Who are the True Feminists

It always amazes me how Western feminist organizations have virtually nothing to say about the plight of women and children in Muslim countries. Sure, they pay lip service to the fact that women in Islam are often little more than livestock ... but for the most part these organizations are silent. They are, in the end, little more than spoiled brats too drunk on a free and decadent society to recognize a good cause if it hit them on the head.

Enter, an organization my wife belongs to. An organization of women who understand fully how precious our Western freedoms are. This international group get no government grants, very little press coverage, but their work is truly a labour of love.

They might be dismissed as a bunch of "pedestrian" idealists whose efforts likely don't amount to much, but such a dismissal would be horribly misplaced. These women aren't shrinking violets, and many, like my wife with her Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Commerce degree, aren't exactly "traditional" women.

They've moved beyond activist feminism and now reach out to women and their families in one of the world's most impoverished regions:



Afghans for Afghans sends thousands of pieces to Afghanistan, especially clothing for childen ... and it does a lot more.

Stock Set to Collapse

If you own stock in companies that manufacture water wings ... get out now. I know that sales of water wings were expected to hit the trillions of dollars in Bangladesh, the Maldives, and the Nile Delta ... forget about it. I beg you, sell your stock while it's still worth something:

If one thing more than any other is used to justify proposals that the world must spend tens of trillions of dollars on combating global warming, it is the belief that we face a disastrous rise in sea levels. The Antarctic and Greenland ice caps will melt, we are told, warming oceans will expand, and the result will be catastrophe.

Although the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) only predicts a sea level rise of 59cm (17 inches) by 2100, Al Gore in his Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth went much further, talking of 20 feet, and showing computer graphics of cities such as Shanghai and San Francisco half under water. We all know the graphic showing central London in similar plight. As for tiny island nations such as the Maldives and Tuvalu, as Prince Charles likes to tell us and the Archbishop of Canterbury was again parroting last week, they are due to vanish.

... keep reading!

All Bush's Fault

ht

Do You Take This Frog to be Your Lawfully Wedded Wife

... I do:

MORE than 250 people in northern Bangladesh have attended a wedding ceremony between two frogs as part of a ritual to bring rain to the parched region.

The "bride'' and "groom'' came from two neighbouring villages 110km north of the capital Dhaka, according to the Bengali paper Jugantor.

Villagers organised the wedding ceremony because the region was suffering a water shortage as it waited for monsoon rains to arrive, according to school teacher Noor Mohammad Kalon, who was a guest on behalf of the "groom''.

"More than 250 men, women and children came to the wedding. We all danced and sang,'' the teacher, 42, said by telephone, adding that the guests were served a traditional wedding feast of rice, lentils, fish, beef and sweets.

"The bride and groom were in special wedding dress. We blessed them in the ceremony and released them in a nearby pond afterwards.

"Last night there was rain. I believe it was because of the wedding.''

... comments thread.

Pakistan

... the good, bad, and the ugly:

After eight years of a White House that often seemed blinkered by the threats posed by Pakistan, the Obama administration seems to grasp the severity of the myriad crises affecting the South Asian state. The media has followed suit and increased its presence and reporting, a trend confirmed by CNN’s decision to set up a bureau in Islamabad last year.

And yet, the uptick in coverage hasn’t necessarily clarified the who’s-doing-what-to-whom confusion in Pakistan. Some commentators continue to confuse the tribal areas with the North-West Frontier Province. And the word lashkars is used to describe all kinds of otherwise cross-purposed groups, some fighting the Taliban, some fighting India, and some fighting Shiites.

I admit, it’s not easy. I lived in Pakistan throughout all of 2006 and 2007 and only came to understand, say, the tribal breakdown in South Waziristan during my final days. So to save you the trouble of having to live in Pakistan for two years to differentiate between the Wazirs and the Mehsuds, the Frontier Corps and the Rangers, I’ve written an “idiot’s guide” that will hopefully clear some things up.

... keep reading for the who's who in Pakistan.

Internet Anonymity in the Courts

A while back we drew your attention to the fact that an Ontario court has ruled that the anonymity of participants in comments threads on the internet is not protected.

Free Dominion has been ordered to cough up the IPs of certain anonymous posters. What is disturbing about this order is that it was given prior to any ruling on the merits of the case. The order will be appealed.

Details and donation instructions can be found HERE.

The Only Truly Free-Market Financial System

... in the world:



Before Conservatives go all gaga over Harper's stewardship of the financial system, it would serve good to remind ourselves that Paul Martin, as Finance Minister, rejected attempts to loosen up the Canuck Banking System. I think we owe him our gratitude for that.

Having said that, it would appear that Canada is in good hands and our low corporate tax rate may make Canada a haven for companies fleeing the O-conomy.

For a Change of Pace

... on a slow blogging day:

Earth Hour in Saskatoon

... was a complete, thorough, and unmitigated failure.

Last year when we drove around during the witching hour, there seemed to be a few more darkened houses than usual, especially in the more upscale "liberal" part of the city. That's where we saw a few houses with candles proudly displayed in windows as if to say, "look at me ... look at me ... I'm such a wonderful earth worshiper" ... even though I live in a 3500 hundred square foot, $750,000, energy inefficient character home and I'm 55 years old with no kids at home.

This year, the city was most definitely ignoring Earth Hour ... in fact, it looked more like Hour of Power in Saskatoon. Cars everywhere, lights gleaming, and an unusual number of Christmas lights on ... it almost made one want to begin gift giving early.

Anyway, that's that. The radio stations and media in general wanted us all to believe that there was some sort of "movement" afoot. The only movement I saw was that of cars whizzing by on their way to hockey games, bars, restaurants, and coffee shops ... which were all full.

Saskatoon gave the WWF and IPCC a big fat "screw you" tonight. I guess it just goes to show that when it comes to Global Warming, Westerners still have their heads screwed on straight.

You Know That the O-conomy is Doomed

... when even the Europhiles reject it:

GORDON BROWN’S carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, last night led the assault on the prime minister’s “global new deal” for a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus to end the recession.

“I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money,” she said.

The Spanish finance minister, Pedro Solbes, also dismissed new cash being pledged at Thursday’s London summit.

The Surge

picture: Saskatoon is locked in a deep-freeze for 6 months of the year ... and it is wonderful CO2 emitting energy that keeps the city and her dwellers alive.

