Reader Tips

In 1966 the CBC commissioned Gordon Lightfoot to write a song to help commemorate Canada’s upcoming centennial celebration. First broadcast on January 1, 1967, it’s since become a Canadian classic, and, alongside Stan Rogers’ Northwest Passage, perhaps the greatest Canadian historical song ever written. With lyrics like “they built the mines, the mills and the factories for the good of us all,” though, it’s probably not a song that would pass the CBC’s muster these days, unless he added a verse about raping Gaia.
Accompanied by some nice images and some historical photographs, here is Gordon Lightfoot singing Canadian Railroad Trilogy. (Lyrics here).
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.

28 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. Toronto could have used 30,000 men like this guy during the G-20 riots.
    Note the way he casually tosses the looted goods back into the store.

  2. Great musical selection. Given today’s political climate in this country, I doubt that the railway would be built.
    “This guy” in the video would make a good police chief. Notice, he actually tackled the looter.

  3. Charles Krauthammer, in the National Review:
    “The Pentagon report on the Fort Hood shooter runs 86 pages with not a single mention of Hasan’s Islamism. It contains such politically correct inanities as ‘religious fundamentalism alone is not a risk factor.’
    “Of course it is. Indeed, Islamist fundamentalism is not only a risk factor. It is the risk factor, the common denominator linking all the great terror attacks of this century — from 9/11 to Mumbai, from Fort Hood to Times Square, from London to Madrid to Bali. The attackers were of various national origin, occupation, age, social class, native tongue, and race. The one thing that united them was the jihadist vision in whose name they acted.
    “To deny this undeniable truth leads to further absurdities…”
    The rest here.

  4. Controlling the spread: UFC President Dana White bans vuvuzelas from UFC 116.
    “‘This decision was pretty simple for me,’ White is quoted as saying in a press release sent out by the UFC today. ‘Vuvuzelas make the most horrific sound I’ve ever heard. I’d rather let Brock (Lesnar) punch me in the face than hear 15,000 people blow on those things…”

  5. If Dana White really wants to eliminate painfully annoying noise, he should ban Joe Rogan.

  6. A big “amen” to that, dp, and his “comedy” is even worse than his voice.
    “A Zimbabwean mother killed her baby son and sold one of his ears for $20 (£13) to a Mozambican witch doctor, police have confirmed.”
    “Christine Hofisi, 21, from Chipinge near the Mozambique border, is accused of strangling the 18-month-old child before removing his left ear…”
    (…)
    “Human body parts, but more commonly those of animals, are mixed with potions and used by sangomas, or traditional healers, to cure ailments and bring fortune to the user…”

  7. This is not a joke or satire, “The One About the UN” is our reality: [Iran chairs the UN human rights counsel and women’s rights body]
    ‘Iran to investigate Canada’s human rights violations’
    “Ahmadinejad’s foreign minister said that Iran was serious in pursuing the violations of rights of the indigenous, women and different tribes in violating countries such as Canada.”
    http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/may/06/1818

  8. Iggy re his trip to China: ” … But I’m not going to start, you know, finger pointing.”
    Well, whoopee! The no-show Iggster doesn’t mind non-stop finger pointing at Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his CPC government but is going to go easy on the Chinese government and its draconian human rights record.
    Somewhere in this dispensation, there’ll be big bucks. Isn’t that just like a Librano?

  9. From Salim Mansur’s excellent article cited above, “Multiculturalism has undermined unity”:
    “The worm inside the doctrine of multiculturalism is the lie that all cultures are equally embracing of individual freedom and democracy. The concerted assault by Islamists on the West and its values is proof of this lie.”
    I’d suggest that another proof of this lie is that the stream of immigration is almost exclusively FROM illiberal countries, where human rights are constantly at risk and undermined, TO the West and not the other way around. How it is that supposedly intelligent apologists for the “all cultures are equal” kant are unable to recognize this salient fact is beyond me. It can only be explained by invincible ignorance on their part: I know what I believe/imagine, don’t confuse me with the facts.

  10. Looter guy left before receiving his sock in the mouth.
    His memory, of the days events won’t be quite as clear as it could have been….

