Tatterhead

World War II Through Todays Eyes

2006-05-15T20:55:00.000-02:30

VDH is one of my favourite guys and as usual he nails it.
I find the leftoid view of reality rather dispicable and to give you a taste:

The Present Debacle

May 21, 1945 — After the debacles of February and March at Iwo Jima, and now the ongoing quagmire on Okinawa, we are asked to accept recent losses that are reaching 20,000 dead brave American soldiers and yet another 50,000 wounded in these near criminally incompetent campaigns euphemistically dubbed “island hopping.”

Meanwhile, we are no closer to victory over Japan. Instead, we are hearing of secret plans of invasion of the Japanese mainland slated for 1946 or even 1947 that may well make Okinawa seem like a cake walk and cost us a million casualties and perhaps involve a half-century of occupation. The extent of the current Kamikaze threat, once written off as the work of a “bunch of dead-enders,” was totally unforeseen, even though such suicidal zealots are in the process of inflicting the worst casualties on the U.S. Navy in its entire history.

Worse still, our sources in the intelligence community speak of a billion-dollar boondoggle now underway in the American southwest. This improbable “super-weapon” (with the patently absurd name “Manhattan Project” — in the midst of a desert no less!) promises in one fell swoop to erase our mistakes and give us instant deliverance from our blunders — no concern, of course, for the thousands of innocents who would be vaporized if such a monstrous fantasy bomb were ever actually to work.

Really sounds like the New York Times view of Iraq with the date/time group changed.

go here to read the whole piece.

I nods to CJ.

Cool Dude

2006-04-27T10:39:00.001-02:30

With guys like Michael Burghardt in Iraq the scumbag Islamofascists will be overcome. This guy has what it takes in spades.

The Hand of a Hero
By Lowell Ponte
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 27, 2006

Last September 19 Sergeant Michael Burghardt was on his third tour of duty in

Iraq

. He is one of those young men with the military in his DNA. His father had come home from

Vietnam

with a Bronze Star and a body paralyzed from the waist down; he had to teach Michael to play football from a wheelchair. Michael joined the Marines right out of high school. He is now a veteran Gunnery Sergeant with almost 18 years’ experience, including 15 years in bomb disposal. During his second tour he too had been awarded the Bronze Star for disabling an astonishing 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance.

Earlier on this day he had signed up for another three months of duty, then went about his business in the wild Tammim neighborhood in a western corner of Ramadi, a Sunni Triangle city of 400,000 west of Fallujah on the main road to Syria. Less than one Iraqi in five is a Sunni Muslim, but Saddam Hussein and his Baathist Party elite were Sunnis. Many in this tribal city were enraged at those who toppled an Iraqi dictatorship that favored them.

Burghardt regarded Ramadi as “the scariest place on Earth.”

Four American soldiers had just been ambushed and killed there, and Sergeant Burghardt, part of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team supporting the 2^nd Brigade 28^th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania Army National Guard), was ordered to help sweep the area for the kind of secondary explosives the Islamist terrorists often planted to kill soldiers reacting to a first bomb or ambush.

Along the area’s evacuation route, Burghardt noticed an odd piece of shrapnel in an eight-foot wide crater five feet deep. He jumped into the hole wearing only a flak jacket and helmet, not the bulky protective suit designed for those in bomb disposal. “You can’t react to any sniper fire” in that suit, he told a reporter, “and you get tunnel vision.”

The terrorist bombs, he knew, had been getting bigger. In 2005 one destroyed a 25-ton amphibious assault vehicle, killing 14 of his fellow Marines. IEDs in his time in Iraq had evolved from primitive bombs into cleverly-concealed, sophisticated shaped-charge explosives that can be detonated by a variety of remote-control techniques, including the infrared beams used by Irish Republican Army terrorists in south Armagh and by Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists based in Lebanon and Syria. The fixings and technology behind such bombs increasingly appear to come from Syria and Iran, now rushing to devise its own nuclear weapons.

“Pink mist” is how Burghardt and his fellow bomb defusers describe what they turn into if they make a mistake. Five EOD team members Burghardt worked with had been blown to bits by such bombs, one of them only three weeks earlier. “It’s a vague science,” he later said of bomb disposal. “Some art, some guesswork and some luck. Explosives do weird things. Sometimes they kill you. Sometimes they just blow you out of a hole. But we’re beating the insurgents. We’re getting to them so much that they’re targeting us. I take that as a compliment.”

Inside the crater Burghardt pulled out the trusty Shrade 7 inch knife that he had carried since 1994 and began probing the ground. Suddenly he saw a glint of telltale orange plastic covering a Senao base station. He quickly cut the wire leading from it, his hand following it to uncover two buried 122 millimeter cannon shells that had been rigged to explode.

Burghardt patted his head, a signal to nearby soldiers that he had found a bomb. A captain grabbed press photographer Jeff Bundy of the Omaha World-Herald and pushed him down out of harm’s way.

What Burghardt saw too late was another wire leading between his legs to a third such cannon shell. A distant terrorist, probably watching through binoculars, triggered it by remote control. The explosion hurled Sargeant Burghardt’s body 10 feet into the air. His limp frame came smashing down, face first, on the roadway.

As fellow soldiers rushed toward the limp body of Sargeant Burghardt, whom they knew as “Iron Mike,” he was awake. While still in the air, he had thought “I don’t believe they got me” and was already feeling “ticked off they were able to do it.”

After hitting the ground, Burghardt was unable to feel anything from the waist down. “I was lying there thinking I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad,” Burghardt remembered, “and for him to see me like that.”

Around his body, his fellow soldiers looked down at his shredded uniform. After the gigantic explosion, they were amazed he still had legs and was clearly alive. They quickly began cutting off what remained of his pants.

“I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down,” the Sargeant remembered. “Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, ‘Good, I’m in business.”

Medics arrived with a stretcher, but Burghardt had other ideas.

“I decided to walk to the helicopter,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher.”

And he wanted to send a message to the cowardly terrorist still probably watching from afar. He stood, then raised a one-fingered salute of defiance toward this bomb and all insurgents.

The press photographer Bundy snapped a picture of Burghardt’s bold gesture, and his image would soon speed around the world via patriotic web sites and be posted on thousands of American walls, bulletin boards and refrigerators.

But back in Omaha, a debate raged among Bundy’s editors. “We questioned whether to print the picture because we are a family newspaper,” said the World-Herald’s Iraq reporter C. David Kotok. But in the end the photograph ran on its front page.

Sergeant Michael Burghardt suffered injuries in this bomb blast, mostly from scrapnel in his legs and posterior. He described the three weeks it took him to recover and return to duty as among the longest of his life. “I don’t want a ticket out,” he said when told that his wounds might send him home. “I want to stay here so we can take as many people home as possible. I’ll do 30 years, as long as I’m having fun. Unless I die.”

I nods to Nealenews.

Dissident President

2006-04-24T23:37:00.000-02:30

I can only add that I agree totally with Natan and feel nothing but contempt for those who would sacrifice their childrens future to further their hatred of President Bush.

Dissident President
George W. Bush has the courage to speak out for freedom.

BY NATAN SHARANSKY
Monday, April 24, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

There are two distinct marks of a dissident. First, dissidents are fired by ideas and stay true to them no matter the consequences. Second, they generally believe that betraying those ideas would constitute the greatest of moral failures. Give up, they say to themselves, and evil will triumph. Stand firm, and they can give hope to others and help change the world.

Political leaders make the rarest of dissidents. In a democracy, a leader's lifeline is the electorate's pulse. Failure to be in tune with public sentiment can cripple any administration and undermine any political agenda. Moreover, democratic leaders, for whom compromise is critical to effective governance, hardly ever see any issue in Manichaean terms. In their world, nearly everything is colored in shades of gray.

That is why President George W. Bush is such an exception. He is a man fired by a deep belief in the universal appeal of freedom, its transformative power, and its critical connection to international peace and stability. Even the fiercest critics of these ideas would surely admit that Mr. Bush has championed them both before and after his re-election, both when he was riding high in the polls and now that his popularity has plummeted, when criticism has come from longstanding opponents and from erstwhile supporters.

With a dogged determination that any dissident can appreciate, Mr. Bush, faced with overwhelming opposition, stands his ideological ground, motivated in large measure by what appears to be a refusal to countenance moral failure.

I myself have not been uncritical of Mr. Bush. Like my teacher, Andrei Sakharov, I agree with the president that promoting democracy is critical for international security. But I believe that too much focus has been placed on holding quick elections, while too little attention has been paid to help build free societies by protecting those freedoms--of conscience, speech, press, religion, etc.--that lie at democracy's core.

I believe that such a mistaken approach is one of the reasons why a terrorist organization such as Hamas could come to power through ostensibly democratic means in a Palestinian society long ruled by fear and intimidation.

I also believe that not enough effort has been made to turn the policy of promoting democracy into a bipartisan effort. The enemies of freedom must know that the commitment of the world's lone superpower to help expand freedom beyond its borders will not depend on the results of the next election.

Just as success in winning past global conflicts depended on forging a broad coalition that stretched across party and ideological lines, success in using the advance of democracy to win the war on terror will depend on building and maintaining a wide consensus of support.

Yet despite these criticisms, I recognize that I have the luxury of criticizing Mr. Bush's democracy agenda only because there is a democracy agenda in the first place. A policy that for years had been nothing more than the esoteric subject of occasional academic debate is now the focal point of American statecraft.

For decades, a "realism" based on a myopic perception of international stability prevailed in the policy-making debate. For a brief period during the Cold War, the realist policy of accommodating Soviet tyranny was replaced with a policy that confronted that tyranny and made democracy and human rights inside the Soviet Union a litmus test for superpower relations.

The enormous success of such a policy in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end did not stop most policy makers from continuing to advocate an approach to international stability that was based on coddling "friendly" dictators and refusing to support the aspirations of oppressed peoples to be free.

Then came Sept. 11, 2001. It seemed as though that horrific day had made it clear that the price for supporting "friendly" dictators throughout the Middle East was the creation of the world's largest breeding ground of terrorism. A new political course had to be charted.

Today, we are in the midst of a great struggle between the forces of terror and the forces of freedom. The greatest weapon that the free world possesses in this struggle is the awesome power of its ideas.

The Bush Doctrine, based on a recognition of the dangers posed by non-democratic regimes and on committing the United States to support the advance of democracy, offers hope to many dissident voices struggling to bring democracy to their own countries. The democratic earthquake it has helped unleash, even with all the dangers its tremors entail, offers the promise of a more peaceful world.

Yet with each passing day, new voices are added to the chorus of that doctrine's opponents, and the circle of its supporters grows ever smaller.

Critics rail against every step on the new and difficult road on which the United States has embarked. Yet in pointing out the many pitfalls which have not been avoided and those which still can be, those critics would be wise to remember that the alternative road leads to the continued oppression of hundreds of millions of people and the continued festering of the pathologies that led to 9/11.

Now that President Bush is increasingly alone in pushing for freedom, I can only hope that his dissident spirit will continue to persevere. For should that spirit break, evil will indeed triumph, and the consequences for our world would be disastrous.

Mr. Sharansky spent nine years as a political prisoner in the Soviet Gulag. A former deputy prime minister of Israel and currently a member of the Knesset, he is co-author, with Ron Dermer, of "The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror" (PublicAffairs, 2004). You can buy "The Case For Democracy" at the OpinionJournal bookstore here.

I nods to the WSJ.

Unions

2006-04-24T10:27:00.000-02:30

The summer of 64 was when I helped build The Iron ore plant in Wabush, Labrador. It is also the summer I learned all about unions. Since that summer I have despised those thugs. This leads to what the BC teachers union is doing to one of their teachers who had the gall to not commit an illegal act. Read about an honest woman who is standing up for integrity. Margaret Christopherson is not taking the crap from the union and the outcome maybe precedent setting.

I nods to SDA.

Sedition

2006-04-04T20:07:00.000-02:30

I have many, many stories about the Anglo/Franko problem in Canada and every single one of them speaks volumes about the vicious, diabolical, underhanded and immoral behavior of the separatist faction in Quebec. The worst part is the willing acquiescence of a substantial portion of the sycophantic political milieu who we can easily term "The Appeasers."
It seems to mirror the Islam/Anglosphere confrontation in some respects.
The latest in the great Canuckistan wars is the publishing of a book that is being used in grade schools to promote Quebec sovereignty:

On Wednesday, the Council for Quebec Sovereignty -- a group initially formed with grant money from the Parti Quebecois (PQ) -- launched a pro-sovereignty textbook designed to help teachers indoctrinate Quebec students against federalism.

Happily, the book is so extreme and blatant in its efforts to propagandize (one proposed music exercise includes a song called Canada Is Not My Country, and one illustration shows a Quebec flag flying above a Canadian flag that has been torn in two) that both the PQ and the CSQ (Quebec's largest teachers' union) have said that they do not want to see it used in classrooms.

PQ leader Andre Boisclair quite rightly declared of the schoolbook: "This work cannot and must not be considered pedagogical material intended for children," while CSQ union president Rejean Parent insisted member teachers would not take part in such a "brainwashing operation."

It is nonetheless disturbing that the council itself is so firmly committed to pushing such propaganda on Quebec students, and that the book's publisher is hopeful enough about demand for the agitprop, titled Parlons de souverainte a l'ecole ("Let's Talk About Sovereignty at School"), that it is printing 11,000 copies.

The council and the book's publisher, Les Intouchables, have every right to produce their advertisement for separation. That right does not explain, however, why two levels of government appear to have used taxpayer money to fund the pro-sovereignty exercise: At the beginning of Let's Talk About Sovereignty, Les Intouchables thanks both the Canadian Arts Council and Ottawa's Book Publishing Industry Development Program for their support of the company.

Books are generally subjective works about which reasonable people can disagree (a common problem with government arts funding), but in this case, there is simply no excuse: Ottawa should not be funding a book that asks kids to calculate how many more novels they could buy at $15 each if they got rid of the pesky and pricey governor-general, whom they claim costs the residents of Quebec $9.4-million annually. We can think of no greater insult to add to the injury of the textbook's publication than Canadians' having footed part of the bill.

Â© National Post 2006

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More Grist

2006-04-02T20:25:00.000-02:30

Slowly but surely more folks are coming to the conclusion that this Islam thing is far more than was thought at first. The sad part is that it took so long. Part of the reason is the pathetic attitude of the self-righteous do-gooders and the overwhelming liberal ideas of diversity and inclusiveitely and the Rodney King theory of get-alongitis. The cartoon caper, thank heaven was the wake-up call and we owe the Danes a debt of gratitude for having to bare the brunt of the first soldiers in.
Lets look at a few situations going on out there.

A Catholic priest in Belgium has been suspended by his bishop for saying the following:

"Every thoroughly islamized Muslim child that is born in Europe is a time bomb for Western children in the future. The latter will be persecuted when they have become a minority."

Father Samuel has been also brought to trial for hate crimes for the above statement.
Sam fled Turkey because of Islamic persecution.

Look at more unbelievable details here and here a great site! Here .

Not a wimpy looking guy!

Now lets look at Mark Steyn in the Sun-Times where he says that many Muslims are hot for jihad.
Mark is, as usual, on the mark, pun intended:

"If I had to propose a model for Western rhetoric, it would be the Australians. In the days after Sept. 11, the French got all the attention for that Le Monde headline -- "Nous sommes tous Americains" -- "We are all Americans," though they didn't mean it, even then. But John Howard, the Aussie prime minister, put it better and kept his word: "This is no time to be an 80 percent ally."

Marvelous. More recently, the prime minister offered some thoughts on the difference between Muslims and other immigrant groups. "You can't find any equivalent in Italian or Greek or Lebanese or Chinese or Baltic immigration to Australia. There is no equivalent of raving on about jihad," he said, stating the obvious in a way most political leaders can't quite bring themselves to do. "There is really not much point in pretending it doesn't exist."

Unfortunately, too many of his counterparts insist on pretending (at least to their citizenry) that it doesn't exist. What proportion of Western Muslims is hot for jihad? Five percent? Ten, 12 percent? Given that understanding this Pan-Islamist identity is critical to defeating it, why can't we acknowledge it honestly? "Raving on about jihad" is a line that meets what the law used to regard as the reasonable-man test: If you're watching news footage of a Muslim march promising to bring on the new Holocaust, John Howard's line fits."

Read it all here.

There is almost too much Islamic intransigence going on in the world to keep up with and the most damming evidence is the Imams around the world who vilify honest folk who speak out about terrorist attacks. When The leaders of the religion of peace equate terrorists with their faith you know they are part of the problem.

Wake up folks!

Information Overload

2006-04-02T09:55:00.000-02:30

"Those librarian blogerati have done it again: they've just discovered 'The Cure for Information Overload'. It's a very elegant formula if you ask me, with obvious SRU/SRW applications, and maybe even TLA ramifications. I'm not sure about all of the conclusions, but it sure is an interesting theory."

I nods to Agent Clauswitz.

Ghastly Implications

2006-03-31T14:15:00.000-03:30

Mark Steyn's piece is so good that I am going to put up the whole thing.

Will we stick our necks out for his faith?

By MARK STEYN

Fate conspires to remind us what this war is reallyabout: civilizational confidence. And so history repeats itself: first the farce of the Danish cartoons, and now the tragedy - a man on trial for his life in post-Taliban Afghanistan because he has committed the crime of converting to Christianity.

The cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were deeply offensive to Muslims, and so thousands protested around the world in the usual restrained manner - rioting, torching, killing, etc.

The impending execution of Abdul Rahman for embracing Christianity is, of course, offensive to Westerners, and so around the world we reacted equally violently by issuing blood-curdling threats like that made by State Department spokesman Sean McCormack: "Freedom of worship is an important element of any democracy," he said. "And these are issues as Afghan democracy matures that they are going to have to deal with increasingly."

The immediate problem for Abdul Rahman is whether he'll get the chance to "mature" along with Afghan democracy. The president, the Canadian prime minister and the Australian prime minister have all made statements of concern about his fate, and it seems clear that Afghanistan's dapper leader, Hamid Karzai, would like to resolve this issue before his fledgling democracy gets a reputation as just another barbarous Islamist sewer state. There's talk of various artful compromises, such as Rahman being declared unfit to stand trial by reason of insanity on the grounds that (I'm no Islamic jurist so I'm paraphrasing here) anyone who converts from Islam to Christianity must, ipso facto, be nuts.

On the other hand, this "moderate" compromise solution is being rejected by leading theologians. "We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man must die," says Abdul Raoulf of the nation's principal Muslim body, the Afghan Ulama Council. "Cut off his head! We will call on the people to pull him into pieces so there's nothing left." Needless to say, Imam Raoulf is one of Afghanistan's leading "moderate" clerics.

For what it's worth, I'm with the Afghan Ulama Council in objecting to the insanity defense. It's not enough for Abdul Rahman to get off on a technicality. Afghanistan is supposed to be "the good war," the one even the French supported, albeit notionally and mostly retrospectively. Karzai is kept alive by a bodyguard of foreigners. The fragile Afghan state is protected by American, British, Canadian, Australian, Italian and other troops, hundreds of whom have died. You cannot ask Americans or Britons to expend blood and treasure to build a society in which a man can be executed for his choice of religion. You cannot tell a Canadian soldier serving in Kandahar that he, as a Christian, must sacrifice his life to create a Muslim state in which his faith is a capital offense.

As always, we come back to the words of Osama bin Laden: "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse." That's really the only issue: The Islamists know our side have tanks and planes, but they have will and faith, and they reckon in a long struggle that's the better bet. Most prominent Western leaders sound way too eager to climb into the weak-horse suit and audition to play the rear end. Consider, for example, the words of the Prince of Wales, speaking a few days ago at al-Azhar University in Cairo, which makes the average Ivy League nuthouse look like a beacon of sanity. Anyway, this is what His Royal Highness had to say to 800 Islamic "scholars":

"The recent ghastly strife and anger over the Danish cartoons shows the danger that comes of our failure to listen and to respect what is precious and sacred to others. In my view, the true mark of a civilized society is the respect it pays to minorities and to strangers."

That's correct. But the reality is that our society pays enormous respect to minorities - President Bush holds a monthlong Ramadan-a-ding-dong at the White House every year. The immediate reaction to the slaughter of 9/11 by Western leaders everywhere was to visit a mosque to demonstrate their great respect for Islam. One party to this dispute is respectful to a fault: after all, to describe the violence perpetrated by Muslims over the Danish cartoons as the "recent ghastly strife" barely passes muster as effete Brit toff understatement.

