small dead animals

Y2Kyoto: The Science Is Settling

Towards a smaller, deeper carbon footprint;

Staufen, in the Black Forest, was proud of its innovative geothermal power plan that was supposed to provide environmentally-friendly heating.

But only two weeks after contractors drilled down 460ft to extract heat from below the earth, large cracks have appeared in buildings as the town centre subsided about a third of an inch (8mm).

The baroque Town Hall, the main church, two schools and over 64 other buildings in the historic centre were severely affected. Experts said buildings in the outer part of the town had risen by a similar amount.

According to Robert Breder, an engineer, the problems began when geothermal probes penetrated an underground reservoir. As the water seeped out and the pressure fell, upper layers of earth started to collapse, causing the surface - and the town - to sink.

h/t

Bad Voodoo

A heads-up, via email;

In June 2007, as the American military surge reached its peak, a band of National Guard infantrymen who call themselves "The Bad Voodoo Platoon" was deployed to Iraq. To capture a vivid, first-person account of the new realities of war in Iraq for FRONTLINE and ITVS, director Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes) created a "virtual embed" with the platoon, supplying camer as to the soldiers so they could record and tell the story of their war. The film intimately tracks the veteran soldiers of "Bad Voodoo" through the daily grind of their perilous mission, dodging deadly IEDs, grappling with the political complexities of dealing with Iraqi security forces, and battling their fatigue and their fears.

Bad Voodoo's War is scheduled for Tuesday, Apr.1 at 9pm on Frontline. (Check local listings)

There's a preview here: pbs.org/frontline/badvoodoo

Fitna, Restored

And back up at Liveleak;

On the 28th of March LiveLeak.com was left with no other choice but to remove the film "fitna" from our servers following serious threats to our staff and their families. Since that time we have worked constantly on upgrading all security measures thus offering better protection for our staff and families. With these measures in place we have decided to once more make this video live on our site. We will not be pressured into censoring material which is legal and within our rules. We apologise for the removal and the delay in getting it back, but when you run a website you don't consider that some people would be insecure enough to threaten our lives simply because they do not like the content of a video we neither produced nor endorsed but merely hosted.

Nick Packwood says this is the way to do it. Agreed.

Previous

Desert Battles

Interestingly, the people who accuse Yezidis of being devil-worshippers are responsible for the deaths of perhaps a million people in the last few decades. They are the ones who put Yezidis on “reservations,” poured chemical gases on Kurds, set oil wells ablaze, poisoned the water with oil, and encouraged suicide attacks. What do Yezidis want from us? Not much. They want to thank Americans for beating back Saddam. They want Americans to know they appreciate the sacrifice. They don’t ask for much, but since the Iraqi government remains mostly inert, if you’re offering, they’d like to have a school in their community—a real school, not a place of religious indoctrination. They want their kids, including their girls, to get university degrees.

Copies of Yon's new book Moment of Truth in Iraq can be ordered at this link.

The Party Of Robert Byrd

Reaps what they've sown;

In Mississippi, 31 percent of voters in the Democratic primary said race was an important factor in their decision. Of those, 62 percent voted for Obama. In Ohio, 20 percent said race was an important factor. Of those, 59 percent voted for Clinton. And those are just the people who actually admitted, to an exit pollster, that race was an important factor to them.

"I think he paid his dues"

Ahenakew gets reinstated ...

FSIN Chief Lawrence Joseph displays the fine art of "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

More on John Gormley Live at 9AM CST

Culex Mohammedus

"Mark Steyn is full of crap". - Norwegian imam Mullah Krekar*

Seven Year American Recession Watch Remains On High Alert

The news remains as bad as ever...

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Well, is the economy slowing? Well, yeah it is. But call me crazy, is it as bad as this? This week, the Associated Press claiming Americans are being subjected to, and I quote "economic water torture." And then this little ditty item on the GDP, "The economy nearly sputtered out at the end of the year." We were up at the end of the year. Why someone here says this is all part of the media's plan to get a Democrat in the White House. Is it?...First to Ben Stein, and Ben, your reaction to this idea that we're going to hell in a hand-basket.

BEN STEIN: Well, the media has been selling us on fear and recession for months maybe years now. Even before there was and really seriously bad news they were selling, selling, selling fear. They have been shouting "FIRE" in a crowded theatre now for months, quarters, I'd say probably over a year. The actual economic conditions are not that bad. I think if we have a recession, if we have a serious recession, a great deal will lie at the media's feet. And I don't know why they're doing it. They're the ones that are going to lose their jobs.

Via Brutally Honest.

More - Hold the Hysteria (For Now)

Reader Tips

The story behind the Iraqi truce. "With the fifth day of fighting in Baghdad, Basrah and the South completed, the Mahdi Army has suffered major losses over the past 36 hours."

"All you need to know about how rotten the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) is -- how undemocratic and anti-freedom it has become -- is that in hate-speech complaints, the commission has a 100-per-cent conviction rate."

Kyoto for Dummies.

The all-powerful Mike Harris.

Add yours in the comments.

SDA Gets Results!

The Earth Hour post-mortem continues!

At the city of Regina's request, SaskPower compared power consumption in Regina during Earth Hour, with the same hour in past Saturdays. It turns out Reginans actually used MORE power: three megawatts more, not a huge amount. Asked why, SaskPower's Larry Christie says only consumers can really answer that. But he suggests that a cold night may have had something to do with it.

Or, maybe not.

Environment Canada temperature data for REGINA A, SASKATCHEWAN for 20:00 - 21:00.

Mar 22, 2008: -4.3C dropping to -4.7C (windchill -9C)
Mar 29, 2008: -1.0C dropping to -1.6C (windchill -9C)

In fact, it seems that the closer an Earth Hour observance location was to Earth Hour Offset Project Central, the more likely that a provider was to see a net increase in electrical usage.

The data is in, the science is settled, so let the SDA deniers hurl their insults, and lash out in impotent rage.

For tonight, when the sun sets over the horizon and the clock inches once again to the magic hour of 8 o'clock, we shall gather in solidarity, inhale the sweet exhaust of diesel duallie, and raise our glasses to the Christmas Lights Of Victory!

Y2Kyoto: Don Cherry's Favourite Left-Wing Kook

CBC Earth Hour

Howard Roark Is Dead

Reader Tips

A few related links picked up surfing.

Will he stay or will he go-go? A glimpse into the Zimbabwe election at This is Zimbabwe.

Dith Pran has passed away. If you have kids of a suitable age, you owe it to them to rent the Killing Fields.

The Religion of Peace, from A to Z

Don't let Jason Cherniak see this. Who knows what two giant legal minds might accomplish if they combined forces.

An interesting photo - it appears to show Chinese troops carrying monks robes, but I'd like to know the provenance.

Your Sunday tips in the comments.

SDA Gets Results!

Following a little dip after supper hour, Ontario power demand rose from 7pm to 9 pm.

(h/t reader Stephen Jacks)

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm a little choked up.

(Yes, I noticed the "projection". No dice, blackout boosters. The science is settled - any detected upward trend is a win in my column.)

Update - They love us in Singapore, too!

Well, those who count do, anyway.

More - Saskatoon Shines!

