First let me say that I’ve had a blast posting on SDA while Kate was gone. The number of people commenting and interacting on SDA is incredible. For the most part everyone has behaved, even Dr. Dawg, so it was my pleasure to simply read comments, and seldom have to delete outbursts of profanity.
I’ve been watching Caledonia unfold, and for some reason I didn’t start posting on it until the past few days. For me, it’s one of those issues that has about it a rotten smell, but for some reason the exact source is hard to nail down.
I’ve come to my conclusion, one which many of you will no doubt disagree with, but I decided to post it anyway. I don’t blame “the natives” for this one, because the number of aboriginals actually involved in the Caledonia standoff is small. Furthermore, national native support for the protestors has been tepid at best. My sources inside Caledonia also have relayed to me that the chiefs have no control of the situation, and that the “protestors” in this case are a law unto themselves. They are, in fact, a small group of criminals.
Who’s to blame then? I’ve posted my inflammatory conclusion @ Celestial Junk
Police are at the cutting edge of this public contract, as they move among the mostly law abiding citizenry making sure that those who can’t defend themselves are offered timely and appropriate help. They clean up our disasters, tend to our injured, rescue our distressed, and get between us and the few who would prey on us. It’s an interesting arrangement, one which pits the police against some citizens sometimes, some citizens all the time, and most citizens never.
Have fun; no personal insults; but grind my gears if you wish.
From the comments: More Discussion HERE
UPDATE: David Warren wades in with Girlie-man Talk
But I don’t want to reduce this to men and women. I shall try to keep today’s column at the level of abstraction evoked by such words as masculine and feminine. There are, to use examples from current Canadian politics alone, tough masculine women like Rona Ambrose (whom no one could possibly mistake for a man), and weak feminine men like Dalton McGuinty (parenthesis suppressed). The ability to take a hard decision, stand ground and cope with the response, is not something nature has restricted to men.

No matter what mainstream political spectrum one comes from, you’d think that we should all be able to agree that a healthy, modern, and robust Canadian Armed Forces is a good thing. Whether deployed to offer aid, intervene in genocide, or support our allies in time of need, a refurbished, regenerated, and reenergized Canadian Armed Forces can do nothing but assist Canada in her long term strategic needs. What’s amazing though, is that for decades, one the most important facets of a country’s independence, her military, has been the abused child of successive governments.
The Torch: The senators say the government needs to pump billions more into defence and recruit thousands of more people if it wants to meet what they call its No. 1 responsibility: the protection of Canadians.
NATO: NATO Spokesman James Appathurai told reporters that NATO has for many years gone through very fundamental changes in terms of what it is doing and this development will bring the force planning further into line with the realities of the 21st century. It represent a substantial realignment of the way in which NATO will plan to structure its forces, he said.
Celestial Junk: Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Jean Chretien, Brian Mulroney, and Paul Martin should go down in history as the leading proponents of the new warfare called, “killing an Military with a thousand cuts”. Over the past decades every opportunity has been taken by these gentlemen, all former prime ministers, to slash, cut, and trim down, the Canadian Forces.
Daimnation: Canadians seem incapable of understanding that, in terms of enforcing international peace and security, there is no such thing as the UN. There are the five permanent members of the Security Council, each pursuing its own national interest. Only rarely – as with the 1991 Gulf War and currently with Afghanistan – do those interests coincide to the extent of authorizing the use of armed force. Maj.-Gen. (ret’d) Lewis Mackenzie explains.
DND on Joint Support Ship: The new Joint Support Ship’s (JSS) ultimate goal is the delivery of three multi-role vessels with substantially more capability than the AORs. In addition to being able to provide at-sea support to deployed naval task groups, they will also be capable of sealift operations as well as support to forces deployed ashore.

Breaking news from Caldedonia Residents:
“We have confirmed through Ontario Senior Negotiator at Caledonia that 267 acres of land is being transferred to the Natives as payment to get them to take down the barricades. The future of this land is to be transferred to Six Nations at year end.”
And the lesson in all of this is…
more @ Caledonia Wakeup Call
crossposted @ Celestial Junk
Warning: I thought I should mention, just to keep things on a level, that at this point the above information is not confirmed, even though it seems par for the course.

