As you may have surmised, it’s been another busy day, beginning with an early morning drive 30 miles on sheer ice. All the semis were pulled over – or in the ditch. On one curve near Vanscoy, Sk several had attempted to navigate a corner only to slide sideways across the oncoming lane and against the ditch on the opposite side of the highway. There must have been nearly a dozen stalled there.
Anyways, the day’s not over yet – I’m waiting for clear to bake on a couple of motorcycle helmets, so a few quick tips and you can add your own in the comments.
Oh, Scotty what have you done?
Harper isn’t playing Shapiro’s game. Good for him. Stephen Taylor has a couple of good posts up on the issue.
Soft Europe, soft Canada.
I’m sure there are others waiting in my mail bin – haven’t had time to check.

I’ll be holed up in a paint booth much of the day, so you can use this thread for your reader tips. Back later.

Another busy day (my morning started at 4:45 am) – so a collection of items sent in the past few days. My apologies for not using more – things are hectic around here, and I don’t have time to check all the links sent to me, much less use them all!
Via Plattytalk, the The Fallen Four website is helping raise funds for a memorial to Constables Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston, and Brock Myrol.
China E-Lobby wants the Olympics out of Beijing.
Jonathon Strong makes a case for Canada’s participation in missile defense.
A video clip of an Al-Jazeera interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. (transcript portion in the extended entry)

Continue reading →

While I’ve got a few great items waiting to be worked up, I also have a busy morning and some very rotten highways facing me, so reader tips it is for now.
Evidence of pre-global warming hurricane activity has been found.
Ontario Liberal candidate, Ben Chin – dragged hiself up by his bootstraps, he did…
A great observation on Canadian health care;

In an interesting parallel with socialist arguments against school vouchers in America, socialist defenders of “free” health care in Canada warn that allowing private clinics will “drain the public system of doctors and nurses.” This is tantamount to an admission that doctors, nurses, and patients are unhappy with the current system, though of course defenders of the status quo don’t recognize that is what they are saying.

Indeed.
David G Mullan writes that President John Harker of Cape Breton University has cancelled a debate between himself and Masud Choudhury concerning the Danish cartoon controversy originally scheduled for 9 March.. Mullan plans to show up anyway.
Add your own in the comments.

Too much time on their hands? Or too much spare ammunition? You be the judge.
William J. Bennett and Alan Dershowitz agree on “A Failure Of The Press”.
Tim Denton mounts a defense of blogging. (Scroll up for the original post).
I’ve been kind of busy lately – so this will have to do. Add your own in the comments.

(((8~{>
Along the same theme…
When you hear a defense lawyer say;

“If one were to compile a list of items to take up to commit affray, I would have thought a didgeridoo would come somewhere near the bottom.”

…you just know it was a great party.
On a more serious note – the US has “requested and received a refund on the American aid held in escrow for the Palestinian Authority.” Good for them.
The photos from the multi-car crash in Quebec are chilling. It’s a miracle more people weren’t killed. via Bourque.
This is cool – CBC is liveblogging Olympic mens hockey this morning – currently Switzerland leads Canada 1-0
Add your own in the comments.

Very cool photos of two KC-130 Hercules aircraft. Video, too.
Not so cool photos – more evidence of the Chinese nuke buildup.
Just a note to the handful of readers who may not have already noticed – be prepared for any and all new Conservative initiatives to be described in the media with the perjorative “U.S.-style”. It’s liberal-left code for “Stephen Busharper is turning Canada into Amerikkka”.
James Gordon, CanWest News Service provides this morning’s example;

Stockwell Day is considering a U.S.-style armed border patrol to stop “bad guys” getting into Canada.

Leave aside the use of snickering scare quotes around “bad guys” for a moment – what does this first sentence suggest? That Day is consulting with American Homeland Security? Sending our border guards to training camps in Idaho? After all, many nations employ armed border patrols – indeed, such patrols have existed in Canada in the past. So, let’s see what Mr. Gordon means by “US-style”;

The newly appointed Public Safety Minister has solicited proposals to bring an armed presence to the border.

