This Keeps Popping Up

Bet on Israel bombing Iran.

This time there's a new twist.

I'll Believe It...

...when I see it.

Olmert calls for return of almost all territory

"Israel should withdraw from “almost all” the land it conquered more than 40 years ago and hand back east Jerusalem to the Palestinians and the Golan Heights to Syria, according to Ehud Olmert, outgoing prime minister."

An unpopular prime minister making a promise he won't have to keep as he faces the end of his term as PM. Sure.

And is there anyone out there who is so naive as to believe that would be the end of the Palestinian cult of victimhood or the larger pan-Arab blame everything on Israel diversion tactic? Nope. I won't be holding my breath.

I think Michael Totten has a better take on things Middle Eastern. There is a toxic culture that has produced the mess we see today and Israel is simply the diversionary tactic used to masque the greater problem: A region littered with backward dictatorships and a population inspired by Wahabism. Totten also has a necessary message for those who think that Afghanistan and the hunt for Al Qaeda should have been the sole focus of the War on Terror.

This war won't be over when Israel gives back territory won in the Six Day War. IT won't be won when and if Al Qaeda is defeated, if it is. It will only be won when the toxic culture is transformed, and who knows whether or not that will happen. As I've always said, we are in a new Cold War, that, like the previous one, will last at least two generations, maybe more.

Moderate Muslims Do Exist

h/t Sudanese Thinker

Great Interview of Geert Wilders

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs interviewing:

The Bravest Man in Europe

Producer of Fitna:

L.A. I.C.E. (Illegal Canadian Enforcement)

Indigo, is that you? hehehehehe.

Rather Confusing, This

Is this Pakistan's future? Or is it this?

How is a country hick from the backwoods of Saskatchewan supposed to make sense of this?

European Slavery

I bet you it's not what you think.

"The impact of these attacks were devastating – France, England, and Spain each lost thousands of ships, and long stretches of the Spanish and Italian coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants. At its peak, the destruction and depopulation of some areas probably exceeded what European slavers would later inflict on the African interior."

h/t Gates of Vienna

And it's interesting how much things stay the same. Or do they?

Where Should the UN Move To?

Over at The Spirit of Man, in the comments, there are some suggestions: Tehran, Gaza Strip, Caracus. I think any of these would be fine, but perhaps you can think of other places. The south pole, maybe? Ceres perhaps? Daikocu Volcano?

Feeling Old...

...when great actors from my youth pass away. Goodbye, Cool Hand Luke.

He was 83. Where did the time go?

I Have Fans in Quebec

Vive Les Rednecks.

7lbs 7ozs

My second grandchild arrived at 3:39 am this morning. Two brand new granddaughters in one year!! Wow!! This one deserves to be ahead of any election rant. So on the top it goes.

Let Them Eat Cake, Indeed!

UPDATE: You should read the comments following the article that John links to. Both arts funding and the CBC are getting a good beating. Yeah, tax payers!! As usual the Liberals and the NDP are on the wrong side, completely oblivious to what we want them to do with our money.
================================

John Murney's new blog doesn't allow comments, so let me use my own to say I agree 100% with what he is saying in this entry.

Hey folks. The taxpayer does not owe you a living. What you do is nice (sometimes) but I'd rather have my money go to health care or universities or our armed forces or a Royal Commission on the abuse of Human Rights Commissions or a billion other things that are far more critical for the survival and well being of our nation. Remember the concept of "patrons"? Dust it off and start using it.

Reconquista, Again!

Spain Prefers Islam Over Catholicism

"Barcelona’s main annual festival, the Festes de La Mercè, kicks into high gear on September 24, the day of the city’s patron saint, the Virgen de la Merced. Because the holiday falls on a Wednesday this year, the celebrations will be spread out over more than one week. In all, some 600 cultural events have been scheduled from September 19 to September 28. But not a single one of them will make any explicit reference to the religious origin of the event."

[---]

"Fast-forward some eight centuries to September 2008. Multiculturalism has (temporarily) replaced Islam as the dominant religion in Spain. And multiculturalism’s core doctrine of political correctness says it is now forbidden to honor the memory of faithful Roman Catholics who languished under Muslim captivity.

"Instead, the Islamic community of Barcelona has been officially invited to hold its very own festivities as part of the La Mercè festival for the first time ever. Nits de Ramadà (Nights of Ramadan) aims to allow Muslims to party with friends and family during the evening hours when Muslims stop fasting for Ramadan. Nits de Ramadà is open to non-Muslims, provided they dress properly, do not have more than four wives, and do not smuggle alcoholic beverages into the fairgrounds."

It seems Iberia changes hands every seven hundred years or so. Political correctness has given back what Ferdinand and Isabella had retaken in 1492 and this time without a fight!! Read the whole thing. Zapatero is a cad, if there ever was one.

