This video, shot 4 days ago, makes me wonder.
Do you think there will be one? If so, what’s your prediction about when it will occur and what issues do you think the Liberals will try to make the election about?
How will Michael Ignatieff answer this question, if asked: “If the Conservatives win the most seats but are unable to form a majority government, will you negotiate with the other parties to take control via a Coalition?”
Open Question: At 0:46 into the video, just after Ignatieff mentioned John Baird’s name, a man’s voice can distinctly be heard saying something. What words do you hear? (h/t Simon)
A Bilingual Tutorial on Why Competition is Good
In a previous SDA thread we were all “enlightened” by a Ph.D. Socialist that capitalism is a terrible thing and socialism is the answer to all of our problems.
Some beg to differ. So does history. For our friends on the Left, here’s a little tutorial:
Incidentally, for the record, conservatism does not support monopolies nor corporate welfare. Just because this lie is endlessly repeated in the Leftist Bubble Chamber doesn’t make it true.
“No Competition” – More Brilliance from the Left
Just when you thought more dumb ideas couldn’t come to the foray in our education system, enter from stage left, Alfie Kohn. Claiming his views are “supported by research”, he is pushing the concept of “No Competition” in Canadian schools. Roy Green spoke with him Saturday.
Update: On his Sunday Show, Roy Green interviewed Chris Wejr, principal of Kent Elementary School in Agassiz, BC. You can listen to it here (beginning at 11:00). Wejr is a big supporter of Alfie Kohn’s “No Competition” philosophy.
Here’s a pertinent and related article. And here’s the e-mail I sent to Green about Mr. Wejr:
I’m in absolute disbelief at what the “educator” has just said. He clearly has no grasp of the modern reality that Canada is in a fierce competitive battle with nations like China & India. In those nations hundreds of millions of children are pushed to strive to be better & work harder. Here we appear to strive to not push too much. If we translated this to a hockey match, our team would lose every game 20 to nothing.
If your guest’s words were played for parents in Asia they’d be convinced that it was satire such as we’d see in The Onion. Frankly, so do I!
On a personal note, may I share with you that a few years ago I dated a lovely woman from mainland China who had relocated to Vancouver. I’ll never forget a conversation we had early on in which she said that in many ways Canada is more socialist than China. Of course, the patriotic hairs on the back of my neck immediately jumped up! But then she explained about private health care being widely available if you want it, much more of a competitive spirit in education, and a whole lot of other examples. The views of Mr. Kohn and Mr. Wejr vividly reminded me of her prescient observations.
Incidentally, in contrast to Kumbaya Central (aka Kent Elementary), here’s a recent editorial from a Chinese-American mother who is almost certainly representative of the mindset in households in Asia. She has already received Death Threats. Likely from those “hateful conservatives” who would adamantly disagree with her, eh?! You know, the same folks who despise competition, hard work, and accountability. đ
Different Muslims, Different Views
Earlier today Roy Green held a round table discussion on his radio show about Muslims & Islam in North America. The four guests were:
- Dr. Zuhdi Jasser – American Islamic Forum for Democracy
- Tarek Fatah – Canadian Muslim Congress
- Naseem Mahdi – Amadiyyah Movement in Islam (U.S.)
- Ahmed Rehab – CAIR Chicago
You can listen to the entire segment here.
It seems very clear to me that there is great division within the Muslim community in North America and this discussion exemplified that. I’ve heard Zuhdi Jasser countless times on both Roy Green and Dennis Miller’s programs. I think he’s a rock solid conservative and is trying to reform Muslims in America, not altogether different than Bill Cosby has tried to do within the African American community. Tarek Fatah, though he seemed off his rocker (read “beyond illogical”) about Sarah Palin this past week, was nevertheless very much echoing what Jasser was saying in this discussion.
I’m not very familiar with Naseem Mahdi but Ahmed Rehab sounded like a nasty piece of work, which is par for the course with any past interviews I’ve seen with CAIR representatives. Here’s some background info on Rehab and here’s an interview he had with Laura Ingraham about 6 months ago. He excels at first insulting anyone he disagrees with rather than discussing the topic at hand. In other words, he’s just a typical Leftist.
Anyhow, please do listen to the segment and share your thoughts!
Taxi! Taxi! Taxi?!?
This car was parked in front of the Mercedes-Benz dealership on Broadway in Vancouver today:
I have no particularly great skill at funny captions. Please submit a better one!!
