Reader Tips

Reader Tips 36 Comments

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation and pursuant to our Friday night old-time radio crime-detective show, here is the Big Gamble episode of Dragnet (1952, 29:42).

Today’s ΣVe/n:  8.28  »  7.86
Decima:
7.67 » 8.85		 EKOS:
5.31 » 7.20		 Ipsos:
9.92 » 8.40		 Nanos:
6.93 » 3.25

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

36 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. Today’s Nanos Ve of 3.25 looks like an outlier to me (they lost the plot for two days about a week and a half ago too). Also, we’re still counting Angus Reid’s 11.6 from last Saturday, which will likely go down tomorrow. The average of the Harris-Decima, EKOS, and Ipsos Reid results is probably the closest to representative, and that has today’s ΣVe/n = 8.15.

  2. I hear smoking can help keep you thin and healthy
    I don’t recommend them though
    The old commercials sure are funny to listen too
    Man, I must be gett’n old

  4. ‘Nanos Ve of 3.25 looks like an outlier to me’
    Harper’s gonna win, only question is can he pull off a majority by ignoring Ontario and doing so much Quebeker pandering, that seems to not be paying off, not enough anyway,
    good show, Dragnet was my favourite

  5. But, Blanks, the current Ve graph is saying that it is paying off, enough anyway, whatever it is, be it your formulation, or some other. With the proviso that the polls are representative, the Conservative party has been, based on historic data, sitting in majority territory for three weeks running now, stronger lately, and with the variances in the noise, not the signal. I hope to publish a new graph tomorrow, I’m just waiting for the new Angus Reid weekly tracking poll.

  6. Great radio program, Dragnet, Vitruvius. And thanks for the honors in your previous selection of Pedro Infante.

  10. On Aug 7 2007 it was reported that Barak Obama said
    “The first step must be to get off the wrong battlefield in Iraq and take the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
    In January 2008 it was reported that Stephane Dion said:
    “We are going to have to discuss that very actively if they (the Pakistanis) are not able to deal with it on their own. We could consider that option with the NATO forces in order to help Pakistan help us pacify Afghanistan,”
    The next time some liberal tries to use the “Harper=Bush therefore would take us into Iraq” logic, I’ll respectfully ask……If the next US president wanted the world to join it in a unilateral invasion of the Darfur region of Sudan without that governments permission, would they oppose?
    Oh I dunno, like maybe this guy?

    Neither Pearson nor Roy pretend that their endeavours in Sudan are likely to
    bring an end to the strife that has plagued the country for more than 40 years.
    “We don’t have any big solutions,” acknowledges Roy, digging into a tin of cold
    beans after a long, hot day on the trail. “But I have been around a bit and can
    recognize human suffering when I see it. All we are trying to do here is ease
    some of that suffering by bringing people out of bondage. I think that’s
    worthwhile.” She makes the comment near the end of her mission during which CSI
    funds were used to purchase and free 4,968 slaves    .

    Thats an interesting link. Seems CSI isn’t as noble an enterprise as its presenting itself to the world…..not a sinister agenda mind you, just terribly misguided. And I quote:

    “With regard to the specific issue of “slave redemption”, one of the few neutral
    sources against which the claims made by Christian Solidarity International and
    Baroness Cox can be assessed is the report by the Canadian government’s special
    envoy to Sudan, John Harker, into human rights abuses in Sudan. The Harker
    report, ‘Human Security in Sudan: The Report of a Canadian Assessment Mission’,
    was commissioned by the Canadian government and published in February 2000. One of the two missions with which John Harker was tasked was to:
    “independently investigate human rights violations, specifically in reference to allegations of slavery and slavery-like practices in Sudan.””

    Its about 106 pages of a pdf. But some of the “meat” is on page seven.