Unfortunately, what's "precious and sacred" to Islam is its institutional contempt for others. In his book "Islam And The West," Bernard Lewis writes, "The primary duty of the Muslim as set forth not once but many times in the Quran is 'to command good and forbid evil.' It is not enough to do good and refrain from evil as a personal choice. It is incumbent upon Muslims also to command and forbid." Or as the Canadian columnist David Warren put it: "We take it for granted that it is wrong to kill someone for his religious beliefs. Whereas Islam holds it is wrong not to kill him." In that sense, those imams are right, and Karzai's attempts to finesse the issue are, sharia-wise, wrong.

I can understand why the president and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would rather deal with this through back channels, private assurances from their Afghan counterparts, etc. But the public rhetoric is critical, too. At some point we have to face down a culture in which not only the mob in the street but the highest judges and academics talk like crazies. Abdul Rahman embodies the question at the heart of this struggle: If Islam is a religion one can only convert to, not from, then in the long run it is a threat to every free person on the planet.

What can we do? Should governments with troops in Afghanistan pass joint emergency legislation conferring their citizenship on this poor man and declaring him, as much as Karzai, under their protection?

In a more culturally confident age, the British in India were faced with the practice of "suttee" - the tradition of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Gen. Sir Charles Napier was impeccably multicultural:

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks, and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

India today is better off without suttee. If we shrink from the logic of that, then in Afghanistan and many places far closer to home the implications are, as the Prince of Wales would say, "ghastly."

I nods to the Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill.

McLuhan's Massage

2006-03-29T10:58:00.000-03:30

Marshall must be laughing his ass off on the other side and brandishing heavenly high fives for all. If only he were here to view the spectacle, it would make his life. In the span of only a few days two exalted guru's of the mystical media have removed all doubt and sealed the coffin on what honest folk have known all along. The media's total contempt for the truth supports a cancerous ego that prevents an honest reporting of facts. Not only that but it supports the fact that Dan Rather's "Fake but accurate" mantra is systemic.
On Monday the editor in chief of CBC news, Tony Berman, punched out an article titled "Thanks, Mr. Loney. Just don't read the news." Tony was contemptuous of the folks who found much fault with the pacifists in general and Loney in particular and consider him, as I do, a useful fool. Our Mr. Berman pays homage to Loney and his ilk and in the process lays this bomb on us:

"....It coincided with some of the main conclusions of a major study the CBC has conducted about what Canadians "want" and "need" from their news media.

According to this study, more Canadians than ever feel that news shouldn't be a passive process. It should stimulate action and engagement, and help connect Canadians with the major challenges of our times."

There you have it. It's not the news he wants to give us, it's his interpretation of the news that's important. He thinks we are fools and that his twisted value ethic is superior to that of the citizens of Canada. The man is bonkers, totally out of it. They must be smoking really strong stuff at CBC headquarters. Read the whole piece of trash here.

There is small wonder that there are many of us out here who would like to see the CBC abolished. The waste of taxpayers hard earned money is well known and to have to pay for being visually and verbally assaulted is the last straw.
Richard Evans at Canuckistan Chronicles posts an open letter to PMSN to eliminate all public funding for the CBC and it's a good one.

Round two, surprise, is not something completely different.

Larry Zolf penned a piece yesterday that reminds me of Col. Jessep in "A Few Good Men." You know the scene where Lt. Kaffee tricks Jessep to blurt out, "You're damn right I did." Well, our man, PNSH, just hoisted Zolf and I love it so.
Zolf said:

"Harper's treatment of the media is that of an ingrate. The media made Harper. The media also first made Trudeau and Mulroney. Later, the media made both Trudeau and Mulroney and their parties suffer at the polls.
A similar fate awaits Harper if he doesn't change his basic suspicion and hatred of reporters and news commentators."

The arrogance is palpable and we can visualize the drooling salivava splashing on his keyboard as he pounds out his hatred for the man on the Hill. Read his whole diatribe here.

Two days, two loonies. To quote Maggie Muggins, "I don't know what will happen tomorrow!"

I nods to SDA.

Life Imitates The Onion, Again!

2006-03-28T19:14:00.000-03:30

Actually it's worse than that, it's Monty Pythonesque and it would be hilarious except that literally, billions of lives are involved. Yup, that was illions with a B.

I am no fan of the UN, yah, I know our very own Dufus Pearson came up with the "Peacekeeping" force idea and every Canadian can now be assured that there will be no more wars, only Canadians keeping peace around the world. Cue a rousing rendition of "We are the World," while I puke.

Are you ready for this?

The IAEA, that's the International Atomic Energy Agency, Director-General, Mohamed ELBaradei spoke at a conference of German dentists.... Woah you say! He spoke where? Well it was in Karlsruhe, right where the Rhine takes a big left turn and where I used to have some fun many, many years ago, but that's another story.
The head of the IAEA goes to a dentists convention in Germany and says:

"The title of my talk is 'Putting Teeth in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Regime.'

Blows my mind! What's even worse is that the speech is nothing but bullshit. Mo blathers on about his five measures and then abdicates responsibility. He is part of the problem. The IAEA has no teeth, pardon the pun, in this case and he knows it. I would dearly love to know the real reason for Mo to travel to Germany to address a dentist conference. It doesn't make sense. I suspect he needed an excuse to go purchase some piece of art or antique piece of furniture and this was the cover.

As I said the UN is a total waste of time, energy and money. All the UN accomplishes is to give a legitimate platform for petty dictators, despots and thugs to throw grit into the wheels of progress.

The fact that the IAEA D-G is named Mohamed is of no consequence either, right? Naaaaaah!

I nods to the unknown blogger.

Today Tehran, Tomorrow The World

2006-03-28T11:16:00.000-03:30

The old adage that history repeats itself has a modicum of truth to it. Granted, the exact reincarnation of events never transpires but the human methodologies can be viewed down through the portals of time with eerie similarities. If you recall the opening scene in "2001, A Space odyssey," you will remember that the suggested beginning of technological advancement began with the use of an animal's jaw bone as a weapon of human destruction. The capability for mass human destruction is now a fact of life and as I have posited for many decades now, the definition of peace is the interval between two wars. Such statements drive the believers in "peace" at all costs into paroxysms of flying spittle.

The hard and irrevocable truth of life is that peace has to be fought for, it doesn't just happen because we want it to. The sad fact is that there are those who want what we have and have no compunction about destroying everyone and everything that gets in their way. Because we neglected to stop Hitler before he was powerful enough to devastate much of Europe and kill untold millions we are to blame, at least our forefathers were. That same situation exists today only the stakes are much higher, instead of millions who could die it will be billions and we cannot afford to take that chance.

Charles Krauthammer has an excellent piece on the subject:

"Our planet is 4,500,000,000 years old, and we've had nukes for exactly 61. No one knows the precise prospects for human extinction,......."

Read the whole thing here if it's the only thing you read this week.

I nods to the Maverick Philosophe r.

Update: Dennis Prager weighs in. He believes that the threat is greater than the German and Soviet threats were.

Update II: Ex-Mossad chief believes we are on the eve of WWIII.

The Dufus of Wales

2006-03-27T20:02:00.000-03:30

The picture says it all. If you want more visit the Sandmonkey.

Sigh!!!!!!

The phony Pacifists

2006-03-27T10:41:00.000-03:30

I have noted in an earlier post what I thought of the CPT and Melanie Phillips really lets them have it in today's Daily Mail:

"They appear to be outraged only by the violence on one side Â and it is always their own side. Thus they were welcomed by Saddam Hussein when they presented themselves in Iraq as human shields against the invasion. Now the targets of their campaign in Iraq are the coalition soldiers against whom they draw up inventories of allegations of abuse -- which in turn foment further violence that claims the lives of coalition soldiers and Iraqis alike.

In a devastating put-down, IraqÂs embassy to Canada has lashed out at the Peacemakers, calling them Âphony pacifistsÂ, Âwilfully ignorantÂ and Âdupes for jihadism and fascismÂ, and accusing them of being on the side of the anti-democratic forces in Iraq.

But pacifist anti-western prejudice has an older pedigree. In 1945, George Orwell wrote: ÂPacifist propaganda usually boils down to saying that one side is as bad as the other; but if one looks closely at the writing of the younger intellectual pacifists, one finds that they do not by any means express impartial disapproval but are directed almost entirely against Britain and the United StatesÂ."

Read the whole pithy story here.

I notice Debris Trail over at CJ has a point of view on the story too.

Update: Peter Worthington, in the Sun takes a shot at the CPT also.

Jane Fonda, We Are Holding Your Seat!

2006-03-21T19:47:00.000-03:30

One slimeball Georgia senator, that's Georgia USA not the original, decided he would sycophantically suck up to Jane Fonda. That would be Steen Miles (D-Decatur) that means he is a Demorat from De kater not like it looks in French.
Old Steen-O introduced a resolution to honour Jane for her community work especially her role as founder and chairwoman of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. This was only one of hundreds of resolutions that pass through the Georgia senate every year but Senator John Douglas suddenly realized that Resolution 1189 was a slap in the face to the veterans of America said, "Woah."
slimy Steen tried to withdraw his resolution but Douglas pushed for a vote.
Guess what?
Defeated 38 to 1.
Some days there is justice.
Visit Douglas' site here and read the story from a real American's point of view.
To quote Patton, "I love it so."

And then from Iraq we have the following, thanks to the grouchy old cripple.

There are days when you just feel really good about being right!

Chinese Blogger in Jail

2006-03-21T08:28:00.000-03:30

Blogger Hao Wu who has a site known as Beijing or Bust has been incarcerated in

China

and there is no news of what has happened to him or the charges other than the State has acknowledged that he has been detained and he has spoken briefly with his family. He was picked up on Feb. 22nd by the Security Bureau and suspicion is that the authorities want to use Hao's videos to prosecute underground churches. More info at The Peking Duck and here.

I have sent a letter to the Chinese embassy in Ottawa and invite you to do the same. Here is the addy.
chinaemb_ca@mfa.gov.cn

The ambassador is H.E. Lu Shumin
Snail mail 515 St. Patrick Street, Ottawa, Ont. K1N 5H3

For Americans the embassy in Washington is here.

I nods to Instapundit.

So You Love "Free" Medical Care

2006-03-19T13:06:00.000-03:30

The debate about medical care in Canada has been raging for years and shows no sign of letting up. The National socialist Party love the single tier system while at the other end Libertarians would have it scrapped. I go for scraping the whole thing but I am not so naive as to believe it is possible under current conditions. What I find most distressing is the adamant desire to stifle freedom of choice and in actual fact seeking private care is illegal in most places. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the government runs that is efficient. The total control of the medical system is a social and financial disaster and getting worse. The horror stories abound and to demonstrate just how bad it will get we only have to look to England who have had the National Health Service for much much longer than we have.
There is a Dr. John Crippen who keeps a diary and you will find it hard to believe what passes as the practice of medicine in Jolly old England these days. To give you a taste, if you can stomach it:

"At the end of the surgery, a deputation of district nurses arrive to discuss an elderly paraplegic patient. He was admitted to hospital three weeks ago with chest pain. The pain turned out not to be cardiac. The nursing care whilst he was in hospital was appalling. He was on Dixon ward. The hoist was not working so they could not get him out of bed as they should. He was transferred to a side room. This is more private that the general ward, but so private that even the nurses do not go in there. He was once left on the commode for four hours as they forgot about him.
He went in with some sacral redness, but came out with a Grade IV pressure sore around his sacrum. The nurses are so disgusted, they have photographed it.

Grade IV Sacral Bed Sore
(Wikipedia classification here)

The hospital sent him home. They sent him home on a Friday evening. Home in a worse state that he went in. They sent him home to his eighty year old wife with one of the worst pressure sores I have seen in years. He has now developed intractable diarrhoea, and it coats the pressure sore. He needs round the clock intensive nursing therapy, including being turned regularly. We cannot do this at home. They cannot do it in hospital it seems either. The nurses are too busy eating pizza or pretending to be doctors."

The above is only the tip of the iceberg and Dr. Crippen is only one man and his diary is damming of a nationalized program that is totally corrupt. The contempt for patients is criminal and the overwhelming bureaucratic red tape nightmare insures that the problem will only get worse. If you think it can't happen here you can only have an IQ not much larger than your waist size.

Read D. Crippen's journal yourself and weep.

I nods to Silent Running.

What is a Moderate Muslim?

2006-03-18T16:18:00.000-03:30

I was linked to The Pink Flamingo by LGF and he answers the question thusly:

Scalia of course is brilliant. But still this quote struck me as even more brilliant than usual. Can you imagine taking this out of the context he meant it and applying it to say....Islam?
Scalia Rails Against the 'Judge-Moralist'"What is a moderate interpretation of (the Constitution)? Halfway between what it says and halfway between what you want it to say?"
So what is a moderate Muslim, someone who is halfway between what the Koran says and what we infidels want it to say?

I am just asking the question and the reason is the comment left by Rockin' Hejabi
on my Lord Jello piece. It seems to me that a great many Muslims defend valid criticisms of extreme Muslims instead of censuring them. CAIR and their Canadian counterpart are fine examples of groups that seem as dedicated to defending radicals as it is to fostering inter faith and social issues. CAIR calls itself a "civil rights" organization but in reality it is anything but. Why would a civil rights org. call for a probe into the U.S. foreign relations vis a vis the Israeli prison attack? CAIR has been called a shady and disgusting organization by Christopher Hitchens who was a co-plaintiff in a case concerning NSA wiretaps.
There is a wealth of information here that will remove all doubt about what CAIR is all about. The list is long and the references are irrefutable. It appears that so called "moderate" Muslims are attacking the wrong targets or perhaps they are not really "moderate" at all!

The Night He Became An American

2006-03-16T14:01:00.000-03:30

Over the years I have run into people, figuratively, although on one occasion quite literally who no matter what you said or tried to convey, could not change their convictions of who you should be based on preconceived notions. It doesn't bother me anymore but I do confess that at first I found it hard to fathom. While I am not a social philosopher I do believe the effect of the last fifty years of biased and vicious journalism especially European and middle Eastern has painted a very slanted and derogatory picture of America and Americans and by implication Canadians.
The author Lee Harris recounts how he came to terms with who he really is in a piece titled "The Night I Became An American." While on the night train from Innsbruck to Vienna."

"I was an American, and, therefore, I had to be the kind of person who, when in a strange land, would make a bee-line to the closest McDonald's, out of fear of tasting the food of foreigners."

It's a great story and the Guy de Maupassant ending is sublime.

I nods to TCS Daily.

Lord Jello

2006-03-15T12:38:00.000-03:30

As those who follow my pontificatory gems of wisdom know, I have been laying it on the editor of the Telegram for not publishing the "Cartoons." I send him bon mots on a regular basis and today the great Mark Steyn had a doosie in the Western Standard that was, as Jimmy Durante would say, "apropos to de occasion." Mark castigated the media with his usual biting satire. Here are a few of the great lines:

"Many parties have behaved wretchedly in these last few weeks--European commissioners, the British foreign secretary, the U.S. State Department, significant chunks of the incoming Canadian cabinet, the dead-again Christians who lead the United Church of Canada--but the western media have managed to produce a uniquely creepy synthesis of craven capitulation and self-serving pomposity."

How about:

"Or as Philip Lee, professor of journalism at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, put it: "Freedom of the press means you can publish, or not. Not publishing is also an expression of freedom." Up to a point, Lord Jello. That's a valid position if you're the editor of, say, the Ottawa Citizen and some fellow mails you some cartoons about Mohammed and you say, "Interesting idea, old boy. Unfortunately, not quite our bag." But that's no longer tenable when the cartoons themselves are the story. Then it's not even simple news judgment; it's the headline and you've no choice in the matter. "

And:

"Anyone who's spent any time in the Muslim world cannot help but be struck by its profound ignorance. The famous United Nations statistic from a 2002 report--more books are translated into Spanish in a single year than have been translated into Arabic in the last thousand--suggests at the very minimum an extraordinarily closed society, which in turn explains its stunted political development "

Great stuff:

"Meanwhile, we prattle on about "moderate Muslims," telling ourselves that the "vast majority" of Muslims aren't terrorists, don't support terrorists, etc. Okay, why don't we hear from them then?
Because they live in communities where the ideological bullies set the pace, where the price of speaking out is too high, and so they find it easier to say nothing, keep their heads down. And why would we expect them to do any differently when the mighty BBC and CNN do the same? If there is such a thing as a "moderate Muslim," he's surely thinking, "Well, if the CBC and the Toronto Star have to knuckle under to the imams, there's no point me tossing in my two bits."

That should tease you to go read the whole piece in the Standard. A subscription is required but it's free. The Western Standard should be patronized because it was the only one to post the "Cartoons."

I nods to Damian.

Fighting Militant Islam

2006-03-14T21:14:00.000-03:30

I have been reading the works of Daniel Pipes for a long time and I think that he is one sharp cookie. He has a perspective that is accurate and unbiased. His arguments are cogent and proffered with measured analysis. It is hard to refute his conclusions based on step by step linking of irrefutable evidence.
In November of 2001 Daniel said, much to the consternation of those apologists for Islam as the religion of peace:

"Apologists would tell us that Islamism is a distortion of Islam, or even that it has nothing to do with Islam, but that is not true; it emerges out of the religion, while taking features of it to a conclusion so extreme, so radical, and so megalomaniacal as to constitute something new. It adapts an age-old faith to the political requirements of our day, sharing some key premises of the earlier totalitarianisms, fascism and Marxism-Leninism. It is an Islamic-flavored version of radical utopianism. Individual Islamists may appear law-abiding and reasonable, but they are part of a totalitarian movement, and as such, all must be considered potential killers."

Read the whole piece here. Pipes has been vilified in many publications and on numerous radio and TV programs since he wrote those words

Now we find his analysis is spot on and has given everyone who has an IQ higher than their waist measurement, pause for sober reflection. The case of Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar at the University of North Carolina has vindicated what Daniel said almost five years ago.

Read this:

"Until his would-be murderous rampage, Taheri-azar, a philosophy and psychology major, had an apparently normal existence and promising future. In high school, he had been student council president and a member of the National Honor Society. A number of UNC students told the Los Angeles Times that he Âwas a serious student, shy but friendly.Â One fellow student, Brian Copeland, Âwas impressed with his knowledge of classical Western thought, adding ÂHe was kind and gentle, rather than aggressive and violent.Â The university chancellor, James Moeser, called him a good student, if Âtotally a loner, introverted and into himself.Â

Pipes complete analysis of " Sudden Jihad Syndrome" makes compelling reading.

It's not cartoons folks, it's your ass that's on the line so take your diversity and shove it up the ass that fits.

I nods to Michelle.

Blather On, You're Cut Off!

2006-03-14T20:40:00.000-03:30

We all know about the forged Texas Air national Guard documents that Dan Blather tried to foist on us and his 2 ic Mary Mapes who is, unbelievably, still on the lecture circuit trying to convince idiotarians that the fakes were real! Well old Dan showed up in Cherry Hill, that's in South Joisy not Manuels, and proceeded to lecture about "Tough questions and the follow-up." Taking Dano at his word, our man in the street asked a tough question and when he got a disingenuous response he went for the follow-up at which time his mic was cut off. Beautiful, just John F-ing Kerry Beautiful! Sad part is if he had dealt with the question there and then the rest of the world would not now what a weasel he really is. Read all about Jim Walsh's head on with the Danster here.

I nods to that lesser Captain.

So You're Queer, You'll Get Over It!

2006-03-14T20:21:00.000-03:30

It's a week late I know but I never said I had a deadline to meet and my public can handle it. You're a tough lot.
When Brokeback Mountain failed to produce the expected clean sweep at the Oscars there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth and the usual suspects went looking for villains which was most laughable. God old Colby Cosh put it into perspective better than anyone I have read. He said:

"I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, but some things are simply defenceless against mockery, and judging from the Oscar-night clips, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal's clenched-faced declarations of undying love are among them. Mainstream culture has now accepted homosexuality, but it's still an ironic acceptance: the stock phrase is the Seinfeldian "...not that there's anything wrong with that." In a strange way, the diversitarian modern outlook perhaps guarantees that gay (or unconvincingly bisexual) men can never expect "orientation-blindness" the way that racial minorities once pleaded for "colour-blindness"; we embrace gays as different but valuable, even precious. Indeed, it is almost a matter of "the gayer, the better."

