Reader Tips

Reader Tips 38 Comments

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation and pursuant to our Thursday night wild-card show, here are Chet Atkins and the boys performing Wildwood Flower in Oslo, in 1964 (2:53).

Today’s ΣVe/n: 3.77 » 4.22 (126 Seats)
Angus:
4.96 		EKOS:
5.31 » 6.49 		Decima:
2.32 » 2.95 		Nanos:
2.48 » 2.48

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

38 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. Why Stephen Harper does not deserve to be dumped
    By The Economist print edition – 10/09/08
    Canada’s general election The fear factor
    IT IS not easy to be a successful Conservative in Canada. Perhaps it is the effect of living next to the United States. Perhaps it is because the country was founded on the collectivist principles of “peace, order and good government” rather than the individualist “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” of its neighbour. Perhaps it is because the things that Canadians most value about their country are its publicly run health service, its European-style welfare state and its tolerance. All are associated with the Liberals, who have been the natural party of government in Canada for the past century. To cap it all, conservative ideas of deregulation and unfettered free-market capitalism have been brought into disrepute by the financial turmoil south of the border.
    CLICK HERE for the full article

  2. Arts funding: the people have spoken!
    Some of you may remember lefty troll about town and leading Toronto metrosexual Jeffie “Jeff” Davidson.
    Seems Jeffie’s now all riled up about Avi Lewis and Gwynne Dyer not being able to filch from the taxpayer’s pocket to travel around the world and do whatever it is they do.
    So Jeffie’s organized a protest to get other artistes together and . . . and . . . well throw a hissy fit is what they’re gonna do.
    But first, a little PR. Jeffie put out a press release at his widely unread blog, alerting the media to the fact that he and recording artiste Andrew Cash would be drumming up support at the corner of Yonge & Bloor. Here’s a link and a snippet:
    wheredthatbuggo.blogspot.com/2008/10/kraft-dinner-and-kool-aid-media-alert.html
    Kraft Dinner and Kool Aid media alert.
    Jeff Davidson and Andrew Cash, co-producers of The Artists’ Other Gala (…but this time they’re not the waiters ) will be serving up Kraft Dinner and Kool-Aid at 11:00 am Thursday October 9 at at [sic] the southeast corner of Dundas Square at Yonge and Dundas to highlight the living standard of most artists in Canada and to promote The Artists’ Other Gala showcase Friday October 10th at the Tranzac Club. Several performers will be busking as Jeff and Andrew serve Torontonians an authentic taste of the typical artists’ gala.
    Just look at that lineup!
    – Former Skydiggers (I saw those guys with Blue Rodeo at Massey Hall many years ago and have 3 or 4 of their CDs).
    – Barking mad NOW Magazine correspondent and occasional recording artist Andrew Cash (I think I have one of his vinyl records somewhere in my basement)
    – Former Treble Chargers, etc.
    As the leeches are wont to say, the arts unite us and are an integral part of our culture.
    And I can happily report that the people got the message! The southeast corner of Dundas Square at Yonge and Dundas was packed! Packed!
    The only problem for Jeffie and his merrie olde band of weenies was that they neglected to see if the square was already reserved.
    Which it was. By some outfit called the Toronto Maple Leafs.
    Here’s a pic of the throngs at the Leafs’ event:
    img410.imageshack.us/img410/1589/jeffie02xc3.jpg
    Here’s a pic of the throngs at Jeffie’s do:
    img115.imageshack.us/img115/2913/jeffie04nm3.jpg
    To be fair to Jeffie, your roving reporter didn’t arrive until an hour after Jeffie’s event got underway, so I suppose it is possible that all the KD and Kool-Aid got doled out. But judging from this pic:
    img115.imageshack.us/img115/9293/jeffie08jy7.jpg
    I rather doubt it.
    Looks like Jeffie was once again left largely ignored. Which when you think about it really is the best for all concerned.

