Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Further Thoughts on Iraq's Elections

There are 321 seats in Iraq's parliament. According to Hameed, a regular commentor at Iraq the Model, only 62 members from the old parliament have been re-elected. The Sadrist group, the most ultra-Islamist of them all, got 70 seats. A full 251 seats went to other parties. This has to be a good sign.

The UN Security Council:
"took note of the findings of international and independent Iraqi observers “who affirmed their confidence in the overall integrity of the election."
[--]
"UN special representative to Iraq Ad Melkert described the polls as “credible” after the country’s Independent High Electoral Commission said there was no evidence of systematic or widespread fraud in the counting of ballots."
Of course, that hasn't stopped the exiled Moqtada al-Sadr from performing his usual stupid stunts.

There is still a long road ahead as the various parties work out an acceptable coalition. There are plenty of nay-sayers predicting doom and gloom, but I'm not one of them. Not yet anyway.

If the Iranian regime falls, things will certainly turn out for the better. Protests on the streets are proceeding apace, as recently as March 20th. Fatwas are being ignored. People are still shouting "death to the dictator" from the rooftops at night. Michael Ledeen, a leading authority on Iran, is quite certain the Mad Mullahs are doomed. Let's hope he's right. And by the way, I am in complete agreement with his assessment of the left.

More Hah! Hah! Hah!

NASA Data Worse Than Climate-Gate Data, Space Agency Admits
"E-mail messages obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that NASA concluded that its own climate findings were inferior to those maintained by both the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) -- the scandalized source of the leaked Climate-gate e-mails -- and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center.

The e-mails from 2007 reveal that when a USA Today reporter asked if NASA's data "was more accurate" than other climate-change data sets, NASA's Dr. Reto A. Ruedy replied with an unequivocal no."
[---]
"Last month, Watts told FoxNews.com that "90 percent of them (thermometers) don't meet [the government's] old, simple rule called the '100-foot rule' for keeping thermometers 100 feet or more from biasing influence. Ninety percent of them failed that, and we've got documentation.""
[---]
""Until surface temperature data sets are truly independent of one another and are entrusted to scientists whose objectivity is beyond question, the satellite temperature record alone will not have any credibility," he said."
Now, what was that about "deniers"?

h/t Hot Air

Hello Iran!!

US test-fires Trident missile in drill with Saudis
"The United States test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads during a joint military exercise Wednesday with Saudi Arabia, a Western military official said."
[---]
"The U.S. has been strengthening missile defenses in allied Arab nations in the Gulf to help counter any potential missile strike from Iran. Like its nuclear work, Iran's missile program is of top concern to Washington and Arab nations wary of Tehran's growing influence in the region."

Quebec's Sister

...in Europe is moving the ban the niqab, too! Small steps. But you gotta start somewhere.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A Real Hah! Hah!

Hah! Hah! and Hah!

Saskatchewan First Nation Chief, officials face fraud, theft charges after five-year investigation

Hah! I told ya so. The FNUC fiasco was only the tip of the iceberg. Expect more.

Government Announces Surgery Reduction Plan

Hah! The birthplace of Canada's medicare is opening the door to reform.

And Hah, again!

'Black Widows' once again terrorize Moscow
"Five of the women later appeared in a posthumous video, veiled in black, with only their eyes and hands visible, as they fingered their weapons and the detonators on their explosives belts."
And we have leftards here in Canada crying foul about Quebec's decision to ban the niqab.

And a hearty Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!

NDP Leader Scolded for Double Dipping
"When Lingenfelter left to work in Alberta's energy industry, he started collecting a pension for his 22 years in provincial politics. Now that he's back in Saskatchewan, it seems he's still getting that pension."
Go get him!!

Go Harper!!

Harper Tories take another stab at Senate reform

"For the fourth time in as many years, the Harper government has introduced legislation to impose eight-year limits on the terms of senators.

A bill introduced in the House of Commons on Monday would limit senators to a single, non-renewable term and would apply to all those appointed since October 2008.

Steven Fletcher, minister of state for democratic reform, says legal experts have assured the government that term limits can be imposed without a constitutional amendment.

But several provinces, including heavyweights Ontario and Quebec, object to the measure, saying the changes require provincial approval."

Not withstanding the fact that I have relatives in Ontario, YOU FOLKS SUCK!! Ontario, especially.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Great Moments In History (Updated)

UPDATE:

I was thinking last night of two other historical events, both ridiculously non-significant, that I remember clearly.

The first was the assassination of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. At the time, for some strange reason, I thought his death would be a major pivotal event in world politics. The second was the assassination of Chilean President Salvador Allende . For this one, I do remember where I was, which is perhaps the more significant part of it. I was in a lovely open-air restaurant in the village of Bhamdoun, in the mountains of Lebanon, and my ex-father-in-law was sitting beside me. A radio was on and a newscast, in Arabic of course, reported the assassination and the old man translated it for me. I didn't think it was going to be a particularly pivotal event, but I thought it was cool that here I was, literally half way around the world, enjoying the cool evening breeze in a country which was half-European half-Middle Eastern and the news reached me, through an Arabic translator. The old man was an amazing individual. He had spent most of his life working in the foreign exchange department of Iraq's Rafidain Bank and could speak seven languages. He had witnessed numerous violent coups in his home country and was easily spooked by any loud noise. I can understand why. The Yom Kippur War broke out just a few weeks later, but we were back in Canada by that time. One of the first things I did once we were back at home was treat myself to a real hamburger (the Middle Eastern version sucked, big time) and a pizza, which was virtually non-existent in the Middle East, at least at that time.

Lebanon was a beautiful country, then, Beirut, especially. Its moniker "The Paris of the Middle East" was well deserved. That was all destroyed during the civil war which came sometime later.

One of the sites we visited outside of Beirut was an old Crusader's castle. The world keeps turning round and round. Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose.
---------------------------------------------------------------

..according to Stubble Jumping Redneck.

For some unknown reason I've been thinking of events that have occurred in my lifetime that I consider significant. Here are the top fifteen in roughly chronological order:

1. Sputnik

I didn't know it then, but this was the event that spurred the race to the moon. I remember dogs in space, too. That was before pigs in space.

2. Assassination of JFK

Even in the remote little Canadian prairie town where I went to high school, they put the TV up in the gym and brought all the students in to watch the funeral. It was literally a shot that went round the world, except this one didn't start a war. A few days earlier the science teacher had stuck his head into our classroom to announce that Kennedy had been assassinated. I remember the stunned hush that fell over the classroom.

3. The assassination of MLK

I remember attending a memorial service in his honour at Campion College at the U of R. There were only two people there. What a shame!

