Another busy day. Things should be back up to speed by tomorrow.
Belinda – “Canada’s top political dog”. Who knew?
Another poll goes horribly wrong.
In the worldwide war on Islamist terrorism, who would have guessed one of our strongest allies would be Ethiopia?
Speaking of Somalia – I have a proposal. The next columnist who refers to the United States of America as “the ultimate rogue state” should be required to spend an unescorted year in Somalia (or the Sudan, or Nigeria or North Korea) before ever being allowed to write again.
Brussels Journal;
Régnier applied for and received the status of an invalid from Wallonia’s generous welfare authorities. He consequently receives a welfare check of over €1,000 a month. His three wives are all unemployed. Hence, they each get €800 in unemployment benefits. On top of this the family receives €4,000 in child allowances. This makes a grand total of more than €7,400 a month ($9,700 or £4,960) – all of it provided by Belgium’s taxpayers. All the money matters in the household are taken care of by Serge. His wives are only interested in children. They have told the press that they each hope to have another baby in 2007.
Merry al-Christmas!
Add yours in the comments.
similar to Belgium , Canada is encumbered by quebec. take age of consent laws. Quebec didnt want them changed to older than 14.
People who criticize USA bad!
how did the south park song go.”Merry f–king Christmas”, I suppose the korean cartoonists took it literally.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/12/25/korea.prostitutes.reut/index.html
in anticipation of an all out CBCpravda lovefest when Justin Trudeau announces he is going into politics around new years I think this link is a start.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/061130/n1130103A.html
People who criticize USA bad!
No, but to equate absolute derangement with criticism is stupid.
Bill Kaufmann loves to hate the US. He emmigrated with his parents after world war 2. Of course they didn’t support the nazis. (I don’t know of any Germans who did.) He once wrote a piece on why the allies shouldn’t have used the bomb against Japan, (his wife is Japanese), claiming the allies would have only suffered one hundred thousand casualties if they had invaded using conventional weapons. I usually don’t read his pieces.
Actually ever since a Sun editorial called anti-poverty protester Bill Clennett, a ruffian, I haven’t bought that rag(Calgary Sun). I may not agree with the Bill Clennett’s of the world but I do respect their right to peacefully protest without being assaulted by bullies.
Belinda Stronach — WOOF! WOOF! I don’t think she’s good looking at all, and she sure ain’t very smart.
Freedom and Religion
I am flexible. I will join any good natured good times. Powwow is always fun. The Christian singing and all that three kings stuff is good natured and seems not to harm too many.
There is a religion that marches and beats it*s collective back with cables and chains drawing blood. If that happens to be your devotional hobby, you can probably get away with it marching down main street in our free country. Just don*t try to get me to join in.
All religions are man made clubs designed to help citizens live together in a peaceful productive and taxable manner.
Most religions are pretty fair in helping us live together peacefully. There is a violent sector of one religion that has come to life in recent years that is totally opposite to the spirit and purpose of all religions.
Our responsibility is to subdue and reverse that one wayward cancerous sector in the group that would eventually give us nuclear self-destruction world wide.
North American and Nato troops are all that stand between us and that possible sad end.
My hope is that a majority of our young citizens learn the true gravity of this threat and join us older folks in voting for governments who support our troops with the best backing possible.
Freedom inflicts its most unbearable pain when it is lost. = TG
Sit down, Jose. Now listen.
It’s OK to criticize the USA. However, the criticism is to be accurate and fair.
Got it?
E.g., Let’s take greenhouse gas emissions. While the Liberals were in power, Canada’s were proportionately way higher than those of the US. “Canadian greenhouse gas emissions reached 750 megatonnes … Canada has failed miserably to lower emissions with a +24% vs a +13% for USA.” (Green Car Congress, December, 2006)
Also, from Eco Research, University of Victoria: “Canadian air quality has deteriorated during the past 10 years, while greenhouse gas emissions rose 24%—thereby hitting a level 32% above the targets set out by the Kyoto Protocol for 2008 to 2012—according to a Canadian federal report released this week.
