First!!

Since the beginning of the current American presidential race I have been saying that the first Black president will likely be a Republican. In other words, you're not The One, Obama. Sorry.

Now it looks like the Republicans may just be the first to put a woman into the Oval Office, too. Of course, presuming McCain wins and he manages to serve a full term, then Sarah Palin may not get to sit behind the desk, but, if McCain kicks the bucket (a lot of people do think he's too old), then presto!!! She becomes the President of the United States.

I kinda like fact that she's a northerner and will likely know a lot more about Canada than McCain, and certainly more than either Obama or Biden. She's also a teacher, which is kinda cool. She's married to an Inuit. She's also a woman of principles. In her career in public service in Alaska, she wasn't afraid to stick it to her fellow Republicans.

And speaking of McCain, this is pretty classy, if you ask me:



The "historic day" McCain refers to is the forty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech, one of the most inspired examples of uplifting oratory ever delivered, IMHO. Dr. King's words on that day have been the single most important influence on my life, I think. I can't think of another single event that at once so galvanized my values and my philosophy and has stuck with me all of my life. Let us be judged by the content of our character, not by the colour of our skin, or any other superficial characterization.

Damn. This campaign just got really interesting again. It was getting so boring. Thank you, McCain.

Geeze, Putin!

Even the Chi-Coms don't like what you've done. And all those "stans", too.

Fuel This Will You!

Here's a good answer and a "sort of" answer to a question I've had for a long time: How many international flights are there each day and how much fossil fuel is needed to power them?

Well, okay. The good answer only deals with transatlantic flights and the "sort of answer" only speaks to flights occurring over American skies, but you get the drift. If this is what takes place in the US on a daily basis, imagine what sort of traffic occurs world-wide.

And then tell me, oh AGW wise ones, how can we replace the carbon based energy required to fuel all of that activity, ALL OF WHICH contributes to the global economy? Wind farms? Solar energy? What? Maybe they'll come up with airplanes with wings that flap automatically using solar power, but they'd still need something to propel them high enough to be above the clouds, especially for the longer flights. As one of the commenters on the first site linked above says, the new more fuel efficient transatlantic flight initiative will reduce CO2 omissions by a staggering 0.0005%.

And that's just one tiny bit of our fossil fuel dependent civilization that will go bust when we run out of oil, unless someone somehow finds a replacement powerful enough to propel hundreds of thousands of flights to and fro across various parts the planet every day. If that mode of transportation goes poof, it's not just the jobs associated with flight (from manufacturing them, to serving meals on them, to investigating crashes and on and on) that will disappear. All the goods and services transported by or associated with those flights will be grounded and legions of other people supply or are dependent on those goods and services be out of work, too. We're looking at major economic collapse.

The comments are kind of interesting in that some of them seem to reveal a profound level of naivete, like this one: "Think of the domino effect though. They save money in fuel, which translates to more money for the airlines, to re-invest in cleaner technologies, or in bringing the ticket price down. Should be interesting to see what this does."

Yup. That should help. Lower the price and what you'll get is more passengers and more traffic. It's a zero sum game, sweetie.

I Didn't Know This

The guy who owns The People's Cube used to be a real live Soviet spinmeister.

"He's funny. Wow, is he funny, yet his humor is serious. That's talent, my friend, to actually be funny, with a compelling purpose. Meet Oleg Atbashian, a former agitprop artist from the Soviet Union. The posters, the banners, the slogans. He's one of the many people who created the Soviet Union's symbols and political sloganeering, all that Workers Paradise stuff we hated, the kind of cliched posters Barack Obama's campaign is producing. It's true the change for Americaleft relies on symbolism over substance. They have to. It's all they have. Symbols, speeches, posters, politically correct language and harangues."

Some great examples of his hilarious graphics at American Thinker, too. I especially like this one:



Read the comments thread, too. I like these two:

"Many of us who came from the Communist 'paradase' are like Oleg. Alas, nobody listens to us because Americans know better about everything including our past. Alas, American culture is very arrogant one. That is why I told my American friends on many occasions - 'You think that I came from your day before yesterday. It is just the opposite. I came from your day after tomorrow'. It looks like Obama does his best to make it real. Thanks G_d that Oleg was noticed. A tiny glimmer of hope.

Posted by: Cassandra "

"Nine years ago I sat at a wedding reception with a couple who had been planners at the Tiananmen Square protests, they were forced to flee China and are currently medical doctors in the United States. For me the chance to talk to people who had witnessed such history was fascinating, unfortunately for us we were at a table of "progressives", at least one of whom had worked in the Clinton White House. That was the first time that I had ever heard anybody outside of the Chinese government state that the "Tiananmen Massacre" was really just simple Western propaganda. After dinner I got to talk to them about their experiences and the first thing that either one of them wanted to know was "what is wrong with them?" The woman commented that everybody at the table was well dressed, they appeared successful and well educated yet they became downright boorish when the problems of communism and tyranny were brought to light from the life stories of their tablemates. That dinner served as an eye opener for my new friends and another lesson for me.

Posted by: EL Rider"

And a response from the great lampooner himself:

"Wencel Ebats wrote: "Oleg seems no revolutionary thinker (anti-revolutionary, as it were). And he DID assist the murderous USSR in duping and oppressing its own people."

I guess that's what you get for not explaining properly that my work as a propaganda artist was only a 3-year stint after college, and that it was followed by a much longer period of lampooning and satirizing the Soviet regime and its leaders - not exactly a career-enhancing move in the USSR. And, as I also found out the hard way, neither was it a career-enhancing move in the United States because the "establishment" on this side of the Iron Curtain was just as dogmatic about "progressivism" as were the objects of my satire. And THIS is the real story of my life - not "assisting the murderous USSR in duping and oppressing its own people."

Posted by: Oleg Atbashian"

On Target. Seven More to Go.

General Petraeus's proposed draw-down chart from a year ago is proving to be pretty much on target.

We have news of security in yet another Iraqi province being handed over to Iraqi forces, but this one is no ordinary handover. Anbar was one of the most violent regions prior to the Awakening and the surge. Seven more to go and then the Americans can leave. Maliki says 2011. Three more years should do it.

Funny that this is all the big protest movements can come up with. These jackasses want us to believe the war is raging. If they only knew what fools they are. Does anyone seriously believe these guys are telling the truth? Hell, who even believes they are genuine Iraqi war vets? I don't.

Anyway, sure puts the Democrats in a bad light.

Think Twice, Russia

Ukraine Leader Pushes NATO Bid on Independence Day

NATO Ships Enter Black Sea for Exercises

Germany, Spain, Poland, US Flooding Black Sea With Warships

Useful Facts

to use when you have to speak to a "Bush lied, people died, illegal war" lunatic.

Who lied about Iraq?

Fresh Surprises Concerning Tired Old Memes

Take a gander at American Thinker today. Play the "Guess who said it" game.

Then mosey on over to The People's Cube and play another one.

Podcast 141

Don't miss it. A lengthy interview with Ibn Warraq, author of Why I am Not a Muslim.

"Who wants to integrate into a sinking ship? We've been saying how awful we are, how terrible we are, what horrible people we are, what terrible racists and imperialists and fascists we are. So of course, they don't want to integrate."

History of Indian and White Relations 101 - Part III

A couple of weeks ago I posted a rant about the content of a link from Saskboy's blog, which he had swallowed as gospel truth, lock, stock and barrel. I published two parts, the first one here and the second one here. My issue with Saskboy can frequently be boiled down to his naivete. Poor Saskboy. Unbeknownst to him, he had hit upon a subject that I have devoted my entire life to - the study of the history of Indian and White relations in Canada. But God bless the young trooper - that didn't stop him from arguing with me and pretending to know more than he does.

