Sock It to 'Em, Mr. Nicholson

Time for Another "Trip Down Memory Lane"

Taking you waaaaay back:

Way, way, way, waaaay back:



I don't remember who sang that. Was it Marty Robbins? I don't know, but here's a bunch by him, anyway:









Jimmy Dean:

"Big Bad John"



Johnny Horton:

"North to Alaska"



"Battle of New Orleans"



Believe it or not, it wasn't until earlier this year that I understood what this song was actually about.

One more from him:



Frankie Laine:

"Rawhide"



"Ghost Riders in the Sky"



Claude King "Wolverton Mountain"



That's enough for now.

But, since I never miss an opportunity to take a swipe at leftards, and I'm just itching to say this, here goes: They just don't make 'em like that any more. And to all you crazy liberal Canucks who want to waste money on Canadian non-talent, who cares what country the talent is from, especially in the day and age of YouTube and other digital services that transcend borders.

What's good is good. What sucks, sucks. Throwing money at it won't make any difference. If good and talented Canucks want to make it big, let them move to the US. Stop throwing money at talentless wonders like Margie Gillis.

Okay. One more:

Tennesee Ernie Ford: "Sixteen Tons"

About That Burka Ban

Widespread support for burka ban, Jason Kenney says; Muslims salute minister for ‘courageous’ move

"A month after Canada banned Muslim women from covering their faces during citizenship ceremonies, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the policy has won widespread support.

Speaking at a Muslim Canadian Congress event honouring his “courageous decision,” Mr. Kenney said polling shows that eight out of 10 Canadians agreed with the decision while only 14% were opposed.

“It is only a sign of respect for your fellow citizens, when you are pledging to them your commitment to live in a community with them, to show your face and who you are and that your pledge is heartfelt and authentic,” he said."

[---]

"“The niqab or burka is a political tool by Islamists who wish to segregate Muslims into religious ghettos, cut off from mainstream society,” said Farzana Hassan of the Muslim Canadian Congress. “Islamists consider women who do not cover their heads and faces, which constitutes the vast majority, as sinners and lesser Muslims.”"

Now, Liberals and other sore losers will say; "Ya, but what do you expect him to say".

And speaking of sore loser liberals, here's an interesting article from Macleans.


The Liberals await heaven’s command

"It was like spending a frigid weekend huddled around the world’s biggest samovar, with 3,200-plus joyful Liberals, not one of them fitting my expectation that they had shifted categories from walking wounded to being the walking dead. Their joy is that, whatever else they might do in a future that remains a distant and ill-defined option, at least they can pretend that dreams still count. That even if the Earth moved last May 2, and left the one-time power barons barren of power, they exist, awaiting heaven’s command.

Assembled, they project the distinct impression that while they are in third—which is like having a one-way ticket to purgatory—they should still be heard. No longer members of Canada’s natural governing party, they are losers searching for a mission. Slip-sliding away, like drunks convinced they are holding up the lampposts. The Grits have yet to earn another chance to head an effective opposition. Beyond that, they can’t count on Bob Rae being the dream candidate who could lead them back to the Treasury benches. He has enough political baggage to fill an airport carousel. For some inexplicable reason, he reminds me of Sir John A. Macdonald’s line, “I do not say that all Grits are horse thieves. But I feel quite sure that all horse thieves are Grits.”"

RTWT

Variations On A Theme

The following is a guest post by Dave in Pa.:

The NDP has just had what they call a leadership debate in Toronto. By published accounts, the eight candidates spent their time agreeing with each other that NDP's "progressivism" and desire to nationalize all of Canada is a good thing. By contrast, those who disagree, particularly the Conservatives, Conservative PM Stephen Harper and Toronto Conservative Mayor Rob Ford are bad things. Good and bad, black and white, a simple moral code and worldview. In all this, they basically mirror the Liberal Party of Canada, which also just had its convention. 