More Hallelujahs!!!

Iraqi Parliament Paves the Way for Provincial Elections

Iraqi provincial elections law clears its first hurdle

"Large numbers of Sunnis boycotted the last provincial elections and have a limited voice in the Shiite-dominated government. Since then, many Sunnis have put down their arms and given support to U.S. and Iraqi forces, but are frustrated by a lack of a strong voice in government."

"The elections to choose councils in 14 provinces will likely shift the political balance in Iraq and have the potential to lessen simmering mistrust between the Sunnis and Shiites.

"The Sunnis refused to participate in the last elections," said Salim al-Jibouri, a Sunni lawmaker. "The coming elections will change the Iraqi political map."

"The Sunnis want the elections," Marine Maj. Gen. Martin Post, deputy commander of U.S. forces in a largely Sunni portion of western Iraq, said in an interview this week. He said voter registration in Anbar province is high in anticipation of getting a larger voice in government.

[---]

"Lawmakers emerged from Wednesday's session pleased that they could break the deadlock. "We shook hands and everyone was grinning," said Fouad Masoun, a Kurdish lawmaker."

UN May Get the Boot!!!!

Hallelujah!!!! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!!!! Hallelujah!!! Halleluuuuujaaaaah!!!!! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo has introduced legislation that will boot that stagnant den of corruption and dictatorship known as the United Nations off of the North American continent. At long last, someone is taking the bull by the horns. I sure hope he succeeds. And good riddance.

“The U.N. has coddled brutal dictators, anti-Semites, state sponsors of terrorism, and nuclear proliferators – while excluding democratic countries from membership and turning a blind eye to humanitarian tragedies and gross violations of human rights around the globe,” Tancredo said. “The U.N.’s continued presence in the United States is an embarrassment to our nation, and the time has come for this ineffective organization to pack its bags and hit the road.”

Read the whole thing.

Further information about that despicable and useless monstrosity and what it has become is here: Eye on the UN

Hat's off to you, sir and Godspeed!!

Saskboy Strikes Again

Or should that be Strikes Out?

At Macleans Magazine's website a debate about Heather Mallick's abuse of public funds is taking place. Saskboy weighs in, defending his favorite propaganda machine, as usual, by pointing out a typo and extrapolating from that:

"typo alert:

“I told him that I didn’t know him personally, but that I was familiar with her writing.”

Fox News is tabloid journalism at its worst. When paid journalists want to write mean things about someone they should be required to talk to that person to try and get a comment. Otherwise they should admit they are just a simple blogger with a salary."

To which I responded (my words in italics, with quotes of Saskboy's words in regular print):

Note to Saskboy @ 2:29 PM.

"When paid journalists want to write mean things about someone they should be required to talk to that person to try and get a comment." So Mallick talked to Palin, did she?

You should sharpen your debating skills a bit there, my darlin'. And while you're at it be prepared to explain why Mallick refused to come on to Van Susteren's program to defend her position."

Let me further explain to Saskboy how private sector networks actually function and the role played by advertisers in those networks.

1) Advertisers seek large audiences. The larger the better for their bottom line.
2) Advertisers pay big bucks to pitch their products on networks that can promise them large audiences.
3) Advertisers move their money away from networks whose audiences are shrinking and will also think carefully about advertising on networks whose programs solicit many letters complaining about programs that they sponsor.
4) What 1 through 3 imply is that advertisers respond to what viewers want. It's not the other way around. This is as it should be.

CBC and other tax payer funded institutions have a vested interest in keeping in power a political party which is most likely to advocate continued support of its government funded status, and will seek to provide programming that furthers that goal (self-preservation). After all, who wants to lose their job? It's the same dynamic as private networks operate, except that the money, in the CBC's case, is channeled through a political party, not from advertisers responding to the public's demands. Hence, CBCs programming responds to political pressure, not to viewer demand. Consider the fact exposed a couple of years ago by Stephen Taylor about political contributions made by CBC's Board of Directors. A full 82% went to the Liberal Party.

I've watched and listened to CBC for forty years. They have gradually become more and more political and less and less responsive to public opinion which does not support their goal. One of the earliest overtly political programs was "This Hour Has Seven Days" way back in the late 1960s. (The current comedy program This Hour has 22 Minutes is a parody of that program.) Over the years the Liberal Party has been the most strident supporter of the public broadcaster. The CBC has responded by becoming more and more political and more and more strident in pitching of the Liberal/left ideology. It has now developed a habit of going absolutely ballistic when election campaigns suggest that some other party has a good chance of getting to make decisions about the Corporation's fate. (There's that self-preservation motive again.)