Plus - The numbers down under;

We watched at least 7 helicopters flying around the inner Brisbane skies. I sent a leftie friend of mine an sms at about 8:15pm asking her if she could hear them too - she was very perplexed as to why they were there until I explained it was the Earth Hour people filming the lights so that they could go home and watch their “success” on their plasma televisions.

Quote Of The Week

"It's rare that the population wants an election, but we can feel it when the fruit is ripe. And at that time - it's not up to me to tell you when; it's part of the strategy that we keep close to our chest - there will be an election."" - Stephane Dion

(h/t "aek")

Because "Earth Day" Is All About "Raising Awareness"

Quite right. At 8pm tonight, rational Canadians will become aware of which of their neighbors live on programmed-control thought timers.

And then be aware that there are those who, while admitting their own token effort won't make any difference, think that an hour of illuminated dissent will result in "driving up your electric bill". This is less awareness raising than it is an IQ test for the candle powered.

But that's not all. Be aware when Green Party peepers come prowling your property;

Between 8 and 9 tonight, I’ll be doing what I usually do at that time:I’ll be out with my wife walking our two dogs 5km around our small town.

Tonight, however, I’ll be looking at my neighbours’ windows to see which ones are participating in Earth Hour.

And I'll be looking out mine to see which ones are skipping national Clean Your Firearms Day.

Related: Take a cue from Google - do nothing.

Earth Hour Offset Project* UPDATE! - SDA gets results!

UPDATE 2! - Be holistic in your efforts to waste. "This earth hour, think inside the box."

Carrion Is The New News

As reported on CTV Newsnet. Yes, that means that a "seal rotting on beach" story has now gone international.

Seriously? I hope it was clubbed.

Not Waiting For The Asteroid

*

Paint By Pachyderm

(People would think a lot more highly of seals if they could do stuff like this.)

Reader Tips

ISP problems here since last night, so a tips thread will have to do you until I have reliable net access again.

Y2Kyoto: I Miss The Arctic Ice Cap

"Thick ice hinders controversial seal hunt."

Fitna (Bumped)

Update 2 - Darcey is hosting Fitna on his own server, and Flea is providing torrent links.

"If you quote the Koran. If you do so in the name of freedom of speech. You will be threatened with death. The press will collude with the enemy."

When I can figure out how to set it up, I'll host another here.

Statement from Liveleak on the removal of Fitna

Because "multiculturalism" means "more pavilions at Folkfest"...

In anticipation of this, a number of sources have already saved and rehosted the film, so it won't be hard to find.

Background info.

Because they just can't help themselves. - Addressing the European parliament, the Grand Mufti of Syria told his audience that "If there is unrest, bloodshed and violence after the broadcast of the Koran film, Wilders will be responsible."

A million views at Liveleak already (and nearly two million of the Dutch version) and they've issued a statement. Via Hotair - "They’re obviously willing to go to the mat to keep this online."

Michael van der Galien chronicles the astonishing efforts to stop the film from being seen in the Netherlands. "I disagree with your opinion that Islam is violent, but I will fight to the death to prevent you from inciting them". Or something like that.

The SDA Earth Hour Offset Project

Mock the difference they won't make - increase your impact on our earth's resources.

For my part, I plan to head out to the garage, install the spark plugs, and kick.

So here's your chance! Share how your family plans to nullify any and all Earth Hour generated CO2 reductions in the comments. And should you capture the special moment to Youtube or digital still, pass it along, and I'll update with a feature post on the weekend.

Update... And while we wait, the Earth Hour polls go horribly wrong...

Great Moments In Liberal Leadership

"Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects." - Lester B. Pearson

"Just watch me." - Pierre Trudeau

"I am the leader and I don't want people to be undisciplined." - Stephane Dion

(Related: The penultimate campaign slogan for the failing leftie leader, just lying there for the taking. So there you go, Jason Cherniak - don't ever accuse us Conservative bloggers of hoarding all the good ones for ourselves.)

So noted: In Dion's defense, he didn't have far to fall.

Tommy Douglas: Not Dead Yet

As it's not enough to curse the darkness, I shall light a candle.

Dear Saskatoon Inner City;

If those of you in the "left behind during an economic boom community" want a grocery store in your neighborhood, the following economic stimuli are guaranteed to produce one a lot more quickly than a government funded "free" dental clinic and housing project:

1. Put the cap back on your used needle and take it to a safe disposal site. Failing that, share it with your friends. It's a quicker solution to your problem, anyway.

2. Cross your legs.

3. Put down the spray can.

4. BINGO!

And no, I don't have any change. There's a McDonalds over on 22nd where the average kid working behind the counter is a 55 year old women. I doubt they're pushing you out of the job market.

On second thought, maybe they are.

(A few details the CBC left out of their report - the Station 20 West project was announced by a failing Lorne Calvert government just a month before the 2007 election call - while the $9 million in funding was to be allocated from the health budget).

*The first version of this post was accidentally deleted. This is a repost, and I apologize for any comments that were lost.

Science Reinvents The Donkey

But it's pretty cool, nonetheless. (h/t reader Geoff)

The Sound Of Settled Science

“Just the temps, ma’am”

(Afterwards, read the review).

Reader Tips

Tips thread open.

There's Hope For The Planet

GreenPeace founder loses in Sudden-Death Final to McMuffin inventor.

Jadewarr, Son Of Encryption

Ezra Levant's analysis of the Lemire vs Warman hearing must be read in its entirety. It's difficult to exerpt, but I've chosen a couple of points as teasers;

The Tribunal's decision to nix transcripts is transparently biased: the one day that the hunters became the hunted -- where the CHRC itself was being grilled -- was the one day that accurate, typed, searchable transcripts were omitted. Try to "search" an eight-hour audio recording for a key word, as opposed to searching a written transcript. Try to hear words that are spoken quietly; try to learn the spelling of unusual names of words; try to skip to important matters and avoid others. It's yet another irregularity in a system where arbitrariness and capriciousness have replaced the rule of law.

That's offensive to anyone, like me, who cares about the openness of our legal system. But it's more than just offensive -- it's unfair to any defendant who will now not be able to rely on such transcripts for his appeal when he's convicted.

[...]

It gets worse. After Goldberg's examintion last year, he disclosed a further 300 pages of documents. That might mean nothing to non-lawyers, but it's very important, and it goes to the unlawful, unprofessional, abusive manner in which the CHRC conducts itself. Goldberg was subpoenaed, as were his documents. Subpoenas are not invitations; they carry the weight of the law with them. They can be appealled, of course, if the recipient of a subpoena thinks they're improper. At least that's what a law-abiding agency would do. But not the CHRC. They waited until after Goldberg's examination to disclose the 300 pages. And, wouldn't you know it, Goldberg was exempted from answering questions about those pages, too. Bogus objections and defiance of disclosure obligations: if that happened in a real court, the judge would blow his stack, order the offending party to comply, assess costs against the offending party, and censure the lawyers, too. But of course, this isn't a real court.

Exceedingly well written, as usual, but more importantly, its exceedingly well explained for the lay reader. And it's one of those pieces that I'd ask you copy, print and forward to acquaintances and family to make them aware of what is going on on their dollar, and in their name. It's particularly important if you have family in the legal profession proper. My suspicion is that most have little knowledge of the investigative procedures and lack of procedural integrity of these commissions and their investigators.