  3. Why Stephen Harper does not deserve to be dumped
    By The Economist print edition – 10/09/08
    Canada’s general election The fear factor
    IT IS not easy to be a successful Conservative in Canada. Perhaps it is the effect of living next to the United States. Perhaps it is because the country was founded on the collectivist principles of “peace, order and good government” rather than the individualist “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” of its neighbour. Perhaps it is because the things that Canadians most value about their country are its publicly run health service, its European-style welfare state and its tolerance. All are associated with the Liberals, who have been the natural party of government in Canada for the past century. To cap it all, conservative ideas of deregulation and unfettered free-market capitalism have been brought into disrepute by the financial turmoil south of the border.
    CLICK HERE for the full article.

  5. The Globe and Mail follows the lead of the National Post and endorses Harper and the Conservatives.
    The endorsement from the Post was better, calling for a stronger stance on the fascist “Human Rights” commissions and a harder line on ending wasteful spending. The Globe praises Harper for moving to the “centre.” They call it “growth” and say they hope it will continue.
    Perhaps we could all forward the Post endorsement to our Conservative MPs and candidates, saying we hope they follow its recommendations — and not those of the Globe and Mail.

  6. Another quote from the Economist article:
    A quote from the Economist:
    “From the Economist. “And yet, in a sinking world, Canada is something of a cork. Its well-regulated banks are solid. Growth has slowed but not stopped. The big worry is the fear that an American recession will drag Canada down with it.
    Mr Harper says, rightly enough, that his government has taken prudent measures to help Canada weather a storm it cannot duck: he has offered tax cuts and selective aid to help vulnerable manufacturing towns. But it is his seeming non-reaction to what is so far a non-crisis that looks likely to deny him the majority he was seeking, and could even let in the opposition. In what is the first credit-crunch election in a big Western country, Mr Harper’s ejection would set a dispiriting precedent that panic plays better politically than prudence.”
    (I love the non-reaction to the non-crisis that Harper is getting pilloried for)
    Confession: this is also a double posted . . .previously posted on yesterdays tips, but the last posting. I am never sure if people look at the previous days reader tips once a new one is up. Anyway, good article. Many should read.

  8. Follow the money
    It’s longish, but it’s as good an explanation of the financial crackup as I’ve found anywhere.
    The U.S. has a choice: they can go cap in hand to the Chinese (they’ve been talking to Canadian banks, too) or suffer a depression as they pay their own way out of this mess. A depression we won’t avoid, either.
    It’s about a changing of the guard, really.

  9. A very prominent part of the Presidential race — nightly on Letterman.
    [BAGHDAD — Market by market, square by square, the walls are beginning to come down. The miles of hulking blast walls, ugly but effective, were installed as a central feature of the surge of American troops to stop neighbors from killing one another.
    “They protected against car bombs and drive-by attacks,” said Adnan, 39, a vegetable seller in the once violent neighborhood of Dora, who argues that the walls now block the markets and the commerce that Baghdad needs to thrive. “Now it is safe.”
    The slow dismantling of the concrete walls is the most visible sign of a fundamental change here in the Iraqi capital. The American surge strategy, which increased the number of United States troops and contributed to stability here, is drawing to a close. And a transition is under way to the almost inevitable American drawdown in 2009.] NYT
    Yes ! The New York Times wrote that.
    The Hippy crowd can no longer claim that America is all about evil. (Not that it ever could)

  11. Good link Duncan.
    In the mid nineties I read the book;
    ‘The Weight Of The Yen’ by Taggart Murphy
    From memory, it seemed to describe a similar scenario except it was Japan instead of China.
    Japan at that time was an economic power house – still is, I guess. But they have been in crippling deflation for ten years.
    I do not know if the two cases are sililar or not. (China now, Japan 15 years ago – both holding huge amounts of US debt.)