4. The Beatles phenomenon

Sorry, folks. Freaky Michael Jackson doesn't even come close.
"...their countless hit singles have become modern-day folk songs, covered by hundreds of individuals and groups and inspiring countless more, and have sold more copies than those of any other band in history."
When you have six or seven hits on the top 10 charts for several years, not just months, at a time, you are a phenomenon that has yet to be topped.

5. The pill

My mother was one of the first to line up at the doctor's office. Five brats was enough.

6. The Sixties Counter-Culture

Yup. I was part of it. It was exciting. Most of us did grow up, though.

7. Man on the Moon

Sorry you missed it, younguns. It was amazing.

8. Trudeaumania

Yup. I was swept up in it, too. Who else could tell parliamentarians to fuck off, (or was it fuddle duddle?), and get away with it? Or do a pirouette while walking behind Queen Liz or slide down a banister in Buckingham Palace? Date famous women? Invoke the War Measures Act to deal with a group of Quebecois terrorists kidnappers and murderers or meet with John Lennon and Yoko Ono? Ya had to be there, but, yes, most of us did grow up, though.

9. The end of apartheid in South Africa

It was a shocka. I never thought it would happen. Just too bad so many lame-brained leftards now use that word to describe situations where it is so not appropriate. Kinda cheapens what it's real victims had to endure.

10. The collapse of the Soviet Union

Which is the real reason the Soviets high-tailed it out of Afghanistan. Someone should tell Osama bin Laden that. It's also the reason the coalition that fought first Gulf War didn't go all the way into Baghdad to finish the job. The USSR was by no means completely dead and George H.W. Bush didn't want to do anything that might have given the old guard Soviets a shot in the arm.

11. The fall of the Berlin Wall

Another shocker, but the real proof that Soviet style communism, a regime that had existed since my dear departed mother was a mere four year old toddler, was actually done for good.

12. The Internet, or more specifically, the World Wide Web

The greatest invention not made by Al Gore. Heck. I even remember when Canada was ahead of the USA on Internet "penetration".

13. 9/11

Just like the assassination of JFK, it was one of those moments when you remember where exactly where you were and that you could not believe your eyes.

14. The overthrow of Saddam Hussein and also the day he was captured and the day he was hanged.

Thank you George W. Bush!

15. Ann Coulter's tour of Canadian universities

Which may prove to be a real turn-around in Canuckistan, if Honourable Doug Finley can get his inquiry going and something really good comes of it. Freedom of Expression is in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms fer-criss- sake and in the much older Bill of Rights. Give it back to us!! It's ours.

Thank you Ann Coulter!

16. I'm leaving this open in case the Conservative Party of Canada actually does something its base wants.

The U of C Graduate Students Association Votes

Now, why couldn't the U of S and the U of W.O. let me, as an alumnus, vote on that, too!!

McGill and Concordia, too!!!

In fact,
"..nine known student unions in four provinces will vote on continued membership with the CFS in the upcoming months, which will affect 20 per cent of all CFS members"."
Including the U of R where this troglodyte group of faculty members objected to Canadian "imperialism" when funding for university education for children of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan was given to the university!!

Yeah!! Take back our universities!!!

The Humourless Left...

...is in for a real battle. First the knickers-in-a-knot Ann Coulter Zero University fiasco, against which Coulter herself intends to file a complaint with the CHRC, as much to throw it in their faces as anything else, and now this:

Guy Earle's lawyer boycotts hearing

When your client is tried in a kangaroo court over a joke he told in a night club, and said kangaroo court admits it may not have jurisdiction, yet thinks the jurisdiction issue can wait until after the trial, it's time to start treating the whole thing as the joke that it is. Sardonic civil disobedience and laughter should ensue.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

In Celebration of the Completion of

...yet another successful Earth Hour:



HAH!

Long live "
Human Achievement Hour"!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Ron Breakenridge Talks..

...to a blithering idiot from the U of R.

Notice how his voice is quivering the whole time. Seems he doesn't like to be challenged.

Interesting

Only in Canada, you say?

Hardly. This disease infects almost all universities in North America.

Hot on the heels of U of O:

Action Alert: Defend Freedom of Speech at Florida State University
"Robert Spencer is scheduled to speak at the Florida State University College of Law on March 30 at 12:30PM, but the Leftist and Islamic fascists are working overtime to try to silence him -- and the truth about Islamic jihad, Islamic supremacism, and Sharia. Many students are being intimidated and pressured into not attending.

That's why it's important for lovers of freedom to act."
At a law school, yet!!

The Age Old Question..

... is finally answered:



Look closely, now. You'll see what I mean.

What do Salman Rushdi, Irshad Manji..

...and Ann Coulter have in common?

Answer: They all travel with bodyguards.

And why?

They all speak out against radical Islam.

But only Coulter gets raked over the coals by the left. Funny that.

And just who is it that's racist?

Earth Hour - Part II

All hail George Carlin! May he rest in peace in that big comedy club in the sky.



PS: Check out Cjunk.

The Irony is Sooooo Delicious

Ann Coulter a tall, attractive,"leggy" (Hey, don't blame me. The guys seem to salivate over her legs.) blonde gets shit when she complains about (with wiz-bang satire, of course) using body scanners at airports, rather than profiling. Then along comes this:
"Human nature (male variety) remains constant. The BBC reports:A Heathrow Airport security guard was given a police warning after he was allegedly caught staring at images of a female colleague in a body scanner."
Now who would have seen that coming. /sarc

Good comments, too, as usual.

Damn..

...I didn't make the A-list. I'll have to try harder.

Full Results of Iraq Election

Here.

This is going to be interesting. If they can manage to actually get anything done, I say we bring them over here and let them teach our parliamentarians a thing or two.

Go Iraq!!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Nice

Two words: Fuck Canada

I think I'll wait until I have a good sleep before I decide if I'll say anything more.

Mission accomplished. Good sleep over and done.

Nah. I'll just say that this is one of the American sites that I linked to previously and, as I said on a thread at American Spectator a few days ago, I have no intention of letting this influence my general overall appreciation and respect for the American people, their way of life, their values and their heritage. I'll just say, there isn't much difference between the blog entry linked at the top and the by now ubiquitous photo of the U of O student with her mouth stretched open so wide that she looks damn well phony. Kind of like the rent-a-rioters from the dictatorships in the Muslim world.

You see it's kind of like this statement:
"No one knew it would be the University of Ottawa's provost who would strike the match that inflamed the controversy, followed by violent protests that would cancel that stop on Ms. Coulter's three-city campus tour. But organizers -- which included the Canadian chapter of the International Free Press Society (IFPS), a group born in Denmark after the Muhammad cartoon controversy -- were satisfied enough that somebody would.