The Liberal/Left are willing to pay their wages and their operating costs. The CBC is an employer where many an aspiring journalist with liberal/left leanings want to work and where those who do the hiring seek out like-minded compatriots. The ability to please their most willing funder, the Liberal Party, appears to be a primary consideration when recruiting staff.

Why, then, would they need to respond to public outcries, other than through lame letters explaining and defending their position. It's far more useful to act as the semi-official mouthpiece of their public funder, and to do this, a tried and true tactic is to brand those who complain as any number of currently in vogue non-Liberal/Left epithets.

Little wonder that CBCs discussion boards and call in shows are dominated by opinion from the left of the political spectrum. No one else is listening, viewing or reading. We, on the political right, have taken our "eyeballs" and "ears" somewhere else. If we had the option of taking our money with us, CBC would have to respond the same way the private sector responds; by adjusting their programming to regain the lost revenue, or focusing only on their remaining audience and being satisfied to fill a niche market.

Let me be very clear. There is a place for Liberal/Left points of view in a democracy. It is one of many niches that should be filled. I would have no problem with them focusing on their remaining audience, but the problem is, that as taxpayers who do not hold these views, we should not be compelled to pay for the organs that publicize them. That's undemocratic.

Saskboy, you pretend to know so much about the democratic process, yet you continue to uphold the notion that government paid television and radio (and websites) that consistently broadcast political opinion is "democratic". Regardless of what political line a broadcaster takes, it should not be done on the taxpayers dime. It is all too easy for the government to become the guardian and sole arbitrator of political thought when they pay the shot. We are already seeing the consequences of that with our Human Rights Commissions. People all over the world are watching as we sink further and further into a frightening place from which there is no easy return. The CBC must be privatized or its political programming substantially curtailed.

"Milestone" Doesn't Quite Do It Justice

Small Dead Animals passed the 10,000,000th comment earlier today. Wow!!

4500 Years Old

Stonehenge Birthday Discovered by Archaeologists

"Analysis has indicated that the original circle of bluestones was transported to the site from the Preseli hills, 150 miles away in South Wales - an extraordinary feat."

[---]

"The pair (archaeologists) have found evidence suggesting Stonehenge was a centre of healing. They have compared the monument to a "Neolithic Lourdes", to which sick people travelled from far away, hoping to be healed by the stones' powers.

An "abnormal number" of remains found in tombs nearby display signs of serious disease, they say, while teeth found in graves prove that about half the bodies there were "not native" to the local area."

We've Come a Long Way

The world's 100 most powerful women.

When I was in my teens the only careers I thought we could choose from were teaching, nursing, office secretary, and for the religiously inclined, nunnery. It actually never occurred to me that other careers might be contemplated. There were women in business then, but they remained unmarried, for the most part. There were only a very small handful of women in federal politics and I don't remember any in provincial politics at that time. The only leaders of countries who achieved that status through democratic elections that I can recall were Golda Meir of Israel and Indira Gandhi of India.

That all began to change in the late 60s and early 70s. My sister applied for entry into the Renewable Resources Technology program at Kelsey Institute in Saskatoon in the mid 70s and the head of the program told her it wasn't suitable for women. She raised a stink and they let her and a whole bunch of other women in.

It was during my youth that divorce laws were changed to allow women 50% of the property acquired during a marriage upon dissolution of the marriage. Battered women were told to go back to their husbands and treat them better and that changed shortly afterward.

It's good to look back once in a while and recognize that good things do happen as long as we work toward them and remain patient and undeterred. If you take a stroll through the list of 100 most powerful women, you'll see so many of them are CEOs of big corporations. Some of them are downright beautiful, too.

Yes, baby, we have come a long, long way.

Musical Memories

This old fart just has to say that I find this internet thing to be the most exquisitely magnificent invention of my lifetime, or maybe of the century. When it first emerged from the military into the public sphere there were all kinds of crazy predictions about what it's impact would be. Well, tonight I've been tasting some of its finer accomplishments. What a pleasure it brings! Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you a trip down my musical memory lane.

First up, the Weavers



Anybody remember the Limelighters?





Kingston Trio anyone?









That was Judy Collins, for all you younguns out there who weren't even born yet. Below is Judy Collins and Leonard Cohen.



Judy Collins again, years later.



The Brothers Four were really popular in the early 1960s. They've aged well, too, by the look of it.



And who can forget Ian and Sylvia, Canadian folk singers with an international following.






And of course, there was this guy.



I remember the first time I heard Bob Dylan. I was probably about 14 or 15 years old. I had spent the night at a friend's house. In the morning I turned on the radio beside her bed and this next song was playing. I suppose most young people have this WOW!! moment when they first hear the song that will define their generation. Well, that was mine.



And this clear and beautiful voice from a young songstress, sometimes associated with the Civil Rights Movement, also defined my youth. Go to the two minute mark for her signature song.