Please go on over to Dust My Broom and check out the…
ok, I won’t tell you what it is…
I’d hate to give IT away and then have you NOT go over and …
you know what I mean…
so, go on over and read all about…
oops! Just about gave it away…
go… now…
CLICK

I thought I’d dredge up this old piece about one of our most famous Canadians. People usually crow with glee about records, but this is one record Canadians would just as soon forget about:
The article further suggested that he was, “generous, cooking for them, handing out drugs, hosting wild, never-ending parties.” Investigators fear that the food he was serving to his guests may have actually been the remains of some of his victims.
Libertarians often carp about the danger of mega-government that acquiesces ever more authority to bureaucracies. Libertarians theorize that once governmental bodies reach a certain critical mass, they begin to work outside the democratic process and are in fact, a law unto themselves. Brussels Journal brings us an interesting piece on the EU elite; un-elected, un-bowed, and bound and determined to ignore democratic processes:
“It is not France that has said ‘no’ to the constitution,” he (Valéry Giscard d’Estaing) said last week, “it is 55 per cent of French people.” France, in other words, is represented, not by its ill-informed population, but by its former President. “L’état, c’est Giscard.”
What do PETA and the dictionary have incommon? Well, not much apparantly, except the word “circus.” Moonbattery explains why, and tosses in some charming PETA pics:
It looks like the English language may suffer from collateral damage in PETA’s war on circuses. The animal rights organization best known for staging foolish publicity stunts, advocating terrorism, attempting to convince children that their parents are monsters, and of course, killing animals, is now demanding that Merriam-Webster change the definition of the word “circus” to conform with their hyperbolic propaganda.
Annie get Your Tongue… Love her… hate her… you’ve just got to admire her rapid fire shoot from the lip candor. Watch Anne Coulter take on a “fan”, live, on British TV.

A recent speech by Prime Minister Stephen Harper received the thumbs down on Little Green Footballs. At issue, were comments made by Harper regarding immigration to Canada. The issue of immigration has been divisive in North America ever since waves of immigrants began arriving on our shores in the early 1900’s. Each wave brings renewed criticism from former immigrants, who for one reason or other, feel threatened.
The current debate swirls less around ethnicity than it does around security and Islamist extremism. At Celestial Junk we look at Harper’s speech, and what it could mean, if anything, to immigrating Muslims, concerned Canadians, and multiculturalism: CLICK

A Canadian blog called The Torch has just made available a sidebar button. Bloggers may want to consider adding it to their site.
The Torch is one of a few Canadian blogs dedicated to military matters, especially Canadian military issues. Individuals interested in military discussion have embraced blogging in the United States, as the popularity of Milblogs shows. But, in Canada, the movement is much more tepid with few sites dedicated specifically to the topic.
For those who are into things military, whether former or current forces members, family members, or just plain interested, I suggest you put The Torch on your regular visit list. American bloggers may want to consider giving a push to Canadian military blogs. Getting involved in the discussions at The Torch will assist its owners in developing a strong forum for the things that matter to you. Putting the sidebar button up on your blog will direct traffic to the site, and help draw attention to Canadian Forces issues.
If you haven’t already done so, you may want to be added to the Canadian Heroes blogroll as well. There are many current and former members of the Canadian Forces in the blogging community, and your input is valued.
If you know of good sources to Canadian military sites, feel free to put them in comments.
From the comments:
www.strategypage.com

Anonymous Sources have become principal sources for some MSM outlets like the New York Times. The problem with unnamed sources is that no one can ever question them, test them, or counter-punch accurately, because they are just shadows. Much like using the town gossip for information, unnamed sources are unreliable sources. There is never any telling if one has been fed the truth or just a load of good’ol Alberta night soil from the corral.
In the War on Us, some are asking if the NYT isn’t becoming the enemy. Malkin has some fun with the traitorous New York Times and its self-appointed role as guardian of “public interest”. CLICK
Cross-posted @ Cjunk

Benjamin Franklin: “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.”
Germaine Greer: Security is when everything is settled. When nothing can happen to you. Security is the denial of life.
So, how far are you willing to go?
The National Post looks at a new poll and how Canadians feel about security.
A new poll on attitudes toward terrorism suggests many Canadians think preserving national security is more important than protecting civil liberties. And the feeling is strongest amongst the sizeable minority who fear that they themselves could be victims of terrorism.

