Who’s toxic now?

Baiting The Left 21 Comments

John Robson of the Ottawa Citizen (a true conservative, that rare breed in Canadian journalism) answers the question:

Toxic commentary about toxic commentary
The irony in commentary about toxic American political rhetoric after Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot is how toxic the commentary is. If the American right really had a particular penchant for murderous language and ideas it would be important to say it. But it’s just not true.
In one sense it doesn’t matter because the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, appears to be insane. But if we are going there, let’s go the full distance: He appears to be an atheist Nietzschean enthusiast for the Communist Manifesto whose obsession with language resembles the PC fixation on “privileged discourse.” So let’s try to stick to the facts.
On Monday’s Citizen front page Andrew Cohen wrote “the Tea Party, as agents of a contagion of right-wing extremism in the United States, have helped create a climate of paranoia that has alarmed observers. … The political discourse has been seriously deteriorating since the presidential campaign of 2008. … Anxiety and fear are not new in the United States. Richard Hofstadter identified these undercurrents in a provocative essay called ‘The Paranoid Style in American Politics.’ [article with that title here]” Yes. And as a good progressive, Hofstadter pinned it on the right. I’m not sure American political paranoia is a problem compared to, say, the Middle East with its Mossad sharks and vultures. But I do know alarming rhetoric in the U.S. comes mostly from the left…

Read on. And listen to the audio at Mr Robson’s website of him talking this morning along similar lines with Steve Madely on CFRA Ottawa.
Update: Related:

Stop Target in Canada!

Upperdate: And how come people aren’t railing against the gun culture of the Swiss and Finns (next page at the link)?

…
In 2001, there were about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols kept in Swiss homes [population some 7.5 million]. There are few restrictions on the buying of weapons, and the government even sells off its surplus to citizens when new models are purchased. Many Swiss belong to shooting clubs, and marksmanship competitions are popular activities. A number of cantons have laws against carrying guns without a permit, but it’s not unusual to see off-duty reservists toting their assault rifles in public…

Whiner’s rules

Uncategorized 71 Comments

This is an update to this post by Kate about the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council’s decision to ban the Dire Straits song Money For Nothing from Canadian airwaves after one person in Newfoundland complained about one particular word.
In the song, written by Mark Knopfler – surely one of the gentlest and most mild-mannered human beings extant – a frustrated, hardworking, furniture-moving yob sees a poodle-headed rock star on MTV, and says (in effect) to his buddy, in a tone that’s simultaneously awestruck and bitter, “Look at that guy! He’s a millionaire. Why the hell are we moving appliances for a living?”
This envious character who uses the word “faggot” also says “That’s the way you do it!” and “Lemme tell ya’, them guys ain’t dumb!”
Anyway, here’s the good news, brought to our attention last night by SDA reader Rob: an Edmonton radio station is refusing to abide by the limitlessly tone-deaf, dumb, march-step “progressive” – what an ironic word – ridiculousness:

While some of K-97’s content may be controversial, we respect the right to free speech for all Canadians and songwriters. That’s why K-97 has decided to go against the grain…yet again, and hold a “MONEY FOR NOTHING HOUR”. From 8pm – 9pm on Friday, January 14th, 2011 K-97’s Todd James will be playing the Dire Straits “Money For Nothing” unedited and non stop for the entire hour to express our deep concern about this decision and the precedent it sets.

That’s exactly how it’s supposed to work. You can support the station and it’s program director by calling 780-437-9323, or – perhaps preferably, given the number of calls they’re probably receiving in real time – by emailing the station’s program director, James “Gruff” Gushkowski, at jgushnowski@newcap.ca
And feel free to tool around the Canadian Broadcast Standard Council website for some thoroughly up-to-date bureaucratise.

I Can See Quinnipiac From My House

Uncategorized 22 Comments

Bummer:

Saturday’s shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in which six people were killed, could not have been prevented, 40 percent of American voters say in a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. Another 23 percent blame the mental health system, while 15 percent say it was due to heated political rhetoric and 9 percent attribute the tragedy to lax gun control.
American voters say 52 – 41 percent that “heated political rhetoric drives unstable people to commit violence,” the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Liberals rather than conservatives are more responsible for such rhetoric, voters say 36 – 32 percent.

