small dead animals

Obama's "White Grandmother" Could Not Be Reached For Comment

Amy Holmes;

There goes that historic, transcendent, life-changing, not since the Gettysburg Address, "I have a dream," must-be-taught-in-every-school race speech. It didn't hold up three months, let alone the time it would take to print up new textbooks.

But when should the environmentalists die?

This helpful quiz produced by Australian environmentalcases tells kids when they should die, but for some reason environmentalists don't seem to be leading by example.

Apparently my time was up at 7.3 years:

h/t.

Obama is shocked, SHOCKED, I say

to find that racist, fiery rhetoric was being spewed in the church he attended for twenty years. But he quits the church now that it has been brought to his attention. Move along now.

The Triumph of the Political Class

This sounds like an interesting book that would be worth the time for Canadians to read, too. While the book addresses British politics I think many of the same maladies and trends apply to Canada as well. We've certainly seen a rather stubborn trend of growth and power of the political class in Canada and getting Conservative parties elected has rather less effect on this trend than we would like.

Perhaps we haven't descended as far or fast down this path as Britain has, and thankfully we don't have the complications of the EU to deal with, but I think this book might offer some lessons for us in Canada.

Read the whole post here:

His basic argument is that today's political class has little experience of the real world outside the corridors of power, is drawn from an insular group of metropolitan folk who consider themselves superior to, and cut off from, the ordinary mass; it craves power for its own sake and for its monetary rewards, is corrupt, venal, obsessed by controlling the media, and has damaged and is damaging any institutions and practices - such as the old House of Lords or judiciary - that get in its way. Oborne argues his case with a tremendous passion and penetrating use of argument. At the end of the 334 pages of text one is left - which I think is the idea - feeling rather depressed. With good reason.

Doing as the Leader Did

Little by little, one person at a time, more Westerners are beginning to get it. Unfortunately, most Western elites aren't getting it, despite the fact that the truth is right there under their noses … in black and white text:

My essay on the topic:

There may be any number of reasons why Islam is so uncompromisingly supremacist, but one reason stands out among all others. That is the fact that the foundational texts of Islam are supremacist in the extreme ... to the point of advocating violence as the main form of enforcement. To read about Muhammad, whose example all Muslims are required to follow, is to read about a brutal chauvinist who used murder, deceit, theft and all kind of barbaric means to pursue his agenda. Furthermore, he took the chauvinism common in his time and expanded on it, making Christian chauvinism of the era pale in comparison.

Compare this to Christianity. Anyone at all familiar with Christian foundational texts understands immediately that Christianity is by and large a pacifist religion. Christian foundational texts focus on spirituality and are almost completely devoid of political guidance. Christian foundations can best be described as "turn the other cheek". Muslim foundations can best be described as "smite the unbelievers."

Jihad watch weighs in, taking a stab at Western politicians who march on, blinkers firmly in place:

Almost seven years have passed since 9/11, and we're hearing the same thing from our leaders that we've heard since 9/12. It is a reminder that, at the highest level of government, policy decisions are driven -- hijacked, if you will -- by willful blindness to the roots of the ideology that motivates not only al-Qaeda, but is also common to Hizballah, Hamas, and other jihadist groups. Does anyone at the State Department, Homeland Security, or elsewhere, ever puzzle at how ingrained and widespread jihadist activity is, even outside of the Wahhabi sphere of influence, if it's supposedly all just a big misunderstanding and "hijacking" of an otherwise peaceful belief system?

Watch Hirsi Ali struggle in vain to get through to a thick-skulled journalist.

Why Britain Struggles To Assimilate Immigrants

When the concept of "multiculturalism" was introduced to Canadians, most assumed it meant more pavilions at Folkfest...

A third of London’s residents were born outside Britain, a higher percentage of newcomers than in any other city in the world except Miami, and the percentage continues to rise. Likewise, migration figures for the country as a whole—emigration and immigration—suggest that its population is undergoing swift replacement. Many of the newcomers are from Pakistan, India, and Africa; others are from Eastern Europe and China. If present trends continue, experts predict, in 20 years’ time, between a quarter and a third of the British population will have been born outside it, and at least a fifth of the native population will have emigrated. Britain has always had immigrants—from the French Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to Germans fleeing Prussian repression, from Jews escaping czarist oppression to Italian prisoners of war who stayed on after World War II—and absorbed them. But never so many, or so quickly.

To the anxiety about these unprecedented demographic changes—a substantial majority of the public, when asked, says that it wants a dramatic reduction in immigration—one can add a reticence in openly expressing it. Inducing this hesitancy are intellectuals of the self-hating variety, who welcome the destruction of the national identity and who argue—in part, correctly—that every person’s identity is multiple; that identity can and ought to change over time; and that too strong an emphasis on national identity has in the past led to barbarism. By reiteration, they have insinuated a sense of guilt into everyone’s mind, so that even to doubt the wisdom or viability of a society consisting of myriad ethnic and religious groups with no mutual sympathy (and often with mutual antagonisms) is to suspect oneself of sliding toward extreme nationalism or fascism; so that even to doubt the wisdom or viability of a society in which everyone feels himself part of an oppressed minority puts one in the same category as Jean-Marie Le Pen, or worse.

Not Waiting For The Asteroid

You have a paper (as all of you know, the IHT is owned by the NYT) that is in crisis.

In a big crisis.

For many years.

Losing money.

Losing readers.

Losing advertising.

Losing market share …

And what your bosses do?

Reader Tips

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Reader Tips and SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation, I have made newly available a rare performance from our SDA LNR studio collection of vintage 45 RPM singles. Here are Australia's own Johnny Chester & the Chessmen performing The Old Copper Kettle, ca. 1960, this pressing by Canadian KiM records, K.M.1688, CT-30765, originally from W&G Recording in Australia. I would argue that one needs to listen to the end of this work ~ it's only two minutes ~ to fully appreciate it, but I don't want to say any more 'cause that would spoil it.

Your Reader Tips are of course, as always, welcome in the comments.

Nancy Pelosi on the surge

Nancy Pelosi demonstrates her keen understanding of military affairs - and credits Iranian goodwill for the success of the surge:

Asked if she saw any evidence of the surge’s positive impact on her May 17 trip to Iraq she responded:

Well, the purpose of the surge was to provide a secure space, a time for the political change to occur to accomplish the reconciliation. That didn’t happen. Whatever the military success, and progress that may have been made, the surge didn’t accomplish its goal. And some of the success of the surge is that the goodwill of the Iranians-they decided in Basra when the fighting would end, they negotiated that cessation of hostilities-the Iranians.

The Pointy End just Got Sharper

About time ... overdue ...

Ezra has the details.

Update: More good news.

Opera Lovers Delight

I'd say that some things are beyond parody ... but then, this is SDA:

MILAN, Italy (AP) — First it was the film and the book. Now the next stop for Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" is opera.

La Scala officials say the Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli has been commissioned to produce an opera on the international multiformat hit for the 2011 season at the Milan opera house. The composer is currently artistic director of the Arena in Verona.

Are You Feeling Guilty Yet?

Parade of loons.

The information gatekeepers, asleep at their posts

Our mainstream media organs, providing context, probing investigation, and depth of knowledge to the Canadian consumer, as...

...oops, never mind:

The fact that Viking, located on Vancouver Island and the Buffalo design holder, was not contacted by any media outlet in order to better understand the support arrangements for the CC-115 Buffalo is, in my opinion, unacceptable [emphasis added].

- David Curtis is president and CEO of Viking Air Ltd.

Unacceptable? Ya think?

Making a Silk Purse out of a Pig's Ear

Are your Mullah's getting you down? Sleepless nights?

Rest easy, because we've got the cure for you.

Read the following before bedtime and you'll sleep as soundly as B. H. Obama during a Rev. Wright sermon:

Iranian Mullahs ...

* Will never dare to use the bomb, even if they had it. To do so would be suicidal.
* Are years away from anything resembling a credible bomb, in any quantity.
* They lack the technological skills needed to make a workable bomb.
* Don't have the means of hitting Israel with the bomb, their professed favorite target.
* Want the bomb for defensive purposes only.
* Would never hand the bomb over to proxy terrorists.
* Are using this whole bomb thing as a ploy to rally the populace and survive.
* Are visionary patriots planning for a future when the oil dries up.
* Are environmentalists aiming to curb global warming caused by the use of fossil fuel.
* Are striving to join the nuclear club for its prestige.

click

crossposted @ Celestial Junk

The Sound Of Settled Science

The "Parking Lot Effect.

Weather Picture of The Day

Anthony Watts' cool new blog site.

Reader Tips

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Kate has asked me to look after the daily Reader Tips entries while she is away, by combining them with the SDA LNR shows. So without further ado, here for your delectation is Zubin Mehta conducting the massed Israel Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, in Tel Aviv in 1990, performing the allegro finale from Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, op. 67 by Ludwig van Beethoven:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8222970279301407869

Your reader tips are of course, as always, welcome in the comments.

SDA LNR Update: Harvey Korman has passed away. Cal2, in the comments, has already noted this three part Archive of American Television interview with Harvey Korman and Tim Conway. On a lighter note, you might also enjoy this Friendly Business Lunch sketch, starring Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Steve Lawrence, from, of course, the inimitable Carol Burnett show.

Scratch a "Green"

... and what do you find?

A limousine Liberal:

LONDON -- After hundreds of angry drivers shut down highways in England yesterday in protest against green automobile taxes, and drivers and fishermen in France and Spain paralyzed their ports and roads in a fuel-tax protest, politicians began to signal Europe's ambitious emission-control policies may soon have to be abandoned.

While Europe has led the way in using tax incentives to encourage people to buy low-emission cars and to build carbon-neutral houses in order to meet Kyoto targets, it has become increasingly apparent that inflation-battered voters are no longer willing to go along.

When I composed the ecophobe checklist, it was meant to be a joke ... I may need to rethink that. There's got to be a way of telling a genuine "green" from a fake.

For you earth haters ... you can rate yourself here ... click.

A Celebration of the Human Mind

UPDATE - Lease your very own Bugatti Veyron

Not Worried About The Asteroid

Heh.

For the 77th consecutive month, FNC finished first in total day and prime time ratings during May. FNC was the sixth highest rated cable network on all of basic cable during prime time for the month (CNN and MSNBC finished 19th and 26th) and the seventh rated network in total day (CNN and MSNBC were 19th and 27th).

FNC also had 11 out of the top 13 programs in cable during the month in Total Viewers. The O'Reilly Factor was the #1 program in cable news for the 90th consecutive month, and saw gains in Total Viewers year-to-year (26%).

Reader Tips

I'll be on the road over the next few days, though I should be able to check in from time to time. Guest bloggers are welcome to stop by, as usual, but if the weather is nice where you are, turn off the computer and get out of the house for a while!

"Finally, the photos are starting to leak out."

"Muslims are breeding like mosquitoes"

I am Mark Steyn, too.

The Covenant Zone bloggers will be demonstrating in support of Mark Steyn and Maclean's magazine, and against the ludicrous operation of 'human rights' law in this country, when Mark's hearing in front of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal kicks off, next Monday, June 2.