    “The UNICEF workers said there is no evidence that “redemption” is actually fuelling the abduction problem, whether the redemption was real or “staged”. Several informants reported various scenarios involving staged redemptions. In some cases, SPLM officials are allegedly involved in arranging these exchanges, dressing up as Arab slave traders. The profits are used to support the SPLM/A, buy arms and ammunition, and even to build a power base in opposition to John Garang, which, it is said, has caused a rift in SPLM/A, because those who object (including Garang) are reluctant to publicly expose it for fear of splintering the rebel movement. Sometimes a “redeeming group” may be innocently misled, but other groups may be actively committed to fundraising for the SPLM/A, and deliberately use “slave redemption” as a successful tactic for attracting Western donors. We did speak with an eyewitness who can confirm observing a staged redemption and this testimony conformed with other reports we had from a variety of credible sources. Interestingly, even UNICEF has been accused of “Staged abduction redemption”, in their case of recycling children from IDP camps. The accusations force UNICEF to be sure to focus on proper documentation, and it wishes CSI and others lived by the importance of this aspect of the struggle.”
    But I digress.
    Is it US foreign policy that the liberals want to dictate, or is it only when a republican is in the White House that they want to wag their finger?

  11. ““Winds are Dominant Cause of Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheet Losses”
    From Climate Research News
    Two new studies summarized in a news article in Science magazine point to wind-induced circulation changes in the ocean as the dominant cause of the recent ice losses through the glaciers draining both the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, not ‘global warming.’
    The two stuides referred to are:
    ‘Acceleration of Jakobshavn Isbræ triggered by warm subsurface ocean waters’ by Holland et al, published in Nature Geoscience.
    The Abstract states:”
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/10/03/winds-are-dominant-cause-of-greenland-and-west-antarctic-ice-sheet-losses/

  13. A criminal investigation of Elections Canada is now necessary.
    “”Kane said the Liberals were told to take down the signs from Elections Canada”.
    …-
    “Mark O’Halloran, the executive director of the Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island, was caught on camera removing political signs put in place by local Conservatives.”
    …-
    “Conservative candidate wants Liberal executive removed from opponents’ campaign team”
    http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=177624&sc=98
    “Kane said the Liberals were told to take down the signs from Elections Canada because the authorized official agent was not on the signs.
    But in fact the authorization was there, in small print.
    Elections Canada has since apologized for telling the Liberals to take down the signs, saying it should not have done so.”

  14. Margret Atwood said she would rather vote for a party that would break Canada up than vote for Harper because of the cuts to culture programs.
    Two questions Maggie, if he had increased the spending on programs, would you be saying we should vote for him? If you answered yes doesn’t that make you a wh0re?

  15. Has anyone else noticed how the Opposition continue to refer to the OILsands as TARsands? Guess it fits their agenda, there’s no capacity to process truth in their Lefty brains.
    If Quebecers continue to vote Bloc we really should help them get the hell out of the country. Why should the rest of Canada pay big bucks to them as a Have-not province when they’re rich in resources in the first place? If they think they can separate and live without our help, let them go, we’ve had enough of their games.
    Time to stop allowing them play us like fiddles. No more pandering if they vote for the Bloc who’s raison d’etre is to ditch this Country they’ve suckled far too long.
    Whiny Maggie Atwood can take a hike. Does her Lefty mind get around the idea the Bloc is about separating from the Country? Is this the thanks Canada gets from the likes of her? There’s more and more proof everyday Leftism is a mental illness.

  16. Liz J, I have always said if Quebec really wants to separate, all they have to do is hold the referendum outside of Quebec in the ROC

  18. Sammy: “Margret Atwood..fine Order of Canada recipient recommends Quebecers vote Bloc!”
    Margaret Atwood, herself, is from another planet.

  20. ctv has vid up on todays conservative tour down east & also a Q&A.
    Only thing is the Vid is from Yesterday on the Q&A
    and the other would not play.
    Iam sure this is just a technical glitch, Right!

  21. A question: does anyone know what’s happened to Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant? Here we are, in the middle of an election, and they’re both under the radar.
    MS hasn’t written a word in Maclean’s or anywhere in Canada since his kangaroo court ordeal. This is not surprising, but it’s surprising to me that it’s not a hot topic of discussion. Ezra’s not coming back until the day AFTER the election–where no one’s mentioning the HRCs.
    Where are these guys and why?