It would probably be a poorer world if gay males were merely equal in capacity and similar in aspirations to the rest of us--and it would be difficult to account for high gay incomes and gay cultural leadership. (It can even be argued that extralegal relations between the races must be revised, in the long run, in favour of "different but valuable" as a more realistic, tenable, and virtuous goal than "equal in every regard.") Barring the triumph of a truly "orientation-blind" approach, gay men--relieved of the burdens of social persecution and legal proscription--will continue to pay the same modest price for being different that the obese and the aged do, or indeed that both sexes pay for being different from one another. And texts that argue for the "normalcy" of gay love and sexual life will fail to convince--and, in failing to convince, will make us giggle."

There is nothing I could possibly add to that.

And Now For Something completely Different

2006-03-14T19:56:00.000-03:30

Any Monty Python fans out there? Well, here is a little something from 1975 that was just unearthed. An interview with four of the fab snakes in of all places, Dallas Texas on KERA which is a PBS affiliate. They had just finished "The Holy Grail" and were on their way across the States. Ya gotta love the hair and Graham Chapman is soused as usual.

I nods to Colby.

Are You Honest with Yourself?

2006-03-12T21:26:00.000-03:30

I want you to read the following which was posted last year by The Amazing Wonderdog. It really fits in with one of my earlier posts but for now carry on:

On minority rights

Political progressives share a concern for minority rights. It is not legitimate, in the progressive view, for a majority to impose its cultural assumptions on a minority. We expect that minorities should be free to enjoy and express their own culture, and we value learning about other cultures. Or so we like to think.

What is culture? We take it for granted that an Indian fishing for salmon in BC or spearing walleye in Ontario is not only gathering food, but expressing his culture. It is unquestioned, in the progressive view, that he is not only fishing, but expressing fundamental ideas about his relationship to the river, to the fish, and to the Earth. Fishing is part of his culture.

Take, then, a man whose Anglo-Irish family came to Canada around 1800, who parks his nice, shiny SUV and walks down to the river in $400 Gore-Tex waders and $200 felt-soled wading boots. He fishes using a $1000 graphite fly rod and a $60 plastic-coated line for fish that, before the late nineteenth century, were not even found in these waters. And he's not even fishing for food. He's going to let them all go, every last one. He's just doing it just for fun.

He's probably a fucking banker, too.

Is sport fishing an expression of his "culture?"

Answer carefully. Bear in mind that the earliest known English language work on fishing, The Treatise of Fishing with an Angle (late 14th, early 15th century) deals not only with how to fish, but with the spiritual side of fishing:

Salomon in hys paraboles seith that a glad spirit maket a flowryng age -- That ys to sey, a feyr age & a longe. And sith hyt ys so, j aske this questyon, "Wyche bynne the menys & cause to reduse a man to a mery spryte?" Truly, vn-to my sympul discrescon, it semyth me, good & honest dysportes and games in wyche a mans hert joythe with-owt any repentans.

In other words, sport is good for your heart and soul, because it is good clean fun. Those are the opening sentences of the Treatise. The whole point of the thing is that fishing is good for your soul, not that fish taste good when you fry them with butter and onions. The Treatise is not only the first English book on fishing; it's also the first English book on fishing for sport.

That same thread is taken up by Izaak Walton in The Compleat Angler (1653). The Compleat Angler is not only a handy instruction book for the 17th century fisherman, but an argument for fishing as a form of sport (in its original sense of "recreation") and as a spiritual refuge. Some read it, in fact, as a religious allegory. It's often said that the three most-reprinted books in English are The Holy Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and The Compleat Angler.

Now, let's return to the fly-fisherman I earlier encouraged you to sneer at. Did you notice that he is fishing with a hand-tied fly, a fly that reflects his mastery of the centuries-old craft of fly-tying? Did you see that he's fishing in early December, by a perversely unproductive method? Were you aware that he probably won't even see a fish today, much less catch one? And did you, puzzled, ask him why he was there?

Of course you didn't, because I'm a manipulative bastard, and I didn't tell you those things.

But now that you know that what he's doing involves a centuries-old literature, a complex craft, and an ineffable spiritual component that puts our banker out on the river when he has almost no chance of catching anything but a bad cold, does your view of his "culture" change?

It should, for he's expressing fundamental ideas about his relationship to the river, the fish, and the Earth, not to mention the value of tradition, and the virtue of hard work and perseverance. And his, like almost all "cultures," is a minority culture. He represents, at best, about 10 percent of Canadians.

This brings me, dear reader, neatly to a point on which I now intend to skewer you: amidst the reactions to Paul Martin's proposed handgun ban, there are obviously a wide range of opinions, and all of them are honest, save one.

That's the idea that there is no reason to own a gun in Canada.

This idea is an assumption that the rights -- to free expression, for almost everything we do expresses something -- of a small minority of Canadians are unimportant. Not only that, it dismisses the ideas and the culture of those Canadians out of hand, with no effort to understand them. (And please, if you say this is not a cultural question, I hope you've never let the words "gun culture" pass your lips.) Canadians who own guns clearly have their reasons. Do you understand them?

Chances are, the people who say this have based their ideas of gun owners upon stereotypes, just as I encouraged you to do with my fly-fishing banker.

We have a word for people who think that way. We call them bigots.

Argue, if you will, that a handgun ban will be an effective public safety measure. But don't argue that the rights of gun owners can be dismissed by a single sentence: "There's no reason to own a gun in this country."

-----
P.S. to forestall some obvious comments: I do not own, and have never owned, any firearms. And although Canadian gun owners do not have the right to keep and bear arms, they do have a broad right to continue to live their lives freely within the law, and to do as they please, which is inherent in the very notion of a "free" society.

Amen brother!

Soooooooooooooooooo did he get you? If yes, you deserved it and need to go to critical thinking school and come back when you finish and tell us all about it.
The Most important lesson to be learned from the above is that a vast majority of Canadians have been hoodwinked by the left wing fanatics who have convinced the common folk that they don't know how to think for themselves and the Libranos know what's best for you. Down in the States the fight to maintain the right to keep and bear arms is constantly under attack. The Left wants to not only take our arms away but everything else also. The fight to remain free is one of eternal vigilance. We must fight tooth and nail to keep the bureaucrats off our backs.

I nods to Babbling Brooks.

A Life For A Cartoon Is Not A Fair Trade

2006-03-12T15:26:00.000-03:30

Most have heard about Mohammed Al-Asaid who was arrested in Yemen for publishing the "Cartoons." There is a global movement to put pressure on Yemen and others. You can do your part by sending an e-mail to moyen-orient2@rsf.org.
Every little bit helps. Remember: for evil to succeed all it takes is for good men to do nothing.

I nods to Arabian Dissent.

The gospel according to Bart

2006-03-11T20:51:00.000-03:30

Bart has a very interesting story and I recognize it only too well. I have been down the path of total dedication and then the blinders came off, the rosy hue depleted from the glasses and then the hypocrisy and blatant need for power pushed me over the edge. I know the mental struggle and the sudden realization and then the understanding that I wasted so much time and energy. Free at last had a whole new meaning for me and I have not looked back since. Read about Bart and you will get the picture. Perhaps I will have a little rant about the Irish Christian Brothers one day soon. I do have a little knowledge of them. They taught me for eleven years and except for one year it was hell. Read all about Bart here.

I nods to Dean

Ars Brevis

2006-03-11T16:26:00.000-03:30

This is cool.

Tom Fox, What a Waste

2006-03-11T15:46:00.000-03:30

By now everyone has learned that Tom Fox's body was found beaten and bullet ridden in a suburb of Baghdad. He was a member of a nutjob group called Christian Peacemaker Teams whose aim is to try to talk and protest the conflicts in a number of places around the world. The single biggest flaw in their modus operandi is they blame all sides in a conflict so they protest the Israelis with more vigor because the Israelis don't murder them as the Palestinians do. I find the CPT to be a contemptible organization because by getting in the way they put our people at risk. They don't even have the guts to publish on their website that Tom was murdered, they just say he died! Unbelievable! So I wrote them a letter:

"You people disgust me! One of your own is tortured and brutally murdered and all you can say is," The death of our beloved colleague and friend pierces us with pain. Tom FoxÂs body was found in Baghdad yesterday. "

THE DEATH???? He didn't pass peacefully away in his sleep, you morons!

His murder was needless. You people sent him to his death, granted he went willingly but your beliefs have no sway against evil terrorists and others who place no value on life. You people just don't get it. What irritates me most about you whackos is that by getting in the way you actually put other peoples lives at risk and for that reason I consider you hypocrites and enablers. The enemies of freedom are fired by what to them is the lunacy of the West when they view your actions. Your fanaticism is counterproductive to stamping out terrorism. May you all rot in hell for your misguided zeal."

But how do I really feel, you ask?

I nods to Michelle.

Update: Here is another example of the hypocracy of the CPT and here.

Milovesic is Gone

2006-03-11T00:34:00.000-03:30

Found dead in his cell. The autopsy will tell if he robbed the executioner and The Sandmonkey had this to say:

"Here is something that I just thought of: Does it ever strike you as odd that the muslim world hates Bush more than he does Milosevic and Saddam? I mean, the first engaged in a massive genocide against muslims (and was stopped by the US and Nato forces), and the other attacked Iran, Kuwait and Saudi, murderd thousands of their people, let alone killing thousands of Kurds and Shia's. But who does the average arab/muslim hate? Bush.

How does this work again? Does anyone know?"

Check out the comments here.

Gutless Rabble

2006-03-10T22:43:00.000-03:30

I was directed to a Rabble forum by RC and the gist was that Our folks in Washingchuck had no business putting up a website that "glorifies war."
Soooooooooo I went over toRabble and threw out a few verbs and boy did the shit hit the fan. It was fun until I was unceremoniously dumped. It only proved my point about freedoms. Sad sad sad.

Update:
slave has communicated to me that they published the above. The interesting thing is that while they called me a troll. I provided chapter and verse and the response was "fuck off." The issues I raised were not dealt with in any real way. Most of those moonbats would argue "free speech" up the ying yang but only if it agrees with their way and they cannot deal with the real world except for one nut from Iowa who would come here and shoot Americans if they invaded. Think about that. He wants to leave his home country and for some obscure reason conjures up a scenario of the U.S invading Canada and then fighting to the last to defend Canada. OH, the sauce on this cake is the Canadian who considers him a fine soldier and would consider it an honour to soldier beside him. Yah, to the nearest bar and bullshit about all the great things they could do together, (cue wizard of Oz music) If I only had a brain.

John Kerry has some plants out there and maybe that's the real invasion of Canada. Scary thought!

With George in India

2006-03-09T13:03:00.000-03:30

The recent visit of POTUS to India and the subsequent nuclear agreement has caused many pundits to throw a few verbs into the ring. One piece caught my eye because I am into "The Anglosphere Challenge" by James C. bennett. The piece at Albionn's Seedlings makes a few very good points that have gone largely unnoticed in the west. For instance;

And in fact the Anglosphere, plus Japan and Israel, is gradually emerging as an informal U.S. alliance system that often works better than the formal NATO one. In this new world alliance India is a junior partner to nobody except the U.S. And the more India is seen as a dominant power in an Anglosphere alliance rather than a subordinate one in a purely U.S.-India alliance, the more easily India will shed its nostalgia for its days of Third World leadership.

Read it all here.

De Nile is not only a river in Egypt

2006-03-08T21:10:00.000-03:30

I was linking from Normblog and hit upon Terry Glavin's site and as I read some of the comments I became stupified because of the following:

My thoughts and prayers go to Trevor Greene, his family, his friends. What happened to him is terrible, tragic, totally unwarranted, inexcusable. All violent acts perpetrated by human beings upon each other are terrible, needless, inexcusable. That said, I am against the war, because of it being a "war", whereas 'peacekeeping' should be that: 'keeping the peace', and 'promoting peace' by truly humanitarian actions. A family friend's son is also in Afghanistan. He too believes he is helping, and making a genuine difference. I honestly don't know.. My problem is with the bellicosity of people like Hillier who want to "kill the scum", and such statements that echo those of Bush & Company. Large numbers of armed soldiers--regardless of how well-intentioned they may be--look like occupation forces to the afghanies, rather than peacekeepers, especially if they are aligned with the U.S., who is seen as the 'big bully' since its invasion of Iraq. (Perhaps if the U.S. withdrew from there altogether, NATO peacekeeping could begin in earnest without the U.S. who are perceived as 'occupiers'.)? Maybe I am naive, but I feel that peace can be achieved only by peaceful, diplomatic means. "Democracy" (or any kind of regime-change) must come to a country from within, not foisted arbitrarily at gunpoint (and bombs) from outside, by another nation. The Afghanis have been under foreign occupation for decades upon decades. Is it possible that they've finally had enough? Is it not up to them to decide the fate of their country? If indeed it is as lawless as I've read from many reports, is our presence making any positive difference? Sure the Ambassador will say he wants the troops to stay. It is to the benefit of some people, no doubt. But is that what the majority of afghanies really want? Having lived through a terrible revolution in my mother country as a little girl, I had personally witnessed death and destruction. Because of that, war has left an indelible wound on my psyche, and since then, I abhor wars of any nature, for any reason. Still, I do not consider myself a pseudo-leftist or partisan of any particular party. If I am to be labelled, I guess it would be as being a progressive humanist. I just wish someone could give me an honest, believable reason for this war in Afghanistan. From all that I read, the Taliban is still in control everywhere with the exception of a few cities, and the opium trade is flourishing better than ever. This, how many years after the U.S. invasion?
The comments were made by Annamarie Deneen, a published and erstwhile literary figure.

So..................... I said:

You posted on Terry Glavin's blog the other day a very pointed elucidation of what seems an inner conflict that tears at you from within. You express sincere condolences to Trevor Greene'’s family and expanded on your inner revulsion for such needless loss. You say:

“My thoughts and prayers go to Trevor Greene, his family, his friends.
What happened to him is terrible, tragic, totally unwarranted, inexcusable.
All violent acts perpetrated by human beings upon each other are terrible, needless, inexcusable.
That said, I am against the war, because of it being a "war", whereas 'peacekeeping' should be that: 'keeping the peace', and 'promoting peace' by truly humanitarian actions.
A family friend's son is also in Afghanistan. He too believes he is helping, and making a genuine difference. I honestly don't know..

Well, maybe we can communicate but I doubt it. The fact that you said,

“I honestly don'’t know.

Gives me a window, unless you are only saying that to pretend that you really are looking at all sides of the equation. Your writings give me the impression that you are a blind idealistic peacenik I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you don'’t really know.

Sincerely, I find it really hard to understand that you, if I am to believe what you have posited as your genesis, that being a victim of the eastern European desecration of humanity now want to give in to what-ever totalitarian scum who would snuff you in an instant, just so you can rise above the fray and say, “I was pure,” I did not raise my hand to my fellow man!

Maybe I am naive, but I feel that peace can be achieved only by peaceful, diplomatic means.”Democracy" (or any kind of regime-change) must come to a country from within, not foisted arbitrarily at gunpoint (and bombs) from outside, by another nation.”

No you are not naive. You are an Idiotarian. You are a useful idiot! You and your ilk are responsible for millions of unnecessary deaths in the world and yet you espouse a useless and totally ridiculous mantra. There are hundreds of thousands of dedicated nut jobs out there who would like nothing better than to torture, rape and then kill you in the most brutal manner you could ever imagine.

What boggles the mind is that you profess that we can negotiate, talk, reason, and come to an understanding or whatever with these brutal bastards. You are NUTS.

So, by your own standards, when we liberated Paris from the Nazis, we did wrong? And the Parisians euphoria was a sham?

Your idealism is not to be commended. You are a pathetic and sad individual who has for whatever reason shirked her responsibilities as an honest citizen of Canada and capitulated to a cowardly agenda of appeasement.

You want an honest and believable reason for being in Afstan? Let me give you one!

An oppressed people who cry for help need support.

Are you so calloused that you don'’t know what the Taliban did to women in Afghanistan?

Have you not seen the clandestine videos of the butchery of women in the Olympic stadium?

Are you nuts?

You disgust me!

You portend to be a woman of letters and in reality you are a disgraceful shill and enabler for any petty dictator who would enslave his people.

I hate to say it but it needs to be said. You are a gutless woman. Your peace crap is just that, “shit." I cannot fathom how anyone who is being targeted for extinction can just sit there and say"“Ok, bring it on, I won'’t stop you, in fact, I will enable you"

You say:

"My problem is with the bellicosity of people like Hillier who want to "kill the scum", and such statements that echo those of Bush & Company"

What'’s your problem with killing the “scum" that have no compunction about killing you because you are not on his band wagon?

Again, are you nuts?

You say:

"Large numbers of armed soldiers--regardless of how well-intentioned they may be--look like occupation forces to the Afghanis, rather than peacekeepers, especially if they are aligned with the U.S., who is seen as the 'big bully' since its invasion of Iraq.
(Perhaps if the U.S. withdrew from there altogether, NATO peacekeeping could begin in earnest without the U.S. who are perceived as 'occupiers'.)? "

You make no sense whatsoever! Afghanistan was forcibly taken over by a bunch of nut jobs. The people couldn'’t even open their mouths without being shot. WE liberated them! We are helping them get their self esteem back. We are helping them keep out the outsiders who would enslave them AGAIN! They are organizing their own government with our help. You need to really listen to some of the people who have come forward and said what our intervention has meant to the common folk.

Your obsequious pandering to folks like St. Noam gives the lie to your real agenda as pathetic as it is. Please spare us the odd pandering effusive,”But I care” platitudes.

You couldn't care less! It’s your “I don'’t care if everyone on earth is butchered but I didn'’t lift a hand so you can'’t blame me,” attitude that really defines you.

You remind me of those poor disillusioned Jews who, as they were marching to the gas chambers of Auschwitz were heard to say," We'll be ok as long as we don't upset them."

” She has a blog which only, after a cursory inspection reveals her modus operandi, is pure kumbya krap.

I believe that this woman really believes what she espouses as being the only way to go. Too bad she hasn't spent a few months in Saudi Arabia or a host of other countries I could name. As I said before," naive" no! Idiot, yes!

I nods to Terry Glavin.

Internet in, TV out

2006-03-08T11:26:00.000-03:30

If you are reading this there is a very good chance that this comes as no big surprise.

"A survey conducted on behalf of the search engine found that the average Briton spends around 164 minutes online every day, compared with 148 minutes watching television. That is equivalent to 41 days a year spent surfing the web: more than almost any other activity apart from sleeping and working."

I nods to Shuggy.

Manifesto

2006-03-01T12:27:00.000-03:30

At last! The outspoken have called a spade exactly what it is. Enough of the PC olagenous and saponatious doublespeak. The reign of terror that dare not be named has now been screamed from the minarets of freedom and identified for what it is. Let us see how the so called bastions of freedom in the form of the MSM will handle it. I will do my part.

MANIFESTO:

Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

Presentations:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, from somilian origin, is member of Dutch parliement, member of the liberal party VVD. Writter of the film Submission which caused the assasination of Theo Van Gogh by an islamist in november 2004, she lives under police protection.

Chahla Chafiq
Chahla Chafiq, writer from iranian origin, exiled in France is a novelist and an essayist. She’s the author of "Le nouvel homme islamiste , la prison politique en Iran " (2002). She also wrote novels such as "Chemins et brouillard" (2005).

Caroline Fourest
Essayist, editor in chief of Prochoix (a review who defend liberties against dogmatic and integrist ideologies), author of several reference books on « laicité » and fanatism : Tirs Croisés : la laïcité à l’épreuve des intégrismes juif, chrétien et musulman (with Fiammetta Venner), Frère Tariq : discours, stratégie et méthode de Tariq Ramadan, et la Tentation obscurantiste (Grasset, 2005). She receieved the National prize of laicité in 2005.

Bernard-Henri Lévy
French philosoph, born in Algeria, engaged against all the XXth century « ism » (Fascism, antisemitism, totalitarism, terrorism), he is the author of La Barbarie à visage humain, L’Idéologie française, La Pureté dangereuse, and more recently American Vertigo.

Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji is a Fellow at Yale University and the internationally best-selling author of "The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith" (en francais: "Musulmane Mais Libre"). She speaks out for free expression based on the Koran itself. Née en Ouganda, elle a fui ce pays avec sa famille musulmane d’origine indienne à l’âge de quatre ans et vit maintenant au Canada, où ses émissions et ses livres connaissent un énorme succès.

Mehdi Mozaffari
Mehdi Mozaffari, professor from iranian origin and exiled in Denmark, is the author of several articles and books on islam and islamism such as : Authority in Islam: From Muhammad to Khomeini, Fatwa: Violence and Discourtesy and Glaobalization and Civilizations.

Maryam Namazie
Writer, TV International English producer; Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran’s International Relations; and 2005 winner of the National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year award.

Taslima Nasreen
Taslima Nasreen is born in Bangladesh. Doctor, her positions defending women and minorities brought her in trouble with a comittee of integrist called « Destroy Taslima » and to be persecuted as « apostate »

Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie is the author of nine novels, including Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses and, most recently, Shalimar the Clown. He has received many literary awards, including the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, Germany’s Author of the Year Award, the European Union’s Aristeion Prize, the Budapest Grand Prize for Literature, the Premio Mantova, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature. He is a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres, an Honorary Professor in the Humanities at M.I.T., and the president of PEN American Center. His books have been translated into over 40 languages.

Philippe Val
Director of publication of Charlie Hebdo (Leftwing french newspaper who have republished the cartoons on the prophet Muhammad by solidarity with the danish citizens targeted by islamists).

Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq , author notably of Why I am Not a Muslim ; Leaving Islam : Apostates Speak Out ; and The Origins of the Koran , is at present Research Fellow at a New York Institute conducting philological and historical research into the Origins of Islam and its Holy Book.

Antoine Sfeir
Born in Lebanon, christian, Antoine Sfeir choosed french nationality to live in an universalist and « laïc » (real secular) country. He is the director of Les cahiers de l’Orient and has published several reference books on islamism such as Les réseaux d’Allah (2001) et Liberté, égalité, Islam : la République face au communautarisme (2005).

I nods to Agora and Instapundit

Curling

2006-02-26T20:29:00.000-03:30

Curling is not my sport although I have played the game in many venues from Newfoundland to Alberta. I do have a familiarity with the nuances and I am most proud of our boy Brad. I didn't post anything because I figured most bloggers would have verbiaged the story to death. Upon checking the blogging tories blog I hit on an entry by a Dr. Roy Eappen which I was most impressed. He said:

Newfoundland

I was very pleased the Men's Curling Team won a gold medal in Torino. Brad Gunshue and most of the team are from Newfoundland. I know nothing about curling. I know a little about Newfoundland. The few times I have been to Newfoundland, I have found the people of Newfoundland to be a joy. They were unfailingly friendly and helpful. If I stood on a corner for a few minutes several people would come up and ask if I needed assistance. In national terms they give the most to charity and were the first to step up to help the families of stranded Americans after 9/11. One of the reasons I am proud to be a Canadian is that there are Newfoundlanders who are my fellow citizens. I am truly glad for these kind gentle hardworking people and celebrate with them in this time of national joy.

Patriotic Songs

Ode to Newfoundland

The words of "The Ode to Newfoundland" were written by His Excellency Sir Cavendish Boyle, K.C.M.G., who was Governor of Newfoundland from 1901 to 1904. On November 8, 1902, the Ode was set to music composed by Professor E.R. Krippner and was officially adopted as the Newfoundland anthem. On May 20, 1904, the present musical setting, which was composed by Sir Hubert Parry, Bart, was officially substituted for the Krippner setting. On August 17, 1979, Royal Assent was given to legislation adopting the Ode to Newfoundland as the official provincial anthem of the province of Newfoundland.

When sun rays crown thy pine clad hills,
And summer spreads her hand,
When silvern voices tune thy rills,
We love thee, smiling land.
Refrain
We love thee, we love thee,
We love thee, smiling land.

As loved our fathers, so we love,
Where once they stood, we stand;
Their prayer we raise to Heaven above,
God guard thee, Newfoundland

Refrain
God guard thee, God guard thee,
God guard thee, Newfoundland

That is a very insightful comment from someone who was born in India and is an endocrinologist in Montreal. Check out his blog, he is my kind of guy and I invited him to contact me when he next visits Newfoundland. I said:

Thank you for the kind comments. We usually get stupid jokes. When you visit again let me know and I will show you things you won't believe. You will return home and be able to say, "Now I know a lot about Newfoundland."
Try to get your hands on a copy of E.J. Pratt's poems and you will get a spine tingling feel for Newfoundlanders that will ensure your next visit transpires more quickly.
here's one:

Erosion

It took the sea a thousand years,
A thousand years to trace
The granite features of this cliff,
In crag and scarp and base.

It took the sea an hour one night,
An hour of storm to place
The sculpture of these granite seams
Upon a woman's face.

My faithful know how much I admire Pratt and his feel for the lifeblood of Newfoundland. Much has changed since E.J. passed on but there is still that vein of self sufficiency and dedication to the value of the human spirit and the will to strive for that basic societal instinct inherent in our forefathers but sadly lacking in today's urban diverse miasma.

English grammar

2006-02-26T20:10:00.000-03:30

I was pruning my "bookmarks" today and in the process I came across normblog which I haven't checked in some time. He had a piece, as follows:

Otherwise engaged

There won't be much to read here today because I'm what you might call 'busy'.

That's one way of writing that sentence. Here's another:

There won't be much to read here today because I'm what you might call 'busy.'

See the difference? In the second version the full stop is inside the final inverted comma, rather than outside it. And to me it just doesn't look logical: the full stop concludes the whole sentence, not the just the word 'busy' in scare-quotes, so it - the full stop - should come at the end. It would be different if the thing were this:

She pondered the message he had written. 'I can't blog much today because I'm busy with other things.' She understood that he was busy.

Here the full stop after 'other things' is part of reported speech, and so should go, with all the rest, inside the inverted commas. Anyway, what do I know? Somebody who does know - about the divergent conventions on this matter - may be able to enlighten me. But what I'm saying is that it puzzles me when I see (as in books published in the US) the likes of...

There won't be much to read here today because I'm what you might call 'busy.'

What I'm also saying is that there won't be much to read here today because I'm busy with other things.

Well; sez I after reading it and my mind, at least what's left of it, starts to churn and I had to tell old Norm and this is what I sent:

Re subject piece, I couldn't help it but I must query the use of "full stop." I always used the term "Period." When I see the words "full stop," I immediately think that there perforce must be a "half stop" or perhaps a "quarter stop" or an "almost full stop." You can imagine my quandary. My mind wanders off and I delight in conceptualizing the family of stops; for instance "whistle stops" the "stops" one pulls all out, how about "truck stop" and of course "non stop." Now that last one is a doozie because now you are drifting off into the realm of Zen, if you get my drift, I love the pun, don't you? See what you have caused now? Little did you know, Sigh. "Bus stops," "F-stops," "one stop," "tab stops," "door stops," "traffic stops," "sudden stops," "flag stops," "glottal stops," and on and on, you get the idea. It's hard to realize that there are so many "stops" and I was surprised to find that when one "googles" "stops," one finds 8,750,000 hits. This subject could turn into a lifetime research paper, imagine looking at all those references!

I must needs stop this rambling and get on with life before "stops" takes on a life of it's own and I become a recluse in a Kafkaesque room full of "stops." Hmmmm, a thought just struck me. What about colons? Never mind........ I'm outta here!

Norm responded with chuckles but he missed the essence of my retort. Just count the quotation marks, I was trying not to make it too obvious.

Eat an Animal For PETA Day

2006-02-25T14:22:00.000-03:30

March 15 is the fourth annual "Eat an animal for PETA day." Millions of healthy animal loving individuals will be chomping down on healthy portions of meat just to piss off PETA. I will be doing my level best to make sure I consume three good meals of meat just to help out. I haven't decided what I will have yet but I suspect I will include the three main food groups, mammal, fish and fowl, yum! Penn and Teller have a great video about PETA that everyone should view.

I nods toMeryl Yourish

Still More Cartoons

2006-02-16T16:52:00.000-03:30

This whole cartoon thing is really getting my goat. The cowardice that abounds is really scary. I find it really hard to believe that so many of our so called "leaders" and people of influence have become linguini spined,sycophantic,obsequious cretins. I am on a quest. What is your quest? Funny you should ask! Well I am going to hold a few feet to the fire, stir up some shit, use that old 3000 psi index finger and just maybe I can get a few of the above mentioned ninnies to recant their inexcusable positions. To that end I have started by writing to a few people and there will be more to come. First off you have seen the letter to the president of UPEI and I told you about The editor of The telegram. Here are the next few.

Dear Russell,
Just substitute Canadian wherever you see American, the same applies. The points are difficult to refute. What say you?

American news media: little courage and little honesty
Feb 14, 2006
by Dennis Prager ( bio | archive | contact )

American news media have suffered in recent years. Thanks to the Internet and talk radio, millions of Americans have ceased relying on The New York Times and CNN for their written and televised news.
But it is difficult to recall a greater blow to the credibility of American news media than their near-universal refusal to publish the Mohammed cartoons originally published in a Danish newspaper that have brought about worldwide Muslim protests.

This loss of credibility owes to two factors: dishonesty and cowardice.

Everyone and his mother knows why the networks and the print journals haven't shown the cartoons -- they fear Muslims blowing up their buildings and stabbing their editors to death. The only people who deny this are the news media. They all claim that they won't show the cartoons because of sensitivity to Muslim feelings.

Which brings us to the other reason for the latest blow to the news media's credibility: They are lying to us. If some politicians were telling lies as blatantly as the news media are now, the media would be having a field day exposing those politicians and calling for their removal from office. But, alas, what TV news station will criticize another TV news station? And what newspaper or magazine will criticize another newspaper or magazine?
So, without anyone in the media holding them accountable, the news media continue to believe they can fool nearly all the people all the time when they say they are not publishing the cartoons out of respect for Muslim sensibilities.

Why is this false?

First, major papers in virtually every European country have published the cartoons. It is inconceivable that European papers are less concerned with Muslim sensibilities than American media are. If anything, in Europe they are more pro-Muslim given their anti-Israel and anti-American views and given that they live in countries with far greater numbers of Muslims than live in America.

Second, the reason to publish the cartoons is not to offend Muslims; it is to explain the most significant current news event in the world. How can anyone understand the Islamic riots without having seen the cartoons that triggered them? If millions of Christians rioted after cartoons were published in the Muslim world, does anyone doubt that the Western press would publish them, or that it had the obligation to do so?

The argument that people can see the cartoons on the Internet is specious. Anyone could see the photos of the abuse of Arab prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison on the Internet, yet the news media presented these photos day after day for weeks.

Third, the American press has routinely published cartoons and pictures that insult Christians and Jews. The Los Angeles Times published a cartoon depicting the stones of the Western Wall of the Jewish Temple, the holiest site to Jews, as spelling out the word "HATE" and showing a religious Jew bowing down before it. And what newspaper did not publish a photo of "Piss Christ," the Andres Serrano work of "art" depicting a crucifix in the artist's urine?

American newspapers "insult" every group whenever they feel like it, but no one riots, burns and kills because of it.

Fourth, the ban on depicting Mohammed applies to Muslims, not to non-Muslims. It is remarkable that American newspapers, so frightened of any breakdown between church and state, are suddenly guided by Muslim religious prohibitions.

Fifth, the argument that publishing the images would inflame Muslims' passions is another coverup for cowardice. No American newspaper or TV news show exhibited the slightest concern with inflaming Muslim passions when they endlessly published and depicted Abu Ghraib abuse photos.

If the liberal news media in America -- conservative Fox News and The Weekly Standard have shown the cartoons -- admitted they feared being hurt if they showed the cartoons, one would have respect for their honesty, if not their courage. But the liberal news media's lack of courage coupled with their dishonest justifications make for a devastating commentary on American news media.

One should not be surprised. A few years ago, New York Times foreign affairs reporter John Burns reported -- to his great credit -- that some of the most prestigious American news organizations had made a deal with Saddam Hussein not to report negatively about his regime in exchange for being allowed to have a Baghdad news bureau.

When it comes to taking on conservatives, Catholics, Evangelicals and the like, liberal news media are Supermen. When it comes to confronting real evil, however, the news media are Mickey Mouse.

I got no reply. Surprise!

Next one to Russell with The David Warren piece:

Dear Russell,

The following is perhaps the best piece on the "cartoon" debacle I have read. Something for you to mull: do you suppose that the late William James Herder would have behaved as did Michael Davies when confronted by pressure and what would he do now? If you had any guts you would write a new column and post the cartoons this Saturday. If you don't then I hope you shave each morning without benefit of a mirror.

P.S. If you happen to see Charlie Stacey would you ask him why he doesn't return correspondence.

The test

Ezra Levant, a decent, honest, and courageous man -- and for those reasons much mocked by CanadaÂs smug political and media elites -- has explained clearly and unanswerably why the Western Standard magazine which he publishes (and in which I write), printed a selection of those Danish cartoons. It was the same reason they were reprinted by such prestigious European dailies as Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, and Die Welt.

It was because those cartoons are at the centre of a huge news story. A tremendous fuss is being made over them right around the planet, and readers in a free country should be shown what the fuss is about. It is especially important in this case, where the original cartoons were, by any Western standard, bloodless, bland, boring. Readers should not be left to assume that the cartoons were instead vicious, nasty, and intentionally offensive.

The Danish editor who originally commissioned the cartoons did not solicit attacks on Islam. He asked cartoonists to depict Mohammad as they imagine him. He asked because he was appalled by the self-censorship he smelled in the Danish air. It was not an anti-Islamic gesture; it was an act of freedom, against the fear of Muslim intimidation.

Why, for instance, should we be repeatedly told in news stories that all the cartoons insulted Muslims when most of them did not? Why should we be repeatedly told that the satirical ones insulted IslamÂs Prophet, when what they satirize is obviously the use of the Prophet to justify terrorism? And now that we know the international furore was inspired, not by the Jyllands-Posten cartoons, but by fakes insinuated among them by delegations of Danish Muslims, why should we hold the Danish editor and cartoonists, to say nothing of all Denmark, responsible for anything?

It is to defeat such publicly-repeated lies, and to oppose public intimidation, that a publisher has the duty to show the original cartoons.

On this latter point, I am reminded of Michael Davies, the last family publisher of the Kingston Whig-Standard, for which I once worked. I was a fill-in night editor one evening when I got a note from him. It said that a friend of his, a certain local worthy, had been charged with drunk driving. This man had asked Mr Davies to keep his name out of the paper. Mr Davies asked me, therefore, to make sure his friendÂs drunk driving charge was prominently reported.

That is how an honest publisher responds to being pressured. Not with ÂsensitivityÂ, which is the ancient vehicle for hypocrisy and deceit. A publisher need ask himself only one question. If the cartoons had been protested by Christians, would he have hesitated to print them?

Did newspapers across the West hesitate to print photos of the ÂPiss ChristÂ, or the ÂDung MadonnaÂ? Why suddenly so sensitive to religious feelings?

I wrote Saturday exculpating Muslims from the charge of hypocrisy in this matter -- for their double standard is plausibly written into their faith. But I cannot excuse the hypocrisy and cowardice of the Western media, who pose as fearless and impartial defenders of truth, regardless of consequences.

All this self-congratulatory lip-service to the free press, until the moment it means something. Chapters and Indigo have banned the ÂoffendingÂ issue of the Western Standard, as have other distributors. There is clucking from the CBC and other mainstream media. Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress -- himself on record for saying that every adult Israeli citizen is a valid military target -- threatening action under CanadaÂs recklessly-written and selectively-enforced ÂhateÂ laws. And CanadaÂs new defence minister weighing in with the observation that Mr LevantÂs publishing decision will endanger our troops in Afghanistan -- accentuating the danger by his very remark.

I was impressed with Mr LevantÂs rejoinder to all this. ÂIÂm a little afraid myself,Â he said, Âbut fine, so deal with it. Get security or just be careful. ... I'm not so afraid that I'm going to sell out our heritage of freedom."

Let us call the biggest bluff, the biggest lie. It is being constantly argued, in defence of cowardice, that such cartoons must not be published because they might Âincite hatred against MuslimsÂ. I doubt even one disinterested person could believe this, after a momentÂs thought. A cartoon cannot hold a candle on events like 9/11 in Manhattan, or 3/11 in Madrid, or the London tube bombings, or the many, many thousand acts of savagery that have been done in the name of Islam in the last few years.

It is fear that makes people speak the opposite of the truth -- in this case, the fear that mere cartoons may further Âincite violence by MuslimsÂ.

The whole point of Islamist terrorism has been to instil such fear in the Âinfidel dogsÂ of the West. The fear is forgivable. The cowardice is not. The hypocrisy and lying is contemptible. And then it is done smugly.

David Warren

Â© Ottawa Citizen

Next I sent one to the Minister of National Defence along with the David Warren piece.

Dear sir,

I was most disappointed with your view on the publishing of the "cartoons." As a retired Air Force officer I can attest that your view is not widely held by honest officers, my son is presently serving, and my fellow retirees. I have never seen such cowardice across this land in my life. I am amazed at the scope of of the national lack of spine.
You may have seen the following by David Warren but just in case, I include it. Have a read and then try to stack your reasoning against his. I thought we just got rid of The Libranos and were into an era of integrity, maybe I was wrong. If you need a little backbone straightening just talk to my friend Laurie Hawn. I would really like to see some straight shit out of you guys on the hill and not the usual politically correct sheep crap.

Per Ardua Ad Astra,

Ok, maybe I was a little harsh on a new minister, having been in office only a week, but my take on it is; "If you can't take the heat, don't give someone the blowtorch."

I nods to Relapsed Catholic for the Warren piece.

Scrap the gun registry now

2006-02-14T14:52:00.000-03:30

The following appeared in The National Post

Scrap the gun registry now, says veteran

Recently the snail mail brought a demand for $60 from Canada Firearms Centre (CFC) for a renewal of a Firearms Licence. It also demanded a recent ID photograph, one taken to rigidly specified criteria, the cost of which photo I have yet to determine. The icing on this cake is that the enclosed return envelope required a stamp. I am a pensioner on a fixed income; my money hears more urgent calls than this one from CFC.

The CFC demand also included threats -- four of them -- to the effect that if I failed to comply promptly with this demand I would permanently lose the privilege to keep those firearms.

I happen to be a grandfather, an octogenarian and a retired professional warrior -- a veteran of two wars (three if you count the Cold War). I take offence at being dictated to in this cavalier manner by public servants whose salaries I pay. Enough. Let this misbegotten spawn of the disgraced Liberal party be summarily struck from the public payroll. Struck forthwith. Mr. Harper, it's time to act!

I am concerned about my security in my own home and I want to see my taxes spent on the expansion of our chronically overburdened police forces. Mr. Harper should do away with the Firearms Registry and use that money to hire more police officers, rather than spending those dollars on a nonsensical registry which is aimed at taking away my last line of defence.

Mr. Harper, Au Secours! (Help!)

W.L.D. (Bill) Farrell, Lieutenant-Commander (ret'd), Royal Canadian Navy, East Lawrencetown, N.S.

I agree totally and add my two cents.
As a retired pilot who was authorized to carry a nuclear weapon to the enemy if the balloon ever went up, as one who has qualified to drop bombs, shoot rockets, fire 20MM cannons, machine guns, rifles, and pistols and given command of supersonic fighter aircraft; an experienced hunter who has successfully hunted moose, elk, deer,antelope, buffalo, many species of upland game and waterfowl, raised and trained retrievers because I cared about the conservation of game, hunted with bow and arrow on horseback, I REALLY resent the gun registry. I probably know more about the responsibilities and safe use of weapons than all the assholes who dreamed up the gun registry socialist plot against the people of Canada combined, and then some. My blood boils at the thought of the arrogant and disgraceful waste of our hard earned money and the total disregard of personal freedoms. Remember that Hitler passed the first national gun control laws in the world and he used the same reasons that the pinkos in OW used.

I nods to Agent Clauswitz

More Cartoon Capers

2006-02-13T12:00:00.000-03:30

The Cadre,UPEI's dead tree tome will not post my comments on it's web site. Seems that censorship is alive and well on the red sand bar.