Seven Year American Recession Watch Remains On High Alert

The US economy continues to resist media efforts at sabotage;

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods fell by a smaller-than-anticipated amount in April with many sectors outside of transportation showing unexpected strength.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that orders for durable goods dropped 0.5 percent, dragged down by big declines in demand for commercial aircraft and autos.

However, excluding transportation, orders rose by 2.5 percent last month, the biggest gain in 9 months. Orders for electrical equipment and appliances surged by 27.8 percent, the biggest increase on record, with strong demand also registered for primary metals, machinery and communications equipment.

101 People Who Are Screwing Up Canada

And One Who Is Not.

Steyn, At The Fraser Institute

This is my first ever speech in Vancouver. And, amazingly enough, it’s also my last ever speech in Vancouver. So it’s kind of a two-for-one night. It’s like when they say “Direct from Broadway. Limited engagement.” This is a very limited engagement. The reason for that is, next Monday, the excerpt from my bestselling hate crime, America Alone, that Maclean’s made the mistake of publishing, next Monday that book excerpt goes on trial at the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. As some of you know, the Canadian Islamic Congress has accused me and Maclean’s of “flagrant Islamophobia”. And the trial begins Monday morning at the Robson Square courthouse – 9 o’clock Monday morning. Go to Robson Square and look for the old lady by the guillotine doing her knitting, you can’t miss it. She’s knitting a nice “The World Needs More Canada” sweater out of discarded copies of Magna Carta. It’s a very moving sight. It would have, of course, be wholly improper of me to comment on a case before the courts, but hey, that’s the kinda guy I am.

Related

And The CHRC Ad Campaign.

Racial Profiling At The Liberal Party Of Canada

A party worker is "uncomfortable" with this. Isn't that quaint?

Repeat After Me

"We will not fight another war for these people, we will not fight another war .."

Plans to eliminate Eurosceptics as an organised opposition within the European Parliament are expected to be agreed by a majority of MEPs this summer.

The European Union assembly’s political establishment is pushing through changes that will silence dissidents by changing the rules allowing Euro-MPs to form political groupings.

Richard Corbett, a British Labour MEP, is leading the charge to cut the number of party political tendencies in the Parliament next year, a move that would dissolve UKIP’s pan-European Eurosceptic “Independence and Democracy” grouping.

[...]

The row over the new EU Treaty meanwhile took a new turn yesterday after José Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, warned Irish voters that they will “pay” if they reject the document in a referendum next month.

Speaking in Brussels on Monday night, Mr Barroso attempted to head off growing opposition to the Treaty by threatening outcast status for Ireland.

”If there was a ‘No’ in Ireland or in another country, it would have a very negative effect for the EU. We will all pay a price for it, Ireland included, if this is not done in a proper way,” he said.

Officials fear that advanced plans to create a new EU President, Foreign Minister and European diplomatic service will be sunk by an Irish referendum rejection on June 12.

Reader Tips

Open for your tips.

Sorry Vit, you've probably gone to bed...

Marching The Allies Into Poland

Is there nothing that Obama can't do?

Via LGF

The Watermelons: Strangling Economies One Industry At A Time

I propose that from this day forward, any person who has membership in any so-called "Green" party, or who belongs to any recognized environmental NGO be denied access to any business that sells, distributes, or serves food;

“I have the feeling the same will happen in Manitoba as it happened in Switzerland some years ago, Gfell told a Morris hog producer rally recently and also in an interview after the meeting. “In the 1970’s, we had a big problem with water pollution. Lake Bodensee had become a sewer dump because of the rapid expanding population in Switzerland in the 50’s and 60’s.”

The huge increase in industrial and agriculture production had people dumping their wastewater into the lakes and rivers. In the 70’s, it was so bad, that it was impossible in some places to take water from the lake.

The Swiss native said just like in Manitoba, the government and environmentalists blamed mostly hog industry for the pollution. In 1978, they placed a complete ban on any more new hog barns. In 1983, they passed legislation to include a unit limitation as to how much livestock a producer could have. Ironically, they wanted to ban industrial hog production, but in Switzerland, industrial hog production was anything higher than 150 sows and 75 gilts or 1000 hectares.

In the 70’s, there had been a huge expansion in the hog industry, farmers investing in feedmills, new barns, and new technologies.

“When the bill passed in 1983, the farmers had to reduce their farms from 200 to 250 sows farrow to finish units, to 150 sows,” said Gfell. “However, when the ban came in 1973, many producers did not have new barns, but 50-year old barns in many cases. Producers are still using those same barns today because they have not been able to build anything new.”

Here comes the challenge for the industry in Manitoba. Now imagine in Manitoba, if the province had frozen the industry in the 1970’s at that level, fast forward to 2008 and look at the scenario. Those producers who have relatively new barns now in Manitoba are in good shape for the next ten, maybe 20 years.

“But the ones like me, who have just started out [he came here in November 2005] and my barn is already 21 years old,” he said with heavy emotion. “I’m 30 years old, and even if I do some renovations, my barn will only last for ten years at the most, maybe, and then I have to replace or get out.”

His original plan was to build a feedmill on the place, a new barn to feed his pigs up to 50 pounds, then another barn for finishing pigs, a step by step sustainable plan.

“Well, that is impossible under the permanent ban placed on hog barn expansion by the government,” he said.

More on Manitoba's "draconian" Bill 17 legislation at Siemens Says, including this speech by Harry Siemens.

Mayor Pushes To Make Shooting People Illegal In Toronto

Mayor David Miller announced

... a plan today that would make all murders illegal in Toronto, a series of measures that will effectively shut down human aggression and make it all but impossible for murderers to reside, conspire, or function within city limits.

Why, It's As Though She Were A Republican

The former president said Sunday;

... that the media had unfairly attacked his wife since the Iowa caucuses, repeating an often-used charge that press coverage had made him feel as though he were living in a “fun house.”

"If you notice, there hasn't been a lot of publicity on these polls I just told you about,” he said. “It is the first time you've heard it? Why do you think that is? Why do you think? Don't you think if the polls were the reverse and he was winning the Electoral College against Senator McCain and Hillary was losing it, it would be blasted on every television station?”

Tony Blair's Britain

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch, and "every adult in the UK would be given an annual carbon dioxide allowance in kgs and a special carbon card."

"The Government says it supports the scheme in principle...."

The Super Jump (Bumped)

At this moment, a 400 foot streak of silver is floating across a perfect, calm, Saskatchewan spring morning sky.

And, at this moment, the capsule it was attached to remains on the ground.

It's uncertain what happened - human error or malfunction - but the balloon separated from its payload at liftoff. Local residents are reporting that the balloon is beginning to descend about 8 miles northwest of the Battlefords.

Update - The launch manager Dale Sommerfelt (via radio interview) reports the balloon has been located 15km west of the Battlefords. No decision has been made about a future attempt - the balloons are designed for single use, and they don't have a backup. A briefing will be held later today.

(Yesterday's post continues below)

CP;

After a delay earlier in the morning over concerns about winds, a French skydiver has decided to proceed with his bid to try to make history by jumping from the stratosphere above Saskatchewan.

Michel Fournier is scheduled take to the sky Monday morning in a capsule attached to a massive helium balloon and then step out and free fall 40,000 metres to the Earth.

Fournier's launch manager, Dale Sommerfeldt, said Monday morning the wind is light at the launch site in North Battleford, Sask.

Sommerfeldt said the staff was about to start filling the helium balloon for Fournier's launch.

Fournier's website is here, but under heavy traffic load this morning, so may be slow to access.

Update: latest report is that they have not yet started filling the balloon, so any launch will be after 8am local time, given the 90 minutes that takes. But so far, winds are within allowable limits.

Update: Wind from the SE at 9. They're doing final checks, and hoping for a 9 am launch time.

I have appointments this morning, and can't stay on this, so readers are invited to do so in the comments. Hopefully, all goes well!

Update: Postponed on a day-to-day basis, due to wind changes this morning.

Raising The Dead

Is there nothing Obama can't do?

“On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.”

If only it were that easy for Hillary.

Reader Tips

Tips thread.

Memorial Day

"I hope the family of this warrior knows that we loved him, too."

Not Waiting For The Asteroid

*

More paper cuts...

Trapped In The Woods South Of Calgary With Hyenas

While his ATV's cargo of meat rotted in the January cold;

When Ken Hildebrand found himself stuck out in the Canadian wilderness, the good news was that he had everything with him which would ensure his survival. The bad news was that it was all beyond his reach.

Mr Hildebrand was forced to spend the next three nights trapped under his all-terrain vehicle as temperatures dropped and a hungry pack of wolves circled nearby. "I had everything I needed, but I just couldn't get to it," said the 55-year-old, whose ordeal happened in January as he was collecting animal traps from the woods, south of Calgary.

His truck had rolled over, pinning him underneath. He survived by eating rotten animal meat and dirt, and kept warm by using the corpses of the dead animals he had been collecting. He managed to scare off the hyenas and wolves by blowing on a whistle, and was eventually found by hikers.

This great moment in fact-checking brought to you by reader "hardboiled".

Hope And Change

More... uh.... foreign policy specifics...

But "if we are going to isolate the Venezuelans, it may be that we have to engage in a full-on diplomatic strategy with them," the adviser says. Obama was not saying he, himself, would propose such a meeting, nor that he would necessarily participate in that meeting. When Obama referred to "my talks with President Hugo Chavez," he did not mean "my talks," literally (necessarily) -- he meant his administration's talks -- "though it could be him engaging in this diplomacy directly and personally," the adviser says. The point is, all the tools need to be in the diplomacy kit -- isolation, willingness to hold presidential meetings, and everything in between.

I didn’t serve as many people my age because Vietnam was over by the time I was of draft age and we had then moved to an all volunteer army.

h/t and video

Pay No Attention

From an exhibition in the Iranian city of Qom.

h/t

Related: "I actually think they're trying to educate us. "

Reader Tips

Dear Toronto Real Estate Board - "Last summer, we received a number of posts from your server that were so harassing that we had to ban your server IP address from our website."

Dear Toronto Star readers; Act like a mature society that understands the importance of diversity.

There can't be enough laws against hate! So, let's start with CHRC legal counsel Ian Fine.

Yours are welcome in the comments.

Flight Of The Phoenix

"we now have 3 functioning laboratories on Mars"

Update - the first photos are starting to come in.

Blog Notes

A note to readers who commented on this May 22nd post titled "Return Of The Orchard Davidians (Bumped)".

Due to a technical problem too complicated to explain here, adjustments were made that have resulted in the comments being unpublished. This, I sincerely regret. The technical problem did not originate at SDA, but stemmed from an incoming link from a site widely known for its frequent intellectual outages and related traffic meter malfunctions.

Actually, the change took place over 24 hours ago, but I did not mention it before now due to time constraints.

And because, mischief is important.

Do You Believe In The Hereafter?

Dick Martin has died at 86

h/t Cal2

Tony Blair's Britain

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch and Mr. Policeman is your friend;

Two years ago, the City of London police attracted criticism when it emerged more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology.

The City of London chief superintendent, Kevin Hurley, praised Scientology for "raising the spiritual wealth of society" during the opening of its headquarters in 2006.

