March 31, 2006
March 30, 1981
Twenty-five years ago yesterday, Wayne Allyn Root was sitting in a political science class when the door of the lecture hall swung open;
That day at Columbia University, over 20 years ago, I got physically sick. I ran out of class, the CHEERS of my classmates at the possible death of Ronald Reagan reverberating in the halls behind me. I ran into the bathroom, got on my knees and vomited.I cried and shook violently for what seemed like an eternity.And I felt sick for America, for the people I had just watched cheer and celebrate the shooting of our president were undoubtedly the future leaders of America.
Lorne Calvert's Old Boys Parliament
The Saskatchewan Youth Parliament has a colourful history;
[I]it wasn't until 1945 that Youth Parliament in Saskatchewan began to consistently meet again. At this time, the Older Boys Parliament began its evolution towards what we now call SYP. There were many spirited debates on whether to admit females, non-Christians and smokers. The members at the time decided to allow smokers to join but not females or non-Christians. In 1959, there was a resolution debated on permitting females to join the organisation. At the time, current Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert was a member and gave a passionate speech against admitting females, while his then girlfriend watched from the gallery. Apparently, they broke up soon afterwards. [emphasis mine]
You don't say!
(note: the 1959 date seems to be in error)
Update - Saskatoon SP picks up the item.
Reader Tips
A few really quick links to start off your morning;
Gay Taboo; Socialist Taboo; Leftist Taboo
Duke asks; "Is TIME a subsidery of the CBC?" (link fixed)
Who is Sheikh Syed Mubarik 'Ali Gilani?
Advice for Borders: "Cowardice does not make you safe. It makes you a safe target".
I'm still knee deep in sanding dust and base coat - use the comments for your own suggestions.
Urgh. And then, in the course of finishing a few touchups, a paint reaction - sending many hours of work down the toilet. I get to sand down half of my work and start again. Suffice it to say that trolls had better tread lightly here over the next few days. Someone's temper will be short.
"I Should Be Keeping This A Secret"
He calls papers like The New York Times “a tablet of stone, it is a paper of great authority. And if you ever go to a New York Times editorial meeting, it’s a bit like a religious ceremony.” He talks about the effort and resource that goes into the front page. “‘Believe us,’ is the message. If it goes onto the front page of The New York Times it’s there because it’s important…. ‘You may not want to read it but it’s our opinion.’ And this is a model that has existed again for a hundred years….“This is journalism as revelation: ‘We are the figures of authority. All these important people at the top speak to us. You can’t speak to because you’re too little…. We are the conduit and we tell you what’s important. It’s like this. Believe us.’ And occasionally, the little people would write a letter…. And we’d print a few of these letters very graciously. But most of them we’d drop in the bin…. This was the paper I inherited in 1995, which had been printed since 1821….”
Then came technology that enabled the conversation, first in the form of email. “This was a big challenge to journalists because they didn’t know quite how to respond and some journalists got quite huffy about this and said, ‘Look, push off, I’m the figure of authority here… Our job is to tell you what’s what. We don’t want to hear from you because frankly we’re the experts around here.’” Others, he said, found it valuable to improve their journalism.
But often, the people were ignored, so: “What happened next is that these people started talking to each other. They didn’t ask our permission to do this at all… And they started forming little groups of people who began critiquing newspapers… They went behind our back to our sources because, increasingly, the information that we were using was available on the internet…. A bit cheeky of the readers to do that…” (Remember my warning about irony, folks.)
He says it got to the point where he would come into the office and if the paper had made “a mistake about anything, dozens of people around the world had already spotted this and were challenging this. This was a different kind of audience. The old audience… were willing to take on trust your view of a wide range of information that we were saying is important. And these people are, to a much greater degree, self-selecting…” That is, they follow the news that interests them. “Now they’re not wrong, these people, because the internet now does an awful of information on an awful lot of subjects that’s better than newspapers. I shouldn’t be saying this, live, to the world outside. I should be keeping this as a secret.”
Who is "he"? Alan Rusbridger - editor of The Guardian.
I recommend that every American journalist and news executive listen to this speech on newspapers in the age of blogs...
The mp3 file is too large for me to contemplate downloading over dialup, but it comes highly recommended.
Show Of Support
Discussion in the comments of the magnet "ribbons" displayed all over the US prompted a reader to email privately with information on where you can get your own. (I had to look for one in North Dakota a couple of years ago).
 | A few places you can order them in Canada; Military Family Resource Centre Meaford and Royal Canadian Regiment Kit Shop, Or contact your local Royal Canadian Legion. A few private businesses also offer them - I would guess that if you're interested in helping out by offering the magnetic ribbons at your own place of business, the Legion is the place to start. |
A small gesture, no question - but in a country where such displays are rare, I suspect they are appreciated.