And the time may be right;

Last night, one minister's aide reported that his office alone had received, in the last month, 40 letters about human rights commissions, and 0 letters about the Chuck Cadman matter and 0 letters about the Obama/NAFTA leak, for comparison.

Ezra's post includes contact numbers where you can turn up the heat.

But that doesn't concern you, because you don't surf Stormfront.

Well, that depends on where you live.

Let's wander a block down the street from the CHRC office, to the apartment of private citizen Nelly Hechme. How does she figure in the investigation of hate-inciting speech on the internet? She doesn't - her wireless internet connection does.

During later testimony by Dean Steacy, he testified to having no knowledge of who Nelly Hechme was or how that person got access to the "Jadewarr" account on Stormfront. Just what on earth was going on. The IP address and everything matched. What is going on here?

Until, the National Post's Joe Brean called Nelly Hechme and asked what she knew about this. The poor Nelly was shocked. I am sure it's a pretty odd day when the National Post calls and asks if your a government agent posting racist messages on the Stormfront website, especially when you have no idea what Stormfront even is.

That's right. Do you access the internet on wireless connection? Well, your government thought protectors may be borrowing your internet identity to play-act as white supremacists on foreign internet forums - if you're lucky.

Because if they can play-act as "Jadewarr, jew-hater", they can play-act as "Jadewarr, child pornographer", or "Jadewarr, bridge blower". He may be a doughy little ex-union boss when he arrives at the office, but when the door closes behind him, he tears off that suit and bursts forth as Jadewarr! Hate Fighter! charging that keyboard stallion into the darkest of places, armed with the sword of Canadian law enforcement, and holding you up as his shield.

If Obama Doesn't Win The Election

She's moving to Canada.

Y2Kyoto: The Nobel Peace Prize

And a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.

(note: US poll)

Related: Don't tell Dion, but McGuinty figured it out.

Terrorists

In our streets.
With ammonium nitrate fertilizer
Voting for "Paul loser"

We're not making this up.

Reader Tips

If looks could kill.

"Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday."

Four words you never thought you'd see in the same sentence: "journalism giant Linda McQuaig"

Open thread for Thursday tips.

"The cancerous growth Israel will soon disappear."

And other enchanting quotes of the past ten days.

More - Because the Palestinians love their children, too.

Palestinian children gathered for an exhibition that depicts Israel burning children in a crematorium. Young children are seen standing beside dolls being placed into a model of a cremation oven. According to the article in Al Ayyam (March 20, 2008), "The National Committee for defense of Children from the Holocaust opened its activities with a Holocaust exhibit. The Exhibit include a large oven and inside it small children are being burned, the picture speaks for itself."

h/t

Y2Kyoto: I Miss The Antarctic Ice Cap

Breaking...

Vast iceberg breaks off Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctic

(Question: These "icebergs" they speak of - where did they come from in the pre-warming era, when ice shelves remained intact?)

The full Wilkins 6,000 square mile ice shelf is just 0.39% of the current ice sheet (just 0.1% of the extent last September). Only a small portion of it between 1/10th-1/20th of Wilkins has separated so far, like an icicle falling off a snow and ice covered house. And this winter is coming on quickly. In fact the ice is returning so fast, it is running an amazing 60% ahead (4.0 vs 2.5 million square km extent) of last year when it set a new record. The ice extent is already approaching the second highest level for extent since the measurements began by satellite in 1979 and just a few days into the Southern Hemisphere winter and 6 months ahead of the peak. Wilkins like all the others that temporarily broke up will refreeze soon. We are very likely going to exceed last year’s record. Yet the world is left with the false impression Antarctica’s ice sheet is also starting to disappear.

The Face Of Dean Steacy

As captured by court artist.

Big Soybean

"But just in case you're still running into the sophomores in college who with their professor-instilled new-found knowledge are going to continue to tell you that it's all a conspiracy man and the oil companies are working together to keep us down, here is another little tidbit that should help you quelch those little brats up..."

Ricky Martinez Was Ready For Iraq

He was not ready for Chicago;

In 1994, the Northridge Earthquake rocked California. Pete Wilson hired a contractor to rebuild who made two promises to him. The job would be done on time, and within the allotted budget. The left was threatening bloody murder unless minority contractors were hired. They were concerned with appearances. Pete Wilson went with his gut. Yes, the guy was a white male, but more importantly, he had a track record of successful work. The job was completed early, and under budget.

This was typical Pete Wilson. A man who was told he was leading a state that was ungovernable rolled up his sleeves and governed. The fact that he was a former marine is no surprise. Military men are disciplined, and Wilson’s discipline was enough to get California through floods, fires, Earthquakes, riots, and a monstrous budget deficit that was a surplus when he left.

Contrast this with Detroit today. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is mired in scandal. Some will say that since this is a sexual scandal, it should be ignored. The scandal is not the sex itself. The real scandal, that most will not mention, is that this man has been allowed to neglect his city for so long. Also, for those wanting to play the race card, the prosecutor coming after the Mayor is a black woman. Kym Worthy is not interested in bringing down a black man. She is trying to bring down an incompetent and corrupt politician that happens to be black.

A glimpse in the Star Chamber - part II

This is part II, for part one click here.

Lemire's lawyer starts into a new line of questioning digging in to how the CHRC determines which complaints to investigate and which to dismiss. Mr. Steacy is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the questions and the answers are terse, and only given reluctantly sometimes after a long pause.

Unearthed in this is one example – a racist comment is posted on an anti-racism website and a complaint about it is lodged at the CHRC. Steacy explains that it was determined to be vexatious and dismissed, because there was a comment thread at Stormfront suggesting this tactic be used as a tactic against their political opponents. Note that Warman and CHRC staff themselves have admitted to posting racist messages on sites like Stormfront, and other law enforcement agencies have done so as well.

Bottom line from this line of questioning – racists posting messages on anti-racists websites and then submitting complaints promptly get dismissed. Anti-racists posting messages on unsavoury sites like Stormfront is supposedly legitimate investigative work done by CHRC, Warman, anti-hate police squads. Complaints against these websites are investigated and prosecuted.

At one point Steacy is asked if there is an exemption in the law for investigators posting to these sites? The answer is no. Okay.

Later, there is a long line of questioning establishing regular contacts, coordination, meetings, conferences and information sharing between CHRC, several police forces including the RCMP, London, Winnepeg and others, and even CSIS. During this line of questioning Steacy gives the impression of having been prepped by a lawyer to avoid admitting to certain types of agreements or coordination with police forces, while the line of questioning established many facts making it clear that they did just that. I would guess that there are some serious legal or constitutional issues here and the groundwork was being laid for a challenge in a real court, but I'm not a lawyer so I can't ascertain exactly which laws were in play here. Steacy would repeat like a mantra that “we have no formal or informal agreement with the RCMP or any other law enforcement involving investigations of Section 13 complaints”.