Frankly, My Dear

Trader Mickey

Chavez Mourns Another Loss

It must be a lonely time for the aspiring dictator. According to BBC;

The leader of Colombia's largest rebel group, the Farc, has died, the military has claimed in a statement.

A national news magazine had earlier reported the death of Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda on 26 March, citing the defence minister, Juan Manuel Santos.

There has been no confirmation from guerrilla sources. The top rebel commander's death has been rumoured and disproved several times in the past.

But correspondents say the death would be a big blow to the Farc if confirmed.

Mr Marulanda, whose real name is Pedro Antonio Marin, has led the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, since its foundation in 1964.

He is thought to be 78 years old and there have been persistent rumours of ill health, including evidence that suggested he had prostate cancer.

Reader Tips

Open for Sunday.

Feel The Diversity

When the concept of "multiculturalism" was introduced to Canadians, most assumed it meant more pavilions at Folkfest...

A followup to Thursday's Kurds vs Turks brawl in Edmonton where factions of the banned terrorist group the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) went toe to toe with Turkish Nazi's at the Ankara Cafe....

Y2Kyoto: Our Grasp Exceeds Our Reach

Nasa;

Jupiter's recent outbreak of red spots is likely related to large scale climate change as the gas giant planet is getting warmer near the equator.

She's Finished

It doesn't matter what she meant by it;

Asked by South Dakota newspaper the Argus Leader why she didn’t buy the argument that the party was fracturing because of the prolonged contest, Clinton said “my husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June.”

“We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California,” she continued. “You know i just dont understand it.

The Member From Halton Causing Embarrassment To The Liberals?

Who saw that coming?

Never Miss A Chance To Reverse A Good Decision

"In 1999, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decided that it did not need to regulate broadcasting on the Internet."

"That can't be right."

I’ve seen this one mostly from people outside the immediate realm of drug discovery, well-meaning people who just can’t believe that this is how it works. The harm comes when these well-meaning folks decide that the problem is that the industry is just behind the times, and that we wouldn’t have to do it this way if we’d just adopt some modern management techniques – ISO whatever-thousand, umpteem-sigma, Quality Assurance Tiger Team Circle Continuous Improvement Metrics, or what have you. Harm generally ensues.

Reader Tips

Tips open for Saturday. (Busy weekend, posting will be slow).

Hope And Change

Finally, specifics!

Via

Big City Lib Busted

This is what the global warming supporters have been reduced to;

Honor system abuser, BigCityLib, aka Michael J. Murphy of Toronto reports that he in fact did NOT make the [Oregon Petition Project] list. By his own admission he lied about his background and falsified documents to try to have his name added, but apparently the petition screening process found his deception and denied his application.

Revisiting Camelot

That is, the "Camelot" of a post-assassination exercise in myth creation. Placing the man who brought us the Cuban missile crisis in the context of a new generation who believes he's worth emulating;

JFK had repeated Chamberlain's key mistake at Munich. He sent a signal of abject weakness to an aggressor held back only by fear. He walked into shark-infested water bleeding and ringing the dinner bell. And although the US was overwhelmingly stronger than Khruschev's Soviet Union, the wily old Bolshevik judged it safe to hustle the "very inexperienced, even immature" Leader of the Free World. The Soviet strongman struck while the going seemed good.

h/t Maz2 (and others)

Free Joey

Great moments in journalism;

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith was quizzed about the [kangaroo] cull's* possible damage to Australia's image overseas and whether it would empower the pro-whaling lobby.

"I don't think it will," he told reporters.

(* They employed "military contractors" for the awful deed. Colour me impressed with this new Labour government - that's better than the hakapic!)

The Would-Be Commanders In Chief

"Democratic Sen. Barack Obama questions Republican Sen. John McCain’s commitment to the troops. CQ Politics has the video. McCain has the son in Iraq."

Reader Tips

Comments open for your Friday tips.

Hawk One

The Public Policy Forum Could Use A New Booking Agent

In late breaking Twisting The Knife News - Mark Steyn's Monday appearance at the Fraser Institute has sold out.

At $500 a ticket.

George W. Bush

280% more popular than Stephane Dion.

Return Of The Orchard Davidians (Bumped)

An excited James Curran has the good news;

"Following an extensive period of consultation across the riding, I have decided to put my name forward as a candidate for the Liberal Party nomination in the northern Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River." - David Orchard

Update - James replies in the comments;

Turner and Orchard? Belinda and Scottie? See a trend? Most Progressive Conservatives with any real Progressive values have jumped ship from the Alliance/Reform Harpercrites.

• And, yes, I am dead Liberal meat. I mean, the evidence is overwhelming. I read just days ago that Stephane Dion had thrown my sorry, misogynistic ass out of the caucus room.

I watched on television as weaselette Jane Taber told a breathless Mike Duffy all about the actual slides I used in my PowerPoint presentation to national caucus on May 14th, the reaction of female colleagues to my “tasteless” display and the whupping I took from Dion himself.

After all, this is a man who accuses those who oppose CHRC legal abuses in the pursuit of "hate speech" of being sympathetic to the views of the neo-Nazis and supremacists they target.

Therefore, one has no choice but to assume that Kinsella's publicly expressed "personal" opinions are utterly and completely informed by his own self interests in keeping his corporate clients happy. Not just on the carbon tax issue, but on any and all matters.

So, Jason - don't back down on this one. If you're going to have any hope of one day getting off the porch to run with the big dogs of politics, you're first going to have to demonstrate that you won't let go when you've collared a little yapper.

Update! - That's my boy!

Toronto Liberals

Our electoral superiors!

JD Wood from Toronto, Canada writes: The last thing we need is an elected senate. There is a reason senators are chosen for their wisdom, education, and experience -- not their electability. This so called U.S. idea of "elitism" is absurd... I would RATHER have an "elitist" in the senate than some dolt who might invite you to a pig roast and beer party. The senate exists to protect the electorate from itself when they make major mistakes (e.g. electing Harper). I do not trust the ignorant masses to tie their shoes nevermind elect senators. What is next... soon when I go to the doctor my diagnosis will be determined by the democratic ignorance of the people? How about instead, educated specialists with advanced knowledge continue to treat the cancer that is killing Canada -- Harper, the Reform party, and its populism.

Prayer Vigil

"Oh please, Lord - let it happen..."

Really, I can't believe I'm the only one who can see the possibilities. Think of the headlines - "After A Divisive Nomination, The Democrats Join Cults"

"There it was, shining like a beacon over the city"

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Dennis Miller Interviews Steve Paikin and No-Libs has the audio.

Oh no! Clandestine teams!

Pollution results in fewer bugs? How can that be bad?

Millimeters count.

Yours are welcome in the comments.

Y2Kyoto Goes Postal

Bloomberg;

The U.S. Postal Service purchased more than 30,000 ethanol-capable trucks and minivans from 1999 to 2005, making it the biggest American buyer of alternative-fuel vehicles. Gasoline consumption jumped by more than 1.5 million gallons as a result.

Adding To The Growing Mountain Of Evidence That The World Has Been Hijacked By Crazy People

A SEX swap instructor at an all-female driving school was left devastated when the Sheffield husband of one of her pupils threatened to sue her firm - for sending a man to teach his Muslim wife.

Maybe They Should Have Thrown In A Free Concert*

Oops. Maybe they did.

*

Love In A Life Raft

Priorities in order, the UN sends 200,000 condoms to Myanmar, which the government has accepted. Perhaps those poor people can inflate them, tie them together and float out of there on them.

Tony Blair's Britain

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch, and thou shalt not utter the "c" word;

Say whatever you like about Christ but mock a pedophile prophet - no names here, would not want to excite the excitable - and it will be your head. Not only that but the so called progressives will sneer and call you a racist even as your blood drains into the gutter.

And now, in what I will laughingly describe as "England", it is against the law to blaspheme aliens.

The Sound Of Settled Science

Predicting the past...

Assessment of the reliability of climate predictions based on comparisons with historical time series

[...] In this study, we have retrieved temperature and precipitation records, at least 100-year long, from a number of stations worldwide. We have also retrieved a number of climatic model outputs, extracted the time series for the grid points closest to each examined station, and produced a time series for the station location based on best linear estimation. Finally, to assess the reliability of model predictions, we have compared the historical with the model time series using several statistical indicators including long-term variability, from monthly to overyear (climatic) time scales. Based on these analyses, we discuss the usefulness of climatic model future projections (with emphasis on precipitation) from a hydrological perspective, in relationship to a long-term uncertainty framework.

...none of the models proves to be systematically better than the others... model predictions are much poorer than an elementary prediction based on the time average... future climate projections [are] not credible.

h/t Roger Pielke Sr. (he has much more).

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Tips open.

Lucy, Look What Choo Started!

The RCMP investigation into alleged misconduct by Canadian Human Rights Commission employees goes national on CTV News tonight*.

A big thanks to all of you who have pushed this story behind the scenes with your local media and politicians, in your opinion and editorial columns, and to Mike Duffy, who has been the pointy end of the spear poking at the MSM in recent weeks.

Update - *my information (by way of Mike Duffy) indicated that Bob Fife would be reporting on the RCMP investigation this evening. I didn't catch all of the National, but the part I did had no mention of it.

A Bridge Too Far

He's survived the Rich Playboy Disease that took so many others before their time, so I wouldn't count the old buffoon out just yet. The Anchoress;

"My prediction: Someone - probably Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews - will go completely over the top and say that the Kennedy illness will not mark the “end of Camelot…how fitting that it is being revived this very night by Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy’s handpicked successor to the enduring legacy,” or some such gag-inducing nonsense."

That Ted Kennedy is being described as the Kennedy "patriarch" is an indication of the steepness of the clan's decline.

Further thoughts: I take no pleasure in the news, either, but there's something in the knowledge that this is a man who once chose to leave a young woman to die, that has an eroding effect on my sympathy.

Just remember the name Ted Kennedy the next time someone equates "he'll have to live with it for the rest of his life" with "punishment".

Jadewarr, Son Of Encryption: Updated

Ezra has the story and the links;

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have begun an investigation into alleged criminal conduct by members of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

The conduct in question was revealed at an extraordinary hearing on March 25th, a hearing the CHRC desperately tried to keep closed to the press.

An officer of Bell Canada, appearing under a subpoena, testified that the CHRC had hacked into a private citizen's Internet account, to cover their electronic tracks as they surfed anti-Semitic websites under the alias "Jadewarr". You can read the transcript of the hearing here -- a transcript the CHRC did not release to the public.

The victim of the CHRC's illegal hacking, Nelly Hechme, told reporters that she was "completely shocked" by the CHRC's conduct. Canada's Privacy Commissioner, who has jurisdiction over the CHRC, is now investigating the matter.

Previous entries.

But If Senators Are Elected...

Where will Liberal-friendly journalists go to retire?

Where Are They Now?

Crystal Mangum;

... the drug-addled, mentally unstable prostitute who falsely accused three lacrosse players of raping her two years ago.

The Sound Of Settled Science

Via NRO;

BBC News, July 30, 2007:
A new analysis of Atlantic hurricanes says their numbers have doubled over the last century. The study says that warmer sea surface temperatures and changes in wind patterns caused by climate change are fuelling much of the increase.