I have a theory that there are many threads of culture, past and present, that, for better or worse, unite what we call Western Civilization. Today, one of the "for worse", is what I call the International Disease of Leftista-ism.  Today's neo-liberalism has nothing in common with Classic Liberalism. The fundamental beliefs of Classic Liberalism included limited government; free enterprise; constitutional government under the rule of law; un-fettered natural freedoms for all individuals, including freedom of speech, thought, religion, assembly and press.

This classic liberalism has nothing in common with today's neo-liberals, who, having toxified the word liberal in so many Westerners' minds, shifted their brand name and now call themselves "progressives".

International modern Western Liberalism, or Neo-Liberalism, strongly share certain attitudes and traits, a Western trans-national phenomenon.  This holds true whether we're talking about British Labourites, Canadian Dippers and Liberals, Australian Labourites or American Democrats.  These habits and traits include an assumption of enlightened intellectual superiority over moderates and conservatives, a secular theological sense of moral superiority over non-Leftistas, and a complete unwillingness to even consider that they may be wrong about something or ought to apologize to their electorates or anyone else about anything. Group-think, Double-think, New-speak saturate their minds.

Let's do some Western.Civilization.Connect.The.Dots  -  This Western "progressive" parallel provincialism, with these identical arrogant attitudes and intellectual and moral certainties are blatantly exemplified in this week's Newsweek cover. With an upward-looking photo of Barack Obama, the cover asks "Why Are Obama's Critics So Dumb?".  In the Liberal Party convention, there's an implied and expressed sense of certainty ("...only their party understands Canada..."). Look back to the 2004 US Presidential election, when Bush beat John Kerry. In shock and mourning the day after Bush was re-elected, a major British Leftista national newspaper, the London Daily Mirror, had a post-election front page, referring to Bush's victorious vote total, proclaimed in massive-sized font, "How can 59,054,087 People Be So Stupid?"

Do you see the variations on a theme here?  Only the progressive minds of the Liberal Party understand Canada.  The eight leadership candidates of the NDP and their audience have no doubt that their "progressive" values and policies are perfect as is and should not be changed. Rather than ask Canadians why they voted Conservative, rather than move the NDP to the Canadian mainstream, the NDP "...want to bring the centre to us", as candidate Mulcair put it. All the correction that's needed is for the foolish Canadian majority who didn't vote NDP to improve their minds, to The NDP Way. The progressive minds at the London Daily Mirror have no doubt the 59 million Bush voters in 2004 were stupid. The progressive minds at Newsweek have no doubt Obama critics today are stupid.

So, there we have it.  The West's "progressives" have The Truth.  While they like to prattle on about "diversity", their faux diversity is superficial.  One may be male, female, white, black, Asian, straight, gay, handicapped, whatever.  All well and good.  But true diversity, diversity of thought, is forbidden.  The "progressive" secular theology is complete, unalterably correct and, if you disagree in any degree, you are stupid and evil. The NDP, Liberals, Democrats, the London Daily Mirror and Newsweek tell us so.

Morning Headlines

You might know I spend a lot of time perusing the headlines at news.google.ca in order to feed my blogging habit. News articles from all over the world are delivered under several headings ranging from Top Stories, to Saskatchewan, Sports, Health, Entertainment, Science and so on. I don't usually look at Sports, Health and Entertainment, but concentrate on political news from all over the world and here at home, as well as science.

I especially like looking for the absurd. This morning, so far, several headlines have caught my attention and made be laugh:

Warming Arctic May Be Causing Cooler Winters In Eastern U.S., Europe

Yup. Must be.

UN chief tells Assad to end violence

Yup. That'll do it!!

Peel police officer hit by impaired driver

Dumb idiot. If you want to hit a car while you're driving drunk, why choose a police cruiser????

Ontario deep freeze won't last long

"Ontario is in the grip of a weekend freeze that is making it feel like -27 C, with the wind chill."

Oh, you people need to get a grip. -27 C with the wind chill is NOT a deep freeze!! It's positively balmy.