My mom's era produced from great music, too. While I'm not this old, I do remember this music being played in the house when I was growing up. I especially liked the music from the WWII era. The Brits and their colonial offspring really pulled together and music was one of the ties that bound.







And for all I know, this next one could have been my maternal grandmother's favourite song. She sure was a daughter of the British Empire, in any case. A real Victorian Brit.

Hey, Irshad!!!

Great interview with Allan Greg. I like what she has to say about political correctness, too.

Bureaucracies Suck

At 42 seconds in - sound familiar, fellow Canadians? Why do we let our bureaucracies do this? There ought to be a law. :(

Monsters Get What's Coming to Them

"Villagers Storm School to Save 300 Children From Suicide Bombers

Eyewitnesses said that people of nearby 20 villages came to fight against the Taliban militants. The district police officer, Khursheed Khan, while talking to The News put the number of armed villagers at around 400.

During the fight, a militant was killed while his one colleague was surrounded by the villagers who was asked to surrender, but he blew him up with explosives fastened around his waist.

Two other members of the group, however, tried to run away, but the villagers chased them and one of them, Malang Jan was nabbed while the other one escaped."

Yay!! Pakistan. What kind of ghoulish freaks of nature would kidnap 300 children? What the hell were they going to do with them!!!!

Monotheists Had It Wrong

There are really two Gods. One is invoked by the Eeeeeeevil Christians like Bush and Palin. The other is invoked by Democrats:



...and of course, the one invoked by Democrats during times of war can't possibly be the same God as the one invoked by Eeeeeeevil Christian Republicans during times of war, now can He/She/It?

Canada's Current Grandfather of Leftism

I've crossed paths with this ass when I was much younger and living in Saskatoon. Funny how old Commie's sound just as stupid as they were when they were young Commies. Seriously folks. He was part of a seriously leftard political group while he was in Saskatoon and he obviously hasn't mellowed one bit. Murray Dobbin, at his finest:



ht: Nexus of Assholery

Hypocrisy. Period!

The Nexus of Assholery: A Bizarre Taste of Their Own Medicine

Hey, I'm All For This!

Following a link from Saskboy's blog, I find this hilarious letter to the editor of Canada's tabloid leftwing rag, The Toronto Star. It couldn't get any better.

"sound troubles, Sept. 14

The NDP's use of a non-unionized technical road crew at the CNE is a glaring example of its low regard for the priorities and needs of the labour movement and its working-class constituency. This party has indeed strayed from its roots in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which sought to achieve a fundamental restructuring of Canada's economic, social and political features, so as to transform it into a good and just society.

The labour movement needs to seriously re-examine its relationship with the NDP. It is time for labour to explore the formation of a new party with progressive women, racial justice, environmental, peace, youth, global justice, trans and queer, and student social movement organizations.

Now more than ever we need a party that will not be uneasy with its association or defence of the rights of the majority of us who sell our labour with little control over how it is used and compensated.

Now more than ever we need a party that will be a champion of participatory political and economic democracy.

Now more than ever, we need a political party that will promote the development of political literacy within the electorate. This development would help the citizens in critically reading the word, as well as the economic, social and political world around us.

Ajamu Nangwaya, 3rd Vice-President, CUPE Ontario"

Hell, this guy is advocating splitting the political left in the country even further than it is already. That's a good thing. He's also advocating endorsement by the splintered group of all the fringe causes known to man (and women) and that's a good thing. And to top it all off, he's insinuating that the Canadian electorate is currently incapable of critical thought. What more could you ask for. It might even make those poor folks up in Gerry Ritz's riding better able to excuse his stupid and callous behavior and vote Conservative.

Blog Quote of the Day

This from a commenter at Atheist Conservative.

"Its not an election unless Jack accuses you of murder."

Jack, of course, is Taliban Jack.

Iraq's Nostradamus

Anyone who has been a loyal reader of the blog Talisman Gate will attest to the blog owner's excellent track record. Talisman Gate is run by Nibras Kazimi, an Iraqi doing a fellowship at an American university. He has been blogging about events in Iraq for a few years and over the course of time has made many predictions about how things will turn out. His insider knowledge about the people and the events in Iraq has made him a must read for anyone interested in freedom and democracy for Iraq. His predictions are almost always right.

His latest entry is extremely intriguing. He writes about Iraqi parliamentarian, Mithal Alusi, a strong proponent of secularism. He's been in hot water more than once about his willingness to have contacts with (including actual visits to) Israel.

Kazimi writes:

"I can’t help but chuckle as I write this: Alusi is a bad-ass, and these folks, especially the Islamists, don’t realize that they are falling into his trap. The Minister of State for National Security, Abdel-Karim al-‘Anizi, made the mistake of calling Alusi an Israeli agent today, only to get Alusi to retort that al-‘Anizi is an Iranian spy..."

[---]

"The so-called Iraq ‘analysts’ and ‘experts’ will have a hard time explaining when this is all over why such antics work to Alusi’s favor."

[---]

"I spoke to Alusi earlier today, and this is what he had to say: “America doesn’t have the confidence to deter Iran from building a nuclear weapon. The Americans are even preventing Israel from saving itself. Iraqis and Israelis are the two nations that will suffer the most from a radical Iranian leadership that can threaten us with nuclear weapons. Thus, Iraq and Israel must find a strategy to counter this threat. Time is running out.”"

He then goes into great detail about Alusi's rhetoric to and about his fellow Iraqi parliamentatians, whom he, of course, accuses of incompetence and of being in bed with Iran. But the real kicker is what Kazimi finds in the comments section of a Saudi television network's website about Alusi.

"One would think that it would be cram full of Arab nationalists...denouncing Mithal as a Zionist spy; on the contrary, the response is predominately supportive. The catch line is that Alusi was punished for speaking out against Iran, not for visiting Israel."

Damn that Bush doctrine!!

Go read the whole thing and the comments. There's also a YouTube video with English subtitles that's a must view.

Elizabeth May Forced to Eat Other Foot

TVO disagrees with Elizabeth May

Did you notice how she keeps saying that she trusts the voters? How does she square that with the dismal showing the Greens get in elections? I'd like to know.

Hehehehehehe

Lehman Brothers Close Tie to Gore, Hanson and Carbon Trading

"Last year Lehman Brothers released a long and highly publicized report about climate change in which they preached about decarbonization, trying to make their investors keep getting high profits from the Kyoto carbon trade scheme and the support of huge public subventions. All that, of course, with the applause of the usual choir of politicians, the entire media and the Greens.

A year ago they couldn’t predict their bankruptcy but were predicting the climate 100 years ahead."

The Real AGW!

IAEA Shows photos alleging Iran nuclear missile work

Six major countries to discuss Iran this week

Bush could still attack Iran

Aboriginal Governance Index

UPDATE: Speaking of First Nations, check this one out.

This I did not know. The Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a Winnipeg based think tank, has publish a second annual Aboriginal Governance Index. I didn't know they had published a first one, but what a great idea!! There have been a number of similar reports issued by the United Nations known as the Human Development Index, meant to measure how well different countries provide for the well being of their citizens. (As an aside, Arab countries have fared rather poorly in those reports.)

As the article from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy states, the index is aimed at providing a benchmark for the communities so that they can "measure their progress in achieving responsible self-government" and looks at First Nations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This is really going to help First Nations citizens improve the performance of their governments, but believe me, there is a very long, tough road ahead.

As I said earlier today on the blog, Dust My Broom, when they start putting leaders into the upper echelons of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations who think like that, they might get somewhere. The old guard that continues to dominate that organization still blames every instance of irresponsible behavior on the failure of the Feds to provide enough money.

When those two little girls froze to death last winter because of their father's negligence, Lawrence Joseph used it as an excuse to bitch about the lack of money for treatment centers. Took the blame right off of the person who should have shouldered it, providing him with the usual out. Blame it on whitey.

When Harper delivered the apology for residential schools, Joseph issued a statement that more or less told people that forgiveness was optional. Leaving no room for misinterpretation, he was saying you still have a right to wallow in self-pity. We won't blame you. You have no obligation to move on.

It's just like Mugabe still blaming European colonialism more than 50 years after the colonial era ended. It's been like that in Saskatchewan for more than 30 years and it won't change until the old guard and the ideology to which they cling is swept from power.

h/t Darcey at Dust my Broom

Iraq Bids Petraeus Farewell

General Petraeus' Farewell: What he leaves behind in Iraq

"...an aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lauded the U.S. military chief's efforts to help bring violence down to levels not seen since early 2004. "We appreciate what you've done, General," the aide recalls saying, "but there's another American General who would be warmly and immediately embraced by all Iraqis, one who would help us even more."

"Who is it?" General Petraeus reportedly asked. "Tell me so I can send him."

"General Electric," the al-Maliki aide replied."

Yes. Now is the time to invest in Iraq's future. Infrastructure and trade straight ahead!!

Oh!! My!!! God!!!

Down there a few entries ago I asked who took the Great out of Great Britain. If this is true, I now have my answer.

Islamic law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.

"Under the act, the sharia courts are classified as arbitration tribunals. The rulings of arbitration tribunals are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case."

[---]

"There are concerns that women who agree to go to tribunal courts are getting worse deals because Islamic law favours men."

Ya' think??

"Siddiqi said that in a recent inheritance dispute handled by the court in Nuneaton, the estate of a Midlands man was divided between three daughters and two sons.