“This study compares Canada’s environmental record to the other industrialized nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and tracks Canada’s progress (or lack thereof) on environmental issues over the past two decades . . .
“The study provides accurate, independent information about Canada’s track record in protecting the environment. All of the statistical information comes from data verified and published by the OECD.
“The results prove that Canada has one of the poorest environmental records of the industrialized countries. The primary finding is that for the twenty-five environmental indicators examined, Canada’s overall ranking among OECD nations is a dismal 28th out of 29.”
And from the David Suzuki Foundation–no less:
“Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are two times higher, and major smog-causing air pollutants are two-to-three times higher than the average for other industrialized countries . . .
“The study found Canada has shown no improvement over the last decade. Canada’s rank today is the same as it was in 1992: 28th out of 30.
“‘The Canada we see in this report does not reflect the one we hold in our hearts [gag],” says Dr. David Suzuki. ‘Canadians expect more and they expect better. We should be outraged that we are among the worst in the industrialized world.'”
(So why does Suzuki fail to mention the LIBERAL governments responsible for this travesty?)
Despite all the evidence, the Liberals, egged on by deluded leftie cheerleaders, like you, viciously attack the American record. That’s the kind of criticism–cynical and altogether hypocritical, not to mention false–that’s bad, Jose.
Get it?
Kaufmann is another leftie consumed by hate. Let facts interfere with what he writes? Bah! Humbug.
bollocks posts: “and before you jump all over that greating remember: NO mention of a specific date for the birth of Christ.
the 25th day of the 12th month is rooted in PAGANISM. a ploy, a tactic to get them on board the burgeoning new religion.”
hoss posts: “Pardon me while I jump all over that Biblically illiterate statement. There is a date written.
The Course of Abia is a set date and will determine the date of the conception of John. Christ’s conception was exactly six months later.
w3.angelfire.com/nv/TheOliveBranch/append179d.html
w3.angelfire.com/nv/TheOliveBranch/append179c.html”
on this date:
Posted by: ol hoss at December 24, 2006 08:20 AM
new comment:
thank you hoss for falling for …, er, pointing that out. and which gregorian DATE does your angelfire reference translate to? AND note, YOUR reference indicates date of CONCEPTION. which is assuredly NOT the date of BIRTH which I mentioned in my post.
so any and all historians, theologians, biblical sleuths et al, WHERE is the 25th of december or any ‘calculated’ or ‘extrapolated’ date of some antiquity calendar coincide with a date some multiple of 365 plus sufficient leap year adjustments ???? HMMM ?????
DOB DATE OF BIRTH here, not date of conception on ANY calendar. there is NOT a fixed rigid number of days after conception, just a typical statistical mean. or is that the one youre going to use ??? just an ‘avergare’ length of gestation???
“while shepards watched their flock by night” yada yada ya. oh really? in winter ??? or maybe the weather was balmy and equatorial in the ME in the year 4 BC or 0 AD or whatever.
c’mon oh christian christmas folks !!! show me the money, er, DATE of Christ’s BIRTH. and if ya cant then quitcherwhinin about where and when christmas trees get plopped.
Jose,
So what do you call people who only criticise and see no good whatsoever? Except of course in the Islamonazis, North Korean, Venzuelan and Cuban dictators, Stalinits, etc.?
Have you looked in the mirror lately?
Merry CHRISTmas.
Now Belinda will have to slam “The First Post” as “sexist” or something for calling her a “dog”, too.
And the Liberals and NDPee-ers will have to make a big stink, too, ignoring much far, far more critically important matters in favor of complaining about the calling (or falsely alleged calling) of a super-slut billionaire bimbo a “dog”.
Big, fat, hairy deal. The left has nothing to do but beat up on anyone who dares rightly, justifiably ridicule one of theirs…
Kaufmann is delusional–you may criticize America freely, but do so without the attending hyperbole. He has refused to adjust his moral compass after 9/11, and still thinks that “talking” to terrorists is the way to go.
I really feel sorry for people like this–misery and anger dominate their psyches, and to the point that any reason simply does not register.