"It wasn't a question of knowing what would happen, as opposed to knowing it could be a catalyst, because we know the atmosphere," says Mary Lou Ambrogio, the vice-president of IFPS who brought Ms. Coulter here. "We wanted to test the tolerance for differing points of view, especially on university campuses," she says."
There are jerks everywhere on both sides of the political spectrum.

With any luck, this problem will be exposed to the full light of day and our culture of freedom of expression will be fully restored, perhaps even more robustly. From Hansard, March 25, 2010:

Notice of Inquiry

Hon. Doug Finley: Honourable senators, I give notice that, two days hence:

I will call the attention of the Senate to the issue of the erosion of freedom of speech in our country.

Coulter Storm: Clearing in the West

While the folks in Ontario "deconstruct" the U of O Coulter affair -

University of Ottawa gets an F in Coulter-culture 101
"The Coulter affair has revealed a worrying discrepancy between what universities practise and what they preach."
[---]
"Can a university turn its core values on and off like this?"
[---]
"But the shock pundit’s taunts are only the latest in a series of confrontations that have made universities look hypocritical in their commitment to the free exchange of ideas.

The most notorious was the feud between Muslim and Jewish students at Montreal’s Concordia University in 2002: A speech by Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu had to be cancelled after a demonstration turned violent. Concordia’s reputation among applicants and donors took an immediate hit."
- the folks out West show they haven't forgotten what free speech or universities are all about.

Coulter, live and loud in Calgary
"At the Red and White Club on the grounds of Calgary’s McMahon Stadium tonight, more than 900 attendees gave Ann Coulter a remarkable, thunderous ovation. But they cheered, I would almost swear, with even greater volume for Ezra Levant, co-organizer of Coulter’s tour."
[---]
"...he gives a heck of a speech. The stubbornest Stalinist alive would have been stirred by his fierce defence of strong free-speech norms as a social truce in which all have a stake."
[---]
"The fact is, Calgary’s anti-everything left managed a pretty good turnout, perhaps fifty strong, and they did no less to try to interrupt and drown out Coulter’s talk, and perhaps more on the whole, than the U of Ottawa students. But they faced a much tougher tactical situation: a free-standing, isolated venue on a hillside, virtually a fortress; crowd-control gates and wooden barricades on the exterior; and a whole squadron of bicycle and foot police, perhaps upwards of a dozen."
[---]
"Still, the more interesting action was outside all night―and I don’t mean the rioting, but the small-group discussions amongst smokers, latecomers who couldn’t get in, curious U of C campus-dwellers, and stray protesters. Here, on the grass, ordinary people talked sincerely to each other without punchlines or slogans or sneering. They seemed to be a different species altogether from the formidable, mantis-like Coulter and her mesmerizing blonde man."
And what was she talking about inside?
"Inside Ms. Coulter was greeted with repeated standing ovations as she offered up an hour of jokes about political correctness and U.S. politics.

But the closest she came to targeting any minorities was when she cracked three or four jokes about gay activists. At one point she criticized how gays compared their struggle to that of segregated blacks.

"You'd think there were ‘straights-only' water fountains," she said. "As if a gay male would ever drink non-bottled water."

Several students politely argued with Ms. Coulter about her positions in the question and answer session that followed, but several people in the crowd said they had come specifically in response to the University of Ottawa episode."
Thank you Ann for starting this long overdue debate. Thank you U of O for showing Calgary what had to be done to allow it to happen. At least in Calgary, those who paid to see her actually got to hear what she really said, rather than some second or third hand hyped-up and extrapolated soundbite, and were able to make up their own minds.

Hey, and did you see that picture in the Mope and Flail article? Looks like some people are going to read what she has actually written, too!!!! How novel!

SECULARISM WINS IN IRAQ!!!

Iraqi Election Results Announced; Allawi Bloc Wins Most Seats

...only by 2, mind you, and of course Maliki is whining, but still, it's what the people want!!!
"Despite the prime minister's demand for a manual recount, U.N. representative Ad Melkart insisted that all polling stations were subject to repeated recounts and that no systematic fraud was detected:

"All results of almost 50,000 voting stations have been checked at least 8 times," said Ad Melkart. "On the basis of specific complaints submitted by different entities, specific audits have been held in places with indications of irregularities. Ballot boxes that could not stand the test have not been included in the count. We have not found evidence of systematic failure or fraud of widespread nature. The U.N. calls on all candidates and entities to accept the results."

Judge Qassem al Abboudi of the electoral commission told Iraqi politicians that the final results of the March 7 parliamentary election would be published in three newspapers and that candidates would have three days to take complaints to the courts.

Both Shi'ite and Sunni moslem religious leaders urged their followers during Friday prayers in mosques across the country to remain calm and not to respond to any perceived provocations.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill expressed confidence in the integrity of the vote count and urged all political blocs to "conduct talks on the formation of the new government in a spirit of cooperation..and to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric or action." "
Come on Maliki, be a hero. Not a whiner. The willingness to graciously accept defeat is one of the cornerstones of the electoral process in a modern democracy.

A round up with views, beginning with the always pessimistic depressive New York Times, whose editors are still hoping Iraq will fail to The Wall Street Journal and The London Times which gives Maliki a well deserved spanking, which includes this reference to the old tried and true Middle Eastern dictator's strategy, which it asserts is being used by Maliki:
"Hundreds of people gathered outside the Baghdad government building to call for a recount. Protests were held this week across the heartland of Mr al-Maliki’s support in southern Iraq where State of Law supporters from Basra to Nassariya marched in the streets, holding banners and calling for a recount."
[---]
"Sources in Nassariya and Basra told The Times that protests there were orchestrated by State of Law, which rallied supporters and instructed government employees to attend. Warnings of unrest prompted heightened security across the country, to the concern of ordinary Iraqis and analysts alike."
Other than the bit about instructing employees to participate in the protest, al-Maliki is behaving like al-Goracle did in the 2000 elections in the US.

Earth Hour

UPDATED AND BUMPED: Earth Hour won't affect 'essential ' Canucks game

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Oh, the humanity, as they say.
-------------------------------------------------------------
I've been waiting patiently for Earth Hour 2010 so I could turn on everything in my home that uses electricity, and at the same time open all the windows to let the cold draft in. But, heck, maybe I'll just light a fire.

Good to see him back. Hope he stays.

Just a Little Note..

...prompted by my morning cruise through the blogosphere, in this case, during my stop at Kathy Shaidle's "Five Feet of Fury" to get the latest scoop on Ann Coulter's Calgary event. Kathy quotes from a Canadian Press story (scroll down past the photo of the boy) and highlights this sentence:
"But others were frustrated by Coulter's lack of responsibility for the hurt her comments can cause."
This, in a nut shell, is what is wrong with the left and all the thought control institutions that they have built.

But let me explain, as I'm sure legions of leftards would, at the very least, be scratching their heads wondering what the hell I'm talking about.