In any case we can establish as fact that:
1.Terry Wilson of the London police, investigating a potential crime got a warrant and seized a password-protected hard drive.
2.London police forensic investigators cracked the password and copied the contents of the hard drive.
3.Steacy calls Terry Wilson and asks for the file – and promptly gets the police report, including a CD containing a copy of the seized hard drive.
4.Steacy insists there is no formal or informal agreement or procedure for transferring this type of information.
5.He has asked for and received information for police warrants about a dozen times.
6.He has provided information to police investigating potential crimes a couple of times.
7.The CHRC had meeting and conferences with the RCMP, CSIS, and many law enforcement agencies where they had an agenda the discussion of improved access to police tools, techniques and information.
But always coming back to the mantra that “there is no formal or informal agreement between CHRC and police forces on section 13 hate complaints”.

At the end of the session Doug Christie revisits this questioning. He comes across as a bitter and angry blowhard, but they go a long way to establishing what appears to be a very ugly pattern. Someone (let's call him Lucy for sake of argument), tries to get the police to proceed with hate crime charges. The police use their full powers to investigate, including issuing warrants and seizing evidence. They eventually decide that either no crime has been committed or the burden of proof is just too high, so drop the charges and pass the evidence on to the CHRC where regular rules of evidence and burden of proof don't apply. Whether or not this is a conscious strategy on their part (and Steacy insisted it was not), it would certainly appear that that is indeed the end result, based on the examples provided today.

On another tangent, Steacy is asked if there is a central registry of CHRC and law enforcement Ids used to investigate hate sites. He says no. He is asked quite belligerently if it's possible that they could be prosecuting web site owners based on messages posted by other law enforcement agencies. He responds with enormous reluctance “I guess”.

And one final note. Earlier there was some back and forth about a poem by “Jesse Destruction” referring to Totenkopf. Not sure what the significance of it all was, but it sounds like something I'll have to google to get the background on. Partly because I am intrigued by what this poem might contain, and based on how vigorously the CHRC resisted efforts to get it entered into the record.

Actually, just one more thing. Towards the end Steacy's “assistant” made a grand show about the information revealed by Bell Canada earlier. A Jadewarr post (a CHRC account) was traced to an IP address owned by a woman entirely unconnected to the CHRC. The chair requested that the woman's identity not be disclosed, and now the CHRC lawyer was complaining about the information being on the internet and the fact that Lemire had been blogging during the day – though stopped just short of accusing him of having disclosed it. The woman insists she had nothing to do with it, but does run a wireless router in her downtown Ottawa appartment.

Since this account was controlled by four or five CHRC employees, I think we can conclude that one of them was attempting to hide their tracks by taking a laptop on the road and jumping on some anonymous access point.

That they are taking active (but ineffective) measures to hide their tracks is certainly disturbing. It certainly makes you wonder what else they're doing that we haven't uncovered yet.

Editors Update:
More reports at Socon (with audio!), CHRC Exposed, National Post, Gyapong, the Ottawa Citizen, Steyn Online, and in the comments below.

[Kate] Reading the "can't remember" testimony attributed to Dean Steacy, my first reaction is "where are his records?"

Police investigators are required to document details of who they interview and what scenes they attend throughout their day. How does it come to pass that an agent under government authority can conduct investigations under an assumed identity, and not be required to maintain detailed logs to document his activities?

Reader Tips

A break from the CHRC intense blogging of recent hours...

"Now, from what I seem to remember about my youngest sister's 'teenage antics'... somebody at Indiana U had better be working on a 'taser phone'

Don't elevate me, Obama."

Do minors require their parents' consent to become suicide bombers?

Winning hearts and moos.

Yours in the comments.

A glimpse in the Star Chamber - Part I

I have a real job and wasn't able to attend the entire hearing, but given a chance to witness a real live kangaroo court in session I couldn't resist dropping in for a look.

After a cursory security check which involved a quick screening with a metal detector I was ushered into the hearing room with the hearing in session. There was no need to present ID, credentials, explain why you were interested or anything, the Warman versus Lemire hearing was indeed open to the general public.

I arrived while Dean Steacy was on the stand, being questioned by Marc Lemire's lawyer Barbara Kulazka, with Marc Lemire sitting to her right frequently passing notes and making suggestions.

Sitting behind Dean Steacy was apparently his “assistant”, who was supposed to help the blind witness with finding and reading the documents, yet she seemed to be a lawyer whose objective seemed to be to obstruct most meaningful lines of questioning and generally run out the clock whenever possible. You certainly wouldn't want to have to pay your own lawyer by the hour when up against this type of process, that's for sure.

Looking around the gallery, I notice Mark Steyn sitting in the front row at the right, listening intently, and there are at least twenty other people, some of whom are bored to the point of nodding off. It seems odd to come and watch if you're not actually interested in the proceedings. Perhaps they are journalists or are associated with the perpetually offended complaint-generating organizations like the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Another fellow in the gallery clearly stands out. While the rest of us are sitting orderly in rows, one guy has assembled four or five chairs in a circle with a laptop in front and a smattering of other possessions scattered around him. He is listening intently and hammering in notes on his laptop. I identify him immediately as a blogger.

On to the actual testimony. Barbara K is questioning Steacy about why he created the account Jadewarr at FreeDominion months before any official complaint has been laid. Steacy answers evasively and frankly doesn't provide much of a credible answer. Couple that with the fact that the first posting that is included in a later complaint is created a couple of weeks after the Jadewarr acount was created I think we have ample reason to be suspicious of what the CHRC is really up to at Freedominion. Nothing they had to say in their defense on this topic gave any reason to have confidence in their honesty or methods.

When pressed to describe what Freedominion is and why they were investigating it Steacy responded - “It is a message board that has content similar to Stormfront”. This generated a derisive snort from the blogger at the front left and some energetic hammering at the laptop. Look for other coverage of this hearing, as there's sure to be others providing interesting commentary. It certainly says something about the type of person employed at the CHRC if they actually think Freedominion bears any resemblance to Stormfront.

Barbara K reads a long testimony by Richard Warman in a previous hearing into the record. I wasn't sure where she was going with this at first and we will have to examine the transcript to be sure I have the details right, but it seemed to chronicle a series of events like this:
1.Warman enters a document into evidence that he claims he printed out Friday, December 8. The document is a printout of a posting that starts with “Welcome, Jadewarr”, indicating the user signed on using that account. (Note that Steacy has claimed he never gave Warman the password for that account).
2.Warman “revises” his testimony that the document “originates from the commission”.
3.Pressed further, Warman says he doesn't know the origin of the document.
Finally, she asks Steacy if he knows where the document came from. He replies that Warman came over to the Commission, searched for the post in question and couldn't find it, then signed on using the Jadewarr account, found the post and printed it. This was one of a series of incidents that displayed a remarkably cozy dance between Warman registering a complaint and the commission prosecuting it, all the while not being very transparent about how close they work with Warman and later, other police forces.

It will be interesting to examine this transcript more closely now that Steacy has testified exactly where this document came from. To be generous, it makes hard to believe Warman was providing the whole truth when being questioned about the origin of the document being submitted as evidence. I'm not sure when the transcript of this hearing will be available, but I'll be taking a second look at that part when it is.