  23. Mark’s been writing op-eds on the two campaigns here and there. He currently has a book underway, I understand, and has been devoting time to that. I also suspect he’s wanting to take a break from the Canadian Infantilism Syndrome he’s has to endure for a bit. Like grandkids, you can love ’em to death but its nice too when they go home (and Canada is blessed with so many children of all ages…).
    I believe Ezra is in Ottawa for the duration of the campaign – maybe they’ll both pop in and let us know what they’ve been up to.

  24. Margaret Atwood is getting quite the ‘dressing-down’ from the Globe’s own readers.
    [ martha stewart from Canada writes: Take a look at the photo! Atwood looks like Pierre Trudeau in drag!]
    [ Phil Courterelle from New Westminster, Canada writes: I’m sorry, did I just read that Maggie Atwood supports Quebec separatism? Can we recall her Order of Canada for that? Actaully, we ought to recall it anyway based on the quality of her last few books, imho. :D]

  25. I thought the polls were showing support for Conservatives weakening in the great “Quebecois nation”.
    I really didn’t understand your graphs, sorry for any confusion

  27. Margaret Atwood’s attitude is quite symbolic of progressives. They are a willing to align themselves with anyone, no matter how objectionable that group may be, in order to meet their own needs. The old “ends justifies the means” argument. She and her type would gladly wear a burka, a red star or a brown shirt as long as it somehow furthered their own cause.

  28. *Tommy
    “For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
    But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
    An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
    An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool — you bet that Tommy sees!”
    …-
    “Vet[eran} who fought to display flag told he could face eviction
    A man at the centre of a dispute with the United Counties over flying a Canadian flag at his community housing property has been warned to change his behaviour within a week or face eviction.
    Mark Murray went from being joyful last Friday when community housing installed a new flagpole to a sense of bewilderment Thursday when officials presented him with a warning letter citing incidents last month investigated by police.
    The raising of a flagpole at the Helen Street housing complex satisfied a compromise reached between community housing officials and Murray after the armed forces veteran refused to remove a Canadian flag from his property as ordered last June.
    “The flagpole went up Friday and they put the flag on it Saturday … and I took mine down and put in the closet,” Murray told The Recorder and Times during a phone interview.
    But Thursday’s letter of warning left him wondering if community housing is looking for excuses to finger him for eviction.
    “I really don’t know whether it is or not. But some of my friends and neighbours think so.”
    That’s certainly the impression left with Linda McCoy, vice-president of the Cardinal legion, who feels Murray is being unfairly targeted.
    “It just seems to me to be too convenient that they put the flagpole up and the flag up late last week and now this week he’s served with an eviction notice,” McCoy said.
    “It’s like they let the dust settle over the flag issue and now they’re coming after him. It’s just too, too coincidental.”
    A spokesman from community housing wouldn’t comment on any specific client case in a phone message left with a reporter Friday morning.
    But Debra Gill, manager of program planning, said in voicemail messages any correspondence to tenants “explains the process and possible solutions and the remedies.”
    http://recorder.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1233355
    …-
    “Far from Canada, soldiers turn out en masse at remote Afghan advance poll
    KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — As rifle fire echoed from the nearby practice range, soldiers lined up Saturday night at a remote operating base in Afghanistan to cast ballots in advance polling for the Oct. 14 federal election.
    Despite being far from home, Canadian soldiers stationed here are taking a keen interest in the federal election. About 75 per cent of those stationed at this forward operating base voted over the course of the last week, some only hours after trading shots with Taliban insurgents.
    “It’s my choice,” said Bombardier Ian Scott of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment.
    “I’m a soldier, but I’m also a citizen. I need to have that choice.”
    All officers on the base – which can’t be named for security reasons – have been nominated as deputy returning officers, said Capt. Chris Reeves, who sat behind the desk located at one end of the mess tent. Elections Canada made sure the base was well stocked with ballots as well as directories to help the soldiers find their ridings and list of candidates.
    “It’s actually a bit of an honour,” he said.”
    http://tinyurl.com/4gv66q (canpress)
    *H/T Rudyard Kipling

  29. I’m a Palin fan, but I would like to know how I should respond to an aquaintance who says that Palin winking during the debate was bothersome?
    Any ideas?