BBC News, May 18, 2008:
Hurricanes and tropical storms will become less frequent by the end of the century as a result of climate change, US researchers have suggested. But the scientists added their data also showed that there would be a "modest increase" in the intensity of these extreme weather events.

A Handy List

Of the things you can't say about Obama.

British Columbia's Bill 42

Read more here on Bill 42, the Election Amendment Act.

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To start your Tuesday.

Scratch A Leftist

You'll find an anti-Semite;

Israel embody the vessel of boiling blood of horror and perfidy in demonic vileness for its pattern of terrorism and murder in the name of Zionist ideology. It has earned the arsenal of nuclear warheads through stolen intelligence in betrayal, estimated to number between 200 to over 500, through a covert development at Dimona underground nuclear reactor built in the late 50's, to which President Kennedy, as an anti-nuclear weapon peacenik who signed Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, objected and had considerable tense relationship with the then-Third Prime Minister David Ben Gurion before his abrupt resignation for "personal reasons" on June 21, 1963. After the murder of JFK, Israel has extended its Zionistic tentacle to grasp the United States by the neck to leech on to that manifest the radical foreign policy about-face to morally and materially support State of Israel in no uncertain (and unconditional) terms.

ht LGF

Y2Kyoto: If You Don't Believe In Global Warming, Just Look In Your Toilet Bowl

Shrinking brains, great balls of methane fire, and wee helpless babies bursting into flame - can the global warming news get any worse?

Why, yes! It can!

(This post is dedicated to commentor QE)

Honey, I Finished The Internet

The top secret flying saucer program of the Third Reich.

The Sound Of Settled Science

NOAA reports that April 2008 was a full degree (F) below normal making it the 29th coldest April out of 115 years for the United States, the coldest in 11 years. Much of the western 2/3rds of the lower 48 were colder than normal. In Washington State, it was the second coldest April on record. In contrast in the east, in New York State it was the 3rd warmest.

Reader Tips

Your Monday tips thread.

The Change They've Been Waiting For

""We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK..."

Tony Blair's Britain

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch, and anyone who supports the kaffir, be they Labour, Conservative, Respect, he becomes a kaffir like them.

h/t Flea

"The ship was secretly refuelled offshore by the South African navy vessel SAS Drakensberg."

More great moments in socialism;

THE ZIMBABWEAN government said yesterday that weapons carried by China's so-called "ship of shame", the An Yue Jiang, had arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, despite an international campaign to prevent the 77 tonnes of arms reaching President Robert Mugabe's regime.

[...]

The handful of South African correspondents in Zimbabwe say the government's campaign of terror is widespread but largely unreported. Restrictions on movements, imposed by the government and reinforced by a lack of fuel, mean that country areas cannot be reached, and it is there that the government violence is most intense. Many who voted for Tsvangirai in March will be afraid to do so again in June.

Zimbabwe's economy is in a prolonged free-fall. Unemployment exceeds 80%. The world's worst rate of inflation now surpasses 165,000%. A Zim$500 million note went into circulation last week, and is worth less than a pound.

Meanwhile, the violence spilled over into South Africa. Last week, five townships in Johannesburg erupted as local residents attacked Zimbabwean neighbours, accusing them of stealing jobs, houses and women. Zimbabwean houses were looted and burned down. Three million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the population, have fled to South Africa as economic and human rights refugees. Three immigrants were killed, hundreds wounded and many Zimbabwean women were raped as the rampage continued this weekend.

Frankly, My Dear

The Old Mill Pond

There Are People Who Believe They're Napoleon, Too

But we don't give them two battalions of French troops and a road map to Russia.

Reader Tips

A little late for today - sorry! I was off to an early start this morning and just got home. (You're better off enjoying the weekend away from the computer, anyway.)

Beyond Kraft Dinner

As promised, a few photos from my trip to Beijing.

The air quality is much as advertised, though the composition seems to be about 1/3 pollutants, 1/3 blowing dirt, and 1/3 poplar fuzz. In an effort to green up the city, the government - in the words of my host - "picked the wrong trees".

The most common sight in Beijing - there are thousands of construction cranes in operation everywhere you go.

One really has to see the monster from street level to get a sense of how weird-ass the weird-ass CCTV building is. (Taken through the rainy car window - sorry.)

I announced it will fall down. My host disagreed, and explained that it would be "the most famous building in the world". "Yes," I agreed. "Most famous when it falls down".

In fact, much of the modern architecture in Beijing is reminiscent of a Star Trek movie. This is a downtown rail stop.

Dog shows look pretty much the same everywhere.

A downtown food market booth. Thanks, but no thanks.

(Incidentally, among the few "fat" people I saw in China were the guys scavenging food out of the garbage barrels at this market.)

Speaking of which - I discovered the reason behind the world-wide food shortage. Her name is Tiffany. This was the lunch she ordered for three.

The main gate at the Forbidden City.

Lion guard thingies.

Obligatory images from the Great Wall.

Uh oh. Don't tell you-know-who...

There are others in this directory, though they're rather mundane.

Rocket Man

Dutch Cartoonist Jailed

For this.

Correction: The cartoon shown is from the Halifax Chronicle Herald, who are also being dragged before a HRC for publishing it. No jail time, though.

Yet.

Irena Sendler

“Last year she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, eventually won by Al Gore."

Y2Kyoto: Reckless Endangerment

Should the West ever secede over "green" attempts to appropriate our energy industries, we should consider asking Alaska to join us;

I am disappointed and disturbed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to weaken the Endangered Species Act by listing the polar bear as threatened despite the steady increase in the species’ population. Scientists have observed that there are now three times as many polar bears in the Arctic than there were in the 1970s.

Never before has a species been listed as endangered or threatened while occupying its entire geographic range.

This decision was made without any research demonstrating dangerously low population levels in polar bears, but rather on speculation regarding how ice levels will affect Arctic wildlife. Worse yet, today’s decision cannot and will not do anything to reverse sea ice decline.

Instead, this action by the Fish and Wildlife Service sets a dangerous precedent with far-reaching social and economic ramifications. It opens the door for many other Arctic species to be listed, which would severely hamper Alaska’s ability to tap its vast natural resources. Reinterpreting the Endangered Species Act in this way is an unequivocal victory for extreme environmentalists who want to block all development in our state.

The manipulation of the Endangered Species Act was highlighted by Kassie Siegel, the lawyer who wrote the legal petition for the Center for Biological Diversity. Ms. Siegel made no attempt to disguise her group’s intent when she said that the effort to list the polar bears was to ‘try to make the point that global warming is not some future threat’. This statement confirms that these fringe environmentalists are simply using the polar bears to advance their extreme agenda.

This abuse of Endangered Species law will have a devastating impact on the entire nation through endless litigation and regulation. It will ultimately weaken the Act itself, which has been one of our nation’s most valuable tools for conserving wildlife.

Alaskans must now stand together and fight attempts to exploit the public’s fear of climate change as a means to impose unreasonable burdens in our state. The future of Alaska will depend on it.”

h/t

"When I delivered that speech, nobody clapped."

"Is this another Bosnian sniper incident...?"

h/t

Electoral Genocide

Another great moment in socialism.

(Warning: disturbing images)

Because There's Always A "Next"

"No, those who scare me are those who (not entirely unlike the Nazis) are in positions of authority and responsibility and think that this gives them a vantage point on what kinds of speech should and should not be acceptable. It's not that I care deeply if some truly marginal and deeply resentful fool gets caught in the sights of some kind of hate police and penalized. It's that in creating such a precedent for thought policing, both cop and citizen naturally ask, well, who's next?"

I don't need to share their marginal views or resentment to defend their right not to be harrassed by a bureaucracy that defaults to "guilty until proven innocent".

Why? Because, it's the truly resentful who are most likely to carry their frustrations beyond verbal release into murderous violence when backed into a corner, and doubly so when those doing the backing trade in provocateurism and injustice. When the unbalanced finally snap, it's rarely the bureaucrat behind the machinery who endures their wrath - it's the innocent at their workplace, or the police officer who pulls them over for speeding who find themselves in the crosshairs.

It's a tricky enough business dealing with these individuals within the justice system proper. The last thing we need are the thumbscrews of the human rights racket being applied to such cases.

Seven Year American Recession Watch Remains On High Alert

Construction starts on new U.S. homes

... rose by a surprisingly strong 8.2 percent in April and applications for new building permits turned up for the first time in five months, the Commerce Department said on Friday in a report showing that the hard-hit housing sector still had some spring vigor.

Starts in April ran at a 1.032-million-unit annual rate, up from a revised 954,000-unit rate in March, while permits gained 4.9 percent to 978,000 a year from a revised 932,000 in March.

That was a significantly stronger performance than anticipated by economists surveyed by Reuters who had forecast April starts at a 940,000-unit rate and permits at 920,000 a year.

Y2Kyoto: An Inconvenient Dinosaur

The figures don't lie. The only environmentally sustainable course of action for the Toronto Star is to commit corporate suicide. (More quickly than it already is, that is.)

For the planet.

For the children;

A prototypical publisher selling 250,000 newspapers on each of the 365 days of the year adds nearly 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, according to calculations we’ll explain in a moment. That’s roughly equivalent to the CO2 spewed by almost 3,700 Ford Explorers being driven 10,000 miles apiece per year. (Disclosure: I own a 12-year-old Ford Explorer. Anyone want to buy it?)

CO2 matters, because a dangerous buildup of the gas in the atmosphere – caused by the growing consumption of fossil fuels and the decimation of our forests – is causing the earth to warm to such dangerous and unprecedented levels that the health of the planet and its inhabitants are imperiled.

The problem for even the most environmentally sensitive print publisher is that every aspect of the business does uncontestable violence to the environment.

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"The persecution of a national news magazine and political websites by the CHRT, the libel suits against bloggers - that’s fine with the Liberals. They are firmly behind that - but to prevent a Liberal from using the auspices of parliament to question a man who is sueing him in a civil court - that’s one step too far."

Who's kidding whom? If he appeals this to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, there's a better than even chance he'll end up with high speed.

Yes, Canada does.

No more apologies. The Post is calling Warman's bluff.

Yours in the comments.

Spanking Siddiqui

"Perhaps Mr Siddiqui might be a less opaque. There is no ‘ongoing debate in Canada over when freedom of speech crosses the line into hate.’ When the likes of Hamas, Hizbollah and the policies of the Arab world are given credibility, the question of hate is not in question. What is in question is just how much hate is acceptable- and the answer to that is quite clear: Canadians have a very high tolerance for hate if it is well camouflaged."

I Suppose It's Better Than "Toots"

UPDATE: The left show the victim their support and understanding...

Not Just Anti-Israel

He joins the other side;

Tony Burman has taken on a new role with al-Jazeera as the Middle Eastern broadcaster's managing director for its English-language station.

Bush Displays A General Garment

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,"

From Rusafa to Sadr City

Bill Ardolino has a new photo slideshow up from his embed in Iraq.

When Will The NEJM Officially Recognize Bush Derangement Syndrome ...

... as an exceptionally debilatating disease? I believe right after they view this...

I got to admit though, he's got great hair...

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I'm home, and going to bed. Normal posting should resume sometime tomorrow.