I finished Part II with a short discussion about the taxation issue, in response to this passage from the website Saskboy links to:

"Another area of Treaty right is taxation. "Personal property on a reserve, including income, is not subject to taxation, either federal or provincial. This is an affirmation of oral promises made at the signing of the Treaties that the reserves shall be tax-free" (Brizinski, 1993: p. 188)."

First of all, since I have not read her book, and since the phrasing of the text on the website doesn't make it clear, I do not know if the passage quoted above is word for word from her book "Knots in a String: An Introduction to Native Studies in Canada", or if the creator of the website merely uses Brizinski as a source and attributes the idea expressed in the passage to her. Although, the use of quotation marks around the two sentences immediately prior to the citation data in brackets does suggest that those words are a direct quotation. If that is the case, then I also have an issue with Brizinski's knowledge of history. But that's typical of the academic wing of the Indian Industry. While the very essence of a historians' work, by definition, is the examination of original documents and an interpretation of them in the context of a thorough knowledge of the era under study. But this isn't considered necessary in the Indian Industry's world view. Oral history, several generations removed from the events in question are of equal or superior value in piecing together what really happened generations ago.

So what's wrong with the bolded part of the quote? To begin with, the passage attributed to Brizinski, viz - "This is an affirmation of oral promises made at the signing of the Treaties that the reserves shall be tax-free" - taken together with the whole tone and context of the language use on the website, implies that the tax exemption is a Treaty right applicable to all Treaties negotiated between various Indian groups and the Canadian government (or British Crown, if you're a purest) and that is unmitigated balderdash.

It is true that oral statements regarding taxation were made by the Canadian government's negotiator during the negotiation of Treaty 8 in what is now northern Alberta and parts of adjacent territories. It is also true that the statements were made in response to concerns raised by the Indians present at the negotiations. But that is the only Treaty from that era at which the subject of taxation was raised during negotiations, so why is the plural "Treaties" used in the Brizinski citation? This is typical of the Indian Industry - taking a tiny slice of historical fact about a very specific and unique event and extrapolating it across a broad swath of other events that happened both before and after in which the specific milieu did not exist.

But more to the point, why would the subject of taxation even be raised by Indians in northwestern regions of the then North West Territories, who lived on lands that were remote and, for the most part, heavily wooded and unsuited for settlement by agricultural enterprise or any other mode of permanent settlement?

One of the best explorations of this question is found in a paper by Wendy Aasen delivered at a conference commemorating the centennial of the signing of Treaty Eight. I have the proceedings of that conference. It was published in the premier issue of Lobstick: An Interdisciplinary Journal, which, much to my surprise, is also published on the net, so you can read it yourself. Although she deals with the exemption from military service, which was also an issue raised and a promise made during the negotiations, the answer she gives applies equally to the taxation issue. To put it simply, the Indians were well aware of what was happening in the world at the very end of the 19th century, as she states:

"The world at the turn of the century (which had experienced relative peace for approximately 40 years) was becoming increasingly unstable. This instability was accompanied by uprisings in the colonies and in rising tensions between world powers."

This included concerns in Canada's government about the possibility of an Anglo-American war and other problems that could play out right in their back yard. In essence, the Indians wanted no part in someone else's war, including paying for it.

With respect to the issue of taxation, from the Treaty Commissioners' report as quoted in Aasen:

"There was expressed at every point, the fear that the making of the treaty would be followed by the curtailment of hunting and fishing privileges and many were impressed with the notion that the treaty would lead to taxation and enforced military service...

We assured them that the treaty would not lead to any forced interference with their mode of life that it did not open the way to the imposition of any tax, and there was no fear of enforced military service."

Aasen also describes how and why Indian people living as far north as Lessor Slave Lake would have knowledge of world affairs and why it mattered to them. Their way of life, which was largely living off the land and trading (bartering) furs, rather than cash, could be disrupted. The Spanish American war had raised the value of furs to an all time high. At the end of the 19th century, in this corner of the world at least, trapping was good business.

But the answer to a companion question is also necessary. Why did the Canadian government promise not to tax or conscript them? What were their motives? The answer is quite simple and the number of journal articles and books devoted to this is by now legion. Since the 1840s Indian land was considered non-taxable because it was crown land (a throwback to the Royal Proclamation and to the Hudson's Bay Company Charter). It did not belong to Indians. The British North America Act, which created Canada in 1867 states that:

"No lands or property belonging to Canada or any province shall be liable to taxation."

Moreover, Indians themselves were considered wards of the state, hence, not liable for enforced military service, or, by extension, taxaton. The notion that the tax exempt status of Indians derived from a treaty negotiated in 1889 in which the Indians were recognized as sovereign peoples is - to put it bluntly - pure unadulterated nonsense.

WoooHooooo!!!

The Clinton's are finished!!! Obama chooses Biden.

But now we get to see what a really power hungry bitch she is.

But it's still mean and ugly, even with her out of it:

Darwinian Award Candidate?

Man who sent threat to McCain included return address.

A Lesson on Moral Equivalence

Here's a good one for our useful idiot and his moral equivalence arguments.

Besides that, I always like linking to Christopher Hitchens, a reformed lefty, who is still a lefty in many ways, but has seen the light on issues where it matters.

Europe Sees Writing on Wall

"President Sarkozy told French forces in Kabul today that the deaths of nine soldiers in battle would do nothing to shake his resolve to keep France in Afghanistan and fight the global war against terrorism."

[---]

"He added: 'Why are we here? It is because here we play a part in the freedom of the the world. Here we are fighting against terrorism.'"

Yup. Europe has seen the writing on the wall. Car-be-ques will do that. And Afghanistan is as good a place as any to get back into fighting form.

And yup. The last thing we need is a reenactment of the Cold War with Islamofacism in the mix. Even Merkel can figure this out.

Georgia 'will join NATO'

And it looks like she has strong support among German voters

And the other European members of NATO can too.

"Alliance ministers had seemed split before the Brussels meeting, with Canada, the United States and several Eastern European states urging sanctions against Moscow, while France and Germany warned against aggravating their powerful neighbour.

That division had all but disappeared yesterday, suggesting Russia may have overplayed its hand when it decided to keep soldiers on Georgian soil. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner even warned that Europe might block Russia's bid for World Trade Organization membership, a status that Moscow craves."

But you know, I kind of have to agree with Russia on this point, at least.

"The view from Russia is that international law and international organizations such as NATO are transient phenomena of the late 20th century," said Timothy Garton Ash, professor of European Studies at Oxford University. "What really counts, as far as Moscow is concerned, is big, powerful states using their muscle with gas and tanks."

Yup three. I would include the United Nations in that. The Cold War is back and we need new tools to fight it.

We Get to Hate Russia Again

hehehehe

Cool - Global Visitors

I have subscribed to Sitemeter.com so I can see where my viewers come from (assuming I have any). Low and behold, I have folks from all over the world visiting my site. Probably by accident, but who's complaining.

So to the people from Adelaide, Australia; Chongqing, China; New Delhi, India; Gostar,Iran; Beirut, Lebanon (hey, I've been there); Haifa, Israel; Zurich, Switzerland; Brussels, Belgium (Is that you, Down East Blog Mike?); Surrey, New Malden, United Kingdom;...

and from Phenix City, Alabama; Indian Trail, North Carolina; Charlottesville, Virgina; Baltimore, Maryland; Bronx, New York; Abington, Massachusetts; Mont Vernon, New Hamshire; Sedalia, Indiana; Hopkins, Michigan; Ashland, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; Pomona, California; San Francisco, California; Veronia, Oregon;...

and back here in Canuckistan, from Abbotford, Kamloops, Vancouver and Cowichan, British Columbia; Lethbridge, Calgary, Edmonton, and Lloydminster, Alberta; North Battleford, Shaunavin, Gull Lake, (believe it or not, I know where those two are); Regina, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Ottawa, London, and Toronto, Ontario and Halifax, Nova Scotia...