March 30, 2006
Denial Isn't Just A River In Ottawa
As I work here at the shop, I've been watching a panel of journalists and ex-politicos on CPAC navel-gazing about the current wrestling match between the Ottawa press and the Harper PMO.
There's been some interesting general discussion, including a laughable half-denial/dismissal of "perceived" liberal bias in the Canadian media - "(oh, it exists, of course that's acceptable, because that's the enlightened small-l liberal world view - unlike the propoganda on FOX and US talk radio"). This was followed by - I'm not making this up - ironically revealing comments from David Halton on the "docility" of the American press towards the Bush administration, and their supposed practice of labelling anyone who disagrees with their policies as "unpatriotic" - confirming suspicions in some quarters that Canadian media uses Democratic Underground forums as a source on US politics.
Just in case you thought these people were capable of meaningful self-examination. I suggest you catch it, if it's still on. If anyone digs up a transcript, there's blogging gold in there....
Jill Caroll Safe
American journalist Jill Caroll has been released by her Iraqi captors.
As always, the Jawa Report is the place to go for details on stories of this type.
Speculation watching at The Corner;
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is the instinct in the New York Times newsroom and all over the MSM. But I have an itch that suggests not.I may have misheard--was doing other things at the time, but as I turned on FNC a few minutes ago, Bret Baier, Pentagon correspondent at Fox, seemed to immediately assume in his rapid-response commentary on Fox and Friends that the rescue of the Christian peace activists last week might have played a role in Carroll's release.
Reader Tips
I'm halfway through a Harley repaint/flame job, plus there's a goal mask sitting in prep stage that's promised for Friday - so it's a reader tips morning. Thanks to everyone who has sent news items in. Time doesn't allow me to follow them all up, but they're appreciated.
The Democratic Party has finally settled on a national security message - Invade Pakistan!
Jonathan Strong has a proposal for a post-NATO alliance.
Link Byfield - "Conservative leadership candidate Mark Norris has let the Alberta separatism genie out of its bottle."
Father Samuel has been prosecuted for “incitement to racist hatred” by the Belgian government’s inquisition agency, the so-called Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR), because of a remark he made in a 2002 television interview.
A letter to the editor that leaves painful tread marks;
"I am, by the way, an American jurist."
Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says. Revealed: plans to paint U2 spy planes in United Nations colours!
Add your own in the comments.
Western Standard Before Human Rights Commission
The complainant, Imam Syed Soharwardy, a former professor at an anti-Semitic university in Saudi Arabia, doesn't just argue that we shouldn't have published the cartoons. He argues that we shouldn't be able to defend our right to publish the cartoons. The bulk of his complaint was that we dared to try to justify it.The rest.
I Believe In Canada
From a reader, who explains;
I found the following inscription printed on the inside cover of a text book I found which looks like it was from the 1930's
It was issued by the Government of British Columbia's Education Department.
(I've copied the text in the extended entry for those who find the image difficult to read.)
THE CANADIAN'S CREED AND PLEDGEI believe in Canada
I love her as my home. I honour her institutions. I rejoice in the abundance of her
resources.I glory in the record of her achievements. I have unbounded confidence in the ability of her people to excel in whatsoever they undertake. I cherish exalted ideals of her destiny as a leader among world nations.
To her I pledge my loyalty. To the promotion of her best interests I pledge my support. To her products I pledge my patronage. And to the cause of her producers I pledge my devotion.
March 29, 2006
Hear No Evil, Fund No Evil
The US administration banned its officials on Wednesday night from meeting the Islamist group Hamas, as the new Palestinian government was sworn in and while Israel’s centrist Kadima party opened talks to form a coalition after winning the largest number of seats in Knesset elections.US officials in the region were instructed by e-mail on Wednesday to have no contacts with Palestinian ministries from 6pm last night.
And at about the same time;
“The stated platform of this government has not addressed the concerns raised by Canada and others concerning non-violence, the recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the Roadmap for Peace,” MacKay said in a statement.“As a result, Canada will have no contact with the members of the Hamas cabinet and is suspending assistance to the Palestinian Authority.”
MacKay added that the new government must make a “clear commitment” to peace before Canada will resume assistance.
He may be gone from the halls of parliament, but the Svend Robinson Spirit of Moral Equivalency lives on;
The NDP supports a peaceful resolution to this conflict that has cost too many innocent lives on both sides of the border. The NDP believes that we must continue to condemn all acts of terror against innocent people, be they Israeli or Palestinian, and that Canada has a moral responsibility to play a meaningful role in advancing peace, through diplomatic and financial means.
Advancing peace hrough "financial means"? What does that mean, exactly?
