45 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. Ward and June Cleaver never had this problem!
    Through Instapundit and Dear Prudence (http://www.slate.com/id/2173651/fr/flyout)
    “My younger, 13-year-old sister is having a slumber party for her birthday, and invited three or so of her 13- to 14-year-old girlfriends to our house. Shortly after, “Sara’s” mother suggested that my sister’s party should be held at “Tammy’s” house. Why? Because Tammy has a single mother. Sara’s mother is concerned that my father will be in his house during the festivities. There is no reason to be concerned about my father doing anything inappropriate to any of the girls (all the parents have met each other), but she is just uncomfortable about the idea of her daughter sleeping in the same house with another nonfamily man. She has also convinced the other parents that a change of venue would be a good idea. Although Tammy’s mother is willing to host the event, my family is offended that the situation has come to this. Since when is it a crime to have a happy two-parent household?”
    I guess I was remiss in staying in the home when we raised my teenage daughter.

  4. The speech in “Atlas Shrugged” by Francisco d’Aconia in defense of money. It quite possibly is the centrepiece of the book.
    And, as might be expected, the speech is historically uninformed:
    “If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose—because it contains all the others—the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to MAKE money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before.”
    Wrong.
    The origins of the phrase ‘to make money’ lie in medieval England: Rand isn’t even close to being historically accurate here.

  5. Wrong subject, Stephen.
    This is an economics class, not a history class.
    I suggest you try to understand the point which Ayn Rand was trying to convey… pretty hard to miss it, really.

  7. Hey!!! What the hell happened to the big green machine? Those poor buggers just got their asses kicked by the Stamps. More proof that the socialist state can’t field a decent team???

  8. The Late Ayn Rand and the Late Harry Browne are my personal life saviors. I read them both long ago and with their example I have made a success of a life that would likely have failed if not for them.
    I completely understand Rand’s thinking and Browne’s attitude regarding the traps most people fall into and remain in.
    The first and most important trap being the ‘identity trap’ where I would think that others will or should feel and react to things in the same way that I would.
    Nothing could be more wrong. That where the Left makes a fatal error. Example of that is where Taliban Jack thinks that he can sit down with our enemies who, for all intents are from another planet, and they can get on the same page.
    Jack is so deep in the Identity Trap that he is now the poster boy for naiveté.
    As far as Rand’s premise of each person being responsible first and foremost for himself, I can heartily agree. I am not my brother’s keeper and I cannot afford to pay my government to be either.
    It is only the tiniest few who are incapable of taking care of himself. That small number can easily be cared for by private charity. When the government got into the charity business that line grew around the block with fakers.

  10. Meanwhile in Harper’s Canada
    from Saskatoon
    Star Phoenix Home
    Sunday, September 16, 2007
    “Web access powers needed to fight crime: RCMP”
    http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/national/story.html?id=1d424ebe-2fe9-4e79-bab5-8fd67fd1b441
    “The bill was introduced in November 2005, but didn’t pass before the last election.
    However, the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to revive it, and documents obtained by Canwest News Service under the Access to Information Act confirm Justice Department officials and other departments have been laying the groundwork.”
    Could Harper be this stupid??

  11. Mac: 10 most polluted places
    [Named by an “environmental group”; not by BusHarper.]
    Amazing! There aren’t any Canadian cities on this list!! No cities from the US either. Go figure!
    -Mac
    A list of the world’s most polluted places has been published by a US-based independent environmental group.
    http://jacksnewswatch.com/2007/09/16/mac-10-most-polluted-places/
    Ten ‘most polluted places’ named
    List here:
    WORST POLLUTED
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6995621.stm
    …-
    Meanwhile in Harper’s Canada (Pissedoff):
    Stupid Harper and the Clean Air Act; where is it?
    Is the Clean Air Act dead or alive?

  13. America’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil.
    In his long-awaited memoir, to be published tomorrow, Greenspan, a Republican whose 18-year tenure as head of the US Federal Reserve was widely admired, will also deliver a stinging critique of President George W. Bush’s economic policies.
    However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says.
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296938,00.html

  15. Garth looked like he was wired, sounded hollow. Big room, few people?
    What did he do to his beard, sure looked a different color?
    How does such a little man support such an ego?