There's even a couple of folks of no fixed address. One has an account with AOL (around Minneapolis, maybe, or Omaha?) and the other with Rogers (looks like he or she lives in Churchill, Manitoba, brrrrr!)

Welcome each and every one!! Just one question, though, especially to you folks on the other side of the planet. How in hells bells did you land on my blog? I'm just a lonely little obscure blog hidden at the back of the blogosphere from the middle of Nowhere, Saskatchewan.

In Like a Lion...

..., out like a lamb.

A man who seized power with a military coup has resigned, peacefully, under political pressure. Will wonders never cease.

President Musharraf of Pakistan Resigns

God's speed Pakistan. Hold on to your hats and may the forces of democracy win out.

Brrrrr X 30

The record lows keep rolling in. Thirty stories so far this year at Gateway Pundit. I tell ya, it's looking more and more as if the global warming hysteria is going to be tossed into the dustbin the same way all these hysterias were.

Remember Y2K, the population explosion, power lines and cancer, cancer and VDTs, global cooling, ...... etc., etc.,...yawn.

Hameed, Once Again...

I'm now in the "looking for stories about economic progress in Iraq" mode. The violence has nearly stopped. The Iraqi government is in serious negotiations with the US about the status of American forces once the UN mandate expires. The country is moving toward provincial elections this fall. All signs are that business and investment is hot.

My friend, Hameed Abid, an Iraqi exile and architect living in London, England and long time commenter at Iraq the Model, had this to say earlier today [typos corrected]:

Dear O and M

Once again The Iranians are showing their teeth and they are showing how, once America leaves Iraq (In their dreams?) they will fill the vacuum thus created and occupy Iraq or sorry I may be wrong they will protect their Islamic neighbour from other Islamic nations who may be eager to win it over.

Now that the Arabs are waking up to this fact, by stopping their support to creating the killings of one Iraqi by another. They have started to accept that Iraq could be OK, and that there would never be a Shiite Crescent so long as Iraq has the Sunnies and the Kurdish and other minorities like the Christians and Yazidis and Mendais and Jewish people within its borders treated equally under the constitution.

It is high time the Arabs showed their support to the elected Government of Iraq with no conditions.

I am so happy to hear that the Kuwaitis and Saudis are winning and financing major projects in Iraq - A major drainage scheme in Baghdad and the International airport in Najaf, and the UAE Nationals are investing billions of dollars in the North of Iraq. DEMAC for example.

The Egyptians will soon be there too.

The Jordanians/ Palestinians already are in Place and The Libyans are coming in toe too.

The Bahrainis will be welcome and the rest from the Sultanate of Oman, Qatar and Yemen will be pouring in shortly.

There are billions of dollars worth of projects to be had, and the next budget 2009 will be around $80-100 billions which must be spent within twelve months.

They will miss the boat if they do not get their fingers out now, as the country is starting from Zero and needs everything.

The trade so far with Iran has reached three billions or more and a talk of a free trade zone on the border is going on as we speak.

The Syrians will soon benefit from the flow of Iraqi oil through its Mediterranean Port of Tartus and allowing goods to be transhipped through its territory to Iraq, by lorries, trains and cars etc.

SO, which is better for the Arabs, carry on dreaming of another dictatorship in Iraq or trade with Iraq as is and make profits?

Kind regards
hameed Abid

Go Iraq!!!!

PS: Seems we are of the same mind regarding Muqtada al Sadr, too.

And another one. God, I love it when this guy weighs in. He's in communication with his relatives in Iraq almost weekly, it would seem, and has been passing on their observations and the "talk of the town" from their point of view for a very long time, now. This is what he says about his home town, Babylon [Typos corrected]:

Dear O and M

Now this is a great news item in my birth place- Babylon'

A new International commercial Airport - the largest in the Middle East - will be built in Babylon by the Saudi Investors AL Issa Company. Also chemical industries projects, agricultural products to grow wheat, barley and rape seed, corn and others.
Using modern machinery and methods.

Prince Saud Bin Abdulla Companies will be represented. 10% of the profits from the growing of food will be allocated for the widows and orphans and the disabled in Babel.

God be with you good people. You are most welcome in Iraq. Especially in the Cradle of Civilisation area-Babylon.

Kind regards
hameed Abid

May the Cradle of Civilization rise again!

"Progressive" Progress in Venezuela

Hugo Chavez's Barracks

The recent passage of the new Bolivarian Armed Forces Organic Law will turn Venezuela in a militarized society. As a result, a constitutional reform yesterday championed by President Hugo Chávez and refused today by the people during a referendum last December is virtually nil.

The democratic standard which states that the armed forces are subject to civil authority and provides for the non-deliberating character of the army has given in. According to the resident of Miraflores presidential palace, revolution is peaceful yet armed. In other words, either we accept it willingly or he will impose it forcefully. As simple as that.

Race Baiting Poker

Lashawn Barber writes an excellent column at Pajamas Media:

Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele ran for the U.S. Senate in 2006. Was racial prejudice the reason he lost? Were white Democrats in Maryland racist for not voting for Steele? I don’t think so. Steele was a conservative running in a liberal state. People are supposed to examine a candidate’s platform, voting record, value system, etc., while deciding whether to vote for him.

And that’s what voters are doing in this presidential election. If Barack Obama is defeated in November, it means “paleface” voters would rather take a chance on a lukewarm Republican than a cool, race card-playing Democrat.

More about Michael Steele here.

Power to the Women of Islam!

Absolutely great video featuring Irshad Manji and Dalia Mogahed.

I wonder what this guy would think of them, or better yet, what they would do with him?

Questionaire for Barack Obama

Hey, folks. Take the National Black Republican Association's History Test. Be sure to take both parts.

Would you have passed the test?

One of Those Rare Occasions

...when I agree with Al Sharpton, although Hitch is still my hero, even though he hasn't quite understood Sharpton's argument, which is essentially that God's existence is neither proved or disproved by words in a book.

A Cuban American Speaks

Iraq Rising

Somebody needs to take this fatboy out of his misery.

Sadr asks for a blood pledge of loyalty

"Moktada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shiite cleric, on Friday called on his followers to sign in blood a pledge of loyalty to the Shiite saint after whom he named the Mahdi army, and to affirm their commitment to ridding Iraq of U.S. troops."

[---]

"The pledge request also called on all Muslim believers "to work to liberate all the Islamic states in general, and Iraq especially, from the armies of darkness, by which I mean the occupation and colonization."

[---]

"Only a few hundred people turned up Friday at Sadrist offices in Sadr City and Najaf to sign the covenant, as millions of Shiites were already heading by foot, car and minibus to the Shiite holy city of Karbala to celebrate the birthday of Muhammad al-Mahdi, a ninth-century saint and the last of 12 imams revered by Shiites."

[---]

"It was during this holiday last year that Sadr's forces fought a turf war on the streets of Karbala, amid millions of Shiite pilgrims, drawing widespread criticism from the Shiite community and forcing them days later to declare a cease-fire."

[---]

"The announcement by Sadr was dismissed by his political opponents as a sign of weakness. "It's just like the previous announcements," said a close aide of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

"One time he talks about peaceful resistance, and another time he says let's bring the weapons. This recent announcement is just an empty one. The Moktada al-Sadr issue is finished. (Emphasis mine)

Dust off the arrest warrant, folks. Put him on trial and send him to the gallows.

In the meantime, Iraqi armed forces take over areas which only days ago were patrolled by Georgians.

And, look what's flying over Iraqi skies.