Lemire's lawyer continues questioning, looking for other Ids and websites that were investigated. Steacy volunteers OdinsRevenge as another acount they used, but doesn't volunteer much else.

Update: Part II.

Jews Get All The Best Hate Mail

P.S.: Good lord -- look at what a commenter dug up. Young Abdullah isn't just importing sharia law to Moncton -- he's importing stilettos and other assorted weapons, too, as fast as he can. This is a picture of one that he bought just two weeks ago on eBay. Here are the details. Oh, and here's what the Criminal Code has to say about stilettos that can be opened with the click of a button -- they're illegal (scroll down to the definition of the phrase "prohibited weapon"). But I'm sure Abdullah would tell the police -- if their diversity squad permitted them to raise this touchy subject -- that he follows a higher authority than Canadian laws.

P.P.S. Please don't pester Simon Wiesenthal about any of this -- he's too busy fretting over some ugly flags in Calgary.

Additional screenshots

The Revolution Will Be Live Blogged

At Macleans - coverage of Warman v. Lemire.

2:15:23 PM Under questioning, Steacy remains adamant that he *had* to join the various sites, including freedominion.ca, in order to use the search engine and access the full site. He also claims that there were "security concerns" about the safety of CHRC staffers working on "hate files," which is why he logged in to see what had been posted about JadeWarr's identity.

2:18:27 PM
So why *was* he on freedominion.ca before there was a complaint? Because there was the *potential* for a complaint to come in, he says - prompting muffled gasps from the group beside me, which includes the two founders of Free Dominion.

Now Doug Christie is on his feet, and expressing grave concern over the fact that a CHRC representative was investigating the site before a complaint has been made. Barbara K wants to know *who* - othe than Gentes - was considering making a complaint, and Steacy refuses to answer. Well, that was dramatic, at least.

Reader Tips (Bumped!)

Who said what?

He said what? Yes, he did. He said it well, too.

Jason - What the hell is wrong with you?

ED NOTE: As this post pertains to the continuing controversy created by pesky "freespeechers" (that's a perjorative, by the way), it's only fair to acknowledge that in the wake of my comments of Sunday, about 20 of the best and brightest the Canadian leftosphere has to offer linked to SDA in condemnation. (I won't name you all for fear of leaving someone out.)

After weighing their arguments, my traffic meter remained largely unmoved.

Footnote:
[1] Thus elevating my status to that of documented "global warming holocaust denier". I guess that means new business cards.

Update: BINGO!

(Tips thread open.)

Final Update: - and still more on "fake outrage".

The first thing that strikes me are the number of critics (here's one) who believe that a statement about National Socialism's relationship to the German state in the context of the holocaust constitutes an "analogy".

The second point is that I wasn't offering an "argument", but a simple statement of fact that should be self-evident.

When a comment serves as little more than preface to a featured quote, it shouldn't require a short history of WW2 history or personal disclaimer to prevent "confusion" in the mind of the reader. Readers that easily confused should take on gentler topics. (See my first point).

There exists a terminology for the phenomenon of attempting to communicate in so complete a manner as to prevent all accidents of misinterpretation.

It's known as "writing for stupid people."

So, the conclusion is this (and my advice to bloggers in general): Set a minimum threshold such as "understands the definition of analogy" before deciding whether or not a critic is worthy of your response.

Now, as you were.

So, It's Not Just Me

Flea has never owned a slave, either*;

I don't get it. Perhaps it is because I am not American. I do not belong to a polity living with the spectre of a promised 40 acres and a mule so reparations are a bit of a non-starter as far as I am concerned. But then I also do not belong to the polity which sacrificed hundreds of thousands of Union lives on the altar of liberty including and especially the liberty of the ancestors of today's reparations advocates. It seems churlish to demand payment from the descendants of abolitionists let alone those of all the men who gave their lives far from home on behalf of people they did not know. Maybe, just maybe, it is James Cone and his fellow travelers who owe the debt. When it comes to the history of race in America there are villains, no doubt. But the United States government is not one of them. The United States government has been and remains the greatest champion of liberty in human history.

History Is Written By The Victors

Victory is rewritten by the media.

Update: typo corrected.

Rewritton?
Posted by: ulianov at March 25, 2008 10:32 AM

Typo. Should be rewrotten.
Posted by: Richard Ball at March 25, 2008 10:40 AM

Well, my secret is out - my sniper vision ain't what it used to be.

So, here's the deal. If every person who reads this page would just drop $20 in my tip jar, I could buy myself glasses.

Plus, a new Dodge Ram 1500.

While They Were Counting

Bucking the trend towards body count journalism, some "grim statistics" remain less newsworthy than others (via Gateway Pundit).

Pakistan is not only among the countries with the highest incidence of terrorism but it also tops the list of suicide bombings, leaving Afghanistan and Iraq behind during the first three months of 2008.

During this period, Pakistan experienced eighteen suicide attacks in which more than 250 people died. Whereas in both war-ridden countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, had a fewer number of suicide attacks.

The battleground has shifted. But unlike the Iraqis, the Pakistanis seem more easily "awakened" and there's news of welcome mats being yanked - providing you can find it.

The alleged militant group familiarly known as “Taliban” was declared “out of Islam” by 73 different sects of Muslims through an edict (Fatwa) circulated in parts of the narrow tribal strip of Darra Adamkhel.

The edict in Urdu language was circulated on behalf of Mufti Zainul Aabideen on Friday night. The one page edict focuses on Talibans’s terrorists’ acts in the area, particularly slaughtering of human beings and suicide attacks.

[...]

It is for the first time that a religious scholar declared “Taliban” as being “out of Islam.” The edict said that all the acts of Taliban are against the basic norms of Islam and humanity. “Even the Taliban leaders are considering themselves and their directives as superior to true Islamic principles and directives as ordained by Almighty Allah,” the edict said.

With all the professional ink spilled in complaint over Taliban "insurgents" operating from the safety of tribal areas of Pakistan. a home turf reversal of fortunes for the ministry of headchoppers should count for some coverage, yes?

Well, no.

In the eyes of western media, setbacks only happen to our own. Besides, it's March again, and their duties lie elsewhere. Surely, the much-awaited 2007 spring offensive is just around the corner.

"Since yesterday evening therefore my name is Magdi Crisitano Allam"

"I asked myself how it was possible that those who, like me, sincerely and boldly called for a “moderate Islam,” assuming the responsibility of exposing themselves in the first person in denouncing Islamic extremism and terrorism, ended up being sentenced to death in the name of Islam on the basis of the Quran. I was forced to see that, beyond the contingency of the phenomenon of Islamic extremism and terrorism that has appeared on a global level, the root of evil is inherent in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictive."

Y2Kyoto: Great Moments In Hypocrisy

"I love Kitsilano and Vancouver, but there are too many people and too many cars. I think we can have greater density if we made the city much more hostile to cars. The cars have made our city unattractive, and thus I like to spend more of my time in a smaller place at Quanta [ed, Quadra] Island where we also have a home."

The Sound Of Settled Science

"Is the Earth still warming?"

She replied: "No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years."

Duffy: "Is this a matter of any controversy?"

