49 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. Churnalism is a form of journalism in which press releases, wire stories and other forms of pre-packaged material are used to create articles in newspapers and other news media in order to meet increasing pressures of time and cost without undertaking further research or checking.

  2. This man, Mr. Brad Cathers, a member of Parliament in the Yukon deserves a tip of the hat from all Canadians…like Governer Palin in Alaska, Brad Cathers has drawn a line in the sand and refused to be a part of corruption. Brad has since said that he will return to the Yukon Party (our version of Progressive Conservative since the Premier is a former Dipper and was an MP in the Dipper caucus when they sold Yukon Electric, the Whitehorse branch of Yukon Energy, to ATCO back in the Dark Dipper daze in the 1990’s. The Premier jumped from the Dippers to the Yukon Party in a coup d’etate when the Yukon Party was on their knees. He and his supporters took over and the former Dipper friends were certainly not forgotten…here are the links…I am very proud to say that I have always been a supporter of Mr. Cathers; the Premier; not so much.
    [snipped. next time provide a link and a short exerpt – ED]

  4. Saturday’s Globe featured a bizarre article from Michael Valpy entitled, “Is this the end of our social cohesion?” Apparently some social scientists who study the issue think we’re running a deficit of it. The hand-wringing stems from polls that indicate not many Canadians follow the antics of Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff, and not enough are informed about the issues of the day. Valpy quotes Ignatieff’s recent book True Patriot Love, which claims that we need “a set of reference points and allegiances to give us a way to relate to the strangers among whom we live” (to which I’m thinking, like ice hockey or something?).
    Valpy writes, “Canadians collectively have not thought seriously about nation-building since the Trudeau just-society era of the 1970s” (I say: we’re in the “long run” of those times and as a result we can’t afford it; and “nation-building” is an anti-concept), and “the politics of consensus once so strongly imprinted on Canadian society have vanished” (there’s a consensus that Trudeau was a wasteful hack; and I doubt any such thing was ever “imprinted”).
    He continues: “the demographic bloat of baby boomers has shifted the public policy agenda from social equality, human rights and statism to crime worries, security and fiscal retrenchment” (I say: “social equality” and “human rights” as practiced by the left are fraudulent, and statism, a.k.a. Big Government, is immoral). Supposedly, Generation X are more liberal and comfortable with diversity while the younger Gen Y are more conservative, but “there is no identifiable successor group on the radar screen to the vanishing support of Pearson-Trudeau progressive statism, in case anyone was hoping” (I had hoped that all of those cretins were as dead as Trudeau himself – except unfortunately I doubt it’s true).
    “Neither the Conservatives nor Liberals have offered anything approximating a national vision”, whines Valpy. (Please: leave the visions to Nostradamus, and let the government get on with its proper function of protecting individual rights. Government “visions” mean a quick trip to the poorhouse for us all.)
    Then he goes off on a strange tangent in which he claims, “thought is not private … [it] is predominantly public and social, and therefore a nation is a community of people who understand that those with whom they shop, ride public transit and share the roads and the sidewalks also share values, community knowledge and mythologies”. (Have you shared any mythologies lately? Thought is not primarily social, it’s the most individual aspect of human life.)
    And: [thought, or perhaps “social cohesion”] “[is] what enables Canadians to live together with sufficient levels of trust and security and to conduct their democracy more or less under the rubric of having a common purpose and serving the common good”. (Wrong on the last points at least. We don’t have a “common purpose” and there is no “common good”. Only people who advocate slavery talk this way.)
    “The erosion of shared knowledge is undermining polls – not to mention social cohesion: that fundamental element of … imagined community, the information and knowledge that enable citizens to engage in debates and have opinions about what they should be doing together as a society, whether it is university education, health care or garbage pickup”. (Again, we shouldn’t have to be wasting time thinking about “doing things together” – we have our individual lives to live.)
    A Ryerson journalism professor is quoted as opining that it’s important that Canadians can assume that many others are watching the same newscasts or reading the same newspapers. And a colleague at Carleton says that in newspapers you can come across things you disagree with, whereas on the Internet, people mostly try to find what they agree with, so are much less likely to be challenged, and this can lead to polarization. “Society is always better when someone is trying to undermine your views. And particularly, social cohesion is better, because being challenged forces you to think through why you believe what you believe. It’s the stimulus for debate and discussion and recognition of multiple others”, he says (I say: yeah, right; we should all be doing the same thing at the same time, challenging the conformity of others? All this nonsense is fully contradictory, but it’s the way the brain-dead left thinks).
    (I note finally that multiculturalism is by its nature the most likely suspect as destroyer of whatever aspects of “social cohesion” we might consider desirable.)
    Please, Globe, spare us the grim collectivist dystopia of Michael Valpy in future.