Many, many years ago, shortly after my marriage broke down I went through an extremely painful bout of depression, which turned out to be a pivotal point in my life. Prior to the collapse of the marriage, I had been a tried and true patron of the leftard mindset and leftard agenda. Both the mindset and the agenda are imbued with "the hurt" caused by others and how it can be overcome and they do this because THEY THEMSELVES HAVE BEEN HURT and as a consequence feel an affinity - and an urgency about "changing" things. I can understand this, because I myself suffered from extremely low self-esteem resulting from "hurt" delivered to me when I was a child. To make a long story short, the "hurt" finally left, but only because I underwent a profound change in my own mindset, following which, my "agenda" was completely changed.

To get to the point, I'll quote one of the many things I read during that bout of depression which, eventually, lifted me out of my funk and set me on an entirely new path. It came from a poster I saw on a wall sometime in 1985. These are the words of a famous American Democrat (no less!) by the name of Eleanor Roosevelt (FDR's wife). Here it is, all you "victims" of Ann Coulter's "hurtful" statements, straight from the pen of a famous leftist:

NOBODY CAN MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION!

I'll say it again:

NOBODY CAN MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION!


And again:

NOBODY CAN MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION!


Got that? It means all you need to do is develop a tougher skin, develop the habit of questioning your old warn-out way of interpreting, then LET IT GO!! You've got better things to do with your lives than wallowing in self-pity and whining all the time. It is your mindset and your bitter agenda that keeps you from letting it roll off your backs. It is your mindset and your bitter agenda that keeps you from interpreting Ann Coulter's remarks in any other way than "hurtful". If you find Ann Coulter's shtick "hurtful", you are giving her permission to hurt you!!

Believe me, she would be delighted to know that you have denied her that permission even though it would likely put her out of business if enough of you catch on to this. But then you'd no longer be leftards, would you.

(Well, I guess that turned out to be a big note.:))

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

See

Woot!!

A Promise Made

...is a promise kept.

The Progressive Indian is back!!

I'm gonna put him in my blogroll, too.

Charles Adler on Ann Coulter

...and the idiots that want to shut her up:

3/24/10 and 3/25/10

Somewhat Surprised

...but oh so gratified, I am amazed at the number of Canadian online newspapers that are condemning the U of O and their anti-free speech theatrics.

Check out the list of article listed below this one.

Here's some others:

Ann Coulter and Free Speech? Hardly

Coulter's right to free speech defended

Stephen Shurka: Should Ann Coulter be muzzled?

Does Coulter have the right to speak her mind?

Stepping on free speech to keep out Coulter

Call for U-Ottawa apology to Coulter

Universities are bastions of free speech? Not in Canada

At Ann Coulter event, 'lots of hate speech - from students'

Even if Ann Coulter is a villain, she isn't the villain of this piece

Houle should apologize to Coulter, U of O teachers' organization says

Silencing Ann Coulter

Against conservatives

Mob rule 1, free speech 0

Coulter in Cowtown

Looks like our press gets it. Most of it, anyway. (Conspicuous by its absence is CBC, surprise, surprise.) Now, if we could just get our universities and our human rights commissions (and the Conservative Party of Canada) to understand the concept.

Long live free speech in Canada!! What's left of it..

Way to Go Calgary!!

Have I told you lately how much I love that city. This is why.

Check out the Calgary Herald:

"In Calgary, Harrison (U of C provost) said it's not up to a university to suppress an individual viewpoint.

"The purpose of a university is to encourage and promote the free exchange of ideas. To do anything other than that is, I think, to go against what the university stands for," he said. "Our concern is to ensure this event goes on smoothly and that she receives the same respect for her opinions as everybody else would expect to receive for theirs," he said."


And they served in Iraq, too.
"...our soldiers have actually been in front-line positions and even been wounded."
So, to all you pantiwastes out there, go fuck yourselves.

Great Interview

with Ann Coulter.

Further to My Blog Post..

...here, in which I speculate on the shipment of bombs to Diego Garcia, I give you this update.

(Tongue in cheek, of course, for our resident leftards whose brains are wired in such a way that they always miss the subtleties.)

ht: Simply Jews

Balancing Act: Or Fast Acting Relief for That Occasional Pain in the Butt

I have no idea if my list of American blogs in the post below is a complete list of those that commented on the Ann Coulter/U of Ottawa story, but to counteract the vitriol, I'm going to list Canadian blogs that are condemning the baby Marxists/Facists on the streets of the University of Ottawa campus. Obviously mine is one and, of course, Ezra Levant has weighed in on the miscreants. Andrew Lawton, one of the organizers of the event, blogs at Strictly Right, so check him out, too.

Anyway, here is my list, which will be subject to periodic updates as and if I find them, taken from my blogroll and bookmarks. Some of these bloggers posted several entries on the topic, so do explore, if you are interested. All of them are what I would describe as right wing. In fact, many of them identify as such. Some attended Coulter's London appearance and some attended the Ottawa event, giving eyewitness accounts on their blogs:

Blazing Cat Fur

Blue Like You

Canadian Sentinel

Celestial Junk

Covenant Zone

Daimnation

Deborah Gyapong

Dr. Roy's Thoughts

The inimitable Five Feet of Fury

Free Canuckistan! aka Binks

Ghost of a Flea

Halls of Macadamia

The Iceman


Jay Currie

Lumpy, Grumpy and Frumpy

Marginalized Action Dinosaur

Moose and Squirrel

Nexus of Assholery

Scaramouche

Sharpe Stick

Small Dead Animals

The Spirit of Man

And finally, from my favourite leftie blogger (I rarely visit leftwing blogs, but this one is worth it for the sole reason that he is, well, reasonable and presents well reasoned arguments to support his positions, and he frequently takes a swipe at leftist idiocy, as he does here). In this case, he's taking a strip off one side and down the other, from Canada's Olivia Chow, Member of Parliament and wife of Jack Laytoon, also a Member of Parliament. And a comedic cartoon character in her own right! She had the stupidity of comparing Coulter's admission to Canada to Galloway's decision to avoid entering our country. So many leftards are so clueless about the Galloway thing, and Glavin, as usual, sets them straight.

Anyway, Yanks. I love ya' but sometime you're a pain in the butt.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Well That Figures

CBC's Neil MacDonald sneeringly calls the International Free Press Institute "a group of right-wing activists" and more or less blames Ezra Levant for the fiasco at the U of O.

This guy, MacDonald, is supposed to be a journalist!! PAID ON OUR DIME!!!!

Video from UWO Coulter Event

Nothing like providing the actual audio and video to put things into their proper perspective. Watch for the "camel" comment at about 17 minutes in and observe the tone of her voice and the look on her face and again at about 26 minutes. (Mouse over bottom edge to see timer.)

