El Sadr Is Finished. So Is The Story.

Roadkill 1 Comment

The Command Post covers this NYT story, that will remain virtually unreported in Canada.

Shiite leaders and American officials said the armed followers of Mr. Sadr, known as the Mahdi Army, had cleared out of many parts of Najaf, and seemed to be getting ready to leave altogether. The Shiite leaders said American forces, who encircled the city in recent weeks, had also cleared out of the city center and areas near the Imam Ali Shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam.
[. . .]
“The people of Najaf are walking the streets, the cars are moving on every avenue and the Iraqi police have moved back in,” said Adnan Ali, a senior official with the Dawa Party, whose leaders took part in the negotiations. “This is a good step forward.”
Iraq’s new prime minister, Iyad Allawi, declared in an interview that the fighting was over. “The armed presence in Najaf and Kufa has ended,” he told Associated Press Television News.
[. . .]
A coalition official said American forces had pulled out of the center of town but were running joint patrols with Iraqi forces within the city.
A senior Iraqi official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, suggested that Mr. Sadr had grown demoralized in the face of political isolation and relentless military pressure. American commanders claim to have killed hundreds of Mr. Sadr’s fighters in the past weeks.
“There is every indication that the man is in a deplorable state of affairs,” said the senior Iraqi official. “He feels very weak. The Mahdi Army has suffered big losses.”

Not news for anyone who has been following reports on the fighting on the blogosphere. But it will never be news for Canadians who depend upon the mainstream media here. The El Sadr story has always been reported as being – at best – a “stalemate” between the American troops and his militia. Now that they are all but anhilated, there will be no further comment at all.
One can’t leave the impression that American troops are capable or successful.

“Freedom Is The Victor”

What He Said 2 Comments

“In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: “We will bury you.” But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind–too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.
And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.
Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Rest In Peace, Mr. Reagan. And thankyou.
Outside The Beltway has a roundup of photos and links.
Dean Esmay;
“I hated him when he was President.
Now I’m a 38 year-old man who can’t stop crying.
And that’s the truth.”
Kathy Shaidle remembers when she stopped hating him, too. “It’s too late to say I’m sorry, but not to say that he was right about a lot of things and I was wrong.”
Wretchard, at the Belmont Club;
“The man who won Cold War died today. He couldn’t take it with him, but left his legacy to billions of human beings. He was characterized as an idiot, an automaton and charlatan by many of his critics. Yet none of his detractors, however polished and poised, have changed the world so profoundly as this one man.”

The European Folly

Military No Comments

I’ve lifted this in its entirety from the New Zealand blog, Silent Running.

Rumors circulating in London talk of an impending major operation. Britain, which has been transformed into an armed camp, has been eerily quiet, due in large part to the wide spread cancellation of leaves and passes for practically all military personnel.
Speculation about an imminent assault on ‘Fortress Europe’ abound, often mentioning ‘the butcher of Sicily’, Gen George S. Patton. There are numerous unconfirmed reports however, of rubber airplanes and tanks in the areas believed to be garrisoning Patton’s men. These men, mere boys for the most part, would be going up against well prepared defenses, referred to by the German High Command as “The Atlantic Wall”. The available information on the preparations in the area of Calais appear to indicate that any such attempt would certainly be tantamount to suicide under the best circumstances, but with a phantom army? Some critics question if the proper equipment for the job is really on hand.
Does SHAEF really have a plan? SHAEF spokespeople refuse to make a comment on the record, and are unusually tight-lipped on background, as well. They do claim, however, that their plan is more than to simply to send thousands of young men to certain death in a Hail Mary attempt to get through the insurmounable German defensive works. Critics wonder if the Americans aren’t being driven to do something against their better judgement, even that of the notoriously extreme British Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, who has to date exhibited absolutely no remorse concerning the massive casualties sustained so far.
Prime Minister Churchill and the British High Command have reportedly argued against an invasion of Northern Europe directly for months – preferring the ‘soft underbelly of Europe’ via Italy. Soft underbelly, indeed! So far it has been a colossall quagmire mired in the Italian mud – a miscalculation bordering on incompetence which has already cost tens of thousands of Allied casualties in a bitter slog up the Italian boot. And that was against a dispirited mix of Italians and Germans. Casualty rates are sure to be astronomical if we go head to head with the German’s best, led by their most capable leader – Irwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, who is rumored to be in command of the nightmare tangle of concrete and steel that anyone foolish enough to attempt a direct landing anywhere from Bordeaux to Jutland would have to overcome.
However, the Allied Commander, General Eisenhower, ostensibly with the backing of American Chief of Staff Marshall, and US President Roosevelt, have telegraphed for months that such an ill considered assault on the shores of the Continent is their goal. Who will be first to wake from this madness and implement a saner policy, one which puts the lives of our boys first?