Update:
Rasmussen

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Uncategorized 33 Comments

Marshall, lead researcher Nathan Gillett of the government agency Environment Canada, and their colleagues found that, by the year 3000, the brunt of the changes occurred in Southern Hemisphere. Not surprisingly, the 2100 scenario yielded more extreme results. In particular, the model predicted that southern oceans – the combined South Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, where the Antarctic Circumpolar Current resides – would warm considerably, with some far-reaching results.

I voted and all I got was this lousy computer model.

A Tale of Two Sheriffs: What Do The Numbers Say?

Little Known Facts 67 Comments

I was intrigued to see this article in Time magazine about two prominent sheriffs in Arizona: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.
Arpaio%20-%20Dupnik.jpg
As Time has long been a de facto PR mouthpiece for the Democrat Party, I understood from the start that the article would be biased against [Republican] Arpaio and for [Democrat] Dupnik.  But the notion of comparing two nearby sheriffs with widely differing political views got me wondering how the crime statistics in their two counties compared.  After a little research and some compilation the difference in their crime stats is rather startling:
2009 Arizona Crime Stats
Please click on the image above to see it full-size or you can download the original spreadsheet.  In the Time piece, there’s not a word of Arpaio’s success and Dupnik’s relative failure to combat crime but as we’ve seen in the disgraceful, unprofessional “reporting” of the Tucson massacre, the mainstream media has clearly shown that they have no interest in facts that don’t support how they wish to spin a news story.

Blog Notes

Blogging 27 Comments

This was the view out my windshield for much of today.



I’ll be in and out of the blog over the next 10 days. Until I’m home from this circuit, you’ll be in the safe hands of the guest bloggers!

The Hypocrisy of the CBC’s Mark Kelley

Media 94 Comments

A comment in this earlier thread is well worth repeating here:

The other night I was watching Connect with Mark Kelley on CBC.
They pulled out the old Sarah Palin target map and talked about the
heightened rhetoric…days after the shooting. I thought it was too much
so I e-mailed the show with my concerns…
To his credit he replied back to me directly…
—-
Thanks for the email. Blaming us for politicising the shooting is rich.
Have you followed anything that has happened in Arizona in the past
year? I don’t blame anyone but Loughner for the shooting. And no one has
said he is a Tea Partier on our show. But the Republicans own candidate-
a Tea Partier- was abandoned by the GOP because of his views. There’s a
context worth mining in Arizona- and to discuss it makes me a lefty?
Have we met?
As for your snide remarks about the technical problems, our system
crashed. Stuff happens. We don’t practice, nor preach perfection. We
just try our best. Maybe that approach reflects my own naivete.
Cheers
MKelley
Posted by: Jeff at January 13, 2011 2:22 PM

A huge problem for folks on the Left, even the Centre Left where Mark Kelley arguably sits politically, is their complete lack of self-awareness of the bias in their own views. Combine this predilection with someone who is a “journalist” and you have an individual who is convinced that they have no bias whatsoever. It’s a delusion, of course, because each & every one of us is chock full of different biases.
I have little doubt that Kelley writes off commenter Jeff and probably most every SDA regular as “right wing extremists”. But just imagine for a moment how he would view a situation if a conservative had been killed in Tucson and someone had pointed out that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had displayed a map with bullseyes across it. Oh wait, a conservative judge was killed and the DNC did display such a map! But drawing a connection there would be much too ridiculous according to the “enlightened” mind that is Mark Kelley.
And lest we forget, your tax dollars are paying his salary. 🙁
Update: Some have suggested that it’s unfair to publish Mark Kelley’s response without also posting the initial e-mail from Jeff. He has kindly sent it to me and here it is in full:

Dear Connect Folks,
Three days after a horrible shooting you’re still going on about the conservative rhetoric stuff?
Sarah Palin’s map? Feel free to read this link…http://www.verumserum.com/?p=13647
The jury is pretty much in about Jared as well.
Communist Manifesto…favourite YouTube video is a guy in a mask burning an American flag…backyard skull ceremony…friends indentify him as liberal (http://punditpress.blogspot.com/2011/01/friend-of-loughner-confirms-he-is.html)
This is hardly a Tea Party type dude.
I thought it was in poor taste to go down the road of politicizing a shooting rampage, but I suppose that’s a reflection of my naivete.
I don’t remember the same level of journalistic political investigation during the Fort Hood shootings and I doubt I have to get into explanations for why.
Anyway, we all have a bias, but the leftward bent is starting to be a bit much. Especially when it comes to horrible incidents like this shooting.
Best,
Jeff
P.S- The technical difficulties are pretty amateur hour for a national show. I worked on a local cable talk show in Regina that was mostly staffed with volunteers and we could make a show run smoother.

Sanity at UBC. Really

More Pavilions At Folkfest 38 Comments

Further to Tarek Fatah,

omarchaaban.png
“Fuck Canada Day” fame Omar Chaaban who was “ashamed to be Canadian,” now wants to be president of UBC students
…

a reassuring message from a student there:

Don’t worry, the dude has no chance of winning. There’s three candidates in the race, and Omar is a distant third. Still though, it makes for hilarious debates; it’s fun having a controversial candidate in the running. The whole university knows about his fuck canada comments.

On the other hand there is insanity at this grove of academe:

A course at the University of British Columbia’s…

Falling Down

Uncategorized 30 Comments

If I am pessimistic about the future of liberty, it is because I am pessimistic about the strength of the English-speaking nations, which have, in profound ways, surrendered to forces at odds with their inheritance. “Declinism” is in the air, but some of us apocalyptic types are way beyond that. The United States is facing nothing so amiable and genteel as Continental-style “decline,” but something more like sliding off a cliff.

Steyn

My How Time Flies

Uncategorized 42 Comments

… when you’re having fun:

Christopher Pauchay, the man who went to prison following the freezing deaths three years ago of his two young daughters, will be released in less than two weeks and does not intend to return to his Yellow Quill First Nation home.
[…]
The Dec. 30 parole board decision notes Pauchay completed a “moderate intensity” aboriginal offender substance abuse program and a family violence program. “Gains were noted in both programs,” the board wrote.

Previous … Little Cries

Now is the Time at SDA When We Juxtapose

Uncategorized 107 Comments

January 9th, 2011: Giffords can open her eyes, but because she is on a ventilator she can’t speak, said Rhee.
(Oddly gone this morning) Here’s an alternate link … or here.
January 12, 2011: President Barack Obama says that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has opened her eyes for the first time since being shot through the head on Saturday.
The president says it happened a few minutes after he left her hospital room Wednesday evening.

Einstein Quotes vs. The Modern Leftist Mind

You Might Be A Liberal 23 Comments

Even though copious amounts of evidence have shown that there is absolutely no connection between the Tucson shooter and conservatives or the Tea Party or Sarah Palin or talk radio, masochistic leftists keep on trying to make them. It’s truly pathetic.
Whenever you read the misguided screeds of these loathsome trolls, remember these prescient quotations from Albert Einstein:

  • Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
  • A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be. Information is not knowledge.
  • Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

Or, to paraphrase something Charles Krauthammer recently said: “The origins of Loughner’s delusions are clear: mental illness. What are the origins of the Leftist delusions?”

I Can Hear The Civility From My House

The Tolerant Left 162 Comments

Sarah Palin takes aim on her Facebook page;

President Reagan said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.
The last election was all about taking responsibility for our country’s future. President Obama and I may not agree on everything, but I know he would join me in affirming the health of our democratic process. Two years ago his party was victorious. Last November, the other party won. In both elections the will of the American people was heard, and the peaceful transition of power proved yet again the enduring strength of our Republic.
Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions. And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.

And in the interest of fairness and balance, the Left’s response (language advisory);

More at Instapundit.
Charles Krauthammer: “The origins of Loughner’s delusions are clear: mental illness. What are the origins of Krugman’s?”
“The New York Times has crossed a moral line.”

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