Why Terrorism Must Win
From the point of view of the left, (union hacks, Euro-elite, mini-Moore extremists, MSM elitists, socialist utopians, KOS kids, and progressives) Iraq MUST FAIL. In order to be proven correct, in order to save their ideology, in order to put America in her place, Iraq as a country must not succeed, and terrorism must win in Iraq.
Falling In Love with Afghanistan
Flora MacDonald wants people thinking more about Afghanistan – but not the one the media portrays… MacDonald has returned to Afghanistan on eight occasions, and said she feels very connected to both the place and the people.
“I’ve fallen in love with the Afghan people,” she said. “They’re so warm and affectionate.”
Having spent time with Canada’s troops in Afghanistan from 2001 onwards, MacDonald said she supports the country’s military presence.
Letters From Afghanistan
“We chased a dude over a hill yesterday, and I thought I was going to puke … but we got him. You need a minimum 10 litres of water to get by here. It’s hard to sleep at night because if the heat doesn’t get you, the fact they love to shoot rockets into our camp almost every other day … I’m desensitized to them now. I don’t even bother running to the shelter, I just roll over and go to sleep.”
And the NDP wants us in Darfur
(slow download; second try usually works; a view from the Umma)
The campaign against Sudan increased even as evidence was being brought forward that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was based on a total lie. The same media that had given credibility to the U.S. government’s claim that it was justified in invading Iraq because that country had “weapons of mass destruction” switched gears to report on “war crimes” by Arab forces in Sudan.
This Darfur campaign accomplishes several goals of U.S. imperialist policy. It further demonizes Arab and Muslim people. It diverts attention from the human rights catastrophe caused by the brutal U.S. war and occupation of Iraq, which has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
It is also an attempt to deflect attention from the U.S. financing and support of Israel’s war on the Palestinian people.
Aljazeera: Some Soul Searching
Nowadays, the more “religious” some Muslims regard themselves to be, the less tolerant they are. The cause is a troubling intellectual decline of the Islamic civilizations… While Muslims complain about the Western lack of understanding of Islam, this misconstruction in the interpretation of religious texts is unfortunately prevalent in the Muslim mind today.

Add your suggestions in the comments. The spam filter blocks complete URLS, so you know the drill:
Some videos for you: (be patient with slow downloads)
Culture Clash
Barfly
Bird Brain
Have you seen the movie, Falling Down

Michael is undoubtedly my favorite reporter from Iraq and Afghanistan. His work may not change anyone’s strongly held beliefs about these conflicts, but it is almost impossible to read his material without gaining a deep respect for the troops who serve there.
The soldiers told me of a suicide bombing that betided their post the day before the elections. In a particularly gruesome display of insurgent character, the bomber had grabbed the hand of a girl, about five, and used her for cover to approach the IPs. The explosion occurred just yards away from the roof where I stood with the soldiers. Eight people and that little girl were killed that day. Unlike in Baquba where such attacks are common, attacks are relatively rare in this part of Iraq. Perhaps because of that, or maybe just because of the callous way the bomber eviscerated an innocent child, the incident seemed to leave a deep imprint on the soldiers who witnessed it.
… We did not create this evil, although it does reveal itself more sharply by comparison in the presence of decent people. When the tactics of an enemy cross the line, sentient peoples recognize that they are no longer entitled to be called opposing forces, insurgents, freedom fighters, revolutionaries, or Jihadists — they are terrorists.
CLICK