Robert Fisk reviews Jimmy Carter’s book. It’s one of those rare convergences; we get the two most clueless primates on the planet in one article.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2097774.ece
Anyone who calls the US the “ultimate rogue state” could never be counted on to be objective, much less praise Americans on any issue. Without even considering that US is a pluralistic state which respects human rights, there are far better candidates for the title.
The United States is a superpower and acts the part, just as the Soviet Union did in their time. Superpowers have interests rather than friends and don’t learn from others’ mistakes. Hence US invaded Iraq, not learning from Russians in Afghanistan, who didn’t learn from the Americans in Vietnam. Kaufman and his ilk leap upon every US indiscretion, ignoring that true pariah states routinely oppress and steal from their citizens. For Kaufman and others, it’s easier to label Afghanistan oil for money, or scream “Bush, Bush!” of course ignoring that a large-scale attack on another country was formulated, planned and executed. Let’s ignore the gross human rights violations there; we’re just making it worse I guess is Bill’s argument.
No it’s US foreign policy that made them do it. I guess that gives them the right.
Anyway, the Taliban et al are far harder on their own people than us, the West. I guess we should apologize for having freedom and prosperity, automatically concluding we must have oppressed someone to get where we are, even though oppression exists all around us (oh yeah, that’s our fault too).
We’re supposed to keep out of other nations’ affairs, but when their corrupt leadership impoverishes and intimidates their people, then it’s our fault. What isn’t the West’s fault?
Ezra wrote one of his best ever columns, it’s sort of a template for what makes him stand out, and for what he does best: throw straight punches and speak those plain truths which have been so curiously absent during the Lib-proxy media years:
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Levant_Ezra/2006/12/24/2968573-sun.html.
And, for those who might need a day or two to decompress after Christmas and/or years of scratch-fighting politics, it’s good to peruse David Warren’s essays at http://www.davidwarrenonline.com His decency and his spirituality, and his ability to see the larger picture and his place in it, are comforting.
“In the worldwide war on Islamist terrorism, who would have guessed one of our strongest allies would be Ethiopia?”
I would have guessed, Kate.
Ethiopia has a history of being the leading western power and saviour of Christianity.
http://www.fhi.net/fhius/ethiopiafamine/christian.html
The US as a rogue state? A couple of definitions of rogue are: an elephant or other large wild animal with destructive tendencies living apart from the herd, or a person or thing that is unpredictable. Hmmm.
The US on the world stage:
1. In December 2001, the United States officially withdrew from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, gutting the landmark agreement-the first time in the nuclear era that the US renounced a major arms control accord.
2. 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention ratified by 144 nations including the United States. In July 2001 the US walked out of a London conference to discuss a 1994 protocol designed to strengthen the Convention by providing for on-site inspections. At Geneva in November 2001, US Undersecretary of State John Bolton stated that “the protocol is dead,” at the same time accusing Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Sudan, and Syria of violating the Convention but offering no specific allegations or supporting evidence.
3. UN Agreement to Curb the International Flow of Illicit Small Arms, July 2001: the US was the only nation to oppose it.
4. April 2001, the US was not re-elected to the UN Human Rights Commission, after years of withholding dues to the UN (including current dues of $244 million)-and after having forced the UN to lower its share of the UN budget from 25 to 22 percent. (In the Human Rights Commission, the US stood virtually alone in opposing resolutions supporting lower-cost access to HIV/AIDS drugs, acknowledging a basic human right to adequate food, and calling for a moratorium on the death penalty.)
5. International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty, to be set up in The Hague to try political leaders and military personnel charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Signed in Rome in July 1998, the Treaty was approved by 120 countries, with 7 opposed (including the US). In October 2001 Great Britain became the 42nd nation to sign. In December 2001 the US Senate again added an amendment to a military appropriations bill that would keep US military personnel from obeying the jurisdiction of the proposed ICC.