There was the Iraq Surge ... and up and coming Afghanistan Surge ... but tonight, we have the Earth Hour Surge ... or as they call it in the USA, Celebrate Human Achievement Hour ... and here, in Saskatchewan, it's the ancient tradition as handed down to us by those brave souls who broke the first sod in Saskatchewan ... the Ceremonial Banishment of the Snows.

Let the Power Meter Surge begin.

As for those turning out the lights ... it is symbolic in a way, of what passes for "environmentalism" these days. There are indeed, no lights on in the attic most days among this class. I hope though, that they remember their two square rule tonight.

More on The Surge:

In Honour of Suzuki

Hippie Guilt Relief

Achievement

Black

The Fall of Rome

A Gay Agenda

The Star Dares

What Hippies do in the Dark

Global Roundup ... the pushback has gone international !

Anti-Canada Hour: Update

picture: PetroCan

Tomorrow, thousands of Canadians are going to turn off the lights and most powered mechanisms and devices to sit in the dark for one hour. They will do it as an act of protest against the use of anything that produces Carbon Dioxide as a by-product.

Some, in innocent delusion, will think that they are showing their support for cleaner air, water, soil ... for conservation, or some generic sense of "responsible" stewardship. Those who "turn off" though, will be doing no such thing.

Earth hour is, from start to finish, a Global Warming protest ... part of the war on CO2 ... nothing more. And, as such, Earth Hour might as well be "anti-Canada" hour.

Canadians have carved out a living in a climactic zone that is in a deep freeze for half the year and where distances are enormous. Furthermore, Canada supplies the world with natural resources on a scale unequalled anywhere ... and it all requires energy. From the bricks on the buildings, the asphalt on the highways, to the tourist industry and agriculture, from manufacturing to mining and technological innovation ... it all takes energy and transportation in a region vast and harsh.

Yet, Canada has, despite a reliance on fossil fuels, one of the cleanest environments on the planet ... there is no sulphur cloud drifting from Canada's shores floating over entire oceans ... our cities and towns are not poisonous swamps of human refuse and chemicals ... and our lakes along which Ontario's largest manufacturing belt is located are cleaner now than they were 30 years ago. Canada is a miracle ... truly a shining example to the world of how a culture can thrive in an environment that is harsh, and how to do so without destroying nature.

Can we do better? Of course; but that improvement has little to do with Earth Hour but rather to do with reductions in pollution, better conservation, and balancing human development with natural ecosystems. Earth Hour has nothing ... I repeat NOTHING to do with these.

So, tomorrow some Canadians will turn off the lights and sit smugly in front of the living room window with candles on ... just to show us how "pure" they are. Then, they will turn the lights back on, make sure the house in nice and warm, and some may even go to Star Bucks for a celebretory java. In the morning they will rise and drink in the fruits and bounty of a land that is powered by energy ... delicious CO2 emitting energy ... and some may even go for a Sunday drive ... just because it's a nice way to relax.

Here's what I suggest ... that every Canuck delusional enough to insult their country by turning off lights for one measly hour should sell everything they have, give three quarters of it to charity, and move to Zimbabwe where people live every "Earth Hour" nut's wet dream.

In the least, I'd expect Canadians who think, to admit that Earth Hour is simply part of what is a vast conspiracy to empower UN bureaucracy to steal Canada’s wealth and little by little move toward world governance. Of course, Canadian leftists would applaud just that:

A United Nations document on "climate change" that will be distributed to a major environmental conclave next week envisions a huge reordering of the world economy, likely involving trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains, new taxes, industrial relocations, new tariffs and subsidies, and complicated payments for greenhouse gas abatement schemes and carbon taxes — all under the supervision of the world body.

Personally, I'll be joining in the Ceremonial Banishment of the Snows:

An ancient prairie tradition dating back to the discovery of kerosene, in which Canadians dressed in Hawaiian shirts gather together, raise girly umbrella drinks toward Snowhenge....

What is even more insulting to Canada, is that Global Warming science is on shaky ground, as the conclusions of IPCC scientists come into doubt, and even the methodology by which they came to their conclusions gets savaged.

For anyone who cares to examine just how shaky the "science" is, I advise a long period of time spent burried in the archives of the following sites, each of which specializes in different aspects of so-called climate science:

Watts Up With That

Climate Audit

Climate Science

Climate Skeptic

Ice Cap

Update:

We were interviewed by local Global TV today, so those of you in Saskatchewan, will have a chance to put a human face to Celestial Junk in this evening's news.

What, did you think I looked like THIS? .

Making a Mockery of History

One of the most grotesque tactics used by Palestinians and their supporters in the West is to compare the fate of Gazans to the fate of Jews during WW2.

I can think of nothing more disgusting, more historically illiterate, and more misleading. The fate of a semi-antonymous region, governed by a violent fascistic entity, which refuses to come to peace terms with it's much larger and more powerful liberal democratic neighbour can in no way shape or form be compared to the extermination of Jews during WW2. The comparison of obscene.

In case you forgot:




First in the Series

The Republican-Wall Street Myth

I follow economic news, stocks, and CNBC quite closely, and what has always amazed me is that virtually every single Wall Street Exec is a Democrat. From Soros to Buffet to bankers and fund managers ... they are a who's who of DNC patrons.

Yet, the DNC has been able to brand itself as the defender of the "little people" and middle class. How strange, that those in spooning in bed the hyper-rich, are seldom ever Republicans:

How did Republicans get saddled with Wall Street? Obama just got the biggest campaign haul from Wall Street in world history, and Republicans still can't shake the public perception that they are tied at the hip to Wall Street bankers who hate them.

It's as if National Rifle Association members conspired with Republicans to bankrupt the country and everyone blamed the Democrats for being shills of the NRA.

Maybe if the financial capital of the nation were located in Salt Lake City, rather than Manhattan, the financial community would support Republicans. But Wall Street is a street located in New York City.

No one in the top echelons of the financial industry who has a weekend place in the Hamptons is a Republican.

No, there is one. Teddy Forstmann. He has to throw his own parties and fly guests in. Otherwise, if they want to go to any half-decent parties, bankers must be Democrats. At their income bracket, multimillionaires will trade a little extra tax money for good cocktail parties.

Blogger in Chief

When all one has to offer the country is populism, then one needs to keep feeding the beast. In this case, O-bots are fed more "feeling" based leadership.