  16. Meanwhile in Harper’s Canada (Pissedoff):
    Stupid Harper and the Clean Air Act; where is it?
    Is the Clean Air Act dead or alive?
    Posted by: maz2 at September 16, 2007 6:41 AM
    Where did I mention the clean air act? That link is to a piece about Harper reviving the Liberals lawful internet access bill that will allow police, CSIS and other organisations access without a warrant.

  17. Glad to see Rand getting some respect. Mind you her books get a little out of hand sometimes, in literary terms, but in general really refreshing view.
    I enjoyed Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead immensely.
    I give more credence to someone who has seen the problems that dictatorship and socialism can bring than some rosey theoretical view from a university prof standing from afar. Her vies were from lots of experience.
    GE and ecomagination. It is about marketing. Best comment was from Dupont CEO. Clean up your past issues (pollution in particular) and dont get too far ahead of your customers. SOunds like Harper. DO what you need to do and be prepared to do more but being “out there” like the Libs and NDP is suicide. Most people dont want to go that far.
    Think back a year ago and the mania surrounding all of this, and compare it to now. The tide is ebbing while the evidence of a crisis just isnt there. GE is filled with engineers, so you can count on a rational response.

  19. Global warming ?? Can you say media bias ?
    when our media tells us only ONE SIDE of the story, you can bet they have an agenda.
    what you WON’T read in the Globe & Mail or hear on CBC
    “The Southern Hemisphere sea ice area has broken the previous maximum of 16.03 million sq. km and is currently at 16.26 million sq. km. This represents an increase of about 1.4% above the previous SH ice area record high”
    http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/
    what you WILL read in the Globe & Mail or hear on CBC
    “Arctic ice retreats to record low”
    “Northwest Passage could open sooner than thought”
    15/09/07 3:00 PM

  20. Good old “Hanoi Jane”. She was an idiot during the Vietnam war(how many American deaths she caused is still being debated. She was a complete eco-moron when it came to nuclear power. Then came her bizzaro marriage to captain capitalism, and the whole “tomahawk chop” thing. I guess history will judge if she was either a messed leftard or a crass opportunist who really conned the leftoids.

  21. It’s like a perfectly controlled experiment on media bias.
    Two polar ice caps.
    One (North)is shrinking,
    One (South) is expanding.
    Two big stories at same time:
    Northwest passage is opening, and
    South Pole ice cap grown to greatest size since recording started.
    One story told.
    The “correct” story to fit the politically driven predetermined story line.

  22. Hey Stncrodox: Thanks so much for the Garthacle vids…classic comedy! Aside from regugitating all the current infantile Dionette talking points….we can see that Turner has done for Economics what Gore did for Science.
    I notice that the room was almost empty….can’t this lost Tory road show attreact any more than 20 or 30 age demented seniors to a show?

  23. Andrew:
    Most financial commentators are now trashing Alan Greenspan’s record as fed chairman. Two huge bubbles on his watch (the tech boom, and the housing boom), and he admitted last week that he really didn’t understand the whole sub-prime packaging of debt. As head of the Fed, he is supposed to maintain the purchasing power of the currency, but the US dollar is now at record lows on a trade-weighted basis. Poor Ben Bernanke will have no choice but to cut rates next week, and that will see the US dollar fall even lower. Greenspan now admits that he should have raised rates sooner and faster than he did.
    So when he makes pronouncements about Iraq and oil, I look at his track record, and figure that the opposite view has a pretty good chance of being correct.

  24. Amdrew – I suspect there is a whole lot more context around Greenspan’s comment that your simple news blurb. I’ll wait and read his book before I conclude anything. And, it is an opinion only, his opinion. Greenspan is not a cabinet member privy to dicussions and events leading up to the invasion.
    If oil was part of multiple motives for invading Iraq, that’s fine with me, try running your car on Pepsi. Oil is a valuable commodity to western democracies. Too bad that most of it exists with the world’s thugs – Chavez, Putin, Saudi Arabia. It’s nice that Saddam’s share is under new management. You have a problem with that?

  26. Rob C: Yes he did, but read the date on the newspaper. It’s todays date, that is why I posted it. I know nothing about this paper maybe Kate does and can tell us if this is just another MSM kick at the Tories.

