Good riddance;

‘Kingsley should have been fired years ago,” says NCC vice president Gerry Nicholls. “He was not a disinterested bureaucrat. Kingsley had an ideological axe to grind and he used his powers to go after groups he didn’t like.’

This column by Colby Cosh “Does America need a Foreign Legion?” might make for compelling argument – if it weren’t undermined by the facts. (link fixed) Update: more factual rebuttal in the comments.
“The AP and E&P have teamed up to perpetuate a lie.”
Senator Joe Lieberman has returned from Iraq;

[L]et there be no doubt: If Iraq descends into full-scale civil war, it will be a tremendous battlefield victory for al-Qaeda and Iran. Iraq is the central front in the global and regional war against Islamic extremism.

Aw, shucks, Jason. 🙂
Use this thread for your news tips and blog posts.

A reader tips thread for the impatient who keep link dumping in other threads.

Another busy day. Things should be back up to speed by tomorrow.
Belinda – “Canada’s top political dog”. Who knew?
Another poll goes horribly wrong.
In the worldwide war on Islamist terrorism, who would have guessed one of our strongest allies would be Ethiopia?
Speaking of Somalia – I have a proposal. The next columnist who refers to the United States of America as “the ultimate rogue state” should be required to spend an unescorted year in Somalia (or the Sudan, or Nigeria or North Korea) before ever being allowed to write again.
Brussels Journal;

Régnier applied for and received the status of an invalid from Wallonia’s generous welfare authorities. He consequently receives a welfare check of over €1,000 a month. His three wives are all unemployed. Hence, they each get €800 in unemployment benefits. On top of this the family receives €4,000 in child allowances. This makes a grand total of more than €7,400 a month ($9,700 or £4,960) – all of it provided by Belgium’s taxpayers. All the money matters in the household are taken care of by Serge. His wives are only interested in children. They have told the press that they each hope to have another baby in 2007.

Merry al-Christmas!
Add yours in the comments.

Travel day for me. Until I’m back, you can use this thread for reader tips.

We Were One: A book review;

It would be easy to pass this book off as just another war story that was written to give us a general idea of what our boys are facing in one of the most dangerous parts of the world as part of the War on Terror. However, O’Donnell gives his readers much more than that, his words make you feel the sweat, exhaustion, fear, and pride that the Marines of Lima company feel as they breach barricaded buildings, avoid snipers, and hunker down for sleep amid the explosions of RPG’s and mortars.

Imagine this headline for a moment…

How an Ex-Aide to President Bush Stashed Classified Documents

Imagine the media storm. Now, iimagine he’d stashed them under a trailer…
Just for the fun of it – Go here and vote Yes! Not because you’re in favour of chaining dogs (which is always a bad, bad idea), but because it’s an animal rights site, and it’s Christmas!
Americans lining up to apply for jobs that Americans won’t do.
I’m not sure, but I think this must be a joke. It has to be.
Lots of good tips this past few days – thankyou, everyone.

A discussion on TIME”s Canadian Newsmaker Of The Year.
Citoyen Dion Debate – a return volley.
Further evidence that Barbara Walters is an idiot. Never mind the question “Where does she find these people?”. Why doesn’t she lose them?
Curiouser and curiouser.
Kofi Annan’s mystery apartment.
Another busy day ahead, so this will be all for awhile.

Bill Ardolino of INDC Journal is preparing for his first tour as an Iraq embed.
Winds of Change has more Iraq roundup, covering news on everything from insurgent broadcasting to internal political developments.
The 40 most obnoxious quotes of 2006.
I have a busy day, so use this thread for reader tips until I get back to regular blogging.

Laura takes the virus analogy and runs with it. And runs and runs and runs…
Interviews with Claudia Rosett on the “latest shenanigans at the United Nations”.
“There was a certain inevitability to Calgary Police Service Constable Shaun Horne getting suspended by the department for his outspoken comments after a Justice of the Peace released a career criminal without so much as a “By your leave” to the officer.”
“An abject failure in governance;

As recently as 1990, grain co-ops dominated the Prairie farm landscape; 80% of all grain grown in the region was handled by four co-ops: United Grain Growers, and the Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan Wheat pools. Fifteen years later, not one of them has survived as a co-op.

Where ever there’s trouble, look for CAIR to arrive on the scene. Or is it the other way round?
Leave yours in the comments.