6. Land Mine Treaty, banning land mines; signed in Ottawa in December 1997 by 122 nations. The United States refused to sign, along with Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Egypt, and Turkey. President Clinton rejected the Treaty, claiming that mines were needed to protect South Korea against North Korea’s “overwhelming military advantage.” He stated that the US would “eventually” comply, in 2006; this was disavowed by President Bush in August 2001.
7. Kyoto Protocol of 1997, for controlling global warming: declared “dead” by President Bush in March 2001. In November 2001, the Bush administration shunned negotiations in Marrakech (Morocco) to revise the accord, mainly by watering it down in a vain attempt to gain US approval.
8. In May 2001, refused to meet with European Union nations to discuss, even at lower levels of government, economic espionage and electronic surveillance of phone calls, e-mail, and faxes (the US “Echelon” program),
9. Refused to participate in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-sponsored talks in Paris, May 2001, on ways to crack down on off-shore and other tax and money-laundering havens.
10. Refused to join 123 nations pledged to ban the use and production of anti-personnel bombs and mines, February 2001
11. September 2001: withdrew from International Conference on Racism, bringing together 163 countries in Durban, South Africa
12. International Plan for Cleaner Energy: G-8 group of industrial nations (US, Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, UK), July 2001: the US was the only one to oppose it.
13. Enforcing an illegal boycott of Cuba, now being made tighter. In the UN in October 2001, the General Assembly passed a resolution, for the tenth consecutive year, calling for an end to the US embargo, by a vote of 167 to 3 (the US, Israel, and the Marshall Islands in opposition).
14. Comprehensive [Nuclear] Test Ban Treaty. Signed by 164 nations and ratified by 89 including France, Great Britain, and Russia; signed by President Clinton in 1996 but rejected by the Senate in 1999. The US is one of 13 nonratifiers among countries that have nuclear weapons or nuclear power programs. In November 2001, the US forced a vote in the UN Committee on Disarmament and Security to demonstrate its opposition to the Test Ban Treaty.
15. In 1986 the International Court of Justice (The Hague) ruled that the US was in violation of international law for “unlawful use of force” in Nicaragua, through its actions and those of its Contra proxy army. The US refused to recognize the Court’s jurisdiction. A UN resolution calling for compliance with the Court’s decision was approved 94-2 (US and Israel voting no).
16. In 1984 the US quit UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and ceased its payments for UNESCO’s budget, over the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) project designed to lessen world media dependence on the “big four” wire agencies (AP, UPI, Agence France-Presse, Reuters). The US charged UNESCO with “curtailment of press freedom,” as well as mismanagement and other faults, despite a 148-1 in vote in favor of NWICO in the UN. UNESCO terminated NWICO in 1989; the US nonetheless refused to rejoin. In 1995 the Clinton administration proposed rejoining; the move was blocked in Congress and Clinton did not press the issue. In February 2000 the US finally paid some of its arrears to the UN but excluded UNESCO, which the US has not rejoined.
17. Optional Protocol, 1989, to the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at abolition of the death penalty and containing a provision banning the execution of those under 18. The US has neither signed nor ratified and specifically exempts itself from the latter provision, making it one of five countries that still execute juveniles (with Saudi Arabia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria). China abolished the practice in 1997, Pakistan in 2000.
18. 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The only countries that have signed but not ratified are the US, Afghanistan, Sao Tome and Principe.
19. The US has signed but not ratified the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects the economic and social rights of children. The only other country not to ratify is Somalia, which has no functioning government.
20. UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, covering a wide range of rights and monitored by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The US signed in 1977 but has not ratified.
21. UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948. The US finally ratified in 1988, adding several “reservations” to the effect that the US Constitution and the “advice and consent” of the Senate are required to judge whether any “acts in the course of armed conflict” constitute genocide. The reservations are rejected by Britain, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Mexico, Estonia, and others.
22. Is the status of “we’re number one!” Rogue overcome by generous foreign aid to given less fortunate countries? The three best aid providers, measured by the foreign aid percentage of their gross domestic products, are Denmark (1.01%), Norway (0.91%), and the Netherlands (0.79), The three worst: USA (0.10%), UK (0.23%), Australia, Portugal, and Austria (all 0.26).