  11. I agree, batb. atric, like you, my heart hurts for United States of America; we must help them get the Albatross off their necks as soon as possible.
    We, like Americans could learn a bit from the experience of the sailor in the “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”. http://www.wonko.info/albatross/default.htm
    ‘He prayeth well, who loveth well
    Both man and bird and beast.
    He prayeth best, who loveth best
    All things both great and small;
    For the dear God who loveth us,
    He made and loveth all.’

  12. Whither Al Gore (WAG)? (Formerly AGW.)
    Big MSM/Associated Press is onto the Goreacle.
    (H/T IPCC Choo-Choo Pachauri: It was a dark and stormy night, and the masseuse had just ……)
    …-
    “Police explain reasons for reopening Gore case
    By TERRENCE PETTY
    Associated Press Writer
    ORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Police explained Thursday why they reopened a sexual assault investigation into Al Gore, saying an extra review was needed because detectives looking into the matter last year failed to notify high-ranking officials of their decision to drop the case.
    A massage therapist to the stars has accused the former vice president of repeatedly groping and kissing her during a late-night, alcohol-fueled attack in a luxury hotel suite in October 2006. Gore adamantly denies the allegations.
    Detectives investigated the claims in 2006 and 2009 but decided not to pursue the case amid a lack of cooperation and erratic behavior by the accuser. The story re-emerged last week after she told her story to the National Enquirer, and police this week said they would reopen the case.
    Portland Police Chief Michael Reese said Thursday that “we have determined there were procedural issues with the 2009 investigation that merit reopening the case.” Officers took the accuser’s statement but didn’t proceed further and didn’t clear that decision with higher-ups. In addition, prosecutors were not made aware of the 2009 investigation until recently.
    Police would not say whether they would interrogate Gore or examine a pair of black pants the accuser wore on the night in question that she said became stained during the massage.
    Gore has said through a spokeswoman that he “unequivocally and emphatically denies” the accusations and believes he will be fully exonerated once the investigation is complete.
    “Further investigation into this matter will only benefit Mr. Gore,” said the spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider.” (more)
    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GORE_SEX_ALLEGATIONS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

  13. Whither Al Gore (WAG)? (Formerly AGW)
    Collapsed. The Dragon/Dinosaur WAG/AGW has collapsed:
    slain/killed by Canadian PM St. George Harper.
    O’s WAG/AGW has collapsed (O is Liberal Ziffy’s Harvard buddy).
    Yes. PM Harper is a Daniel/St. George:
    “one country — Canada — and one leader — Prime Minister Stephen Harper.”
    >>> “In the lead-up to the Toronto meetings and throughout them, one country — Canada — and one leader — Prime Minister Stephen Harper — have stood out for avoiding the worst excesses associated with climate change. Dubbed the Colossal Fossil three years running by some 500 environmental groups around the world, Canada — and especially Harper — are reviled among climate-change campaigners for failing to fall into line.
    Not coincidentally, Canada has also stood out for having best withstood the financial crisis that beset the world. Fittingly, Canada and its leader played host to the meetings.”
    …-
    “Lawrence Solomon: Catastrophism collapses
    G20 leaders in Toronto tried to avoid the fate of colleagues felled by warming advocacy
    Last week’s G8 and G20 meetings in Toronto and its environs confirmed that the world’s leaders accept the demise of global-warming alarmism.
    One year ago, the G8 talked tough about cutting global temperatures by two degrees. In Toronto, they neutered that tough talk, replacing it with a nebulous commitment to do their best on climate change — and not to try to outdo each other. The global-warming commitments of the G20 — which now carries more clout than the G8 — went from nebulous to non-existent: The G20’s draft promise going into the meetings of investing in green technologies faded into a mere commitment to “a green economy and to sustainable global growth.”
    These leaders’ collective decisions in Toronto reflect their individual experiences at home, and a desire to avoid the fate that met their true-believing colleagues, all of whom have been hurt by the economic and political consequences of their global-warming advocacy.
    Kevin Rudd, Australia’s gung-ho global-warming prime minister, lost his job the day before he was set to fly to the G20 meetings; just months earlier Australia’s conservative opposition leader, also gung-go on global warming, lost his job in an anti-global-warming backbencher revolt. The U.K.’s gung-ho global-warming leader during last year’s G8 and G20 meetings, Gordon Brown, likewise lost his job.
    France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had vowed to “save the human race” from climate change by introducing a carbon tax by the time of the G8 and G20, was a changed man by the time the meetings occurred. He cancelled his carbon tax in March, two days after a crushing defeat in regional elections that saw his Gaullist party lose just about every region of France. He got the message: Two-thirds of the French public opposed carbon taxes.
    Spain? Days before the G20 meetings, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, his popularity and that of global warming in tatters, decided to gut his country’s renewables industry by unilaterally rescinding the government guarantees enshrined in legislation, knowing the rescinding would put most of his country’s 600 photovoltaic manufacturers out of business. Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi similarly scrapped government guarantees for its solar and wind companies prior to the G8 and G20, putting them into default, too.
    The U.K may be making the biggest global-warming cuts of all, with an emergency budget that came down the week of the G20 meetings. The two government departments responsible for climate-change policies — previously immune to cuts — must now contract by an extraordinary 25%. Other U.K. departments are also ditching climate-change programs — the casualties include manufacturers of electric cars, the Low Carbon Buildings Program, and, as the minister in charge put it, “every commitment made by the last government on renewables is under review.“ Some areas of the economy not only survived but expanded, though: The government announced record offshore oil development in the North Sea — the U.K. granted a record 356 exploration licences in its most recent round.
    Support for global-warming programs is also in tatters in the U.S., where polls show — as in Europe — that the great majority rejects global-warming catastrophism. The public resents repeated attempts to pass cap and trade legislation over their objections, contributing to the fall in popularity of President Barack Obama and Congress.”
    http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/07/02/lawrence-solomon-catastrophism-collapses/
    http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2010/07/03/stephen-harper-teflon-pm/#comment-84982