Iraqi Air Force Graduates Largest Training Class to Date

"When Coalition forces stood up this school they worked with the Iraqis to set up goals they wanted to achieve within a certain amount of time,” said Dilda. “Some of the goals reached include the ability to run four training programs at the same time, having fully renovated facilities with the ability to house 500 students, and the availability of qualified Iraqi instructors to lead the courses. Today’s class represents the attainment of those goals in the BMT [basic military training] program."

[---]

"This BMT class was led by Iraqi instructors, under the supervision of their USAF advisors. The trainees worked hard, getting up well before the sun to clean latrines, make beds and practice drills. Their days ended long after sunset. Lt. Saef Ali, a lead trainer/supervisor, has been working as a trainer for six months. He’s encouraged by the commitment of his trainees.

“These guys are not afraid of anything. They come to training and don’t let anyone stop them. “They want to serve their country,” he continued. “I feel proud to say I’m a lieutenant in the Iraqi Air Force."

Despondency Loves Company

Yes. I am despondent.

Watching from afar the events in Georgia, a mixture of emotions went through my mind. I lived through the Cold War. The Cold War began immediately following the end of the second world war. I was born in 1949. When the Soviet Empire collapsed in the dying years of the 20th century, I was amazed at how quickly it had happened and how overjoyed most people from the Soviet bloc were to finally taste freedom. When the US invaded Iraq, my feeling was that at last, the damage done by the Cold War was going to be unraveled. Brutally oppressed people whose dictators had used them as pawns were also going to find freedom. Even the nuclear disarmament movement achieved some success. A new era ushering in human rights and freedom had dawned. But alas. How silly of me!

This invasion of poor little Georgia, having tasted freedom for only a few years after nearly a century of domination by the Soviet Union, even by their native son, Joseph Stalin, has snatched here right back into the jaws of the totalitarian giant. Moreover, all of the former Soviet bloc nations, both those that were nominally "independent" and those that were part and parcel of the Evil Empire, are now on high alert. All the while, since the disintegration of the USSR, Europe has been half asleep and wallowing in self-indulgence. NATO has languished, with most of its members wanting the economic benefits but none of the mutual defense business.

So here we are in the West, powerless to do much about KGB Putin, other than a flurry of useless diplomacy. Folks, the Cold War is back. Our only hope is a coup in Moscow, IMHO, but I doubt that will happen. A quick rallying around the remainder of Eastern Europe will take place. Armed forces, especially of the nuclear kind, will escalate, on both sides, and Third World dictators will once again be able to play off the East against the West with impunity. The last thing we need now is weak kneed bleeding hearts representing us in Ottawa. Damn. I wish Iran had been taken care of before this happened.

So, anyway, listening to Denise Prager this morning (Russia House: broadcast Friday, August 15th), I see I have company. He was interviewing John Bolton, who should be running for President. Maybe next time.

Some idiotic caller, by the way, tried to equate the invasion of Iraq to take out a maniacal dictator who threatened the world with the capacity to support terrorism with the Russian invasion of Georgia, a tiny country posing no threat at all, except maybe to Russia desire for global hegemony.

Hilarious

Read this discussion thread from Hotair about this news:

New Porn Channel Lets Canadians Strut Their Stuff.

From the discussion thread: "There’s a Canadian beaver joke in here somewhere…"

Well I thought it was funny...

Dust My Broom has a good thread, too.

Make sure you click on the link from Dumbass White Guy.

Good Riddance

U.S. Army Deserter to be Deported from Canada

Not looking too good for the rest of them, is it. This one must be about the fourth or fifth one.

Good luck finding a job, Jeremy. You took an oath. You signed a contract. You walked away from both and you're a coward. I'm so glad my country is doing the right thing.

And get this:

"Federal NDP citizenship and immigration critic Olivia Chow, who put forward the June motion, called Wednesday's decision "mean-spirited," and called on Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley to halt the deportation of Hinzman and other war resisters immediately"

Yawn. She and Taliban Jack were so made for each other. Isn't it romantic. BLETCH!!!

This is Very Disturbing

Is this some sort of vendetta or is it totally random? A man devoting his life to public service is shot down and killed at the Arkansas Democratic Party office. WTF!! I don't care what his political persuasion was, this is insane.

This is Why

This video, over an hour and a half long, details exactly why I supported the Iraq war and why I will always consider George Bush as a hero.



I don't need no UN resolution to justify it. All I need to know is that among those mass graves, among the bodies that have yet to be identified, there might be two of my ex-husband's cousins, who disappeared and were never seen again.

Right up until the eve of 9/11, the torture continued.


h/t Iraqi Mojo

Hitch Does It Again

Christopher Hitchens has written another brilliant piece on Iraq in Slate.

"...since Iraq's vast resources are back in the hands of its own people and are no longer "privatized" as the personal property of a psychopathic crime family."

[---]

"He (Sen. Carl Levin)knows perfectly well what used to happen to Iraq's oil wealth, which was prostituted through a U.N. program and diverted to such noble causes as the subsidy of suicide bombers in Gaza and the financing of pro-Saddam and "anti-war" politicians in London, Paris, and Moscow. While this criminal enrichment of Iraqi and overseas elites was taking place, the population of the country was living on garbage and drinking tainted water as a result of the U.N.-mandated international sanctions."

[---]

"Iraq's resources are no longer at the disposal of an aggressive, parasitic oligarchy. Its retrained and re-equipped army is being deployed, not in wars of invasion against its neighbors and genocide against its inhabitants, but in cleanup campaigns against al-Qaida and the Mahdi Army. An improvement. A distinct improvement."

[---]

"Iraq no longer plays deceptive games with weapons of mass destruction or plays host to international terrorist groups. It is no longer subject to sanctions that punish its people and enrich its rulers. Its religious and ethnic minorities—together a majority—are no longer treated like disposable trash. Its most bitter internal argument is about the timing of the next provincial and national elections. Surely it is those who opposed every step of this emancipation, rather than those who advocated it, who should be asked to explain and justify themselves."

Georgia On My Mind

I do so like it when I find someone else who thinks exactly the way I do.

"The tiny Republic of Georgia, which straddles the land bridge between the world’s largest lake and the largest inland sea, is home to five million people. Both in population and in size, it is smaller than the other Georgia most Americans know. And yet, that miniscule country has provided 2,000 soldiers to assist our mission in Iraq. Why?

The answer to that question is obvious when you look at a list of countries who have forces here. Among the thirty nations are all three Baltic Republics, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhistan, and the Ukraine–each one a former Soviet Republic–along with several former Soviet Bloc countries including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. These are all countries who knew oppression. They knew fear. And they knew death at the hands of dictators.

They knew one other thing too. They knew the power of America to transform a hopeless situation. They knew that America didn’t abandon them. Sure it took a while, but they knew that America would persevere. And that they would persevere. And that they would win. And they did win.

That’s why, when in the sixth year of this war, when much of the rest of the world has abandoned America, when even many Americans have abandoned America, they who know best the horror of oppression, and the strength of the American spirit, have not abandoned us here in Iraq.

Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, and all the rest who have been allowed out out from behind the Iron Curtain are now looking at America to watch what we do for Georgia."

By the way, leftards. Where are your No Blood For Oil placards? A major pipeline runs through tiny Georgia. Putin wants it.

History of Indian and White Relations 101 - Part II

Here's the next part of the Indian Industry version of events expressed in Saskboy's linked page:

"There were many promises made under the treaties. Education is a major Treaty right. The Treaties called for a promise to have schools on reserves and to pay teachers. However, schools could be contracted out to churches or to the provincial government."

The very first mention of education made during the negotiation of a treaty occurs in 1871 during the negotiation of Treaty 1 and Treaty 2, which cover parts of southern Manitoba and the extreme western portion of what is now Ontario, specifically those parts bordering the south east corner of Manitoba as it is now and the Lake of the Woods district. Both of the subsequently negotiated treaties contained a clause promising a school on the reserves. In Treaty 1 the clause reads:

"And further, Her Majesty agrees to maintain a school on each reserve hereby made whenever the Indians of the reserve should desire it." [Emphasis mine.]