  30. GRAMMAR ALERT:
    Please excuse this seemingly “Lizzie May” post. (I’m not jabbing my fingers at you, honest!) However, as a grammar aficionado, I’m getting worried about the slipping standards I’m noticing.
    IMO, words, and the structure used to hold them, are the vehicles of thought. When we become sloppy about either, over time, our thinking becomes fuzzy too. Here are three examples of very sloppy, and recurring, usage—or lack thereof—that I’ve noted lately.
    1) HOMONYMS:
    Please, couldn’t people make the effort to spell a few common ones correctly?
    E.g., “THERE” isn’t the only spelling of the word that sounds like this. There’re—no one uses this perfectly good, and correct, contraction anymore—two other ways to spell the word that sounds like “there”:
    “THEIR”, as in “their mom, their house, and their dog”. This is the POSSESSIVE form.
    There’s also “THEY’RE”, the CONTRACTION for “they are”, as in, “They’re going out”.
    “It’s” and “its” are tricky:
    “It’s” is the CONTRACTION for “it is”.
    The POSSESSIVE is “its”, as in, “The dog chewed ITS bone”.
    IMO, this possessive should also have an apostrophe (’), but it doesn’t. (Hey, this is English!!)
    Just remember that “ITS”, that shows ownership, is in a class by itself: NO apostrophe.
    2) THE SUBJUNCTIVE TENSE:
    It’s not, “If I WAS the prime minister, I’d . . . “, it’s “If I WERE the prime minister, I’d . . . ”
    3) QUESTION MARKS
    In the past few months I’ve been astonished at the number of questions in SDA postings that end in a period. (This seems to be a new trend.)
    If a question is posed, the correct punctuation at the end of the sentence is . . . a QUESTION MARK!
    Conclusion: This is a blog, I know. But I think the trends I see here have a wider significance. IMO, grammar counts and I think we should be paying more attention. E.g., When I write a politician or media type, I make sure that my grammar’s impeccable: the quickest way to lose credibility is to make a mistake.
    This is meant to be helpful. If you think I’ve overstepped, sorry.
    Cheers –

  31. Thanks, Skip. Could you let us know where the Mark Steyn op-eds are?
    And, if he’s no longer writing for any Canadian publications, I fully understand. What a juvenile, narcissistic culture we have in Canada: it’s full of under developed “adults”.
    Ezra’s in Ottawa? I wish he were there permanently, as in Parliament, though perhaps he’s better away from there, without the muzzle that’d be placed on him. I’ll be glad to have him back on line.

  32. Dear Comrade, Attend “Camp Obama” to learn “pre-election agitation tactics”. Learn how to “Get in their faces”, Comrade.
    ——————-
    Voters coast-to-coast are receiving e-mails from the Obama campaign encouraging them to sign up to learn pre-election agitation tactics at “Camp Obama.” Red kerchiefs, anyone?
    […]
    The unsolicited pitch goes like this: “Camp Obama attendees will receive real world organizing experience that will have a direct impact on this election. Graduates of Camp Obama will go on to become Deputy Field Organizers who will lead this campaign to victory in crucial battleground states around the country.”
    […]
    “Be absolutely ruthless,” adds Camp Obama director Jocelyn Woodards, who leads the intensive two-day training course for campers in Chicago.
    http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=307928498550592

