were carried out). The genetic component (a polymorphic form of the HMGCoA gene) and other known genetic factors can be used to estimate the individual risk of the illness before it starts to develop.

When this hits the mainstream American media I fully expect half the headlines will include speculation about the recall of luncheon meat.

The Briefing Kerry Didn't Have Time For

"It is absolutely essential for the U.S. Senate to turn its attention to what we can do to make America safe," Daschle said.

Of particular concern are the nation's borders and ports, Daschle said, and there are security issues unresolved as the homeland security appropriations are "hung up" in the Senate.

Asked if the timing of the terror concerns might be aimed at stealing political thunder from the announcement of John Edwards as the democratic vice presidential candidate, Daschle replied, "The report is so sobering and so serious that I cannot bring myself to believe anyone in this administration would use this for political purposes."

Daschle said the most recent terror briefing was the second this week and contained information that there is a higher threat than there has been at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Rall. Still Unhinged.

Evidence that refutes the claims of the hysterical left that the Bush administration is threatening civil liberties and freedom of speech.

Exhibit A: Ted Rall* is still drawing breath.

Fringe cartoonist? Hardly. Rall is carried in the Washington Post and about 140 other newspapers.

Crossposted at the Shotgun

Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated.

All behold; Frank J. enters his third year, blogging tirelessly against the Armies Of Darkness. Plus, the French. (Because you can't really call anything French an "army".)

Congratulations, Frank.

The Yellowcake Made Him Do It

You remember Joe Wilson, don't you?

"If they were referring to Niger when they were referring to uranium sales from Africa to Iraq, ... that information was erroneous and ... they knew about it well ahead of both the publication of the British white paper and the president's State of the Union address,"

In the same report of CIA failures over WMD intelligence in Iraq monopolizing the airwaves in the past few hours, there exists this virtually unreported tidbit. Via Instapundit;

WASHINGTON - A Senate report criticizing false CIA claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction at the same time provides support for an assertion the White House repudiated: that Iraq sought to buy uranium in Africa.

A Friday report from the Senate Intelligence Committee offers new details supporting the claim.
French and British intelligence separately told the United States about possible Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in the African nation of Niger, the report said. The report from France is significant not only because Paris opposed the Iraq war but also because Niger is a former French colony and French companies control uranium production there.

Joseph Wilson, a retired U.S. diplomat the CIA sent to investigate the Niger story, also found evidence of Iraqi contacts with Nigerien officials, the report said.[emphasis mine - ed]

WaPo

Former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, dispatched by the CIA in February 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq sought to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program with uranium from Africa, was specifically recommended for the mission by his wife, a CIA employee, contrary to what he has said publicly.

The same Joe Wilson who was just a few months ago, cruising the talk show circuit, gracing the cover of Vanity Fair and penning op-eds, after Robert Novak publicized his wife's name in what has become known as the "Plame Affair".

Pathological Liar?

Why would he do this? Is Michael Moore's compulsion to lie a pathological defect, or is he so used to getting away with it, that he's getting sloppier than usual?

Rapid City Journal - When asked about Moore's account of a hug after the premiere and the criticism Daschle has received for it, the South Dakota Democrat said he and Moore did not embrace. Daschle said his schedule forced him to arrive late and leave early.

"I know we senators all tend to look alike. But I arrived late, and I had to leave early for Senate votes. I didn't meet Mr. Moore," Daschle said.

In a lengthy Time magazine piece about the movie and its political effects, Richard Corliss reported Moore's criticism of Daschle's leadership and the filmmaker's account of a hug with Daschle.

"At the Washington premiere, Moore sat a few rows behind Daschle. Afterward, says Moore, 'He gave me a hug and said he felt bad and that we were all gonna fight from now on. I thanked him for being a good sport,'" Corliss wrote.

I suppose it could be Daschle who's pulling away from the truth. Somehow, I doubt it.

The Sand Gets In Your Teeth

Michael Totten is in Tunisia

If you fear Islam, if you feel threatened by the Middle East, you must come to Tunisia. The people here are our friends. They will tell you so the instant you leave the airport. Don't be shy. Tell them you're an American if that's what you are. They put their hands on their hearts when they say welcome." In some ways, the south is no kind of desert at all.

Premiers Tossed

Western premiers and their northern counterparts just wrapped up a two day meeting.

On the agenda - BSE and the continuing border closure, health care funding and a midnight fling with the locals...

According to Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert, he and several others signed up for the blanket toss. He did concede his wife was concerned about the availability of radiologists in Inuvik.

update - while you read it here first, The Globe now has the story and a photo of BC premier Gordon Campbell in mid-air.

Parade Protocol

Kevin Libin is watching the Calgary Stampede parade.

Strange that parade planners didn't seem concerned about the fact that they have the Muslim Council of Calgary float being followed by the Edmonton Crusaders Marching Band.

Next?