The NDP "calls on the federal government to ensure that all direct assistance funding these important programs that are now suspended, be redirected to organizations directly involved in delivery of humanitarian aid and democracy building in the Palestinian Authority.",
Forgetting, apparently, that these same innocent Palestinian people have freely voted in a government dedicated to the destruction of Israel. One wonders if the NDP would be equally magnaminous towards the election of a hard-line Israeli government bent on ensuring, once and for all, that they never get the chance.
Well, actually, one doesn't.
Killed In Action
The CBC focuses on the casualties in their coverage of the death of Pte. Robert Costall, and only hints at the outcome of the firefight;
The Canadians, along with U.S. helicopters and British planes, had been repositioned to a base in the area in response to an incident on Tuesday in which eight Afghan army soldiers were killed. The region is a flashpoint for insurgent activity and the illegal drug trade.Fraser said Taliban insurgents attacked the base with mortars, grenades and small arms fire early Wednesday.
The firefight lasted for several hours, he said, adding that a "significant number" of Taliban members were killed during the battle. U.S. military reports say as many as 32 insurgents died.
As much as we mourn the loss of any soldier, those killed in combat deserve a media that reports not only on their sacrifice, but on their achievements. This reporting is incomplete, for it fails to directly advise us as to whether the base was successfully defended.
Instead, we are reminded (at the end of the item) of previous Canadian casualties - including those killed in accidents - as though this information is directly relevant.
The liberal-left media has little interest in understanding military culture. Yet, as they do on so many other issues in which they are woefully underinformed, lack of knowledge is no barrier to interjecting their world view into the reporting - in this case, forgoing the outcome of the battle to revisit an incident of a taxi hitting a light armoured vehicle in Kandahar. True to the liberal-left "war wouldn't happen if we were in charge of the world" ideology, modern war reporting begins and ends with counting the losses.
Pte. Robert Costall was not in Afghanistan to sacrifice his life - he was there to serve his country by accomplishing the missions set before him. To report on only his loss while remaining silent on the achievement (or the failure - after all, we are not told) of his unit in defending their base, is not only journalistic malpractice, it is a disservice to every member of the Canadian Forces.
Upon further reflection - perhaps the time has come to send sports reporters to war zones. It seems to be one of the last refuges of journalism in which a) reporters have basic knowledge of the subject matter they're assigned to, and b) they're expected to report the details and outcome of the race, even if a contestant is injured or dies during competition.
It's astonishing that the same country that still celebrates the envelope pushing performances (and near-death experiences) of the "Crazy Canucks" downhill ski team, hasn't figured out that covering a war in the context of body counts is the sports journalism equivalent of limiting Olympic coverage to the daily injury reports of the various countries in competition.
Update - Missing details, and more at Defense Link. h/t to Maz2 in the comments.
Libranos: The Next Generation
Young Liberals have for decades been criticized for engaging in some of the worst dirty tricks when it comes to leadership races. Chief among the complaints has been the creation of phony campus clubs that exist only on paper.In 2003, more than 150 campus clubs were accredited by the YLC, the vast majority of which sent Martin supporters to the convention. Diamond said the current executive thoroughly reviewed all the clubs and whittled the number of legitimate clubs down to 53.
Card Resignation: Not So Shook Up
While Canadian media is dutifully parroting US network speculation-masquerading-as-reporting on the resignation of Andrew Card, over at Ankle Biting Pundits, there's a more logical explanation;
My sources tell me that White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card's resignation has almost nothing to do with a "staff shakeup," as the AP has reported.The "staff shakeup" meme plays into the MSM's obsession with the president's "slumping poll numbers" -- which they all too gaily report -- but does not really add up. Card served as a traditional CoS; an administrator, not a policy or political guy, and for all the shortcomings of this White House, staff administration has never really been one of them.
That was the part that didn't pass the media smell test for me. Andrew Card is well known, but certainly not a name that pushes political buttons on a mass scale. How the departure of Card was supposed to influence poll numbers went conveniently unexplained.
Rather, I have been told by Washington insiders that Card is leaving to play a significant role in the presidential campaign of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. This announcement will not be made for several months; perhaps not until after the 2006 election, but many of Card's associates have already been working for Romney behind the scenes.
None of which matters much to me one way or the other - it's just interesting to watch how far baseless commentary can travel through the media food chain under the guise of "news" reporting.
March 28, 2006
Beyond Arrogance
PMO keeps reporters at bay with new rules (Warning - Canadian Press item contains scenes of extreme whining that may offend some readers.)
Another useless tool of the CBC responds to remind Canadians just who runs this damned country, and offers up a threat;
Harper’s treatment of the media is that of an ingrate. The media made Harper. The media also first made Trudeau and Mulroney. Later, the media made both Trudeau and Mulroney and their parties suffer at the polls.A similar fate awaits Harper if he doesn’t change his basic suspicion and hatred of reporters and news commentators.
And thus, in the space of two short paragraphs, we have public acknowledgement of the ethical bankruptcy of his profession, as well as justification for Harper's suspicion and efforts to restore the Canadian media to an appropriate level of influence.