In Treaty 2, it's exactly the same.

Previous treaties, the Selkirk Treaty of 1817, as well as the Robinson Huron and Robinson Superior Treaties of 1850 covering lands east of this, made no mention of education. The James Bay Attawapiskat Cree are no where near these territories and were not in any way shape or form parties to Treaties 1 and 2. They were, in fact, signatories to an adhesion of Treaty 9, originally signed in 1905, but their settlement on lands reserved for them did not take place until 1964.

The text of the Treaty 9 clause pertaining to schools reads as follows:

"Further, His Majesty agrees to pay such salaries of teachers to instruct the children of said Indians, and also to provide such school buildings and educational equipment as may seem advisable to His Majesty's government of Canada." [Emphasis mine]

But that doesn't mean education provided by Europeans had not already been undertaken. As early as the 1840s the churches were engaged in providing schools for Indians and the then colonial government representing Great Britain's interests in her Canadian colonies encouraged their efforts. Education in the 1840s consisted primarily of church run schools and Christianity based curricula in any case, whether in Britain or in her colonies, so it should not surprise anyone that the education provided by the churches to Indian communities was no different. Publicly funded education was not the norm at that time in history.

In their zeal to convert Indians to Christianity the churches wholeheartedly endorsed whatever efforts the colonial administration and subsequently, the Canadian government, undertook to provide education for Indians. This endorsement was mutual, as the government was only too happy to relieve itself of the financial burdens and lay it on the churches. Throughout the 1840s and the remaining part of the century, successive colonial and then Canadian governments developed policies that would remain the bedrock of their Indian policy well into the twentieth century.

In a nutshell, this policy can be described as the isolation and civilization strategy. In essence, isolate Indians on reserves sufficiently far removed from civilization, where corrupting influences were causing havoc, and let the churches teach them the accouterments of civilization. Consequently, the next sentence "schools could be contracted out to churches or to the provincial government" reflects the long standing practice of a colonial policy that the modern Indian movement detests, a policy that existed long before any of the treaties mentioning education were even contemplated, and which, although the statement appears intended to suggest such, it is not found in any text of any treaty nor in any record of negotiations leading to those treaties.

The remainder of that section of the document Saskboy links to is equally ridiculous.

"Another area of Treaty right is taxation. "Personal property on a reserve, including income, is not subject to taxation, either federal or provincial. This is an affirmation of oral promises made at the signing of the Treaties that the reserves shall be tax-free" (Brizinski, 1993: p. 188)."

For now, it's sufficient to note that the basis for the argument in the above quoted passage is a quotation taken from a book written in 1993 and seems to have no foundation in the examination of original documents or transcripts from the time during which the treaties were negotiated. The same can be said of other parts of the document. In other words, it appears to be some undergrad student's attempt at writing history, quoting secondary rather than primary sources. Neither the landmark Supreme Court decision of April, 2004, concerning Indian tax exempt status nor any of the historical context regarding that exemption are taken into account.

But I'll save that one for Part III.

We'll Never Know

I've always believed that we'll never know what people in Muslim/dictatorship countries think until they have freedom and democracy. Here is another example of just the sort of thing I am referring to:

Iranian basketball team hugs Israeli coach after game

Of course, such a gesture at the Olympics cannot be discounted. Ever since the 1936 games in Hitler's Germany, the Games have been used to make political statements. They are, of course, a perfect venue for such actions. The whole world is watching.

Earlier, on Friday evening, I had reported on the Iranian team's decision to let a woman lead the team during the opening ceremonies. I wonder what fate befalls these athletes when they return. The Mullah's must be spitting and screaming like banshees. Too bad their star swimmer didn't defy them also. The Mullah's might have had fatal heart attacks.

Sex Scandal Du Jour

Edward's Scandal Rocks US Media

Okay. I recognize that this article is about the hypocrisy of the left leaning media in ignoring a sex scandal when it's one of their own while positively salivating when it's someone with a conservative bent, but really, isn't it the media's fixation with this sort of thing no matter what the politics of the guy caught with his pants down that is the problem. Most certainly the big American television networks spend huge amounts of their time and energy following sex scandals, and that's one of the main reasons I cannot stand the mainstream media.

Look folks. Human sexuality is a powerful thing. The temptation to stray must be very strong for public figures, because public life, by its very nature, throws temptation up at every turn. To me it doesn't matter whether the guy (or gal) is Conservative or Liberal, Democrat or Republican, gay or straight. It happens, and a whole network of people get hurt. The hurt is inflicted, even if it never becomes public. There are spouses and children. There are business and party affiliations. There are communities and constituents. All of them suffer from the fallout.

Some people, quite truly, come across as scumbags. Other's are embarrassed and ashamed and genuinely sorry for the hurt they have caused. But in my humble opinion, it is the media, which feasts on and contributes to the pain of so many people, who deserve the largest dose of public condemnation. Like I said, the human sex drive is powerful. We all have to deal with it and control it in the public arena. But surely we all deserve some respect for what is largely a private matter which wounds the soul and should be allowed to work through the shattered lives our behavior has created, without the media following us into the private spaces of our lives, most especially when there are children involved. So the guy's a scumbag, but so is the media wallowing in the cesspool.

History of Indian and White Relations 101 - Part I

A special for Saskboy. Saskboy points to this website in his August 7, 2008 blog entry. Saskboy has been caught before swallowing a load of Indian Industry BS, lock, stock and barrel. However, on this one, I can't really blame him much since the narrative on the site he links to has become standard fare for today's politically correct version of history. However, there is barely a single sentence in the webpage to which he links which is wholly accurate, and that's a polite statement.

It's about the Treaty Right to education and that's only a small part of the vast and ever expanding politically correct version of the history of Indian and White relations that has been written by professors in various politically correct colleges and university departments over the past thirty five years or so. There's plenty of that there on the site, so I am going to have a grand old time, as you will see.

I intend to pick this one apart, bit by bit, especially for Saskboy's deprogramming efforts, should he ever come to the realization that he, along with legions of others have been duped. I don't really expect it will work toward that end and I fully expect several leftards to pounce upon me and accuse me of racism and an assortment of other honorable badges now hung around the necks of those who speak the truth.

However, let's begin, shall we. Here are the first two sentences from the website:

"Treaty Rights in Canada are promises that were made during the signing of Treaties with First Nations from across the territory that would become Canada. These agreements were made on a Nation to Nation basis because of the implications of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 [link added], which established that the First Nations possess legal title to the land and that the only provision available to extinguish that title was through Treaties."

This one is not too bad, actually. It is true that the Royal Proclamation of 1763 did contain provisions for ensuring that Indian lands were properly surrendered to the crown rather than just trampled on and taken over by the westward rush of American settlers into Indian country (those of you of a certain age will remember all those movies about whooping Indians shooting arrows at hapless settlers in covered wagons and what not). Well, that had been going on for a long time prior to that and it had been making things difficult for King Charles III, who needed Indian allies in his struggles to hang on to his North American possessions. The colonies were restless and the French and Spanish were cunning opponents, capable of forming alliances with who ever else on the continent wanted to stick it to the British.

However, if you read the actual text of the Proclamation and understand the history and milieu in which it was issued, you will know that the version adopted by Indian groups almost two hundred and fifty years later is just a wee bit distorted. King Charles does not view the various Indian tribes all as Nations. In fact, the very concept and definition of the word "nation" was something quite different than what it is today as far as nations states possessing sovereignty are concerned.

