Reader Tips

24 Replies to “Reader Tips”

1. Cartoon:
   The relationship between taxpayers and public sector unions in a nutshell.
   (via TheoSpark)

2. I’m a sucker for old photos, I could spend hours looking through Shorpy’s.
   ace had these photos of the 1880s American west in the ONT.

3. Uncommon Knowledge had a pretty good series last week with Bruce Thornton on appeasement.

4. Scientists are cutting open meteorites looking for new life.
   I’m almost as freaked out about this as I am about Zombie Ants.

5. From CBC “Canada’s Reputation on the Rise”
   http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/03/06/globescan-canada-poll.html
   An encouraging article that leads one to consider that Canada’s reputation would be even higher if it weren’t for the CBC/LPC denigrating Canada at every opportunity.

6. SDH, Peter Robinson’s Uncommon Knowledge series on YouTube is absolutely fantastic! Just imagine if Mainstream TV talkshows were like that. Not only would the public be more informed, but TV would be less boring & predictable!

7. Report: US Asks Saudi Arabia to Help Libya Rebels
   The United States asked Saudi Arabia to supply weapons to the rebels who are protesting against the regime of Muammar Qaddafi in the Libyan city of Benghazi, the British Independent reported on Monday.
   According to the report, Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to Washington’s secret request. It was also reported that the United States hopes through this move to strengthen the rebels while at the same time avoiding the need for military intervention in the civil war taking place in Libya.
   http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/205573

8. *
   in other “healing crystals just aren’t
   getting the job done“ news…
   *

9. PET Cemetery Report.
   Liberal Iggy’s Liberal Party’s In-Out Scandal:
   Starring Liberal Ad$Cam Martin.
   “It was December, 2004.”
   “Jet-lagged and culture shocked, we giggled in spite of ourselves as we closed in on the tent. There, in a dimly-lit and incense-clouded corner, was the man of the hour, resplendent in robes and his trademark hat. He was shaking hands with our pale-faced Canadian leader.”
   …-
   “My moment with Moammar”
   ” * February 28, 2011 5:56 PM |
   * By Louise Elliott
   As we sprinted across Moammar Gadhafi’s front lawn, we had to swerve to avoid the camels.
   It was a bizarre obstacle course: dozens of the ungainly creatures, sitting, standing, and yes, fornicating.
   It was December, 2004. Our media bus holding a dozen journalists, cameramen and photographers had been delayed after taking a wrong turn on the way in from the Tripoli Airport. Then-prime minister Paul Martin was already in the Bedouin tent inside the compound that the Libyan leader still calls home. If we didn’t hustle, we’d miss the one photo-op: a brief handshake.
   As we jumped off the bus, Alphee Moreau, the PMO’s advance man at the time, shouted: “Run! Run! Be careful, the camels are dangerous!””
   “Of course, Martin was also there representing Canadian interests in the region. SNC Lavalin has held construction contracts in Libya for decades, and a new bidding process was now opening up for drilling lots in the Libyan Sahara. Oil, or at least, the promise of it, was drawing corporations and politicians once again. It was certainly a factor in Europe’s sudden coziness with Gadhafi following his purported conversion.”
   http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/inside-politics-blog/2011/02/my-moment-with-moammar.html
   …-
   Joanne: Glaring omission
   I find it strange that Angelo Persichilli didn’t mention Paul Martin in his column about the recent decision of the Canadian government to freeze Moammar Gadhafi’s assets here.
   Perhaps he didn’t feel it was relevant. However many other columnists did including Salim Mansur, John Ivison and Charles Lewis.
   And I wouldn’t even care if Paul Martin weren’t back making himself the issue again, and still trying to score slimy points of his own:
   …I must say, I really do regret more than ever now the fact that Canada is not part of the Security Council,” Martin added, referring to Canada’s withdrawal from the selection process late last year when it failed to gain enough support for a seat.
   Perhaps Persichilli’s editors just don’t allow anything to be written against the Liberals in the Red Star.
   [More]”
   http://www.jacksnewswatch.com/