Nicely done, Mr. Zolf.
update - I'll give CTV News credit where it is due here, as they actually mention SDA by URL, unlike so many items in which debate on "the blogs" is mentioned without specifying where it can be found. (Or maybe it's just a sneaky way to send CTV readers to commentary calling Larry Zolf a useless tool...)
Because if it was written in French, people would giggle
"One wonders, by the way, why that sign is in English".
Reader Tips
White House Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, is resigning. (Also: Lloyd Robertson interviews President Bush on CTV national news this evening.)
An interview with Claire Berlinski author of Menace In Europe.
"On April 01 the minimum wage in Manitoba gets increased to $7.60 an hour. Local restaurants and retailers back home in the Swan Valley are reacting by cutting hours. This includes my mother, youngest brother and youngest sister."
Good news for American bloggers.
"In defense of useful fools" - a useless tool speaks out.
I've got a busy day today - add your own in the comments.
Beyond Geothermal
BBC - "Geologists in Iceland are drilling directly into the heart of a hot volcano".
Omar Friedleifsson of the Iceland Geosurvey is leading the consortium of energy companies in the Iceland Deep Drilling Project.
Last year, they drilled down to a depth of 3,082m and since then have been conducting flow tests.Later this year, they will put a pressure lining into their borehole and drill on down to more than 4km deep.
At that depth, they hope to encounter what is called supercritical water: water that is not simply a mixture of steam and hot water but a single phase which can carry much more energy.
Engineers on the project have calculated that increasing the temperature by 200 degrees and the pressure by 200 Bar will mean that, for the same flow rate, the energy extracted from such a borehole will go up from 5MW to 50MW.
Power station manager Albert Albertsson predicts that, by the end of the century, "Iceland could become the Kuwait of the North". The vision is to use this cheap and carbon-free energy to split water, to yield hydrogen that could be despatched around the world in tankers.
h/t The Corner.
Zacarias Moussaoui Confesses
Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui helped himself get one huge step closer toward getting the death penalty Monday when he testified that not only did he know about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks ahead of time but that he and shoe-bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth airplane and fly it into the White House.
Now, on to the larger question - just how long before these people thicken the plot and uncover evidence that Moussaoui is in reality, George W. Bush's secret half-brother?
March 27, 2006
Hamas: The Cabinet
Jonathan Edelstein (link fixed);
[A]nyone who was expecting a firm signal as to Hamas' diplomatic policy is likely to be disappointed. On the one hand, several hard-liners hold prominent places in the lineup. Mahmoud Zahhar, one of Hamas' co-founders and the head of the organization in Gaza, will be foreign minister, while Said Siyyam, a former field commander in the Gaza military wing and part of the current unofficial triumvirate, will hold the interior portfolio and have responsibility for the security forces. At the same time, both the prime minister himself is a relative moderate. So is Deputy Prime Minister Nasir Shaer, the dean of Islamic studies at an-Najah University, who is expected to have day-to-day responsibility for governing the West Bank. And even Siyyam, despite his militant record, is regarded as a pragmatist and has good relations with the Fatah-dominated officer corps.Speaking of an-Najah, it's going to be a very important place once the incoming government takes office. At least four of the 24 ministers are drawn from the Najah faculty, giving it more representation than even the Islamic University of Gaza (a key Hamas incubator where Prime Minister Haniyeh once taught). In addition to Shaer, the Najah ministers will be Omar Abdul Razek (Finance), Samir Abu Eisheh (Planning) and Ahmad al-Khalidi (Justice). The last of these, a professor of constitutional law and one of the drafters of the proposed Palestinian constitution, is considered a political independent, and his appointment may be an indication that Hamas intends to keep its hands off the judiciary. Abu Eisheh's appointment may also be a signal of Hamas' long-range strategic policy: as a member of the Najah engineering faculty, he has written proposals for linking the Palestinian economy and infrastructure with Jordan and Egypt. In any event, with so many ministers from an-Najah, the university as a whole stands to become an unofficial government think tank and sounding board, so that might be one of the places to look for policy cues.
Lots more there, and be sure to read the comments.
"Alec has walked out of the studio"
As the saying goes, When you can't take the heat...
HANNITY: Once and for all you need to be challenged. You want to call our vice president a terrorist - fine. You want to talk about stoning people to death, say it on my program. If you want to be irresponsible and call our president a mass murderer while he's at war leading troops in harm's way ...BALDWIN: And what are you gonna do about it, Sean Hannity?
HANNITY: You don't have the courage to answer questions.
BALDWIN: And what are you gonna do? And what are you going to do about it, Sean Hannity. If I come on your program, what are you going to do?