Marohasy: "Actually, no. The head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it. He talks about the apparent plateau in temperatures so far this century. So he recognises that in this century, over the past eight years, temperatures have plateaued ... This is not what you'd expect, as I said, because if carbon dioxide is driving temperature then you'd expect that, given carbon dioxide levels have been continuing to increase, temperatures should be going up ... So (it's) very unexpected, not something that's being discussed. It should be being discussed, though, because it's very significant."

Duffy: "It's not only that it's not discussed. We never hear it, do we? Whenever there's any sort of weather event that can be linked into the global warming orthodoxy, it's put on the front page. But a fact like that, which is that global warming stopped a decade ago, is virtually never reported, which is extraordinary."

[...]

Marohasy: "That's right ... These findings actually aren't being disputed by the meteorological community. They're having trouble digesting the findings, they're acknowledging the findings, they're acknowledging that the data from NASA's Aqua satellite is not how the models predict, and I think they're about to recognise that the models really do need to be overhauled and that when they are overhauled they will probably show greatly reduced future warming projected as a consequence of carbon dioxide."

Duffy: "From what you're saying, it sounds like the implications of this could be considerable ..."

Marohasy: "That's right, very much so. The policy implications are enormous. The meteorological community at the moment is really just coming to terms with the output from this NASA Aqua satellite and (climate scientist) Roy Spencer's interpretation of them. His work is published, his work is accepted, but I think people are still in shock at this point."

Related: At island retreat, Branson and friends seek to save a world 'on fire'

Reader Tips

Happy Monday! Tips open.

Y2Kyoto: Sunshine Is Free

What is the difference?

... between the cost of current petroleum-powered transportation, heating, and cooling, compared to the equivalent cost of providing such energy via solar panels? In order to provide a mechanism for exploring the question, I have prepared:

A Model of the Cost of Solar Power v. Oil

This is an interactive model: you can change the input values, and the calculated values are automatically recomputed as you go.

A little geek candy for a quiet Sunday evening. Feedback and corrections are invited at the link provided.

Thinking Of You This Easter

*

The Nazis Didn't Carry Out The Holocaust

The German state did that. National Socialism just gave the machinery of state censorship and oppression a new brand name and game plan.

And, as the saying goes, meet the self-aggrandizing holocaust trophy-hunter, same as the old boss;

My father didn't fight against Nazism just because it is an odious and repellant belief system, although it is. He fought against the tyranny that underpinned Nazi Germany at a deeper level too - that tyranny that exists anywhere a state controls the thoughts and actions and very beliefs of its citizens. It doesn't matter whether the code of belief was drawn up by Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Castro, Trudeau, Warman or Kinsella. State enforcement of a code of belief (or a code of non-belief) is tyranny, plain and simple, and it's the enemy of freedom. It was my father's enemy, and he saw it regaining the upper hand in the years before he died. Not long before then, he said to me that there is nobody less tolerant than a liberal, and what prophetic words those have turned out to be.

So don't you dare tell me that my father fought on your side of this issue, Kinsella. You're everything that's wrong with the Canadian political system. You're what Jason Cherniak wants to be when he grows up. You're all about winning and nothing about values. You're all about labels and nothing of substance. You're all about using the HRCs to silence people with whom you disagree. You're all about freedom for you and censorship for them. One rule for you and one rule for them. One rule for Liberals taking taxpayer dollars and another for those poor people who pay the taxes in the first place. You're just as elitist, just as tyrannical, and just as much a dictator as those you profess to despise.

Meanwhile, his political brothers-in-arms march in our streets under the flag of an ideology dedicated to wiping every last Jew off the map - and he remains deaf, dumb and utterly complicit.

An update and an opportunity! - ... this website hereby announces it will pay $0.23* for a clear photo of Warren Kinsella and any Liberal frontbencher together, taken in the last two years. For such a well-connected political insider, they seem to be hard to come by."

Another update and I swear, this approaches the status of intellectual anti-matter.

"John" writes;

Just like the Liberals never committed the sponsorship program. It was the government apparatus that did it. If not for the Departmental officials, bureaucrats and ad companies, the Liberals never could have committed such acts, and therefore we must absolve the Liberal Party of any responsibility...

See the folly in your stupid argument now?

John - the theft committed under the sponsorship program was possible because the rules were altered to undermine the checks and balances in place.

That you chose that specific analogy for your critique is nothing short of spectacular in this context. I pause to wonder if you aren't engaged in a little provocateurism here - for it was Warren Kinsella who wrote the memo directing that Chuck Guite be afforded a by-pass.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

So today, it is Warren Kinsella who wants to by-pass a different safeguard. He defends a state-enforced mechanism by which unaccountable political appointees are placed outside the checks and balances of due process. They have the power to investigate, interrogate and penalize free citizens for publishing words and opinions deemed "likely" to offend - even when those words have been planted by their own agents.

When free citizens willingly surrender our right to hold and express opinion, right or wrong, sound or sane, we grease the wheels of the politically extreme.

Repeating my earlier comment - without the state apparatus extending their authority to all arms of bureaucracy, enabling suppression of all criticism and dissent, the National Socialists would have had no more capacity to order the round up and mass murder of their fellow citizens than the national executive of your Kinsman club.

No political ideology can transform the citizenry into accomplices in murder without their permission. So long as we protect the right to object, to offend, to criticize above all else, reasonable people have a fighting chance to halt extremism and expose agendas, wherever the arise, and whatever they may be, through the force of reason and argument.

We must resist any erosion of that right, because we know not what comes down the road towards us. Change the names and faces, pass through a few election cycles, and today's objective criticism is tomorrow's thought crime.

Yet, there are some who want to destroy that safeguard, to pre-emptively surrender it to faceless bureaucrats and unaccountable tribunals, in the suicidal belief that those who inherit a state apparatus armed with the authority to silence the individual and narrow the rules of discourse, will forever limit the application to our percieved enemies - and that should we change our minds and demand our right restored, that they will surrender it back.

Tony Blair's Britain

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch and "some people feel intimidated by the word England.”

[Iraq war veteran] Craig applied to join Greater Manchester Police shortly before returning to civvy street this month.

When he admitted he had a tattoo, he was asked to send a photo of the inch-high Gothic letters spelling ENGLAND on the underside of his right forearm.

He was later told he had been rejected by the recruitment department.

It wrote: “Home Office policy precludes applications with tattoos on lower arm, hand, face or neck that are prominent, which may cause offence and/or invite provocation from the public or colleagues.”

Reader Tips

AIDS prevention research: A step forward for the "keep it in your pants" strategy.

"Yes, very much so - The Organisation of the Islamic Conference seems to imagine that self-esteem is a default entitlement and that “defamation” should also extend to matters of inconvenient fact; and thus believers – or rather Muslims - have some fictional right not to be criticised or mocked for publicly airing absurd and objectionable beliefs..."

This really shouldn't need to be explained;

Scholar Kay Hymowitz [...] turns the argument around and says it's not that harsh economic conditions lead to women having children without fathers, but that the decision to have children without fathers leads to harsh, and self-perpetuating, economic conditions.

Yours in the comments.

