Reader Tips
An interview with General David Petraeus.
“as a black man… I cannot be racist…”
“Just had a visit from two uniformed officers. Reason? My firearms renewal, but more significantly this blog. It seems that my crappy little corner of the blogosphere has come to the attention of the police, and they don’t like it.”
James Travers: Code Talker
Comments are open for yours.
“Contradictions do not exist”
Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction….
“You would think that reputable news sources, when covering a protest, might take the time and trouble to investigate the grounds for the protest. But not apparently if it involves a Canadian mining company operating overseas, and not if you can throw in a visit from Stephen Harper to give the protest a little news value.”
Fire At Cory Potash
Local radiois reporting 47 miners trapped underground, believed to have made it to their shelter station, but no one can confirm that contact has been made with them.
Company website.
Latest: All 47 are safe and have been spoken to. Calm and good spirits. They went to refuge stations this morning because of a fire alarm and slight scent of smoke. Rescue teams were unable to proceed into the mine until backup teams had arrived, which they have, and they are beginning rescue operations.
Sounds like this is under control. Back to regular programming unless something new is reported.
Free Dominion Targeted by HRC
Note the date, and the deadline for reply;
July 16, 2007
File 2006057
Ms. Connie Wilkins
c/o Free Dominion
2033 Unity Rd.
Kingston, ON
K0H 1M0
Dear Ms. Wilkins:
I am the investigator designated under Part III of the Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate the complaint of Ms. [name omitted at this time] against Free Dominion. As the investigator, it is my responsibility to gather the evidence in relation to the complainant’s allegations and, once the investigation is complete, to report on my findings to the Members of the Commission.
The report will include a recommendation for the disposition of the complaint. I can recommend that a conciliator be appointed, if the evidence supports the allegations in the complaint, or that the complaint be dismissed, if the allegations are not supported by the evidence. I can also recommend to the Commission that a settlement be approved if the parties reach an agreement during the course of the investigation.
I am currently awaiting your full response to the allegations which is due on 18 July 2007.
I would like to draw your attention to section 48 of the Canadian Human Rights Act which allows the parties to settle a complaint in the course of investigation. I would be pleased to discuss the possibility of a settlement with you or your representative at any time.
You can reach me at the address and telephone number indicated at the bottom of the first page of this letter. My direct line is 999-999-9999 and my email address is OfficersName@chrc-ccdp.ca. Please note that there are security and confidentiality risks in sending information by email.
This was left in their mailbox. The “allegations” are not provided.
Keep an eye on this one.
The Launch Of Media Mythbusters
In order to make even the most mundane of everyday decisions it is necessary to have good information. The public depends on television, radio and print media to deliver reliable and accurate information. For the most part, reporters and editors do their jobs and the result is an informed public. In some instances, however, the information relayed to the public is neither reliable nor accurate. Far too often, inaccurate information is reported and repeated until it achieves a certain myth status. The goal of this site is to debunk myths that take hold as a result of inaccurate or irresponsible media reports.
I am happy to have been a (very) small part this brainchild of Kim Priestap and Lorie Byrd. Lorie explains;
This new wiki website was created to provide a place for approved contributors to archive facts and links to chronicle major media’s treatment of stories in which questions have arisen regarding facts or methods of reporting. Because the site is a wiki, it will always be a work in progress. Some of the listed entries consist of just a framework awaiting content to come, while others are already quite extensive. We have provided a format and some intitial posted items to serve as the beginning of a site I hope will grow considerably into a valuable resource.
Check it out here. This is a must-add to your blogroll, folks. Help spread the word.
I Don’t Read Harry Potter
I don’t go to the movies.
Normally, that would be sufficient reason to ignore the topic. However.
I’m finding myself becoming quite irritated with the breathless media reports about the premature/accidental/clandestine release of every new book in the series.
I mean, are they really this goddamned stupid?
May 6, 2003;
A British father has reportedly found copies of an unreleased Harry Potter novel in a field in southern England.
It appears that the accidental sale of 14 copies of the latest Harry Potter book at a Coquitlam store last week may have been a marketing blessing in disguise.
As the release of the final Harry Potter novel approaches, the growing frenzy around the title is being fuelled in part by a host of internet spoilers that allegedly reveal the fate of the teen wizard.
Or are they just in on the marketing joke?
Update – Harry Potter and the The Christopher Little Literary Agency: the plot thickens…
Update 2 – “I was just interviewed by a camera crew, and will apparently be on the CBS Evening News tonight.
Given the history of this very blog, I hereby pause for a moment to soak in the irony.
Today’s events tell me two things: One, CBS doesn’t have Google. Two, this must be the slowest news day in the history of the planet, and possibly the universe.”
Reader Tips
Open for Thursday tips.
“The Left Regroups, The Right Fizzles”
A fairly long piece by Pieter Dorsman on the political uncertainty that is Holland today;
[A]s rapturous and challenging the changes have been for the Dutch themselves, foreign media have equally stumbled to label the developments in that stable, liberal and prosperous haven of tranquility ever since three political icons disappeared from the scene in a highly unusual way. Pim Fortuyn, the gay professor turned conservative politician was fatally shot by an animal rights activist, outspoken moviemaker Theo van Gogh was killed by a gun and knife wielding jihadist and Somali immigrant and conservative-liberal parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali was more or less forced to pack up and set sail for a better and presumably safer life at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
Check it out. It should be especially informative for those who have been following the discussion on the Ayaan Hirsi Ali post below.