  27. Czech president new face of US media campaign
    RadioPraha ^ | 13-09-2007
    Czech president Vaclav Klaus has become the face of a media campaign questioning the impact of global warming. The campaign is run by the free-market think-tank Heartland Institute. It features pictures of Vaclav Klaus and former US vice-president Al Gore under the headline “Global Warming Is No Crisis”. It also draws attention to Mr Klaus’ speech that is to take place in two week’s time at the UN conference on global warming. I spoke to Tom Swiss of the Heartland Institute and started by asking about the campaign’s aim.
    “The ad campaign is focused around the central idea that global warming is not a crisis. We acknowledge that global warming exists and it exists at about one degree per century. Al Gores movie An Inconvenient Truth created a lot of fear and hysteria and we are challenging Al Gore to a debate on a science because his science is very weak.”
    Why did you choose the Czech president to feature in your campaign? “President Klaus has been a big defender of freedom. He understands the idea that the big government oppression destroys communities. When government gets in to control something, the entrepreneurial spirit is just killed. President Klaus has understood for a long time that this debate on global warming is bringing the big government back in. We feel that he is a great spokesperson and a real hero. I think the Czech Republic should be really proud to have him as a president.” …-
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1897149/posts

  28. Thanks Fred,
    The real surprising reduction in Arctic Ice in the last 6 weeks has largely been in the area around the Bering Sea.
    It is very odd, especially given that ice cover last winter was significantly larger in in 2006/2007 than it was 2005/2006
    But the increase in ice mass at the southern pole is interesting. Now the comment is usually that increased precipitation at the high elevations is causing the mass increase…but this does not explain the sea ice stability or increase in antarctica.
    The real answer is we dont really deeply understand either. We will see this winter how quickly the ice comes back, starting last week of September.
    You can track it here
    http://www.remss.com/sst/sst_data_daily.html?sat=tmi_amsre

  29. WLMR
    I’m glad you enjoyed it. Like I said “a hell of a show”. To be fair there were about 55-65 people in attendance including the LPoC operatives.
    If this was typical of the turnout I look forward to Garth’s accounting of expenses for the “no additional cost to taxpayer” Lost Tory Tour.
    More to come.
    Syncro

  31. Greenspan wrote a paper back in the days when he was an economics professor that basically stated that the only real way to run a currency was on the gold standard. I wonder what happened to that idea. He certainly didn’t appear to believe that when he was chairman of the fed.
    I read this essay in a book called “Capitalism – The Unknown Ideal”, which is a collection of essays buy Ayn Rand, and a few other people. Its a good book, if you are a Rand fan.

  34. From CBC: “The federal government has appointed a former Toronto mayor and cabinet minister to give the community a voice in negotiations between the Six Nations and Ottawa over land claims in Caledonia, Ont.”
    Will Tiny Perfect rush in where Tiny Pinhead fears to tread?

  35. “CARDIFF, Wales (CP-AP) – Canada is still without a win at the Rugby World Cup and only has itself to blame.
    The Canadian forwards were only a metre from snatching an unlikely win on Sunday when the ball came loose and Fiji’s Kameli Ratuvou ran for a late try to give his country a 29-16 win. ”
    http://tsn.ca/tsn/news_story/?ID=218432&hubname=
    How does Fiji, population 850,000, beat Canada every time we meet them on the rugby pitch? Three things:
    -Canadians hate victory. It’s unCanadian.
    -Canadian men are among the most effeminate in the world
    -Genetics, of course. A high percentage of Fijians have the “warrior gene”, which explains the high percentage of Pacific Islanders in the NFL.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior_gene
    “A version of the primate monoamine oxidase-A gene has been referred to as the warrior gene, initially in monkeys then in humans. Several different versions of the gene are found in different individuals, although a functional gene is present in most humans (except in a few individuals with Brunner syndrome)
    In 2006, a New Zealand researcher, Dr Rod Lea said that this variant (or genotype) of monoamine oxidase-A was over-represented in a small sample of current Māori. This supported earlier studies that there are different proportions of variants in different ethnic groups. This is the case for many genetic variants, with 33% White/Non-Hispanic, 61% Asian/Pacific Islanders having the shorter promoter variant of the MAO-A gene[2].
    Mosi Tatupu! Mosi Tatupu!

  36. Anyone would be better than some of the has-beens the Ontario Liberals have sent to “fix” the war in Caledonia between the Indians and the taxpaying people of that area.
    Jane Stewart and David Peterson were abject failures. Can’t deal with thugs who are above the law. The only connection the Indians have with Canadians is a free meal ticket and lodging for life. They still lay claim to all the land even though there would be nothing of Canada as a Nation if it were not for immigrants who developed it through hard work and much hardship.