Vietnamistan

For "progressives", the notion of Western brutes running amok among the hapless poor, destroying villages in the name of big oil and the military-industrial complex, is a fact ... no matter the era.

Enter one, Garth Turner:

"These are contradictory times," said Turner at the conclusion of the meeting. "We don't have funding for youth centres but we do have $150,000 for every shell bought for the sole purpose of destroying a village in Afghanistan. We could buy each Afghan a condominium with that money," he added.

Update

The following is dedicated to all the real men serving in Afghanistan. In the summer of 2006, Canuck soldiers cleared the Taliban from strongholds near Kandahar. It was standard infantry warfare where for the first time since Korea, Canadians were on the attack. Unfortunately for the Taliban, they were foolish enough to stand and fight:

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To get you started:

Progressive Dreams:

Progressive dreams usually involve lavishly funded projects, government departments, or NGOs, charged with bringing utopia to the world. "Progressive" realities, involve lavishly funded projects, government departments, or NGOs, which deliver little change ... least of all the utopia that "progressive" ideology is built on.

The UK ... beyond parody.

From Brussels Journal ... a little bit of electioneering.

Wheeler's Climate Cycle

Put your tips, links, and musings in the comments.

"Please come in – I would like some lubricant for my pistol."

CW4BillT flew helos in Vietnam, in the Middle East, and in many other places over the years, and is now helping train the Iraqi Air Force. He tells his students' stories from time to time, in their voice as they told him:

"After Baghdad falls to the US, I am cashiered out of the Air Force and take a job in one of the markets in my neighborhood. One night, some of my friends are visiting, and we have a barbecue and are watching videos of cowboy movies. There is a knock on my door. I open it and there is a US patrol. They ask if they can enter my house and I say, 'Sure, come in.' I offer them some barbecue, because we see them on patrol; we recognize them and know how long they are out before they return to base. They say, 'No, thank you. We have eaten recently.'

Then they ask if I have weapons. One of my friends says to me in Arabic, 'Tell them "No" because they will take your guns and you will be defenseless.' I tell him in Arabic, 'I will not lie to them or they will not trust us...'"

Here's where you can read the rest.

Y2Kyoto - the attack of the killer corn flakes

Cereal killer warning over corn flakes:

CLIMATE change could lead to "killer cornflakes" with the most potent liver toxin ever recorded, an environmental health conference has been told.

The effects of the toxins, known as mycotoxins, have been known since the Middle Ages when rye bread contaminated with ergot fungus was a staple part of the European diet, environmental health researcher Lisa Bricknell of Central Queensland University (CQU) said.

"People started suffering mass hallucinations, manic depression, gangrene, abortions, reduced fertility and painful, convulsive death," Ms Bricknell told the 10th World Congress on Environmental Health in Brisbane today.

Update: And in other news, a greenie muses about why hysterical doomsayers are losing the debate:

When I launched the TalkClimateChange forums last year, I was initially worried as to where I would find people who didn’t believe in global warming. I had planned to create a furious debate, but in my experience global warming was such a universally accepted issue that I expected to have to dredge the slums of the internet in order to find a couple of deniers who could keep the argument thriving.

The first few days were slow going, but following a brief write-up of my site by Junk Science I was swamped by climate skeptics who did a good job of frightening off the few brave Greens who slogged out the debate with. Whilst there was a lot of rubbish written, the truth was that they didn’t so much frighten the Greens away - they comprehensively demolished them with a more in depth understanding of the science, cleverly thought out arguments, and some very smart answers.

How to Stop Islamic Totalitarianism

... in four easy steps:

1. Be sure to have audacity and hope.

2. Believe in yourself. Remember, you are the one you've been waiting for.

3. Be nice.

4. Give a terrorist a job.

Rick: "Sam, if it's December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in New York?"

Sam: "Um, my watch stopped."

Rick: "I bet they're asleep in New York. I'll bet they're asleep all over America."

... click

The Real Izzy Money

"Stephane, we didn't get it done ... we didn't get it done ... and we have to get it done!" ~ Michael Grant Ignatieff :

Stephane Dion is again musing about a carbon tax. During his bid for the Liberal leadership in 2006, he called it "bad policy." Then, last spring, he suggested a carbon tax was a good policy, but not so good that the Liberals should adopt it. Now, Mr. Dion appears to be saying that a carbon tax may be the right policy for the Liberals after all. His most recent flip flop could not come at a better time for the Conservatives. With high gas prices already enraging consumers, Mr. Dion's idea will be suicidal at the polls.

Finding Perlito

My favorite pics of the Chaiten eruption are here.

(does anyone know the name of the musical composition?)

On the back of a cocktail napkin?

This is quite possibly the only time you'll ever hear me say this: I'm with NDP Defence Critic Dawn Black, as quoted here:

"It's appalling that defence is the biggest expenditure of government and yet there's no strategic documents to go with this supposed plan," Ms. Black said. "We waited two years for this, if you can believe it."

A bright, shiny nickel to the first person who can actually point to the "strategy" in the poorly-named "Canada First Defence Strategy" announced with great hoopla in Halifax yesterday.

Military funding in this country is always welcome, since our Canadian Forces is chronically underfunded. But promises by a minority government for cost-of-living funding increases that won't even keep up with inflation, projected out years beyond the next election, is nothing more than fluff. And without policy to anchor those promises, to lay out the need for such funding, to tie the money to the capabilities our country requires of the CF, they're nothing more real than whispers in the wind.

When politicians speak in vague terms about defence, and when they refuse to put any of their ideas into a written document, my spidey-sense starts tingling.

I wrote something two years ago before the Conservatives gained power, and unfortunately it still holds true:

Interestingly, my concerns with the Conservative platform (page 23 of the pdf, but 45 of the policy book) are exactly the opposite to those I harbour about the Liberal plan. While the Liberals have communicated a vision with mediocre details and follow-through, the Conservatives have laid out significant detail without an overarching policy. Perhaps the Tories assume the policy status quo holds unless contradicted, but I would have liked to have seen that affirmed in their platform. Because, as I've said before, without a cohesive policy thread to hold it all together, their platform is just a series of spending announcements. Welcome and needed spending announcements, mind you, but hardly a defence policy.

Ask yourself if you'd invest in a private enterprise that handled its single largest budgetary line item like this:

In a highly unusual move, the Conservative government will base its entire future rebuilding of the Canadian military on Mr. Harper's 10-minute speech and Mr. MacKay's 700-word address. No actual strategy document has been produced, or will be produced, according to government and defence officials. Neither speech went into any specific details about equipment purchases, costs or timelines or how the future strategy will unfold. Both speeches presented more broad-brush approaches to defence.

Asked about when the actual Canada First Defence Strategy was going to be released, Jay Paxton, Mr. MacKay's press secretary, replied: "It is a strategy that you heard enunciated by the prime minister and Minister MacKay."

"It is not a 'document' like a white paper -- it is the vision delivered today for long-term planning for the CF," he added. "As such, the speeches are the strategy."

The Department of National Defence is the largest branch of our federal government. With a budget of tens of billions of dollars, a written strategy that shows some tangible commitment to a definite plan isn't too much to ask.

7.9

Watching CCTV coverage of the massive Chinese quake aftermath (as best I can, considering the language gap) one can't help but notice how "sanitary" the images are.

While there's plenty of footage showing collapsed buildings and roadways, crushed cars and landslides, the "rescued" quake victims dragged from the rubble before Chinese television cameras are uniformly limp, dazed, and amazingly clean. If one were of a suspicious nature, one might suspect there was some staging going on.

There also seems to be a lot of footage of soldiers moving supplies around in an orderly, efficient manner.

It seems all very reassuring, as I'm sure was intended. There is no question that the death toll will be both staggering and under-reported.

In Beijing, life was going on as usual, as it does everywhere during such times. In addition to flea market shopping, we toured the Forbidden City, complete with private guide and the privilege of skipping the tourist lineup to enter directly through a side gate reserved for staff.

Friends in high places, as they say.

Better go - the pizza and wings just got here. I'll be home late on Wednesday, and hope to have photos up shortly afterwards. Thanks for your patience during my short holiday, and thanks to the guest bloggers who've so generously helped out.

Reader Tips

Open.

I'm Dating a Negro

The Most Hated President

The Liberal claim that G. W. Bush is the most hated American president of all time is, in fact, true ... if only "progressives", Islamic Fascists, Europhiles, Communists, and Tyrants are polled. In the mean time, the good people of this world seem to think he's doing just fine:

More generally, in a world supposedly awash in anti-US sentiment, pro-American leaders keep winning elections. Germany's Angela Merkel is certainly more pro-American than Gerhard Schroeder, whom she replaced. The same is true of France's Nicolas Sarkozy.

More importantly in terms of Green's analysis, the same is also true of South Korea's new President. Lee Myung-bak, elected in a landslide in December, is vastly more pro-American than his predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun.

Even in majority Islamic societies, their populations allegedly radicalised and polarised by Bush's campaign in Iraq and the global war on terror more generally, election results don't show any evidence of these trends. In the most recent local elections in Indonesia, and in national elections in Pakistan, the Islamist parties with anti-American rhetoric fared very poorly. Similarly Kevin Rudd was elected as a very pro-American Labor leader, unlike Mark Latham, with his traces of anti-Americanism, who was heavily defeated.

Even with China, the Iraq campaign was not a serious negative for the US. Beijing was far more worried by the earlier US-led NATO intervention into Kosovo because it was based purely on notions of human rights in Kosovo. Such notions could theoretically be used to justify action (not necessarily military action) against China over Taiwan and Tibet. Iraq, on the other hand, was justified on the basis of weapons of mass destruction, a justification with which the Chinese were much more comfortable.

cross posted @ Celestial Junk

More Reading:

VDH takes a delicious shot at some of the world's chief Bush-haters ... the Europhiles.

How do all these diverse narratives and agendas add up? The vaunted European multicultural, multilateral, utopian and pacifist worldview is now on its own and thus will get hammered as never before in the unrelenting forge of history. Very soon there will be no more George W. Bush to dump on, hide behind, and blame for the widening cracks in the Atlantic alliance. Instead Europeans may well have to call on the old pro, Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama, to lead them in negotiating sessions with jihadists, Iran, and Russia.

Beyond Kraft Dinner

So, this afternoon I was standing in my host's 4th floor office, checking out a map of China, when I felt the building sway. Or did it? I asked the others in the office - no one else felt anything. I felt fine, so it really didn't make sense that it could be a dizzy spell.

The "building is swaying" sensation continued off and on over the next few minutes.

Shortly after, the text messages began to come in.

Apparently, when you come from a earthquake prone zone, you don't notice the small tremors, like those generated over a distance. I'm not from an earthquake prone zone. (The epicenter of the quake was about 1000 miles from here.)

We left shortly afterwards for Silk Street Market, a multi-story bazaar dealing everything from leather goods to silk scarves, jewelry, nicknacks, shoes, silk rugs. The sales girls were, too say the least, "enthusiastic" about making sales.

"Lady, you want a purse? Lady, you want a t-shirt? Specur price for you."

"No thank you, I want car."

"Car?"

"Audi"

"Oh."

"Lady, I can get you car!"

"Lady, you want a camera?"