The PreCationary Principle
Close the border to processed meats from China, please.
More: “That’s not chicken in your chicken chow mein”… thanks to reader Bruce for the hate mail that will generate.
The Wealthiest Americans Ever
Adjusted for inflation. This takes a little time to load, but it’s pretty cool.
“Please don’t take my leg”
Dr. Vivian McAlister, a civilian doctor from London, Ont., busted into the media hooch. He said they were about to operate on an Afghan National Army soldier hurt by an IED and asked if I would like to sit in. I grabbed my gear and headed over.
The doctor showed me where to get changed into scrubs and then gave me a tour of the operating room. I decide to leave the sketchpads outside the OR and just use the camera.
The ANA soldier was one of six soldiers hit by the IED. Four died immediately; one made it as far as here before dying. This was the blast’s only survivor.
On duty were four surgeons, three nurses, an anesthesiologist and an X-ray technician. Throw in an artist and we hit double figures. It was going to be a bit cramped. I determined to keep the hell out of their way.
A longer, illustrated version at Richard Johnson’s Kandahar Journal blog at the NP.
Not Waiting For The Asteroid
Reader Tips
To start your Wednesday.
Y2Kyoto: An Inconvenient Rip-Off
Sasktel, call your premier.
The full contract is up at The Smoking Gun.
Via Drudge.
(Perhaps we’re being too hard on the Goracle. You think it’s easy these days to put Chilean sea bass on your childrens’ plates?)
The Sound Of Settled Science
Fort Morgan, Colorado’s USHCN climate station of record.
And a comparison of USHCN stations at Orland and Marysville, California.
Join the project at Surfacestations.org.
You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby (Bumped)
“You grew up in freedom, and so you can spit on freedom, because you don’t know what it is not to have freedom.” – Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Not quite parody but dangerously close. How can she be so disgustingly pro-American, he wonders, and yet so stridently anti-Islamic? Doesn’t she see that Islamists and “Christianists” are two sides of the same coin?
MWV file here if you have problems with the CBC version (34 megs).
Don’t miss the comments. It seems that having one’s genitals sliced half off in the name of Muslim purity, a colleague murdered in broad daylight in the street for the crime of criticizing Islam, living in hiding under armed guard, and being forced from your home by court order because your neighbors fear the jihadists who have pledged to kill you is insufficient personal experience from which to draw conclusions about the relative merits of Islam and America.
As one of the progressive CBC faithful so eloquently explains, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is little more than a “prized puppy”.
Or, to think of in another way – of about the same relative value under his belief system as the average Somali woman is entitled to under Sharia law.
You’ve come a long way, baby.
h/t.
(It was suggested I bump this item closer to page top so that readers don’t miss the Dennis Prager link below)
Update – Avi Lewis is becoming famouser by the minute…. developing….
PORK
Today we launch a new initiative to encourage a better understanding of Islam among readers of SDA: Project Openmind: Read Koran.
Theo Jansen
More.
Q: How Do They Get Rid Of The Stupid Lawyers?
A: They appoint them to the bench
Justice Ellen Gordon ruled Friday that border officers — who routinely question travellers and search their vehicles — violated three sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they interrogated Ajitpal Singh Sekhon and dismantled the truck he was driving without a search warrant.
[…]
According to Gordon’s reasons for judgment, Sekhon, a Canadian citizen, tried to enter Canada via the Aldergrove border crossing on Jan. 25, 2005.
The border guard decided Sekhon was suspiciously tense and sent him to be questioned in the customs office, where he was locked inside while another inspector searched the truck.
With the help of a drug-sniffing dog, the ruling says, guards found a false compartment below the truck bed, at which point Sekhon was informed that he would be detained and that he had the right to legal counsel.
However, Gordon concluded that Sekhon had been detained from the moment he was locked inside the office, violating sections 9 and 10 of the Charter, which prohibit arbitrary detention and guarantee the right to a lawyer.
Gordon’s judgment says inspectors eventually dismantled the vehicle to find 50 bricks of cocaine.
But the most important part of the ruling is Gordon’s conclusion that guards violated section 8 of the Charter — freedom from unreasonable search or seizure — since they never applied for a search warrant.
The Crown lawyer pointed out that the Customs Act routinely allows such searches without a warrant based on reasonable grounds for suspicion.
The two border inspectors involved said they had never applied for — or even conceived of applying for — a search warrant in their careers.
But the judge wrote that officers followed a “lucky hunch,” not reasonable suspicions, in launching their search.
the same judge ruled last October that RCMP drug squad officers violated the Charter by faxing a justice of the peace to get search warrants. She argued that the Criminal Code requires police officers to appear in front of a judge to defend their requests. By this logic, border guards would have to present themselves before the court for every vehicle inspection.