Troll: An individual who interjects into blog conversations simply to cause a stir or insult the regular patrons of the blog. Trolls can be motivated by evangelical zeal for a cause opposite to that of the blog owner(s). Trolls will generally dominate a thread and park themselves on a blog, even though they don’t share most of the expressed opinions of the blog. Trolls may initially be polite, but their pathologic determination to dominate a thread and seek attention, very easily degenerates into insult. Their behavior often generates insults from a blog’s regulars.
Imagine a person at a party, walking over to a group having a conversation about topic A. The person then injects themselves into the conversation and dominates it… even though they don’t know the other people in the group. The person refuses to give up trying to convince the other people that they are wrong and he may even resort to insults. In real life, things would get ugly in a hurry, but since internet trolls are protected by cyberspace, they do not feel compelled to follow common rules of decency.
Not a Troll: A person with a contrary opinion to that of a blog owner, who genuinely wants to be involved in debate, but who does not dominate the thread, and shows respect to the blog owner and regulars. This person is not hell-bent on winning the debate and knows when to quit.
How to Talk to a Troll:
1. If you do not appreciate their presence, then ignore them. Responding to a troll is like feeding a bear… and they always tell you… don’t feed the bears. Ignoring trolls is always the best way to starve them.
2. If you want to debate a troll, be warned. There will never be an end to the debate as trolls always change the topic or interject multiple loosely connected “facts” into the debate. This serves to send the debate into a variety of directions, most of which do not have a possible conclusion. Trolls, even when they find common ground with you, will take a divergent route until they find another reason to scrap… and on it goes, and goes, and goes. They are on the thread to fight… and they will, no matter what.
3. Insulting the troll, if it is not your blog, results in general degeneration of the thread. Don’t do it.
4. Blog owners may choose, at their discretion, to bloc trolls… each blog is the owner’s baby, and bloggers do not have to put up with trolls of any kind. Trolls are guests, just like everyone else… but, they are the type of party guest mentioned above.
cross posted @ cjunk
UPDATE: 12 Step Program for Trolls
Update: Anatomy of a Trolling – check out how the following post, which had a theme of respect for our troops, without political innuendo, was hijacked by trolls. The purpose was to at least give credit where credit is due… yet check out how even that fact was diverted by trolls. (And yours truly fell for it) CLICK

Taoism: Shit happens.
Confucianism: Confucius say, “Shit happens.”
Buddhism: If shit happens, it isn’t really shit.
Zen Buddhism: Shit is, and is not.
Zen Buddhism #2: What is the sound of shit happening?
Hinduism: This shit has happened before.
Islam: If shit happens, it is the will of Allah.
Islam #2: If shit happens, kill the person responsible.
Islam #3: If shit happens, blame Israel.
Lots more @ Cjunk

Graeme Smith of the Globe and Mail put together an audio/slide show that is a must-see for Canadians. When we talk of Canadian and Coalition troops being our heroes; and the best that our countries have to offer… this is the reason why: CLICK (crossposted @ Celestial Junk
Ht: Burton Front

Add suggested reading in the comments. DO NOT paste in complete urls or the filter will boot them. Be creative and they’ll get through. I’ll be on occasionally to “release” your trapped comments, so don’t go all foamy-mouthed if they don’t appear right away.
As far as Trolls… they’ve been behaved for the most part so either have a good debate or ignore; how simple is that?
For Starters:
Guite…. Is he the Don?
God Bless The Star
Canadian Bearskin Hats Under Attack
Caledonia Judge Orders Government to Court
Liberal Meltdown in Saskatchewan
CBC … Under Fire
No SEX PLEASE … We’re Japanese!
Is this an Islamo-fascist Rant… or KOS Kids Boilerplate?

…Since native protestors began occupying the Douglas Creek Estates development in February, police have been widely accused of turning a blind eye to lawbreakers, including those who dug up portions of the highway with a backhoe, lit tire fires and blocked the road…
…”There were physical assaults taking place in front of you and you can’t do anything about it. The OPP is a joke in terms of Caledonia. It has tarnished our name,” said an OPP officer who spoke to the Star on condition of anonymity…
…In one case, it is alleged more than a dozen officers stood by while two TV cameramen were beaten by protestors, and an elderly couple were swarmed in their car… In a separate clash that night, officers in riot gear arrested but did not charge a group of locals who gathered behind an elementary school backing onto the occupied site…
Find it all: HERE
Ht: Nealenews
crossposted @ cjunk