Even though the word "nation" is used in the Proclamation, the text specifically says the lands are "reserved" for Indians for the purpose of hunting, implying that they do not belong to the Indians, but have been set aside for their exclusive use by the British Crown who is the owner. Note the way the Proclamation refers to the territory on which the Indians hunt (the use of the word We, Our, Us, etc. are expressions of the Royal We, in other words it refers to one person only, that person being King Charles III):

"And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to our Interest, and the Security of our Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who live under our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds."

Not exactly a statement expressing a strong sense of Indian sovereignty, is it? But it gets worse.

"And We do further strictly enjoin and require all Persons whatever who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any Lands within the Countries above described. or upon any other Lands which, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements."

Oh. Wait a minute, now. What does this mean? Just who has the right to police this edict and evict squatters. You'd think the Indians, if they are recognized as nations, would have that right, wouldn't you? If the Royal Proclamation recognized their sovereign status, why would agents of the British Crown have to do the dirty work of evicting people? Note, this is not a negotiated document. It is a statement issued by a King during the era when the Divine Right to Rule philosophy prevailed across Europe. The Indians whose protection it seeks to guarantee did not negotiate the terms of the text.

And what about this?

"And We do hereby strictly forbid, on Pain of our Displeasure, all our loving Subjects from making any Purchases or Settlements whatever, or taking Possession of any of the Lands above reserved, without our especial leave and Licence for that Purpose first obtained."

What's that you say? The Indians are sovereign nations but they can't enter into contractual relationships with anyone they please. Any land sales have to be handled by the Crown? Hmmm. Not much in the way of nationhood expressed there, is there?

The next few passages express the notion that any settler or governor (and here he's referring to the governors of the various New England colonies which were still British possessions, including the newly acquired territories that were formerly under French and Spanish control) could not purchase or take land directly from the Indians but were compelled to purchase it from the Crown.

In other words, by this Proclamation, the British Crown is making it absolutely clear whose sovereign territory is being preserved for the use of Indians as their hunting grounds and it ain't the Indians'. Needless to say, for anyone who knows American history, those Governors and settlers ignored the Proclamation and went on seizing and grabbing up lands from the Indians anyway. Some thirteen years later the American Revolution occurred, with the Royal Proclamation being one of the colonists' grievances against the British king, and as we all know, poor ol' Charles lost all the lands covered by this declaration, so neither he nor his agents could enforce it anyway. But I digress.

There is one final point that needs to be made, and it's a biggie. The Royal Proclamation specifically exempted vast tracts of land within what is now Canada. The entire Hudson Bay drainage basin was exempted, not to mention most of the land east of there, under which treaties already existed.

"And We do further declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleasure, for the present as aforesaid, to reserve under our Sovereignty, Protection, and Dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the Lands and Territories not included within the Limits of Our said Three new Governments, or within the Limits of the Territory granted to the Hudson's Bay Company, as also all the Lands and Territories lying to the Westward of the Sources of the Rivers which fall into the Sea from the West and North West as aforesaid." [Emphasis mine]

That includes just about every river from the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains to the Red River and beyond. For the most part, this is the territory known as Rupertsland, named after the British Prince Rupert, in a Charter issued in 1670 for the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company and its trading monopoly. Not much thought was given to Indian sovereignty then, either. Anywho, that covers 40% of what is now Canada and is precisely the territory where the Treaties numbered 1 through 10 covering most of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta apply. The first of those treaties was negotiated in the early 1870s, some 200 years after the British King, a certain King Charles II, had granted all that land to a group of Englishmen interested in trading for furs. So, the moral of the story is, that to claim that the Royal Proclamation recognized all this great stuff about Indian rights and nationhood is pure unadulterated bunk.

Never mind that the people in the story about the lack of an adequate school facility, which Saskboy is discussing, are the James Bay Cree whose "treaty" wasn't negotiated until 1960s - one hundred years after the first mention of education in a treaty and more than 200 years after the Royal Proclamation that didn't apply to the James Bay area anyway. Well done, Saskboy. Way to pick your sources.

Of course, that hasn't stopped an entire industry from developing, devoted to spin and misrepresentation about the Proclamation. But oh well. C'est la Vie. Every generation brings with it some freshly scrubbed gullible newbies ready to believe everything an Indian says.

A Warning From Zuhdi Jasser

Take heed!!

As the West Sleeps, Islamists Work on Establishing a Worldwide Islamic State

"The English discourse over issues related to political Islam by the MB is hypocritically filtered for the Western audience. One need just review the MB’s English website and compare it to their Arabic website. They are not simple translations of one another. Same organization, same ultimate mission, very different messaging for very different fronts in the same conflict. A real debate over political Islam will only occur when we engage the ideas they present to their Arabic audience, as well. The English version of their message plays a mere peripheral cosmetic role based out of London. The Arabic version stems from deep within their soul and reflects their home base of operations. The major difference between them reflects their dissimulation and hypocrisy. Thus, true anti-Islamist activity must center on their deeply engrained ideologies which are expressed in Arabic."

Read the whole thing.

Well, well, well.....

..what have we got here?

Democrats on edge as Obama's high profile fails to deliver big poll lead

"I think there are a lot of Democrats who are nervous," said Tad Devine, chief strategist for the Kerry White House bid in 2004. "I think they thought this election would fall into their laps."

Seems like the arrogant SOBs are bracing for a comeuppance.

(Polster Peter) Brown said that while the expectation is that Obama would win, "history is replete with northern liberals who end up losing".

hehehehehe

Love it.

Most Americans will choose the candidate whose policies and platform best represents what they want. Race has nothing to do with it, other than, possibly a rejection of racebaiting tactics. Among Obama's supporters, though, are legions of folks who will vote for him simply because he is Black. Those folks are the real racists.

And speaking of race baiting tactics, I discovered this blog while surfing this morning. This woman is obviously the descendant of African slaves and her view of the apology industry is absolutely bang on.

"Yesterday the ditsy Dems in the House issued an official apology to Blacks for slavery and segregation, as if that was the most pressing issue facing our great country.

Forget sky high gas prices. Forget the refusal of Dems to let America drill for her own oil. Forget the war on terrorism. Forget mounting foreclosures. No, the one thing America must do is apologize for something that ended over 100 years ago. Without that mea culpa the country can't go on! Gimme a break!

Let me tell you atonement crazy, guilt ridden, libtard weirdos something. I wasn't a slave. My parents weren't slaves. My grandparents weren't slaves. My great-grandparents weren't slaves. My great-great-grandparents weren't slaves. To get to anyone in my family who MIGHT have been a slave you have to go back FIVE generations. I DON'T NEED YOUR F--KING APOLOGY!!!!"

And there's more:

"America was NOT the only country in the history of mankind to practice slavery, and Blacks are NOT the only people to ever be held as slaves. Slavery is a HUMAN sin, not a sin only of Whites, Christians, and/or Americans. If Blacks really cared about getting an apology for slavery, if it really meant something to them, why aren't they demanding one from the Arabs, who traded in African slaves for over a thousand years? Too bad no one in the House had the cajones to bring up that bit of inconvenient history.

This whole apologizing-for-slavery con is just that, a con, a way to stoke the fire of White guilt which is one of the engines driving the left's lust for big government."

"Over a thousand years..." Yeah, baby!!! and to which I might add, "..and still going."

A high five salute to you, young lady, and all who follow your rational world view!!

Saskboy, if you're reading this, you're next. Sometime this weekend I'm going to pick apart your latest and most pathetic instance of gullibility. You really should stick to what you know, like gardening and technology.

More Good News From Iraq

...including a $300 million loan to revitalize the agricultural industries. I remember eating Iraqi dates. They were the absolute best. Dates and buttermilk. MMmmmmmm! And notice Haider Ajina's comments.

Also, it appears Iraq is getting a big welcome at the Olympics. Even the Chinese are cheering loudly for them.





And it looks like the Iranian team has given the Mad Mullah's a good poke in the eye.

