I would like to apologize too. For Global Warning.
Today, I watched and gave useless advice to a friend as he lay underneath my 1986 Dodge pickup (which averages 12 miles per gallon) as he used a jackknife to cut a hanging bracket to release a goodly portion of my exhaust system.
So, I guess I’m sorry about that.
But it’s not like it’s really loud or anything, so it will do for now. And it’s not nearly as bad as the bike.
Torture, And Taking Responsibility
Predictably, the calls for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation over the prison abuses in Iraq are beginning. Not everyone agrees.
It reminds me of an earlier incident in which prisoners were humiliated, abused, tortured and murdered. It occured in Somalia, and was committed by Belgians and Canadians, under the auspices of a UN Peacekeeping mission.
Kofi Annan was the Head of Peacekeeping for the UN. (1993 – 1997).
Can anyone recall if he was forced to resign? Oh, wait, no. He still had the Rwandan genocide to unattend to.
Well, we know how that quashed his career and all.
Reporters And Religion
There’s a genesis of a discussion beginning at the Shotgun over an article that asks Why Don’t Journalists Get Religion?
I think the premise is wrong. I think that journalists think they have it all nailed. They get religion just fine, thankyouverymuch. Nice religions have shaved heads, smiling non-judgementalism and celebrity endorsements. Or brown skin. You can be as judgemental as you wish if you have brown skin. It’s why Yassin stubbornly held onto his description as “spiritual leader” all through his years inciting terrorism and hatred, and why Al Sharpton is held to a different standard than Pat Robertson. Journalists also like victim religion, which goes a long way to explain why the deferencial, self effacing pedophile Woody Allen is pardoned while a naked Ariel Sharon is featured in political cartoons tearing the heads off of Palestinian babies with his teeth.
You don’t quite agree, do you? Well, let’s take a look at this fawning hero worship article in yesterday’s Toronto Star;
The Dalai Lama wrapped up more than ten days of public appearances in Toronto today by completing the initiation of thousands of devotees into the spiritual teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. About 7,000 people, including dozens of robe-clad monks, attended the ceremony marked by prayers, chants and teachings from the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Complete with quotes from the devoted;
Tina Petrova of Toronto, a practising Tibetan Buddhist, travelled to southern California in 1996 to take teachings from the Dalai Lama. Her reaction to seeing him in Toronto was summed up in one word: “Wow.”
“I mean just to be in his presence, he feels like an ocean of love and peace and grace,” she said. “He just instils in one a sense of deep calmness and serenity, and you can just feel his purity of heart.”
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In the final rite of the ceremony, the sand was to be poured into Lake Ontario, allowing “the perfect peace” of Buddhist philosophy “to flow with it into the everyday world.”
Today marked the final day of public appearances for the Dalai Lama, who arrived in Vancouver on April 17 for his first visit to Canada since 1993. In the two-and-a-half weeks since, he has become the first Tibetan spiritual leader in history officially welcomed by a Canadian prime minister, been honoured and entertained by several of the country’s luminaries and feted by celebrity devotees from south of the border, including Richard Gere and Goldie Hawn.
Now step back from this scene for a moment, and imagine a different one:
The American evangelist wrapped up more than ten days of public appearances in Toronto today by completing the initiation of thousands of born-again Christians. About 7,000 people attended the ceremony.
Tina Brown of Airdrie, a practising Baptist, travelled to Illinois in 1996 to take teachings from his institute. Her reaction to seeing him in Toronto was summed up in one word: “Wow.”
“I mean just to be in his presence, I feel the power of the Lord working through him.”
In the final half hour of the ceremony, on the shores of Lake Ontario, prayers were held that “the world will learn to live in harmony and peace” and to “preserve the lives of the unborn”.
Today marked the final day of public appearances for Billy Graham, who arrived in Calgary on April 17 for his first visit to Canada since 1993. In the two-and-a-half weeks since, he has welcomed by Leader of the Opposition, Stephen Harper, been honoured and entertained by congregations across Canada and feted by celebrity devotees from south of the border, including Mel Gibson.
