Oh, Shiny Pony!

Shiny Pony 39 Comments

A Liberal MP was secretly recorded saying that he thought party leader Justin Trudeau had a “bozo eruption” when he declared that anti-abortion candidates won’t be allowed to run for the Liberals.
John McKay, a Toronto MP who opposes abortion, thought he was having a private conversation at an event Sunday when he expressed his frustration with Trudeau’s public abortion stance.
“I’ve had umpteen conversations with so many people about this. It’s driving me crazy,” he is heard saying in the audio recording obtained by CTV News.

Awkward.
h/t Mike W.

But Glenn Beck Is The Crazy One

Children R Our Future 16 Comments

Cass Sunstein;

Suppose that an authoritarian government decides to embark on a program of curricular reform, with the explicit goal of indoctrinating the nation’s high school students. Suppose that it wants to change the curriculum to teach students that their government is good and trustworthy, that their system is democratic and committed to the rule of law, and that free markets are a big problem.
Will such a government succeed? Or will high school students simply roll their eyes?
Questions of this kind have long been debated, but without the benefit of reliable evidence. New research, from Davide Cantoni of the University of Munich and several co-authors, shows that recent curricular reforms in China, explicitly designed to transform students’ political views, have mostly worked. The findings offer remarkable evidence about the potential influence of the high school curriculum on what students end up thinking — and they give us some important insights into contemporary China as well.

“Organic” Is The Latin Word For “Grown In Pig Shit”

Moonbats 60 Comments

“Notice it doesn’t say 100% Canadian beef?”

My motivation to write this came from a recent trip away with friends. Although most of them know of my stance towards A & W, we ended up stopping there for burgers to bring home for one of the husbands. The silence regarding my choice to eat a cookie from my purse instead of a burger made me reflect on how much the general population understands, or even cares about the ‘fear marketing’ that is going on around us at an increasing rate every day.

h/t Al in Cranbrook

Le Pen Is Mightier Than Le Media

Uncategorized 21 Comments

Telegraph;

France’s far-Right Front National was on course for an historic victory in European elections on Sunday night, coming top in a national election for the first time in its 42-year history in a score it said represented a “massive rejection” of the EU.

I’m guessing that “far right” means in France what it means pretty much everywhere else they sell newspapers.

Mr Valls, the Socialist prime minister, described the result as a “very grave moment for France and Europe”.

Yes, so it would seem.

Renegade Regulator

CSA 6 Comments

Inside the Canadian Standards Association…

…there’s a division called the Notices Group. This division is supposed to “help ensure that your products continue to meet the latest standards requirements.” In theory, the Notices Group sends updates to certified manufacturers to advise of changes to various product safety standards. There is no prescribed regularity to such notices, they’re sent at CSA’s pleasure. And that’s where the trouble starts.
Updates from the Notices Group usually require retesting of an already tested product. Upon receipt of Notices Group updates, quoting CSA documentation, “in most cases, re-submittal of samples and / or documentation for testing and / or evaluation by a CSA Group certifier is required.” And, of course, the CSA runs a lucrative product testing facility. So, in sum, the CSA has the power to mandate retesting of certified products whenever it suits them, and then they charge the manufacturers for all that mandated retesting. Its like printing money, and its a pretty big incentive to issue plenty of updates.
This isn’t just a potential problem. According to whistleblowers, whenever CSA has a slow quarter the Notices Group starts churning out new updates. Said one insider, the “updates were for revenue only, a shakedown.” “There were updates without amendments that applied to product lines, [the CSA] charged companies anyway, [and this was done] regularly.” The substance of such updates is usually cosmetic, just enough to justify the new billings. “The Notices Group would up the standard arbitrarily in order to bill for an update. This is called ‘revving the report’.”

This Is Not Your Grandma’s Humane Society

Animal Rights Extremism Freespeechers 7 Comments

One man’s basketball team is another man’s Basset Hound;

I’m not bothered that people say idiotic things; I’m bothered that individuals are losing their jobs or having something they own taken away from them because their opinion rubs against the grain. In my view, Sterling is a jerk, but being a jerk isn’t a felony, nor is it a crime that demands his property be confiscated. As dog fanciers and purebred dogs owners, we should be very concerned about these reactions. We above all people should defend the rights of our fellow citizens to be stupid, ignorant, or hold viewpoints at odds with society because we very well could be targeted next.
Wait. We already are.

O, Sweet Saint Of San Andreas

Roadkill 20 Comments

Hear my prayer.

One of the worst droughts in California’s history has devastated more than a half-million acres of the most fertile farmland in America. In communities like Sacramento, “water police” go from door to door to enforce conservation measures. There’s even a mobile “app” to report neighbors to city authorities so they can be fined for wasting water.
With the Sierra snowpack at 4% of normal as of May 20, Californians will desperately need what little water remains behind its dams this summer. Authorities have warned some towns like Folsom–home of Folsom Lake–to expect daily rationing of 50 gallons per person, a 60% cut from average household usage.
Yet last month the Bureau of Reclamation drained Folsom and other reservoirs on the American and Stanislaus rivers of more than 70,000 acre feet of water–enough to meet the annual needs of a city of half a million people–for the comfort and convenience of fish.

h/t Don

We is smarter up here

Uncategorized 33 Comments

From an article in Macleans by Jonathan Gatehouse titled America dumbs down:

The American public’s bias against established science doesn’t stop where the Bible leaves off, however….When it comes to global warming, only 33 per cent expressed a high degree of confidence that it is ‘man made,’ something the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has declared is all but certain.

Macleans: Dumbing up Canadian medical/dental offices since 1911.

Reader Tips

Reader Tips 39 Comments

A British wag once dismissed country music as nothing more than “gilted spouses complaining whilst drunk.” There’s some truth to that, but country lyrics often address real-world relationship issues in ways that other forms of music don’t. Here’s a good example: The star-studded Notorious Cherry Bombs‘ marriage-themed complaint It’s Hard to Kiss the Lips At Night That Chew Your…
There are five more words in the title.
The comments thread is open, as always, for your Reader Tips.

“Everything is broken”

It's Probably Nothing 25 Comments

For a bunch of us, especially those who had followed security and the warrantless wiretapping cases, the revelations weren’t big surprises. We didn’t know the specifics, but people who keep an eye on software knew computer technology was sick and broken. We’ve known for years that those who want to take advantage of that fact tend to circle like buzzards. The NSA wasn’t, and isn’t, the great predator of the internet, it’s just the biggest scavenger around. It isn’t doing so well because they are all powerful math wizards of doom.
The NSA is doing so well because software is bullshit.

Via Instapundit.

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation