One wonders if his parents are just as proud as he is?!
Incidentally, for those on Facebook, take a look at this group. All sorts of twits are bragging about the crimes they committed last night. I think the collective IQ of Vancouver is being exposed as much, much lower than average.
Non-Fans Disgrace Vancouver
What an absolute disgrace in my hometown. No true Hockey Fan would do this!
From a friend’s camera phone:
Update: Vancouver just made the news in Sydney, Australia. What a proud moment … NOT!!! They provided a link that I’m aptly calling a Gallery of Losers.
Update 2: Video of the destruction of downtown Vancouver 🙁
Reader Tips
I am writing this about 4.5 hours before the start of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoff Finals. The song, Amazing Grace, is one of the most beautiful ever written and this performance by Il Divo is sublime. To me, it speaks of quiet satisfaction emanating from a humble soul. By 9pm PDT / 12am EDT we should know whether the words are more apropos for the fans of the Canucks or the Bruins.
Now, so as not to be labeled a sexist, I think it only appropriate to also post a link to a video that will have an especially profound effect on male … ears. The group of talented female musicians is called Bond.
As I will be out & about during the game & afterwards, photographing the thousands of fans in downtown Vancouver, I won’t be able to publish this item but hope the automatic scheduler does its job!
Wherever your loyalties lie, your hard hitting Reader Tips are most welcome in the comments.
The Death of a Writer and Warrior
From Spotlight on Military News and International Affairs:
…
Lives Lived
James Campbell — The Guardian
Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor has died aged 96 – More – More – More
Plus at Arts & Letters Daily (not quite what one might think in terms of leanings–take a look):
Patrick Leigh Fermor, warrior, scholar, autodidact, travel writer, extraordinary raconteur, is dead at 96… Telegraph… Jan Morris… Christopher Hitchens… Robert Kaplan
I’ve read A Time of Gifts : on Foot to Constantinople: from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube and Between the Woods and the Water.
Wonderful books (I hitchhiked around Europe and Morocco when 18).
Update: More at National Review Online:
…As a young man, he’d walked through pre-war Hungary and Romania…Those walks provided the material for books that evoke Central Europe as it then was, now far away and long ago, before politics destroyed the picturesque [truly a vanished world–the Hungarian uppercrust, in whatever post-Trianon county, are marvellous].
…The great and unforgettable exploit was the kidnapping of General Kreipe, the German commanding officer in Crete…At another point as dawn was coming up on Mount Ida, General Kreipe quoted the opening lines of Horace’s ode praising this very snow-capped sight, whereupon Paddy recited the remaining verses.
“Ach so, Herr Major,” was the compliment with which the general ended this exchange, as unexpected as it is chivalrous. Stanley Moss wrote up the whole exploit in a memoir, Ill Met by Moonlight. I could never get Paddy to say much about it, except that he thought the film of the book was not much good. Could there be men like that again?..
Dear God of Hockey
Please bestow on my Vancouver Canucks the strength of will to absolutely destroy the merciless Boston Bruins (or even eek out a one goal win in overtime would be fine!) In return, I promise to dutifully bite my tongue for the summer whenever a Far Left Socialist is saying something really, really stupid and advocating ideas that will hurt my country.
Please, Dear God of Hockey, ensure that tonight in Vancouver we shall see much more of this and this and possibly even this! Most of all, please give us the victory . . . for the children.
Update: My girlfriend’s son put his PhotoShop skills to work to create this amazing image, which you’re most welcome to download the hi-res original of!
As Canada Eclipses the US
It’s one thing to have anecdotal experiences that make you “feel” the US is losing ground to Canada. It’s another thing to go and prove it so you “know” the US is losing ground to Canada (and thereby giving your Canadian friends reason to gloat and be proud).
Three charts below and translated thusly;
1. The US is no longer the “capitalist” country and Canada the “socialist” country. Government spending as a percent of GDP is now equal.
2. The US is lagging Canada in its socialist experiment. You enjoyed 100%+ government debt as a percent of GDP under Jean Chretien. We now are just achieving that under Barack Chretien.
3. But we’re going to blow past you guys and show you how it’s done right. Our deficits are consistently in double digits as a percentage of GDP. Your lousy socialist could only muster up 9% at his best/worst.
Again, you guys hiring?
ht to myself (yes, I am a greedy American)
Land of the Free
… Home of the Grope:
“Positive Rights” Sound So Darn Good, Don’t They?