But other than that…
It is my hope that the west doesn’t abandon Ethiopia in this fight. thanks for this post today.
Iberia is blowing smoke–compare the atrocities of the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia, and then we can discuss fairly the wrongs of the US. China is the number one imprisoner of journalists (maybe we could send Kaufmann there?), and people in North Korea are routinely imprisoned for the silliest of offences. This is not to mention the Islamist states, where women’s rights are nil and children learn to hate Jews, Christians, and other infidels.
But, other than that…
Oh, another thing, nearly each of Iberia’s so-called concerns over US policy has to do with the UN–do we need to say anything more?
But, other than that…
I didn’t say that the US is the worst country in the world. But neither is it a paragon of virtue, especially when it comes to international matters.
…and when it does things with disregard for what others in the international community think, that make it a “rogue”.
“11. September 2001: withdrew from International Conference on Racism, bringing together 163 countries in Durban, South Africa”
The durban conference was nothing more than a racist tirade against Israel.
Will Archie Canterbury condemn Pak for its fence? Archie says, Canon Smith is the only crook on his staff.
…- …-
Pakistan Announces Plans to Fence and Mine Border with Afghanistan
Pakistan has announced plans to fence and mine
sections of its frontier with Afghanistan to help prevent cross-border raids by pro-Taleban militants. The controversial proposal follows repeated criticism from both U.S. and Afghan officials who have accused Pakistan of failing to secure the lawless border area. VOA’s Benjamin Sand has more from Islamabad. (free republic)
Israel Israel’s Security Fence News – Media Monitoring Service by …
Bethlehem wall is ‘deeply wrong’ says Archbishop Rowan Canterbury…
Theological Reflection #8 by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Sermon at St George’s Anglican Cathedral, Jerusalem … The security fence stands as a terrible symbol of the fear and despair …
What is with this infantile view of the world that if you criticize the U.S. you are automatically an Islamofascist, communist, nazi, totalitarian loving freak? Better to look the other way isn’t it? There is no wrong here, so let’s get onside, and if there is a problem, let us just pretend it does not exist. Maybe some people criticize the U.S. because they have legitimate concerns. It does not mean they support islam, dictators, communism, or anything else you find objectionable, but that is a nuance that is, apparently, difficult to discern. I see no one yet seems concerned that the journalist O’Neill had her place being searched by the RCMP, and for what justification? Apparently none.
For citizens to accept that when a government pontificates, we are doing the “right thing”, and take that as the truth, we enter a very dangerous area. Ever wonder how many Jewish lives, and other lives, would have been saved if the German generals, and other politicians had refused to accept Hitler’s insanity? To just accept something as valid, because someone states it is, does not make it so. Citizens should learn to be critical and demand far more than what they receive. In the U.S. there is $3 trillion dollars missing, and the departments in which the majority of money is missing, cannot explain where it went. That is $3 trillion dollars of debt placed at the feet of Americans, who have no one to account for where THEIR money went. Lots of things are wrong in this world, so what is there to be afraid of in cleaning up our own backyard too?
Iberia is indeed blowing smoke whilst his ares is sucking wind……..makes him a true blowhard. I nominate him for a Liberal cabinet position. The future minister of Anti-Americanism………wait, I speak too soon. I guess 62% of those asked..do not see Dion as the next PM. Sorry Iberia, your turn at the Liberal slop trough will have to wait.
Whew! this guy (same name: jose, iberia, richard, on and on…) has NO LIFE. What a loser!
Hey odie:
Instead of childish insults, why don’t you just prove that the term “rogue” is incorrect?
What ever happened to the RCMP income trust probe?
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/12/25/2986336-cp.html
Yea the U.S. is such an awful rogue state, that they have to build a wall to keep out the hoards of people who want to live is such an awful. fascist rogue state.
Ah Iberia, but is it the number ONE rogue state,? I dont think so.
Stephen Reeves:
List some other countries that are as (or more) recalcitrant in their international affairs.
The United States is the pre-eminent force for good in the world. If it falls short in the eyes of someone who takes the name of a Soviet mass murder, so much the better.