Soliciting proposals? That’s “US-style”? And here I thought we were getting Blackhawk helicopters..
For those who were tearing your hair and pounding the keys after the cabinet appointments – here’s a reminder that most Canadians have tuned out the media echo chamber. In fact, pull 20 Canadians off the street and ask them to name a cabinet minister – and I’ll bet 19 couldn’t.
Black Rod has more, all of it worth your time.
Use the comments for your own.

A case study in effortless lying.
Cartoons put troops at risk.
Another take by Damian Brooks. (Even if he is wrong about Emerson)
Real athletes are black.
“When liberal, multicultural, Saddam-loving, fascist collaborating, terrorist apologizing France pulls no punches….”
U.S. Unit Praised for Tactics Against Iraqi Fighters, Treatment of Detainees.
Add your own in the comments.

I’m up to my ears in deadline work today. As if that isn’t enough, I actually received an email from some blogger I’ve never heard of, issuing a “challenge” for me to criticize some decision Harper is supposed to have made.
I suggest said blogger check Technorati, and find out how many people out there routinely refer to; disagree with; misquote; misrepresent; misattribute; misappropriate; and just plain rant about me, my blog and my opinions – before presuming that any such “challenge” is likely to generate a response.
I don’t care if you think it’s important. There aren’t enough hours in a day. I’m not making an exception for you.
Reader tips in the comments, and open thread.
‘Till later.

Sandmonkey needs a digital camera, to get you the pictures the western mainstream media would rather you not see.
Awaiting hate crimes charges at the Western Standard, warns Dr. Mohamed “Anyone over the age of 18 in Israel is a valid target” Elmasry. (You can listen live to an interview with publisher Ezra Levant on John Gormley Live later this morning.)
If you haven’t seen the cartoons yet, click on the links in this directory.
Saskatchewan managed to lose jobs in 2005, the middle of a potash boom, uranium boom and oil boom. Calvert blames the business community that pays the highest corporate taxes in North America.
From the comments, news of a new bumper sticker;

“I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy.”

The same media outlets playing two year old film of British soldiers roughing up Iraqi troublemakers, didn’t bother showing up for the results of the Iraq elections. Just in case you thought their priorities had changed.
Speaking of the film – has the person narrating the video been identified and verified as having occured at time of filming?
Add your own in the comments.

I have a busy weekend, so don’t expect too much by way of new posts. A few quick reader tips, and you can drop your own in the comments.
While the media arm of the Liberal party worked itself into a lather over issues that would have been of only passing interest and nodding approval for a Paul Martin government, Canadians tuned them out post election. A National Post poll shows pretty respectable approval ratings;

The survey’s findings suggest Mr. Harper’s first week in power might not have been as bad as some of the negative headlines made it out to be, said Darrell Bricker, president of the polling firm.

54% approval. Which means people are weary of politics after a grueling election and not paying attention, or they’re consciously tuning out the over the top media hysteria for what it is. I suspect it’s a combination of both.
I mentioned to someone last evening at the SaskParty warm up that there was something missing in last week’s coverage – Stephen Harper looking like a deer in the headlights. That’s good. Instead of getting sucked into putting out brushfires, he’s letting them burn out on their own. Let them froth and fret and chase down attention-seeking backbenchers. (Note to Garth “so indignant about floorcrossing I’m thinking of crossing the floor” Turner – you look bad. Media hound bad. You need to look in a mirror and figure out whether this is about principle – or just about you. And that’s coming from someone who has been cutting you a lot of slack.)
Update – Turner seems to have come to terms with himself, in a post on his blog that finally makes some sense.
Now, on to other stuff:
Firetruck set sold separately
Bill Greenwood in the Red Deer Advocate, Muslim extremists lack perspective (for which there is no direct link, so I’ve copied his piece in the extended entry.)

Continue reading →

Bloggers: an army of irregulars. Advice for the BBC – from a BBC journalist.
Donato is now writing cartoons.
WSJ Online;

National Academy of Sciences said it had agreed to a request from Congress to assess how well researchers understand the history of temperatures on earth.
The study by the academy, an independent advisory body based in Washington, will focus on the “hockey stick,” a chart of past temperatures that critics say is inaccurate. The graph gets its name because of the sudden, blade-like rise of recent temperatures compared with past epochs.