The Saturday edition (2-11) of St. John's only ink staining heavily leftist rag had a column by the editor, Russell Wangersky, Titled, "This is no time for playing chicken" where he uses the usual specious arguments for avoiding publishing the "Cartoons." The man needs to attend a few serious courses on freedom of speech because he obviously doesn't believe in it. The best line in the piece,
"Freedom of expression may be a fantastic right that we enjoy in our society, but so is the right to the quiet enjoyment of hearth and home. So is the right of religious freedom, and the right to exercise that freedom without fear of ridicule."
Russell just doesn't get it. If we have freedom of expression then we have the freedom to offend, if not then we live in dangerous times and just as is happening now the Muslims are trying to eradicate free speech so that their speech is the only one to be heard. How dumb can you get if you give into their rants?
An interesting dichotomy is blatant on the same page. Just above Wangersky's column is one by the sycophantic Bill Rowe who can never really make a bold statement but comes close when he says,"...media...have a role of vigilance to play." That's as close as he can get to actually stating that the media have a duty to tell it like is and it is all the more astounding when he references the media's role in the Mount Cashel debacle. Plus ca change...., sigh!

Is a Fatwa Coming My Way?

2006-02-11T18:31:00.000-03:30

Joel over at Proud To Be Canadian tells us about faithfreedom.org who have been the recipient of a Fatwa. Well I decided to do my bit too so I wrote the Grand Poobah over in the UK who issued the Death Warrant to the folks at FF and told them:

Dear Zalamah,

I wish to inform you that I have grievously sinned against Allah by publishing the"Cartoons" on my Blog. You may check here to verify my statement.

Now that you know these things you would be remiss and Allah would be insulted if you did not issue a death warrant immediately.

Shalom,

The Capt.

I can hardly wait. Those poor bastards are probably getting their server swamped.

More Cowards

2006-02-10T11:48:00.000-03:30

I just read over at SDA that the president of UPEI rounded up all the copies of the student newspaper "The Cadre" because they had published the "Cartoons."
I wrote him a note, as follows:

Dear H. Wade,

As a former student I resent your obvious lack of testicular fortitude. By removing all copies of "The Cadre" you showed the students and the rest of Canada what a linguini spined coward you really are.

Your credibility is now in the tank and just think that now every time you are conversing with someone they may be thinking you may stab them in the back at the first opportunity, after all, you have proved that you have no integrity. Something to think about.

The Capt.

I know what you're thinking! How do I really feel!

The Cartoon Debacle

2006-02-09T13:10:00.000-03:30

It seems that the outrage over the now famous cartoons was manufactured and more importantly the hypocrisy of the so called proponents of free speech such as The New York Times and CNN, to name only two out of thousands, is unbelievable. They are not only hypocrites but yellow bellied linguini spined cowards.
In the spirit of support I will post the "hateful" cartoons.

Boy aren't they disgusting, I can hardly look at them without getting sick.... Yah sure!

You have to have a seriously deficient mind to go on a rampage, destroy embassies, kill people and cause major mayhem over these trivial depictions. Islam, the religion of peace, what bullshit. Support Denmark, buy Danish products. Here is a list.

Arla milk, cheese etc.
Danish crown (meat)
Lurmaerket Butter
Danish Bacon
Thor Fish
Danisco Food

Candy:
Toms (chocolate)
LAgermann
Galle & Jessen

Beverages:
Tuborg Beer
Carlsberg Beer
Aalborg Aquavit (snaps)

Clothing:
H2O
Hummel
Per Reumert

Shoes:
Ecco
Jaco

Danish Design:
Royal Copenhagen
Georg Jensen
Stelton
PH-lamps
Lego (toys)
Brio (toys)
Raadvad (knives etc.)
Trip Trap
HTH- kitchen
Morsoe (Fireplaces)
Royal Danish Porcelain
B & G Porcelain
Vesta (Windmills)
B & O radios/televisions etc.

Other:
Watco Danish Furniture Oil
Buy Danish yarn

And last but not least, straight from Angry

Note the courage of the men who would attack teenage girls.

Note the courage of the men who ran off instead of defending the girls.

Note the courage of the men who sentenced one of the girls to death.

Oh yeah, the brave Muslim:

An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.

The state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005.

Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girls' boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.

She described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them, and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.

As the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.

If Westerners mock Muslims, it is because they've earned every drop of disdain. The Iranian theocracy, Afghanistan under the Taliban, Sudan -- any place where Muslims win complete control to implement an Islamic paradise -- each is an damning example of why Sharia has no place in a civilized culture.

I nods to Small Dead Animals for the list and Human Events Online for the cartoons.

Customer Relations Bureaucrats

2006-02-08T14:15:00.000-03:30

When our ISP sent us a notice that we were going to pay another 5 Simoleans a month I performed due diligence to find a better mousetrap. Well imagine my surprise at discovering that I could knock off $75.00 a month on all my comm needs. I bundled my home phone, 2 cells, Hi-speed internet and UNLIMITED long distance with Aliant for the above savings.
Slave called our ISP to cancel our service and the following letter to Mr. Rogers explains it all.

Dear Mr. Rogers:

I would like inform you about what happened when I called your Customer Service Center on Monday, February 6, 2006 at 16:48 NL standard time.

I requested the cancellation of my High-Speed Internet Service;( the only Rogers service I have) the reason being your competitor in Newfoundland and Labrador was offering a better deal overall, simply put.

Once the customer service representative took my call and after giving her my home telephone number for identification, I made the above request for cancellation. She asked for reasons why and as I started to tell her, she began to constantly interrupt me, sometimes rudely, not just once but several times. Example, I told her that we had received a notice that the internet bill was being raised $5.00. (This was also one of the reasons for cancellation.) When I told her we owned the modem, she interrupted and said that notice of the rate increase were for those customers renting the modem. Another time she interrupted me occurred when I requested the cancellation be effective immediately. She interrupted stating it would take 30 days to take effect, which would mean I would have to wait until March 7 to have the service cancelled.

Several minutes and a slight bit of frustration later, I handed the phone over to my husband, and as soon as he began to speak, she was rude to him as well. My husband checked the back of a prior statement and yes, the 30 day cancellation notice is there, and he made a comment, "Ah, yes the fine print," she then started going on about font size. The woman was most disagreeable and gave the impression that she considered us beneath contempt.

Certainly, this is not the way to win friends and influence people. The way to treat customers is to thank them for their past support and perhaps offer an incentive in case they may someday be in a position to return to Rogers. To use a "GOTCHA!" of an extra months payment is less than honest particularly after several years of faithful on time payments and no hassles even when you screwed up our account on several occasions.

The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I probably can't make much of a dent in Rogers bottom line but you can rest assured I will do all I can and this letter will be posted on my husband's Blog

May I suggest you look at revamping the link between your customer service and public relation departments as it appears that the washed out bridge may be a serious impediment to company productivity.

Sincerely,

Maricarol

Sea King Redux

2006-02-03T10:04:00.000-03:30

After just hearing about another Sea King loss off the coast of Denmark my comments today are all the more relevant. You read it here first!
It appears that the Sea King replacements are going to be late, very late. The helicopter we ordered is not the helicopter that Sikorsky showed. We order a chopper with a folding tail and folding rotors and a fly by wire system. The SH-92 has none of that, yet. These features will add weight and the folding rotor head will increase the diameter of the blades and this will cause a major problem because of hanger size limitations on the ships. If it wont fit, you must acquit (had to say that) Seriously, because the rotor size has to change and the extra weight for the folding tail, the C of G (center of Gravity) is all screwed up and thus the flight dynamics become an unknown and therefore flight testing will have to be done all over again. The gearing on the transmission will have to be re-evaluated and probably, because the rotors are longer and the tips will break the sound barrier, need to be re-engineered or replaced which may or may not be possible.
What we have here is a failure to communicate! (Damn, had to do it again.)
The Cyclone was supposed to come on line in 08 and the Sea Kings gone by 11. Won't happen! Not a snowball's chance in hell. It's just possible that, nah, highly likely that the Harper boys when they find out all the details will bail on the Sikorsky deal without penalty because of failure to perform and go full toss on the EH-101 which was already accepted and that project could be brought up to speed far more quickly than re-designing the SH-92. What a mess the Libranos have left in their wake. Let’s hope Harper is up to the task, he will need all the help he can get to clean up after the Librano Tsunami.

I nods to Agent Clauswitz.

Tough Little Car

2005-01-21T21:18:00.000-03:30

I stole this right off of Damian Penny. It's really funny.

Take Him Out....Painfully

2005-01-21T13:57:00.000-03:30

I read the following at Bound By Gravity

Justice Casey Hill said [Jeffrey Michael] Campbell used Frank Groves as "target practice" when he ran down the 65-year-old cyclist from behind with a stolen car in the early hours of July 1, 2000. Groves died instantly in what Peel police described at the time as a "thrill kill" hit-and-run.

Groves died instantly from massive head injuries when he hit the car's windshield after his bike was struck from behind at about 5 a.m. on Canada Day 2000. His bike was dragged for three-quarters of a kilometre.

"The Groves homicide is a grave instance of manslaughter," Hill told the court. "Campbell fled the scene without any attempt to provide assistance to the obviously seriously injured victim.... He showed no remorse for his crime."

Groves and his wife had been married for 42 years. He was cycling to a local coffee shop when Campbell struck him with a car that had been stolen only a few minutes earlier so he and two teenage friends could go joyriding. The car was abandoned a kilometre away.

The agreed facts presented at Campbell's manslaughter conviction revealed that one of his passengers said Campbell "smirked" when the car struck Groves. The court also heard Campbell laughed when he saw news clips of the incident

Read the whole story here and I'll bet somewhere ,sometime, somehow, this bastard will kill again which is why I would like to see the death penalty re-instated as does Andrew.

To Wish and Have Not

2005-01-20T20:36:00.000-03:30

I watched portions of the US Inauguration today when I could and heard the address and I was fired up. Here is a man who knows his destiny, here is a man who has read and learned from history, here is a man who understands the ways of the world. If, and isn't that a wonderful word, "If" or, "If only," George Bush had been President in 1935-38 the Second World War may never have taken place. There is no doubt in my mind that in a hundred years the history books will feature the greatest Presidents as Washington, Lincoln, Reagan and Bush. I won't be around but one of my descendants can stick up for me.
The sense of purpose, the vision, the perspective of the President is something that everyman can grasp, can get a grip on, can understand and feel that his President and his country stand for something and that something is above and beyond the mundane.
Thus it was with anguish that I read this. Paul Martin, is a disgrace, why do we elect such weasels? Perhaps it says a lot about Canadians! Are we such a bunch of idiotarians that we cannot confront reality? Are we such a bunch of twits that we believe the government will, without due diligence work in our best interests? I have noticed myself that the great unwashed continue to cry for more government money for everything from taxi fare to failed business bailouts. It's not the government's money you asshole! It's mine, and my friends, and my parents, and my neighbours and the guy down the street. Here's the big question! Ready...... Why should I give you money when you have failed to use what you had wisely?
Politicians give you our money because they want your vote! And you, stupid twit call in to radio shows and bellyache that the government is just not doing its job until you get womb to the tomb total care. Oh Canada, I am afraid for thee!
Sigh!

I nods to SDA

Wanted: Human Shields

2005-01-20T20:14:00.000-03:30

I lost the link to this site and can't find it so I apologies to whomever pointed me to it.
Lance in Iraq has a wonderful request now that the Iraqi elections are to be held in only a few short days. He wants all the human shields who volunteered to go to Iraq in Jan. 03 to protect the Iraqi infrastructure to please come back and protect the Iraqi polling stations.
Don't hold your breath folks! There is nothing like an "insubstantial pageant faded" when hypocrites are called on to perform.

Cyber Fast

2005-01-20T19:56:00.000-03:30

So you are a savvy surfer! Well that means you are using Firefox! What! You are not? Well get your ass on over to the fastest way to go, Mozilla.
Now, isn’t that so much better than brand X? I thought so!
Now, let’s kick it up a notch! Agent Clauswitz, working in the depths of the AIA labs has fed an intermediary info, that's untraceable to give you a great lift. This will give you a new browsing experience. Fire it up here.
Just a note: When you bring up the entries, double click to change false to true. The rest is as advertised.

"Our Revels Now are Ended!”

2005-01-19T20:53:00.000-03:30

I have long been an opponent of the global warming myth. The doom and gloomers who have scared the bejesus out of the great unwashed have caused much turmoil in the so-called civilized portion of the world. The sad truth is that it is the height of arrogance to believe that Man has the power to change Nature. Most people are unaware that when Mt. Pinatubo blew in 1991,
"The volume of the eruption was about 5 cubic km of dacite. It was the third largest eruption of this century. It produced the greatest volume of SO2 ever measured."

That burp put out more “Greenhouse gases than all the infernal combustion engines ever produced. Mother Nature will not be controlled and nothing we do will change that. Just grab your brain for a moment and think about the magnitude of all the volcanoes, hurricanes, typhoons, tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, forest fires, landslides, avalanches, poison gas eruptions and I am sure there is much more I haven’t thought of and the insignificance, in comparison, of the puny impact man has made. One large meteor impact and we are haste la vista baby. Ya got to take the environmentalist whackos with a pillar of salt and as if by magic I bring you great news. This warms the cockles of my heart, (I love cockle warmers) so without further adieu:

“Cutting down on fossil fuel pollution could accelerate global warming and help turn parts of Europe into desert by 2100, according to research to be aired on British television on Thursday. "Global Dimming," a BBC Horizon documentary, will describe research suggesting fossil fuel by-products like sulfur dioxide particles reflect the sun's rays, "dimming" temperatures and almost canceling out the greenhouse effect.”

So says Reuters here.

For Reuters to publish such a piece speaks volumes as they have been the champions of the global warming doom and gloomers for years.

“Ok,” you say, “Big deal!” Just another rant by the “Consume everything-ers!” Well…….Have I got a kick in the goolies for you,

I love it so!

AUTHOR OF PAST IPCC REPORTS SAYS THE IPCC IS SO POLITICAL AS TO BE ANTI-SCIENTIFIC

IPCC stands for, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and these guys are the stalwarts, the head honchos, the foremost experts on global warming theory. Chris Landsea, a very interesting name, has bailed out because:

"After some prolonged deliberation, I have decided to withdraw from participating in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I am withdrawing because I have come to view the part of the IPCC to which my expertise is relevant as having become politicized. In addition, when I have raised my concerns to the IPCC leadership, their response was simply to dismiss my concerns.

These guys wanted Chris to ratify their pet theory that global warming caused increased hurricane activity. As Col. Potter would say, “Horse feathers.”

I can feel the frustration in the following:

“Moreover, the evidence is quite strong and supported by the most recent credible studies that any impact in the future from global warming upon hurricane will likely be quite small. The latest results from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (Knutson and Tuleya, Journal of Climate, 2004) suggest that by around 2080, hurricanes may have winds and rainfall about 5% more intense than today. It has been proposed that even this tiny change may be an exaggeration as to what may happen by the end of the 21st Century (Michaels, Knappenberger, and Landsea, Journal of Climate, 2005, submitted).

It is beyond me why my colleagues would utilize the media to push an unsupported agenda that recent hurricane activity has been due to global warming.”

So, my little pretties… heheheheheheh…. You can shove your scare mongering crap way up, past that tight sphincter, all the way up, and let it sit in your transverse colon for an eon or two!

Read all about it here.

I nods to Greenie Watch

Rules

2005-01-19T19:33:00.000-03:30

I have a philosophy that has a tenet that runs thusly,

Rules are made for the guidance of the wise and the obedience of fools.” While some of you may scoff at my egotistical attitude, let’s take a look at reality: I am driving down a major highway, it is aprox noon, the weather is perfect, there is almost no traffic and I see the sign that says max speed 100 K, I am driving my Porsche. I know I can safely, without even raising my BP, HR or my TRQ* punch out an easy160. What do I do? With all due diligence and my jammer on, I’ll do 165.

Let’s look at another scenario: same highway, dark, winter, snowing, blowing like hell, ice on road. Am I going to do 100 in my Hummer? NOYFL! I will be quite happy to do maybe 30 or so and look for a nice hotel with a bar. Dufus breath, and the world is full of em will do 100K in both of the above situations and that’s why one evening many years ago I came upon a crash site halfway between Toronto and Barrie that involved over 60 vehicles which killed 6 and injured dozens more.

So! “Where are we going with this?” You ask? Well! I wear a seatbelt and I have done so for as long as I can remember, I don’t feel safe without it. Slave, on the other hand is lackadaisical about its use and I constantly remind her to fasten her SRD+. Most people have no idea of the forces involved in collisions. I do, I buckle up. This is a lead in to the next candidate for the 2005 Darwin awards. Derek Kieper was a student at the University of Nebraska –Lincoln and last September had a column published in the student newspaper which said:

“As laws become increasingly strict for seat belts, fewer people will respond positively by buckling up in response to the laws. There seems to be a die-hard group of non-wearers out there who simply do not wish to buckle up no matter what the government does. I belong to this group. . . .

Telling me to wear my seat belt is the same as making sure I have some sort of proper education before diving into a swimming pool. If I want to dive in without knowing how to swim, that is my right. And if I want to be the jerk that flirts with death and rides around with my seat belt off, I should be able to do that, too.”

The scariest part is: “New Hampshire might be my bastion of choice some day, but for now I am stuck in Nebraska.”

Read the whole thing here.

Today’s Lincoln Journal Star says it all about the late Mr. Kieper.

“Kieper, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, died early Tuesday morning when the Ford Explorer he was a passenger in traveled off an icy section of Interstate 80 and rolled several times in a ditch. . . . Derek, who was thrown from the vehicle, was not wearing a seat belt.”

Derek was a dufus. He didn’t read the Capt’s Survival 101. There are many, many more Derek’s out there and they are the reason there are so many laws. The unfortunate thing is that the laws do not stop the Derek’s of the world; the laws make self serving politicians feel good about themselves and convince the great unwashed that they (the politicians) are working hard for their constituents.

Sigh!

* Testicular Retraction Quotient

+ Slave Restraining Device

I Nods to James Taranto

Update

2005-01-17T20:23:00.000-03:30

Deep Skipper checked in today from distant climes and noted that the Capt. is out of sorts. In this DS is most correct. The Capt has not been up to snuff and a visit to the herb Dr. will I hope start things back to normal. In the meantime the provincial snowplow operator for my area will be nominated, by me for the "Scrapeus Maximus" award for 2005. Our area received a stupendous 2 inches, maybe less. The first plow went by my place at 06:04, I know because he woke me and I looked at the clock. The snow petered out and was all but stopped by 09:00 and by noon the damned plow had gone by 16 times, that's 8 times each way. It started to rain around 14:00 and the valiant plowman made one last run out and back at just after 15:00.
It is now just after 21:00 and there is no snow to be seen, it's all melted, the temperature is a hefty 54° and the snow plows are snug in their beds where the mechanics are working overtime to get them up for the next onslaught. The drivers are at home snug in their beds dreaming of all the overtime they have put in today. The suppliers are smiling because they will sell the Highway department new plows next year because the ones they have now will be worn out, the fuel suppliers.... the salt and sand suppliers.... the dispatchers.... the taxpayer, ah yes the taxpayer, the dufus, he gets to give these bastards more money. I now know why there is a Canadian gun registry.

Go Figure !

2005-01-13T21:23:00.000-03:30

Newton is a suburb of Boston and everyone in Newfoundland knows where the Bosting States are! My own grandfather sold fish there many moons ago. The math scores have been in decline at the local school and all the educators just can’t figure it out. One serious reporter didn't take long to find the answer and my point in bringing up this story is that the sort of myopia and agenda driven concepts as practiced in Newton can happen anywhere. The short circuit need not be race, it could be language, it could be pumping diversity, and it could be religion or whatever the latest leftist nostrum may be. Children do not need to be taught anything else, "In school" other than what has been proven over the years to get the child to the next level of achievement. Cut the crap and all the superfluous piffle. I recall a class where the students had to take time away from legitimate work time to dress speak and put on a show including cooking, all in Japanese. Nothing against the Japanese but give me a break. I knew the teacher and he was so wrapped up in it that he didn't know when to quit. Blew my mind.
Read about Newton here.

I nods to James Taranto

MSM Implosion

2005-01-13T20:30:00.000-03:30

I saw the Rathergate investigators whitewash and like anyone with an IQ above their shoe size realized that the MSM just doesn't get it. They are so out to lunch that they are to be pitied. Just in case you don't get it, here is Ann Colter to bring you up short.