"No, thanks, I have a camera. See? Here - I take your picture."

"No, no picture."

"Thanks! See - I took your picture."

I'm not sure they were as amused as I was. I left the more serious job of haggling to my Chinese "business manager".

I've lots of photos, including the weird ass CCTV building currently under construction. Those will have to wait until I'm home though, as I've no way to crop and upload them on this laptop.

At any rate, to update everyone on my Beijing epicurean adventure: Saturday we dined on KFC, last night - pizza. We stopped for cheesecake this afternoon while out shopping, so I skipped supper.

Heh.

Nobody does world travel like a redneck.

Are Dinosaurs Becoming More Intelligent?

What's that you say?

Why is it then that so many Americans - and foreigners who come here - feel that the place is so, well, safe?

A British man I met in Colorado recently told me he used to live in Kent but he moved to the American state of New Jersey and will not go home because it is, as he put it, "a gentler environment for bringing the kids up."

This is New Jersey. Home of the Sopranos.

Brits arriving in New York, hoping to avoid being slaughtered on day one of their shopping mission to Manhattan are, by day two, beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. By day three they have had had the scales lifted from their eyes.

I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place, the lack of the violent undercurrent so ubiquitous in British cities, even British market towns.

"It seems so nice here," they quaver.

Well, it is!

Who would write such drivel?

Brutally Funny

I still have tears in my eyes and sore sides (big profanity warning):

click

Men With Guns

... in our history books. We're not making this up:

"We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf." (George Orwell)

It has always been so. Civilization and the ability to inflict violence go together, are inseparable. Our pampered elites cannot understand this and have no ability to understand this. They look upon men with guns like apes gaping at The Last Supper.

Our venerable history books speak of Western Civilization as beginning with the Greeks somewhere around 700 BC. Not so. It began with the Hebrews pushing into what they called ‘the Promised Land' 500 years before. We forget that the most influential book in Western Civilization had its origins in the violence spread by the Israelite commander Joshua and his successors. The poetry of Solomon, the beauty of the Psalms, all rest upon the shoulders of Israelites with swords.

Reader Tips

Throw them in here please, another busy day on the 'to-do' list.

I'll Raise you One

I'll take your footprint and raise you one:

Organic Blasphemy

Just noticed this fine piece of blasphemy debunking organic food myths via the corner:

They're not healthier or better for the environment – and they're packed with pesticides. In an age of climate change and shortages, these foods are an indugence the world can't afford, argues environmental expert Rob Johnston

Frankly, My Dear

When boys could just be boys...

The Golden Goose System

TG:

Not so much a question of crude shortage but rather the numerous ways to Pump up the prices of refined petro-products.

First Big Oil covers the market in automated pumps that require you to use your time, your credit card and your liability to fill your gas tank.

Then, to get the capital costs for the expensive automated equipment covered there are wars and conflicts in oil basins like the ME, Venezuela, Columbia and Mexico.

There are Iranian gunboat Squirmishes in the Gulf of Hormuz and Al Gore, Suzooki.

For many very wealthy people it is a golden goose system. = TG

Take this post to be a "reader tips", of a different sort.

What are your investment tips, picks, tricks, and truisms? What's your "Golden Goose System"? What's your advise for those without a lot to spend?

Reader Tips

Drop your tips here so we can all enjoy.

Apologies for the delay in getting this up, busy day. Today was Delisle's Garage Sale day and the pit is open for free dumping. Everyone is cleaning up their yards and generally visiting with their neighbours. I'll probably think it was a good day once my oh-so-tender blisters turn into callouses and my back stops hurting.

Pittsburgh beat Philly, which isn't how I think the rest of this series is going to go. Detroit walked all over a tired Dallas, which is how I think the rest of this series is going to go.

An hour until the puck drops on Dallas again. Hmm, is it too early for a beer?

Cheers,
lance

The Truth About Oil

There was a time, not that long ago, that we were led to believe that the world's oil supply was about to run out. "Alternative energy sources" entered our cultural consciousness and ever since, there’s been a burning desire by “some”, to find alternate energy sources. After all, fossil fuels were finite and the survival of civilization depended on new energy sources.

Who’d have thought back then, that our good little planet was awash in the stuff. No wonder the “oil-phobes” had to invent Global Warming:

All this should make one thing amply clear – there is enough oil to go around for a very long time. Even on conservative assumptions – accelerating consumption and few new discoveries – earth’s oil supplies should last for at least a century.

This, however, is the worst case scenario. We can be reasonably certain that new exploration and advancing technologies will in coming years greatly add to the quantities of available oil. So much so that Morris Adelman, Professor Emeritus in Economics at Harvard, has argued that the ‘amount of oil available to the market over the next 25 to 50 years is for all intents and purposes infinite.’

The notion that this planet is running out of oil is one of the great misnomers of our age. There is more oil available today than there was a hundred, fifty or ten years ago. And there is every indication that this trend will continue into the future. Instead of lamenting that we are running out of it, it would be far more accurate to say that we are constantly bumping into new oil. This is why two years ago the Economist headlined an article on the topic The Bottomless Beer Mug.

cross posted @ Celestial Junk

Socialism, Meet Capitalism

Yoink!

h/t Stan

Appalling

The conduct of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is absolutely appalling. I attended part of the March 25th Warman versus Lemire hearing and would have used a transcript to verify what I wrote about it and to further investigate things I wasn't able to cover at the time. Yet at the end of the hearing they claimed that as a "cost saving" measure no transcript would be produced. That hearing, being the one that focussed on the processes and investigative methods of the CHRC itself was the only one to date to have no transcript released.

Ezra Levant elaborates on the full, sordid story. And produces the transcript they didn't want released.

The closer you look at these kangaroo courts the more appalling they are.

How about 8 things he hates about you?

Rachel Lucas unloads on a high maintenance girlfriend writing about her relationship in Men's Health magazine:

I’m not even going to blockquote it; you really gotta read it to get the full punch. I’m just going to write a helpful very-slightly-altered version to balance out the evil karma resulting every time one of these articles is published. I’m compelled to go after other women like this for one primary reason: they embarrass me and bring shame upon my gender with their superficial double standards. Someone’s gotta fight back and guys can’t do it lest they be accused of piggery and sexism.

Today's Letter Is The Letter "O"

The proliferation of garbage degrees, explained

A commenter at Captain Capitalism explains why garbage degrees in modern academia have become so common:

The tuition is the same for an engineering major and a femminist studies major... but what does it cost the school to "educate" the femminist studies major? Assistant Professor sallary and "domestic partner benefits" for a couple of otherwise unemployable ex-activists, a handful of subscriptions to obscure journals for the library, the sunk cost of power and heat for a couple of classrooms, the coffee machine, and some food for the department's cats.

AGW Bunk Meter

Carl Sagan used to say, that when there are a number of equally compelling theories, start with the simplest one, because it usually proves to be true:

That is why, despite hugely different environmental conditions in the past, including far higher CO2 levels, there has never been a ‘tipping’ point that changed the pattern of glaciations and interglacials that have occurred with clockwork precision based on astronomical movements throughout the historical record.

Nor need we fear any man made addition to solar warming because the proportion of the warming which we would be responsible for would be insignificant against the scale of the solar induced portion.

In any event, since cooling is worse than warming for humanity and most life on the planet, our production of CO2, however large in our puny terms, would be wholly beneficial for life on Earth.

Here is a paraphrased version of the Carl Sagan bunkometer taken from Demon Haunted World:

1. Whenever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts”

2. Encourage substantive debate on the “evidence” by knowledgable proponents of all points of view.

3. Arguments from authority carry little weight as “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that there are no authorities; at most; there are “experts”.

4. Spin a variety of hypotheses. If there’s something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained. Then think of tests by which you might systematically disprove each. The ones that survive are the ones to do in depth study on.

5.Do not become attached to any hypothesis just because it’s yours. Find reasons for rejecting all, including your own, hypothesis.

6. Quantify. If whatever you are explaining has a measure, quantify it so that measurement is more possible. Vague hypothesis, or those difficult to quantify will be the most difficult to prove or disprove. Ie: There is a Sasquatch.

7. If there is a chain argument, then each and every link must work, including the premise.

8. Use Occam’s Razor; which is to choose the hypothesis that explains the data in the simplest terms.

9. Ask: is the Hypothesis testable and falsifiable. Hypothesis that are not testable are not worth much. Could you duplicate accurately, at least theoretically, the hypothesis?

Related post @ Celestial Junk

Always look on the dark side of life...

CP and CTV looked at the Auditor General's report "Support for Overseas Deployments - National Defence" (pdf) and came up with this headline: "Supply lines to Afghanistan rife with problems: AG."

I looked at the same report at The Torch, and found that on Page 1 of the document, the AG specifically gave the following pat on the back to DND support staff:

National Defence has been able to deliver to troops its equipment and supplies that they need to do the job in Afghanistan. While we did note that commanders have expressed concerns over some supply chain shortcomings, we found no reports of supply chain problems that had significantly affected operations. This is largely because the high level of dedication and hard work of Canadian Forces personnel enabled them to deliver the needed support.

For those who don't speak governmental bureaucratese, that's pretty high praise for the men and women on the ground doing the grunt work of getting people and materiel into the hands of the troops at the tip of the spear.

If you're interested in the never-ending military logistics balance between improving the system, and going outside of it in situations that require "effects-based initiative", you can read the rest of my analysis here.

Reader Tips

It's Friday, a Friday in May . . . the weekend is coming. So, given that, I'd like you to think about:

The pond that needs to be removed, the fence that needs to be built, the shingles that need replacing, the fire-pit that needs to be moved, the Saskatoon's that need to be replanted, the groceries that need to be bought...sigh, the hockey that needs to be watched?

and don't what-ever you do, don't think about our favourite friend¹,

ensuring a Liberal defeat,

or worrying about old school reactionaries who aren't happy unless everyone toes their line. As an aside, there is a difference between "editorial", "journalism", and "reporting".

Please bear w/ me, I'm not nearly as diligent as Kate when it comes to checking scheduled (meaning written in advance and published at a time in the future) posts. Apparently, they have to be rebuilt before accepting comments. Many of you are in time-zones that really don't jive with mine (hello, computer geek!). Don't be surprised if you have issues commenting on this post until 9 or so CST.

¹ I've been deleting comments related to that person as per Kate's ban. I don't know enough about MT to set up a more elegant system. Please refrain from responding to that person until I can viciously and gleefully "restrict his right to free speech". (That would be lance at catprint dot ca, Mr. Johnny DownInTheDumps.)

Cheers,
lance

From Beijing

Greetings all. Not much to report so far, other than it appears that the Brazilians were here before us, and taught the Chinese everything they know about driving.

Plus, my hosts took me to a market where I was able to purchase enough Kraft Dinner to last me for the week.

Little Wieners

The following vid is utterly ridiculous ... but I just couldn't resist.

And yes, I know ... I know ... Godwin's Law and all ... but a target rich environment is just too juicy to pass up:

A great vacation idea

It's too bad I've already planned my summer vacation, this sounds like a great idea.