When in the hell does this dope get any work done?

Friend –

I wanted to tell you about an exciting new feature just launched on the White House website called “Open for Questions.”

Here’s how it works — President Obama is inviting everyone to ask a question about the economy and to rate other questions up or down.

On Thursday morning, the President will conduct an online town hall on the economy and answer some of the most popular questions live.

Watch a video of the President explaining this new feature and be a part of it now.

... the beauty of this scam is that now the office of the POTUS is being used as a campaign registration and database tool. Anyone who's ever worked on an election campaign knows that by far the most effort goes into identifying voters and getting out the vote.

Keep Reading.

The Ballerina Insider

Picture: Rahm in tights.

My major complaint about Obgama is that for his entire life he's surrounded himself with incredibly questionable people ... including "baby mama". They are a motley crew of marxists, terrorists, and Chicago machine politicians ... in case you didn't know it, that'd be the most corrupt entity in American politics.

Let's look at Rahm Emanuel ... The Big O's chief of staff ... who's gone from demi-plié to Freddie Mac insider ... now he's the chief whisperer in the president's ear. This guy gets around:

Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.

One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago's Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.

As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation's mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration's pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world.

Emanuel's Freddie Mac involvement has been a prominent point on his political résumé, and his healthy payday from the firm has been no secret either. What is less known, however, is how little he apparently did for his money and how he benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation's current economic mess.

... keep reading.

Firm Gives 1.6 Billion of Bonuses with Tax Dollars

... and it's running over $1 trillion in the red:

To understand what Washington is actually up to, you have to watch what it does, not what it says. That's especially true when it comes to Washington's role in the ongoing bailout of Wall Street, part of its "let's hope this works" plan to revive the U.S. economy.

While Washington is setting the populist mob on the individual American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500) employees who got a total of $165 million in bonuses this year, far larger amounts of money are being quietly handed to Wall Street through programs that generate barely a peep of protest.

Let me count the ways - or at least some of them.

... keep reading.

Aqsa Memorial and a Burning Girl

Atlas:

As you know, the Aqsa Parvez resolution passed and a beautiful memorial garden in honor of Aqsa Parvez is going to be erected in the town of Pelham in Canada (more here). Most of what's needed is being donated, so in addition to the Aqsa Parvez garden Atlas readers have planted a grove of trees in American Independence Park in Jerusalem, Israel, through the Jewish National Fund.

The total cost is $5,000. We raised $ 4,985. 83. I completed the necessary arrangements today, and received this from the JNF.

Thank you again for recognizing Aqsa’s memory through JNF. The plaque will read as follows:

... click.

... a reminder that the honour killing plague is rampant in the world today. It occurs in a number of religions, but by far the most honour killings occur within Islam:

A TEENAGE was burned to death at her home in India in an "honour killing" by neighbours.

Four residents of her village in Ghaziabad, north India, allegedly set the 16-year-old Muslim girl alight after they suspected her of having a relationship with a boy.

Police claim residents kept a vigil on her house as they noticed the boy visited her frequently when her father was away. The four men then beat her, doused her with kerosene and set her on fire.

District police chief Akhil Kumar said: "The four men came to the girl's house and demanded to know why the young man frequently visited her. The girl's younger sister, who felt the visitors were getting violent, ran out of the house.

"Meanwhile, the accused beat up the girl and then set her on fire with kerosene oil."

She gave a dying statement to the police saying the accused beat her and set her on fire.

Vijay Singh, station officer at Bhojpur police station in Ghaziabad, said: "The girl has succumbed to her injuries. We have been looking for the four men accused in this case. One of them has been caught and charged with murder."

Translated from Chinese

I found the following translation of a state directive issued by Mao Tse-Dong in 1962 O, to be very instructive:

Under section 6104 of the bill, entitled "Duties," in subsection B6, the legislation states that a commission will be set up to investigate, "Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds."

Section 120 of the bill also discusses the "Youth Engagement Zone Program" and states that "service learning" will be "a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency."

... the rest of the story.

Memories, memories ...

More ... Ummm ... Concensus Science

This time, from Tom Quirk:

THE conventional representation of the impact on the atmosphere of the use of fossil fuels is to state that the annual increases in concentration of CO2 come from fossil fuels and the balance of some 50% of fossil fuel CO2 is absorbed in the oceans or on land by physical and chemical processes. An examination of the data from: i) measurements of the fractionation of CO2 by way of Carbon-12 and Carbon-13 isotopes; ii) the seasonal variations of the concentration of CO2 in the Northern Hemisphere; and iii) the time delay between Northern and Southern Hemisphere variations in CO2, raises questions about the conventional explanation of the source of increased atmospheric CO2. The results suggest that El Nino and the Southern Oscillation events produce major changes in the carbon isotope ratio in the atmosphere. This does not favour the continuous increase of CO2 from the use of fossil fuels as the source of isotope ratio changes. The constancy of seasonal variations in CO2 and the lack of time delays between the hemispheres suggest that fossil fuel derived CO2 is almost totally absorbed locally in the year it is emitted. This implies that natural variability of the climate is the prime cause of increasing CO2, not the emissions of CO2 from the use of fossil fuels.

Source and Much More.

... and in case you haven't overdosed on concensus yet ... click.

BNP Rising

Is it possible for a political party to set aside former racist veiws and become a party that fights for cultural, not racial survival?

The Democratic Party of the United States transformed itself from a bastion of racism ... so can the BNP ... or has it already?



... perhaps what needs to be asked, is why would the British be attracted to the BNP in ever greater numbers?

ht

A Delicious Smackdown of a Socialist Clown: Update

Update: More Smackdown

It's Time to Take the Pigs to the Butcher

Government largesse makes for giant, heartless, slothful bureaucracy ... it's always a good time to cut the pork and in doing so, give more of the country back to the people:

Petition

... and that includes using "your" money to save unions.

AIG Exec Shoots Back

The Truth Begins to Leak Out:

The American International Group Inc. (AIG) staff under fire for receiving bonuses for their role in unwinding the credit defaults swaps that almost destroyed the company have been unfairly persecuted by elected officials and betrayed by the company's CEO, an executive of the unit involved wrote.

In a resignation letter to AIG CEO Edward Liddy published in the opinion pages of Wednesday"s New York Times, Jake DeSantis, the executive vice president of the financial products unit, writes that he, like most of the employees in his group, weren't the ones responsible for setting up the credit default swaps in the first place, adding that most of those responsible have long left the company and have escaped the public outrage.