Ann Coulter @ UWO March 22 2010: Q&A from josephinejosephine on Vimeo.

And from Ezra Levant afterward.

Ann Coulter clips CTV from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.


Meanwhile, Coulter gives us a little piece of her mind: Oh, Canada!

When Canadian News Goes Viral...

...and hits US blogs, something's gonna shift. It's already been the dominant topic on most of the right wing Canadian blogs that I read.

(Apologies in advance for any duplication of links already posted in previous entry.)

Warning: A few of these are as vitriolic as your garden variety leftist blog, which is kinda the whole point, isn't it. Double standards.

American Power

Atlas Shrugs

Drudge 1
Drudge 2
Drudge 3

Free Republic

Gateway Pundit

Glenn Beck

Hot Air

Jawa Report

Knowledge is Power

Michelle Malkin

Pat Dollard

Political Byline

Rantburg

On to Calgary, Ann. Let's hope the Calgary police know how to provide security, but in the meantime, milk this leftard lunacy for all it's worth.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Welcome to Canada, Ann!

UPDATE IN LAST PARAGRAPH

I've been too busy all day to do justice to this right now, but I've wanted to put together a list of links to relevant articles about Ann Coulter's speaking tour. She started last night at my old alma mater, the University of Western Ontario. Today, it was supposed to have been in Ottawa at the University of Ottawa. Of course the rent-a-riot-crown worked their magic and the thing has been canceled. She is still scheduled to speak in Calgary, though.

The most intriguing part of the whole thing is, she might just take our human rights commissions on over what appears on face to be a very stupid letter written to her warning her to watch her language, a letter written by the Vice Provost of something or other for students.

In the meantime, the best place to start is with Coulter's guest appearance on the Michael Coren show last night and follow up at Five Feet of Fury. Start here and work your way up especially if you want the real story on the "camel" quote. Hopefully, I'll have more on that tomorrow.

(New) During the Michael Coren Show interview Coulter also provides the context for several of the soundbites that CTV repeats here.

Canada Patrols Pirate Infested Waters

...to fight terrorism.
"A warning by the U.S. navy that al-Qaida could be planning attacks on vessels off the coast of Yemen has prompted a Canadian warship to focus its efforts on the volatile area.

The warning, posted on the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence website, says "information suggests that al-Qaida remains interested in maritime attacks in the Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden along the coast of Yemen.

There is a possibility the attacks could resemble the 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole, the warning said.

The blast, which occurred while the American ship was in port in Aden, Yemen, was caused by a small boat laden with nearly 700 pounds of explosives. It killed 17 U.S. sailors and severely damaged the ship."
Good on ya, guys.

How Come?

Why are there so few pie-ers targeting leftwing bigshots or really extremist bigots? Even the left leaning bigshots on the list - Chretien, Dion, Pettigrew - are not accused of extremism. As much as I think pieing is a really stupid way to get a point across, I'd like to see someone with the stature of, say, Mohamed Elmasry, get a pie in the face.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Well, I'll Be Darned

CBC actually posted my comment:

oldweesie @ 2010/03/20 at 5:01 PM ET

I got more thumbs up than thumbs down, too. From CBC readers!!!!!

Saints preserve us.

Good News!!

Did Climate Change Drive Human Evolution?

Survival of the fittest and all that. This explains why lefties are so paranoid of climate change.

Hey. It's a University..

Speaking of Things Middle Eastern

Go read Michael Totten's latest piece:

The Resistance Bloc Will Not Be Appeased

Especially good reading for the Israeli Apartheid loons.

PS: And this.

PPS: And this, too.

Hmmmmmm

After watching the video posted below, and seeing how children are trained to hate, go read this:

Radio Memories: Learning To Hate

Perhaps the Israel Apartheid Week groupies have just got the geography a bit mixed up.

Iraqi Election Watch

Iraq's electoral commission to announce full preliminary results on Friday

Al Maliki calls for Iraqi vote recount as Allawi takes lead

Iraqi PM demands recount of election ballots 'to avoid return of violence'

Iraq's election commission rejects Nouri al-Maliki's demand

Of course there was no fraud when Maliki was ahead. And so it goes. I hope Allawi wins, and of course, that Maliki's thinly veiled threat does not materialize. Just the fact that he would play this self-serving game speaks volumes, though.

With neither of the leading parties garnering enough seats to actually form a government, coalitions will have to be built and Maliki's best option appears to be an alliance with Mooky's party. That would be a decidedly backward step, bringing Iraq closer to being an Iranian satellite state.

On the other hand, Allawi's group promises a move away from sectarianism and has the potential to include Kurdish parties in a coalition, both good things, IMHO. All we can do is wait and see, but I have to wonder if all those bombs being delivered to Diego Garcia are meant to send a decisive message to Iraq as much as Iran, not that the USA would bomb Iraq, but that Maliki should think twice about making unsavoury alliances.

Rumour has it they were originally intended for delivery to Israel and that Britain, to which the island belongs, is not pleased. Would The One have the balls to bomb Iran? Would he risk an international tiff with Britain? He has already alienated more than one American ally. Could this have anything to do with the wheeling and dealing back home intended to get opponents onside with the health care bill? In other words, was it a promise to someone in the Republican camp? All wild speculation on my part, of course, but obviously there were some sweetheart deals worked out in the last few days prior to yesterday's historic vote. Heck, maybe it's just a regular restocking of amo, as I read somewhere else. All will out in the fullness of time, I suppose, but I just find it very, very interesting in a Jupiter aligns with Mars sort of way.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Bang On!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

A Film to Show During Israeli Apartheid Week



I only wish the film, or a companion piece, gave greater details about the long era between 1948, or earlier, and the Oslo Accord.

Giant Game of Leapfrog

Both entertaining and suspense-building, these election tallies, which now have Allawi back in the lead. It will be hard to see how each of the two leading contenders can continue to claim fraud and irregularities when they pull ahead. Still, any such allegation should be investigated. And I also agree with Allawi about the need to speed up this process. There is much to do in the development of protocols for Iraq's future elections (and let's hope there are many, many, many more).

Friday, March 19, 2010

Ode to Beer

and boys.



h/t Ace of Spades where there's lots more.

"They Can Kill the Dreamer...

...but they cannot kill the dream." (Majed al-Shafie)

"Christians are the most persecuted of any faith." (Majed al-Shafie)

All you leftards out there who never miss an opportunity to speak negatively about Christians, take some time to listen to this segment of Charles Adler's Monday, March 15th broadcast. The relevant part starts at the 9:00 minute mark and goes until 19:20.

Anyone wanting more information about this man, Majed al-Shafie, who is now a Canadian citizen, visit his website: One Free World

The One..