Speaking of the Olympics...

Remember Iraq's Uday Hussein, head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, and his rather strange methods of motivating his team?



h/t Pat Dollard

Olympic Flagbearer for US Team

President Bush poses with " Lopez Lomong, a survivor of the violence in his native Sudan, now a U.S. citizen."

Well now, how could that be? Another brown skinned (black, actually) person comes to live amongst the Great Satan's people and actually achieves a place in the Olympics. Oh the cognitive dissonance!!!

Three Courageous Women: Believe Them

Search for these names on YouTube and Live Leak: Wafa Sultan, Nonie Darwish and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Sit back. Listen and learn.

Impeachment Rather Than Military Coups

My what a novel approach. Sure hope it succeeds.

This story has been in the headlines for a few days. I haven't seen much about it in the blogosphere, but I think it's pretty significant. Pakistan is struggling to return to democracy by changing governments through the rule of law. Will Parvez Musharraf give in?

Environmentalism Causes Global Warming

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"And what of the study, released in July by Switzerland's Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, that shows European temperatures, at least, have risen in large part because of efforts over the past 30 years to clean the continent's skies?

Christian Ruckstuhl and 12 coauthors found that of the 1C rise in temperature in Europe over the last three decades, "at least half of the warming" is attributable to a reduction of aerosols, such as sulphur dioxide and black soot particles. As Europeans have cleaned up their smokestacks and tailpipes, and as dirty old Soviet-era East European plants have been modernized to Western standards, more sunlight has penetrated the continent's atmosphere and warmed things up a bit."

Oh, but the science is settled. The science is settled. The science is settled. The science is settled. The science is settled. The science is settled. The science is settled. The science is settled. The science is settled. The science is settled. memememememememe

Unions and Democracy = Oxymoron

This is pretty shocking.

"In something of a surprise former Senator and Presidential Candidate George McGovern has come out in opposition to the so called Employee Free Choice Act which is being pushed by labor unions."

[---]

"The EFCA seeks to amend current labor laws with regard to how they deal with the formation and certification of unions in the workplace. Right now there can be a secret ballot to decide whether or not there should be a union in the workplace. This allows workers to make a choice without worrying about the response of pro union co workers."

"Can" be???? Good grief!! Does that mean even now union organizers in the US don't have to hold a secret ballot???? But wait, there's more.

"If EFCA passes, the secret ballot would no longer take place if they could get a majority of workers to sign a petition calling for a union. On the surface this would seem reasonable but the truth is that often workers are tricked, intimidated or otherwise coerced into signing these petitions.

With a free and secret election the workers would be able to make an informed choice."

Unions are actually contemplating not just making a secret ballot optional, but forbidden!! I think I know some folks in Saskatchewan who will be salivating at the possibility.

Life Sentences and Signatures

Vincent Van Gogh's killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, gets a life sentence.

"Bouyeri ambushed the film-maker on an Amsterdam street, shot him repeatedly, stabbed him and slit his throat before thrusting his manifesto into his chest on the point of a knife.

Some witnesses said he was so calm "it looked like he was out walking his dog," the judge said, describing the murder and the subsequent shoot-out with police. In his earlier court appearance, Bouyeri said he had acted in the name of Islam and felt no pain for Van Gogh's family."

"Slit his throat." "...he was so calm." Hmmmm. Seems this is the signature of Islamofascism, yet leftards like the fool, Balbulican, scoffed at folks who ask whether young Tim McLean's killer was Muslim. Although one that I didn't, at the time, subscribe to, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable theory to me.

And speaking of idiots, how about this group: Extremist church to be blocked at border:

"Canadian border guards have been told to bar a fanatic church group that was planning to protest the funeral of a man beheaded on a Greyhound bus, reports say."

[---]

"The daughter of the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Ka., told CTV.ca she and several other church members will go to Winnipeg on Saturday to demonstrate against what she described as McLean's "filthy way of life." Shirley Phelps-Roper said his life was emblematic of Canada's moral decay."

Note to leftards: It was that fundamentalist Christian, Stockwell Day, who ordered Canadian border guards to deny this group entry into Canada. Look. Leftardedness in not a life sentence, okay. I hear duct tape is good for holding together various things that are fractured and falling apart. Why not avail yourself of this temporary measure while you have your mind expanded. You can get it at your local hardware store.

What Next? Here's What's Next

Further to my post of a few days ago when the time ultimatum given to Iran had passed and I asked "what now?", I do believe we have our answer: Two More US Aircraft Carriers Headed for Persian Gulf.

Legacy From Hell

This comment from an Iraq the Model reader, Centra, contains links to a series of YouTube videos that depict the horror of pre-liberation Iraq. Most of the videos do not have embed coding available, so I can't post them directly on my blog. You can watch them by clicking on Centra's links. Be prepared for some somber reflection.

Great Reenactment of the Capture of Saddam Hussein

Dennis Prager Goes Berserk

I usually like Dennis Prager's radio program, especially when he discusses moral and ethical questions and deals with things such as relationships and social trends and pathologies. This morning, though, I was listening to a recording of a program done yesterday about evolution. Prager cannot believe that deliberate design is not part of the process of evolution. A caller tried to reason with him, and, admittedly, did a very poor job of it, but after the call Prager went ballistic.

I've always believed that the folks who don't buy evolutionary theory can't buy it because they've haven't really grasped the elements of the theory. I think one of the difficulties people have is understanding the vast expanse of time that life has been on this planet. The age of the planet itself, four and a half billion years, is difficult to fathom. I have difficulty comprehending it.

But the process of evolution is so overwhelmingly supported by evidence, I cannot understand how people could deny it, if they understood it. I mean we have many instances happening right before our eyes in the here and now. Take the changing nature of disease causing organisms and the problem with finding drugs that kill them. The organisms have evolved and the drugs have become ineffective. That, dear friends, is evolution and it's happened rather quickly because the life cycle of those organisms is very short. The shorter the life cycle of an organism the more quickly changes appear, that is IF something in the environment creates the conditions where change is the only hope of survival and IF the organism undergoes mutations or has within its DNA the characteristics that support a workable adaptation.

Far, far more species have become extinct because they were not able to adapt to a change in their environment than have survived because by sheer luck, they had the genetic inheritance that favoured a workable adaptation. There is nothing willed about the process, other than perhaps the process itself at a very fundamental level. And more over, none of that suggests there can be no God. It simply suggests that the bogeyman in the sky who goes around smiting sinners with a lightening bolt is a childish and simplistic notion.

Oh Dear. Don't Tell Al Goracle

Polar bear populations are not in trouble after all. I wonder if he'll do the honorable thing and return his Nobel prize. Nah. I didn't think so.

A Couple of Great Videos

First one is from TV Ontario on the global warming debate: Click on July 30, Bjorn Lomborg.

The second one, about Iraq, is right here:



h/t for the last one to Pat Dollard.

Here's a good one for....

...our resident useful idiot. Mossedegh Project or Another Site for IRI Apologists?

Captain's logs yield climate clues

Just who are the deniers? Just who is it that refuses to consider accumulating evidence to the contrary?

"The logbooks kept by every naval ship, ranging from Nelson’s Victory and Cook’s Endeavour down to the humblest frigate, are emerging as one of the world’s best sources for long-term weather data. The discovery has been made by a group of British academics and Met Office scientists who are seeking new ways to plot historic changes in climate."

[---]

"A preliminary study of 6,000 logbooks has produced results that raise questions about climate change theories. One paper, published by Dr Dennis Wheeler, a Sunderland University geographer, in the journal The Holocene, details a surge in the frequency of summer storms over Britain in the 1680s and 1690s.

Many scientists believe storms are a consequence of global warming, but these were the coldest decades of the so-called Little Ice Age that hit Europe from about 1600 to 1850.