A “militant middle class” is beginning to arm itself – in Britain.
Shut down the self-serving advocacy groups, and use the resources for real people who legitimately need help, Signs look good for a Disability Savings Plan idea.
In the world of liberalism, all gods are equal.
A reader from Toronto writes;

Subject: Road Stories – The Homefront CFB Edmonton
I have been disappointed in the inept and biased coverage the CBC has been serving up on the war until LAST NIGHT. For the first time Mansbridge, Brian Stuart and company projected a positive, constructive picture of the mission and the men and women involved.
If you mised the CFB Edmonton “Road Story” you should ping your readership and see if anyone taped it. When Canadian soldiers talk about the mission – they are modest, committed and plain spoken. I know of no other example on MSM (broadcast) where ordinary soldiers from western democracies have been permitted to talk about their work so directly.

And good for them. We need more of this – much more.
Add yours in the comments.
And yes, yesterday was my birthday. Thanks for the kind comments and to those who hit the tip jar. As I’m now officially a year older, I decided it was time to change the little portrait on the sidebar. It was getting a bit dated. Hope you like it!

From “pack journalism” to “social orthodoxy” to an “exaggerated tendency toward pessimism”, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist , and Chairman of Dow Jones says “The Media Is in Need of Some Mending”.
As it turns out, Associated Press has been in the fantasy news business for a long time.
Kofi Annan, translated.

Blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Sometimes I just like talking. It sounds good, don’t you agree? Here’s a sack of flour, dirty tragic dying person. Someone will be around to study your plight shortly.

Top 10 things Stephane Dion has done for Kyoto.
And don’t forget to vote in the Weblog Awards!
Add your own in the comments.

This weekend’s most sent item;

“Tony Blair formally declared Britain’s multicultural experiment over yesterday as he told immigrants they had ”a duty” to integrate with the mainstream of society.

The full text of the speech is here
“Five hundred wheelchairs donated anonymously by a veteran, and not a speck of press.
Status Of Women was spending “31 cents in administration and overhead to deliver one program dollar.”
Carleton University, “Our Diversity Is Skin Deep”, Part 2. The second most sent item. (link fixed)
Leave yours in the comments.

Use this thread for your reader tips and other finds. I’ll be back later this evening.

Neil Waugh, Edmonton Sun on the “offer that Ed Stelmach must refuse”;
Why secular society doesn’t get jihad
An international crime story with everything – a bank heist, an anti-war assassin and a punchline
Campaign finance rules? What campaign finance rules?
Comments are open for yours.

A sign that you have too many city officials.
Allah Porkbar! They’re off
“…so much for the legalization of prostitution ‘saves hookers from the not-so-tender mercies of their pimps and other sundry lowlifes’ argument.”
Litvinenko – more trails lead to the KGB. But through Italy?
The Lucky Y-Chromosome Party
Use the comments for yours.

I see the previous one is still drawing tips. Here’s a new thread to bring your new ones to the top. (Feel free to repost)

Until I get up to speed (it’s a work day around here), this will have to do.

Sean is dieting!
The high price of educating girls in Southeast Asia.
Not welcome at the funeral…
Good news for who, John?
Hey, what’s that compass in your nose?
Tom Axworthy comes clean – “Liberalism often doesn’t work .”
Add yours in the comments.

It’s been a long day in the body shop, and more ahead. A quick reader tips post to keep you from cluttering up other comments threads.

Spirited Energy;

Did Premier Gary Doer’s government channel the only money spent on newspaper ads to the co-chairman of his own committee which recommended spending money on the campaign it designed? You know, the one involving Winnipeg Free Press co-owner Bob Silver.

“Honey,” I said, “remember when we talked about moving to Canada?”
“The future of the Middle East, certainly the future of Lebanon may well be decided in the next several days” – John Bolton
Tom DeWeese debates the UN.
Add your own in the comments.

Once again, thanks for the links and tips you send in. As usual, I picked only a handful. Time and space limits what I can use, and I tend not to use items already receiving wide blogosphere and/or MSM attention. (Also, it’s almost impossible to use columns that are behind subscriber walls.)
Kyoto – crunches the numbers;

Meeting Kyoto targets will cost the Canadian economy a third of its output or force Ottawa to spend $20-billion by 2012 to buy international credits, says […]Jayson Myers, chief economist for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

It’s Friday – support the troops by kicking a red!
Feel the love – a Thanksgiving Prayer from the progressive left.
BC Rights For Everyone But White Males Tribunal rules on the Just Ladies Fitness complaint. I won’t spoil the surprise.
As usual, use the comments for others, or links to your own blog posts.