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Terrorists and the Internet

My pal, Indigo Red, at Further Adventures posted this a couple of days ago. It's worth a watch and his blog entry is worth a read, too:




It seems Fox news, however, just discovered that the Internet is being exploited by terrorist networks. God knows where the rest of the major television networks are on this.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Sex and War

Very interesting, if disturbing:

Next Election in Iraq...

...if there is one, do you suppose the various parties will stop this whining, whenever the opponent appears to be in the lead? That's one of things I cherish about Western democracies. The losers almost always graciously accept the will of the people (almost) and will call or visit the winner at his campaign headquarters to congratulate him. And even when they don't accept it, there are civilized ways of settling the matter. That's what grown-ups do, including grown-up democracies.

Fighting Back With Lawfare

Here is a very interesting development. A group of American, Israeli and Canadian victims of Hezbollah terrorism are suing the Iranian central bank for $1b for its role in funding Hezbollah. The suit is expected to take four years to complete. As much as I'm hoping it succeeds, I'd rather see the regime fall much sooner than that.

Learn more about it at PJTV.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Who Ya Gonna Believe?

UPDATE: This article confirms Iraqiya's lead - about 9,000 votes out of 4.2 million - over al-Maliki's State of Law party. That's not very much. This could put Mucky's party in a position of king maker. Not good, that, but then again, perhaps Allawi can come up with his own coalition. There ought to be enough Iraqis who remember what Mucky did during the months of sectarian strife and bloodshed that they will not let this tool of Iran have such power and influence in Baghdad. Lest anyone forget, there is a warrant out for his arrest on the charge of murder, something I think the New York Slimes has conveniently forgotten. He also has been holed up in Iran for several years now, unable to put his big toe inside Iraq, for fear of being arrested.

Roughly 80% of the votes cast have been counted, according to the article.
=================================

According to the New York Slimes, Mucky Sadr's party is enjoying unprecedented success "second only to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki as the largest Shiite bloc", but if you are to believe All Jeers and Sneers, Iraqiya, the secularist Allawi's party, has a slim lead. So does this mean sectarianism is beating a path of retreat or is it still a force to be reckoned with? I hope the final results come out soon.

Quebec Stops Islamist Bitches

right in their tracks.

Good for La Belle Province! Hopefully, this will spread westward, and from there all the way around the world. Stealth jihadis, let this be a head's up. We're on to you, and you won't get away with it.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Mubarak...Not Dead Yet?

UPDATE: He's alive!!!

Darn.
==============================
We still don't know, but heck, this article has far more interesting information than that. Is Egypt yearning for democratic reforms? With Mubarak perhaps close to the end of his life, will there be some upheaval in that ancient land, long considered a leading state in the Arab world?

There is a Place in This World...

...where the work of the Ministry of Silly Walks is taken very seriously, nay, I would say elevated to a ritualistic art form:



h/t Mudville Gazette

Perhaps credit should be given to the original. I wonder if the Indian and Pakistani silly walks began with a grant and took off from there.

WTF??!!!

"Meanwhile, another high profile court case will be continuing in another court room in Saskatoon. It's a man who was ordered to stay off the roads- but is charged with driving again.

Five years ago, his wreckless driving caused the death of three people near North Battleford. He's charged of driving while disqualified. We can't tell you his name because he was a minor when he was originally convicted."
Unfreakin' believable.

Betcha

this kid's mother is not pleased.

Will the cost of the emergency services (RCMP, medivac, hospital, etc.) be paid by the assholes who took this risk? Of course not.

The locals are not happy, either.

How Cruel!

Federal civil servants are not allowed to speak to the media without clearance from their employer. What a strange practice!! /sarcasm

Related.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Interesting

I wonder how many days it will take for them to confirm it, if true.

Little Green Footballs are Falling!

Little Green Footballs are falling!!

Every once in a blue moon I take a look at Little Green Footballs. I hadn't been there in more than a year, or thereabouts. So today, I took a look, and what are they doing, you may ask? They're freaking out about the this article describing a "record warm winter" and are 100% convinced that means that man is screwing up the planet.

I wonder if they had a similar episode of mass hysteria when this was announced last fall:

Record lows, global cooling across US

It was an unusually cold summer this side of the border, too.

One of the commenters was even saying "we haven't had an El Nino for quite a while", when, if he had bothered to read the article he would have seen the following:
"Phillips says the extraordinary winter appears to be tied to several factors, chief among them El Nino, a shift in the winds and ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean, and the shrinking Arctic ice, which has thinned and retreated markedly in recent years.

"I think it's a combination of a strong El Nino and the shrinking and disappearance of the ice at the top of the world," says Phillips, adding that changing "pressure spots" in the Arctic and Atlantic also played a role. "They've all been working in cahoots to create this unbelievable winter.""
These folks really should learn what the phrase "in history" means. With respect to the prospect of human caused warming, it is frequently used in alarmist literature to mean "since records were first kept", which of course, is but a tiny droplet in the vast sea of earth's history.

Perhaps they should read stuff like this one:

Paleoenvironmental Perspectives on Climate Change Sea-Ice History of the Arctic Passage;

or this: Historic Variation in Arctic Ice

or this: Don't panic: the arctic has survived warmer temperatures in the past,

this: Arctic sea ice gone by 2015? A challenge to David Barber

or this: ICE FACTSHEET ON ANTARCTIC, GREENLAND AND ARCTIC

to list but a few.

Might as Well Post This

Others have noted it, already.

Canadian values shifting to the right, poll suggests
"Conservative's now 'own the centre,' while the left 'is a lonely place to be' in Canada."
Not far enough, though, if you ask me:
"As for conservative government policies, the poll suggested a majority of Canadians supported spending deficits, abolishing the long gun registry, action on climate change, the decision to leave Afghanistan in 2011, and management of the economic recession."
Deficit spending? Action on climate change? Hmmmmm. I'm thinking the second one will bite the dust before too long.

This is What a Written Language Can Do For Ya

Hadrian's Wall lights mark 1600th anniversary of the end of Roman rule



Historical precision!!

PS: Gotta laugh at the comments at the bottom of this photo essay in the Daily Mail:
"Given what you've ended up with, I trust this commemoration of the departure of the Romans was more in the nature of a wake than a celebration"

- Rick, Johannesburg, South Africa, 14/3/2010 11:32

"I hope we're soon lighting beacons to celebrate the end of Labour's rule!"

- Barry, Shevington, 14/3/2010 11:25

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Encouraging News

It's still early and anything reported today can be turned on its head tomorrow, but this article is very, very encouraging.

Iraqi vote signals shift from religious leaders
"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's political coalition took an early vote lead Saturday in the election's all-important battleground of Baghdad, pulling away from its two closest rivals in the latest indication that Iraqis want a moderate government instead of Shiite religious hard-liners leading the postwar nation.