World's Smallest Breaking News Headline

Passport Security Breach Linked To Obama Advisor's Firm

Despite Reports To The Contrary

I did not gather with twenty-four of my closest friends in Calgary today. I was at the Saskatoon Co-op Home Centre, where I purchased electrical box cover plates, lime scale remover, and a new door knob, and I have the receipts to prove it.

Though admittedly, I and the tan work shirts exchanged knowing glances.

More - photographic evidence of my non-gathering.

Lucy, Look What Choo Started!

On the front page of today's National Post;

Next Tuesday, at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in Ottawa, one of Canada's most prominent white supremacist propagandists, backed by the legal team that defended Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel, will put the country's entire human rights bureaucracy on the witness stand.

After months of closed-door wrangling, a constitutional challenge, an appeal to federal court and a blizzard of legal motions, Marc Lemire can now interrogate, under oath, two investigators of the Canadian Human Rights Commission about why they posted provocative comments on his and other ultra-conservative Web sites. Much credibility hangs on their answers.

The curious thing about the hearing, which will make it a crucial moment in the history of Canadian human rights law, is that Mr. Lemire, the last president of the now defunct neo-Nazi Heritage Front, enjoys the qualified support of a Liberal MP, PEN Canada, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association -- even a leader of B'nai Brith Canada.

[...]

All of which points to next week's hearing in Warman v. Lemire as a watershed moment in the history of Canadian domestic human rights law.

It is as if all the cases, legitimate or ridiculous, are to be represented by this one, a most unfrivolous complaint against a prominent distributor of white supremacist propaganda, which threatens to implode not only because of the alleged unconstitutionality of the law, but because of shady investigatory practices.

Read the whole thing.

(And when you're finished, don't miss this one - "Axis of Shove It")

"Are you a woman in the military whose marriage has ended?"

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune would like to exploit your misfortune to further their anti-military agenda under the guise of "news" journalism.

If, on the other hand, you're a media consumer who considers the Star-Tribune's actions to be dishonest and intellectually insulting, you can contact reporter Pam Louwagie at 612-673-7102 or e-mail plouwagie@startribune.com.

Thnk Hard

Has anything you've seen reported by Canadian media on Afghanistan in the past couple of years even hinted at the possibility that a single Afghan citizen might enjoy the luxury of television?

The [Afghan Pop Idol] programme has become a sensation in Afghanistan where it is estimated that 11m viewers, or over one-third of the population, regularly tuned in.

Much less 11 million of them?

All that time wasted with Lisa Laflamme, when we could have tuned in to Simon Cowell.

The Case Of Brenda Martin: Flashback

At Blue Like You, commentor "Tony" drops this tidbit from The Edmonton Journal, dated February 2003;

"It looked like a friggin parking lot outside that house most days," said Sandy Smith, who asked that her real name not be used. She still lives in Vallarta and fears the Mexican federal police. The Toronto native worked as Waage's chef and lived in Castillo Cristina for 10 months beginning in July 2000.

[...]

"Our liquor bill was $2,000 a week -- minimum," she said.

Smith said she placed one order for 80 kilograms of crab and then sent a mozo (houseboy) out to buy two new freezers to hold it all.

"He wanted only the best and I got it for him," she said.

"He was very generous and I had carte blanche with money. If I went to him and said I needed some money to get groceries or whatever provisions he would say to me, 'How much do you need, this much?' " she said, miming Waage holding his index finger and thumb about two inches apart.

" 'Or do you need this much?' " she said, and moved her fingers about four inches apart. "Then he would reach into the safe where he kept the cash and take a wad out of money out and just give it to me. Sometimes he never even counted it.

Emphasis mine.

Brenda Martin "worked for Waage for 10 months until he fired her in 2001".

Reader Tips

Tips thread open.

A Picture Of Richard Warman All Decked Out In Nazi Duds Landed In My Mailbox Last Week

And I thought it was a fake!

What Are The Odds?

This sounds less like a security breach than it does a case for the "smell test"...

Plans showing the layout of a new building for a Canadian Forces counter-terrorism unit based in Trenton, Ont., have been found in a pile of garbage on Bank Street.

The 26 blueprints, stamped with Department of National Defence markings, show everything from the location of the security fence to the floor plan of the new home of the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit at CFB Trenton.

The unit is the military's main responder to a terrorist attack using a weapon of mass destruction.

[...]

The blueprints were found March 13 by the spouse of Anthony Salloum, an analyst with the Rideau Institute, the left-leaning Ottawa think-tank. As the couple were on their way to dinner, Mr. Salloum's spouse noticed a large pile of garbage bags on the sidewalk, on top of which sat seven large rolled tubes of paper stamped with Defence Department markings.

"I thought they looked interesting, but we were headed to dinner, so I figured I'd pick one up on the way back if they were still there," said Mr. Salloum.

Reader Bob McLeod echoes the suspicions of a number of commentors;

This is just too coincidental to even sound legitimate.

Salloum just happens to work for a left leaning think tank opposed to the military.

He and his companion check garbage along their route to dinner.Doesn't everyone?

There are seven(they counted, right?) rolls of documents on the bagged garbage.

The documents just happen to appear along his route to dinner.

He happens to a have a "partner" with him who can corroborate the find.

He doesn't go back for the other rolls of documents, even after seeing DND markings and "briefly" examining the documents.

Neither he, nor the others in the "think tank" knew what they had.....kinda a dumb bunch of deep thinkers.

On suddenly realizing what they had, instead of calling the authorities, they call the media. Good citizens, not!

Having a very cynical mind, I suspect that the documents were obtained through less than legitimate means, and this is the chosen method of revealing them to the public. Want to bet that this "scandal" surfaces in the next question period? Makes you wonder who has orchestrated the whole thing.

Darcey considers his own pile of trash bound blueprints;

In my garage I have a number of rolls that are heading out to the garbage and I couldn't imagine anyone rooting through them other then maybe some curious kids.

My gut feeling is that the story by the program director of the Rideau Institute stinks. Do Anthony Salloum and his wife routinely look thru garbage they find on the street and pick it up?

More on what appears to be a non-story. Neither the blueprints nor the construction site were considered sensitive;

But he downplayed the significance of the what the abandoned blueprints reveal and noted that anyone is free to enter the base and many areas are unrestricted.

"There's nothing in the building that I know of that is security-related. It's a steel building, its got concrete floors and some cooling and heating system and some electrical system. There's nothing (else) in there. Now, what fit-up the army may do with it, well that's a different story."

The Sound Of Settled Science

NOAA Class “A” station at Hay Springs, NE.

More

Reader Tips

A note to those of you who take the time to send me your links and your private comments - and who don't get a response, or wonder why I don't use them. It's usually just a matter of available time, space, and energy. Sometimes the story has been covered in abundance elsewhere, (and sometimes I've already used it and you didn't notice). But, I do want you all to know that your efforts are appreciated. I wish I had time to acknowledge everything sent my way, but I'd never get any work done - much less blogging!

Tips thread open.

Five years In

"This war has now lasted longer than World War I, World War II or the Civil War," - Barack Obama*

R. Warman v. Marc Lemire

The ruling to close the CHRC hearing to the public has been rescinded.