LEVIN: He's going to show that you have a two digit IQ - that's what he's gonna do.
h/t Nealenews
That's Not The Sound Of Rushing Water, II
It's the splashing of the Democratic base being washed out to sea.
"Unlawful Possession Of Laying Hens"
A 10-hour standoff between federal food inspectors and a local egg farmer backed by 40 landowners ended Thursday evening when thousands of confiscated eggs and chickens - many dead or dying after going hours without ventilation or water - were released back to the owner.Inspectors who raided the County Road 21 farm near the Grenville-Dundas County border allege Shawn Carmichael, owner of Carmichael Poultry Farm at 317 County Road 21, had been selling ungraded or improperly graded eggs and lacked proper registration for his operation.
But investigators were prevented from taking the confiscated property away and had to settle instead with dozens of bird carcasses and a carton of eggs to use as evidence.
They also made a commitment to return Carmichael's financial records after making copies for their purposes.
"Whatever happens to me (in the courts) will happen but at least I stood up and was counted," said Carmichael, a husband and father of six children, who sparked the standoff about 1 p.m. when he parked a tractor at the entrance of his driveway to prevent the inspectors from leaving.
"You get to the stage where you say, 'I've got to stand up for myself here. I've got to stand up for my family,'" he said.
"Then I see people who care and will help a guy like me. That gives me a lot. It makes me feel like I'm not alone."
Earlier, when more than 20 inspectors and enforcement workers from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), accompanied by six OPP officers and agents with the Egg Marketing Board of Ontario, launched a raid on the property at 9 a.m., Carmichael and his wife Paula felt totally isolated.
[...]
He said he was stunned watching the inspectors go through his house, including the children's bedrooms, searching for evidence while chickens and eggs were being seized and loaded on a transport trailer and other trucks.
About four hours into the raid after the first couple of supporters from the Leeds and Grenville Landowners Association arrived at the farmgate where they were met by OPP, Carmichael got in a tractor and drove it to the end of a 300-metre driveway to block the exit.
The action set up a showdown that mushroomed as the afternoon went on until dozens of supporters, including Ontario Landowners Association president Randy Hillier, arrived with their familiar "Back off Government" signs and took up position at the end of the driveway.
The OPP responded in kind and eventually had more than 20 cruisers on hand, including several that established roadblocks at the nearest intersections, and about 30 officers keeping an eye on the activities.
[...]
Harry Pelissero, general manager for the Ontario Egg Producers, said Carmichael faces charges of selling ungraded eggs, unlawful possession of laying hens and failing to pay his licensing fees.
Preempting the question "Where were the cops?" next time there's a gangland gun battle on Yonge Street.
QOTW
Goodbye, sweet Chicken Little. Charitably, you've got about a 3-month window to apply that fast fading fame towards ditching the cloying albatross of your 16 year-old man-cherry. All else failing, I'm fairly positive that you could at least round second base with Paula if you catch her on one of her charitable xanax and seabreeze nights.NOW GO!
March 26, 2006
"What's Your Opinion Of Bush Killing Christians?"
Can Edwards attended a rally for Rahman and noted the (predictable) focus of the media;
Media turnout was good. There were, by my count, four television cameras there, including one from NBC Nightly News. The producer for Andrea Mitchell, a guy named Carl, kept asking question after question designed to elicit a critical response towards President Bush. Finally I had to say something."This is not a political issue. This is about a man in Afghanistan who is going to die because he believes in Jesus Christ...It's a human rights issue...There are political overtones to everything, but that's not why we're out here. That's not why President Bush should act...If y'all turn it inot a political issue--conservatives vs. Bush or conservatives vs. liberals-- then you will have failed to get the message out."
As they so often have. Because journalism is no longer about delivering factual information about current events in appropriate context. It's become a faux-profession increasingly populated by individuals who aspire to influence political outcomes and public policy - but who are too lazy (or too stupid) to earn that right by running for political office the old fashioned way.
Update: What I said.
The Russian Connection
Russia's UN mission spokesman blasted the Pentagon report released on Friday. The Pentagon report was based on documents taken from Iraq after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime. One translated memo addressed to a Saddam secretary from the Russian Ambassador to Iraq details US military plans on the eve of the War in Iraq...But, it will be difficult for the Russians to slam photos of Russian military officials receiving awards from Saddam's Defense Minister for assisting the regime days before the startup to the war.
Lots, lots more at Gateway Pundit.
And The Search For A New Liberal Leader Goes On
NASA;
 | To get desired groundspeeds and lighting conditions for the test images, researchers programmed the cameras to shoot while the spacecraft was flying about 1,547 miles or more above Mars' surface, about nine times the range planned for the orbiter's primary science mission. Even so, the highest resolution of about 8 feet per pixel - an object 8 feet in diameter would appear as a dot -- is comparable to some of the best resolution previously achieved from Mars orbit. |
More preliminary photos.