  37. Oil is an important, strategic commodity in the geo-political balance of power.
    Oil in the right hands can be a blessing, but in the wrong hands can be very dangerous for the world.
    Oil in the hands of an outlaw regime can purchase weapons to threaten its region and beyond. It can afford to endow spy networks, saboteurs, arrangements with narco-trafickers, buy newspapers, and create an untenable threat.
    When these threats arise, they can affect alliances that have very real consequences for peaceful countries that have no wish to be dragged in to regional conflicts.
    In today’s world of thermonuclear threats, in a world where virtually every country has alliances with others, we simply can no longer allow outlaw regimes the purchasing power that oil can provide.
    So if oil is a factor in a country’s decision to take aggressive action, it is simplistic to imagine that it only amounts to a stronger power robbing a weaker. That kind of willed naivety threatens us all.

  38. Hey, Andrew, was there a commodity that would have made the whomping that Hitler took from the Allies immoral? If he was oil, gold or diamond rich, would it have been all about oil, gold or diamonds? Just curious.
    Another question, do you have any recollection of Saddam without provocation invading neighboring Kuwait for its oil? Suppose he had succeeded without the American intervention, got an opinion about who was all-about-oil in that scenario? Just curious.
    You’ve thrown your lefty sword in the sand on this, please don’t hesitate to defend it.
    Waiting….

  39. Oh, for heaven’s sake, andrew. You must be joking. You can’t be seriousl If you are – then, all I can say is that your addiction to the myths of wikipedia – which you accept as if you didn’t have a mind but merely an empty bucket on your spine – is ridiculous.
    There’s no such thing as a ‘warrior gene’. Sheesh. Being ‘warlike’ as a society is a social attribute. Not genetic. It’s focused around having something (capital) to be defended, or due to scarcity of resources.
    A single gene doesn’t cause sociocultural behaviour. Wow.

  41. Citoyen Sarkozy is a bon homme? Oui.
    Ciyoyen Dion is a loser. Oui.
    …-
    Matthew Fisher: French dispatching jet boon to Harper (re Kandahar deployment)
    Will France help Prime Minister Stephen Harper and give fresh impetus to NATO’s mission in southern Afghanistan by sending combat troops to fight alongside the Canadian battle group here?
    In a clear signal that a French government is willing for the first time in years to play a part in joint western combat operations, President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered Mirage fighter jets to Kandahar to help protect American, British and Canadian ground forces. The French warplanes are to be operational by the end of the month. …-
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1897696/posts

  42. Mao-China’s genocide*. Not a game.
    …-
    Times | Peacekeepers hope to stop Olympics being branded the ‘genocide games’
    Captain Zhou knows he is on a mission to end war in Darfur. What the Chinese People’s Liberation Army officer may not know is that he also has a responsibility to ensure next year’s Beijing Olympic Games are not branded the genocide games….-
    http://www.jacksnewswatch.info/
    *MURDER BY COMMUNISM
    Most of the deaths, perhaps around 39000000 are due to lethal forced labor in gulag and transit thereto. Communist China up to 1987, but mainly from 1949 …
    http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM

  43. Last time I’m feeding this troll, but Andrew:
    Did you not watch the Canadian Juniors trash Russia’s best junior hockey players in the last few weeks? We took them 7-0-1 in case you forgot. Russia’s population is 5 times that of Canada.
    Maybe we lost to Fiji in rugby because hardly anyone in Canada plays the game, whereas no one in Fiji plays hockey at all.
    And, you wimp, I dare you to stand in front of any 16 year old Canadian boys’ hockey team, and tell them they lack “the warrior gene”. Good luck getting out with your teeth.

  44. Spinks @ “101 people who are screwing up Canada” has a ‘last call’ out for suggestions on 10 people who are NOT screwing up Canada…open for nominations.
    Let’s have some positive input.

  45. Given the results of the vote last night, Garths leadership plans have moved ahead. Dion should look out for any Ottawa area buses while walking with Garth the next few weeks.
    If people are not convinced about his plans they should call Tony McLaren and find out for themselves.
    Also there was a shipment of back stabbing knives delivered to his still for sale home in Halton last night. As goofy as it sounds, the TIN FOIL HAT Party might actually have a few members.

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