Part of a continuing series of media blasts from the WWII past.

Requesting Toby Keith

Moonbats 2 Comments

Just about every time I drive into the US, I hear Toby Keith’s post 9/11 song “Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue”. And I quite like it.
I don’t imagine the song has ever been played here in the frozen north, [disclaimer – I don’t listen to country] – outside perhaps a furrowed-brow analysis of Canadian moral superiority over warmongering America cultural differences between our country and the US, on CBC Radio.

Hey Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly,
And there’s gonna be Hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell!
It’s gonna feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you…
Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White and Blue!

Which got me to thinking. On occassion, local CBC radio has a phone-in song request show.
Heh.

Juno Beach

Media No Comments

Canadians moving inland, says first news dispatch from beach head
By Ross Munro

WITH CANADIAN FORCES LANDING IN FRANCE, June 6, 1944 (CP Cable) – In two hours and 45 minutes of fighting on the beaches here, the Canadian invasion force won its beach-head and shoved on inland.
At 10:45 this morning the Canadian commander (Gen. Keller) sent this message to Gen. Crerar, G.O.C. 1st Canadian Army: “Beach head taken. Well on way to intermediate objective.”
The strip of coast won by the Canadians in this initial assault was quite narrow, but it gave them the beaches and provided a base for further penetration.
There was some stiff street fighting in the little coast towns and the Canadians also met considerable enemy fire on the beaches and as they worked their way into the defences. They had to overcome numerous steel and wooden obstacles which were placed out on the tidal part of the beach and which were covered at high tide to trap landing craft. However, the assault went in at 7:15 a.m. just as the tide began to rise and many of these obstacles were cleared away by engineers before the water covered them, thus enabling followup craft to beach and unload.
Some casualties were suffered in the assault by the Canadians from enemy machine-guns, mortars and artillery fire.
By 10:00 a.m. the Canadians were about 1,000 yards inland and going strong, meeting only small pockets of Germans. The first prisoners were taken and identified as belonging to a coastal unit.
On other parts of the front near us the operation is moving along. Canadian and British airborne troops did a good job when they dropped and came in by gliders at 3:30 this morning. They captured several bridges and held them.
Cruisers provided very effective support to the Canadians and one cruiser knocked out a troublesome battery about a mile and a half from the coast with six direct hits.
Enemy tanks are reported about 10 to 15 miles south of the beach-head and some enemy transport is also moving.
Up to noon the German air force has not shown up. It is estimated to have 2,350 aircraft in western Europe but it looks as if the air attack will come tonight.
The French coast is still wreathed in smoke driving far down the Channel. In some of the bombarded towns, fires are burning ….

So far the operation seems to have gone as well as could be expected. Destroyers and gunboats are cruising up and down the coastline banging away at last coastal points of resistance on our beach.
Now the rest of the assault troops are going in. I am going ashore with them.

The rest is here.
(Ross Munro, war correspondent for The Canadian Press, died in Toronto in 1990 at the age of 76. Why can’t our war reporting of today be as clear and unobstructed by bias as this?)
Hat tip – Rick Hiebert

Burning Diesel, Greening Grass

Not Quite News 2 Comments

I recieved this from dad a farmer who wishes to remain anonymous. It’s an interesting theory.

