Busy day here, so I’ll just pass along a few items that have dropped in my inbox over the past few hours.
Reader Peter Benyk emails on a topic I haven’t followed, because I don’t care about satellite radio. Others do, so;
The two Canadian companies have finally been granted approval for broadcasting satellite radio from the Federal cabinet. Although they were approved earlier by the CRTC for licenses heavy lobbying from Quebec insisted there be and even number of French and English stations and now there will be four of each. The licensees relented to this bit of blackmail and as a result the federal cabinet approved both licenses. How ludicrous that this government insist on this provision as if the population of this country was split with approximately half communicating in French and the other half communicating in English. We know at best the figures would be 4 to 1 English over French. These radio stations are to carry a prescribed amount of Canadian talent so where is the equity in developing the English talent if their outlets are minimized so they are equal to the number of French outlets. This is just another example in my book where Quebec is dictating the Federal Liberal policies of Canada and if you wondered if there was truth to a common complaint that French is being shoved down the throat (and ears) of Canadians here you have it in living color. English speaking Canadians are being forced to split the number of English stations 50/50 as if this reflected the French -English population and talent pool of this country. Since 90% of the people who communicate in French are located in the Quebec area it is reasonable to assume that they will be able to get along with fewer stations but why limit and handcuff the English speaking population, by only giving them an equal number of stations, who are servicing a much broader cross section of people in Canada and are highly involved in providing English services in every province and who are in fact servicing a much larger pool of Canadian talent albeit English speaking.
Sounds about right. A few years ago I heard that it had been calculated that the CBC French language television in Saskatchewan had a viewership of around seven households.
Lots at China E-Lobby today.
Communist leader Hu Jintao came to his hotel in Toronto “via the underground parking garage” (Epoch Times) rather than face the Falun Gong and Tibetan protestors who jostled for position with the usual group of bribed welcomers.
In the 1970’s the US Congress approved a massive barrier system for New Orleans. An environmental lawsuit took care of that!
A pastor in Alberta is facing a human rights tribunal over a letter to the editor in a Red Deer newspaper criticizing homosexuality. If he loses, he could be forced to pay $7,000 in fines – including $2,000 to the homosexual-rights group EGALE Canada.
$2,000 just for being offended? Time to register REDNECK Canada as a non-profit, methinks.
(Add your own in the comments, or send a trackback to this post.)
I’m not sure what the big deal is on satellite radio. Anyone with a fast enough internet connection can already listen to whatever they want to over the internet. I suppose satellite radio would have some application in vehicles, but they’re nothing new in any location that has a decent internet connection.
You have to love the strategy of the UofC turd that filed the complaint against the minister.
If you want to further your cause, bust a clergyman who spoke his mind. Yep, that’ll gain you a lot of sympathy and support in the straight community.
A few years ago, when the Ceeb was slashing and burning English language services, somebody noted that the French Ceeb in Vancouver was still alive and kicking. Based on viewership and station operating costs, it would have been cheaper to courier videotapes to the small number of Radical Canada patrons!
Re the enviro-nazis putting the kibosh on the barrier system, I learned that on the web, still waiting for it to show up on the MSM. I am not holding my breath, though.
I think Alberta should get as many satellite channels as Quebec! A precedent has been set that channels are not allocated proportionately. And when Alberta separates, I think that we will annex Delisle, SK.
Something that libertarian friends may not have considered in a socon issue is that these Human Rights Tribunals are where the rubber meets the road for the Trudopian state; where dissenters are crushed who do not follow the party line. I think there is an apt parallel to the Medieval Inquisition, where the state religion (in this case godless secular humanism) acts on the most questionable information to persecute folks whose only acceptable defence is to recant. I’d go to prison for this brother. The other interesting issue is that the state cannot ultimately win because the scripture (on which no doubt this pastor has founded his convictions) cannot be broken.
Well, if Kate ain’t gonna blow her own horn then I’ll do it for her. CBC.ca is one sponsor of a “Best of the Blogs” contest called “The Bobs”. You can find out more info on it over here:
http://tinyurl.com/dbq6e
I’ve already nominated her under Best Weblog category. You may not see it yet because apparently it takes a day or so for them to process it. Heh, I just noticed that someone nominated CBCunplugged.
The rules state that after Sept 30 the Jury will select 8 of the best from each category and then in October we’ll get to vote for them. I’m hoping that if everyone reading this goes and nominates SDA again, then perhaps the jury will be influenced into putting SDA into the final 8.
Nothing would be better than watching SDA winning a CBC.ca sponsored contest!
Cheers!
Until a little while ago I didn’t realize that satellite radio wasn’t available to Canada. My God, the CRTC is still babysitting Canadians on what they can or cannot hear! Still afraid of the big Evil Empire to the south, eh?
As one who has logged too many miles across the open prairies, boondocks of the NWT and the vast lack of civilization they call Northern Ontario, I for one would embrace a chance to hear something other than repeater stations of CBC for 10 miles out of 100. I actually enjoyed driving through Northern Ontario in the middle of the night because then you could hear WLS in Chicago on the skip for all of the trip. It was certainly better that the 8-tracks I had!
Bottom line is that the CRTC has outlived it’s usefulness. CBC too.
This is a good read. Something we all know however.
Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-9_4_05_RT.html
“The welfare state�and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages�is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.”
Sounds a lot like some places in Canada I’ve visited.
I’m a fairly moderate guy who supports SSM, but gays are going to lose my support if they keep this crap up. The complaint against the minister is utter garbage.