10. PET Cemetery Report.
    Where is the Foundation$’ $ta$h?
    >>> “The current year’s budget surplus is estimated to be $8.9 billion, and at least $5 billion of that could be earmarked to set up yet another private foundation. This one would establish a national child care plan for Canadian families.”
    “Martin helped establish foundations
    The 15 foundations were set up while Prime Minister Paul Martin was finance minister to promote science, education, technology and research. They include the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Health Infoway, Genome Canada, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the Millennium Scholarship Foundation.”
    …-
    >>> “Gaddafi stashed away $2 bn in Canadian banks”
    http://www.sify.com/news/gaddafi-stashed-away-2-bn-in-canadian-banks-news-international-ldblEoihbaf.html
    …-
    “Auditor general questions foundation funding”
    “The federal government is unable to hold 15 private foundations accountable for the more than $9 billion it has given them since 1997, Canada’s auditor general said Tuesday.
    Sheila Fraser also said about $7.7 billion of the money, which otherwise would have made Ottawa’s substantial budget surpluses even bigger, is still sitting unspent in the foundations’ bank accounts, gathering interest.
    “Given the significant sums involved, I am concerned about the lack of adequate accountability to Parliament,” she wrote. “Important gaps remain in the external audit regime and ministerial oversight.”
    “Fraser’s report, tabled in the House of Commons Tuesday afternoon, pointed out that although the 15 foundations receiving big government grants are audited and file annual reports, they are private corporations.
    * FROM FEB. 15, 2005: Foundations come under auditor’s scrutiny
    That means they fall outside the scrutiny and control of Parliament and aren’t subject to access to information laws or government contracting regulations.
    Leading up to the auditor general’s report, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said he had talked to Fraser about ways of making the foundations more accountable and transparent.”
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2005/02/15/foundations-auditor-report050215.html

11. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/too-many-mps-are-skipping-parliament/article1932046/
    Too many MPs are truant from their job:
    “A new Globe investigation shows that 23 MPs missed 25 per cent or more House votes in the last Parliament. The offenders are overwhelmingly from the Liberal Party…”

12. Further to the earlier link on MP attendance:
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/head-count-in-the-house-do-you-know-where-your-mp-is/article1932039/
    “43 – Number of Liberals out of the 50 MPs who missed the most votes the past two years, ranging from Mr. Ignatieff’s record to those of MPs such as Ken Dryden and Dominic LeBlanc, who each missed 50 votes – or nearly one in six.”

13. Animated discourse on teacher’s unions.
    http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2011/03/teachers-unions.html

14. Liberals paint themselves as defenders of democracy in letters to supporters
    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Liberals+paint+themselves+defenders+democracy+letter+supporters/4392484/story.html
    *Yet this!
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/which-mps-missed-the-most-votes/article1931547/
    *so the defenders of democracy are the most absent when it comes to votes in the HOC!
    I think that would make a great TV Ad.

15. well here’s something new to me. new that is as far as the players; apparently ‘Ford Nation’ means that the mayor of tranna can blackmail the province into anteing up millions of PROVINCIAL tax money to get what he wants.
    so the right wing rallying cry isn’t ‘lower taxes lower taxes’ so much as ‘use somebody else’s taxes to get what we want’.

16. Insane is the only word that comes to mind. A 1,050 mph car that uses a F1 engine as a fuel pump.
    http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/03/07/the-car-faster-than-a-speeding-bullet/

17. election skullduggery among high level conservatists?
    yup: 3w dot cbc dot ca/news/politics/story/2011/03/04/pol-in-out-payout.html
    naturally, here at SDA an issue that strikes to the very CORE of the democratic process is ‘no big deal’.