The judges on the panel gave the sons twice as much as the daughters, in accordance with sharia. Had the family gone to a normal British court, the daughters would have got equal amounts."

In the six cases of domestic violence, Siddiqi said the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes and mentoring from community elders. There was no further punishment.

In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations.

Who in their right mind would believe Muslim women are fully capable of making independent decisions in their own interests in a cultural milieu that considers them to be inferior and wholly subservient to men!! Nuff said!!

Why We Fight

This, among so many other reasons, is why we fight. We are three dead soldiers away from 100 dead in Afghanistan. I fully expect there will be moaning and whining in the Canadian MSM and from our current crop of hopefuls in the election who hail from the left. To them, I would just like to point out that on a single day in June, 1944, known to history as D-Day, Canada lost 359 men. Before the war was over 40,000 Canadians were dead. We had well over a million men in uniform on the front. Is it any wonder they are known as the Greatest Generation. To the young Canadians in Afghanistan, God speed. May your sacrifice and valor not be in vain. It's sad that so few of us understand what real sacrifice is.

From the Mark Steyn is a Racist Neocon..

...desk, we bring you this startling development:

'Have more babies and Muslims can take over the UK' hate fanatic says, as warning comes that "next 9/11 will be in UK'

The Brits deported one such vile specimen about a year or so ago. Why not send them all packing? Who took the "Great" out of Great Britain?

Thomas Sowell on Growing Up

In an absolutely stunning article, one of my heroes, Thomas Sowell, has summed up the nature of leftist ideology and described my journey into reality and adulthood at the same time.

""Experience" is often just a fancy word for the mistakes that we belatedly realized we were making, only after the realities of the world made us pay a painful price for being wrong."

That journey, by the way, took me well into my 30s. And as he says in the article, many people never do arrive into genuine adulthood.

I have several of Thomas Sowell's books. He ranks up there as one of the giants of the conservative movement. If you've never heard of him, take an exploratory trip around his website.

An Afternoon's Cruising

In between shopping and housework I've been cruising various blogs and following links and I've accumulated a number of articles (blog and otherwise) that are worth a comment or two.

Here's the first, from Girl On the Right. She writes about yet another American who mistakenly thought Canada was still a socialist la la land and sought to avoid going to war by deserting and heading north. His excuse was he didn't realize he might be expected to torture people. Riiiiiight.

But Wendy has the goods on him. Turns out he's a lying bastard as well as a coward. He made the mistake of allowing the Toronto Star to interview him and the Star put its article on its website. Folks who knew him back home learned about it and got to tell the whole story. Go read Wendy's intro and follow the link.

Next up, was this. Japan would be a great choice for the UN Security Council. Note that Iamamadjerk is livid. Added benefit, that. On the other hand, if Iran gets the seat, maybe that would be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. There would be no point pretending any further that the UN serves any useful purpose. Time to pull the plug. I'm pretty sure McCain can and will do it. In the meantime, Japan has determined that there is not much need for them to continue what they've been doing in Iraq (providing logistical support) and is considering going home.

Moving right along, the Brits are kicking ass in Afghanistan. I guess their political masters have figured out that pussy-footing and playing nicey-nice with fascists results in disaster and this time they're doing it right. Hopefully the Brits won't turn tail and run like they did almost a century ago.

Nothing happening here, folks.

UPDATE BELOW

President Talabani thanks Bush for being hero of liberation

Media ignores it. Move along now.

=====================
Letter shows al Qaeda in Iraq admits defeat - six months ago!!!!

Hurricane Ike Big But Weak

Sorry Greens. This isn't The One either.

"The storm, which was classified as a strong Category 2 with winds that reached 110 miles per hour in the last few hours, is now being classified as a Category 1 with winds of 90 m.p.h."

Speaking of Elections

This is a great YouTube endorsement of Republican policies.

May or MacKay - The No Brainer

Saskatchewan's peripatetic blogger, John Murney, has yet another new blog up even though he's full time into the rigors of graduate school. He has asked the question of whether Elizabeth May can actually win in her riding. She going up against one of the most popular members of the Conservative Party and, IMHO, among the most likely to be a future leader of the Party, Peter MacKay. What hope does she have? IMHO - ZIP!! A big goose egg. But that's okay. Let her embarrass herself. She's quite good at that. I think John can safely bet on that and maybe not need any more student loans. But maybe not. The odds are so one-sided there's not like to be a lot of money on it. Like John says: "It just doesn’t make any sense at all." But when did the Greens ever make sense?

How does Qari Muhammed Yussef want you to vote?

Taliban urges next Canadian Prime Minister to pull troops out of Afghanistan

"The Taliban say they know that an election campaign is underway in Canada and that's why they have stepped up attacks against Canadians in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yussef said Tuesday the insurgent movement wants Canada's next prime minister to pull Canadian troops out of Afghanistan.

