Last week was another somewhat depressing chapter in a now long saga of living where I was born. I returned to the farm from leading a European military history tour, and experienced the following
Ezra Levant Interviews Ann Coulter
While watching this video, think about the recent Vancouver riots. Are there any commonalities in the mob think that Coulter & Levant discuss?
h/t Derek
Reader Tips
Fans of photography will find this short documentary very interesting. Scott Schumann is a photographer & blogger from New York City. His blog, The Sartorialist, focuses on how people present themselves out in public. As an avid photographer myself, I wish I had the nerve to go up to people like he does but usually am not so forward.
If you’re seen any spectacular photos of late, or otherwise just have some colourful thoughts, feel free to share them in the comments!
Jack Layton’s Next Star Candidate
He better hurry up though, or the David Suzuki Foundation is sure to hire her.
Now is the Time at SDA When We Juxtapose: Sturmovik Redux?
Canada might well have used something like this in Afstan:
Air Tractor is planning to showcase the armed version of its crop duster at this week’s Paris air show and possibly announce more orders, says Lee Jackson, a project engineer on the program.
The company has already secured its first order for the 802U…
The “U” designation denotes the military version, including hard points for weapons and sensors. It can carry 8,000 lb. of payload, including rail-launched and ejected weapons as well as sensors…
Mark Steyn on Free Speech
In defense of Andrew Bolt, Mark Steyn shares a few thoughts (and a song) :
h/t Mark & Lookout
Montana or Ottawa?
Bing.com states that this is a photo of Prairie Dogs in Montana. Perhaps I need to get new glasses, but it sure looks a whole lot like a glimpse inside the House of Commons … at the Members of the Media Party!
h/t Atlantic Jim
The Purposeful Flooding of America’s Heartland
Some sixty years ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began the process of taming the Missouri by constructing a series of six dams. The stable flow of water allowed for the construction of the concrete and earthen levees that protect more than 10 million people who reside and work within the river’s reach. It allowed millions of acres of floodplain to become useful for farming and development.
But after about thirty years of operation, as the environmentalist movement gained strength throughout the seventies and eighties.
Things turned absurd from there.
“It’s a Very Dangerous Time” “All Asset Prices at Risk”
You know it’s like the movie Animal House when the guy is in the middle of the road as the crowd approaching him is about to stampede and he says “remain calm all is fine.” This has been the ECB, the EU finance ministers, even the head of the finance ministers Juncker actually admitted to lying to the public and the media recently simply because they are willing to do whatever it takes to try and maintain the single currency. I just don’t see how that’s going to be possible. I don’t see how there’s any way out of this. They can’t paper it over, the way out is austerity and the public’s not going to stand for that.
The US has again gotten something of a pass here in the first half of the year as the Fed has been buying about $25 billion worth of treasury securities a week, something that’s going to come to an end, we know that. They have over a trillion dollars to finance in the second half of the year, plus the deficit here in the US which they’ve been funding. The Fed has essentially funded 100% of the US treasury deficit in the first half of this year, and they have funded about 65% of all of the bonds and notes and bills that the treasury has had to sell.
…more HERE
Dr. Suzuki, Your Order Is Ready
Reader Tips
Stop motion video is an art form that might be considered a cousin to time-lapse video. Here’s one example and here’s another. If you’re in the mood for a whole lot more than take a look here.
Your equally intriguing Reader Tips are most welcome, as always, in the comments!
UK Hydraulic Fracturing Report Supports Technology Use
The UK Parliament has recently published a report from its House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee that examined the gas shale resources in the country and the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract the resource. The report is heavy with research and discussion of all the issues involved in developing gas shale resources. Members of the committee even traveled to the United States to meet with political, scientific and industry sources in order to gain the broadest spectrum of opinions on the various critical issues that need to be considered before reaching a conclusion on the environmental issues associated with gas shales.
An assessment of the report by analysts at the government research firm, Washington Analysis, concluded that “this research-intensive report could serve as a barometer for the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) eventual study on the subject.” They go on to point out that the EPA study is still in its “scoping” phase suggesting to the analysts that it will not be completed before 2013, thereby preventing Congress from acting to possibly restrict the use of hydraulic fracturing. While that assessment should be considered good news for the natural gas industry, we would offer several cautions about accepting that view.
h/t Adrian
Some Damn Fine Research
If you have the time, a quality piece by the Mises Institute of Canada.
Hat tip
Souris Flooding
It looks like I picked a good week to head to California, judging by the foot of water I drove through at Minot in early June;
The highest flows ever recorded on the Souris are approaching a city whose defenses are destined to be over run. Can the city hold?
Dikes currently in place, recently improved greatly to combat high flows, are now expected to disappear under the traveling torrent. The amount of water flowing with a vengeance down the Souris River Valley is forecast to inundate Minot to a level seven to eight feet higher than the catastrophic and benchmark flood of 1969.