Rahman Released
An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence and he will be released soon, officials said.The announcement came as U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai faced mounting foreign pressure to free Abdul Rahman, a move that risked angering Muslim clerics here who have called for him to be killed.
An official closely involved with the case told The Associated Press that it had been returned to the prosecutors for more investigation, but that in the meantime, Rahman would be released.
"The court dismissed today the case against Abdul Rahman for a lack of information and a lot of legal gaps in the case," the official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
"The decision about his release will be taken possibly tomorrow," the official added. "They don't have to keep him in jail while the attorney general is looking into the case."
Abdul Wakil Omeri, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, confirmed that the case had been dismissed because of "problems with the prosecutors' evidence."
Considering the death threats that have been made towards him, may I propose we offer refugee status to Rahman - and send back the Khadr family in exchange?
Update: Related reading. - " If Islam is a religion one can only convert to not from, then in the long run it is a threat to every free person on the planet."
Update 2: "Still, there were those who said this entire case is illustrative of how evil Islam is, and how awful the intervention there has been. What utter nonsense. Had this poor bast*rd been caught by the Taliban, he'd have been summarily executed by a kangaroo court. We likely wouldn't even know his name, or we would have had to find it out through Amnesty International rather than the Associated Press." Read it all.
March 25, 2006
Ode To Phoenix Sinclair
"and on it goes, morality and truth, eaten by animals of ideology."Another must read piece by the best writer in the blogosphere. Or, anywhere else.
News From France
After destroying the Buddhas of Afghanistan, burning the Churches of Kosovo, Muslims are now destroying the Christian legacy of France.[...]
Today (march 22, 2006) we learn that this government has let 1,000 years of cultural and religious legacy to become smoke and ashes.
Barbarians and savages entered in the library of “l’Ecole des Chartes” (100,000 books) in the Sorbonne, and destroyed writings of abbeys of Île-de-France containing all the official documents since the middle age.
In related news, Tim Blair notes an early start to Car-b-q season this year.
More at WaPo - "Paris Burning, Once Again";
France is still in the grip of precisely the political mentality that has prevailed here since the Middle Ages. As the protesters themselves cheerfully declare: It's the street that rules. Today's mobs, like their predecessors, are notable for their poor grasp of economic principles and their hostility to the free market. Only wardrobe distinguishes these demonstrations from those that led to the invasion of the national convention in 1795, when first the mob protested that commodity prices were too high; when the government responded with price controls, it protested with equal vigor that goods had disappeared and black market prices had risen. Similarly, the students on the streets today espouse economic views entirely unpolluted by reality. If the CPE is enacted, said one young woman, "You'll get a job knowing that you've got to do every single thing they ask you to do because otherwise you may get sacked."Imagine that.
(Via Instapundit)
Postcard From Kandahar
Via email from a Canadian Forces member in Kandahar, from a couple of weeks ago;
Hi, it's Thursday afternoon in sunny Kandahar. Temperatures are pushing +30 again today and it's pretty quiet now. It's been a pretty tough week with the rollovers and the suicide bombing last week. Things are much better this week and spirits are improving day by day. I've spent a fair amount of time out on the ranges in the last week and got to do a lot of shooting.
In addition, we blew up an IED (Improvised Explosive Deer), it was a 3D archery target that we used for training. It's a pretty sobering range as we were only 150m away from where the four Canadians were killed in 2002 by the American bomb. A very unsettling place as you can see the base right from that location -- it's only 3 km outside of the wire. There are continual reminders of war in this country with the destroyed houses and ruined villages everywhere you go.
The amount of activity around here is always amazing. I'm still living 150m away from the runway where helicopters, C17 Globemasters, Hercules, Apaches, Chinooks and Ilyushins take off and land all around the clock -- can't say that I even notice it anymore. I've moved into new accommodations - (well, a new tent anyway) but there are concrete floors and they're partitioned off inside so they're pretty decent. A little bit of privacy from all of your neighbours goes a long way.
It's been six weeks now since I arrived in country and the time is still going by very quickly. There is generally too much to do during the day so I'll admit that while the days are long the weeks have flown by. We had a bit of a monsoon yesterday - out of the clear blue sky a great big cloud came by and opened a torrential rainfall.
There was even a bunch of hail coming down so I was able to throw a couple of snowballs at +30. Good for a laugh anyway. The rain lands on the ground and then there isn't any drainage into the soil as it's basically blasted clay. Very weird, the water just lays on the ground until the sun evaporates it.
Two days ago we had the biggest sandstorm - it's definitely out of the bible. If you've seen 'The Mummy' and you watched the wall of sand coming it is exactly like that. Except there wasn't any demonic head appearing in the middle of it and the small screen just doesn't do justice to 1000' high brown curtain coming towards you. I'll try to find one of the photos that some of the guys took to give you an appreciation. Visibility dropped to 50m in less than 1 minute. We're actually only a few kms from a desert that runs almost 1500 kms to Iran so that's where the wind had picked up all of the crap.