  6. Because we know dems worry more about the rights of rapists than children,
    “The State Assembly is scheduled to vote on Monday on its version of a bill to help cut the budget deficit by $1.2 billion by reducing the state prison population by 27,000 through an early parole program. The State Senate passed its version of the legislation this month. But now, some corrections reform advocates in Sacramento, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, fear the fallout from the case of Mr. Garrido could affect or even derail action on the Assembly bill.”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/us/31abduct.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=california%20officials%20fear&st=cse

  7. Related
    “LOS ANGELES — A panel of federal judges ordered the California prison system on Tuesday to reduce its inmate population of 150,000 by 40,000 — roughly 27 percent — within two years.”
    Prison reform advocates said Tuesday that the state would probably lose any appeal of the reduction order.
    ““These are cases that have been going on for more than 15 years,” said David Fathi, the director of the United States program for Human Rights Watch. Mr. Fathi added, “The record in regard to constitutional violations is massive, and the judges have tried other less intrusive remedies before.”
    Although the state spent millions of dollars on court-ordered changes, the judges ruled Tuesday that the system still violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/us/05calif.html?fta=y

  8. …the demographic bloat of baby boomers…
    Take a look at any poorly-run mid or large organization and you’ll likely see lots of managers and “executives” doing…well, nobody’s really sure what.
    The ranks of management expanded to accommodate the boomer generation and as a result we have a class of people who often need “conflict management HR professionals” to soothe the damaged egos of managers that didn’t get the corner office or expensive plant-watering service as a result of the latest political battle.

  16. cal2, ya think it could be a big coinkydink that a big part of the Republic of Lakota happens to fall squarely over a big chunk of one the largest oil reserves in the world?
    Nahhh.
    See the Bakken Formation.

  17. A time to play NAME that party:
    Former Ontario Cabinet Minister Arrested In Fatal Hit and Run
    “Witnesses told police the cyclist, in his 20s, collided with a black Saab on Bloor at Bay about 9:45 p.m. They said he hung onto the driver’s side of the car, which had its convertible top down, while the driver yelled at him to get off.
    The driver then veered onto the eastbound lanes and mounted the curb, brushing against trees and poles, witnesses said.
    “He was driving on the wrong side of the street and up on the curb trying to knock him off the car for about 100 metres, said Ryan Brazeau, a worker with a crew laying sewer pipes on Bloor. “Lots of people were watching and they couldn’t believe what was happening.” ”

  18. re nv53’s comments on Michael Valpy’s whining about the diminishing of shared values in Canada and a quote from Iggy’s new book: we need “a set of reference points and allegiances to give us a way to relate to the strangers among whom we live.”
    Um. That used to be our church communities, where most Canadians met, usually once a week. How ironic: Now that we’ve trashed (the Christian) religion in Canada, we’re lamenting the dearth of the very thing Christian churches have always fostered: community building — not nation-building — and a “common purpose and serving the common good.”
    That’s what happens, I guess, when you kill the goose that lays the golden eggs: no more eggs.

  19. RFC, all the local news broadcasts I’ve seen this morning simply refer to Bryant as “the former Attorney General of the province”. Makes sense for MSM to leave out the party brand, not wanting to associate the term “Liberal” with a negative news story. No doubt that if it was Bob Runciman, it would’ve been “the former Conservative Attorney General of the province”.