Little Victories

2005-01-13T19:34:00.000-03:30

Way back on Dec 19 I spoke at some length about pellet stoves and my attempt to glean enough information to make an intelligent decision. Yesterday, my pellet stove arrived, an insert version, as I have a fireplace that will accept such a unit. I would have had the damn thing last week but they sent me the freestanding unit which had to be sent back thus making the shipping company more profit. I am a do-it-yourselfer and I’ll be damned if I’ll pay someone a thousand bucks to install a stove. I installed a woodstove in the barn in only two hours. Pellet stoves need more care and attention than your run of the mill stove. The exhaust system must be sealed as the system is under pressure. Do you think I could procure the necessary parts to do the job myself? Nooooooo f-ing way, (think of Robin Williams doing the golf shtick.) All the HVAC suppliers will only sell pieces in given lengths, i.e. 10 ft of 3” stainless steel flexible ducting at over $200.00, I need 2 ft. The jobbers wouldn’t sell me 2 ft, they smile and say, “Let me do the job and I’ll guarantee it.” Sure they will do the job and charge me for 10 ft of SS flex and use two. I know how these things work. I found a small fabricator who is helping with parts and I am just going to love it when I am finished and sit in front of my cozy stove and have spent less than 200 bucks and have better quality materials than going to the contractor and busting more than a K. Little victories are what make life worthwhile.

Anger! Pure Anger!

2005-01-11T19:51:00.000-03:30

Yesterday was a bad day; I was not feeling very well. I took a tumble and threw everything out of kilter. Joints were hurting the likes of which I have never felt before. I started to work on part two of "Cold Comfort" and quit early and went to bed. Today I gave it a go but had to take slave to the Immigration people and that exercise led to much gnashing of teeth which will provide grist for another blog. The upshot was that there was much on line searching and when I returned to my puter after diner to finish my blog for today.... it was gone ... all gone.... along with the open cross refs that I had on minimize. Two days of great stuff.... gone. I turned to slave and said in a loud voice, no, I screamed, "What did you do?” She had sat down and exited everything I had up except, to add insult to injury, "Bookmarks manager." I am too....too, no, never mind, I am going for a walk, the wind is screaming outside and the temperature is falling but I have to get out.

Cold Comfort

2005-01-09T10:35:00.000-03:30

I was visiting Halifax in 1969 when the USS Manhattan ponderously exited the port on its way to the first commercial vessel transit of the North West passage. I recall only too clearly and mentioned it to more than one colleague that, "If this isn't a wake-up call for Canada to pay attention to the Arctic, I don't know what is!" I said at the time that I thought the military was going to finally get some money to do the job. I thought the Canadian Navy would be on the fast track for nuke subs and icebreaking fighting ships and hovercraft, we in the Air Force would be getting newer, and more of them, long range patrol aircraft and we would establish at least three fighter bases in the deep arctic, the Army would be setting permanent stations on Elsmere Island, the Coast Guard would be getting the most powerful icebreakers in the world and I was just just a dumb junior Air Force officer. I was right on the dumb part. The powers that were as usual in Canada had no intent of putting their country first. The egotistical bastards thought only of their own position of power. The military was slowly strangled of any semblance of capability and while the few honest officers tried to hold the organization together the prima-donnas cow-towed to the politicos and we have today a military organization that couldn't defend ten square feet of the Arctic Archipelago if push came to shove.
Ok, I hear some screaming out there; well before you start hitting the keyboard, think about this! There was a Danish flag and a metal plaque nailed to the rock on Hans Island last year and that flag is still flying and taunting and we have not the resources or the guts to do anything about it.

Oh the screams in 69 when the Manhattan went through the arctic and then more weeping and gnashing of teeth in 70 when the behemoth did it again. What did we do? We invented the pollution solution! The bureaurocrat who came up with this winner is probably sitting out his glorious retirement on a beach in Barbados today.
The Arctic waters Pollution Prevention Act was a brilliant ploy. After the Manhattanhad sustained some damage, some say serious, but because the tanker carried no oil the point is moot. The event provided the impetus to the touted protection of the "delicate" arctic environment and led to the conclusion that legislation had to be passed to protect the North from environmental damage. Canadian bureaucrats worked hard and ultimately succeeded in establishing the concept of custodianship of the arctic waters and had the "Arctic Exception" written into the final UN Convention on the law of the Sea Dec 10, 1982 as article 234.
The brilliance of this move in case you haven't thought of it is that Canada can slough off the sovereignty issue if it has enforceable control in other ways. So.... you say..... What? The liberal, peace-loving government can now not only not increase military spending..... They can CUT it which they did!

Remember the chickens. Part two tomorrow!

Annieopsquotch Intelligence Agency

2005-01-08T10:02:00.000-03:30

Setting up an intelligence agency is no mean feat. As a long time Military type who held at one time two clearances above top secret I know all about intelligence. When I was approached by certain High level individuals to start a Blog I knew at the outset that the first agency I needed to establish was one that could provide me with,"Actionable intelligence." The last few weeks have been an experiment in getting my feet wet, so to speak; I fooled around with all sorts of topics as any of you can easily discern just by perusing the past posts. Now we are getting around to serious stuff and a lot of my time has been devoted to assimilating all the raw data from my agents. I know what you're thinking, "Annie.....What?" Well! Let me just fill you in but only on a need to know basis.
Everyone has heard of the clandestine goings on that have transpired in the Great Smokey Mountains, but nobody talks; yup! And then the same for the Ozarks; uh huh! And then there are those other areas one of which was made famous in the movie Deliverance. Starting to get the picture? Well I won't hold you in suspense any longer. Have you ever heard of the Annieopsquotch Mountains? I thought not! The caves of Bora Bora are mere cubbyholes compared to the rooms of Annieopsquotch. This area is so secret that the only thing you will find when you do a search is a lot of boring geology crap, but there's the rub. I recognized the potential and that's where the headquarters of the world’s foremost intelligence gathering organization is now headquartered.
The AIA, that's right, the AIA, remember those feared initials, the CIA is a wuss in comparison, I mean what kind of an intelligence agency brags about its headquarters sitting as large as life all out in the open in Langley Virginia? I don't suppose I need to even mention the Canadian "puzzle palace" on the Rideau. I defy anyone to find the AIA headquarters in the mist and scrub spruce, which is almost impenetrable, darkness of the Annieopsquotch Mountains. I have spent many wake less nights getting my agents into the field, no, not Tunnys pasture, real fields afar. I have obliquely referenced a few of my stalwart agents in past posts an as I move forward you will be riveted to your PC as the real events come tumbling forth. Ah, we live in exciting times and there is so much to cover. Tune in tomorrow for a most interesting expose, you will not be disappointed!

That Was Easy!

2005-01-07T13:44:00.000-03:30

Staples has caved. Sinclair advertising will not be recinded. A good analysis and follow-up over at Amy Ridenaur's National Center Blog.

I Couldn't Make This Up

2005-01-06T13:48:00.000-03:30

The looney Left has struck again and it's hard to believe that educated college professors behave this way. A Kuwaiti Muslim attending a California College was told he needed psychological treatment because he wrote an essay that spoke favorably of the founding fathers. It gets worse. After he saw a psychologist who told him he was fine and the local media picked up the story professor Woolcock of Foothill College filed a grievance against the student which accused him of intimidation and general harassment. Read the whole thing here.

I nods to Powerline

More French Fries

2005-01-05T15:18:00.000-03:30

This time closer to home. Only the Gallic temperament can come up with this sort of thinking. In a place where there is a shortage of nurses the Quebec Government fires two nurses because they failed their written French test, they both speak the language well and the irony of the whole thing is that they work in a Montreal English hospital. Read the whole story in the National Post. A sit-com writer couldn’t' come up with this kind of idiocy. Les Québécois want to succeed from Canada? With this kind of thinking the gene pool will dry up first and they will blow away like so much dust. Pathetic clods.

I nods to Occam's Carbuncle

Let's Nail Staples!

2005-01-05T13:24:00.000-03:30

Just found out that Staples, the huge office-supplier, has cancelled its TV advertising on all Sinclair news programming. The reason: Media matters of America started a campaign against Sinclair because V.P. Mark Hyman has a daily commentary which is conservative and MMA call that media bias. Staples said they are cutting the ads partly because of e-mails from customers. While Staples has the right to do what they want I find it highly disturbing that they would cut and run because of a few e-mails when Sinclair has shown no bias whatsoever. Any station can comment in whatever way they choose. This calls for a few e-mails to Staples and perhaps when it comes time to buy office products head on over to Dicks or any other store. Send e-mails here.

I nods to Captains Quarters

French Fries

2005-01-05T10:23:00.000-03:30

Way back in 1969 I visited France for the first time and really looked forward to it. I drove to Paris from my little place in Varnhalt, a small town next to the Black Forest, not too far from Baden Baden. The trip was an eye opener and the opening line of Dickens Tale of Two Cities sums it all up. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." The worst part being, having to deal with Frenchmen. I have no idea why but the French have this collective chip (about the size of a Douglas fir) on their shoulder. Try to imagine being yelled at because I couldn't speak French because I was Canadian and was deliberately not speaking French. Others thought I was an American and proceeded to try to rip me off and the insults; well times haven't changed and I doubt they ever will.
Gregory Djerejian over at Belgravia Dispatch handles the latest Le Monde gutter piece. The accusations of the US helping the Tsunami Disaster as an excuse to gain nefarious interests are lower than low. The cartoon is particularly repugnant. A couple of lines I liked:

" Get over yourselves. You are a middle power, lucky to have a U.N. Security Council seat still......Such sad fare isn't just wrong, tasteless, petty and rancidly provincial. It speaks of a society, like contemporary Germany, that's ails and needs scapegoats..............loves to beat up that favorite bogeyman--the U.S.--out of a mixture of incomprehension, envy, fascination, stupidity and crude stereotyping. It's sad really..........this kind of myopic, obnoxiously self-interested news treatment of this massive tragedy speaks volumes, doesn't it?"

It sure does brother! Remember what General Omar Bradly said back in 1944. "The French let no good turn go unpunished."
Read it all here.

I nods to Instapundit

Journalism's Throes of Death

2005-01-05T10:01:00.000-03:30

It's hard to believe that this sort of tripe gets published. With all that is transpiring in SA right now, the appearance of this piece makes me shake my head. Heres the opening:

An Indian helicopter dropping food and water over the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been attacked by tribesmen using bows and arrows.

The authorities are taking the attack as a sign that the tribes have not been wiped out. No! Really?
The report says that officials, whoever they might, be believe they survived by: Wait for it, deep breath: " Using age-old early warning systems."
Yup, impressive eh wot? Must be the system left by the Klingons. Read the whole BBC report here.

I nods to Drudge

Leadership

2005-01-04T11:58:00.000-03:30

Laurie Hawn has a fine piece on leadership over at Strong and Free. As usual he nails it. The essence of the article is:
"Leadership is not just communicating and giving direction. It is being there and being seen to be there, in person and in charge, if humanly possible. It was, and those being led expect it and miss it, when it doesn't happen. As capable and qualified as deputies may be, no real leader wants to be anywhere but "there", when things go wrong. Paul Martin was not there."

I could not agree more. Read the whole thing.

Eye Of The Beholder

2005-01-03T20:17:00.000-03:30

For the edification of those erudite individuals sequestered throughout my sphere of influence, small as it is, I can only say " I sees what I sees," as opposed to Will Rogers who said, I only know what I read in the papers." In those days Will didn't know he was being lied to as opposed to today where it has reached epidemic proportions, but we have an antidote. Thanks to the blogisphere.
A 24 Dec Ottawa Citizen editorial critising Danny Williams was little more than a thinly disguised Liberal hit piece. The tone was set to attack Williams while really ignoring the situation. The most condescending and obviously totally ignorant line was left to the end where Newfoundlanders were called on to really tell Danny to smarten up. Bottom line: The Ottawa Citizen, to take a phrase from Dickens, “Is a ass." The smarmy, self righteous liberal toadies have no clue about Newfoundland; they tell "newfie" jokes and consider the populace to be an island of morons, including Labrador. The only reason the OC is jumping on the Martin bandwagon is because once you are on your knees, well a pat on the head feels good.
Today, right here in Good old St. John's we had the local Rag, The Evening Telegram post a picture of a lone individual in front of the Conglomeration Building holding a Canadian flag. One man, no support, not one. HEY Ottawa Citizen, take a good look. The folks here have had it! The local radio call in show on VOCM, yah, you read that right VOCM, not CF bla bla took a survey and 75% of the callers support Danny. This place is slow to learn, I will admit, we lost just about the entire Newfoundland Regiment in one battle on July 1st 1916, we lost our independence on April Fools day 1949, we lost our fishery , we were forced to give away our electricity, we gave away our minerals, our pulp wood. What's next? How silly of me! The oil! Of course! "Dumb Newfs don't need that; they are content with the baby bonus and the old age pension and a few turnips and cabbage and salt beef. Yup, us Upper Canada types appreciate the finer things of life, what do bay wops know anyway."
Quebec is cow-towed to at every turn, they can not only not fly the flag they even burn it They dictate that all businesses have no English signs anywhere or be fined. No English road signs, they even have their own emigration department that is separate from Canada. You twits that are badgering Danny Williams for wanting justice can shove it and when we see you addressing the lopsided sucking up to the Frogs then maybe we can talk, until then; engage in sex and travel.

Math

2005-01-03T16:15:00.000-03:30

John Derbyshire over at The Corner of NRO threw these out for all you math wizards. Very funny!

Q: What's huge, white, swims in the ocean, and has only one side?
A: Moebius Dick.

Q: What's brown, furry, runs to the sea, and is equivalent to the Axiom of Choice?
A: Zorn's lemming.

Q: What's yellow, linear, normed, and complete?
A: A Bananach space.

Q: What does an analytic number theorist say when he's drowning?
A: Log-log, log-log, log-log,...

Q: How many number theorists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: This is not known, but it is conjectured to be a prime number.

Q: How many light bulbs does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One, if it knows its own Goedel number.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the Moebius strip?
A: To get to the same side.

***Excuses for not doing math homework:
---I accidentally divided by zero and my paper burst into flames.
---I could only get arbitrarily close to my textbook, I couldn't reach it.
---I have the proof, but there isn't room to write it in this margin.

***Set-theoretic campfire song:
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall
Aleph-null bottles of beer,
You take one down and pass it around,
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall...

WISHING YOU A FUN NEW YEAR!

2005-01-01T09:55:00.000-03:30

Happy New Year(s)

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice (with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others or their choice not to practice such traditions at all).

* Furthermore, I offer my (non-binding) best wishes for the onset of the generally accepted calendar year of 2005, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. (Which is not to imply that America is any greater than any other country or is the only "America" in the western hemisphere.) These wishes are offered without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, choice of computer platform or sexual preference of the wishee. Holidays (if you recognize them)

* This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no others, is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish expires within one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first.

Stolen outright from Wicked Thoughts

Little Did I Know

2004-12-31T21:00:00.000-03:30

It's just like Darryl Sittler hitting his thumb on Corner Gas. I just went over to SDA and what should I see:

It Takes A Baboon To Raze A Village

Dyer's Dec.30 column advises that baboons hold the secret to world peace. It's really very simple, actually. First - kill half of the male population. Be sure it's the more aggressive half. Since the window of opportunity has long closed for death by food borne tuberculosis, that leaves the less aggressive half to do the killing, one presumes.

I rest my case. I am laughing my ass off, and a fine ass it is, ask slave.
Pathetic, I am ashamed to admit that Gwennie is a Newfoundlander.

Start here

The Chickens

2004-12-31T19:28:00.000-03:30

Way back in the early sixties when university students wore ties and jackets at least when you attended MUN, that's Memorial University of Newfoundland; there was discipline on campus, small as it was, and all was orderly, well mostly. I remember a particularly obnoxious student, Gwynne Dyer. A silver spooner and a very smart dude whose persona I wish I had the ability to market. If I could have bought him for what he was worth and sold him for what he thought he was worth I would have been a millionaire. G had uncanny recall ability and would love to sit in class and read a newspaper, usually the Daily News, now defunct, just to show off and drive the Profs nuts. G joined the Navy Reserve much to their dismay, as it turned out. That's where he got his modicum of military education, but G as usual figured he knew more than the whole military milieu, not locally but even globally, just ask him. He has pontificated and bloviated for many a decade and spewed his left wing ideology throughout the Anglosphere and beyond. He reminds me of Idiotarians who fit the Chomsky mould. He has progressed as The Dan has in his dedication to the belief that the facts don't matter, it's the perception and the belief, the intense inner feeling that he is right that matters. Many years ago G had promise but his superego, (not the Freudian) led him astray and now he is a pathetic wizened old fool trying to fabricate an image that doesn’t' exist.
All of the above is just a fluff of down compared to the total picture and the reason I am bringing it up is Norman's Spectator of the Western Standard who has been on G's case about his tag line in The Star, “Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.”
He talks about burnished qualities because the line is an outright lie and as I observed over forty years ago, as a teenager, no less, Gwynne Dyer is only interested in making Gwynne Dyer look good. Everything else is negotiable.
Bottom line; when a supposed intellectual inflates his appeal to the masses it severely questions the relevance of his message. I should have bought him in 62; he's not worth much now.

Read the reference here.

Masters of Disaster

2004-12-31T14:18:00.000-03:30

It never seems to end, it goes on and on ad nausium. The incessant attacking, the unending assault. I am talking this time about a Slate piece by Dana Stevens aka Liz penn who just put out a piece. on TV's coverage of the disaster in which she praises CNN and of course bashes FOX. The problem is that the reasoning is bogus. She says: "...CNN provides disaster coverage that's consistently informative, seldom tasteless, and almost never altogether stupid."
The give away here are the words seldom and almost. Fox is always and never. Dana or Liz or whover she is cannot possibly have watched much of the FOX coverage, if she had she would have seen practically non stop coverage. She must not have known that Bill O was on vacation and his fill in, John Gibson, who has performed a supurb job, has been talking to on the ground reporters and has done so since day one. FOX has been on this with many reporters around the clock since the start.
Dana/Liz needs a new brain, I'll get her a ticket to OZ. I have looked at CNN and they are reporting a hell of a lot of drivel, you know the gliterati and social crap, tons of Paris Hilton and other vacuous entities stuff. The whole article need never have been written. What a waste.

Media Casualties Mount As War Success Continues

2004-12-31T13:15:00.000-03:30

Rand Simberg of Transterrestrial Musings writes a brilliant piece on the Old Media as they are decimated on the Plains of Truth. It makes a great strawman for a documentary. Heres how it starts:

The ranks of print, web and broadcast pundits and journalists continue to be decimated by enemy action as the war progresses. The total number of casualties are becoming almost uncountable, and are overwhelming the limited field emergency facilities. This reporter got a first-hand view of the devastation and tragedy in a visit to a typical field hospital.

That sets the scene and here are a few gems:

The first thing that strikes you when you enter the infirmary is the smell. The stench assaults the nose--it's a pungent blend of moldering printer's ink and decaying sanctimony.

...the Taliban and Al Qaeda started to collapse without warning. We came under fire ourselves. Huge shellbursts of cruel reality and vicious satire were exploding all around us, and dangerous facts were whizzing just past our ears, sometimes right in one and out the other..."

He had been leading a frontal assault on common sense, when he was cut down in a withering fire of logic and irony by a brigade of blogger sharpshooters and fact checkers.

An orderly brushes past him, wearing nose plugs. He is carrying, at arms' length, a slop-bucket full of stale cliches, failed paradigms and illogical conclusions, in search of some place to dump them where they won't contaminate the local educational system.

The piece had me in stitches and while Dan Blather won't be impressed those who know the meaning and use of the word "logic" will thoroughly enjoy it. go here.

I nods to Hugh Hewitt

University of Pseudoscience

2004-12-31T11:08:00.000-03:30

One of the Florida State University professors protesting against a proposed chiropractic school at the college created this spoof campus map. Apparently, seven professors have threatened to quit if the chiropractic school happens.

This story in The St. Petersburg Times is important. Many universities will be watching the outcome very closely. There is no major medical institution in the US that embraces Chiropractic and with good reason. It's quackery, invented by peddler and part time faith healer D.D. Palmer in 1895 who wasn't making enough money. The whole basis of Chiropractic is bogus and anyone who honestly investigates the subject can only conclude likewise. I emphasize "Honestly." Canada luckily shot down a similar attempt at York University in Toronto a few years ago.