In last night’s Reader Tips SDA regular ‘nv53’ had a very interesting analysis of the Alfred Apps editorial published yesterday in the National Post.
As the President of the Liberal Party of Canada, he sure has a lot to promise to a whole lot of different groups! But are the majority of Canadians buying the Liberal message anymore? Here’s what Charles Adler had to say.
Lorne Gunter: Time to Privatize Canada Post
Gunter: “We need a Crown corporation delivering our mail the same way we need government-owned telephone services or public buggy whip makers.”
P.S. Denis Lemelin, the president of Canadian Postal Workers Union, talks with Krista Erickson of Sun News TV.
Its Probably Nothing
A wave of violent unrest in urban areas of China over the past three weeks is testing the Communist Party’s efforts to maintain control over an increasingly complex and fractious society, forcing it to repeatedly deploy its massive security forces to contain public anger over economic and political grievances.
Expect more riots when China’s Credit Bubble pops exposing mountains of fraud
Reader Tips
As a special salute to SDA’s infamous trolls, we’re offering a fascinating documentary about North Korea, which the journalist/narrator describes as “A Giant Socialist Themepark”! For those interested in a little something somewhat less surreal, here’s an aesthetically pleasing fractal animation.
As always, your hard news and/or phantasmagorical Reader Tips are most welcome in the comments!
Language Alert
This blistering headline was 6th from the top of a Google search for Michele Bachmann.
Nevertheless someone at MSNBC seems to think she did quite well in the debate last night.
Renewable Energy
OPEC’s failure to increase output has raised speculation as to whether worldwide supply can meet future demand. Many believe OPEC won’t increase output because it can’t, and if that’s true, where will future supply come from?
Well…take one guess who’s sitting on 95 Billion Barrels of Black Gold …
Small Dead Birds
Introducing the Official Libyan Government
Signalling a shift in foreign policy, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced Tuesday that Canada will formally recognize the rebel National Transitional Council as the legitimate government of Libya.
… no, we aren’t making this up.
A while back, the incisive Mark Steyn had some thoughts on Libya:
And, for those so inclined, Cjunk has a lengthy video of our new friends and allies in combat … in which lawyers and doctors go Mad Max .
Venezuela: Another Socialist Utopia Gone Wrong
Talking with Canadian socialists can provide hours minutes of amusement. They’ll rant on & on & on about how terrible Stephen Harper is and that capitalism is the root cause of all of our problems. Point out to them that their government paycheque wouldn’t be nearly as generous without a vibrant private sector capitalist economy and you’ll get blank looks from the dumber ones or denials from the smarter ones. To that latter group it’s most interesting to point out that socialism has eventually failed wherever it has been tried. They’ll insist though that it just hasn’t been done right yet.
Case in point is Hugo Chavez, dictator of Venezuela. He appears to be yet another failed “Great Leader” whose ideas of the state controlling most everything simply do not work.
Lessen the incentive of a man to work harder & more productively and you destroy an entire nation of such men. Yet this simple truth is seemingly impenetrable into the minds of Leftists. If a new iPhone app could somehow visualize the proverbial light bulb above each person’s head, is there any doubt that on top of the craniums of the Left we’d see curly-cue CFL light bulbs; exceptionally dim of course.
CAW Leadership vs. Economic Reality
“Tax the Richest 2%”
Budget battle here in Minnesota. Of course the problem is we don’t spend enough, even though as a percent of gross state product we are near all time highs. So a huge marketing campaign is being waged by the two sides here and I just witnessed a commercial for “Tax the Richest 2%.”
THE WEBSITE OF WHICH IS www.taxtherichest.com
thusly earning the Double Palm Face Plant Award
I wonder if the phrase “Capital Flight” is in their vocabulary.
Any of you Canadians hiring?
Michele Bachmann Enters U.S. Presidential Race
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann wants to be POTUS – h/t Revnant Dream, who provided this link.
Watch the HATE-FEST from Leftist men and less attractive Leftist women begin!
N.B. In October 2010 talkshow host Dennis Prager met Bachmann and provided some background insight about Bachmann that the Democrat Media Party isn’t often forthcoming about.
Update: ET doesn’t think that Bachmann will be attacked the way Palin has been. Maybe, but I fear she will be. Ezra Levant’s latest video on PDS is worth a watch.
Reader Tips
From singer & comedian, Rodney Carrington, comes this hilarious video entitled Dancing with a Man – h/t Kate
Please feel free to leave your serious, and not so serious, Reader Tips in the comments!