  20. A mass firing of the board at Ontario Lottery Group after another expense debacle uncovered by the Toronto Sun and the Conservatives. Finance Minister Duncan preempted the revelation by dismissing the full board and the president of OLG and stating McGuinty was furious (not at the corruption just being embarrassed again).
    OLG is full of corruption as noted by the Ontario Ombudsman and as all government agencies do only tries to fix something after glaring exposure. After almost a billion dollars pissed away on EHealth the rot continues.
    This stuff is not rocket science, just follow the money and who has access to it. Someone approves and signs these elitist’s expenses, in this case the president, and if you step outside the guidelines, of course this is a whole different issue in governments, your job is on the line.

  21. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
    I heard this silly rumour today about that lib caucus retreat in Sudbury.
    Seems the “big issue”(tm) they want to go after Harper with (until they back down again) is the loss of Canadian jobs i.e.: Nortel.
    The punch line?
    Apparently they want to champion job creation by giving billions of tax dollars to HRDC…..

  23. Jon…so true…I’ve checked 3 MSM reports so far…not one mentions ‘Liberal’ and I think the name Mcguinty is being avoided as well…no surprise.

  24. Ten minutes ago RFC’s link had the word Liberal in the caption for the picture.
    Now the picture has changed (to a much more sympathetic one) and the word Liberal has disappeared.
    Strange huh?

  26. Great line from a fire chief in Springbank in this article talking about rats in Alberta (we’re supposed to be rat free) http://www.calgaryherald.com/Rodents+defying+Alberta+free+claim/1949949/story.html
    “I’m not sure particularly why–whether the rats have heard Obama’s economic plan is not too good and they’re escaping or what — but in the last month, we’ve had a real influx of rat activity,” he said, throwing in a rip at U. S. president’s policies.

  27. I can’t believe it. It looks like Preston Manning has been drinking the warmist koolaid.
    Promoting cap-and-trade? Quoting Thomas bloody Friedman and the New York Slimes.
    “Thomas Friedman, noted New York Times columnist and author, recently cited President Barack Obama’s Economic Advisory Board: “Sustainable technologies in solar, wind, electric vehicles, nuclear and other innovations will drive the future global economy. We can either invest in policies to build U. S. leadership in these new industries and jobs today, or we can continue with business as usual and buy windmills from Europe, batteries from Japan and solar panels from Asia.”
    What a load of utter tripe!
    Say it isn’t so, Preston. Say you are not trying to morph into Stephane Dion or Dalton McSquinty?
    http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=1948949

  29. From an unsolicited e-mail today announcing the expanded supper hour CBC television news program:
    “CBC News will deliver balanced, reliable, up-to-the-minute coverage with the background and depth needed to really understand the story,” said Jennifer McGuire, General Manager and editor in chief, CBC News. “It’s really quite thrilling to be able to expand our local news coverage to better serve Canadians in an economic environment where the inclination could be to retreat.”
    How might we enhance “the inclination to retreat”?

  30. Today is the 5th anniversary of Beslan school massacre.
    You can file it under the Google commemorative logos that we’ll never see.

  32. the point of the OLG story isn’t rewarding Party-line toadys (although they are legion), nor is it about a lack of oversight by politicians (also omnipresent).
    The story is that government lacks the requisite motivation to operate something efficiently. When political ghouls and appointees are rewarded for loyalty, combined with ‘job-for-life’ simple servants marking time towards an indexed pension – the result will always be the same.
    Sloth, incompetency, inefficiency, and entitlement cultures.
    The solution is smaller government, and organizational independence.
    It’s also known as fiscal conservatism. Contrast this with what has occurred in the nation over the past 30 years.

  34. CTV.ca is reporting that news coming out of the Liberal Sudbury caucas retreat is that Ignatieff say’s its a go that they will try to topple the Govt in the fall with a motion of Non-Confidence.
    Liberals will move to topple Harper Government
    ctv.ca
    **IMO looking at the comments related to this article This may be a very unwise decision. The comments basically (with the exception of a few disgruntled Liberal leaning posters) Voters will punish the Libs & others who attempt & bring on another Unwarranted election.

  37. Thanks again for another fine clip, Vito. I always though that Cannonball Adderly was a musician of very high calibre!

