“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” Obama to Romney 10/2012
— Teri Peters (@hipEchik) September 6, 2013
Says the guy who can’t stop comparing a Syrian war with WWII.
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Some historic events are familiar to people all around the world, and will be remembered forever, but other events are historic only locally, and only for a few years. Tonight, courtesy of the NFB’s Vignette Series, we get an outsider’s view of that latter kind of history: Filmed in Greenstreet, Saskatchewan, here’s Larry Bauman’s short documentary The Move.
The comments thread is open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
Australia’s Public Broadcaster is as Corrupt as Canada’s Public Broadcaster
Looks like conservative Aussies face pretty much the same conundrum as conservative Canadians: Their tax dollars fund a heavily biased broadcaster that supports all views except theirs.
It is galling that taxes paid by all Australians go towards funding that Lefty/Green echo-chamber, which caters for a small urban elite, staffed with inner-city Ultimo types who couldn’t run a chook raffle. Privately owned media organisations stand or fall on their output, witness the enduring success of News Corp, and the rapid decline of Fairfax, as it too panders to the latte-sipping, sandal-wearing intelligentsia, and in the process ignores the vast majority of Australians. The Age astonishingly endorses Labor for the election tomorrow – as one commentator pointed out, after asylum disasters, NBN, massive debt, waste, dysfunctional leadership, knifings, in-fighting, Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper, what would it take for them not to endorse Labor?
But the ABC is paid for by all of us, and it should be representative of the views of all Australians, not just a mouthpiece for the Left. It is probable that a Coalition government will be elected tomorrow, sweeping away six years of Labor incompetence. Yet you wouldn’t believe it listening to the ABC this morning, with the majority of stories either puff pieces for Rudd and Labor, or criticism of the Coalition and Abbott. Maybe they realise that the clock is ticking, time is running out, so they have to make the most of it, like the last gasp of the Roman Empire.
Related: More on Australia’s upcoming election here and here (videos).
Operation Free al-Qaeda
Robert Spencer at FrontPageMag:
Obama doesn’t even have any real allies inside Syria…The major rebel groups are all allied with al-Qaeda. John Kerry insists they’re “secular” and John McCain assures us they’re “moderates.” None of these groups, however, have shown any sign of being either.
Vladimir Putin:
“They lie beautifully, of course. I saw debates in Congress. A congressman asks Mr Kerry: ‘Is al Qaeda there?’ He says: ‘No, I am telling you responsibly that it is not.’ Al Qaeda units are the main military echelon, and they know this. It was unpleasant and surprising for me – we talk to them, we proceed from the assumption that they are decent people. But he is lying and knows he is lying. It’s sad.”
Related: “Al-Qaeda Vows to Slaughter Christians After U.S. ‘Liberates’ Syria”.
Not dead, just buried
The lede in a Canadian Press story published today reveals that “dozens of suspects accused of corruption at Quebec’s municipal and provincial levels” donated millions of dollars to various federal parties between 1993 and 2011.
Now that you’ve read that, what’s the first thing you want to know?
That’s right. But you won’t find the information until the 21st paragraph, where it’s delivered as a perfunctory, almost obligatory aside.
So, any guesses as to which party was on the receiving end?
Good guess.
Was Mitt Romney Right About Everything?
Some people definitely think so:
“I think about the campaign every single day, and what a shame it is who we have in the White House,” said Spencer Zwick, who worked as Romney’s finance director and is a close friend to his family. “I look at things happening and I say, you know what? Mitt was actually right when he talked about Russia, and he was actually right when he talked about how hard it was going to be to implement Obamacare, and he was actually right when he talked about the economy. I think there are a lot of everyday Americans who are now feeling the effects of what [Romney] said was going to happen, unfortunately.”
The Children Are Our Future
Spare a few minutes for this small but instructive drama in which a self-described “bottle blonde bacon-eating vegan,” one famed for railing against “privileged people,” “conservatives” and “heteropatriarchal crap” – and for complaining about the burden of student debt – is shocked to discover that her degrees in “social justice and peace studies” and of course “gender studies” are not entirely useful in the job market.
BC’s Daily Physical Activity Requirement
A parent in Coquitlam, BC received this letter from his child’s School Board. The Daily Physical Requirement is explained here. While exercise is a good thing, one wonders if the education bureaucrats should be intruding into a family’s life outside of school hours? It’s unclear what would happen if a parent refused to fill out the form.
h/t ‘Pongo’
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Tonight, Texas-born songwriter and performer Mac Davis sings a song that sounds smug, but is really a good-natured, self-deprecating wink – as evidenced by the audience singalong: From 1980, here’s the “countrypolitan” hit It’s Hard To Be Humble.
h/t Ed Minchau
The comments thread is open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
Cold, Wet Hands
@garybtvnews I hope @Premier_Redford will come to my town hall on Sept 5: 1800 residents had their doors broken down. http://t.co/dfD109L9kX
— Danielle Smith (@ElectDanielle) September 3, 2013
For Your Listening Pleasure…
or pain…depending on how much you’ve had to drink, it’s the latest episode of my humble little podcast.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Sparky Cars
The German daily “Die Welt” reported in its Tuesday edition Siemens was giving up on its production of public charging points for e-cars. […]
Despite a government plan to see one million registered electric cars on German roads by 2020, consumers haven’t particularly been mad about such vehicles. Last year for instance, only 4,157 e-cars were newly registered in Germany, bringing the total to 7,112.
h/t Maz2
O, Sweet Saint Of San Andreas
Hear my prayer. (h/t Iowa Jim)
We Are All Bush Now
Remember – “All Barack Obama statements come with an expiration date. All of them.”
“First of all, I didn’t set a red line,” said
Obama.
For old times’ sake.
(Related).
What We Really Need Is Democracy
Independent: Libya has plunged unnoticed into its worst political and economic crisis since the defeat of Gaddafi
A little under two years ago, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, urged British businessmen to begin “packing their suitcases” and to fly to Libya to share in the reconstruction of the country and exploit an anticipated boom in natural resources.
Yet now Libya has almost entirely stopped producing oil as the government loses control of much of the country to militia fighters.
Mutinying security men have taken over oil ports on the Mediterranean and are seeking to sell crude oil on the black market. Ali Zeidan, Libya’s Prime Minister, has threatened to “bomb from the air and the sea” any oil tanker trying to pick up the illicit oil from the oil terminal guards, who are mostly former rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi and have been on strike over low pay and alleged government corruption since July.
“Unnoticed”. Well, that’s one word for it.
Not A Muslim
NOOoonononono… “My Administration is Proud to be Your Partner”, Obama Tells Muslim Brotherhood Pro-Hamas Group
h/t Ken (Kulak)
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors
“The debt repayment problems at Chinese solar companies are shocking investors who can now only wait to see how the government will handle them,” said Wu Yun, a Shanghai-based analyst at Evergrowing Bank Co. “Credit defaults may be concentrated in the second half of 2014.”
h/t Maz2
Operation Empty Chair
Breaking News: A Monster is Dead
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Fire! There’s a fire! Quick, somebody call the…
Never mind. That oughta take care of it.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.