  14. After Dion’s stumble on Thursday, the final stages of the campaign would ordinarily set up a bounce back towards near-majority, 145-150 seats would seem plausible for Harper.
    The big unknown would be the possible results of this vote-trading scheme being widely advertised as the way to stop Harper from winning.
    If that were to prove partially effective, it could throw off the usual assumptions about how popular vote translates to seat count. In fact, it could introduce considerable resentment among conservatives, notably Albertans, if the results seem to minimize the CPC seat totals arbitrarily.
    I suppose it’s “democratic” but when you realize that in the same election there was virtually no real discussion of the climate change crisis from an objective or skeptical perspective, it shows how selective “democratic” has become in Canada, it just means anti-conservative nowadays.

  17. Surprise, surprise: “surprised economists”?
    “threw economists for a loop.”
    *””But he [bank economist} said the jobs report defied “not just the conventional wisdom but gravity as well,” referring to the global slowdown in economic growth.”
    …-
    “Unemployment rate steady as 107,000 jobs created
    The Canadian Press
    OTTAWA — Statistics Canada has surprised economists and tossed a wild card into the federal election campaign, reporting that the Canadian economy generated a record 107,000 new jobs in September.
    The massive number was totally unexpected, as analysts were expecting a modest pick-up in the 12,500 range.
    However, almost all of the new jobs — 97,000 — were part-time.
    Last month’s overall jump was the largest since the agency began collecting the data more than 30 years ago. The previous record month was January 2002, when 97,000 jobs were added.
    Despite the increase, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.1 per cent, as there were 113,700 more Canadians actively looking for work in the month.
    With most economists judging the economy is in or near a recession, the September increase may be seen as a correction of the 55,000 lost jobs in July, which also threw economists for a loop.”
    http://tinyurl.com/3sscvv (ctv)
    …-
    More:
    *”September employment soars unexpectedly”
    “But he [bank economist} said the jobs report defied “not just the conventional wisdom but gravity as well,” referring to the global slowdown in economic growth.”
    http://tinyurl.com/3joy7f (G-M)

  18. Secret report. FYEO. Please destroy after reading.
    Do not let MSM get aholda this.
    …-
    “Sea ice extent recovering quickly
    9 10 2008
    As many readers know, the predictions for record low sea ice minimums in 2008 were not met, and 2008 ended up about 9% higher than in 2007 at the end of the season. See the report here.
    Now in looking at AMSR-E satellite data, the red line on the graph below, one can see that the recovery is at a significantly faster rate than in recent years.
    I’m not one to read much into this, as to do so would be to make the same mistake as was done earlier this year when the NSIDC melt trend led one researcher there to conclude that we’d see an “ice free north pole”.”
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/10/09/sea-ice-extent-recovering-quickly/#comments

  19. Green canidates Dropping out & telling supporters to Vote Liberal.
    This was reported last nite on Mike Duffy, This is a serious change of events. We saw a taste of this months ago with the Dion/May aggreement.
    You are Not Electing a Party Leader at a Convention where you see you are losing so you drop out & cast your supporters to who you think will win.
    We are electing Our Future, Our Government. This is Not a joke as the Greens seem to think & the Conservatives & NDP should be all over this Serious change of events.

  20. bryanr: If there are any Canadians with dignity left in the Green Party they have the chance to make their views known in the coming months when the party meets for its biennial convention. May faces a leadership review and the GP constitution allows any member to run for the leadership at that time too. Have at her, Greens! Elizabeth May is an affront to democracy.

  23. Liz you are exactly right This is an Affront to democracy.
    Dizzy Lizzy seems to think this is a game, She uses the Threat of a lawsuit to gain access to the debates & when she gets her way she shows utter disrespect to the format by her constant interruptions. The PM pointed out that he would be debating 2 people from the same party, and don’t forget Layton even said No to her.
    Whats next though Liberal’s that are seeing they don’t have a chance in hell dropping out & throwing their support behind a Green that maybe running second to a Conservative.
    A recent poll in my riding of Grey/Bruce/Owen Sound has the liberal running 3rd.
    Affront to Democracy is Right, Utter disrespect for the Taxpayers of Canada What’s next a coalition after the election to Take the Government Down(assuming the conservatives win)
    What are we becoming?

  24. *my prior post i failed to mention that the conservatives are running first & Green second in the poll.

  25. This is just too important especially with the markets now. No wonder they’re pushing the Carbon Tax. It’s from 2007 but the dots are connecting. The same old players involved.
    The Money and Connections Behind Al Gore’s Carbon Crusade
    “Clearly, GIM is poised to cash in on carbon trading. The membership of CCX is currently voluntary. But if the day ever comes when federal government regulations require greenhouse-gas emitters — and that’s almost everyone — to participate in cap-and-trade, then those who have created a market for the exchange of carbon credits are in a position to control the outcomes. And that moves Al Gore front and center. As a politician, Gore is all for transparency. But as GIM chairman, Gore has not been forthcoming, according to Forbes magazine. Little is known about his firm’s finances, where it gets funding and what projects it supports.
    We do know that Goldman Sachs has commissioned the World Resources Institute (affiliated with CCX), Resources for the Future, and the Woods Hole Research Center to research policy options for U.S. regulation of greenhouse gases. In 2006, Goldman Sachs provided research grants in this area totaling $2.3 million. The firm also has committed $1 billion to carbon-assets projects, a fancy term for projects that generate energy from sources other than oil and gas. In October 2006, Morgan Stanley committed to invest $3 billion in carbon-assets projects. Citigroup entered the emissions-trading market in May, and Bank of America got in on the action in June.”
    http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22663

  26. Monty Python strikes again in England.
    A gardener who fenced off his allotment with barbed wire after being targeted by thieves has been ordered to take it down – in case intruders scratch themselves.
    Bill Malcolm erected the 3ft fence after thieves struck three times in just four months, stealing tools worth around £300 from his shed and ransacking his vegetable patch.
    But Bromsgrove district council has ordered the 61-year-old to remove the waist-high fence on health and safety grounds.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1075809/No-barbed-wire–hurt-thieves-allotment-holders-told.html

  28. At last, an investment program you can believe in.
    From Jim Willie at .321gold.com under ‘Bataan Death March Tickertape’.
    Willie points out that if you bought $1000 of shares in Delta Airlines one yr ago, you would now have just $49.
    If you bought $1000 of shares in AIG, you would now have just $33.
    If you bought $1000 of shares in Lehman Bros, you would now have $0 left.
    If you bought $1000 worth of beer and drank it all and recycled the empty cans you would have about $214.
    Actually I have used this marvellous plan for yrs.
    The only drawback with it is that the better half sometimes gets annoyed with all the burping and beer farts that comes with the product investment.
    And best of all, the more you buy, the more you get back.
    heh, heh.
    BTW, wasn’t it Ben Franklin that said that ‘beer was God’s way of telling us he loves us’?

  29. (Via SWJ) Julian E. Barnes, U.S. plans to train Afghanistan tribal militias
    Confronting the prospect of failure after seven years in Afghanistan, the U.S. military is crafting a new strategy that is likely to expand the power and reach of that country’s tribal militias while relying less on the increasingly troubled central government.
    Under that approach, U.S. forces would scale back combat operations to focus more on training Afghan government forces and tribal militias. The plan is controversial because it could extend the influence of warlords while undermining the government of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, the capital…

  31. Our aim is victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

    —Winston Churchill

    (PDF warning) Donald J. Hanle, Ph.D., Understanding the al-Qaeda Enemy in Three Volumes
    Three works recently published by the Naval Institute Press provide an outstanding compendium examining [al-Qaida Associated Movement] ideology, strategy and doctrine. The first two works, The Canons of Jihad: Terrorists’ Strategy for Defeating America and A Terrorist’s Call to Global Jihad: Deciphering Abu Musab Al-Suri’s Islamic Jihad Manifesto, both edited by Jim Lacey, afford a superb view of not only who these Salafi jihadists are, but what makes them tick. What makes these works so important in the war against AQAM is that it affords the West a means to understand our enemy by examining the evolution of their own ideology and strategic thought through their own words. The third work, entitled The Terrorist Perspectives Project: Strategic and Operational Views of Al-Qaida and Associated Movements, edited by Mark E. Stout, Jessica M. Huckabey and John R. Schindler with assistance of Jim Lacey, is an assessment of AQAM ideology and strategic/ operational views with recommended countervailing strategies for the U.S. and the West to adopt to defeat AQAM in the cognitive domain of war.