"Yes, I know that the election is being held in Canada. That is why our attacks on Canadians are increased," Yussef said through a translator.

"One of the Canadian soldiers, who has won a medal as well, was killed in our recent attacks.""

[---]

"Liberal Leader Stephane Dion responded: "We will not be intimidated by the Taliban."

And wonder of wonders, even Taliban Jack calls them out:

"NDP Leader Jack Layton said: "The suggestion that there's going to be violence meted out against Canadian soldiers to try and influence the election here is reprehensible."

"We'll decide our own policies right here in Canada with regard to the war in Afghanistan," he said."

Looks like the Greens are the only allies the Taliban have left. Good luck with that, Mr. Yussef.

A Solemn Day of Remembrance

"There is bureaucracy.....

...then there is the UN."

If the Secretary General of the United Nations finds the organization in dire need of a shake up, will he be able to do anything about it? I wonder what John McCain will do about this bloated old dictators-ur-us club when he becomes President? I'd like to see it booted out of North America and the world's functioning democracies walk out and never look back.

Liberal Website to Portray Dion's Rugged Side

Remember the Beatles White Album? A blank screen will look the same, but somehow, I can't imagine the content will cause as much of a stir.

Greenie Babies are Crying the Blues

UPDATE: And it just keeps getting better. LOL!!!
===============
Elizabeth May has been refused entry into a televised debate for the up-coming elections. A small troop of her loyal fans are having a melt-down. You've seen kids crying because someone got a bigger ice cream cone than they did? Go take a look. What a pathetic bunch of losers.

Hallelujah!!!

Holy smokes!! Keith Olbermann has had his knuckles rapped. He's one of the reasons I canceled my cable subscription and put my TV in storage.

MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat

Baby steps are better than no steps.

Chris Matthews wasn't quite as bad, but I'm glad they did it to him, too.

I wonder why it took MSNBC so bloody long to figure this out?

Some interesting excerpts:

"Although MSNBC nearly doubled its total audience compared with the 2004 conventions, its competitive position did not improve, as it remained in last place among the broadcast and cable news networks."...

"When the vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin lamented media bias during her speech, attendees of the Republican convention loudly chanted “NBC.”"

"In interviews, 10 current and former staff members said that long-simmering tensions between MSNBC and NBC reached a boiling point during the conventions. “MSNBC is behaving like a heroin addict,” one senior staff member observed. “They’re living from fix to fix and swearing they’ll go into rehab the next week.”"

Anyway, so long. Obviously I won't miss you. I only found out about it via a blog that I frequent - Girl on the Right.

"Like a Fart in the Wind"

Hehehehehe! You just never know what you're going to find when you follow a link from someone's blog. This one started at Celestial Junk's place. There's a list of other blogs and their latest headlines on the side bar and I followed one called Jack: Socialists - "Like a fart in the wind!" found at Jack's Newswatch. Read it and the comments. The "fart in the wind" allegory in the comments is the best:

"There is no way the Socialists are a “fart in the wind”. You’re a outdoor kind of guy, how long does a fart in the wind hang around? I’d say the Socialists are more like a lingering fart that continues to foul the air."

For some reason Taliban Jack and his crew rated a mentioned in this discussion. /sarc

Great Article by Salim Mansur

McCain Throws Obama for Loop "This (McCain's) ability to assess and outpace opponents has been a key factor in McCain's progress as a politician not ideologically stuck to partisan politics, and being readily open in adapting to new information."

[---]

"Similarly, McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate...strikes the near-perfect note of a "change" candidate headed for dysfunctional Washington, whose poster face is the six-term senator and capitol insider Biden.

Palin's contrast with Sen. Barack Obama as an outsider is moreover devastatingly sharp and clean."

RTWT

Like I said this morning in an email to a friend, McCain will clean up Islamofascism and Palin will clean up Washington.

Saint Moammar??

I know Gadaffi has been playing like a good guy for some time now, but I just cannot come to believe it's genuine and of course I know that all international politics is, at the core, a game of self interest, so I'm sure Gadaffi has something to gain. (I wonder what he was offered to entice him in from the cold?) But this amazes me. So Condoleezza Rice sits down with Moammar Gadaffi in all his radiant enrobement. (I love the way the guy dresses. He's a flamboyant character and he knows it and plays it to the hilt.) I wonder if he's thinking about the bombs dropped on his palace during Reagan's administration? Is the death of his young daughter during that event on his mind? I wonder what is really going on in Condi's mind? Is she cringing inside while smiling so brightly? I note the following passage from the article:

"In an interview with al Jazeera last year, he showered her with praise, declaring: “I support my darling black African woman.” The Libyan leader, who began his ideological life as a militant pan-Arabist, has matured into an enthusiastic African nationalist, aligning his country’s future with the continent.