Saddened with that horrific knowledge, officials announced during a late afternoon press conference Monday that very little can be done to stop the powerful onslaught. Massive secondary dikes that were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to save much of the town from the previous high on the Souris this year fall far short of defending against the impending and rapid rise of the Souris.
[…]
Dalrymple, who conversed with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall on Monday, said he received assurances from the Canadians that all that could be done to prevent high flows was done. Additionally, said Dalrymple, the citizens of Estevan are already enduring flooding hardships that may soon be experienced in Minot as well.
[…]
The flows currently rolling rapidly toward Minot, and even more water projected to follow, is of such volume that it is beyond the comprehension of NWS computer modeling.
I’d like to hear from those of you in the Estevan-Weyburn and surrounding areas in the comments. I know we have lots of readers there.
You Canadians, All Smug With Your Oil and Stuff
We don’t need no stiiiinking Canadian oil!
What If Jews Had Followed the Palestinian Path?
A naive exercise in what-ifism, this is;
In 1945, there were hundreds of thousands of Jewish survivors living in DP Camps (displaced persons) across Europe. They were fed and clothed by Jewish and international relief organizations. Had the world’s Jewish population played this situation as the Arabs and Palestinians have, everything would look very different today.
Well, everything but the UN resolutions. And everything else. Because they’re Jews.
Related: “Last time I visited Jerusalem I met an Arab who said he’s ready to die in a nuclear holocaust as long as the bomb destroys Israel.”
Reader Tips
The art of juggling is one I’ve long admired, perhaps because I can’t come close to doing it! Here’s a demonstration of some amazing juggling acumen.
Your Reader Tips are most welcome in the comments.
The Reeking Stench of Insincere Apologists
Video kindly uploaded by Matt from Mississauga
The “apology” that galls me the most is that of of Camille Cacnio. You can read it here. Call me old fashioned but in times past, the apologies I viewed as sincere & heartfelt didn’t go on & on & on scolding others about how *they* should feel about one’s own terrible actions. Sorry, but I don’t detect ANY real remorse in Ms. Cacnio’s tirade. Even the [generally] far left readers of the Georgia Straight can’t buy into what she wrote.
At least one of her paragraphs shows promises of a future job writing satire on SNL:
As many of you already know, I am majoring in Conservation Biology at UBC. I strongly belirve in ecological conservation and sustainability. That night, I saw a few people that were trying to knock trees down. So what did I do? I yelled at them, saying “Pleaaseee, not the treees!!!!” And what did they do? They stopped. And I felt like a hero.
Narcissists like Cacnio are the poster children of the entitlement generation. Their parents failed to do their jobs properly and now society & the judicial system has to clean up their mess. In this 24 Hours Vancouver article, her mother was interviewed and said, “I’m not condoning what she did … She’s not a really bad kid (but) they’re labeling her as a criminal. [The people on the social media sites] have the same mob mentality (as the rioters).”
Dear Mrs. Cacnio, your daughter was videoed fleeing a Black & Lee clothing store with stolen merchandise. She has publicly admitted to the same. What about that doesn’t make her a criminal?!? Yet you have the arrogant audacity to call outraged citizens, who are demanding that justice be served, as having “the same mob mentality” as the rioters. “Rioters”, such as Camille you mean?! Can anyone say “Parent of the Year” award . . . on The Onion, that is.
Whether it be Vancouver 2011 or Toronto 2010 or wherever, we have a SERIOUS problem in our country. It involves the entitlement mentality, lack of real parenting, and complete unaccountability. And I’m not just talking about our politicians!
Update: Someone has taken the time to create a parody apology that rightfully mocks Camille Cacnio’s complete insincerity. h/t Blazing Cat Fur
Operation Gunwalker
Mega-Scandal: Was ‘Gunwalker’ a PR Op for Gun Control?
Fast and Furious, also known by the more accurate “Gunwalker,” allowed known straw purchasers to buy large quantities of firearms — often a dozen or more semi-automatic rifles — at a time with the full knowledge of ATF agents and executives. The guns were then smuggled into Mexico, as frustrated front-line ATF agents watched, under strict orders to do nothing.
ATF agents testifying in front of the House Oversight Committee could not explain how the operation was supposed to succeed when their surveillance efforts stopped at the border and interdiction was never an option.
ATF Agent John Dodson, testifying in front of the committee, said that in his entire law enforcement career, he had “never been involved in or even heard of an operation in which law enforcement officers let guns walk.” He continued: “I cannot begin to think of how the risk of letting guns fall into the hands of known criminals could possibly advance any legitimate law enforcement interest.”
The obvious answer is that Gunwalker’s objective was never intended to be a “legitimate law enforcement interest.” Instead, it appears that ATF Acting Director Ken Melson and Department of Justice senior executives specifically created an operation that was designed from the outset to arm Mexican narco-terrorists and increase violence substantially along both sides of the Southwest border.
Something tells me this is getting zero coverage in Canada.
Funniest Headline?
I took this photo yesterday because I found something endlessly amusing about it. If you were a headline writer, how would you introduce the photo?