Wheeler and his colleagues have since won European Union funding to extend this research to 1750. This shows that during the 1730s, Europe underwent a period of rapid warming similar to that recorded recently – and which must have had natural origins."

And wonder of wonders, they are actually going to publish it in an academic journal. I guess peer review isn't what it used to be. /sarcasm

h/t Small Dead Animals

Too good to pass up: CBC bias and political correctness making some people sick?

CBC bias rides again. PC (in this case, "ethnic diversity") trumps content of our character.

Working for CBC makes you sick! Stress city. They must be feeling the heat. Hallelujah!

"The results describe a "troubled" working environment where 44% of staff displayed symptoms of high-level psychological distress. Nine out of 10 afflicted workers said it was related to their work. Those classified as distressed also took twice as many sick days."

[---]

"The survey was carried out after staff and management noticed a marked increase in stress levels and a rise in the number of sick days taken."

[---]

"The report concluded by saying staff, regardless of their department, are at risk of poor recognition for their work, poor relations with supervisors, work overload, conflicts over who does what job, career instability and substandard communication within the company."

[---]

"'The study identified some key areas of concern and obviously we take them very seriously,' said CBC spokeswoman Katherine Heath-Eves.

CBC has now made it mandatory for staff to attend a half-day "respect seminar" designed to curb harassment. About 75% of staff members have completed the seminar. (Editor's note: re-education camps?)

Heath-Eves also says the CBC hired full-time staff dedicated to making the workplace comfortable and reducing physical ailments. The CBC now also provides stress counselling for employees.

The corporation has yet to conduct an additional survey to find out if conditions have improved."

Oh what will they do without their sugar daddies, the Liberals, to keep them on life support!!! AND WE'RE PAYING FOR THIS!!! PRIVATIZE THE DAMN THING, WILL YOU!!! Companies that suffer from poor management should be allowed to die a natural death. Please get us out of the broadcasting business. That is what the private sector is for, so we don't have to pay for their failures!!!

h/t 5fof

Deadline's over. Yoohooo, anybody there?

Iran was given two weeks to respond. It's now been two weeks and one day. Now we have this: Merkel's green light for $157m gas deal with Iran torpedoes sanctions. Damn, I wonder what Merkel would do if she was in a majority government situation? Is she kowtowing to the other parties in the Bundestag, or is this what her own party really wants to do?

There's also some curious comings and goings involving Syria's Baby Assad. Tehran hosts Assad to celebrate winning nuclear dispute with West and cooling off US-Israel ties and this: Is Assad bluffing?

Is Bashir Assad coming in from the cold? Is he playing both sides? And what is the West going to do about it? Is it going to be entirely up to Israel?

Damn. I don't know which curse is worse, being so interested in international politics or not being a fly on the wall. Either way, it's driving me nuts.

HooooleeeeYY

That's a lot of rock in a hard place.

Sweetness and Might

I did not know this. There is a woman vying for the prime ministership of Israel. The first one since Golda Meir. And she's acting tough.

The possibilities are delicious. Can you imagine her ordering the Israeli air force to strike Iran? Imagine Mr. Iamadinnerjacket, aka Mr. Amydidherdad, who cannot in good conscience even touch a woman's hand (see post below), being vapourized at a woman's command. It's just too sweet to contemplate.



Doesn't he look like he's already in pain? hehehehehe

ROTFLMAO!!

And speaking of Basra. British troops 'made Muslim commander hear porn videos'. Oh the humanity!!

"British soldiers forced a Shia militia commander to listen to pornographic videos, deprived him of sleep, repeatedly beat him, and kept him in solitary confinement for more than five months, according to fresh damning allegations against the conduct of UK troops in Basra."

Yawn. As if the Shia militia were good saintly fellows. Puke. This comes from an organization whose zealotry includes a desire to rid the human race of all traces of sexuality, especially in women. Sorry guys. We're on to you.

We've beaten down one of the whining Islamists who wanted to use Western tradition of the rule of law to impose thought control in place of freedom of expression. There are others who are still trying to do this. But we know what you're up to. We know that your stupid prophet allows you to lie in order to get the upper hand. We recognize the tactics. And besides, we know you were jerking off the whole time, even while feeling guilty. We also know the main stream media is your official "organ". (Sorry for the choice of words, there.) But anyway. Get a life. Or maybe make that an afterlife. Seventy two virgins and all that.

Oh yeah. You forget to mention abuse of the Q'uran, you silly fellow!!! You're slipping. I guess the training of Islamists is not what it used to be, what with so many of the headmasters now rounded up or sent to see Allah.

Arise Mesopotamia!

Okay. So this was over a week ago, but I thought it was well worth a post.

"There is an interesting piece of graffiti on a bridge near Basra. A fleeing militiaman has scrawled “We'll be back”; underneath an Iraqi soldier has scribbled in reply “And we'll be waiting for you”."

"The Shia militias, the Jaish al- Mahdi, who controlled large parts of Basra until March this year, has now gone and instead the city is firmly under the grip of Iraq's new security forces, in whom the coalition has invested so much training. They re-established control in April, in an operation romantically named “The Charge of the Knights”, systematically clearing the city with British and American support, confiscating illegal weapons and arresting the violent gangs whose combination of criminality and vicious extremism was making life a misery for so many of Basra's people."

[---]

"A recent poll showed that only 8 per cent now regard security as their main concern; 80 per cent have confidence in the Iraqi security forces to protect them. Women are free to walk the streets uncovered and to wear Western dress should they so choose."

Understand that Basra is THE port city in Iraq. It is THE sole location through which goods destined for and coming from foreign markets are shipped (at least those that are shipped via ocean going cargo). This turn of events is THE most important news to come out of Iraq yet. It means that Iraq is ready for business and their economy is about to take off.

To wit.

Yup. If I have the stamina and the money I will be in Iraq before I leave this world. I simply must see it's ancient heritage. The birth place of civilization - Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Garden of Eden and all that.

Did I ever tell you that way back when, my then husband and I tried to visit Iraq, the place of his birth. His father met us in Beirut and begged us not to set foot in Iraq. Although Saddam Hussein hadn't quite made it to the throne yet, he was already in command and had begun his long reign of carnage and terror. When my ex had left Iraq, ostensibly on a holiday, he was actually serving in the Iraqi armed forces. He never went back, choosing instead to apply (from Germany) for immigrant status to Canada. Ergo, as far as Papa Saddam was concerned, he was a deserter and that's why my father-in-law was afraid and begged us not to go to Iraq. My ex was also entertaining the idea of returning for a visit just shortly after the regime was toppled, but then the civil war broke out and he nixed that idea. But damn it. This time. There is nothing to stop either him or me from going.

Rumour Mongering...

UPDATE: Photo of the letter here. DIE, YOU BASTARD!!!!
=======================================
...or truth. Sure would like to know. Al Qaeda No. 2 Injured?

"CBS News has obtained a copy of an intercepted letter from sources in Pakistan, which urgently requests a doctor to treat Zawahiri. He's believed to be somewhere in Pakistan's remote tribal areas of Pakistan.

The letter refers to Sheikh Dr. Ayman ul Zawahiri by name - and says that he is in "severe pain" and his "injuries are infected."

It is reportedly written by local Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, whose signature and seal are visible on the letter."

Sounds like the periodic rumours about Izzat al-Douri, one of the last big fish from the Ba'athist regime to still be at large. Still, the Coalition is certainly doing something along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.

52++++++++++++++++++++++++++X?

Just how many cards are there in that "race" deck? I think we are about to find out. And who's going to be laying them down? I think we already know. Listen to Hugh Hewitt's the podcast at the top of the list with James Lileks. The part with Victor Davis Hanson is also a winner. Remember I predicted that if Obama lost, the race cards would be flying all over creation. There's an unlimited supply.