Bakken

Strange, don't you think, that it took an American to once and for all put an end to Ontario's dominance of the federation:

A few years ago, a Billings petroleum geologist by the name of Dick Findley was working out of his basement - searching for oil in an area that had been barren for over 20 years. Things were rough and he was struggling to get by.

He even flirted with the idea of getting a second job as a restaurant cook. On a diet of nothing but Ramen noodles and hard-boiled eggs - how could you blame the guy?

But one thing kept Dick going - an unprecedented suspicion that this area, known as the Bakken Basin, contained more oil than Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran combined.

The Bakken Basin, located in Montana, North Dakota and Saskatchewan - was at one point coined "one of the largest disappointments in the oil industry."

During this period, technology lacked the efficiency to make drilling worthwhile. And when oil hit all time lows in the late 90's - the Bakken Basin was basically abandoned.

But Findley kept digging around.

And through sheer luck, he and his partner stumbled upon a porous layer of dolomite, 9000 feet below the ground of a ranch just outside Sidney, Montana.

This stumble turned out to be the largest on-shore oil discovery in decades. Little did he know, but Findley discovered enough oil to fuel the U.S. for 41 years.

Sure ... it's a promo, but the flood of oil money pouring into South Eastern Saskatchewan isn't a fantasy.

Update: From Spike 1 in the comments:

The Bakken field can be developed because of a company and a gentleman that was from Arcola,Sask named mark Langfield.He introduced horizontal drilling to the Sask. oil patch and the rest is history.It was'nt "big oil" that brought in the Bakken,it was inovative individuals.The mud motor made it feasable.

What is ... A Moral Compass

“Progressives” are apparently all about helping the down-trodden of this world … yet, for the life of them, they can’t grasp the nobility of what our Canadian men and women in uniform are doing in Afghanistan. "Progressives" can't move themselves to feel pride ... least of all gratitude, for our soldiers. They spew shameful rhetoric, like, "I support our troops ... so bring'em home", without ever considering that our soldiers WANT to be there and they WANT to hold back the barbarins. The mere thought of such heroism, is beyond the "progressive" mind.

... Keep Reading.

Reader Tips

Drop them in here for everyone to enjoy.

For the technological inclined,

I'm currently rebuilding a Radius server to authenticate a Cisco PIX VPN tunnel over OpenLDAP.

OpenOffice 3.0 Beta is available for testing.

DOE Pumps $126.6 Million Into Carbon Sequestration.

Cheers,
lance

Honey, I Finished The Internet!

Truckspills.com

Things You'll Never See on Television in 2008

For those who love Deano ... an old standard:

Lebanon burns again

I know, unrest in Lebanon doesn't really count as news but the government is showing signs of finally standing up to Hizbullah now that they've closed the airport:

Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Fatfat told The Daily Star that the Lebanese Army and security forces would not hesitate to open the airport road in a timely manner.

"Hizbullah's actions are an open attack against the state," he said. "What Hizbullah is doing reminds the Lebanese people of what Israel did to the airport in the summer 2006 war," he added, referring to the Jewish state's bombing of runways and fuel tanks.

From Kuwait to Afghanistan to Cuba to Iraq

The road to hell is paved with lawyers' invoices, and liberal intentions.

March Of The Penguins

Via Newsbusters

(edit: Patience/virtue waiting for the video.)

A Defeat For Extremism

This campaign’s aim...

... was to attack Boris [Johnson] as an Islamophobe; swing Muslim voters unanimously behind Livingstone; deliver the election for him; emerge, thereby, as a leading force in British Islam, and thus send an uncompromising message to the main political parties – follow our line, or there’ll be electoral consequences.

Its first shots were fired in January, when it was claimed that over fifty Islamic organisations in London had written to the Guardian endorsing Livingstone. (It later emerged that some of the letter’s signatories had written only in a “personal capacity”.) Its final salvo was the desperate advert, placed recently in the London Bengali paper “Janomot”, implying that Boris, as Mayor, would ban the Koran.

So who was behind this advert, and the campaign as a whole? It was produced by a group called the British Muslim Initiative (BMI). BMI’s website contains a section headed “About Us”. Readers who click on it will learn that the organisation was “formed by justice, peace and human rights campaigners”.

So who was behind this advert, and the campaign as a whole? It was produced by a group called the British Muslim Initiative (BMI). BMI’s website contains a section headed “About Us”. Readers who click on it will learn that the organisation was “formed by justice, peace and human rights campaigners”.

These campaigners presumably include Azzam Tamimi and Anas Tikriti, whose Guardian columns are prominently advertised on the site. Also advertised on the site is “Muslims 4 Ken”, whose leading lights, according to the Evening Standard, are…Anas Tikriti and Azzam Tamini.

Tikriti is a former President of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) – which is, in effect, the British branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and which, therefore, has links to Hamas. It’s been claimed that Tamini issued communiques on behalf of Hamas during the 1990s. He’s certainly on record as supporting suicide bombings against civilians in Israel.

Reader Tips

Play nice, don't soil the bed and stop worrying, hockey resumes in two more days.

What to do with a Sudanese rapist?

Saskatchewan Liberals¹ moving right? That might be interesting. Split vote, anyone?

Vote Liberal, because a carbon tax on $1.32 gas is win-win! Isn't something like half the cost at the pump due to tax already? I'm expecting the next brilliant display of Liberal politics to be Dion charging a carbon-tax at their BBQ circuit this summer...probably during the Stampede.

¹ No, honestly, we're not with those federal pseudo-Liberals, please believe us, we hate those Liberals too!

Cheers,
lance

The Sound Of Settled Science

I miss the polar ice caps.

The Tiger In Elections Canada?

Anyone else check that little box on their tax return authorizing Revenue Canada to share your data with Elections Canada?

Oops.

"Most disturbingly, investigators have found sets of voters lists issued by Elections Canada that held the names of persons residing on given streets in various areas of Scarborough," reads the affidavit. "Furthermore the lists had yellow highlighter placed on names of Tamil heritages. These lists were confirmed to be periodic lists distributed to candidates and Ministers during elections years."

H/tip, NNW

Cheers,
lance

A sinister conspiracy

We were trying to keep this plot secret, but the Wall Street Journal has figured it out:

Think about it. Canadian officials send women across the border, smuggling in "anchor babies" cleverly disguised as clumps of tissue. The women give birth inside the U.S., which means their Canadian offspring are entitled to U.S. citizenship. As these "children" grow and mature, they receive instructions from their masters in Ottawa about how to undermine American culture.

Before you know it, your kids are stuffing themselves with litres of back bacon, downing kilogram after kilogram of Crown Royal and Labatt Blue, and belting out "God Save the Queen" as they watch hockey on TV.

He Was Right About Losing 10 Floors Off The UN, Too.

Mr Bolton said that striking Iran

... would represent a major step towards victory in Iraq. While he acknowledged that the risk of a hostile Iranian response harming American’s overseas interests existed, he said the damage inflicted by Tehran would be “far higher” if Washington took no action.

“This is a case where the use of military force against a training camp to show the Iranians we’re not going to tolerate this is really the most prudent thing to do,” he said. “Then the ball would be in Iran’s court to draw the appropriate lesson to stop harming our troops.”

"The enemies of Israel"

There's an interesting article by Daniel Pipes in the National Post's series on Israel's 60th anniversary that includes this observation:

The enemies of Israel divide into two main camps: the left and the Muslims, with the far right a minor third element. The left includes a rabid edge (International ANSWER, Noam Chomsky) and a more polite centre (United Nations General Assembly, Canada's Liberal party, the mainstream media, mainline churches, school textbooks).

The rest of his article is full of interesting insights, as well.

Y2Kyoto: Fan Of Green Gables

CBC;

Six of 10 turbines at P.E.I.'s East Point Wind Plant have been shut down to avoid further damage after problems with their gearboxes were discovered during routine inspections.

The three-megawatt, 90-metre turbines are the largest wind turbines in commercial operation in North America, said Vestas Americas, suppliers of the turbines, in a news release Tuesday.

Well, I Was On My Way To Beijing

Until someone left the lights on in the plane.

I kid you not. We arrived at our gate in Saskatoon to learn that the battery on the plane was dead as a result, and that departure would be delayed just over an hour... so long as they could find the mechanic to supervise the recharge, who, though he works in Calgary, lives in Saskatoon.

Said mechanic pronounced the batteries toast, and thus began alternate flight arrangements that resulted in Focus missing his connection in Calgary. As it is me accompanying the dog, and not the other way round, it was a case of "no doggie, no flyee."

So, Air Canada, bless their hearts, put us up in a hotel and we're relaxing in Vancouver until morning. For all the criticism they get, in this case I have no complaints with the airline. Big thanks are due agent "Jaydee" for getting it all rebooked, and to the baggage people who hunted down my delayed dog, and missing bag.

Canuck Marlboro Man

... all in a day's work:

Produced by Cjunk.

YouTube

Reader Tips

It's been a busy week around here, my apologies for the slow blogging. I spent all day bent over a motorcycle tank and still have a few hours ahead packing and tying up loose ends before I leave for Beijing. No Free Tibet! t-shirt for me. "Free Tibetan Terrier", maybe. I'm delivering a dog to his new home, conducting an informal seminar, and taking in a show while I'm there.

You'll be in the capable hands of our usual guest bloggers until I'm back (around the 15th), but I'd be much appreciative if our regular readers would remember not to respond to trolls or drive by provocateurs. There's a good chance they'll be deleted, anyway.

A few links that were passed along:

An exercise in stupidity.

An exercise In Futility

Futility has company.

Your tips are welcome in the comments, of course. I'll see you on the flip side.

Y2Kyoto: Wikipedia's Zealots

Lawrence Solomon;

As I'm writing this column for the Financial Post, I am simultaneously editing a page on Wikipedia. I am confident that just about everything I write for my column will be available for you to read. I am equally confident that you will be able to read just about nothing that I write for the page on Wikipedia...

Stalled

People are starting to notice;

When will Barack Obama finally decide to throw in the towel? No this is not a typo. Being a native Montrealer the only thing I'm smoking is corned beef. It should be clear by now to anyone who has been watching this race since the end of February that Barack Obama hasn't won anything...

Not Waiting For The Asteroid

The Minneapolis Star Tribune teeters on the edge of bankruptcy.

Reader Tips

Monday tips here.

"Those leaflets are hate-mongering"

"We don’t circulate pamphlets with (Prime Minister) Stephen Harper next to an oil derrick or the Husky Tower as if that was a reason to hate a person,” [NDP MP Pat] Martin said.

Mitra Kermani

Remember the good old days, when multiculturalism just meant more pavilions at Folkfest?

I had to hang up on her twice.

Rosie O'Baglow

I have it on fairly good authority that John Baglow was recently spotted purchasing kerosene and chicken wire*...

Dr. Dawg's beclowning himself so bad he's starting to look like John Wayne Gacy.

Not long after being spanked by Mark Steyn in the pages of Maclean's for falling for a faked Ernst Zundel photo, Dawg launched a failed blogburst about a mythical "Indian burial ground" hoax.

But if you do believe these things, I'm afraid there are quite a few more things you are going to have to believe, because you can't have it both ways. If Kevin Annett really is prize-worthy and courageous, you will also have to believe this:

-One of Canada's most respected First Nations' leaders is trafficking in children from Northern British Columbia in a profitable pedophilia ring that's run out of the West Hastings Street premises of the swish Vancouver Club. His clients are Vancouver judges, politicians, and church leaders.