18. A Juxtapose.
    “*the lead-up to International Women’s Day.”
    Liberal Ad$Cam “**Martin helped establish foundations”
    …-
    2011:
    >>> “*Canada will suffer without national childcare plan: report”
    http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110306/national-childcare-policy-110306/20110307/?hub=MontrealHome
    …-
    2005:
    >>> “**This one would establish a national child care plan for Canadian families.”
    “Auditor general questions foundation funding”
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2005/02/15/foundations-auditor-report050215.html
    Ooops, wait … there’s more: Liberal Iggy’s Liberal Ad$SCam Party>
    “In her Feb. 10, 2004 report, she found that up to $100 million in public funds went to Liberal-linked ad firms for work of debatable value.”

19. “Canada’s reputation on the rise: poll”
    “Canada’s reputation in the world is improving, despite some recent controversies, a new survey suggests.
    On average, 57 per cent of respondents gave Canada a favourable evaluation this year, according to the survey of 27 countries conducted by GlobeScan for the BBC World Service. That’s up five per cent from 2010.
    Twelve per cent gave an unfavourable evaluation.”
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/03/06/globescan-canada-poll.html
    No comments? It’s flom CBC.

20. Excellent links Maz2! Now, if we could only find a way to shut Boob Rae up. The more he talks the stupider he gets…….He just doesn’t understand the impossible feat it would be to have a no fly zone over Libya. Every airbase would have to be taken out before a no fly zone could be implimented. He is such a tool.

21. http://tinyurl.com/4s9g6lx
    The average was a marked increase from a dismal 34 per cent for the first quarter of 2009 when oil prices were starting to climb out of near-decade low prices.
    This year, crude oil rose eight per cent during the first two months, reaching $96.97 US per barrel by the end of February.
    Since then, unrest in North Africa has pulled up crude to $105.66 US as of Monday.
    Rising prices have encouraged drilling in most of Western Canada.
    Approximately 76 per cent of Alberta’s fleet of 577 rigs were active last week, according to the association.
    Saskatchewan saw 80 per cent of its 103-rig fleet in the ground, with Manitoba showing 90 per cent utilization of its 21-rig fleet.
    British Columbia had 64 per cent of its fleet of 84 rigs active during the week.
    Thanks Ed. You announce your are resigning as premier and look what happens, ya douche. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Notice how the Herald makes no mention of the royalty change? It’s all about supply pricing, yep, right.

22. beagle It is because no wrong doing was done by the Conservatives. However the head of EC investigated himself and guess what? He’s a great guy!! Remember Avaaz? Foreign money that exceeded the maximum the number of Canadians involved could donate? Yep he’s a Lib.

23. If RABBLE.CA is going to have a stupid POLL they should at least ask a stupid loaded question. Not make vague blanket statement as in:
    Shades of Wisconsin: Transit workers in Toronto are at risk of losing their right to strike under proposed legislation, an attack on labour rights which may also lead to declaring other public-sector jobs to be essential services. http://www.rabble.ca/polls

24. More Martin.
    PET Cemetery Report.
    ‘Nother citing of Martin. [Note: That’s Liberal Ad$Cam MartinJr.]
    …-
    “Maybe Usher, Beyonce, Blair, Martin, Barber, Porter, the London School of Economics, and UNESCO need to adopt gift acceptance policies. To make it simple, they could adopt Neil Young’s musical gift acceptance standard:
    “Ain’t singin’ for Pepsi
    Ain’t singin’ for Coke
    I don’t sing for nobody
    Makes me look like a joke
    This note’s for you.
    Ain’t singin’ for Miller
    Don’t sing for Bud
    I won’t sing for politicians
    Ain’t singin’ for Spuds
    This note’s for you.”
    “These entertainers are no worse than the politicians like British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin who traveled to Tripoli to make nice with the Libyan leader (and to open up investment opportunities for British and Canadian corporations) after Qaddafi’s public renunciation of nuclear and chemical weapons programs – he did not acknowledg his role in the Lockerbie plane crash.”
    “Performers, Universities Rethinking Gifts from Qaddafi”
    http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10106:performers-universities-rethinking-gifts-from-qaddafi&catid=155:nonprofit-newswire&Itemid=986
    http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2011/03/06/glaring-omission/#comment-63590