Odie441, you are not far off the mark, “arse sucking wind” and “blowhard”, sure are qualifications for all Liberal cabinet positions.
Paul Martin was a perfect example of blowing out of his nether regions. The lies he spouted about the Conservatives in his dying days on the election stump could not be coming from his head unless it was stuck up his ass.
stephen Reeves: RIGHT ON!!
stephen Reeves, above post refers to your December 26,2006, 6:51 PM post.
“The United States is the pre-eminent force for good in the world.”
Mississauga Matt
Throughout history, that’s what all empires considered themselves. Besides, the subject today wasn’t “bad” or “good”, it was “rogue”.
Just out of curiosity, is lberia short for Lavrentiy Beria?
The Chinese are extremely aggressive in their international affairs. Almost any country that can intrudes aggressively in foreign affairs, the French, the Russians, the Brits, and it often is “all about oil”.
The Chinese ambassador attended the Liberal leadership convention in Montreal!
In almost all countries where the US has a physical presence they are welcomed by the government and the local people they contact. Read “Imperial Grunts”, the greatest human right is not “freedom”, it is physical security.
Canforce 101: Yes.
France As a “Muslim Power”
Here’s a review by Daniel Johnson of a new book by David Pryce-Jones: Betrayal: France, the Arabs, and the Jews. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)
As I write, it is exactly a year since the desolate banlieues of France erupted in an orgy of violence, on a scale which had not been seen for generations. At the time, these riots were blamed on social exclusion. Since then, it has become clear that the rioters are not just ‘immigrants’ or ‘youths’, but are first and foremost Muslims. When they set light to a car, their cry is often: ‘Allahu akhbar!’ (’Allah is great!’) [Oddly enough, the same thing supporters of Rep. Keith Ellison shout. —ed.]
The violence, moreover, is endemic and ubiquitous. In 2005, there were 110,000 incidents of urban violence, including 45,000 vehicles burnt out. This year, there has been an average of over 100 incidents a day. Since the riots supposedly subsided last January, some 3,000 police officers are reported to have been injured. France is quite deliberately being made ungovernable.
LGF
Citoyen Dion owes loyalty -how much?- to Muslim France:
CTV.ca | Stephane Dion says he’ll keep dual citizenship
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said his loyalty “is 100 per cent to Canada first,” after critics said he should abandon his dual citizenship to France.
…-
thanks god for usa!
I imagine lberia would rather have the USSR as our next door neighbour.
Iberia:
“Throughout history, that’s what all empires considered themselves [ie “the pre-eminent force for good in the world”].”
Yep! And throughout history, there have always been people who accepted the ideology of the empire. It is against the interests of most of the people commenting here (not to mention the rest of the world) to believe this yet, sadly, most of them do. No imperial system has possessed the propaganda resources this one does.
The socialist/liberal/democrat/communist types do provide for good a laugh, too bad most of them are suffering from incurable leftist brain disorder or LBD.
Richard: “Iberia is blowing smoke–compare the atrocities of the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia, and then we can discuss fairly the wrongs of the US.”
The problem is that you have heard exaggerated stories about the atrocities of all these countries and virtually nothing about the atrocities of the U.S. And there are other ways of causing massive human suffering, and of impoverishing the lives of billions, apart from what is generally considered to fall under the heading of ‘atrocity’. But you have been very thorougly indoctrinated. The chances of getting through to you in this kind of forum are virtually nill.
Bruce: “The socialist/liberal/democrat/communist types do provide for good a laugh, too bad most of them are suffering from incurable leftist brain disorder or LBD.”
huh? You are lumping together two (possibly 3, depending on how you understand “socialist”) very different political philosophies here!
Just read a few of the 71 comments in the g&m re Saddams death sentence. So many bleeding heart cdns saying this is wrong, the death penalty is wrong, hang Bush etc. My question to all of them, how many of you that are against the death penalty for saddam or others, are in favor of killing innocent unborn babies via abortion. And I bet they see no hyprocricy in their views.
Lefty is as lefty does.