Partial results released by the Independent High Electoral Commission showed the State of Law coalition with about a 60,000-vote edge nationwide over its main moderate challenger, the secular Iraqiya coalition. The Shiite fundamentalist Iraqi National Alliance was in third place."
[---]
"Nationwide, State of Law has so far amassed more than 357,000 votes, and Iraqiya was trailing with 295,400 votes. The INA was in third place with just over 280,500."
I will admit, though, that the gap between the secular Iraqiya party and the INA is too close for my comfort. I hope the final results, after all the investigations into alleged irregularities and fraud are finished, show that the INA is not just third, but a distant third.

What Should Canada Drink at Her Revolutionary Parties?

It's been interesting to watch the Tea Party movement unfold across the breadth and depth of the land to our south. It's fortunate for those folks that they had a signal event in their early revolutionary history that involved dumping tea into the Boston harbour, dubbed the Boston Tea Party, from which the modern day movement gets its name. It's a perfect fit.

In any case, their rallies all across the USA have produced massive turnouts, indicating a very deeply felt need to turn things around in the good old US of A. Then along comes the Coffee Party folks, determined to push back. Today, they held a rally in St. Louis. It flopped. So sad. BWHAHAHAHAHA!!

But all of this has me wondering. I sense a growing disappointment with the Harper government. We need a Canadian version of the Tea Party movement, but Canada doesn't have a seminal event of a grass-roots up revolutionary vein to rally around, let alone one involving a beverage. What could we use as a slogan and/or a drink?
There's a perfect libation for the NDP, unions, and assorted Liberal-left types. We call it Kool-aid. But for the rest of us, what choices do we have? Canadian Club or Molson Canadian? Probably fall over drunk before we could make our point. And besides, Molson Canadian is now an American brand, so not so good as a PR stunt. Canada Dry? Maybe. There's that old song about drinking Canada dry, but it would have to be reworked. Maybe we could do something with maple syrup, but, ya know, it just doesn't have much cachet out West.

Maybe we should forget about the "party" theme altogether and do something more ferocious, something that doesn't evoke the clinking of dainty porcelain cups with a hoity-toity pinky extended. Maybe something along the lines of a Nor-Wester or a Blizzard.

Or maybe we just don't have a revolutionary spirit in us. Pity that. But the leftards are still entitled to their kool-aid.

Am I Surprised?

David Ahenakew Dies

Although I never liked the man, he did do a lot for his people, and, regrettably, none of that is reflected in this article.

I taught school on his reserve many years ago. It was obvious that the Ahenakew clan were the "chosen" people, the recipients of all the perks. Ahenakew himself lived in the old Indian Agent's house, an elegant and graceful two-story structure that had the characteristics of a home built around the turn of the 19th century, with stained glass windows and the like. He had fixed it up to look real fine, but it certainly placed him apart from most of the reserve's residents, even from other members of the large Ahenakew family.

All told, he was a crusty old, foul-mouthed bugger, racist as all get out, who couldn't utter a single sentence without the words "God damned" inserted for emphasis. His demeanor was identical to the big union bosses of the 1960s. Loud-mouthed, ugly and stupid. His tenure as Chief of the FSI (precursor of the FSIN) was the era during which that organization took on the same confrontational style of belligerent activism as the 1960s unions, and it rarely changed tactics during the tenure of the many Chiefs at the helm since then, although there were a few notable exceptions.

In my humble opinion, the "Whiteman be damned" ethic instilled in Indian politics by David Ahenakew is what led directly to the fiasco at the First Nations University of Canada earlier this year, having been used time and again to justify corrupt practices and evade accountability at the band level on many First Nations in Saskatchewan. Standards meant to keep corruption out were for the Whiteman, and therefore not applicable in anything run by the FSIN or its member bands.

Let's honour the old goat for the good that he did for his people, but let's also hope that the great divide that the crude and confrontational style he created dies with him.

Roger Simon

General Odierno

On the Iraqi Election and a whole lot more. (video and transcript from PBS)

Friday, March 12, 2010

AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

Beheaded Vikings found at Olympic site
"They were 51 young men who met a grisly death far from home, their heads chopped off and their bodies thrown into a mass grave.

Their resting place was unknown until last year, when workmen excavating for a road near the London 2012 Olympic sailing venue in Weymouth, England, unearthed the grave. But questions remained about who the men were, how long they had been there and why they had been decapitated.

On Friday, officials revealed that analysis of the men's teeth shows they were Vikings, executed with sharp blows to the head around a thousand years ago. They were killed during the Dark Ages, when Vikings frequently invaded the region.

"To find out that the young men executed were Vikings is a thrilling development," said David Score, project manager for Oxford Archaeology, which excavated the remains. "Any mass grave is a relatively rare find, but to find one on this scale, from this period of history, is extremely unusual and presents an incredible opportunity to learn more about what is happening in Dorset at this time."

Radiocarbon dating had already placed the remains between A.D. 890 and 1030, before the Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England."
[---]
"Many of the executed men suffered multiple wounds, inflicted by a sharp-bladed weapon, to the skull, jaw and upper spine, all thought to relate to the process of decapitation"
[---]
"The bones still appear cleanly sliced, indicating the men suffered a "sword-based execution," Evans said."
Question: Who speaks 13 languages and has travelled to newspapers in 58 countries? And has his own facebook account?

Answer:

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Naaaah, Nah

Laugh Fest

Have you ever read the comments attached to articles addressing Aboriginal issues?

This one is a regular laugh fest, as are most of them. The article deals with Chuck Stahl's announcement about amendments to the Indian Act which will, supposedly end the gender inequality currently in the Act and the comments are just chock-full of Indian Industry talking points typed in hysterical mode with objections from those who haven't been smitten with that particular crippling ideology. Some samples for your delectation:

moi123: "Ironic that a law that treated men and women differently was struck down byt he supreme court.
The intent of the law?

The right to be treated differently."

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Iraq On the Cusp?

With only the second general election to determine who sits in the national government in Baghdad now over and awaiting the final tally, with oilfield development contracts awarded and ready to start, is Iraq at last ready to soar?

Have a gander at this interview with the Iraqi ambassador to the United States. Of course it's in the nature of his job to be upbeat and positive, but there are many indications that Iraq has turned a corner, with engines revving:



Of course, there's always this, too.

Iraq results trickle out, Maliki rivals cry fraud

Is this just posturing or is it serious? If this accusation is taken seriously, as it should be, I hope a full investigation ensues and the situation is corrected. Can you imagine the impact that would have on the Iranian regime, and especially on the green movement? Imagine fraud investigated and the consequences appropriately meted out!! In an Arab/Muslim country!!!