“It�ll probably show up as an episode of the Sopranos next year”. By the way – as the latest media reports allege Gretzky was taped months ago asking how to keep Janet’s name out of the investigation – why did she bet on the Superbowl?
(Speaking of Janet Gretzky… listening to phone-ins on a variety of talk and sports shows over the past two days, the poor woman was demoted in the space of a few hours from “Wayne Gretzky’s wife” to “Janet Jones Gretzky” to “Janet Jones” to “that American woman he married” …)
Add your own in the comments.

This would help us meet our Kyoto targets!;

Hey, it�s just one province. You have nine more, plus three territories. You can keep the ones named after a dog (Labrador) and an SUV (Yukon) and all the rest. We just want the one with those nasty, dirty tar sands. We�ll practically be doing you a favor.

Yup, girly man.
Finally someone corners the Danish Islamic scholar who “sexed” up the cartoon controversy with fakes. More on the Rent-A-Riot business in the Muslim world at Powerline.
Irony, thy name is education. A bill promoting intellectual diversity on college campuses has passed the South Dakota House of Representatives.
Monte Solberg is shutting down his blog to – get this – work on his Citizenship and Immigration portfolio. And they said they’d be different than the Liberals. Well, the Liberals didn’t blog as cabinet ministers, and now Solberg isn’t blogging as a cabinet minister, I feel so betrayed.
Add your own in the comments.

Bread is now $50,000 a loaf in Zimbabwe.
David Emerson: “Did earn moves.” Heh.
He also has a few words for the Liberal Party.
Conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham is blogging from Iraq.
Anchorlink goes back to a few pre-cabinet announcement predictions in both old and new media. Pretty grim percentages.
More thoughts here. Pretty reasoned ones, too, I’d say.
Add yours in the comments.

Damian Brooks; “They take a scale mock up of the helicopter, with seats and consoles and hatches and all, drop it into a pool, roll it over underwater, and teach you to get out before you drown.”
Andy McCarthy, on lesser known facts of the Bush “spy” scandal;

Of course, if a Republican President — acting during a shooting-war while American forces are in harm’s way against a foreign enemy which has killed nearly 3000 Americans in a domestic attack and constantly announces that it is planning even more devastating strikes — were to ignore restrictions in a wiretap statute in order to set up an early warning system to prevent domestic attacks, the legal analysis would be different, and such blatantly illegal domestic spying would obviously be grounds for impeachment … if not execution.

.
Oh, did I say Bush? Sorry – meant to say Clinton.
From the comments – a simple way to show support for the Danes – a petition is here.

Start by clicking on “kontakt os” (contact us) in the left side of the screen. Then, in the following screen, you’ll see a map and some phonenumbers. beneath them it says “Skriv til os” (write us) click it, and you’ll be asked for (from top to bottom) “Dit navn” (your name), “telefon nr.” (telephone number, which you dont have to write), next one you’ll recognise, “Tr�ffes bedst” (can be contacted between), “vedr.” (topic) and finally “indhold” (here you can write them). Please dont embarrass the west by writing racist remarks and such. Give them something to think about instead.

Comments are open for others.

McGehee on the “Academy” Brokeback boycott;

Why can�t the gay community learn to be tolerant of people who are different from them?

David Warren feels a Blogue Spring. (He is also known for predicting a Liberal majority.)
On January 31, a bill was narrowly defeated in the UK;

[…] with just 283 votes against 282 � New Labour�s Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, intended to prohibit speech or artistic expressions deemed insulting by religious communities. This was a narrow yet historic victory for freedom of expression, as well as a victory for Parliament against a despotic-minded Government. Liberal-Democratic spokesman Evan Harris commented: �The Government just failed to understand that they can�t take liberties with freedom of expression.�

Sean McCormick on the difference between Islam and Christianity.
Ouch;

” It is difficult to turn a page of The Great War for Civilisation without encountering some basic error. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not, as Fisk has it, in Jerusalem.”

83 year old handguns issued to our military. Par for the course.
Comments are open for others!

