Your musical selection tonight … Paolo Conte … It’s Wonderful:

The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.

Remember, folks, the science is settled:

More than 31,000 scientists have signed a petition denying that human activity is responsible for major climate change. The petition, now under the auspices of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, asserts: “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of … greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments.”

Do read the entire editorial, “The phony ‘consensus’ on climate change”, in Utah’s Daily Herald. Superb.

Welcome to the neighbourhood!

Spanish authorities are investigating the recent deaths by poisoning of more than a dozen dogs in Lérida, a city in the northeastern region of Catalonia that has become ground zero in an intensifying debate over the role of Islam in Spain.

Not sure that debate is going to solve this problem:

Local residents say Muslim immigrants killed the dogs because according to Islamic teaching dogs are ‘unclean” animals. Over the past several months, residents taking their dogs for walks have been harassed by Muslim immigrants opposed to seeing the animals in public. Muslims have also launched a number of anti-dog campaigns on Islamic websites and blogs based in Spain.

Got Rottweiler?

In response to the “lack of sufficient police to protect the neighbourhood,” 50 local residents have established alternating six-person citizen patrols to escort people walking their dogs…

Get that little weirdo:

“(Danish filmmaker) Lars von Trier facing (French) charges for Hitler rant…”

“Danish police have charged Director Lars von Trier for comments he made about Hitler and Nazism…”

Good. It’s time to put a stop, once and for all, to all this ‘joking around’ crap. Politically incorrect quips, mischievous little provocations, winking jibes, black humour, Scandinavian deadpan, negative capability, irony – these things should be treated as criminal matters.
Let literal-mindedness reign.

A quick look at these US, European Stoxx, German Dax, Spanish Ibex, Italian, Hong Kong charts below and decide for yourself. 2008 redux or…er, ahem… worse.
More than a few sharp cookies think if we get a washout here it will mark the end of a secular bear that really started in the late ‘90s and some think it will be a generational buying opportunity. Liquidate real estate in Canada while you can, pay down or refinance debt with exceptionally low interest rates and build a sum you can deploy when things get so extreme some stocks will sell for less than their net cash in the bank.
“With Manic Markets, it is crucial to evalue both long and short term charts and levels often. We wrote of the Squeeze set up three days ago. Once again, the markets bounced off the support levels, and fooled too many of the new “smart” shorts. Our long term scenario is intact, and we still believe the big dynamics on the downside will evolve later this autumn. There is a big risk of a Collapse happening, just when everybody is sucked into the long trade, and shorts have given up. For now, let’s review the short term charts, all hitting resistance levels”. Charts & Big Risk of a Collapse Happening HERE
(Ed Note: Latest comments including Oct 7th at the bottom of this post)

It may be a surprise to you to see that it (government share of GDP) has gotten up to the same levels seen at the height of WWII.

The details at McClellan Financial Publications.
* disclosure: I subscribe to McClellan Financial Publications

We’ve got guests. Quick – hide our culture.
A recent memorandum sent out to BBC employees by the broadcaster’s religious and ethics department suggested that the use of the terms AD (Anno Domini) and BC (Before Christ) be replaced by BCE (before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) when referring to historical dates:

“As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians.”

The new terms, of course, happen to use the exact same point of historical reference, as the Vatican points out:

The BBC has limited itself to changing only the description, rather than the computation of time, but in doing so, it cannot be denied that it has made a hypocritical gesture: the hypocrisy of those who pretend not to know why years began to be counted precisely from that moment.

Hmm. Hijri dates, anyone?

Four New York state senators recently released a report (pdf) called “Cyberbullying: A Report on Bullying in a Digital Age” which addresses the – very modern – problem of cyberbullying, particularly among teenagers, and looks at possible solutions.
One particular statement, delivered almost in passing, addresses the issue of free speech:

Proponents of a more refined First Amendment argue that this freedom should be treated not as a right but as a privilege – a special entitlement granted by the state on a conditional basis that can be revoked if it is ever abused or maltreated.

Why not? This “refined” approach to speech has always worked out so well in other countries, hasn’t it?
(h/t Dave Blount at Moonbattery)

NO