Read more, from Mike Brock;

Rogers Communications, on behalf of Macleans Magazine, has been fighting the tribunal to allow journalists to be present when Commission employees Hannya Rizk and Dean Steacy, will be forced to testify, under oath, of allegations that members of the commission (and Dean Steacy himself) indeed planted racist messages on websites, which were subsequently investigated by the commission.

There are also allegations, that Richard Warman, as a non-commission employee gave inappropriate direction to members of the Commission on how to proceed on cases in which he was a complainant.

Warman and Steacy have long fought to prevent giving such testimony, and recently have fought to prevent having such testimony published, citing concern for their safety.

How Many Deaths Is Walt Disney Responsible For Worldwide?

Learn a martial art form from India called "runforyerlife"

Previous.

The Case Of Brenda Martin

...had my qualified sympathy up until the precise moment in time at which her supporters denounced Jason Kenney's trip to Mexico as a "photo op" that would do "more harm than good".

So, let's get this straight.

You screamed bloody murder that Stephen Harper wasn't doing enough to help, you splattered every Conservative minister within spitting distance of your tantrums, you bawled and threatened and cajoled, and now that someone is making a personal effort to help - you transform Brenda Martin's cause into a political stink bomb. At about the same time as details begin to emerge that cast a little suspicion on the purity of her victimhood status.

Nice work, people.

However, I suspect the Harper government will keep doing what they can to help her - in spite of her ingratitude, and despite your complicity in tossing her to a media who views her as little more than a bit of political red meat to drag through the streets.

So, keep your petitions and spare me your guilt trip. I'm not calling my member of parliament. If Brenda Martin wanted a guarantee that the Canadian government would intervene to protect her human rights as a Canadian citizen, she should have chosen to live and work in Canada.

Update - Exhibiting the level of judgment that likely landed her in prison in the first place, Ms. Martin is now calling efforts to help her a "dog and pony show". Decide for yourself who's chosen to play the part of horse's ass.

The Sound Of Settled Science

They write these headlines without so much as a nod to their own absurdity - "The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat" (link fixed)

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.

In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

Now, watch the struggle to make the facts fit the narrative;

One possibility is that the sea has, in fact, warmed and expanded — and scientists are somehow misinterpreting the data from the diving buoys.

But if the aquatic robots are actually telling the right story, that raises a new question: Where is the extra heat all going?

Kevin Trenberth at the National Center for Atmospheric Research says it's probably going back out into space. The Earth has a number of natural thermostats, including clouds, which can either trap heat and turn up the temperature, or reflect sunlight and help cool the planet.

That can't be directly measured at the moment, however.

"Unfortunately, we don't have adequate tracking of clouds to determine exactly what role they've been playing during this period,"

Trenberth says.It's also possible that some of the heat has gone even deeper into the ocean, he says. Or it's possible that scientists need to correct for some other feature of the planet they don't know about. It's an exciting time, though, with all this new data about global sea temperature, sea level and other features of climate.

"I suspect that we'll able to put this together with a little bit more perspective and further analysis," Trenberth says. "But what this does is highlight some of the issues and send people back to the drawing board."

Kevin Trenberth has been mentioned here before - in this 2005 quote from a resigning Chris Landsea, citing IPPC misrepresentation of hurricane research;

It is beyond me why my colleagues would utilize the media to push an unsupported agenda that recent hurricane activity has been due to global warming. Given Dr. Trenberth’s role as the IPCC’s Lead Author responsible for preparing the text on hurricanes, his public statements so far outside of current scientific understanding led me to concern that it would be very difficult for the IPCC process to proceed objectively with regards to the assessment on hurricane activity.

Two years later, Trenberth was still using hurricane Katrina as evidence of global warming.

Osama Bin Laden, Call Your Office

How do you say "irony" in Farsi?

The Al-Qaeda media braintrust's latest production incorporates images of Spartan spears drenched in the blood of Persians.

(h/t to the sharp-eyed Knight.)

Reader Tips

Leaked! The CHRC response to motion on secret hearing.

More lawyery insight from "Canada's leading legal expert on what David Dingwall takes in his coffee".

"When human rights commissions are mocked on the CBC's leading prime time show, you know the political environment has changed."

Go east, young Lucy! Use your cream and tin foil as a springboard to greater anonymity!

Tips thread open.

Hitchens, Five Years In

I recall a CBC Sunday Edition interview with Michael Enright in which Enright opined that in the wake of 9/11, American paranoia had become so deep and irrational that he had relatives in Montana who feared terrorist attacks.

Hitchens countered that he should ask the people of Beslan about that.

Answering the question How Did I Get Iraq Wrong? Christopher Hitchens is a rare bird - a lefty with historical memory;

We were never, if we are honest with ourselves, "lied into war." We became steadily more aware that the option was continued collusion with Saddam Hussein or a decision to have done with him. The president's speech to the United Nations on Sept. 12, 2002, laying out the considered case that it was time to face the Iraqi tyrant, too, with this choice, was easily the best speech of his two-term tenure and by far the most misunderstood.

Read it all.

He's Not Really Dead

"He has retired to a secret tropical island, with his Helliburton pension, golfing with Jack Kennedy and sharing peanut butter and bacon sandwiches with Elvis. Yucking it up with Danny Pearl. There's a greenish glass jar in the entertainment center, beside the big screen TV. Inside, a Roswell alien floats gently, gently, upside down. A pallid little creature bobbing in a lava lamp. Some sick bastard has slapped a decal on it; 'Don't Mess With Texas'."

And near the beach, under the shade of the palms, a bearded figure in a red Adidas track suit practices his morning yoga and sings songs of la Revolución.

CWB: Partying Hard On Farmers' Money

"Now at first I thought...

... oh well, so what, CWB staff deserve to have a little fun every now and then just like everybody else, right?

Then I remembered that according to their latest annual report the average salary of these folks is just over $91,000 per year. Then I remembered this chart which shows how I’m getting the worst basis ever for my wheat this year, and this chart which shows how these folks have not been able to beat even the simple average price in the US for malt barley over the last eight years. And then I thought about how stressed out these folks supposedly were last year that they needed a special $1000 bonus....

Would Someone Check What Those Kids Are Up to In The Basement?

Because while the headline "United Kingdom collapses to size of a marble" may be entertaining in the abstract...

The Long Arm Of The Law

Reaching all the way from Beijing;

A 15-year-old refugee from Tibet was taking part in a demonstration at the Chinese consulate on Sixth Avenue Friday, protesting the recent violent crackdown in Lhasa by Chinese soldiers against Tibetan monks. When the boy scaled the consulate’s security fence and unfurled a banner reading “Save Tibet,” Chinese officials emerged from the building and apprehended the youth.

The minor — who refuses to speak publicly or reveal his identity, fearing for the safety of family members in Tibet — claims he was manhandled by Chinese officials and subjected to harassment, said Tashi Phuntsok, president of the Tibetan Community of Alberta, who spoke with the youth following the incident.

“He felt quite strongly threatened and helpless,” Mr. Phuntsok said. The boy was confined to the consulate’s basement where he was physically restrained, according to the spokesman. “They blew smoke in his face, and he was ordered to sign a letter apologizing . . .they handcuffed him and twisted his hands . . .they tore apart his pants.” Mr. Phuntsok said Chinese officials