The other day we directed you to an article in Brussels Journal that details how the Socialist Utopian state of Belgium is using intrusive laws to dictate UN values to individuals who want to home-school their children. As it turns out, the forced intrusion of socialist/UN values into homes is more widespread than it originally appeared:
For over fifteen years we have been struggeling here in Switzerland and the situation is getting worse. The whole battle is about the non-declared statist ideology. Whoever has a different opinion than the states’ bureaucrats is publicly denounced as intolerant, reactionary, traditionalist or whatever, while the bureaucrats force their illogical, misleading and hidden socialist views. Unfortunately the press is mostly on their side.
More @ Celestial Junk
Update from the Comments ~ Postscript says:
Socialism is as much a religion as Christianity or any other mode of philosophical thought. The liberal-left would like to have us believe that they hold no philosophy on life, only a pure and uninfluenced centrist thought (ha, ha, ha).
Critical thinking is a key foundation to ‘free’ thought, but we will never escape from our own philosophies. It is an innate human quality to communicate through our own world view. In this way, I have no problem with schools that are exclusively Christian, Secularist or whatever. If you can find the bodies to support the type of doctrine you preach – then (for the most part) so be it. The problem comes when the State says, “This is what you must do. This is what you must teach. Your children must attend.” I believe for the Socialists and liberal-left, they fear the concept of those with conservative viewpoints forming centers of education because they know the majority of the worldview is to the Right, like it or not. It (Conservatism) is the view that many do not live up to, but they want for their children.
More from the Comments: By Me No Dhimmi
The victim (word used correctly) parents were well-educated. The father trained as a lawyer; the mother is a former university lecturer. We would need, of course, to have all the bio info forwarded to our resident arbiter, David Brown, to make sure that their alma maters weren’t 2nd or 3rd or 4th rate, but let’s take it as read for the moment, that they are well-educated, pending David Brown’s analysis and report to the appropriate ministries.
The home school population, albeit small, has doubled in a short period of time, suggesting to David Brown, our resident arbiter, that the parents have gone mad.
The “authorities” are naturally worried about career stability, not about children. It need not be debated that they aren’t the slightest bit concerned about the children, tho’ it has to be admitted that they are quite expert at using the spectre of “children at risk” to advance their agendas (a kind of ideological child pornography it always seems to me).
A certificate is required to be signed by the parents containing the laughably vague phrase “respecting … the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and of others”. Read that vacant, vacuous phrase again and gasp! Orwellian doesn’t quite cover it.
Here’s the thing: the inspectors will make the decision as to the level of compliance to that vague bureauspeak. If they sign two reports the home-schooling is banned and the parents are subject to criminal prosecution if they don’t comply.
I have some experience with securities regulation (the receiving end). In BC, a new act was proposed containing all kinds of clauses with phrases like “what a reasonable person would expect”. We need not spent a lot of time wondering who the “reasonable” party would be in a dispute. The “authorities” thought (and even stated so in public) that the narrow tightly worded rules allowed bad characters to do bad stuff while still being technically compliant. They were pushing for the easy, lazy route: make the rules so general that they could simply decide that anything they didn’t like was non-compliant.
Now that’s “scary” (word used correctly).

4 Canadians Wounded in Afghanistan, and other News
Four Canadian soldiers have been wounded — one seriously — after their armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb north of Kandahar City early Wednesday.
The LAV 3 was hit near a forward base at Gumbad, 75 kilometres north of Kandahar City.
More Afghan News @ Celestial Junk

Does anybody care to take a guess as to what the international outcry will be over reports that 2 American troopers were tortured and killed by Islamo-fanatics in Iraq? How many days of condemnation will the MSM dedicate to pillorying Islamist fanatics? How many of the world’s leftist elite will step forward and condemn the crime without the usual excuses thrown in (ie: If the USA wasn’t in Iraq, this wouldn’t happen)? How many lefty blogs will condemn the crime without drafting moral equivalency arguments that include Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib or Haditha? And, how many politicians from the “progressive” camp will condemn the deed without piggy-backing into a “withdrawal timetable”?
Celestial Junk:
Brace yourselves boys and girls, it’s going to be ugly. Amnesty will of course decry the fact that Islamist terrorists, after this sadistic act, are now even more depraved than the Abu Ghraib bum-pile perverts. Leftist blogs the world over will warn Muslim fanatics that they had better start wearing uniforms if they want to be accorded Geneva convention rights.
Update: From LGF the KOS response.