Tell me, and be honest. Would such an article have been written without alluding to the “Passion violence/anti-semitism contraversy” or “right-wing conservatives” ?
Or would it have been covered from the perspective of the placard carrying pro-choice protestors and gay marriage advocates on the sidelines?
Could Stephen Harper even afford to be photographed with Billy Graham in an election run-up?
Kofi: The Heat Is On
Kofi Annan continues to stonewall about the growing Oil-For-Food scandal.
Stolen Artifacts From Iraq
It’s been a year since the Iraq National Museum was looted. The University of Chicago provides photographs of the stolen items.
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Do watch for them – the murky and unpredictable trade in stolen antiquities means these artifacts could show up virtually anywhere.
Added to the Traffic Jam
This Day In Parliament
Mr. Kenney, who has in the past boasted of his virginity, said the only business Mr. Gagliano conducted on the trip to Italy was to rub shoulders with Ms. Lollobrigida, whom he called an “aging sex kitten.”
Mr. Kenney’s mispronunciation of the famous actress’s name led to cat calls from the Liberal bench. Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe, who was born in Italy, even called Mr. Kenney an “idiot.”
Through howls of laughter, Mr. Kenney later apologized if he offended anyone in “the aging sex kitten community.”
Sheila Copps could not be reached for comment. Then of course, nobody tried.
Media Double Standard – Part 45,321
Observations about the reaction to the Vietnam Vets who denounced John Kerry yesterday;
Interesting, isn’t it, that the party membership of the swiftboaters is relevant, according to the left, but the activist group membership of the 9/11 families who slam Bush is completely irrelevent.
Genetic Diversity Meets The Darly Arabian
In stark rebuttal to the growing “genetic diversity” cult in animal breeding (a thinly-veiled and politically motivated animal rights attack on purebreds) a study into Thoroughbred pedigrees contradicts an accusation levelled at purebred dog breeders, especially show breeders – that “pedigree worship” and the overuse of popular sires and subsequent inbreeding to consciously concentrate the genes of specific dogs is responsible for a phenomenon called “bottlenecking” and a loss of genetic diversity.
What is bottlenecking? When one does extended pedigree research to discover all the animals in a population trace a great preponderance of their ancestry to a handful of ancestors, making them all highly inbred and closely related, no matter what the first 4 generations of a pedigree indicate for ancestors. For example, 10 generation pedigrees in my breed often produce COI – “coefficient of inbreeding” calculations exceeding 50% – mathematically indicating that the dog is more inbred than if it were produced by a father to daughter mating.
(A dog pedigree with COI shown – the “bottleneck” sire Ch.Sky Rocket’s Upswing will repeat dozens of times if you follow all of the lines back through the generations.)
The theory is that genetic bottlenecks are created of arbitrary decisions of breeders to inbreed for short term gain or simple “beauty traits” (making show breeders the convenient villains) and that the phenomenon can be prevented by intentionally low COI matings and selection for performance traits – argued to be highly complex and thus, destroyed by intense homozygosity (inbreeding).
The political aspect enters when the diversity cultists argue that breed organizations and governments prohibit breeders from using inbreeding as a methodology – this is already occuring in some European countries as the animal rights movement conquers old battlefields and goes looking for new ones.
Well, meet the Thoroughbred.
2003 Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide
Seldom closely inbred, the history of the high performance Thoroughbred is well known and documented. Stud books have been maintained for centuries. The breed was founded on three sires of the 17th century, the Darley Arabian, the Byerly Turk and the Godolphin Barb. Dna evidence has now confirmed what was already suspected by pedigree researchers;
According to a study published in The Irish Times on Dec. 13, 2001, “the Darley Arabian can lay claim to 95 percent of the paternal lineages.”