Liberals vote to legalize marijuana, retain ties to monarchy

The party aims to appeal to both the young and old, or is that to NDP voters? As I write this, I'm listening to the final speech delivered at the Liberal Party convention, delivered, of course, by its leader, Bob Rae. My God. He sounds like the old Dipper that he is. Is this the new Liberal strategy? Replace the NDP?? If so, BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Good luck with that.

Leave It To The Cartoonists

With a Liberal Party "renewal" process underway, you can bet there will be some great cartoons churned out in the big papers. Here's a good one. #8 is also pretty good, as is # 12, but # 12 isn't about Liberals, although there are parallels.

They Just Don't Get It

I won't say anything more lest members of the party faithful are reading my blog. I wouldn't want to give them any clues as to what really ails them. Lord knows, they need some clues, and that just about sums it up.

Now I Understand

For a few years now, I have been curious about what seems to be deeply irrational hatred of Stephen Harper expressed by commentors on some of Canada's major media outlets (CBC, CTV, Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star).

Here is an excellent lecture by John Ibbitson on the "Collapse of the Laurentian Consensus". Quebec and Ontario's elite, Canada's traditional power base, living primarily in the two major cities along the St. Lawrence (Toronto and Montreal), are being replaced by the West and, as the power slips from the hands of Central Canada, they are scared. The world is changing around them and they are not in the drivers seat. Western Canada is. You can even see the fearful hatred in the comments below this TVO video: The Collapse of the Laurentian Consensus. You are no longer the Centre of the universe and you are whining like babies. That's why we in the West must be portrayed as bigots and racists, even though the truth is not only totally to the contrary, but staring anyone who looks, in the face. Welcome to the new Canada, folks.

Pick Copps, Please....

...What's bad for you, is good for the country.

Putting Aside...

...the big kerfuffle about the "s" word and the fact that he's Liberal, young Justin Trudeau is actually quite a good looking dude.

Sorry, guys, but even old biddies notice things like that. And his mustache and goatee actually make him look even better. Certainly better than his father ever looked.

So what's more important? Good looks or intellect? If you haven't got the intellect, you can at least strut your facial hair. I think he looks pretty good. Look for a centerfold somewhere...soon. After all, Liberal fortunes are sagging badly.

Proving Once Again...

...that they have no new ideas, the Liberals dig deeply into the past to drag out this old horse:

Tories ripping apart Canadian values, Chrétien says

Here we go again. The Liberals get to define "Canadian values". No one else is good enough.

You know, Jean, it just may be Liberal values that Canadians find wanting. Thanks for that. Anyway, the more of that we can unravel, the better. Now go back to your crypt. You and your party haven't had a new idea in ages. You're history. The fact that they have to drag you out of the dungeon illustrates that quite well.

That's It!!!

The Liberals have discovered a new scare phrase to describe the Conservative Party. Gone is the "hidden agenda". From here on in, it will be the "stealth agenda"!! Oooooooo, just as scary!!

Liberals launch sweeping revival plan

"The federal Liberal party has officially kicked off a sweeping overhaul of its own house — bluntly declaring that while it’s down, it’s not yet out.

In a document called “Roadmap to Renewal,” the Liberals have embarked on an ambitious effort to change everything from the structure to the culture of the battered political brand."

"There is also a detailed, unvarnished assessment of how the Liberals view their adversaries, with lengthy looks at what it calls the Conservatives’ “stealth agenda” to rebrand Canada and the New Democrats’ efforts to steal the centre from the Liberals."

Here's their proposed renewal plan. [You'll note, at least at the time of my writing this, the link to the French version, doesn't work. But then again, it's only Conservative Party appointments that have to be bi-lingual. But given this statement from the renewal plan: "Our goal is to build a more thoroughly bilingual and multicultural political organization....", I'd say that's rather funny.)

Nickel And Diming Them To Death...