"As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised."

Though Liddy was aware of this, he failed to stand up for the employees, DeSantis wrote. "I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn't defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut."

Because of this, wrote DeSantis, he was leaving the company."I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid," wrote deSantis, who has worked for AIG for 11 years. "Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down."

DeSantis wrote that he would donate 100% of the effective after-tax proceeds of his bonus payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the downturn.

Putting Your Fears to Rest

In a topsy-turvy world with information coming at us in floods of often schizophrenic paroxysms, it can be perplexing. We, at Celestial Junk, understand ... we feel your pain ... your frustration ... your puzzlement. We know that it is often tempting to tune out, to bury oneself in mono-conceptual distractions ... to shelter one's mind in the familiar, the mundane.

But we also recognize that to survive one must have at least a pedestrian grasp of the multifaceted concepts being hurled our way.

To that end, we will today continue in our attempts to assuage your fears ... your uncertainty, and to assist in dampening the effects of that most vexing of emotional tsunamis assailing our sense these days ... and no, we aren't talking about the confusion over who actually is the President of the United States, but rather we speak of that horror stalking the minds of the ill-equipped; the Global Warming Terror.

The other day we assisted by training you ... or at least those among our readership keen of intellect enough, to comprehend the Lexicon of Global Warmist Science. Our direct, but for some overly complex tutorial, can be found HERE.

This day, however, we move on to another facet of Warmism ... one even more complex ... even more multifarious than the Global Warmist Lexicon. We speak, of course, of Global Warmist Phraseology as used by the official communications branch of the IPCC ... the Main Stream Media.

Warmist media is prone to use idioms and expressions so complex ... so cerebral, that the average reader may be left mystified and disconsolate.

Thus, we present to you a somewhat intricate, but nevertheless useful guide to understanding Warmist Phraseology as it is applied within the official communications branch of the IPCC ... the Main Stream Media.

To those who hold back for fear of being intellectually insufficient we offer the following; a quote from one the most brilliant artists and actors of our day ... “Just Do It!":

"IT HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN"... I didn't look up the original reference.

"A DEFINITE TREND IS EVIDENT"... These data are practically meaningless.

"WHILE IT HAS NOT BEEN POSSIBLE TO PROVIDE DEFINITE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS"... An unsuccessful experiment, but I still hope to get it published.

"THREE OF THE SAMPLES WERE CHOSEN FOR DETAILED STUDY"... The other results didn't make any sense.

"TYPICAL RESULTS ARE SHOWN"... This is the prettiest graph.

"THESE RESULTS WILL BE IN A SUBSEQUENT REPORT"... I might get around to this sometime, if pushed/funded.

To continuing learning ... CLICK.

How Green Ideology Kills People

"Environmentalism" is a religion ... it's a form of earth worship that fogs the brains of those who believe in it and fills them with an ugly anti-human zeal ... sometimes so extreme it causes believers to sink to primitive levels of emotionalism. Greens hate virtually any kind of human development ... it doesn't seem to matter what it is. They pay lip service to wind power and bio-fuels and "clean" energy ... but whenever industry attains any new level of "eco-friendliness", greens demand more.

Their view can best be summed up by one of their high priests, Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Society. In his sermons to the faithful, he describes a world free of humans, where only a small number are "allowed" to exist in strictly regulated islands of civilization. Paul Watson ... and all greens, every bloody last one of them, crave control over just about every facet of modern life ... how else are they to attain their fantasy ... an earth free of Homo Sapiens.

Then there are the opportunistic greens ... that despicable class of human who wants air conditioning, a pool, and fast food, but who screams and wails every time the very technology that makes the AC available "obstructs the view", or puts a hotel into the African village that "used to be so quaint". Of all environmentalists, this class disgusts me the most ... it's the Al Gore worshipping SUV driving, vacation by jet, class of hypocrite ... all talk, all self, no logic.

In Australia, Greens can take comfort ... in fact pride, in the fact that they were partially responsible for the burning to death of over 200 despicable resource sucking human beings:

Put simply, in the last 25 years and when it comes to bushfire management, Australia governments have failed to govern. The focus of politicians has been on getting elected or staying in power, not in providing intelligent, tough and effective governance. This has led to political parties courting the preference votes of pressure groups and of city-based electors who are in the thrall of pressure group philosophies.

Despite the protestations of environmentalists over the last few weeks, there is no question that the influence of green activists at Federal, State and Local government levels has resulted in a steep decline in the standard of bushfire management in this country. Their influence is exemplified by two things: (i) opposition to prescribed burning for fuel reduction, resulting in unprecedented fuel build-ups in parks, forests and reserves close to population centres; and (ii) rural residential developments, in which developers and residents have been prevented or discouraged by environmentalist-dominated local councils from taking reasonable measures to ensure houses are bushfire-safe; and where people are living in houses in the bush where there is no effective enforcement by councils of building codes or hazard reduction.

Running to the Sound of the Guns

I often comment how our soldiers run to the sound of battle while most would flee. That's what sets them apart ... that's why we honor them ... and that's why we are so greatful that our security is in their hands.

I trust that one day most Afghans will appreciate too, the men and women who fought, sweated, and died for their freedom:

Here's an amazing story ... simply amazing:

When the medical threat was dealt with and a follow-up enemy attack never materialized, Leith went to work on a post-blast investigation that revealed something even more serious than the ordeal his crew had just faced.

"I discovered an area of disturbed ground and I started to investigate it, I started to excavate a little bit. I knew right away when I started to uncover it that it appeared to be a large explosive," he said.

They say that bomb disposal experts are a different breed, and Leith proved that on this morning in Kandahar's Zhari district. After setting up a security cordon and pushing everyone else back a safe distance, he approached, positioning himself right over top of the double mine.

Short Selling Conspiracy?

I've given a little hint as to my suspicions concerning naked short selling and its effect on the stock market in these difficult times. Was there a conspiracy at work last summer and fall?

I hope we find out some day. For now though, we'll have to make due with little voices crying in the wilderness.

The Video

From FOX and Friends

... to FOX and fools.

There is a time to yuk it up ... and a time to grow a brain and become at least a little bit informed. Save the poor humour for something where people dying isn't involved.