The Darley ArabianThe study, using DNA analysis, traced the lineage of a million British horses dating back two centuries, in the largest analysis of pedigrees made.
“The most striking thing is that we were able to confirm the dominance of the three most important founder stallions, but what is new is that one of them is responsible for 95 percent of all the male lineage,” said Patrick Cunningham, professor of animal genetics at Trinity College, where the study was conducted.
The role of performance selection has not prevented the bottleneck effect – indeed, it may have created it. When animals are chosen for breeding on the basis of highly specific traits, be they aesthetic or performance related, the sons of one sire will tend to outperform those of others and will gradually push out their lines.
Horse breeders did not know they were concentrating their lines to one sire to this extent, nor were they doing so intentionally. The theory of performance driven breeding should have resulted in a fairly even distribution of the three founding sires – instead, two lines are nearly extinct.
The phenomenon has been repeated in every species traced, including relatively “inbred” humans where it is thought that our gene pool passed through a prehistoric bottleneck of about 1000 ancestors and where Ghengis Khan has an estimated 16 million descendants.
Not that this suggests you should go cruising for chicks at the family reunion.
It Wasn’t The Address
This comes as no surprise. Not to anyone familiar with the problems in First Nations communities, and not to the Innu themselves. Ray, at Pol:Spy writes:
When the feds moved 680 people from Davis Inlet, where many were killing themselves after a life of gas-sniffing, alcohol abuse and violence, they spent an average of $223,529.00 per person on modern bungalows with heat and running water – something the Innu never had before.
Two years later, according to the CBC, the Innu are still abusing alcohol, and now marijuana (though less gasoline, likely because the pot is cheaper than the gas), and suicide is still a problem. But the Innu feared the problems would migrate with them, and they were right.
So how come the Innu could see this before the $152 million was spent and not the bureaucrats? With that kind of vision you would think they’d be the better bureaucrats. Or maybe not.
Here in the west, one of the most visible shortcomings of the Indian reserve system is played out year after year. Unlike the majority of urban Canadians who seldom see or drive through a reserve, many of us do on a regular basis. And it’s impossible to ignore that the “modern bungalows” built on reserves are too often vacant and uninhabitable in just a few years.
I live in a small, modest house that is around 100 years old. Though its seen only moderate upgrades (plumbing in the 50’s) it is still sound, square, the windows are unbroken, the doors on their hinges and I haven’t yet chainsawed a hole in an exteriior wall so cattle can drink out of the bathtub.
Of course, I paid for it myself. And I hold the title. Property on reserves is owned by the band. If it’s difficult to create respect for property (and self) among those who do not earn the money to pay for it, try cultivating it in people who have no hope of ever owning it.
Until we come to grips with the reality that racial entitlements breed beaurocratic corruption, stagnation, dependancy and lack of personal responsibility, there will be no end of Davis Inlets, suicide, unemployment and early death among First Nations people.
There has to be a better way to honour treaties than this current Canadian version of “separate but equal”.
Another Jewish Cemetery Vandalized
In what is beginning to seem like a weekly occurance, another Jewish cemetery is desecrated.
Police do not believe the overnight vandalism is linked to the recent fire-bombing of a Montreal- area Jewish elementary school.
Well, that may help explain why these crimes remain unsolved.
Council Of Canadians – Mailing Campaign
What does the Council Of Canadians know about genetically modified crops?
Nothing, of course.
But why let little things like the facts get in the way of left-wing stupidity?
Canadians upset that genetically modified wheat might one day find itself on their shelves now have a new way to vent their anger – – mail a slice of bread to Prime Minister Paul Martin.
I have a better idea.
As a few of the environmental benefits provided by GMO crops include reduced soil erosion and pesticide use, wrap up your empty herbicide container, or simply fill an envelope with dirt, and mail to:
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The Council of Canadians 502-151 Slater Street Ottawa, ON, K1P 5H3 Canada |
Investment Counselling
To my bank manager this morning during a review of my meagre investment portfolio;
“If I was interested in ‘high-risk, high-return’, Betty – I’d be selling crack.”