As a result of fifty years of farming in Saskatchewan I have come to the conclusion, as a result of observation and deduction, that the production of crops in the prairie provinces and particularly, Saskatchewan, absolutely depends on the emission of carbon dioxide gas from burning fossil fuels.
Every year about October the farmers of Saskatchewan put away their combines and tractors except for a few chore tractors and either go curling or to Texas or Arizona. There is no green grass growing in November or December. Nor, in January, February or March.
In April,as it is tax time and the curling is over,the farmers return to their farms, get out their tractors and begin to prepare the land and sow the crops.
In May, the tractors really start to roll and the crops, grass and trees start to green up at a phenomenal rate as a direct result of the plentiful emissions of CO2 produced by preparing the land and sowing the crops. The CO2� from the sprayers and haying machines adds to the total and the country is soon lush and green.
In July the seeding and haying machines are put away. As a result, CO2 levels begin to drop. By the end of August the crops start to turn brown, (some more dependent on CO2 earlier), and the farmers, in an effort to salvage the browning crops and replenish the CO2, get out their combines and go to work. But, it is too little to late and by the end of September – early October the crops are salvaged, but the country slowly turns brown again. So the farmers put away their tractors and combines, head to Arizona for a few months and the cycle repeats itself.
As the opponents of CO2 emissions would say,”anyone who questions these conclusions are bordering imbeciles, entirely unobservant or both.

Bush – Kerry

Political Animal No Comments

A story I picked up while in Fargo – and realized it’s not been mentioned elsewhere. The latest polls out in Minnesota (May 31), show Bush in a statistical dead heat with John Kerry in that state.
Minnesota hasn’t voted Republican in 30 years.

“Extremist” Abortion Views

Media 8 Comments

The media and pundits are leaning hot and hard on Harper in the past 24 hours, now that there seems to be more than a “good scare” looming for the preferred Liberals. The word “extremist” is getting thrown around, and breathless discussion of abortion law is swirling.
We should be working hard to point out what is happening. Fiamma Nirenstein, former Communist, human rights activist and Italian journalist;

“when you call a person a right-winger, this is the first step toward his or her delegitimization.”

The abortion debate is a classic example of the unresistable force of one person’s right to choose coming against the immovable object of the other person’s right to exist. There will never be an acceptable common ground for those on either side of the debate, so compromise is not possible.
Law has to choose one side or the other. In Canada, abortion is legal. But legality does not render a position “moderate”. There is no halfway position between life and death. Those who oppose abortion, and want to change abortion law through democratic channels are no less moderate or legitimate than those who want to retain the status quo. Yet, this is how they are characterized in the press and by the pro-choice advocates.
So, while I’m personally pro-choice, I cringe when I hear the pro-life position being described as “right wing” or “extremist”.
Jailing or stoning homosexuals is extremist. Executing people for having extra marital affairs is extremist. Flogging women because they do not cover their hair is extremist.
Being opposed to the taking of life for reasons of convenience is not extremist, nor is it right-wing. It is simply an opposing view, on an issue that has no middle ground.
When we hear the “extremist” meme in our media and from our politicians, we should be aware of what they are doing – it is an attempt to delegitimize that opposing view, so that they do not have to address the issue on its merits, or face the possibility that it is a majority viewpoint that may just prevail if subjected to the democratic process.

Baath Broadcasting Corporation

Media 1 Comment

Via Instapundit this article in the Statesman about the suppression of stories by the BBC;

Just before the war against Iraq I began to receive strange calls from BBC journalists. Would I like information on how the leadership of the anti-war movement had been taken over by the Socialist Workers Party? Maybe, I replied. It was depressing that a totalitarian party was in the saddle, but that’s where the SWP always tries to get. Why get excited?
Oh there are lots of reasons, said the BBC hacks. The anti-war movement wasn’t a simple repetition of the old story of the politically naive being led by the nose by sly operators. The far left was becoming the far right. It had gone as close to supporting Ba’athist fascism as it dared and had formed a working alliance with the Muslim Association of Britain, which, along with the usual misogyny and homophobia of such organisations, also believed that Muslims who decided that there was no God deserved to die for the crime of free thought. In a few weeks hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions, would allow themselves to be organised by the opponents of democracy and modernity and would march through the streets of London without a flicker of self-doubt. Wasn’t this a story?
It’s a great story, I cried. But why don’t you broadcast it?
We can’t, said the bitter hacks. Our editors won’t let us.