Left MSM would have death toll at 200,000.>>>>
La. death toll now 279
Posted by DaveTesla
On 09/12/2005 11:03:13 PM PDT � 47 replies � 624+ views
The Times-Picayune ^ | September 12, 2005 | The Times-Picayune
The state Department of Health and Hospitals said today Louisiana’s death toll from Hurricane Katrina now stands at 279. That figure, which comes from statistics reported by local coroners to state officials, includes 242 bodies at the metrowide morgue at St. Gabriel, three bodies in St. Charles Parish, 25 bodies in Jefferson Parish, six bodies in St. Tammany Parish and three bodies in New Iberia Parish.
Satellite firm nabs NHL games
XM’s 10-year deal starts next month, believed worth $100-million (U.S.)
By SIMON TUCK [Globe Investor]
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Ottawa � One of two satellite radio companies expected to set up shop in Canada in the coming months has acquired exclusive rights to National Hockey League games, the latest face-off in the battle to tie up key properties in the budding broadcasting niche>>> more
http://www.rapp.org/url/?OJVY80G5
Back on the topic of satellite radio, it’s more like 96 English channels and 4 French ones because of all the American content that will be beaming through.
Is left liberal MSM spinning a touchy-feely-good, “I feel your pain [Slick Willy Clinton], victim crap?
This is a blatant attempt to disguise the facts: Jamaicans, i.e., blacks murdering other blacks; the breakdown of law and order in Toronto, Ontario.>>>>>
Life and death in Jane-Finch: Local voices speak out
The Jane-Finch Corridor has guns, gangs and drugs — but it also has heart and soul. It’s a vibrant, very human community of 75,000 people trying to build a better life for themselves and their kids in a troubled environment. Today, in part three of our special seven-part series, we look at how local hip hop artists reflect the mood of the community through their music>>>>
canoenews.ca
According to this BBC report, “Nato talks on Afghan deployments”,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4240048.stm
‘Defence ministers from Nato nations are meeting in Berlin with one of the key issues for debate being the deployment of its forces in Afghanistan.
The two-day meeting will review plans for Nato forces to move into areas in 2006 where US forces now operate.
Correspondents say the contentious issue is unlikely to be resolved before Sunday’s election in Germany…
The US would like to see Isaf mission expanded to take control of operations in the south and east, where the violence is greatest, by the end of 2006. This would allow the US to enact a partial withdrawal of some of its 18,000 soldiers in Afghanistan…
But strong doubts have been expressed in European nations – notably Germany, France and Turkey – about bringing their troops into frontline combat, and correspondents say there is unlikely to be a final agreement on the plans with tightly contested German parliamentary elections coming on Sunday…’
Yet the Canadian government is saying our troops in Kandahar are “expected” to be under NATO ISAF in 2006. See:
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom/view_news_e.asp?id=1703
Could the Liberals be jumping the gun? Or trying to sell this quasi-combat mission (now under the US Operation Enduring Freedom) as eventually to be under NATO–and not the US–when in fact that is by no means certain?
Mark
Ottawa
Regarding the eco-nuts suing to block levee construction in the 70s, National Review Online has the following post at The Corner (permalink is http://corner.nationalreview.com/05_09_11_corner-archive.asp#076240 ):
[quote]
Thomas McGarity of the Center for Progressive Reform disputes the LA Times claims that environmental litigation derailed a levee project in the 1970s that would have protected New Orleans from the Katrina storm surge. His memo on the matter is here [ http://www.progressiveregulation.org/articles/Katrina_NR.pdf ].
What is clear from the two accounts is 1) the project was initially halted in federal court because the Corps of Engineers produced a woefully inadequate environmental impact statement (EIS); 2) had a revised EIS have been prepared, there was no legal barrier to the project’s completion; and 3) after the initial court ruling, the Corps eventually decided to abandon the project for other reasons (e.g., cost, available alternatives, etc.).
[end quote]
So there is some debate about whether or not the Corps was in fact precluded from acting at the time.
Note, however, that the statement that “had a revised EIS have been prepared, there was no legal barrier to the project’s completion” is not conclusive – there was no legal barrier *at that time*. Even if they had prepared an “improved” EIS, the enviro-nutters may well have generated even more lawsuits, as many of them can never be satisfied.
We may never know the whole story, but is seems to be a little less clear-cut than the original story indicates.
sigh…just another glaring example of the vindictive ‘gay rights’ lobby. Surprise surprise, it was a liberal arts university professor who mad ethe complaint! Nothing like elitist pricks to tell churchmen that they aren’t allowed to have
a)freedom of speech
b)freedom of religion
Come on, torovich! Forward with the revolution!
btw, can we get any info on this guy (e-mail, phone, address) to flood him with complaints? If he wants to crush dissent with his ‘tribunal’ then maybe we can swamp him with letters and e-mails and phone calls – if he wants to be a brownshirt, then we should be brownshirts as well.
GOT IT
Flood this prick with letters.
How to Contact Dr. Darren E. Lund
Faculty of Education
Education Tower 1102
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
phone: (403) 220-7365
fax: (403) 282-8479
dlund@ucalgary.ca
But be nice – we’re better than they are so keep it all clean and polite – the last thing we need is for some yahoo to send the guy threats of physical violence. Not only would that be wrong, but he’d probably bring it to the media to get sympathy.
FORMAL COMPLAINTS ONLY!!!
As for the HRT’s “order” to Rev. Stephen Boissoin of Alberta to pay two grand to EGALE, he should ignore it. The HRT is not a court of law and therefore has no power to really compel anyone to do anything. If I’m wrong, then someone prove it concretely rather than screech or whatever.
Why not launch a complaint against EGALE for offending people of Rev. Boissoin’s faith? The Tribunal, naturally, would just say F.O. in all its elite arrogance in deciding which complaints are worthy of hearing and which are not.