  14. Barack Petroleum Report: Hurricane Obama = F.
    …-
    “Oil Found in Gulf Beach Sand, Even After Cleanups
    National Geographic – Chris Combs – ‎12 hours ago‎
    Waves buried much of the oil under new layers of sand, particularly this week, when Hurricane Alex spawned rough seas around the Gulf. (See “Hurricane Alex …
    Alex didn’t help hidden oil problem WANE
    Hurricane Alex pushing more oil on Florida beaches Pensacola News Journal”
    (googoo news)

  15. I’m very glad, Jema 54, that you named the reason our Western democracies uphold individual freedoms and are the envy of the world: It is the “dear God who loveth us, [Who] made and loveth all.”
    Since we have distanced ourselves from the Judeo-Christian faith, the faith of our ancestors, we’ve been in free-fall. Since we have been ashamed to profess our faith and live by its life-giving values – because our chattering classes have deemed Judeo-Christianity to be exclusive, even when it’s a provable fact that our faith builds schools, universities, hospitals, democracies for all, not just adherents to our faith – we have watched as the West has been invaded by the equality kant of “multiculturalism.” In some ways, it’s true, that many cultures have enriched our democracies – booths at folkfests and interesting restaurants — but, in many other ways, the equality myth has watered down our democratic principles and freedoms. When “visible minority” rights assume the ascendancy, all rights suffer. When equality becomes another word for special rights and privileges for only certain groups, our true democratic rights and freedoms have been forfeited.
    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.
    … what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
    (W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming)

  16. More evidence of Marxist social engenering. Now infiltration Religions of the Western culture. To undermine Family structure. More rot at the pillars of our meta culture.
    This is just a Trojan horse to force every Christian or Jewish group to be forced to do these “ceremonies”. Probably by legal challenge & Hate laws. This was inevitable once the HRC’s of the World have forced this issue for their own legitimacy. So much for Religious freedom.
    BATB. Won’t be long before bible believing Christians will be hunted again by Liberal denominations calling them a threat to the State as the inquisition put it.
    After all the Romans aqussed us of being Athiests & anti Humnan.
    Religious ‘Marriages’ For Gay Couples
    Gay couples could soon be given the right to include religious readings, music and symbols in civil partnership ceremonies.
    http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Gay-Couples-May-Soon-Be-Allowed-Religious-Marriages-Including-Hymns-And-Readings-In-Civil/Article/201007115658746?f=rss

  17. All that you have said, so well, batb, I too believe. Christianity is the ‘home of the brave’ and it creates the ‘land of the free’.
    Have you ever read ‘Ceremony of the Innocent’ (named, I think, from Mr. Yeats’ line; quoted by you) by Taylor Caldwell? If not, I think that you would like it. Taylor Caldwell also wrote ‘Captains and Kings’ along the same theme.

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