This place is so desolate - very much like the far side of the moon I would imagine.
Although I don't think anyone shoots at you on the moon.
That's Not The Sound Of Rushing Water
It's the ka-ching! of property values in Saskatchewan rising.
Via Peaktalk.
March 24, 2006
Of Rahman, And Resolve
An Afghan Christian facing possible execution for converting from Islam was likely to be released from jail "soon," a senior government official said following huge Western pressure over the case."He is likely to be released soon," the official said, adding there would be a top-level meeting on the matter Saturday.
Abdul Rahman was arrested two weeks ago under Islamic Sharia law and faced a possible death sentence in a case that has attracted widespread condemnation, especially from the United States.
If this comes to pass, then we can be satisfied that the series of events has transpired as it should - diplomacy and international pressure will have resulted in an innocent life saved.
I do not join with those, however, who have called for a withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan should the efforts to have Rahman freed fail. As much as I am troubled by the details of the case, I'm no more so than I have been by reports of corruption, honour killings, human rights abuses or any number of injustices perpetrated under, or tolerated by, regimes that enjoy various types of Canadian military and/or foreign aid. If the Rahman case is justification to pull Canadian troops from the theatre - in a country that was used as safe haven and launch point for Islamist terror attacks on the West - then surely the revelations of United Nations child porn rings should prompt the Canadian government to send back our blue helmets for a refund as well.
We might at least set a precedent by cutting off all foreign aid to China.
It's disturbing to hear voices on talk radio and across the blogosphere suggest Canadian military support for the fledgling Afghan government be withdrawn as a mere consequence of the trial taking place at all - for none of them seem to have considered the obvious followup question - "and then what?"
As we are often reminded - democracy is a process, not a destination. One does not have to dig too deeply into the histories of our own Western democracies to realize that our modern protections of human rights and personal liberty did not congeal fully formed from the ether - they evolved over hundreds of years.
As the beneficiaries of that long and bloody process of democratic trial and error, living in societies more likely to face problems created by the excesses of liberalism than any shortage of it, we tend to view fledgling democracies like Afghanistan from the wrong end of the lens. Instead of comparing them to current Western democratic norms, it is probably more appropriate to measure events against that of Western democracies of the 1800 and 1900's.
In that context, Afghanistan has come a very long way from the unspeakably repressive Taliban regime, and in an extraordinarily short time. But the process has only just begun, and progress is not likely to be plotted on a linear graph. Nor, needless to say, is the outcome assured.
It will be at least a generation before we can hope stories such as that of Abdul Rahman are consigned to Afghanistan's dustbin of history - and that only if those forces helping sustain the progress of democracy and liberalization of Islamic governments stay the course. The alternative is to surrender Afghanistan back to the very forces that brought us there in the first place.
And then what?
Richard And Me
Not since he flew into a drunken rage and attempted to murder a septigenerian Texan lawyer with birdshot has a scandal of this magnitude been broken about a sitting US Vice President.
A microwave, 4-6 bottles of bottled water and Fox News - sounds like one of my hotel rooms.
Further evidence of the existence of a professional vacuum we once knew as "journalism".
Reply All
Oops;
From the moment Liberal turncoat David Emerson was lured to the Conservatives with the jingle of ministerial limo keys, angry voters and otherwise disgusted Canadian folk have been writing to the ethics commish, imploring him to investigate.Just over 200 of those submissions, apparently, were made to Shapiro by e-mail. Citizen to government. In confidence. Or so they thought.
[...]
With the release of the Emerson ruling Monday, the commissioner's staff dutifully e-mailed a little thank-you note to all those who had written, drawing their attention to the internet address where they could read the full text of his decision.
It ended: "We thank you for your interest on this matter and in the ethics commissioner's mandate."
Unfortunately, each message was prefaced by the e-mail addresses of all 202 complainants.
Dozens of the addresses identify the senders by their first and last names. Every one of them represents a violation of personal privacy.
(If nothing else, the list of addresses from Internet providers across the country also dispels claims by Emerson and his new Tory brethren that the public outcry over his floor-crossing was limited to a bunch of partisan malcontents in his Vancouver riding.)
That's right - for all the hours of media commentary and outrage over the Emerson floor crossing, the volume of actual email complaints sent to the Ethics Commissioner was in the same general range as a lively comments thread at SDA.
(That distant pop you hear is the sound of Charles Adler's ego).
Via DMB.
March 23, 2006
Brace Yourself, Canada
The armies of Ipsos-Reid, Decima and SES are once again firing up the phone banks to survey election-weary Canadians so that our national media can run front page headlines declaring "Majority of Canadians Don't Want Election"
Aren't they?