Vladimir Putin: Stephen Harper Redux
In the “Never Thought I’d Ever See This” category, here’s your Saturday afternoon entertainment. Just think, at the next meeting of world powers, Putin + Harper + ??? + ??? = The New Beatles!
Not a Good Time to Be a Socialist in America
A new poll reveals that only 9% of Americans surveyed are in favour of raising taxes. 77% want spending to be cut. The big question is “where” and there appears little consensus on that front.
Related: In the first part of this Ricochet podcast, there’s an interesting discussion with rookie congressman, Chris Gibson, focusing on what it’s like to be in charge of deciding what cutting must be done.
Translating this to a Canadian perspective, what are your thoughts about the general mood of the public in our country on the subject of Cutting Spending vs. Raising Taxes?
Pat Caddell: NY Times columnist Krugman âa flat-out assholeâ
Pat Caddell is a lifelong Democrat. He is a public opinion pollster & adviser who worked for Democrat presidential candidates Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden, George McGovern, Gary Hart, and Jerry Brown. His credentials on the Left side of the political aisle are rock solid.
But he is also a man of principle and a proud American who only wants the best for his country. Thus, when he saw what was happening this past week, he decided he had to speak out against it. Vehemently! More here.
Rex Murphy on the Arizona Shooting Rampage
h/t Matt from Mississauga
Update: A common tactic of Leftist trolls like this one is to say something like “there are extremists on both sides but I’ve never seen or heard any major pundits on the Left say anything outrageous”. How is it that this past week one could conveniently ignore Krugman, Moulitsas, Olbermann, Matthews, Dionne, Clinton, and the entire NY Times Editorial staff? This is the true “Climate of Hate” in our culture. But this tiny sampling of examples from this past week is but a mere drop in the bucket of what has happened in the past.
Dear Trolls of the Left, please continue to post your arguments on here but do stick to the facts. We insist upon it!
The Tucson “Memorial” Service
Here’s a fascinating podcast from Michael Graham, in Boston.
Two memorable quotes from it include “I thought I was in the Twilight Zone” and “Where was the mourning?!”
A Tale of Two Sheriffs: What Do The Numbers Say?
I was intrigued to see this article in Time magazine about two prominent sheriffs in Arizona: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.
As Time has long been a de facto PR mouthpiece for the Democrat Party, I understood from the start that the article would be biased against [Republican] Arpaio and for [Democrat] Dupnik. But the notion of comparing two nearby sheriffs with widely differing political views got me wondering how the crime statistics in their two counties compared. After a little research and some compilation the difference in their crime stats is rather startling:
Please click on the image above to see it full-size or you can download the original spreadsheet. In the Time piece, there’s not a word of Arpaio’s success and Dupnik’s relative failure to combat crime but as we’ve seen in the disgraceful, unprofessional “reporting” of the Tucson massacre, the mainstream media has clearly shown that they have no interest in facts that don’t support how they wish to spin a news story.
The Hypocrisy of the CBC’s Mark Kelley
A comment in this earlier thread is well worth repeating here:
The other night I was watching Connect with Mark Kelley on CBC.
They pulled out the old Sarah Palin target map and talked about the
heightened rhetoric…days after the shooting. I thought it was too much
so I e-mailed the show with my concerns…
To his credit he replied back to me directly…
—-
Thanks for the email. Blaming us for politicising the shooting is rich.
Have you followed anything that has happened in Arizona in the past
year? I don’t blame anyone but Loughner for the shooting. And no one has
said he is a Tea Partier on our show. But the Republicans own candidate-
a Tea Partier- was abandoned by the GOP because of his views. There’s a
context worth mining in Arizona- and to discuss it makes me a lefty?
Have we met?
As for your snide remarks about the technical problems, our system
crashed. Stuff happens. We don’t practice, nor preach perfection. We
just try our best. Maybe that approach reflects my own naivete.
Cheers
MKelley
Posted by: Jeff at January 13, 2011 2:22 PM
A huge problem for folks on the Left, even the Centre Left where Mark Kelley arguably sits politically, is their complete lack of self-awareness of the bias in their own views. Combine this predilection with someone who is a “journalist” and you have an individual who is convinced that they have no bias whatsoever. It’s a delusion, of course, because each & every one of us is chock full of different biases.