The rest is here.

Mad Saskatoon Ban

Gopher News 1 Comment
In May, a food ingredient company in the UK, J.O.Sims joined with German supplier Dinter Trading, to begin promoting a variety of premium berry and fruit products. One of them was the saskatoon – the small berry that grows on shrubs here, for which the city of Saskatoon (25 miles down the road from here) is named.

Food Navigator- In February this year J.O. Sims launched a new Canadian produced berry – the Saskatoon – onto the market marking a fresh revenue source for the 100-year-old UK company.
With an almond-cherry taste profile, and a member of the apple family, saskatoon berries are available in the UK for the first time after 10 years on Canadian supermarket shelves.
“This is a big opportunity for the food industry, particularly those working in bakery and beverages, and those looking for novel ingredients,” Jim McKee at the fruits ingredients company said to FoodNavigator.com.
The firm claims the almond-cherry flavour of the fruit gives manufacturers the advantage of providing a nutty flavour without having nuts in the factory.

A symbol of prairie culture and history, saskatoons are truly unique in flavour – the almond-cherry description is fairly accurate. They’re canned, baked into pies and crisps, turned into preserves. They were important food source for native Indians for thousands of years, as well as early settlers and farm families. Today, domestic varieties have been developed (larger but less flavourful than the wild berry) and there are a number of commercial orchards in the province. The Saskatoon Berry Barn here is a popular local and tourist attraction, and specializes in dishes based on the berry.
Then, Prairie Lane Ltd. decided to ask for a permit to export the berries from Canada to the UK. The saskatoon berry went before the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes in May.

CBC– Following through on a threat, Britain is pulling products made with saskatoon berries off store shelves, and other European countries could follow.
Saskatoon berries Britain’s Food Standards Agency says there’s not enough evidence the wild berry is safe to eat.

And odd that the J.O. Sims use of the berry didn’t spawn an investigation. Nor have they noticed the berries are now grown in Europe and are available in plant nurseries. Apparently, in the EU hysteria about genetically modified foods in Europe, the mere fact that the saskatoon is considered a “novel” food (anything not seen in Europe prior to 1997) has triggered the ban.
Bizarre.

Gagliano Dogs The Liberals

Political Animal 1 Comment

Former public works minister under Chretien, and former ambassador to “get him the hell out of here” Denmark Alfonso Gagliano has been implicated in another scandal alleging undocumented contract awards. This time it’s the Canadian Space Agency with missing millions.
Last week, Gagliano did something most people wouldn’t have expected – he filed a lawsuit for $4.5 million against Prime Minister Paul Martin and the Gov’t of Canada, for damage to his reputation.
Hmmmmm…. I wonder what he’s up to. Here’s a scenerio to consider – imagine a crowded courtroom, Galiano on the stand, testifying to a “chain of Liberal command” in the Adscam affair.
Blowing it all wide open, and on his terms.
I suspect that might just send some scurrying to find ways to keep that from happening. An out of court settlement? I’m no lawyer, but something tells me that prosecuting a former minister on criminal charges would be very difficult if he already had a civil settlement in hand.
“It would be irresponsible to spend taxpayers dollars on a lengthy and unproductive trial.”
And what better way to get even with Paul Martin, than to have that settlement in hand, or alternately, to bring a network of prominent Liberals down with him. Either way, the Martin Liberals lose. And if the gamble pays off, Gagliano might just walk away, giving Chretien his get out-of-Adscam-free card.
And revenge.

Canada’s Most Trusted Corporation

stuff 4 Comments

The Royal Bank of Canada, the largest financial institution in the country, is currently experiencing a temporary downtime of its nationwide computer system. A simple glitch that occured during a program update, they said. “All fixed by tomorrow!”.
That was 3 days ago.
So, I’m thinking I’ll be rushing in the door of my bank in a few days and screaming, “Betty! What happened to that $10K deposit I made Wednesday????”