Don Martin thinks he knows who Harper will put in cabinet. There’s a project for some enterprising blogger – gather together all the media predictions to see how close they came after the dust settles. (I think Saskatchewan MP Gerry Ritz as Ag Minister is wishful thinking. Tory Ag Critic Diane Finley from Ontario is the more likely prospect.) Here’s a more general list, at CBC.
And another at H&W.
Google takes a big hit.
“Three words: Hide Your Renaults.”
Greg Staples has a new url – http://politicalstaples.com – Update accordingly!
Via Canadian Sentinel;

Iran’s missiles are now ready to strike Western targets, and as soon as the instructions arrive from Ali Khamenei, we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations.”These attacks will come against the US and the UK. In fact, they will target the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel because as Abbasi has said these nations “are all the children of the same mother” meaning the United Kingdom.

Add your own in the comments.

It didn’t take long for Michaelle Jean to pick up where Queen Adrienne left off.
When punditry were speculating post election that Harper would wait several months before doing anything substantive in government,it was a sign that they don’t know very much about Harper. Or Albertans. Or Western Canadian conservatives, for that matter.
(Which should come as no surprise – I understand that over the weekend Jane Taber inadvertantly revealed on National TV she hadn’t actually read the Conservative Party platform. Journalism. In Canada.).
Damian Brooks offers good advice on the MCpl Franklin VC medal debate.
My thoughts on this orgy of Hollywood self congratulation? – if you want to know how culturally significant Brokeback is, try counting the number of cowboys in the theatre seats.
Fraud charges are laid in the DND computer billing scam.
Iran announces the end of diplomacy over their nuclear weapons program. Cool. Let’s just get this one over with.
Drop your own in the comments.

(link fixed) Usurping the left. My entry: Wheezy McFascistInstitute
Unsubsidized biofuels – a one day seminar hosted by the Frontier Center for Public Policy Info here.
Black Rod; “We thought we had seen the last of the Me-Me-Me School of Politics with the passing of Glen Murray. How wrong we were.”
The Islamic Congress of Canada’s Mohammed Elmasry is unhappy with Harper’s stance on the Palestinian elections. It’s a start!
The further left a province leans, the more spoiled ballots they turn in.
Requiem for a retiring Saskatchewan politician;

Good Luck Joanne, have fun with the four hours after business hours dealing with the paper work in this province. Also, better make it a store-front, not a home business, or you won’t qualify for your “lowest utilities” rebate. Oh, and don’t shop around for lowest prices for natural gas, because the Province won’t give you a provincial rebate on energy costs unless you do business with the Crown Corp.

Leave your own in the comments, or send a trackback.

Truth is stranger than ..oh nevermind. It’s Michael Jackson;

Pop star Michael Jackson took a shopping trip to a Bahrain mall Wednesday, covering himself in a black abaya robe traditionally worn by Bahraini women and a veil hiding his face, along with three children _ apparently his _ with their faces covered with dark scarves. […] He was wearing an abaya, a robe with long sleeves, under which his pants, white shirt and men’s shoes could be seen, and his head and face were wrapped in a black veil. He had black gloves on his hands.

Let the Americans do it! Border security in Canada – brought to you by the same people who’ve been running our national defense.
William Norton, Deputy Chairman, London North East Area Conservatives left a kind post-election note in the comments – they have Canadian election analysis up on their blog
Tim Denton is right on the money with this one;

The emergence of Michael Ignatieff is nothing but good; he will put a few new ideas into Liberal heads. By the nature of where he has lived and what he has done, he cannot believe the smug self-satisfied parochial Liberal mindset. He will inevitably bring the cappuccino crowd around to a more realistic appreciation of the world we live in. Let him do his work among the heathen.

The current Liberal mindset is not just damaging to our trade interests – it’s dangerous to our national security.
Scientific evidence that politics is stupid.
Mathematical evidence that we pay too much for it.
Telephone evidence that sometimes they get what they deserve.
Regulating blogs at the Opinionjournal – a new project by the left in America.
Radioequalizer on blogs and talk radio.
A Liberal campaign worker posing as a CBC reporter?
Why Stephen Harper is not Joe Clark. Or as someone called him recently – Joe Where?
And finally, the granddaddy of the Canadian blogosphere weighs in on the election results.
So many more that I wish I could use. Thanks again for all your contributions. Some days I have to weed through over 600 emails, so if you don’t receive a response or see your tip used, that’s why!