Damian starts it off here:

Funny, how this hilarious discussion doesn't mention that 116 Canadian soldiers have given their lives doing some of the toughest fighting in Afghanistan. Not that Red Eye viewers - or, apparently, hosts - should be expected to know such a minor little detail ...

And The Torch piles on here, but with some much needed balance:

Not that Canadians--some in supposedly responsible positions--aren't themselves sometimes utter jackasses about the US ...

... and here:

Faux Pas in Chief

What is this ... the gaffe-a-day presidency:

Oh no! Obama sent a letter to Chirac, saying he looks forward to working with him the next four years. Le Figaro, French newspaper is horrified at the faux pas. Doesn't Obama ever consult his staff before acting? Sarkozy is the President there! It's like Sarko writing to George Bush and saying he looks forward to working with him. Chirac is the FORMER president.

All I can say is TOTUS for POTUS.

The Other Surge: Canadian Casualties - Upperest Date

Picture: Canadian Armour in Afghanistan

Stephen Harper stated very clearly that the Taliban, or some sort of insurgency, will always exist in Afghanistan. He made it clear that “victory” in Afghanistan means moving the country forward to the point that Afghan forces (ANA) and the Afghan government can handle the insurgency and govern effectively.

In simplest terms then, three very distinct things must take place.

First, development of infrastructure must be ongoing. Most call it “reconstruction”, but that term is patently inaccurate and should be replaced with “construction” or “development”. There is very little to “reconstruct”. Incredible progress has already been made, but a lot more needs to be done if Afghans are going to enjoy an increase in their standard of living and are going to embrace a more “modern” form of life.

Second, the Afghan military and police are going to have to undergo constant mentoring, training, and upgrading in equipment and tactics. It is unreasonable to expect the ANA to rise to any level of independence quickly, given the lack of education and incredible poverty from which its ranks are formed. Peasant armies and police forces seldom perform well, and often go to the highest bidder ... in this case that would be the drug lords who alley with the Taliban. At this time the ANA and Afghan police are nowhere near being able to control the vastness of Afghanistan; and the easy money available to those who play with the drug lords fuels corruption. In the very least, the temptation for ANA or police units to shakedown locals must be enormous.

Third, Canadian forces, US forces, and ISAF forces, must pursue ongoing military operations to disrupt or destroy Taliban forces (I use the term Taliban loosely). As long as the enemy controls the night and the vast countryside, the Afghan conflict could continue indefinitely and any attempts at protecting local populations and constructing much needed infrastructure will be for naught. The current ISAF method of making war in Afghanistan leaves the villages to the Taliban at night, or for weeks at a time. It is futile.

Passive patrolling has netted ISAF what? A loosing war. At least Canada has done more than some of her partners, who have actually patrolled in ways designed to eliminate casualties with the result of giving entire regions over to the enemy.

With the surge in American forces, and their plan to enter the countryside and remain there, we may be on the cusp of a sea change. The Taliban are about to be tested like never before, as US forces remain in place, instead of returning to the safe haven of FOBs or KAF. Furthermore, Afghan villagers will be confronted with a new reality ... foreigners who are willing to abide among them to protect them.

With the extra muscle of American forces moving into Kandahar Province, Canada now has a powerful partner and the vast countryside may suddenly seem that much smaller. With more bodies in the field to disrupt, attack, and harass the Taliban, we can expect the tide to turn.

If Canadian forces are to participate in the American push then one result can be predicted with certainty ... more casualties. Aggressively pursuing Taliban into the countryside will expose Canadian soldiers even more than they are exposed now. The Taliban will have to fight back, or lose the battle for the villages. The enemy knows that the villages will back the strongest horse and if it loses the villages, it loses the war.

Already this week we lost 4 soldiers in what is being called the largest joint US/Canuck operation since Korea. For military watchers the deaths may, in a sort of sad twist, be more tolerable than many of the previous ones. The four Canadians lost their lives while in active pursuit of the enemy, not while simply transporting down roads or supervising building projects.

Aggressive war winning strategies always take a heavy toll on soldiers. Virtually all winning phases in armed conflicts involve a point at which the winning side takes an increase, not a decrease, in casualties. It all comes down to a will to win and overwhelm the enemy. The US surge in Iraq is a recent example; where US casualties increased dramatically just prior to the collapse of both Shia and Sunni terrorist organizations.

No amount of helicopter transport, armour, and air power, can replace the dirty work of soldiers on foot rooting out the enemy in the holes where he abides. It’s ugly and dangerous work, but usually the only way to win ... and in this case, the only way to allow for construction and training of Afghan forces to go ahead. If we really want to win this war, we must accept the grave possibility of the other surge; a surge in Canadian casualties. After all, when it comes to “door kickers”, Canadians are as badass and capable as any. Let's get'er done so we can bring'em home.

My son is currently serving with Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. I'll leave you with one of his favorite quotations:

“We have become too civilized to grasp the obvious. For the truth is very simple. To survive you often have to fight, and to fight you have to dirty yourself. War is evil, and it is often the lesser evil. Those who take the sword perish by the sword...” ~ George Orwell

Update:

More on the Surge, from The Torch: (Canada's best source for Afghanistan News and Commentary)

Small rise in troops to create big effect: Forces
More soldiers to patrol hostile Afghan territory

Canada hopes to significantly raise its combat capability in Afghanistan by slightly increasing the number of troops it has patrolling hostile territory every day.

[...]

More troops in hostile territory also raises the potential for casualties. Canada has suffered 112 deaths in the Afghan mission since it began in 2002 [the reporter would write that, wouldn't he?]...

I wonder aloud though, why The Torch would be concerned about the reporter suggesting that casualties may increase. Sheltering the public from the inevitable only makes an increase in casualties that much more shocking when it happens. I prefer to be open about it, and to make the obvious connection between a victorious strategy and more losses. If we are to take greater losses for a specific reason, let's educate the public, not pretend things aren't what they are. The "bring them home now" sentiment among Canadains is largely born of ignorance in what is being accomplished, and what needs to be done to win, and what losing would mean. I come across a lot of "anti-war" types who believe in "go big; or go home".

They have a point.

Upperest Date:

The Torch Digs Into the Concept:

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan face a season of heavy fighting against the Taliban this spring, two security experts say, a fact that was made clear after two separate IED attacks killed four Canadian soldiers on Friday...

