I have to say when Sarah Palin was first picked as VP candidate I was pleasantly surprised, but didn’t think it would have much impact. I appreciated her frontier conservatism but historically VPs have been almost entirely irrelevant to election campaigns.
But who could have guessed that we’d witness such a media meltdown? The more they churn out unhinged rants like this:

Like many people, I thought, “Damn, a hyperconservative, f***able, Type A, antiabortion, Christian Stepford wife in a ‘sexy librarian’ costume — as a vice president? That’s a brilliant stroke of horrifyingly cynical pandering to the Christian right. Karl Rove must be behind it.”

the more enjoyable it is to see it generating results like this:

Sarah – Just Plain Popular
A solid majority of voters (54 percent) say they have a favorable opinion of Palin, while 27 percent assign unfavorable ratings. This gives the 44-year-old GOP vice presidential nominee the best ratio of favorable to unfavorable responses (2.0:1) of any of the four candidates tested in the survey.

Several liberal and “progressive” bloggers are gleefully pointing out the supposed hypocrisy that Sarah Palin represents because she believes in abstinence as a means to battle teen pregnancy.

“It didn’t work for her daughter, did it?”, they point out.

I won’t jump on the fact that they’re using a single point of reference to belittle a society-wide education plan, that’s neither here nor there. What I will question them on is if they believe that education is the be-all, end-all to combat teen pregnancy?

I ask, because on Page 25, (pdf, 6.7M, 145pp) of the State of Alaska, Department of Education & Early Development, Content and Performance Standards for Alaska Students (Revised Mar 2006) it says this under Skills for a Healthy Life:

7) understand the physical and behavioral characteristics of human sexual
development and maturity; and
8) understand the ongoing life changes throughout the life span and healthful
responses to these changes.

I’m guessing that abstinence isn’t the only piece of the system that failed in the case of Bristol Palin, eh?

Update: Damian is on the education theme too.

Cheers,
lance

“I’m busy. Schedule is full. Sorry, Mr Harper, I’ve no time. See, Jack and Gilles are busy too.
Oh, wait. You aren’t serious about that election thing are you? Dat is unfair! I have the power! I’ve been saying it all year.
What? Gilles and Jack made it, but they said they weren’t going to be available!
How about Monday? I really want to make this government work.”
As Wells said earlier, “fiddles”.
Dion waited for Duceppe to take the lead and decline the invitation . . . then jumped aboard that train, declining even a phone call. That was the bait.
The NDP’s position is consistent, no help. PM Harper went all in by keeping the GG at home, releasing one new commercial, and having people drop all the right hints to the media. Now, “election” is all anyone is talking about.
Liberals are not happy with The Green Shaft and aren’t ready for an election . . . even though they’ve been saying “fall” all summer.
Game, set, match to the Prime Minister.

There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of finding an internet site somewhere that contradicts what your family doctor is telling you.

Just five of the scores of pumpjacks that have sprouted up between Stoughton and Forget in the last few months.

Self-made millionaire, through wind energy.

(h/t to KS for the photo)
*

From a reader;

Regarding the link in the Catholic Insight posting:
This July, I happen to be in a family restaurant here in Regina, and my daughter (11) handed me this newspaper called “Prairie Dog”. I was going to just toss it…..because it is just an NDP/Union mouthpiece piece of garbage.
But I decided to have a peek (luckily my daughter didn’t). As per the attachments, you can see I was disgusted with the contents (also, this piece of garbage is left out in the open where everyone, including my daughter, or any other minor, can just grab it and read it).

Two of those attachments are here and here. (NSfW)
More on Heritage Canada’s new interest in Catholic Insight’s content;

The 1st two jpegs are the complainants letter to Heritage Canada decrying their slow pace of action on the Catholic Insight file. The second letter again in jpeg format was sent by Scott Shortliffe Director, Periodical Publishing Policy & Programs Department of Canadian Heritage in which he thanks Father de Valk for agreeing to comply with Heritage Canada’s request that Catholic Insight provide copies of each issue of their periodical for “monitoring purposes”.
[…]
So there you have it, in Heritage Canada’s moral universe, pedophiliac wish dreams and Gay Porn are considered a wise cultural investment, while Father de Valk is threatened with having his funding cut off for having the nerve to support traditional values and communicating church doctrine. Nope, no double standard here.

