What We Really Need Is Democracy

With a totalitarian party to vote for;

Action can be taken under the Penal Code against those who cite Quranic verses with the ulterior motive of causing hatred or ill-will, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said.
He added that while there was no law prohibiting non-Muslims from reciting verses from the Quran, they were only allowed to do so in an effort to know more about Islam….
“Based on the National Fatwa Council edict on Islamic affairs, the Government can take appropriate action against parties that abused Quranic verses for ulterior motives or to question Islamic practices.
“This is to ensure that racial harmony is maintained[.]” …

More hereMalaysia remains a “flawed democracy” due to a “gradual erosion of civil liberties and political culture in the past year…” I wonder what on earth could be causing it?
h/t Ken B.

Rating the #db8

An excerpt from Publius’ excellent assessment:

…Both Lord Iggy and Jack! attacked Stephen Harper for not doing enough to promote family reunification. Jack! was at his sentimental worst – all socialists are sentimentalists, anyone with an ounce objectivity would not be a socialist – on the topic, recalling how wonderful it was to have Olivia Chow’s mother living with them. First of all let me express my admiration for Mr Layton. For a man to speak so well of his mother-in-law suggests either extraordinary stoicism or exceptional mendacity. You may take your pick. The keenness on family reunification is less admirable.
Encouraging the mass immigration of people who have never paid a cent into our welfare state, especially the elderly, is a recipe for financial disaster. Unless there are appropriate financial controls on family reunification, such as a requirement that such immigrants purchase or have provided by their sponsor privately financed health care, such a policy is writing a blank cheque on the backs of Canadian workers. We can scarcely afford to pay for the health care of our own elderly, who have spent a lifetime paying into the system, we cannot afford to pay for the health care of the whole Third World as well. This rather obvious – and very politically incorrect – aspect of the immigration debate was not raised.
Canadian voters, however, are not interested in policy. It’s complicated and boring…

And, shock! horror!, the Dutiful Dawg ain’t arf bad neither (don’t shoot me!):


Stephen Harper, though, came a close second. He was unflappable. In fact he looked slightly tranked, but he is a man of powerful self-discipline. The softening effect of the glasses certainly played to his advantage as well: those cold blue eyes of his are not an asset. While he might have seemed condescending to many as he delivered his talking-points to the other party leaders, others would see a man of considerable gravitas, his calm making a striking contrast with the overly-histrionic performances of Duceppe and Ignatieff.
Indeed, what struck me most about Ignatieff was his delivery. It’s not that he lacked coherence—he didn’t. He knew his stuff, and how to string it together. But he was just trying too hard. His handlers obviously told him to show emotion, and for a man who usually doesn’t show very much of that, it seemed to be a bit of a chore. The contrast between his loud faux-passionate voice and Harper’s calm, level tones was excruciating to hear…

“Organic” Is The Latin Word For “Grown In Pig Shit”

Via Tim Blair;

After suffering seven straight quarters of losses, today the merchandise giant Wal-Mart will announce that it is “going back to basics,” ending its era of high-end organic foods, going “green,” and the remainder of its appeal to the upscale market. Next month the company will launch an “It’s Back” campaign to woo the millions of customers who have fled the store.

(Settle down. You had to know I was going there eventually.)
Related – “A bitter harvest”.

Is There Nothing That Obama Can’t Do?

Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Barack Obama, June 4th, 2009“I’ve come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world…”
Muslims, April 12, 2011Pakistan has demanded that the United States steeply reduce the number of Central Intelligence Agency operatives and Special Operations forces working in Pakistan, and that it halt C.I.A. drone strikes aimed at militants in northwest Pakistan. The request was a sign of the near collapse of cooperation between the two testy allies.

The World Is Being Run By Crazy People

See what happens when you allow Greens into a debate? Have a happy famine, Bolivia!

Bolivia is set to pass the world’s first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. The Law of Mother Earth, now agreed by politicians and grassroots social groups, redefines the country’s rich mineral deposits as “blessings” and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry.
The country, which has been pilloried by the US and Britain in the UN climate talks for demanding steep carbon emission cuts, will establish 11 new rights for nature. They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.
Controversially, it will also enshrine the right of nature “to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities”.
[…]
Little opposition is expected to the law being passed because President Evo Morales’s ruling party, the Movement Towards Socialism, enjoys a comfortable majority in both houses of parliament.

Socialism – what can’t it do?

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