Such operations are deemed necessary to cripple insurgent activity, particularly in the south where Canadian troops are stationed, and spring marks the time of year when that activity increases, says security expert Alan Bell.

Supply lines re-open after the cold winter and insurgents begin moving freely again through the country, and they have to plant IEDs and other roadside bombs to take on coalition troops...

It is yet unclear if a planned influx of about 17,000 American soldiers will help or hinder the security situation in Afghanistan.

It Seems Like Just Yesterday

Punch-Drunk in Chief

Oh Brother ... it is going to be a long 4 years, indeed:

President Barack Obama said he believes the global financial system remains at risk of implosion with the failure of Citigroup or AIG, touching off “an even more destructive recession and potentially depression.”

His remarks came in a “60 Minutes” interview in which he was pressed by an incredulous Steve Kroft for laughing and chuckling several times while discussing the perilous state of the world’s economy.

“You're sitting here. And you're— you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about money—’ How do you deal with— I mean: explain. . .” Kroft asks at one point.

Heads Need to Roll at the SEC

Some aspects of the stock market collapse we've seen over the past year and a half are beyond disturbing. The one thing that bothers me the most, is the timing of the cancellation of the uptick rule.

The uptick rule in shorting stocks works like this; you can't take a short position on any stock until the stock makes an upward movement in price. For example, if a stock is trading at $10.00, you can't short the stock until the stock moves to $10.01. As soon as the stock falls back down to $10.00, those who want to short the stock have to wait for an uptick again. What this does is prevent, or slow, a precipitous collapse in a stock price.

Now get this. The uptick rule was used to good success since 1938. It was implemented to prevent raids and predatory practices. It made it harder for large firms to manipulate the downward collapse of poorly performing stocks, and thereby reap enormous profits at the expense of a struggling company. But, the SEC saw fit to remove the uptick rule at the end of 2007, just as the first serious hints of stock declines were occurring; especially in the banking sector.

When banks and other financial institutions began to show serious strain later in 08, the deck was cleared for ruthless short selling. Stocks like Bear Stearns and Fannie Mae collapsed so fast nobody without inside knowledge could've hitched a short selling ride ... but those in the know with multi-million dollar accounts made out like Spaniards plundering Inca gold.

It is likely that financial and other stocks would've fallen dramatically as it is, but removal of the uptick rule gave insiders a huge advantage (these could be anybody from company execs to politicians to acquaintances of company execs) ... and there is little doubt that they took it. As most everyone lost fortunes and savings and retirements, some made a killing ... and nobody lifted a finger to stop them.

To make matters worse, there is secondary evidence that naked short selling, made even more possible with the removal of the uptick rule, was rampant. In this case, large firms pretended to borrow stocks for short selling, made their profit, and bought back their imaginary "shorts" before the paperwork could be done (usually 3 days). In essence, they made fortunes without trading a single real stock. They literally made money out of thin air.

Now, after the blood has been drained from the system, the snakes who dropped the uptick rule in the first place smuggly talk of bringing it back again.

Bloomberg has a piece on Naked Short Selling:

The biggest bankruptcy in history might have been avoided if Wall Street had been prevented from practicing one of its darkest arts.

As Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. struggled to survive last year, as many as 32.8 million shares in the company were sold and not delivered to buyers on time as of Sept. 11, according to data compiled by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bloomberg. That was a more than 57-fold increase over the prior year’s peak of 567,518 failed trades on July 30.

The SEC has linked such so-called fails-to-deliver to naked short selling, a strategy that can be used to manipulate markets. A fail-to-deliver is a trade that doesn’t settle within three days.

“We had another word for this in Brooklyn,” said Harvey Pitt, a former SEC chairman. “The word was ‘fraud.’”

Terrorist vs Hellfire: HD Quality

Lost at Sea

"Down to the sea in ships they go,
These chosen men of steel.

Though mist and foam and northwest wind
Is pounding at the keel.

So sail they must each crispy morn,
Away from trees and sod.

The sea may own their windburned flesh
But their souls belong to God!"

by Bud Smith 1975

This past week Newfoundland lost 16 people in a helicopter crash at sea. It used to be that we'd hear the tales of fisherman lost at sea. Then the fishier collapsed, but the losses continued. Newfoundlanders were still going offshore in search of even bigger things.

One of our regular readers was personally touched by the latest tragedy. He graciously agreed to tell us about it.

By John Cross:

I spent some time in Newfoundland and admit that I fell in love with the place and the people – so much so that I ended up marrying one. Her father was a fisherman as are both her brothers were fishermen. While they earned a livelyhood from the sea my wife still remembers her mother pressing and hanging up her father's suit every time he was at sea and a gale came up. Newfoundlanders are tied to the sea in very many ways, but they do not consider it a friend - rather it is something that can take away a loved one in a minute.

This very thing happened a week ago when Cougar Helicopter flight 491 fell from the sky. I suspect that the loss will affect every town on the east coast of the Island and a number of other communities across the rest of Newfoundland and Canada. The statistics will come from the Transport Safety Board review, but the heart of the story is of course the lives of these people.

The worker who was ashore from the Ocean Ranger when it went down in 1982 and thus survived that disaster but still continued to work offshore.

The man who was on that flight because he stayed at home an extra couple of days to attend the funeral of a friend.

The former Real Estate agent who wanted a job with steady pay and was on his first trip offshore.

This tragedy has hit me hard. I know the families of some of the victims and had talked on occasion with the lone survivor when he worked in a video store many years ago. But the sea is so intricate to being a Newfoundlander that while this tragedy will never pass, the work on the seas will continue.

To Paul; thank you for the opportunity to express this.

To the families of Matthew Davis, John Pelley, Corey Eddy, Tim Lanouette, Thomas Anwyll, Peter Breen, Gary Corbett, Wade Drake, Wade Duggan, Colin Henley, Ken MacRae, Derrick Mullowney, Burch Nash, Paul Pike, Allison Maher, Keith Escott, and Gregory Morris I offer my most heartfelt and sincere condolences. To Robert Decker, may god grant you a full recovery and the strength to carry on.

John Cross

Women as Slaves

If I said it once, I said a thousand times ... Islam is anathema to our Western Way of Life.

All one has to do is examine the cultural hell that Islam continues to bring to Europe:

Martin Henriksen, education spokesperson for the Danish People's Party (DPP) and member of the Integration Committee, is shocked about the expamples in the report of religious bullying and oppression and wants to ban Muslim prayer houses and headscarfs in education institutions.