Linkfest

Blogging No Comments

Pretty busy with work today. Plus, I mowed my lawn – again! Last year I mowed the lawn twice over the entire duration of the summer, due to the drought.
So a roundup of good links, from a variety of sources….
Bill Cosby and the Blogosphere – a good overview of how the media shuffled its feet and looked about nervously with hands in pockets, in response to Bill Cosby’s pointed remarks at an NAACP gala, and how the blogosphere has helped to keep it alive.
In response to a NYT op-ed Dr. Joyner deconstructs, yet again, the myth that there were no ties to terrorism in Saddam’s Iraq, and for a bonus, points out that the Saudis are slowly coming around to realize that they are in the white hot cross hairs of Al Qaeda.
New Jersey’s Division on Civil Rights privdes compelling evidence that Einstein’s theory of Stupidity was correct.
And if you only have time for one of these links, make it this one: America’s “Irresponsible” President Is the “Chief Culprit of this War”

Throwing Water On Michael Moore

Insufferable Twits 1 Comment

Roger Simon has a particularly good time with everyone’s favorite schlockumentarist.

Ray Bradbury’s original Fahrenheit 451, as we all know, was about book-burning. Maybe Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 is actually about pants-burning, as in “Liar, Liar, pants on fire!”

As is widely known, but virtually unreported, the Moore accusation that Bush family ties were to blame for the permission given for a planeful of Saudis to leave the US right after the attacks in September of 2001, has been rebutted by none other than former terrorism “czar” Richard Clarke.
Yes, the same Clarke that testified before the 911 commission, where he blamed the FBI. Clarke gave the approval for the flight’s departure and has confirmed that he was the highest ranking official involved.
Don’t expect this fact to have much effect on the drooling hordes who will form lines to suck up Moore’s mental pablum.

Politicians, Promises and Punishment

Political Animal 2 Comments

Andrew Coyne is back, but his blog doesn’t seem to work that well in Opera and even worse in Mozilla. But he had something to say today about the backtracking of Liberals on promise making, and the non-consequences of promise breaking.

Mr. McGuinty responded by suggesting he was not banking on Mr. Martin’s $9- billion health care plan — the centrepiece in his platform — as it was just “a campaign promise.” Mr. Martin raised the ante, insisting that a politician should only promise what he can do, and “whatever you say you’re going to do, do.” Stung, Mr. McGuinty chose this week to announce that he would bring in a bill setting fixed election dates, so that “never again will a premier have the ability to set election dates when it is politically opportune for the government.” Wait a minute: are you saying that Mr. Martin… ?
All hugely entertaining, as I say — almost as good as the debate between Jean Lapierre and Jean Lapierre. But not so much fun for Mr. Martin. Things had deteriorated to such a point that by week’s end the Prime Minister was forced to issue a new promise: that he would keep his promises. If he had not kept at least three of them within two years, he told reporters, he would resign. This raises all sorts of interesting epistemological questions. What does he do if he doesn’t keep that promise? Kill himself?

Mr. Coyne goes on to ask ” How do we hold politicians to their promises?”, and tosses around ideas for a “Truth In Politics” law.
Unfortunately, that would require politicians pass such a law. Absent a coup by Preston Manning, that’s unlikely in the extreme. But there is recall – which has the additional selling point of being flexible enough to remedy the incompetent and/or dishonest.
Or, failing that…

Support Our Troops

Military 2 Comments
I was in North Dakota for Memorial Day weekend. The first thing that struck me upon pulling into the first good sized town (Jamestown) was the high percentage of vehicles sporting this “ribbon”.

I thought of picking one up for my own truck, to make a statement about my support for the war in Iraq. Then I caught myself – after all, there are Canadians in Afghanistan.
Where are our ribbons?

Laci Peterson???

Media 4 Comments

Hundreds of women are murdered every year in the USA by their spouses. A significant percentage of those will be pregnant.
So, please, someone explain to me – why does the Scott Peterson trial merit any attention whatsoever outside of the Modesto, CA area? What can possibly be in the minds of the editors and news directors who choose this schlock to feed us day in and day out, at the expense of real news items?
You’ll notice, I have provided no link to any of the reports on the trial. It does not deserve one.

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