UPDATED AND BUMPED: (Updated with links at bottom.)
====================
...is not what I had in mind, but it's better than nothing and waaaay better than topping up their grant the way what's his face did earlier this year:

"The CBC, embroiled in both a legal fight and a parliamentary probe over its record on responding to access-to-information requests, is now also bracing for deep funding cuts, perhaps $100 million or more from its annual federal allotment of about $1.1 billion.

The prospect of a severely slashed budget has emerged despite Conservative election promises to "maintain or increase" support for the public broadcaster, and amid fears now openly expressed by top executives that the coming cuts could be driven even deeper by relentless attacks from the CBC's competitor, Quebecor, and its conservative-minded network of television stations, websites and Sun newspapers.

After a Quebec arts-funding flap that may well have cost the federal Conservatives a majority government in 2008, Heritage Minister James Moore made it a mission to reassure anxiety-filled, culture-minded Canadians — right through the 2011 election campaign — that the CBC was in no danger of being de-funded or otherwise diminished."

To hell with "anxiety-filled, culture-minded Canadians". They've had their hand out expecting us to believe they are God's gift to Canada for waaaay too long.

More here:

Whither the CBC?

Pledge to CBC looks shaky

Good news at those two links. Seems the government is listening to Canadians. Hopefully the starvation of our grandmother's corpse won't be too long and drawn out. Better to die a quick death than a long slow one.

Feeling Somewhat Helpless,...

Boob Rae responds:

Next government will clean up Tory criminal-justice ‘mess,’ Rae says

And you think the next government will be the Liberals, do you Boob? We'll see. But I don't think the Liberal Party has a hope in hell of getting their act together to recover in time for the next election and we all remember what you did while Premier of Ontario. Still, it's good to see you giving the crime bill a pass and it's good to see you got the message sent from the electorate. Or did you? Libs have been delegated to third place, in case you didn't notice.  You seem to be saying it's only natural the Liberals will be back in power after the next election. Got some lessons to learn, I see.  But, who am I to complain. Liberal arrogance works in our favour.

It's Been A Slow Day

Not much happening of the absurd variety. However, this little bit of news in interesting:

Women could take big step forward in Newfoundland election

The headline is kinda misleading, as the article is actually about the five provincial elections taking place this fall in Canuckistan, in more than just Newfoundland, although this is pretty interesting:

"The news is not who will win: There is virtually no doubt that Progressive Conservative Leader Kathy Dunderdale, who replaced Danny Williams as premier last year, will prevail on Oct. 11. The news is that for the first time in the province’s history, the Official Opposition could be the NDP under Leader Lorraine Michael, which means a woman opposition leader would face a woman premier: Was that a glass ceiling I just heard shattering?"

[---]

"The poll was conducted before the death of Jack Layton. Since then, support for the NDP has, at least temporarily, increased in other parts of the country. If trends hold, the legislature in St. John’s as well as Ottawa could see the NDP as Official Opposition for the first time."

Ding, dong. The Liberals are dead!! Except in Prince Edward Island.

"In Prince Edward Island, the question isn’t who the opposition will be, but whether there will be any: A new poll has Robert Ghiz so far ahead that his Liberal Party could take every seat."

And here in Knuckledraggerland:

"Speaking of sweeps, a poll from Praxis Analytics has Brad Wall’s conservative Saskatchewan Party at 63 per cent, nearly 40 points ahead of Dwain Lingenfelter’s New Democrats, who are at 26 per cent. Over at threehundredeight.com, Eric Grenier’s seat projections now include the possibility – but only the possibility – that the Saskatchewan Party could hold as many as 51 seats in the 58-seat legislature after the Nov. 7 election."

Yeah, Baby. This province being the birthplace of the NDP, this should send shockwaves around the leftosphere everywhere in the world. The NDP is deader than a doornail here in Tommy Douglas Land. Whoopie!! I hear tell the NDP are thinking they chose the wrong leader. Well, no, sweethearts. It ain't the leader. It's every thing you stand for and everything you've ever done. You're finished!