Final results may take weeks, according to the article.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Iraqi Halocaust Files

Well, Well, Well

Sometimes the New York Times holds its editorially slanted nose and allows the publication of an article like this:

A Vote of Thanks by Hussein Abdul Hussein
"“Here is another ballot, go vote again and let him take your picture,” Nabil al-Janabi, the Iraqi chargé d'affaires in Beirut, said while handing me a paper on the Day of the Great Crawl, when we — Iraqis at home and abroad — were required to vote for the only presidential candidate, Saddam Hussein."
[---]
"On Sunday, I will be driving to Arlington, Virginia, to vote for Iraq’s second post-Saddam Parliament. This time I have a choice of more than 6,000 candidates.

The election is the fifth national vote since 2005, a year in which Iraqis voted for a National Assembly, then approved the Constitution, and then elected their first Parliament. Last year we voted in provincial elections."
[---]
"Iraqis realize that their democracy is not the best, but they also know that practice makes perfect.

Since 2002 Iraqi elections have been evolving. While still not perfect, democracy is striking root.

Meanwhile, what Iraqis like me have learned is that transformation from autocracy to democracy would not have been possible without the 4,700 brave American and allied servicemen and women who lost their lives, and the many others who were wounded, for the sake of Iraq’s freedom.

Families of these heroes should know that many of us are grateful to their sons and daughters, and to the United States and its allies at large, even if they do not hear thank you often from Iraq or its leaders.

It is on days like Sunday that these sacrifices most strongly comes to Iraqi minds."
Of course, now that The One has taken responsibility for victory in Iraq, the New York Times has to speak to a different tune.

Not so with Balbulican, though, that lover of autocracy and author of this nasty missive:
"Who issues threats of consequences better that you do – huh? Nobody, thats who….. and remember, no matter what anyone says you’ve always got the invasion and occupation of Iraq to be proud of, nobody can ever take that away from you can they?"
So, my advice to you, Balb pal, is don't read this New York Times article. It may cause such severe cognitive dissonance that all that hot air between your ears will expand and the empty shell that surrounds it will explode.

However, you might want to read the original article I linked to here.

And try this one, too, from which I have lifted the few paragraphs below (emphasis mine). Note, dear Balbulican, that this piece was published in 2002, before the Americans and their many, many allies invaded Iraq, you know, the time during which the Americans offered the Butcher of Baghdad to opportunity to flee the country to find safe harbour somewhere else, an offer he jokingly refused, to his everlasting sorrow, saying only if he could take the instructions for producing WMD with him, plus $1bn, and which not even the Arab League could satisfactorily arrange:
"Since the early 1990s, the Iraqi government has relied upon a policy of deliberate expulsion of people from their homes in order to stamp out and punish political opposition and seize oil-rich areas and valuable land. In the north, there have been systematic efforts to ‘Arabise’ the predominantly Kurdish districts of Kirkuk, Khanaqin and Sinjar. To secure control of this strategically and economically vital oil-rich region, the government expelled Kurds, Assyrians and Turkmans – sometimes entire communities – from the cities and surrounding areas. In the south, Baghdad has carried out campaigns of suppression against the Marsh Arabs and other Shi’a, destroying villages and draining marshlands to hasten depopulation. Hundreds of thousands of IDPs remain without basic resources. There are well over a million internally displaced persons in Iraq, with an estimated three quarters of a million in northern Iraq alone.

In addition, over the last decade, between 1 and 2 million Iraqis are estimated to have fled Iraq. Most live in countries bordering Iraq or in the region, the largest numbers, over 250,000 in Jordan, 200,000 in Iran, and 40,000 in Syria. There are also tens of thousands of Iraqis who live in Lebanon and Turkey. The Iraqis are in addition to the huge numbers of Palestinians who live in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria and the Afghans and other refugees living in Iran and Turkey.

Assistance to refugees in these countries does not meet minimum international standards. In some cases, refugees’ freedom of movement is severely restricted; they are vulnerable to police harassment, beatings, sexual violence, extortion, arrest, detention and possible deportation; they cannot return home for fear of punishment; their chances of being offered resettlement in the US, Canada, Australia or Europe are extremely slim; they cannot integrate with local populations in the Middle East; they are refused permission to work; they live in limbo. It is not surprising that rather than remain in limbo many Iraqis choose to put their lives and the lives of their families at risk by engaging the services of human smugglers in order to try to reach the shores of Western countries to apply for asylum. The lack of safe refuge in the region, therefore, contributes to the so-called asylum crisis in Europe and elsewhere.
Outside of the Middle East, the number of Iraqis seeking asylum in the West has increased steadily in recent years. Between 1989 and the end of 2001, 277,500 Iraqis applied for asylum in western countries, mostly in Europe. Of these, the largest numbers went to Germany (84,500), followed by the Netherlands (40,900), Sweden (36,800) and the United Kingdom (23,800. The numbers of arrivals of Iraqis in Europe have continued to rise in recent years but the pattern of where Iraqis apply for asylum has changed. While Germany (37,900) continued to receive the largest number of Iraqi asylum seekers between 1999 and the end of 2001, the United Kingdom (15,700) overtook other EU countries in numbers of Iraqi asylum applicants. Iraqis are now the largest national group of asylum seekers in Europe and the UK. The alarming size of Iraq’s populations of internally displaced people, refugees and asylum seekers in the West underscore the fact that, even without a war, there already exists a world-wide Iraqi refugee crisis."
It stands to reason that during a war, the number of people seeking asylum will skyrocket, but only a blithering fool will persist in believing that Saddam Hussein's brutal rule did not produce a record number of asylum seekers before those dastardly Americans invaded. Yes. It got worse before it got better, but it is better - far better, and that is a colossal understatement.

Oh, and lest I forget, that doesn't include the estimated 600,000 Iraqis that were killed by Saddam Hussein during his reign of terror buried in both regular cemeteries and in mass graves, and they are still finding new ones. Nor are we talking about the horrific torture that took place in the Abu Ghraib prison under Saddam's orders. We're only talking about the ones that were lucky enough to escape the country.

So Balb, if you haven't done so already, I would highly recommend you read the Euston Manifesto, a position paper produced by prominent leftists, those who still have a modicum of principle and humanity in their souls. Even the prominent British leftist, William Shawcross, supported the war, much to the chagrin of his fellow leftists, and had this to say about Iraq's most recent election:
"...the transformation is extraordinary. The give and take of politics now exists in a country which, under Saddam, was described as “a concentration camp above ground and a mass grave beneath”".
Not to mention that booze soaked leftist icon and hero of mine, Christopher Hitchens.

You'll find a link to the Euston Manifesto in the sidebar right here at Stubble Jumping Redneck, under the heading "Good Stuff". Hurry, now. Before your head explodes.

Over to you.