He continued: “I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. Leezza, Leezza, Leezza . . . I love her very much. I admire her, and I’m proud of her because she’s a black woman of African origin.”"

So the great-great-great(?) granddaughter of slaves meets the great-great-great(?) grandson of slavers and they hit it off. Damn, I love international politicking. Whatever is in it for Gadaffi, the West sure snared them a charming one, even if he is a weasel.

Chuckle

Todd Palin prefers to be addressed as the First Dude.

On a more serious note, these are such down to earth people, I hope they, especially Todd and the kids, survive the Washington milieu. Of Sarah Palin's survivability, I have no doubt. I hope the old guard Washingtonians, especially the Dems, survive her. Or maybe not. (insert wink here)

Jonathan Kay Outs the CBC's Neil MacDonald

CBC's appalling smear on Sarah Palin

"Imagine my embarrassment, then, when it turned out this week that the flagship newscast on the biggest, deep-pocketeddest, old-fashionedest Canadian media outlet of them all — the taxpayer-funded CBC — got suckered into reporting a story that the blogosphere chewed up, debunked, and spit out two days earlier."

Up to its usual standards, CBC's man in Washington was propagating left wing rumors about Sarah Palin's baby actually being her daughter's child and the supposed cover up the family had orchestrated to make it look like it was Palin's herself.

"Except for a few British outlets, no mainstream media reported on the rumor — even before it had been debunked. The Daily Kos itself shut up about the subject from Monday onwards.

But then, on Tuesday night — two full days after the rumor was killed — CBC’s The National went live with it."

[---]

"All total nonsense, of course. Total taxpayer-funded nonsense."

(Emphasis mine.)

Kinda makes you wonder how much we were being misled prior to the blogosphere, doesn't it.

Hey, Harper. Privatize the CBC, will you!!! Why should the taxpayer keep this bloated waste of money and airtime afloat?

Saddam Abuse Museum to Open

in Abu Ghraib.

Yes folks. There was far worse torture and abuse in that place under Saddam Hussein than a few stupid American soldiers doing their frat party pranks. And that wasn't the only venue:

Saddam Hussein's crimes against humanity

Saddam's hangman details torture

Saddam's Philippines terror connection

New Video reveals real torture scandal

Mass graves exhumed

Regime of Terror

Ambassadors of terror

Saddam Hussein: Crimes and Human Rights Abuses

Another Good One

Environmentalists Can't Corral Palin

She (Palin) has defended Alaska's right to shoot down wolves from the air to boost caribou and moose herds for hunters, and — contrary to a view held by McCain — is not convinced that global warming is the result of human activity. [---] "Her philosophy from our perspective is cut, kill, dig and drill," said John Toppenberg, director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, maintaining she is "in the Stone Age of wildlife management and is very opposed to utilizing accepted science."

Yeah, baby!! Stone Age people were very in tune with the environment. Their survival depended on it. Remember the days when environmentalists worshiped Indians for that reason. hehehehehe

Good Ones

What should have been.

How they could have kept the Palin pregnancy story out of the press.

America's Answer to Maggie Thatcher?

Absolutely great speech by Sarah Palin at the GOP convention:

Let me get this straight..

...We're supposed to worry about their sensibilities about dogs being unclean?

The Taliban are lying neanderthal drug lords, fer chris sake!!

What putrid decay all this political correctness has wrought.

Reminds me of al Qaeda's instructions to its members to make false, exaggerated claims about the enemy desecrating the Qu'ran. This has the same stench about it.

Ten Years...

I can't believe it's been ten years already. I remember the moment as clear as though it were yesterday. I was at my sister's place in Saskatoon and the radio program was interrupted with the customary variated beeping sound that signals an important story is breaking, so stay tuned. My sister and I looked at each other, knowing full well that something rather grave must have happened. Then the announcer came on and told the listeners that a Swissair flight heading from New York to Switzerland had crashed into the sea off Peggy's Cove. What a tragedy! I remember how proud I was of my fellow Canadians in that small maritime community. They really gave their all to the grieving families in the days following the crash. So sad.

Canada Takes a Good Step...

in the right direction.

Can't Say I Believe It...

...but, Dutch withdraw spy from Iran because of 'Impending US attack'.

Could be that the West is playing head games with the Mad Mullahs. The more the better, IMHO.

EU or Eweeeeuuuu!!

This is the last straw. Europe better get a backbone really quickly, or it's gonna be toast. If this doesn't precipitate a flight from the EU, then it's a goner and it's not worth fighting for. If not sanctions, what? War? Capitulation without a fight? Life as a doormat?