I nods to Boing Boing

You Might Be A Liberal IF...

2004-12-31T10:24:00.000-03:30

Roanoke Times columnist Ed Lynch has a list that’s a take off of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck if..."
except it’s about liberals; for instance:
You might be a liberal if:
You think that Rush Limbaugh’s listeners are mindless “dittoheads,” but you have never doubted anything that you heard from Michael Moore.
You are dedicated to helping the poor, the downtrodden and the less fortunate, but you have never given blood.
You have no problem with Hollywood movie stars flying around in private jets to give speeches on the evils of SUVs.
You uphold a woman’s right to choose, unless a woman chooses adoption, chooses to be a stay-at-home mom, chooses to homeschool, or chooses to start a business.

It's a great list, check it out here.

I nods to Sworn Enemy

No Bias Eh!

2004-12-31T08:52:00.000-03:30

Patterico's in depth review of the unconscionable 2004 performance of the Los Angles Times is a fine piece of work. It is scathing in its analysis and point by point fisking. The opening line says it all.

"Documenting a whole year's worth of this paper's distortions, omissions, and misrepresentations is a Herculean undertaking -- much like when Hercules cleaned a year's worth of manure out of a barn in a single day. The parallels are striking indeed."
It is so voluminous that is posted in two parts. Read it all here.

I nods to Instapundit.

Life Savers Come in Strange Shapes

2004-12-30T18:31:00.000-03:30

A great story from Blackfive on how a soldier in Iraq had his life spared thanks to a tampon, no, really, a strange story. The soldier wound up with a care package for a female soldier and the other guys teased him about it but when one of his mates was wounded and couldn’t' stop the bleeding, it was a puncture type wound, a quick thinking lad thought about the tampons the fellow had received and shoved one in the wound and saved the guys life. Read it all here. Guess what all the guys are carrying in their kits now?

Drunk Driver

2004-12-30T14:09:00.000-03:30

From the State where drink driving is considered a sport, comes a true story from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.

Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a local neighbourhood tavern. Late in the evening the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the car park for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five vehicles, the man managed to find his car which he fell into. He was there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a fine dry night), flicked the indicators on, then off, tooted the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained stationary for a few more minutes as some more vehicles left. At last he pulled out of car park and started to drive slowly down the road. The police officer, having patiently waited all this time, now started up the patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and carried out a breathalyser test. To his amazement the breathalyser indicated no evidence of the man having consumed alcohol at all! Dumbfounded, the officer said "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the Police station this breath-analyser equipment must be broken.

I doubt it, said the man, tonight I'm the designated decoy.

A Clinton Funded Study?

2004-12-30T11:59:00.000-03:30

My North Florida Agent, ”Deep Skipper" (not his real name) is on the ball and advised me of this very important study that will have global implications.

(AP) -- Women who perform the act of fellatio and swallow semen on a regular basis, one to two times a week, may reduce their risk of breast cancer by up to 40 percent, a North Carolina State University study found.

There are many side effects that are not mentioned, for instance, the porn industry. Just think, porn producer’s profits will soar as doctors will give referrals to, how shall we say it, the most prolific segment of society. I can see further studies and even the WHO getting involved. Things will happen fast. This discovery by its very nature will cause millions of men to have their "potency" assessed and I can see internet ads now as a whole new offshoot of the masculine mystique blossoms.
"Prevent breast cancer! call Tom, the most potent man in Big Lick (an actual place in Kentucky) Doctor certified therapist and gentle practitioner, call today for your schedule or e-mail at....."
I must admit that North Carolina State University had a lot of balls to organize and perform this study. Many other medical experts and high profile institutions have weighed in approvingly. read all about it hereand as far as I can tell I am the first blogger to get this up, on line. Ya know; Bill Clinton had to have funded this.

Sad Attitudes

2004-12-30T11:44:00.000-03:30

Blogging has been light for the past few days because of Christmas and slave's and Mom's birthdays, 39+ and 87 respectively, Mom's not shy about her age these days, I suppose once you get past 80 you start bragging.
I have thought I would not say much about the SA disaster as many more capable bloggers are on top of it and performing a hell of a job. Very disappointing what the Vatican had to say about Israel, sometimes I wonder about those Vatican bureaucrats. The only news source to say this. The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler comes down like a ton of bricks on it and Sri Lanka as well. In times like these it's perturbing that such attitudes exist.

Vultures

2004-12-28T19:57:00.000-03:30

You have to wonder what makes some people tick! With the continuing increase in the magnitude of the disaster in South Asia being revealed only complete bastards would try to use it for political gain.
In an interview with the Independent newspaper in Britain, Stephen Tindale, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: "No one can ignore the relentless increase in extreme weather events and so-called natural disasters, which in reality are no more natural than a plastic Christmas tree." Speaking to the same newspaper, Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper pressed the argument home: "Here again are yet more events in the real world that are consistent with climate change predictions."

What balderash. Newfoundlanders know all about Greenpeace. The WSJ gives those two a good Fisking. Read the whole thing here.

Where's The News

2004-12-28T10:40:00.000-03:30

The Times had a piece a few days ago about the UN and the sex scandal in the Congo. The article, see here, is quite disturbing and is the latest in a long series of UN disasters that are inexorably leading to the implosion of the UN. Credibility is at an all time low and the rot is from the top to the bilge. One little line in the piece mentions a Canadian "official" who had to leave the country after getting a local woman pregnant. I looked all over and have seen nothing mentioned in the Canadian MSM. Wonder why? The story has been out there since the 23rd.

I nods to Transterrestial Musings

Whose Ox is Gored?

2004-12-25T13:31:00.000-03:30

I like damian Brooks, I really do. Never met him but you get the feel for a guy (gals too) when you read their blog. Damian almost always seems to have his feces coagulated so when I read his less than thought out wack at our Danny Boy, well...... I just had to fire off a few verbs, to wit:

Ah! Chauvinism has reared it’s ugly head I see. Me thinks the babbler doth protest too much. And what I may ask would Cpl. Murphy think of your using his name for your cheap stunt? What business do you have mouthing off and taking it upon yourself th state what Cpl. Murphy would have said. I am a Newfoundlander and put in almost 25 yrs as a pilot in the RCAF (That’s what I joined) and have Buried 17 of my buddies so you don’t have to think what I would have said; read it!

Most Mainlanders haven’t a bloody clue about Newfoundland and furthermore Newf is a pejorative term for your information. As far as the” flag being dragged through the mud” Cut the bloviating. The flags were taken off the flagpoles and put away unlike the loony leftist mainlanders burning US flags, so get real.

Newfoundland was Shanghaied into Confederation and if you were to come to the province you would see as many Union Jacks flying as the Canadian flag and as many US flags too. Aproximately half of living Newfoundlanders were born under the Old Duster and the Newfoundland (not that ugly arrow flag pointing to Toronto) no, the pink white and Green and they weren’t born Canadians, myself included. We were born Newfoundlanders so you’ll pardon us if we don’t fly off the handle like you folks. If the flag is the people then the people had better wise up and treat Newfoundland as an equal.

Since Confederation This province has been decimated by Qttawa not just Paul Martin, he is only the latest manifestation of the debacle. Newfoundland knows how the Irish felt when England raped their land.

You folks up-a-long can just get down off your high horse before we take our province and go home. If you think Les Quebecois are a pain in the ass, You haven’t seen a half million pissed off Newfoundlanders and they are pissed, almost to a man.

There! I got that off my chest. I feel better now! Off to the folks for dinner, It will be great, Dad is a week and a half from 94 yrs old and still sharp as a tack, tough Newfoundlander, Mom is getting help from Doc. und frau with the dinner prep. and It's 16° C outside, that's 60° F for the folks in Lower Scrot, while there are blizzards in Texas. It's an omen¡

Per Ardua Ad Astra

Merry Christmas

2004-12-25T10:32:00.000-03:30

Yesterday was a busy day and so no blogging. I had to get the green elephant out of the front-room, it was either that or put branches on it and decorate it. It's a long story that I'll relate on another occasion.

Newfoundland is pissed and rightly so. While Paul Martin was wooing Muammar Khaddafi, Danny Williams, Premier of Newfoundland was pulling down the Canadian flag from all provincial facilities. "Up side the head Bozo!" Get your ass back home before you don't have one to come home to. I know what your thinking, "Get real, this is Canada.” Ya, well remember, in years gone by there were many instances of a leader leaving his country only to find that he was persona non grata upon his return, if he had the nerve to. Wouldn't that be a hoot, a coup in Canada? Imagine this Globe and Mail headline. ”The Salvation Army seizes power and federal forces are holed up in the Diefenbunker and suing for peace.” What a pathetic and global embarrassment. Know what? Newfoundland could declare independence and Ottawa couldn't do a damn thing about it. All federal facilities could be taken over in a matter of hours and then what would Ottawa do? Call the UN for help? During the Trudeauopean years A few thugs in Quebec calling themselves the FLQ kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Justice Minister Pierre Laporte in what came to be known as the October Crisis of 1970. Trudeau who had nothing but contempt for the military invoked the War Measurers Act, not done since the First World War. The outcome was that Laporte was murdered and Cross released unharmed for a free military provided plane ride to Cuba. If a few thugs could have that much power then just think of the power of a half a million justifiably angry Newfoundlanders now.

Newfoundland could make a deal with any number of countries to the tune of," Give us some back-up for fishing concessions." Beats Ottawa giving it all away anyway. Newfoumdland was suckered into Confederation, Newfoundland wasn't conquered, wasn't won by Canada on the battlefield, there is enough evidence to suggest that if taken to the world court( that Ottawa is so enamored of) they would lose and we could go back to being our own country. Look at places like Bermuda or the Bahamas who are doing damned well and look at us with all the resources and untold more not yet discovered. Smallwood sold Newfoundland down he river for his own self aggrandizement and gave our resources to Ottawa to use as bargaining chips to benefit the Canadian Cognoscenti. “How do I really feel?” you ask? Well it’s Christmas and so I’m full of the milk of human kindness and wish all people out there a very Merry Christmas.

To people in all corners of the world who speak divers languages the following should cover it.

Albanês: Gezuar Krishtlindje

Alemão: Froehliche Weihnachten

Árabe: I'D MIILAD SAID OUA SANA SAIDA

Armênio: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand

Basco: Zorionstsu Eguberri. Zoriontsu Urte Berri On

Bengali: Bodo Din Shubh Lamona

Boêmio: Vesele Vanoce

Bretão: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat

Búlgaro: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo

Celta: Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Cingalês: Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa

Chinês: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan

(Cantonês) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun

(Hong Kong) Kung Ho Hsin Hsi. Ching Chi Shen Tan

Coreano: Sung Tan Chuk Ha

Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth

Cree: Mitho Makosi Kesikansi

Croata: Sretan Bozic

Checo: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok

Dinamarquês: Gladelig Jul

English: Merry Christmas

Escocês: Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ur

Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon

Eslovaco: Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce

Esloveno: Vesele Bozicne. Screcno Novo Leto

Espanhol: Feliz Navidad!

Estoniano: Roomsaid Joulu Puhi

Farsi: Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad

Finlandês: Hyvaa joulua

Francês: Joyeux Noel

Frísio: Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier ! Galês: Nadolig Llawe

Grego: Kala Christouyenna!

Havaiano: Mele Kalikimaka

Hebraico: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova

Hindi: Bada Din Mubarak Ho

Holandês: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

Húngaro: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket

Islandês: Gledileg Jol

Indonésio: Selamat Hari Natal

Iraquiano: Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah

Irlandês: Nollaig Shona Dhuit

Italiano: Buone Feste Natalizie

Japonês: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

Kala: Khristougena kai Eftikhes to Neon Etos

Leto: Priecigus Ziemas Svetkus un Laimigu Jauno Gadu

Lituano: Linksmu Kaledu

Manês: Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa

Maori: Meri Kirihimete

Norueguês: God Jul Og Godt Nytt Aar

Polonês: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia

Português: Feliz Natal

Rapa-Nui: Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua

Romeno: Craciun Fericit

Russo: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva i s Novim Godom

Sérvio: Hristos se rodi

Samoano: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou

Sueco: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt Ar

Tagalo: Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon

Tâmil: Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal

Tailandês: Sawadee Pee Mai

Turco: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun

Ucraniano: Srozhdestvom Kristovym

Urdu: Naya Saal Mubarak Ho

Viatnamita: Chung Mung Giang Sinh

Zulu: Nginifisela inhlanhla ne mpumelelo e nyakeni.

This Will Take Off

2004-12-23T09:51:00.000-03:30

Over the years I have been up-braided by instructors and on occasion have even had individuals break down and cry and others have come to me and mention, sotto voce, “Weren’t you a little hard on so and so?" All these incidents had one thing in common; sarcasm! I have always used sarcasm, admittedly not always the appropriate tool and not without a sometimes twinge of guilt. During my flying instructor days we noted sarcastically that you should never use sarcasm without adding the appropriate amount of ridicule and fear. The temptation was always there especially when the recruiters sent you someone who should never have been allowed to drive a nail let alone an aerospace vehicle. So, where are we going with this? Well! I was ecstatic today when I read Babbling Brooks and he had a link to a recommended site where Josh Greenman has invented the sarcasm point. It is just what I have always wanted but didn't know it till now and its Christmas; perfect! I guess it's the good clean living¡ There I used it and with glee too. Josh has jumped into the sarcasm chasm and we are now off and running. Read all about it here, it's a great piece.

I nods to Babbling Brooks.

Back Door Intelligence

2004-12-22T22:55:00.000-03:30

My agent whom we will call Clausewitz, (not his real name) has informed me of the following, vis-a-vis my last, via covert and secure coms. The italics are mine and are for reader edification.

"As for the Danes fighting their way up to our Islands, there was a minor panic in ZX (Greenwood NS Air Force base) because they only had one serviceable bird (long range patrol aircraft) and that would mean canceling all the rest of the scheduled taskings for the rest of the week, so there was a bit of nail biting (this is pathetic) before they sent it up.
As for the free press article two factual errors: China didn't install the Air Defence System in Iraq, it was France; not that it makes much difference. Secondly, I can't see how the premier of Ontario would be able to cut a program to root out Chinese agents in Canada, that would be a federal matter and we all know that CSIS never seems to know much, nor do anything so I have my doubts about Bob evening knowing about the program or if it ever existed."

Connections

2004-12-22T21:27:00.000-03:30

I have only been back in Canada just under a year and I have spent most of my time getting organized. Buying a house, replacing a blown water heater, rebuilding a bathroom and I mean rebuilding. New plumbing was needed, I figure at least two years of work are required to get the place to where I want it. The barn, that's what I call the detached garage, cause the attached garage is called ...... you guessed it, the garage, needed work, I built a loft to store stuff, put in a wood stove, dug a 80 ft. trench and ran wire and wired the barn. Built my own windows from scratch, very proud of that. Hey I am a retiree and stuff costs money, You would be amazed at what you can build if you are creative and learn how to hunt down the good stuff, ok, forget the ladder, not every investment strikes gold. How about 45 sq. ft of 5mm glass for $20.00. This will slay you, aprox 400 sq ft. of .25 to .75 in. plank for....... hang on....... $15.00. 600 sq ft of hardwood flooring (used of course) for $200.00. Don't want to bore you but there is so much "stuff" to be had out there that all it takes is patience, which is in scarce supply it seems these days of instant gratification.
There I went again, the first sentence was supposed to lead to my absolute flabbergastification over what can only be called the hijacking of a country. The following article has not been blasted all over the MSM (guess why?) and all the people in the country are not up in arms, what the hell is going on? Bettsy Snooks in Grovelling Cove East is taking up an hour on the talk show about how Danny Williams hasn't paved her driveway while the Danes stick their flag on northern Canadian soil and we haven’t got a single vessel capable of going down there and pulling the damn thing out and is seems nobody south of Ellesmere Island gives a rats ass.
I did it again. Here’s the story and it makes me want to throw up:

Canada's global connections

by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com

December 15, 2004

When it comes to global influence, Canada’s Montreal-based Power Corporation is an octopus with tentacles everywhere.

Both Prime Minister Paul Martin and his mentor Maurice Strong, senior advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, worked for Power Corp.

Martin’s immediate predecessor is former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, whose daughter, France is married to Andre Desmarais, son of Power Corp’s founding father, Paul Desmarais.

Desmarais Sr. is a major shareholder and director of TotalFinaElf, the biggest oil corporation in France, which has held tens of billions of dollars in contracts with the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein.

As Canada Free Press (CFP) revealed last week, Paul Volcker, who heads up the Independent Inquiry Commission into the oil-for-food scandal, held a seat on Power Corp’s international advisory board.

Those are some of the ties of Power Corp., oil-for-food and Fracophonie’s Land of the fleur de lis.

Power Corp. now maintains controlling interest in BertelsmannAG, Germany’s large publishing empire--bigger even than Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

In February 2001, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, one of Belgium’s top 10 companies and 25 percent owned by Power Corp., acquired control of BertelsmannAG. Andre Desmarais, President and Chief Executive Officer of Power Corp., was named to the BAG board.

As it turns out, the publishing company controlled by Canada’s powerful Desmarais family has a less than honourary history. Indeed, during the days of the Third Reich, BertelsmannAG was the biggest publisher of Nazi texts, with production more prolific than the National Socialist Party’s own printing business. The Nazi chapter of BertelsmannAG began in 1933, but was only documented and disclosed by a historian Saul Friedlander in 1999.

Bertelsmann published the nefarious, The Christmas Book for Hitler Youth.

The publishing empire which employs some 80,000 workers in 51 countries, posted an overall cash flow of $18.3-billion in 2002.

Originally run by the Heinrich Mohn family, the company donated money to the SS and to various ecology Save-the-Earth factions of the Nazi movement.

Continuing to join the dots on Volcker and potential conflicts of interest is Volcker’s number two man on the IIC, Reid Morden. Morden has connections to Desmarais in his role of selling nuclear plants to China and others for companies dominated by Desmarais.

Although he is Canada’s former intelligence chief, Morden does not answer to the Canadian government.

As CFP letter writer Peter Herberg puts it, "Can you imagine the uproar if a former CIA chief did this and took part in a UN investigation that refused to cooperate with congress?"

From all reports, Prime Minister Paul Martin has no problems with Morden’s arm’s length relationship with the Canadian government. But then again Martin’s senior adviser is Annan pointman, Maurice Strong.

When you add it all up, contemporary Canadian influence abroad has all the intrigue of a fast-moving spy novel.

Andre Desmarais also sits on the China International Trust & Investment Corp (CITIC), described as the alleged investment arm of the PLA, the Chinese military.

Through its subsidiaries, the CITIC could be the largest manufacturer of weapons and arms in the world.

Maurice Strong, special ambassador to the UN, has publicly stated publicly his belief that China is the economic and ecological future of the world, a sentiment echoed only last week by Prime Minister Martin.

Iraq is awash in arms bought by Saddam through the oil-for-food scam and many of them originate from China, including the fiber optic air defense network installed by China.

China also sold arms to the Taliban and had a number of deals with them even post 9/11.

Li Ka-Shing, the owner of the Hong Kong-based Huthinson-Whampoa that now runs the Panama Canal Ports, is currently buying Husky Oil of Canada and plans on buying Canadian mining giant Noranda.

The Asian tycoon’s eldest son, Victor Li, a Canadian citizen, recently offered $48-million for a 28 percent stake in bankrupted Air Canada.

Li, incidentally owns Gordon Securities where Chretien used to work.

Operation Sidewinder, an American-Canadian operation set up to root out Chinese agents in Canada was shut down by former New Democratic Party Ontario Premier Bob Rae. Rae’s brother John was the campaign manager for Chretien and is a senior executive at Power Corp.

Paul Martin plans a China delegation early in 2005.

Chretien’s first trip after leaving office was to lead a delegation to China on trade deals. His next trip was to Iran on behalf of an oil company.
Last week Chretien was in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he made a speech criticizing the Russian government’s handling of Yukos Oil.

"It is no secret--my country, Canada has turned its proximity, next door to a giant, the United States, into a key economic growth. You are positioned between two giants--Russia and China," he told the Kazakhstan audience.