When a reporter noted that Edwards was being described as "charming, engaging, a nimble campaigner, a populist and even sexy" and then asked "How does he stack up against Dick Cheney?" the president immediately responded, "Dick Cheney can be president. Next?"

Now, check out how Associated Press reporter Tom Raum spins the exchange;

President Bush on Wednesday curtly dismissed freshman Sen. John Edwards' credentials to be vice president while Democratic challenger John Kerry and his running mate rallied voters in battleground states. "Dick Cheney can be president," Bush declared, and Kerry suggested that was part of the problem.

hat tip- Vodkapundit

Fed Up

The Saskatoon Police Service has suffered a black eye or two in the past few years. But it appears the citizenry isn't above taking advantage of it.

In the past two years, 112 complaints have been laid against members for inappropriate conduct. 7 were founded. Yesterday they announced that they're fed up.

This week a 23-year-old man was arrested six months after he was convicted of lying about allegations of Police Abuse. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail but had failed to show up for his sentencing hearing. The Saskatoon Police Association said it would follow up any false allegations with legal action. "If you're going to lie about something a police officer has done to you, we're going to pursue criminal charges or we're going to sue you," said spokesperson Stan Geortzen.

Can't say that I blame them.

Freezing deaths of native men over the past years have been laid at their feet, despite any hard evidence of police involvement. And this winter, two native men were found, nearly frozen, on Saskatoon streets. The metabolic effects of alcohol, insufficient dress and poor judgement can have that consequence. Those incidents did not involve police accusations - because they were found and survived to tell their tale.

Like the thousands of claims for compensation for abuse in state and church run institutions in the past, these cases tend to produce an avalanche of opportunist claims by those who want in on the compensation fund, or in the case of police-suspect interactions - leverage against the charges they're facing.

Beaurocracies have been turning a blind eye to these abuses for too long, harming both the taxpayer who generally foots the bill for the crimes of others through the funding of compensation packages, and the deserving victims of abuse and misconduct, whose genuine suffering is overshadowed by frivilous claims over imagined or overstated slights.

Winston Review

Flea wants your best stuff.

Lileks Fat Checks Michael Moore

Oh. Did I miss a letter? Oh well....

Michael Moore, in A July 4th op-ed for the LA Times;

But, in high school, things changed. Nine boys from my school came back home from Vietnam in boxes. Draped over each coffin was the American flag. I knew that they also had made a sacrifice. But their sacrifice wasn't for their country: They were sent to die by men who lied to them.

James Lileks;

For some reason that intrigued me: "nine boys from my school". So I googled around, and found the Casualty list for the Vietnam War. There were six casualties from Davison, Michigan. (He didn’t go to high school in Flint. He didn’t live in Flint. You knew that, right? He lived in a suburb.) They weren't boys. They were men. The earliest was killed in 1967, and there were two casualties in that year. Two in 1969, one in 1968, and one in 1970. Moore was born in 1954, so he would have entered high school in 1969, after which there were four casualties. (One of which died of a heart attack.) Two were drafted, incidentally. The rest - if I'm reading the site correctly - appeared to have enlisted.

Just so we're not throwing them around as props, we should give their names. They were Gary Thompson, Martin Scott, David Bonesteel, Howard Doyle, David Ex, and Lowell Holden.

This, of course, is why Mr.Ambush Schlockumentary will only grant interviews when he can screen the questions in advance.

Lileks concludes - "There you have it. He wants the flag to stand for clean water. This from a man who waddles up to the deep well of American freedom, fumbles with his zipper, and pisses in it."

Go read the whole gory dissection.

Running Mates

"Hugs, kisses to the cheek, affectionate touching of the face, caressing of the back, grabbing of the arm, fingers to the neck, rubbing of the knees..."

As some will note, I have tentatively placed this item in the "penis news" category.

Marine In US Embassy

Via Drudge, in the latest and hopefully, last, installment of this strange "captured, deserted, lured beheaded, not beheaded, hoax?" missing US marine story, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun is safe and appears to be in good health. The AP is reporting he is in US custody in the Beirut embassy.

That's good news for his family, regardless of how the story eventually shakes out.

Tonya Vs Kofi

Memri news ticker is reporting that the new Iraq government will be releasing names and countries of those involved in the UN Oil-For-Food Scandal.

THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE IRAQI MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SAID HIS COUNTRY WILL SOON RELEASE TO THE IRAQI PRESS DOCUMENTS REVEALING THE NAMES OF COUNTRIES AND INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE 'OIL FOR FOOD' SCANDAL. (AL-SABAH AL-JADID, IRAQ, 7/ 6/04)

I am reporting that the chances that CTV and CBC national news will bump this story to a Tonya Harding - Amy Johnson rematch.

hat tip - Tim Blair

Tour Guide

Spent much of the day acting as amateur tour guide and ice-breaker for an out of province reporter doing a feature article on Saskatchewan.

His identity shall remain confidential, so long as the payments continue....

Took a few photos of my own while we were out on the backroads.

