Whatever one might think of Canada’s Afghan mission, what do you think of our journalists? Matters start really developing at the Update here.
One all-too-usual suspect:
Apologies to American readers, a bit of Canadian inside the Queensway (it’s in Ottawa) pressball. Your journos are on the whole a whole lot better, amazing as that may seem. There are still blessings to count on the day after Thanksgiving (“Black Friday”? What the world is coming to knows only God).
The EU Crisis in One Sentence
Irish Welfare expenditures are 32.5% of the entire annual budget; ahead of even healthcare which comes in at 24.8%.
For some Eurocrats, this is the crisis they’ve been waiting for … but somebody forgot to inform the crisis.
Looking for a Career as a Motivational Speaker?
… or, Why the West Wins: (language warning)
The Sound Of Settled Science
An interview with Richard S. Lindzen.
h/t Peter
Reader Tips
For over 40 years, American songwriter John Prine has used succinct lyrics and simple, almost nursery rhyme melodies to paint biographical vignettes of ordinary people in a way that speaks to larger truths. From Prine’s eponymous first album, released in 1971, here’s the poignant Hello In There.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
How Many Deaths Is Walt Disney Responsible For Worldwide?
Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Chicago Breaking News, Nov.15th 2010 – Brad Block, a supervisor for the Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control, said the [coyote] has the run of the Loop to help deal with rats and mice. He said no one has called today to complain. “He’s not a threat…He’s not going to pick up your children,” Block said. “His job is to deal with all of the nuisance problems, like mice, rats and rabbits.”
CBC, Oct.28, 2009 – A 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto has died after being attacked by two coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
h/t Pete
Jason Kenney Does It Again
“Our government has lost faith in the Durban process,” Kenney told a news conference. “Canada will not participate in this charade. We will not lend our good name to this Durban hatefest.
“Canada is clearly committed to the fight against racism, but the Durban process commemorates an agenda that actually promotes racism rather than combats it.”
The First American Prime Minister On Caucus
Apparently, the Liberals spell it differently.
The Rider Prayer
Our quarterback,who art in Edmonton..
Darian be thy name..
Thy game be done,
Thy will be WON in Commonwealth as it was in Mosiac …
Give us this game The Grey Cup Game
and forget about Calgary’s whiners..
As we forgive those who can’t measure up to us.
Lead us not into interception, but deliver us from Calvillo..
For thine are the Riders with Power and Glory.
Forever and ever,
the Grey Cup we WILL claim !
Amen.
(h/t Noel)
Vaya con Dios
The cartel demanded Don Alejo Garza Tamez surrender his property. The 77 year old man refused and barricaded himself in his farm, killing 4 of them and wounding 2 bombers.
Y2Kyoto: Scene From A David Suzuki Book Signing
On Nov. 20 Jenn Carson went to see David Suzuki speak in Moncton;
I was hoping to ask him during the question period that normally follows these types of talks for advice on how to help me promote environmentalism to my group of largely apathetic students at Hampton High School, where I am the librarian.
Unfortunately, there was no question period. Directly following Dr. Suzuki’s speech, where he emphatically urged the audience to form strong interpersonal connections with their neighbours, family and local ecology, there was a book signing. I waited until the line was gone before I approached. I did not purchase any books, since I either have them at home, or have read them through our public library service. There was only one other man at the table, talking about a Prius, and he stopped and said he should go since I was waiting. Dr. Suzuki said it was alright since there was “no one there.”
I assumed since he was 75, perhaps his eyesight was poor and he did not see me. When the man left, I approached Dr. Suzuki.
He looked up and said, “book?” I said I didn’t have one but I wanted to ask him a question. He said, “I don’t have time for that,” and waved me away like a king dismissing a commoner.
There was absolutely no one else around the table except the security guards.
Then he shouted out, “Books! Books!” and continued waving me out of the way. There was no sign indicating no questions were allowed.
Only minutes before he had been espousing the value of slowing down and making time for each other and he didn’t even have the decency to say, “I’m sorry, I’m tired . . . or I’m not allowed to answer questions . . .”
Instead here I was, an educator and great promoter of his books, looking for help with the generation he claimed was most important, but because I was not spending money (other than the $45 I spent to hear him lecture), I was waved off.
I used to be proud to call Dr. Suzuki one of my heroes, and now I can see that he is a hypocrite.
I am in no way turned off the environmental causes I have always believed in, simply disappointed to have to tell my students, once again, that celebrity and integrity seem to be mutually exclusive.
Jenn Carson,
Hampton
Welcome to the club, Jenn!
ht Robert in Calgary
Reader Tips
From September 1939, here’s the beloved Vera Lynn, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, who turned 93 earlier this year, singing There’ll Always Be An England. This will be followed by a stirring and stately version of God Save The Queen.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
Ethical Oil: A Debate
Ezra Levant and Andrew Nikiforuk debate ethics of Alberta’s oilsands from Trevor Howell on Vimeo.
And there’s more, at Spin Assassin
Your Children Are Being Taught By Crazy People
School retracts ban on pencils.
h/t Tech1
National Geographic Photo Contest
Entries close November 30th…. Mr. McCormick.
h/t Larry
The Human Factor
When my family entered the El Al terminal at Newark Airport, we were met by someone who asked where we came from and where were going. When we got into the terminal and on the line to check in, an El Al employee asked my 12 year old son (out of my ear’s range) why we were going to Israel. He asked if we were Jewish and when my son answered yes, so followed up by asking the name of our Synagogue and our Rabbi’s name. But while he was asking questions I could feel his eyes gauging my reaction to our kid’s interrogation. The “interrogation” took no longer than thirty seconds. When he was done with my son, he came to me and asked the same questions (plus the typical who packed your luggage-type queries) once again gauging my reaction very closely.
Like the Mossad, tank drivers, and air force pilots, Israeli airport security have that super hero, no-nonsense, get to the point directness and efficiency. “Who packed your bags?” “What was your bar mitzah portion?” “Why are you even here visiting?” This quick-fire interrogation was not bothersome but reassuring. We got the feeling that we were dealing with people who knew what they were doing.
Via
Related – “The Nation magazine, a liberal publication that typically opposed George W. Bush’s NSA snooping on our phone calls, has a new article attacking those who oppose Barack Obama’s TSA snooping around our boxer briefs.”
City Of Regina In Negotiations With Global Warming
Story at Saskabush.
Why Israel is a Rogue State
The remarkable speech below was presented by Gabriel Latner, a 19-year-old Cambridge student, at a recent debate of the prestigious university’s debating society. […]
The Cambridge debate centered on the motion that “Israel is a rogue state.” It was proposed by England’s Lauren Booth, an extreme opponent of Israel who works for Tehran’s state-run global TV channel, and who recently converted to Islam on a visit to Iran.
Read the whole thing, at UN Watch.
Reader Tips
It is cold. I wish I was luxuriating in a nice hot spring right now with these monkeys.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
“I have been watching the futures prices in Chicago…”
Related – “It’s late in the CWB director election and the rhetoric has kicked up a notch.”