"I know through history that has not always been the most comfortable location. But these are giants that will continue to play a huge and important role on the world stage.

"In the case of China, we are looking at a nation whose economic and social growth will be THE big story of this century.

"Even in Canada, where we share a long, peaceful border with the United States, we have always had to consciously work to maintain our sovereignty and independence.

"As one of my great predecessors, Pierre Trudeau, once put it, we are a little bit like the mouse sleeping next to an elephant.

No mater (sic) how peaceful or good natured is the elephant, we feel ever single twitch and movement…And God help us if he should ever roll over in his sleep!"

Meanwhile, it’s not rolling over in his sleep that Canada should worry about, it’s perhaps if ever the sleeping giant should awaken.

Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she has also appeared on Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. Judi can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com

I nods to Kate at SDA

My Cup Runneth Over

2004-12-22T20:13:00.000-03:30

The Swift Boat Vets would believe me but The Rage'n Cajin and Baldy Bagala wouldn't but here's the skinny.
Tonight was Fish and chips night and when I went to the cellar for a "nice white" all I had was "red" so I picked a Chablis and post satiation retired to the pontificathroneum to post my piece. Somewhere during the process The esteemed Mr. Ahmed Chalabi's name was transposed to Chabali. I can only apologize and re-afirm the power of wine.

Per Ardua Ad Astra

The Future Iraq Deserves

2004-12-22T18:36:00.000-03:30

I find I am constantly irritated by loud mouthed, arrogant and mentally deficient individuals who scream for instant pullout of the troops from Iraq. Where these people were educated is suspect as well as their IQ. It appears few, study, (I'll even downgrade that to read,) history anymore except believing an Oliver Stone movie as "History." Anyone with a modicum of analytical capability has to realize that it's us or they and peaceniks and platitudes will only get you killed in the long run. I believe in peace through superior firepower. Do it to them before they do it to you. Look at Israel and the 67 war. Wako leftists insisted Israel should have waited until Egypt attacked before responding. That sort of vacuous thinking indicates that we should all leave our doors open and only install locks after we have been robbed. Idiotarians disgust me. But have a nice day!
That's the lead in to Chabali's piece in the WSJ online today which I decided to post in its entirety because it is pithy and accurate. Only a Yahoo (no! not the internet version*) would disagree with the points made and the obvious conclusions, to wit we must stay the course.

The Future Iraq Deserves
A democratic, pluralistic Iraq is the only acceptable outcome.

BY AHMAD CHALABI
December 22, 2004

BAGHDAD--The Iraq Liberation Act, voted in Congress in November 1998 and hence set as part of U.S. law, clearly stated that the pursuit of democracy was a primary motive for regime change in Iraq. The war of liberation in the spring of 2003 was understood by the majority of Iraqis, yearning to be rid of the yoke of Saddam's tyranny, as liberation. Doubt and distrust set in when liberation became occupation.

Nevertheless, an important trajectory has been set in motion with the removal of the Baathist dictatorship. Political freedom is moving forward despite the obstacles, delays and great losses, primarily to the Iraqi people but also to U.S. and coalition forces. (Witness the attack on the U.S. Army mess tent in Mosul yesterday.) This momentum cannot be reversed.

The Iraqi political landscape is now dominated by three concerns that must be addressed: first, elections in January and their outcome; second, a status-of-forces agreement with the Coalition forces; and third, the writing of a permanent constitution

Despite the lack of security in Iraq today, a democratic, pluralistic Iraq is the only acceptable outcome. Iraq's unity can be best secured through the involvement of all groups in the political process. The concerns being voiced by many in the international community, of the fear of Sunni marginalization and Shiite domination, were the same concerns that allowed Saddam to last as long as he did. Those arguments are reappearing today, to close the door of hope and opportunity for the Iraqi people. But Saddamism without Saddam is simply not an option.

Iraq's people are already realizing their objective of free elections by mobilizing themselves electorally for the first time in 45 years. There are 80 blocs of lists or individuals that have already registered to take part. The number of registered voters is increasing by the day. This is a clear expression by the Iraqi people of their wish to participate in a legitimate political process, and to ensure that their voices will not be silenced as they were under Saddam.

The United Iraqi Alliance list, consisting of most of the Shiite groups, is an important achievement for this new Iraq. It is a long way from the Shiite rejectionist position back in the early days of the Iraqi state, a position that Shiites have paid for ever since. Today, they are learning that their participation can only be ensured through a legitimate political process. This list is about active participation in a democratic process, not a subversion of elections for the sake of a theocratic Islamic state. It is wrong to assume that this process will be subverted by a pro-Iranian Islamic government. Iraq's Shiites are well aware that it was the U.S. and its allies that rid them of Saddam. This will remain the basis for a pragmatic relationship that dictates their interaction with Washington. They risk losing, rather than gaining, by doing otherwise.

Iraqi Shiites are proud Arabs. They have deep roots in, and are committed to, Iraq. They are also members of a diverse community with differing political, social and cultural orientations. Their Shiism has been the first call for persecution. That is the very identity that has cost them so much. To rally along that identity as a first expression of their political voice is but natural. It is the first building block for a reasonably balanced state, as well as the first impediment to be overcome toward a non-sectarian future.

The first task of the newly elected provisional parliament must be to reach agreement with the U.S. to determine the status of their forces in Iraq and agree a timetable for a phased withdrawal. This is a very important task in addressing the security situation. By having a clearly defined legal status in Iraq, U.S. and Coalition forces remove any legitimacy of terrorist attacks against them. Nonetheless, there is no desire among the majority of Iraqis, including those on the United Iraqi Alliance list, to call for a sudden and irresponsible withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.

Iraq is not the new frontier in a holy war. The terrorists, hiding under an Islamic banner, are the real perpetrators of sectarianism in Iraq. They are seriously undermining everyone, particularly the Sunni community that they claim to represent. The ideological drive is distinctly Baathist. Saddam's regime excelled at sectarianism and ethnic discrimination, and that is what the insurgents desire today--to push Iraq into a sectarian civil war. They are the ones attacking mosques and churches and hospitals. They do not stand up for the rights of Sunni Iraqis, but merely for their own interests, of absolute totalitarian rule. Using a manipulative language of skewed religious metaphors and nationalist symbols, they lobby Iraq's Sunnis to join them in their violence. Co-existence and consensus-building are abhorrent to Baathists. Their logic is very simple, if they are not in power, then Iraq should not exist. Those still fighting for a return to Saddam's Iraq are in! capable of practicing healthy competitive politics, of participating in a legitimate process of nation-building.

The Sunnis of Iraq were also among Saddam's victims and have as much at stake as other Iraqis. They are part and parcel of Iraq's democratic future. The Sunni community will not be cannon fodder for the restoration of the odious Saddamist state, nor for the continuation of the lucrative corrupt practices benefiting some in neighboring countries and around the world. They stand to gain as much in an egalitarian representational system that respects the welfare and dignity of all its citizens.

Finally, a permanent Iraqi constitution ratified by the people is the pillar that will uphold democracy. The path towards full representational democracy has just started, with the first indispensable step of elections next month. The culmination of this process lies in the writing of a permanent constitution and the holding of elections for a permanent government next December. The permanent Iraqi constitution is the basis of a social contract for the Iraqi people. Through a political consensus of all Iraq's communities, the primacy of individual rights and citizenship must be protected above any other consideration, whether communitarian or geographic.

That is the future that Iraq deserves, and the future that Iraq can have.

Mr. Chalabi, president of the Iraqi National Congress, is a member of the current national assembly and a former member of the Iraqi Governing Council.

* Swift, in Gulliver’s Travels, noted that the Yahoos where the most un-teachable of animals.

The Night Before Christmas

2004-12-22T15:56:00.000-03:30

A good friend sent me the following and having close ties with the US and having worked with the US Air Force and being retired Military myself I am only too happy to pass it on. Uncle Sam is doing all the heavy lifting, sure, Canada is doing a little in Afghanistan but by and large we've dropped the ball, big time and you know about the chickens.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,

IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."

This poem was written by a Marine. The following is his request. I
think it is reasonable.....

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is
due to our service men and women for our being able to celebrate
these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of
what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and
dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your small part
to plant this small seed.

I nods to Geordie

The Agony of Doing the Right Thing

2004-12-22T08:53:00.000-03:30

Yesterday was not a good day for the boys in Iraq and Paul Martin's less than honest response to an interviewer about sending Canadians to Iraq makes what happened yesterday more poignant to me. You have all seen the news of the effects of the rocket hitting the chow hall but take a look at another perspective, a chaplain blogs from the site. Only a cold, hard, unfeeling and uncaring lout could not be moved. Check it out here.

I nods to Instapundit

Awards

2004-12-21T17:29:00.000-03:30

The seventeenth annual awards for the years worst reporting have been announced and I like the "Bring back Saddam" award, The piece was so touching that I reached for a facial tissue (not a Kleenex) as that would be showing favouritism, and we just can't have that. "The Babs Streisand political IQ" award is priceless; Linda Ronstadt says,

“People don’t realize that by voting Republican, they voted against themselves....I worry that some people are entertained by the idea of this war. They don’t know anything about the Iraqis, but they’re angry and frustrated in their own lives. It’s like Germany, before Hitler took over. The economy was bad and people felt kicked around. They looked for a scapegoat. Now we’ve got a new bunch of Hitlers.”

Unbelievable! read the whole thing here.

I nods to Betsy

Philosophers

2004-12-21T13:28:00.000-03:30

What was said

Lister: Kryten, there was a cartoon character once called Popeye, said a really profound thing.
Kryten: Well, what did he say?
Lister: He said, "I am what I am."
Kryten: Are you sure? I always thought it was Descartes!
Lister: So did I, man! It's so easy to get those two dudes mixed up!

I nods to the Raging Kraut

The Scream

2004-12-21T13:05:00.000-03:30

No, not that one by Munch. The one from downstairs, last night, slave screamed and scared the cats and I. When I recovered, she screamed again, "FOX IS ON STAR CHOICE!" Well ! I ran right down, and sure enough there was Sheppard Smith looking as healthy as ever, not so Alan Colmes a little later, I think he looks awfull. Bill O was great, as usual. It's been exactly one year since I have seen FOX and what a refreshing sight! A whole year of PMSNBC, CNN and the deeply out to lunch CBC has left me with the shakes which I noticed this morning are beginning to go into remission.

View From The Bay

2004-12-21T09:37:00.000-03:30

The usual panorama that greets my morning eyes has been reduced to a blurred view of the marina and its many boats up on the hard for winter looking like so many beached whales. Boats out of the water have always made me feel uneasy; it's like watching a fish out of his aqueous domicile slowly dying. The wind is roaring and gusting up to 100 KPH, that's 62.12 MPH for those in Lower Scrot, and the rain is almost horizontal. No lights going up outside today. Inside lights today.

The emasculation of the world has been kicked up a notch. Get a load of the sitzpinklers.
It started in Sweden. A sitzpinkler is a man who sits in a restroom when he doesn't have to.
I nods to Andrew Sullivan.

The Joy of Hanging Lights

2004-12-20T18:01:00.000-03:30

But first:
The Diplomad is located at: http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
I forgot to add that last evn.

Now! I looked at the thermometer in the kitchen as I always do upon arriving there first thing this morning, after tripping over the cats and nearly breaking my neck. Why do cats have to get underfoot and not quit till they are fed? It’s like drag being exponential to airspeed. Anyway; I saw an unbelievable 15.5° C that's 60° F for the folks in Lower Scrot. Well! It was ordained! This was the exact moment on the space/time continuum line that dictated the lights be mounted on the eves trough. Out comes the ladder after a fight with damn thing, up against the roof, pull on the rope to raise the extension.... nothing! WDF sez I to myself? Inspection revealed the extension had jammed on the new feet I had installed last month." Why did it need new feet ?" I hear you asking. Well; I found this really cheap ladder in the "Buy and Sell" and being such a frugal sort I thought I could get away without feet, it is an aluminum ladder and those plastic end caps too. Have you ever been on a ladder as it slowly slides away from the house and there is nothing you can do as it picks up momentum? I thought so! And do you know the feeling you get as you pick yourself up and do a self examination for broken bones, lacerations contusions and yes even that scary subdural hematoma; naw, first thing you do is to look around to see if anyone saw you make a Monty Python re-run of yourself. Aside from the bruised ego there was no damage. It was then that I noticed the two parallel silver lines exactly 14 inches apart all the way from just under the eaves to the lowest row of siding. "Marvelous!" I said to myself. "Just F'n marvelous!" So now I have a very old aluminium ladder with young feet, new bright red extension tips, new pulley and very strong polyester braided line. Ah, there's a fine line between the fortunes of frugality and the slippery slope of excessive expenditures, not to mention getting the aluminization off the darn siding. Whew!!! Now I had to trudge to the workshop for a hammer (the universal tool) That reminds me of the adage that if the only tool you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail ! I digress.... you will get a lot of that. It's just that the little grey cells have so very much packed in there that it sometimes is hard to get from one sentence to the next without falling into a paragraph or two, sometimes a whole page. Anyway! One well placed whack worked like a charm and up went the old/new, well $60.00 man hours refurbished ,at least, more expensive than new, ladder.
When I arrived at the top of the ladder and examined the eaves trough and found it in great shape and no debris either, I was feeling like Bob Vila as he put on his safety glasses and charged ahead with his new project. I reached into my starboard pocket to retrieve a clip, (a money sucking device ...ie ...a .5 cent piece of plastic that I paid 20 cents for) and as I fumbled, I did so because I was wearing my old foul weather jacket that I wore some years ago while pounding through the "Perfect Storm" north of Bermuda, the upper two inches of the pocket folds over with the flap and so I reached across with my left hand to assist my right (both my hands are very supportive of each other) and it was at that moment that Maria decided to hurl down the valley and slither across Taylor’s lane and lay a good 40 knot gust to my port side. Well..... There I was with two hands in one pocket, sort of, and leaning downhill to stbd anyway, that's the slope and the piece of aspenite that I placed under the stbd leg gave way...............Have you ever been on a ladder........? I thought so ...... damn aluminum on aluminum is slick and it takes forever to get your hands out of your pocket. Luckily I have fighter pilot reflexes and I prepared myself for the unscheduled landing which was a perfect tuck and roll and as I quickly got to my feet and leaned back to retrieve the shroud lines... pockata......pockata......pockata..... Oh where was I? Yes I looked around! Same as last time. Ego is a terrible thing. Then the rain started and I took my tired, bruised, humiliated, grass and dirt stained body inside to lick my wounds.

I

Taking care of business

2004-12-19T15:55:00.000-03:30

Ah, the bugbears of start-up enterprises! This is the second time I am writing this. The first time was ready to post when I committed a totally asinine blunder and lost the whole blog. Due to the vagaries of human nature this episode will perforce, be shorter.

I am in the market for a pellet stove, an insert variant, parce que, I have a fireplace. Necessity is the mother of invention and due diligence and after looking at my latest electric bill (we have electric heat) I thought I was paying off the national debt all by myself. So, I girded my loins and placed myself in front of Mr. IBM's clone and Googled and Yahooed my way through the intergalactic miasma known as cyber space to find the one true stove destined for the Captain's Dungeon.
With great anticipation I e-mailed manufacturers and dealers and distributors hoping all would be revealed. What a dumb thought that was. It has been over two weeks and with only one exception, (a dealer in Kamloops BC) I have received nothing but frustration. I have heard from only two manufacturers but only after e-mailing twice and then phoning.
These little pellet firepots can cost over $3,000.00 and the industry doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about a potential buyer!
Now for the coup de gras! One company located in the Provincial capital of a mid Canada Province sent me the following e-mail (parts deleted to save the guilty embarrassment)

Good Morning;

We sell our stoves through a network of dealers and distributors. We are the manufacturer. To get pricing you would have to contact a dealer or distributor in your area.

I am sorry but I am unsure where NL is. Please be more specific.

A few thoughts spring to mind:
1. Good Morning who? Duffus?
2. Geography is not her strong suite even though she is the "Director of Accounting" and presumably has post secondary education.
3. She could have asked an associate and saved herself the embarrassment.
4. She could have looked at my E-mail addy and figured out in what neck of the woods I hailed from
5. She could have hit Google, entered NL, hit search.

Makes me wonder about the quality of education in this country and others, notably the US. that's my segue into ......

Dumb and Getting Dumber

Walter Williams is an economics prof at George Mason U. and a sometimes stand-in for Rush has a two column piece that comments on such things as a grade school teacher who thought Alaska was an island because it looks like it on most maps. A university student who passed in an assignment with crayon pictures of a beach when asked for an essay on her summer vacation. She was pissed with the F and said, "I don't know what an essay is." Another student couldn't subtract 600 from 30,000 without a calculator.
A large part of the problem is the left wing wako concept of symbolism over substance, Walter notes leftist courses such as: "Canine Cultural Studies" (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), "I Like Ike, But I Love Lucy" (Harvard), "History of Electronic Dance Music" (UCLA), "Rock and Roll" (University of Massachusetts) and "Hip-Hop: Beats, Rhyme and Culture" (George Mason University). There are many more. Check out Dr. Williams here:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/ww20041208.shtml and here
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/

From Walter we move to Dr. Maureen Stout just so those who are saying, "Yah, that's only in the US." Well, Stout, a fine looking woman, whom the feminazis love to hate is a Canadian who has a hell of a background and has spent time in England as well as the US.
Her , "trouncing the well-known shibboleths of modern educators" is music to my ears. to wit:

1. High expectations for students are damaging to self-esteem;

2. Evaluation (grading, testing, report cards) is punitive, stressful and damaging to self-esteem;

3. Teaching and learning must always be "relevant" and student-centered;

4. Effort is more important than achievement;

5. Competition leads to low self-esteem and should be replaced by cooperation;

6. Social promotion should continue to preserve students' self-esteem;

7. Discipline is bad for self-esteem and should be dispensed with;

8. Teachers should be therapists;

9. It is the teacher's, not the student's responsibility to ensure learning;

10. Feeling is more important than thinking.
The good doctor is bang on and I couldn't agree more especially #10 which cost me a marriage.

One last item.
The Diplomad is a US diplomat located in Outer Lostdirtistan and he is a hoot.
Check out his "Ratman" the salient points carry more than a modicum of truth.

Per Ardua Ad Astra

My kick at the cat

2004-12-18T21:25:00.000-03:30

So here I go!
Why not,
slave has been after me to do my own thing after hearing me pass comment on all the other blogs out there.

Why Tatterhead? Well being an old fan of Pratt; I have a worn out volume of his poetry always at hand , and My ties to the sea are strong. With an enate and agnate history of seafaring folk and my own salt covered wounds, I find the poem conveys the concept of the difference between those of us who have "Been there" and those who have no idea in the world of what is really going on or has gone on.

My little blog in a way, is also bound to force me to do what I should have done a long time ago, that is, keep a journal.
And another thing!
Don't tell anyone; but I have to catch up to my dad who is three books ahead of me.

The Capt.

In The Beginning

2004-12-18T20:42:00.000-03:30

Tatterhead

The old man's vacant stare was out to sea,
His back against the bollards on the quay,
His face was of that wind-taught grain
As if his skin had never brooked
A calm; as if his eyes had looked
On nothing but the whip of salt and rain.

Day after day

He spent that way,
Making no sound
But the scratch of a jack knife on the bung
Of a Demerara sugar-keg
And an intermittant thump
Against a loosened timber as his leg,
Made of cork and hickory, swung
Upon the swivel of his rump.

"They call that fellow - Tatterhead,
A harmless, whitless fellow,"said
Leopold to Theodore,
As arm in arm they strolled along the shore.
"A beastly, uneventful life indeed,"
Quoth Leopold, whose tender mouth
Was sucking at a chocolate meraschino.
"They say he cannot read or write,"
This from the lips of Theodore,
Whose head was sleekly combed below
A tilted Borsalino.
"Come let us go; these dreary rains!"
So home they went - and with their deadly canes,
They murdered dandelions by the score.

But eighteen years before, one wild March night,
When those young bloods,
In the roseglow of candelabra light,
And smooth with olive oil and Castile suds,
Were drooling on their bibs,
This weazened tar, through bonds of ice and hemp,
Incorporate with a wheel,
Had watched two shuddering jibs
Dip to a plunging keel,
In a northern strait - somewhere
Within the track of Frobisher.

E.J. Pratt 1882 - 1964