This old storefront is a photographer's dream. I can't get enough of it, and will probably do something in watercolor. Today, I risked my neck to the potential of falling broken glass shards and peeked inside.

And just across the street, this;

Colour gravity. Draws me in every time.

Added to today's traffic jam.

The Werewolf Extinction

Listening to John Gormley Live this morning in the truck, to a discussion on Moore's Moonbat Masterpiece, a caller phoned in who mentioned a website with an address I promptly forgot. He explained that it compiles in one place every half-baked, quarter-baked and unbaked conspiracy theory surrounding the events of Sept.11. We've heard them all by now. The caller, of course, thought the website was credible.

With the controversy swirling around Farenheit, I've been reminded a lot lately of Oliver Stone's JFK. The parallels are striking - from the media hype to the public debate, to the eventual debunking and consensus that Stone's movie was a pile of unsubstantiated crap. While conspiracy theorists still abound over the events in Dallas, not many of them cite Oliver Stone these days. When all the hoopla is over, and Iraq stumbles its way towards quasi-democracy and Bush has moved back to Texas, replaced by Kerry in 2004 or Rice in 2008...I predict Farenheit 9/11 will be sitting on a dusty shelf, next to JFK. Nobody will take Moore any more seriously than they do Mr. Stone.

But this morning, as the conspiracy seeker was being summarily dismissed as a lunatic, I began thinking about the extinction of the werewolves.

It's hard to imagine a time long ago when werewolves were taken seriously, when simple-minded village people huddled together beside bright fires, with their doors barred against an unspeakable fate. Harder yet to imagine the irrational terror of an unbelievable, supernatural creature.

All in all though, werewolves were a resilient lot - incomprehensibly powerful, virtually immortal. They survived in the folklore and literature of civilization for centuries. How many silver bullets were spent in the dark, how many beasts felled, to return to their human forms?

In the end, the magnificent and malevolent creature were condemned to nothingness- their last gasps expended on celluloid. I think the last true werewolf movie was An American Werewolf In London - long after the real thing was gone.

They had to see it coming. When Edison created the light bulb, the werewolf retreated with the dark. A century later, Apollo on the moon and Armstrong walking its surface, the creature was struck a fatal blow. The moon was no longer magic.

Today, Mars rovers and Titan probes have pushed these quaint old monsters so deeply into the void that we nearly forget they ever existed. There, they joined the mermaids and the sea witches and the Windigo. Only the vampire survived, but at a price - the everlasting humiliation of being vanquished by girls named "Buffy".

But with their demise, a vacuum arose.

Denied the objects of old superstitions, the human mind sought new ones. As science explored both outward and inward, demystifying and explaining the unknown, the superstitious had fewer places to go. With nowhere else to turn, they cast their lot with the known. Today, they fear the powerful mortal figures of our present, and find darkness in the giant shadows that they cast. Conspiracy folk fables arise from the mists just as surely as the howls of the werewolves did in centuries past.

Instead of supernatural, bloodthirsty creatures of lunar inspired madness, the monsters of the simple minds of our new age are mere human beings, transformed into scheming omnipotent creatures through the power of the political. One can't help but think that it must be frustrating to settle for such pale and transient villians. Perhaps this is the reason for their shrillness - they've been cheated of the real thing. Real werewolves don't have term limits.

So today, while a small metal object circles the planet of Saturn, and geneticists unravel the human genetic code, as physicists transform light into tools and molecules into robots - the superstitious still gather together in the dark, reassured by the flickering screen of the cinema, as their ancestors were reassured by the flicker of the cabin fire.

Perhaps we should just leave them be.

Caught

Iranian Intelligence caught in Baghdad with explosives.

The arrest of  the two Iranians suspected of attempting to carry out a vehicle bombing has focused new attention on how Tehran is trying to protect its interests in the country it fought for eight years in a devastating war.

So far, Iran is believed to have used money, not guns, to influence Iraq - particularly by spreading wealth among Shiite political factions - while avoiding a direct confrontation with its longtime rival the United States.

And in related items

 A group of armed, masked Iraqi men threatened Tuesday to kill Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi  if he did not immediately leave the country, accusing him of murdering innocent Iraqis and defiling the Muslim religion.

Now, there's a beheading video I'd pay money to watch.

Jaeger Fisks Dyer

Jaegar administers a smackdown to Gwynn Dyer.

For my American friends unfamiliar with Gwynn Dyer - imagine you were able to cross Michael Moore with Robert Fisk. (It is strongly recommended that your imagination first provide an airlock, protective suit and robot arms.)

When the resulting organism emerges from the ooze, lobotomize it, and give it a Canadian passport. With that, the creature will become completely self-sustaining as it moves into its natural niche as a military analyst for the CBC.

Don't believe me?

Get A Rope

Personally, I rather like the idea of turning him over to the Iraqi courts. After all, they have reinstated the death penalty. What better end for the lowest of the low?

No, I'm not talking about Saddam.