Martin Henriksen says that cultural and religious special consideration encourages parallel societies and rewards the wrong ones by charging those who want to integrate. Henriksen says that we must recognize that dialogue won't get us far with very orthodox Muslims and fundamentalists but that banning Muslim prayer houses and headscarves will automatically remove an essential part of the means used for social control.

[...]

A girl who doesn't wear a headscarf says that there are spies, and no such thing as privacy. Everything is dictated. 'where are you going? and when will be get back home? 10 minutes before the hour or ten minutes after?' There are many who think that she's a very open and liberal girl, but regardless of how liberal one is, there's always something which pulls one back.

There are those among us who want to import Muslim slavery like this to Canada ... they abide on both sides of the political aisle. Somewhere, somehow, the multi-culti view of the world fomented by "progressives" got embedded in their brains, and neither reality nor survival instinct can get it out.

Charting a Disaster

source

Mitt

Mortgage Meltdown: What Went Down

By Clayton Cramer:

My father used to keep old newspapers (truly enormous numbers of them) because he said that, "Newspapers are the first draft of history." It's true. Regular readers of my blog have seen a number of items over the last year or so about the economic disaster that we are now suffering. I had occasion to write up a summary of the disaster for a relative.

Think of this as the second draft of history.

What caused the economic disaster that we are now facing? While there are a number of factors, the core of the disaster was the expansion of the subprime mortgage market. Lenders, left to their own devices, tend not to make highly risky loans. These highly risky loans are called subprime mortgages (because the borrowers are below what the lender considers optimum credit rating). These loans are to people with poor or no credit history, or who cannot document their earnings (you know, like with paycheck stubs or statements from their business's accountant).

... keep reading.

And now, guess who's calling loud and long for Wall Street heads?

Thick Skulls on Thick Ice

Picture: Thick skull standing on thick ice.

If warmists weren't spending billions of dollars worldwide to promote the Global Warming farce, it'd be a case for a good laugh:

What a wonderful parable of our time has been the expedition to the North Pole led by the explorer Pen Hadow. With two companions, he is measuring the thickness of the ice to show how fast it is “declining”. His expedition is one of a series of events designed to “raise awareness of the dangers of climate change” before December’s conference in Copenhagen, where the warmists hope to get a new treaty imposing much more drastic cuts on CO2 emissions.

[...]

Thanks to the ice constantly shifting, it was “disheartening”, reported Hadow, to find that “when you’ve slogged for a day”, you can wake up next morning to find you have “drifted back to where you started’’. Last week, down to their last scraps of food, they were only saved in the nick of time by the faithful Otter. They were disconcerted to see one of those polar bears, threatened with extinction by global warming, wandering around, doubtless eyeing them for its dinner.

What I Predicted is Coming to Pass

Obama and the horse he road in on don't get it. America may be in need of a tweak here and an adjustments there ... but what country isn't? America though, certainly isn't in need of a revolution, especially a Saul Alinsky inspired class war ... the type that every socialist academic dreams of.

I predicted back in November that if Obama went down the path he's now chosen, he would run into an increasingly stubborn storm of discontent and that he would be at war with the greater part of America. I also predicted that the Republicans need just sit back and let it happen ... I couldn't have been more correct:

... somebody is about to get very upset ... and it's not the Republicans; they can now stand back and watch the DNC war with itself. Recall the dismal approval rating of congress … the Pelosi Congress … the Congress with a lower approval rating than Bush? If Obama swings too far left … only the far left will be pleased and he’ll have to contend with moderate Democrats who will not go along … to say nothing of Republicans. The expectations of “hope”, “change” and the “moment we’ve been waiting for” are enormous … yet only a fool would think that Obama can deliver anything close to what his rhetoric calls for. His entire campaign, after all, was based on feelings … on demagoguery … on utopian ideals. We all know how fast emotions fade, or worse yet, reverse themselves. America isn’t North Korea … Obama, despite the rhetoric, isn’t “Dear Leader” … and like Canada’s Trudeau, he’s about to find out that there is only so far you can take a free society down the road to socialist utopia ... even if it was hatched in the college lounge.

Indeed, Mr. Hopey Changey is proving to be little more than a college ideologue, who is bound and determined to take America down a road that is anathema to most everything she is founded on, and he's doing it in a way that will bankrupt the country and drive away the very brains and innovation that make America great.

The latest:

The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said.

The outlines of the plan are expected to be unveiled this week in preparation for President Obama’s first foreign summit meeting in early April.

Increasing oversight of executive pay has been under consideration for some time, but the decision was made in recent days as public fury over bonuses has spilled into the regulatory effort.

[...]

The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last month, as part of the stimulus package, Congress barred top executives at large banks getting rescue money from receiving bonuses exceeding one-third of their annual pay.

I trust that The Big O will be calling for oversight into Hollywood and professional sports salaries as well ... after all, what scientologist or steroid sucking big hitter is worth millions of buckaroos a year? Right?

Obama's got help in his endeavours though, as he "moveson" in fine Latin American socialist fashion:

The Connecticut Working Families Party this weekend has organized a bus store that will make stops at Wilton, Connecticut, AIG office as well as the security-patrolled homes of AIG execs who are fearing for their lives.

Those who argued on these pages that Obama is some sort of "above it all" intellectual must be getting nervous by now ... after all, there's nothing worse than having a wingnut prove you wrong.

At his core, Obama is nothing but a spoiled frat boy marxist with incredibly powerful backers ... and that, makes him dangerous.

Summing Up Socialism Perfectly

From Theo Spark:

Experiment in Socialism

An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. The class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism."

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided that since they could not make an A, they studied less. The second Test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for anyone else. All failed to their great surprise and the professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail because the harder people try to succeed the greater their reward but when a government takes all the reward away; no one will try or succeed.

Did you ever notice that your socialist "friends" demand equal wage for equal work ... that they get indignant when they are deprived of their fare share or renumeration for a job well done? Did you notice how many of them engage in capitalist projects like owning revenue properties? And, did you notice how many among the socialist elite take in large incomes, vastly greater than those they depend on for power? Strange that.