Spanking John Ibbotson at the Globe And Mail;

The Bull from Canada writes: Do you see the irony of these statements, back to back?:
“Sadly, Mr. Obama’s race could also be a factor among these voters.”
“The turnout of both young and African-American voters is traditionally less than their actual percentage of the population. But both groups are powerfully committed to Mr. Obama.”
hmmmmm.
Why didn’t he say, “Sadly, African-Americans are powerfully committed to Mr. Obama.”

Why not, indeed?

Before we all end up freezing to death?

“There will always be skeptics, like President George W. Bush, who simply deny every problem, but the hard evidence is compelling.”

And here’s some of that hard evidence, courtesy of the deniers at the Canadian Wheat Board (June 12)

A cool spring, with temperatures three to five degrees below normal, has also caused concern over crop development, elevating the importance of receiving normal or above-normal heat this summer. Wheat, durum and barley crops are currently one to two weeks behind normal due to the cold weather. “A continuation of cool weather could lead to delayed development and increased risk of frost damage this fall,” Burnett said.

… and there’s no end in sight.

The Canadian Wheat Board issued an updated forecast Thursday that shows the dip in July temperatures has delayed crop development by two to three weeks over last season. […] “We need warmer weather in August to ensure crops can mature before the first fall frost,” said wheat board CEO Ian White.

Not even the hot air from Wascana is having much effect.
Here’s an idea. How about we begin demanding our provincial politicians represent Saskatchewan’s interests in this debate for a change? And I’m not talking about carbon sequestration or clean coal technology. Saskatchewan could use a few more frost free growing days each season. If they really believe that rising C02 results in “greenhouse warming”, then that’s to our net benefit. The elected representatives in this province need to sit down and ask themselves just who the Hell it is they think they’re working for?
From the comments – Global warming detours around BC fruit growers. I blame Gordon Campbell.

The CBC – 3 times more stressful than serving in Afghanistan;

According to a 2005 “wellness” survey of 4,630 CBC staff — which has only now been made public, thanks to an Access to Information request — 44% of CBC staff display symptoms of high-level psychological distress. And in 9 cases out of 10, that distress was reported as work-related.

I probably shouldn’t have posted about this. Keith Boag will be putting in for danger pay.
h/t

It is a question that aches today in the heart of every liberal.

“… beating out Montreal’s Le Devoir.”

The victims mother and her family;

…have asked David Carbland, the president of Saskatchewan Cutlery Retailers, to speak on their behalf as she grieves the loss of her son.
Carbland questioned whether implement profiling played a part in the encounter.
“Why does it seem to be people heading to the dinner table that seem to fall prey to this extra force against us?” he asked.
“Is there a better way that could have handled a man with a knife in his hand?”

…of Toronto’s desperate need for more shade;

The shooting deaths of three men early Sunday brought the number of murders in Toronto last week to six, the same week Statistics Canada released data saying the city was the safest in the country.

And let slip the Dawg of Bore.
h/t

Thanks to the efforts of left-wing Western elites, Third World economies are avoiding transformation through the economic miracle known as “sustainable development”;

A leaflet from the charity Practical Action recently solicited donations for some “real cutting-edge technology” to give to African farmers: namely, a plough.
Ploughs might cut the earth, but they haven’t been “cutting-edge technology” for more than 400 years. Nor have water pumps, operated by pulling on a rope or laboriously treading on a wooden platform, which are being pushed onto communities from Ghana to India by carbon-offsetting charities like Climate Care, as replacements for diesel-powered machinery. Some of the treadle pumps are even disguised as roundabouts to exploit child labour.
[…]
Eco-activists managed to slash €4bn worth of EU aid to Third World industries in 2007 alone. They have sabotaged World Bank funding for infrastructure projects, like a hydro-electric dam in Gujarat province, India, which would have provided power for 5,000 villages, industries and sewage-treatment works, irrigation for crops and clean water for 35m people – all because, as one activist said, it would “change the path of the river, kill little creatures along its banks and uproot tribal people”

A written statement released to the White House press corps said, “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature President Bush’s Left-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”

This Is Your Petroleum Reserve on “Democrat Envirofascism”.

Any questions?

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”
He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Heh.
h/t Tim Blair