-Back in the 1930s, a team of German doctors arrived at the Kuper Island Indian residential school and began conducting strange medical experiments on the children. Employing large hypodermic needles, they injected some sort of toxin directly into the chests of the school's young inmates, and several were killed as a result.

-As recently as the 1950s and 1960s, aboriginal children at a Vancouver Island medical research facility were tortured with electrodes implanted in their skulls. At least one child was beaten to death with a whip fitted with razors.

h/t

Duffy, With Mark Steyn

For those who had difficulty with the CTV video, it's now up on Youtube, thanks to the efforts of our readers.

Another version here.

Rusafa

Bill Ardolino's first report for The Long War Journal;

Above all, Hassan and his neighborhood watchmen do not like the Mahdi Army.

“Originally, the Jaish al Mahdi [Mahdi Army] in our area used to deceive people by using the name of the religion to do their purposes,” said Dhia, Hassan’s executive officer. “They were all corrupted. They have history in crime, robberies, murders, rapes, and all kinds of bad things. They even reached the level of kidnapping people and demanding ransoms just because they have money. It didn’t matter if he is Shia or Sunni; just because he has money. They gave a bad reputation for Islam.”

American officials assert that the final factor that has improved security is the citizenry’s fatigue with violence and the militias.

“They’re still intimidated by [the Mahdi Army], but they’re tired of them,” said Thornburg.

Frankly, My Dear

Three Little Pigs and Adolf Wolf

Reader Tips

For Sunday.

Much on my plate these days, so check out the blogroll!

Lucy, Look What You Started!

One of few Conservative MP's with a backbone - Jason Kenney - has weighed in. And the single national newspaper with a backbone is reporting it.

The federal minister in charge of Canada's multiculturalism file cautioned an anti-racism conference Friday against exploiting the power of human rights commissions to silence offensive speech.

Addressing the annual gathering of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) in Calgary, Jason Kenney, a Cabinet member and Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, labelled "dangerous" the "illiberal tactics" employed by some activists in the name of tolerance.

"I think it's very important for those of us engaged in anti-racism efforts to ensure the tactics we use, the approaches that we take, are consistent with respect for the liberal values of the Charter of Rights, of the Canadian constitutional framework, of our democratic parliamentary institutions," Mr. Kenney told the crowd of about 100.

During a question-and-answer session, attendees pressed Mr. Kenney on his government's decision to withdraw from the planned 2009 sequel to the UN's World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia in Durban, South Africa, held seven years ago and marked by widespread shows of anti-Semitism. One accused the Conservatives of following the Americans' lead of "support for Israel."

Well, look at the bright side. In past months we've have seen Joan Bryden jump in with a Canadian Press item headlined "Jason Kenney Supports White Supremacist Cause", so in this case silence is a step forward. (Actually, in most cases, silence from Joan Bryden is a step forward, but I digress...)

Also - David Warren is back, and don't miss this clip of Mark Steyn on Mike Duffy, where Litigious Lucy's name comes up. (CTV's broadband is ridiculously cumbersome. If someone captures that to Youtube, let me know. )

Update - Youtubed here!

Reader Tips

Tips thread open.

A Social Worker Finally Snaps

What's that?

What’s that? You’re concerned about having your little boy placed in an abusive foster home? Oh don’t worry, your son is fine, dear. He won’t be going to a foster home after all. You see, we had to place him in an institution because he now likes to save his feces in plastic bags so he can use them as lubrication when he jacks off onto women’s panties. He also tries to rape other children. What causes him to do such awful things, you ask? Well, I’m not sure dear, but I’ll hazard a guess. I could be wrong, but perhaps his current behaviors have something to do with the fact that his MOTHER RENTED OUT HIS ASS TO HUNDREDS OF PEDOPHILES TO SUPPORT HER CRACK HABIT!!!!

h/t

Freespeechers Take Note

Free Dominion's Connie Fournier writes;

The result of Marc Lemire's Constitutional Challenge could literally make or break our fight against Section 13. It is IMPERATIVE that you email these people, and get EVERYONE YOU KNOW to do it, too!

We can put an end to Section 13 without having to wait for Parliament to wake up...but we have to act today!

I'm going to make this simple for everyone. Here is the list of emails:

THE CANADIAN CIVIL LIBERTIES ASSOCIATION
A. ALAN BOROVOY, GENERAL COUNSEL
e-mail: mail@ccla.org

BC Civil Liberties Association
Jim Braunagel
e-mail: jim@bccla.org

The Canadian Association of Journalists
Algonquin College
John Dickens, Executive Director
email: canadianjour@magma.ca

PEN Canada
email: info@pencanada.ca

Your letter just has to ask them to "intervene as an interested party" in the Warman vs Lemire Constitutional Challenge of Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Make it short and sweet if you like...even two sentences, but PLEASE write!!!

Canada's Neo-Nazi Movement Finds An Unlikely Champion

Put down your bruised and battered camera phone, ye weary swastika hunter, for a new day has dawned in the long march toward Canadian inclusiveness. From this day forward, all beliefs are created equal - and off limits.

"They should be able to live free from defamation of their deeply-held beliefs, just like anybody else."

(Speaking of which, something has been bothering me about these deadly Dangerous Words. How does the knower of the magic "words that kill" pass on their knowledge to the next generation of sorcerer without killing off the star pupil? Or is it like talking over the head of a dog you don't want to take for a car ride - safely uttered if you spell it out one letter at a time?)

"For anyone who's counting"

I get more traffic in half an hour from a link at Small Dead Animals than I've gotten all week from The Maple Leaf. Just sayin'.

Heart Like A Wheel

If I may interrupt the Danica! Patrick! first! ever! winning! woman! driver! media fawn fest for 5.3 seconds...

I just thought it was time for someone with an actual memory for women in motorsports to set the record straight.

Now, Remember

It's an "apartheid" wall.

I've noticed that Her Lady of Perpetual Palestinian Distressedness never puts this stuff on the CTV.

h/t

Tony Blair's... Eh What?

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch and holy crap, it looks like London's flaming leftie mayor is going down to defeat!

With over 35% of the votes counted our sources tell us that Conservative Boris Johnson has a considerable lead over Ken Livingstone. We reported that Johnson was leading in the polls before the election and given his comfortable margin, we now predict he will win.

This is good news for people around the world. Livingstone has publicly embraced the likes of Fidel Castro, Venezuela's Chavez, and radical Islamists. In line with these preferences, Livingstone's campaign is employing an advocate of suicide bombings, and he is co-chair of "Muslims4Ken".

BBC election results.

Not Waiting For The Asteroid

Ahem.

h/t to atheist quebecois separatiste

Christopher Pauchay Has "Suffered Enough"

Like the man on trial for murdering his parents, who asks the judge for mercy because he is an orphan.

Reader Tips

Open thread for tips.

Solidarity For... The Time Being

What have been referred to a "The Worst Labour Laws in Canada" and "An Assault on Worker's Rights" and "Anti-Woman", Bills 5 (The Essential Services Act) & 6 (Amendments to the Trade Union Act) are about to be passed by the newly elected Saskatchewan Party government.

As a result, The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour called for a May Day rally today that was held in Regina at the Saskatchewan Legislature and at the Saskatoon Cabinet office. This was a supposed to be a "Celebration of Activism and Resistance" as well as a strong message to the Sask Party government that these bills would be fought to the bitter end.

Considering these bills represent the greatest changes to labour legislation in Saskatchewan in a generation, one would have thought tens of thousands of these "activists and resistors" would have shown up.

In Regina the head count was approximately 250 people and in Saskatoon, the lunch hour "activists and resistors" left a grand total of 10 protest signs shoved under the front door.

I suspect that most of the rank and file union members that weren't in attendance for this rally were those that were actually doing their jobs.... How inconvenient is that for labour leadership in the province?

That's the problem with protests... Sometimes the number of people that show up to an event tells you more than any placard could.

How To Host A Hate Crime®

Canada's best-selling mystery dinner party game, you and your guests assume the roles of humorous suspects – each with a motive and opportunity to contravene Section 13.1 of the Canadian Human Rights code – in a light-hearted human rights mystery.

Mr. & Mrs. Mohammed El Mohammed Wish To Announce A Bouncing Baby Boy!

The Sound Of Settled Science

As I was saying, how much colder would you like it to be?

“Global warming will stop until at least 2015 because of natural variations in the climate, scientists have said. Researchers studying long-term changes in sea temperatures said they now expect a "lull" for up to a decade while natural variations in climate cancel out the increases caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The average temperature of the sea around Europe and North America is expected to cool slightly over the decade while the tropical Pacific remains unchanged. This would mean that the 0.3°C global average temperature rise which has been predicted for the next decade by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may not happen, according to the paper published in the scientific journal Nature.”

Because You Can't Say "Useless Tits" In The Newspaper

"The StarPhoenix used ‘Mother-In’ in the headline’!"

About 70 mothers and children attended the event, prompted by a blog post in which NewsTalk 650 producer Tammy Robert commented on a politician’s choice to breastfeed during a press conference. Her entry, entitled Children and the Places They Don’t Belong, created lots of debate after it was posted last week. In it, she criticized Saskatchewan Green party Leader Amber Jones’s decision to include her six-month-old daughter in a media event.

"I am mammal, hear me roar".

What else can you say about a woman who would show up for a breast feeding solidarity march, other than that life must be pretty damned dismal if you have to resort to digging about inside your bra to find a sense of importance.

Y2Kyoto: Green On Green

A proposed Scottish wind farm bites the dust;

The Lewis wind farm - rejected by the Scottish Executive earlier this week - is merely the latest example. The Scotsman reported that "environmental agencies welcomed the news" of the massive wind power project's demise, thanks to concerns about impacts on rare peat bog and birdlife habitat. Yet according to the developers Lewis Wind Power - a coalition of AMEC and British Energy - the wind farm would have made a substantial contribution to reducing Britain's greenhouse gas emissions, wiping out a quarter of a million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. With climate change at the top of the list of political priorities, most now agree that Britain desperately needs to expand its renewables sector. How this can be done without major negative impacts on wildlife and landscape remains one of today's toughest challenges.

Wildlife groups such as the RSPB have a particularly difficult task in deciding where they stand. The Lewis wind farm's impact on the landscape would have been substantial - with 181 turbines each standing 140 metres tall, erected on massive concrete bases drilled into the fragile peat surface and connected by dozens of miles of new stone roads, this was unavoidable. And while the developers insisted that strenuous efforts would be made to mitigate the effect on birds, including not putting turbines in areas important to rare species such as merlins and golden eagles, the RSPB objected strongly to the proposal.

[...]

The Lewis project, although supported by the Western Isles Council, received 11,000 objections from members of the public, with only 100 comments in favour.

h/t

Reader Tips

Another full day of work, and then some - so you're on your own for a few hours.

There Once Was An Elderly Woman In Town

Who drove slowly and with her window rolled down, so that she could better make out the buildings she used to navigate her way home from the post office each day. To her credit, I believe she was sober.