  38. Another poll gone completely wrong:
    http://www.sympatico.ca/?lang=en-ca&ocid=hmlogout
    Who will you vote for if an election is called?
    Conservatives
    53%
    Liberals
    28%
    NDP
    10%
    Other
    9%
    37429 responses, not scientifically valid, results updated every minute.
    But hey Iggy wants to pully the trigger, according to a recent news clip.
    Cheers
    Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht-Commander in Chief
    Army Group “True North”
    1st St. Nicolaas Army

  39. If one states a fall election is unnecessary – then one should also acknowledge that last fall’s election was unnecessary.
    That’s the trouble with partisanship – whether Libservative or Coniberal, they’re essentially the same in governance.
    It’s the Thieves versus the Liars, and partisans don’t demand anything more from them.

  40. Another poll over at CTV going horribly wrong.
    Conservatives hammering Liberals in “who would you vote for?” poll.
    Better get on it before they pull it down.

  42. Who would you vote for in a possible fall election?
    Conservatives
    4414 votes (59 %)
    Liberals
    2102 votes (28 %)
    NDP
    529 votes (7 %)
    Other
    432 votes (6 %)
    Total Votes: 7477
    Let this stupid, selfish, fool Iggy go to the polls. Just maybe, now we will get a majority. Then, the scum sucking lib’s can crawl back in their hole! Oh, not before they pay back the adscam money! Where’s the money Iggy????

  43. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has responded to the Ignatieff statement
    *Prime Minister say’s vast majority of canadians Dont want an election.
    *Speaking in Calgary, Harper said the country is on the right path when it comes to the economy & political instability could put an end to that.
    *He say’s its ridiculous to consider another election within a Yr of the last vote.
    *He says any good leader knows the focus of Canadians is the economy & now is not the time for “Political Games”
    As reported by the Canadian press Sept 01/09
    I mentioned the article on ctv.ca in an earlier post Have a look at the comments Liberals are getting hammered in the comments.

  44. Goreacle Report:
    The left-liberal-socialist mindset.
    …-
    “Unintended consequences
    The Daily Mail describes how “a series of violent fridge explosions is believed to have been caused by leaks of ‘environmentally-friendly’ coolant.”
    The replacement for environmental unfriendly CFCs can apparently leak out of the cooling system and build up in the refrigerator, causing a dangerous concentration of explosive gases to accumulate.
    The problem appears to result from a widespread switch to ‘Greenfreeze’ technology over the past 15 years and the use of isobutane and propane hydrocarbon gases as refrigerants.
    The saying that the ‘road to hell is paved with good intentions’ has probably been inspired by the result of unintended consequences, in which the cure is often worse than the disease.”
    http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/09/01/unintended-consequences/#comments

  45. Isobutane and propane are being used in the car and truck ACs for many years. The truckers don’t fill their ACs with anything but Duracool, which is a Canadian product and is just a purified propane. Cheap and environmentally friendly in that it’s extracted from the ground as opposed to created in a chemical factory from poisonous fluorine and chlorine.
    The vehicles are parked mostly outside, specially the trucks.
    But putting that stuff in a fridge… That’s a completely new approach to shooting for a Darwin award. Open door, spark goes on in the light switch and boom! Note to self: check the next fridge I buy!

  46. The Non – Scientific Poll @ctv is not fairing well for the Liberals
    as of 5:17 est
    Conservatives 5029 60%
    liberals 2324 28%
    ndp 581 7%
    other 491 6%
    keep an eye on this one see if it gets yanked quick

  47. Here is the link to my article re: an honorable politician, in the Yukon, in Canada. I am not making this up :http://whitehorsestar.com/archive/story/cathers-shocker-creates-a-minority-government/
    sorry I copied the whole story in the first attempt in the first comment. Mr. Cathers was the President of the Canadian Alliance in the Yukon – he still has his integrety and is an example for other politicians in other governments – for example in Eddies house of errors in Alta….I am just saying…

  49. batb: I accept that the churches (or synagogues, or mosques for that matter) provide a community for many people. But please note that I completely reject the notion that we’re all here to serve a “common purpose”, or that there is such a thing as the “common good”. These things (more anti-concepts) are the province of the power-hungry goons of the radical left.

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