And in Manitoba. Well, maybe Manitoba can save socialism. But I hope not:

"Things got testy during a radio debate Monday, as the normally reserved NDP Leader Greg Selinger called Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen’s proposals “crazy” and repeatedly cut him off, causing a frustrated Mr. McFadyen to ask: “Are you okay?”

“Are you okay? Are you okay?” Mr. Selinger shot back, further demonstrating that the art of rhetoric is not presently at its peak."

I think Canada's lefties can see the writing on the wall, and they're behaving accordingly - like cornered rats.

And down in the Centre of the Universe, where Liberalism reigns supreme, trouble is a-brewing:

"In Ontario, the big fight is over the word “foreigners.” That’s how Conservative Leader Tim Hudak described those who could benefit from a Liberal proposal to give $10,000 to employers who hire immigrant workers.

Except the Liberal proposal, once properly explained – or at least once the Liberals had figured out how much trouble they might be in and modified it – would apply only to Canadians who had been citizens for fewer than five years and who were having trouble obtaining accreditation in certain professions.

But who cares about the details? The Liberal plank has the Tories flinging out accusations of Liberal affirmative-action programs that punish the native-born, with the Liberals firing back that the Conservatives are intolerant of immigrants.

When it comes to nasty, these days, no one can beat Ontario."

They're raaaaaacist, of course. Hurling that accusation is the only thing Liberals/Dipper types have left, and guess what, folks. It no longer works. Go Hudak!!

Well, the enumerator came to my house today. I'm registered to vote. I can hardly wait for November 7th. We live in raaaaaaacist interesting times.

More Good News

Sheila Copps to run for presidency of Liberal Party

Now, if they would just dig the hole a little deeper we could bury them all.

It's Always Good...

...to read stuff like just before bedtime:

Liberals love the CBC but nobody else does

"It always seems to be the political left telling us how we mustn't be frightened of change, but it's ironic how reactionary those same people can be when their beloved institutions are questioned."

[---]

"But times may be changing. Abacus Data has just revealed the results of its extensive survey of public attitudes towards the corporation, and what comes across particularly clearly is that the overwhelming majority of people do not trust the state broadcaster.

More specifically, most people, irrespective of politics, believe the CBC should be more open on salaries and spending. This money is, after all, paid to them by the hard-working Canadian taxpayer. So if we don't trust them with our money, why should we trust them when they tell us what to think, how to behave and - let's be honest here - how we should vote?

When questioned, only 17% of this representative and wide-ranging group knew how much money the CBC was given each year, and many of them had no idea at all. Just as significant, more than 60% were shocked when they were told just how much cash the state broadcaster was given.

It is, by the way, $1.1 billion. More than a thousand-million dollars of your money, given to highly paid broadcasters to make shows telling us how stupid we are, how awful the Americans are, how we should be more understanding of Islam, how Christianity is stupid, how your military tortures terrorists, how terrorists are actually militants, and how militants are justified."

[---]

"Beyond the mere democracy of respecting voters and their wishes, there is the compelling argument that the CBC simply does not do its job well. The survey indicates that this is increasingly self-evident to all but the most zealous, and the sooner we liberate the airwaves, allow choice and freedom, and encourage Canadians to ask for better and cheaper television and radio, the better for all of us."

Are you listening Mr. Harper? Moore?

Carrying On With The Theme

In the previous posting I touch on the subject that Canada is no longer tied at the hip with The Once Great Britain.

I've been thinking about the gradual drift away from our British roots. It's a natural shift, I think. Britain is no longer a big player in Canada's affairs. She hasn't been for a very long time, but I like to think that much of our values and traditions hale from the British experience, and that's okay. Time marches ever forward. A much bigger influence on Canada is our proximity to the USA, and that too is okay. I hope, someday, we might pick up a bit of the American ethic of love of country and patriotism. This is not something that members of our liberal elite will find favour in, but who gives a shit about them.

So, here's to ya, cousins. Happy commie Day!