We Report, We Deride
A commentor at Roger Simon's gets to the crux of what is so utterly unprofessional about this type of internal communication;
As a Producer, if Green wants to deliver an unbiased product, he has an obligation not to influence his staff to one view or another, regardless of what he thinks in his heart-of-hearts
Green is an executive producer of Good Morning America. Matt Drudge reports he has other emails of this type that "reveal the inner workings of the nation's news outlets".
No doubt he does.
Via Instapundit
March: The Lion Never Left
My hopes of returning home to find daffodils poking their heads up in my garden have been cruelly dashed.
Taken on the last leg of the trip home yesterday, at various locations between "Saskatchewan's Blizzard Capital" Kenaston and Delisle.
(Click on the thumbnails to open a full sized version.)
Hostages Freed
The surviving Christian Peacemaker hostages have been freed;
Two Canadian hostages held in Iraq for nearly four months have been freed in a carefully planned military operation involving Canadian, British, American and Iraqi forces.Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, were freed along with Briton Norman Kember, 74. All three were members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), an international peace activist group.
When the four members of CPT were first abducted, I recall a Canadian spokesperson from the group declaring (on behalf of the CPT and the hostages) that the use of military force to secure their release was unacceptable.
Members of Canada's top secret commando unit, Joint Task Force 2, had been in Iraq working in tandem with British troops, said officials. It's not clear how many were in Iraq, but they have been in the country for some time.
One presumes CPT will be issuing a press release any moment demanding they be "put back where they were found" - right after the news conference by NDP leader Jack Layton denouncing the involvement of Canadian troops in the rescue.
update - The CPT news release doesn't quite call for that, but it does take time out to blame the rescuers (in so many words) for the abduction. For all of the lip-service paid to the phrase "love our enemies", one might have thought there would be a little of that Christian generosity extended to the "occupiers" who put their asses on the line to free them.
More - Kathy Shaidle has this find;
"In reaction Kember's friend, Bruce Kent (...) said the miltants holding the hostages 'must have been people of great faith.'"Not the rescuers, mind -- the kidnappers! You can't make this crap up! This is yer morally unmoored "progressive" Christianity, folks.
Update - the original quote has been changed, and the Shaidle post updated to reflect that it now "says the kidnappers must have realized that their hostages were people of great faith. Which makes infinitely more sense, naive or not"
Michelle Malkin has more.
March 22, 2006
"We have no creative presence in the world"
For those who cannot understand how it is that the big-government, nanny-state "liberal" left finds kinship with fundamentalist Islam and fascist dictators - an interview with poet Ali Ahmad Sa'id, who is known by the pseudonym "Adonis";
Interviewer: "What are the reasons for growing glorification of dictatorships - sometimes in the name of pan-Arabism, and other times in the name of rejecting foreigners? The glorification comes even from the elites, as can be seen, for example, in the Saddam Hussein trial, and in all the people who support him."Adonis: "This phenomenon is very dangerous, and I believe it has to do with the concept of 'oneness,' which is reflected - in practical or political terms - in the concept of the hero, the savior, or the leader. This concept offers an inner sense of security to people who are afraid of freedom. Some human beings are afraid of freedom."
Interviewer: "Because it is synonymous with anarchy?"
Adonis: "No, because being free is a great burden. It is by no means easy."
Interviewer: "You've got to have a boss..."
Adonis: "When you are free, you have to face reality, the world in its entirety. You have to deal with the world's problems, with everything..."
Interviewer: "With all the issues..."
Adonis: "On the other hand, if we are slaves, we can be content and not have to deal with anything. Just as Allah solves all our problems, the dictator will solve all our problems."
[...]
"I don't understand what is happening in Arab society today. I don't know how to interpret this situation, except by making the following hypothesis: When I look at the Arab world, with all its resources, the capacities of Arab individuals, especially abroad - you will find among them great philosophers, scientists, engineers, and doctors. In other words, the Arab individual is no less smart, no less a genius, than anyone else in the world. He can excel - but only outside his society. I have nothing against the individuals - only against the institutions and the regimes.
"If I look at the Arabs, with all their resources and great capacities, and I compare what they have achieved over the past century with what others have achieved in that period, I would have to say that we Arabs are in a phase of extinction, in the sense that we have no creative presence in the world."
Interviewer: "Are we on the brink of extinction, or are we already extinct?"
Adonis: "We have become extinct. We have the quantity. We have the masses of people, but a people becomes extinct when it no longer has a creative capacity, and the capacity to change its world."
(Emphasis mine.)
The only portion that puzzles is why Ali Ahmad Sa'id doesn't quite make the connection to "understand what is happening in Arab society today". The two traits he mentions in the quote I selected (dependency on "higher" authority and lack of creativity) are not simply related - the latter is the expected consequence of the former.
The rest at Memri.