I have little doubt that Kelley writes off commenter Jeff and probably most every SDA regular as “right wing extremists”. But just imagine for a moment how he would view a situation if a conservative had been killed in Tucson and someone had pointed out that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had displayed a map with bullseyes across it. Oh wait, a conservative judge was killed and the DNC did display such a map! But drawing a connection there would be much too ridiculous according to the “enlightened” mind that is Mark Kelley.
And lest we forget, your tax dollars are paying his salary. đ
Update: Some have suggested that it’s unfair to publish Mark Kelley’s response without also posting the initial e-mail from Jeff. He has kindly sent it to me and here it is in full:
Dear Connect Folks,
Three days after a horrible shooting you’re still going on about the conservative rhetoric stuff?
Sarah Palin’s map? Feel free to read this link…http://www.verumserum.com/?p=13647
The jury is pretty much in about Jared as well.
Communist Manifesto…favourite YouTube video is a guy in a mask burning an American flag…backyard skull ceremony…friends indentify him as liberal (http://punditpress.blogspot.com/2011/01/friend-of-loughner-confirms-he-is.html)
This is hardly a Tea Party type dude.
I thought it was in poor taste to go down the road of politicizing a shooting rampage, but I suppose that’s a reflection of my naivete.
I don’t remember the same level of journalistic political investigation during the Fort Hood shootings and I doubt I have to get into explanations for why.
Anyway, we all have a bias, but the leftward bent is starting to be a bit much. Especially when it comes to horrible incidents like this shooting.
Best,
Jeff
P.S- The technical difficulties are pretty amateur hour for a national show. I worked on a local cable talk show in Regina that was mostly staffed with volunteers and we could make a show run smoother.
Einstein Quotes vs. The Modern Leftist Mind
Even though copious amounts of evidence have shown that there is absolutely no connection between the Tucson shooter and conservatives or the Tea Party or Sarah Palin or talk radio, masochistic leftists keep on trying to make them. It’s truly pathetic.
Whenever you read the misguided screeds of these loathsome trolls, remember these prescient quotations from Albert Einstein:
- Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
- A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be. Information is not knowledge.
- Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Or, to paraphrase something Charles Krauthammer recently said: “The origins of Loughnerâs delusions are clear: mental illness. What are the origins of the Leftist delusions?”
Arizona Democrat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot in Tucson
Tragic news out of Tucson.
Question: How long will it take before the MSM starts speculating that the murderer was a Tea Party member, Republican, white conservative, and/or NRA member?
Update: Early news reports did state that Ms. Giffords was killed and so that’s what I reported. The headline has now been corrected but I wanted to acknowledge my mistake.
The Failing Ponzi Scheme of Europe
Before I get onto the actual subject at hand, I’d like to take a moment to personally thank Kate for the great honour of blogging on SDA in 2011. Like many of you, I imagine, I was drawn to this site several years ago as a refuge from the liberal-MSM and a temporary sanctuary of sanity. Living here on Canada’s Left Coast, as I do, throughout much of my life I was told that my fiscal conservative principles and dismissiveness of political correctness made me: selfish, ignorant, narrow minded, unenlightened, and a host of other pejoratives. Fast forward to 2011 though . . . like two freight trains heading toward each other, the Great Lies of “Progressives” are starting to meet head on with Undeniable Economic Facts. As the infamous Jeremiah Wright once said, “the chickens are comin’ home to roost!”
Earlier this week, American radio talkshow host, Dennis Prager, spent 2 straight hours focused entirely on this stunning article about the increasing collapse of the social welfare state in Europe. There are several great quotes within, including this one:
âBy now, only a few people refuse to understand that youth protests arenât a protest against the university reform, but against a general situation in which the older generations have eaten the future of the younger ones.â — Giuliano Amato, economist and former Italian prime minister
The never ending cycle of borrowing from the future to pay for unaffordable luxuries today has worked well in Europe for many decades. Quite frankly, any political party that dared put a permanent halt to it would have been thrown out of office in no time for the liberal media and public sector unions would have had no problem convincing a majority of voters that More-More-More didn’t have to Stop-Stop-Stop anytime soon.
This coming decade may finally signal European society finally hitting rock bottom, not all too dissimilar from an addict reaching the same point. But they’re not there yet and it’s going to get awfully messy before it gets better. Until then, watch both the unemployment and the debt throughout Europe continue to soar.