  34. MELAMINE ALERT IN TORONTO CHINATOWN
    Melamine-laced pretzels found on store shelves after recall
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081004.wxmelamine04/BNStory/National/home
    Chocolate-covered pretzel sticks packaged by Kaiser OK OK pretzels (which also come in strawberry flavour) were found in Lucky Moose Food Mart in Toronto’s Chinatown two days after a recall by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
    Test results on the product detected traces of the synthetic chemical melanime which, though not safe for human consumption, is sometimes used to mask the watering down of milk ingredients in food products.
    I was taking a friend from another province through Chinatown the other day, and mentioned to her that I wouldn’t buy any edible products made in China, nor do I go to Chinese restaurants anymore. She hadn’t heard about the melamine-laced pet and human products nor about the soya sauce made with human hair.
    Needless to say, I informed her about the problem. I think she’s going to look at “Product of China” in a different way from now on.

  35. Enviro heretic has gone fission.
    No, it’s not Lizzy; it’s Mark.
    The enviro heretic says he has had a “Damascene conversion”!!!
    Wot is dat? It’s the tale of Saul who, seated on a dionky while on his way to Damascus, fell off the dionky, and hit his head on a boulder. When he regained consciousness, Saul had become St. Paul who of course is known as the Christian apostle to the heathens/pagans & atheists.
    Say Amen, Mark,
    Amen Mark.
    …-
    “Mark Lynas: the green heretic persecuted for his nuclear conversion
    The climate change expert Mark Lynas has been scorned by eco-colleagues for daring to speak up for atomic power”
    “Just a month ago I had a Damascene conversion: the Green case against nuclear power is based largely on myth and dogma. My tipping point came when I discovered just how much nuclear power has changed since I first set my mind against it. Prescription for the Planet, a new book by the American writer Tom Blees, opened my eyes to fourth-generation “fast-breeder” reactors, which use fuel much more efficiently than the old-style reactors, produce shorter-lived waste and can also be designed to be “walk-away safe”.
    Best of all, these new reactors – prototypes of which have already been tested – can produce power by burning up existing stocks of nuclear waste. As Blees puts it: “Thus we have a prodigious supply of free fuel that is actually even better than free, for it is material that we are quite desperate to get rid of.” Who could object to that?
    Just about everyone on the eco-scene, it turned out. I began to receive e-mails from friends and colleagues warning me off the topic. Did I really want to risk my entire reputation by alienating the green movement? The backlash to my first magazine article on the subject prompted my inbox to collapse, the blogs to drip with venom, the dirty looks to multiply.
    A former Greenpeace campaigner posted on my website that I needed to show “a bit of humility” and “less arrogance”. On Greenpeace’s blog my views were mocked as “wishful thinking of the day”. On Radio 4’s Today programme, Green party leader Caroline Lucas accused me of having “lost the plot”. When I argued back, she accused me of “just being silly”. I was a traitor.
    This was a moment I had been dreading for nearly three years, ever since I first suspected that much of what I had been brought up to believe about nuclear power – that it is, without exception, dirty, dangerous and unnecessary – was untrue. Science has moved on. The old figures just don’t stack up any more.”
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4836556.ece

  36. The Noble Savage of Rousseau, the Noble North American Indian, the Noble South American Indian, etc, are myths; lies, half-truths, perverted statistics, b-ess, used by enviros/leftists/socialists and corrupt politicans to impress/cow the credulous.
    Their goal is Power; ask Lizzy May.
    Then, there is ““myth of the pristine forest””.
    ““There ain’t no part of it,” he said with folksy emphasis, “that wasn’t touched by human hands in one form or another.””
    …-
    “Can’t See the Forest for the Trees”
    “Researchers argue that it’s time to see beyond the “myth of the pristine forest”—to gain a truer understanding of humankind’s interactions with the natural landscape.”
    “The forests are not nearly as ancient or primeval as they seem. In fact, before Europeans arrived at the New World’s doorstep, bringing disease and destruction, the Amazon was well settled: “There ain’t no part of it,” he said with folksy emphasis, “that wasn’t touched by human hands in one form or another.””
    http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0810/features/the_forest.shtml

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