  32. Green Shift- Liberal candidate admits carbon tax might not reduce emissions.
    From the article:-
    “Friesen used all the scripted buzz words like how we have to put a tax on pollution in order to reduce our output and how — inexplicably — all Canadians would be better off financially.
    Unfortunately for Friesen, when you drill down on the issue and examine how it would actually affect an average family, the plan falls apart.
    It falls apart because the taxes imposed on a family would likely have little to no effect on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. It wouldn’t change their behaviour.
    It’s something even Friesen, after I pressed him on the issue, admitted to.
    “It might not change behaviour,” Friesen acknowledged during the debate.
    Well, if it’s not going to change behaviour, then it’s just a straight tax grab.
    According to the Liberal’s Green Shift plan, an average Canadian family who heats their home with natural gas would pay up to $266 a year in carbon taxes on their gas bill.
    HAVE TO HEAT HOMES
    I asked Friesen how that would encourage families in Winnipeg — who already lower their thermostats at night and already have well-insulated homes — to use less natural gas.
    They have to heat their homes.
    And if they have to a pay a $22-a-month carbon tax, they’re still going to heat their homes. There’s not much they can do to change behaviour.
    Friesen agreed. Which means the plan doesn’t work.
    Even if you accept the Liberal’s argument they would cut income taxes by an equal amount, the plan still doesn’t work because it doesn’t reduce emissions.
    If you raise a consumption tax by $266 and cut income taxes by $266, all you’ve done is taken money from one pocket and put it into another.
    And you haven’t reduced emissions.
    Besides, the Liberal’s numbers don’t even add up.
    They claim an average family would pay about $250 a year from the carbon tax. But on natural gas alone, the party estimates the average household would pay between $228 and $266. Well, that brings the household to an average of $247 before including all the other carbon taxes.
    For example, the carbon tax would be applied to diesel. So everything that gets shipped by truck — which is almost everything — will go up in price. If you drive a diesel vehicle, your price is going up. If you live in the north where transportation costs are already high, a carbon tax would see prices soar further.
    And your bus pass would go up, too.
    Under the Liberal plan you would pay a 95-cent carbon tax on a 20-pound tank of propane. Again, it’s not going to make you have fewer BBQs. It’s simply a straight tax.
    Electricity costs would also go up under the carbon tax. The carbon tax would be applied to coal, which generates a lot of Canada’s electricity.
    But it would also apply in provinces like Manitoba, which still relies on natural gas and coal as backups to hydro power.
    The upshot is a carbon tax would cost an average Canadian household much more than $250 a year.
    And it wouldn’t result in fewer emissions.
    Even Bob Friesen understands that.
    http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Manitoba/2008/10/10/7038881-sun.html

  33. Mr. Stupid himself, Jack Layton, has said Canadians should be really upset with the Liberals and Conservatives for authorizing a war without fully costing it.

  34. CDN$ at $0.82 US
    I wonder how long it will take the book sellers to raise the price on paperbacks.

  35. I’ve coined the phrase “traffic light politics” to describe the three blind mice — there’s red, there’s amber, and there’s green. But it seems that the lights are flashing amber now, better look both ways and proceed with caution.

  37. “The B-Cast: Does it Matter That Obama Was a Member of Socialist ‘New Party?’”
    No. “For liberals history begins every morning.”(Ann Coulter)

  38. “If there are any Canadians with dignity left in the Green Party ” I think the Greens have done themselves long-term damage. Myself and some Conservative supporters I know previously would have viewed them as a second choice. May has destroyed their credibility in allowing this alignment with the Liberals. Surely many current Green supporters support that party because they hate the Liberals. I think the Greens should get rid of her immediately after the election. She does not stand for their interests.

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