Baptism Under Fire
Baptized in battle.
hat tip – Debbye, an American in TO
Don Cherry Leads!
Updating the drive to nominate Don Cherry as Greatest Canadian Ever, for the sole purpose of sticking it to the CBC….. The Toronto Sun reports that he leads the way with 80% of the votes.
If you haven’t voted already…
John O’Neill With Jon Stewart?
After witnessing the bizarre behavior of Bob Kerrey and Air America’s mentally challenged Janeanne Garafalo on the moonbat parade that the Daily Show with Jon Stewart has become (last night a mention of Noam Chomsky drew wild audience applause that surprised even Stewart) , I’m tempted to email and suggest he have John O’Neill on as a guest.
Does Stewart – who has taken to ridiculing military losses in Iraq, while guffawing Chomsky admirers affirm his wit – have the balls to bring someone on his show who both served with and has openly challenged the fitness of John F. Kerry to serve as Commander In Chief?
I suspect not.
But, I think this would be a worthy internet challenge to mount. Email the Daily Show here.
Update: – Oh, dear…..
Nuts And Bolts of UNSCAM
For those Canadian readers who aren’t familiar with the scandal finally being dragged into the light of day, involving UN complicity and exploitation of the Iraq Oil-For-Food debacle, this article outlines it quite neatly.
The short version of the Oil-for-Food scandal is that the U.N. let Saddam Hussein draw up his own rules, contacts, and business deals. Then U.N. then did all it could to either cover up the transactions and accounts, or worse, allow Hussein to operate without any real supervision at all. The program, whose intentions were supposed to be humanitarian, ended up empowering Saddam Hussein with both money and influence while the U.N. was paid a handsome commission by Saddam to ‘supervise’.
This past weekend I mentioned it to a number of my friends. They did not know there is a scandal at all. Not surprising with the low priority it’s recieved on the pro-UN Canadian airwaves.
With such a lucrative scheme at stake three members of the U.N. Security Council — Russia, France, and China — asked only that the program be expanded. So how did it work and why was it so lucrative to these nations?
Rosett, writing this time in Commentary magazine, says, “It worked like this. Saddam would sell at below-market prices to his hand- picked customers — the Russians and the French were special favorites — and they could then sell the oil to third parties at a fat profit. Part of this profit they would keep, part they would kick back to Saddam as a ‘surcharge,’ paid into bank accounts outside the UN program, in violation of UN sanctions.”
Spirit Of America
(moving this back to the top for the final day)
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ll know about the fund raising effort at Spirit Of America.
I Want One
For those of you wondering how you can show your appreciation for the work I do to entertain and educate … today I’ve begun my wish list.
Starting with this.
Don’t worry about shipping – I’ll go pick it up. (It’s in Ontario.)
Hat tip: Rick’s Miscellany
Saskatchewan Gov’t In Fake Dirt Scandal
Breaking News
March 29, 2004, Small Dead Animals brought you this story:
Today, under pressure from the Opposition, the Saskatchewan Government admitted that the souvenir bags advertised did not contain pure lake bottom goose shit soil, but were in fact, cut with sand trucked from outside the city.
Property Management Corp. Minister Deb Higgins explained that the bags were filled with sand that was used during the lake deepening.
Dirt directly from the lake bed could not be used because there was too much decaying goose excrement and alluvium in it. It was also rather mucky and hard to put into the bags.
This reminder – the next time the government promises to give out free shit – not only is it not free, it may not be the shit you thought you were getting…
Added to the Beltway Traffic Jam.
In A Poll Just Released
In an unimpeachably impartial and fair newly released poll (of Canadians wearing “I hate Bush” t-shirts?), only 14 per cent of those surveyed said they believe George Bush understands or cares about Canada.
In a poll fabricated on the same day, George Bush unanimously affirmed that he doesn’t understand or give a crap about Canada.