Greenishness is in a Bear Market

Don't you find it funny how "green" everyone is, until it hits their pocketbook:

For the first time in Gallup's 25-year history of asking Americans about the trade-off between environmental protection and economic growth, a majority of Americans say economic growth should be given the priority, even if the environment suffers to some extent.

Congressional Pigs Roast AIG

Nothing this past week disgusted me more than the public roasting of AIG and the $165 million bonus giveaway.

After delivering a $1.8 Trillion deficit, after passing a $800 Billion dollar pork bill that masquerades as a stimulus bill, after passing over 8000 earmarks ... House and Senate members spent all week piling on AIG for $165 Million in bonuses that were part of retention contracts, and which were given the nod by Democrats in the House and Administration.

Obama feigned outrage ... Barney Frank spluttered in disgust ... and Democrats in particular fanned the flames of class envy and populism to deflect from their culpability in the current financial meltdown, and in their very particular role in crafting a multi-trillion dollar millstone that will weigh down the global economy for the next decade ... or longer.

Does Obama really think ... do Democrats really think ... do Republicans really think, that directing populist rage at AIG will spare them from voter anger when $1.8 Trillion in deficit spending comes due ... when the economic uptick that comes from government largess fails to create ongoing growth ... when the War on CO2 kills jobs and increases energy bills ... when increased taxes are passed onto consumers ... when inflation shreds wages?

Every single politician, be they a Democrat or Republican is piling onto AIG in what amounts to children fighting over spilled milk while the house burns.

Keep this all in mind ... especially Ontarians and Quebecors, when your economies continue to sag from lack of markets to the south. I've never been so thankful that I live in Western Canada ... and especially Saskatchewan which will be more or less Obama and America proof.

Thank goodness for China, who loves Saskatchewan Potash, Coal, minerals, and can very quickly learn to love our oil. I wonder if we are witnessing today the handing over of world economic leadership to China ... thank American legislators ... and thank Mr. Obama for that.

President Bush handed them a car crash ... they're managing to turn it into an interstate pileup.

1.8

1.8 ... that's trillion dollars of deficit for 2009 ... do we have permission yet from "progressives" to call the O-Budget an economy killer?.

Just to assist those inclined to think that borrowing 1.8 Trillion greenbacks in order to deliver pork isn't that big a deal, consider the following list. The countries listed are the only countries on earth that have a GDP greater than 1.8 Trillion:

United States $14,580,000,000,000

China $7,800,000,000,000

Japan $4,487,000,000,000

India $3,319,000,000,000

Germany $2,863,000,000,000

United Kingdom $2,281,000,000,000

Russia $2,225,000,000,000

France $2,097,000,000,000

Brazil $2,030,000,000,000

source 1

source 2

Teamsters in Chief

From bearing his backside to unions to dumbass humour ... The Big O is losing the middle.

He's a Chicago political machine player whose pals were terrorists, marxists, racists, crooks, and thugs ... and of course, heartless bureaucrats ... so I suppose we couldn't expect much better.

In the end, all that Barry will prove to be is a populist, as is demonstrated by team efforts to raise his flagging poll numbers by returning to the campaign trail.

Pathetic.

Religion of Peace at it Again

Is there nobody they won't kill?

A young Iranian blogger jailed in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for insulting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died, his lawyer told AFP on Thursday.

Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said that although there is not yet an official report about the death on Wednesday of Omid Mir Sayafi, "officials in the prison said that he committed suicide."

Touching, Personal, and Deeply Moving

For an inside look at the heart and soul of a true American icon ... click.

The 8:45 a.m. Call: Knock Cramer Off the Air

The other day we pointed you to the "Vast Leftwing Conspiracy".

The Latest Target Would Appear to be Cramer:

Wow. Did you see that riotously funny exchange last Thursday between Comedy Central’s Jon "The Daily Show" Stewart and CNBC’s Jim "Mad Money" Cramer?

The one where Stewart reamed Cramer for having the temerity to try to avoid personal blame for the meltdown of the stock market? The one where Cramer showed up--voluntarily, no doubt--to have Stewart fire one verbal RPG after another at him and sheepishly take it all? Where Stewart droned on with his side-splitting rapier wit, slicing and dicing Cramer for being . . . outspoken?

[...]

A cynic might ask: where was Jon Stewart when Rep. Barney Frank was telling everyone that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "basically sound?" Where was Jon Stewart when Obama said that the days of earmarks were done and gone? And where was Jon Stewart when Bernie Madoff was making big-time contributions to the Democratic Senatorial Committee (from which, yes, The Guy from Chicago benefited) as well as to the likes of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Charles Rangel? Hello? Anyone?

Stewart is a lap dog, a hitman to be used by the powers that be in the Democratic Party when they want somebody trashed alongside a laugh track. Nothing more, nothing less. So, when all is said and done, perhaps this explains in part why Stewart appears on a network called "Comedy Central."

Just as an aside; in early October of 2008 Cramer told his viewers to get out of the market, or in the least, remove any funds that they'd need for the next 5 years.

Those who followed his advice are chuckling gleefully today, as they renter the market and make out like bandits, having saved themselves the big plunge.

Cramer, like all stock sharks makes his share of bad calls ... but he's fun to watch and makes a lot of outstanding calls ... in the very least, he makes making money fun.

Nice Bonus Barry: Update

... a real champion of the downtrodden:

Senator Barack Obama received a $101,332 bonus from American International Group in the form of political contributions according to Opensecrets.org. The two biggest Congressional recipients of bonuses from the A.I.G. are - Senators Chris Dodd and Senator Barack Obama.

The A.I.G. Financial Products affiliate of A.I.G. gave out $136,928, the most of any AIG affiliate, in the 2008 cycle. I would note that A.I.G.’s financial products division is the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps and "misjudged" the risk.

... And did Barry have to say about it all - "Excuse me, I'm choked up with anger here." -- Barack Obama

What did you expect from a Chicago thug ... a Chicago machine made man?

I actually expected more ... a lot more. Now I'm finding out along with everyone else that he is either a pure leftist ideologue ... just another slime crawling politician padding his pocket while grasping for power ... or really stupid.

Is it possible to be all three?

Update:

By Michael R. Crittenden
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee said it was the Obama administration who pushed for changes to executive compensation restrictions that may have allowed American International Group Inc. (AIG) to issue millions in bonuses that have set off a public outcry.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said an amendment to the economic stimulus legislation that he authored was not intended to protect the troubled insurer, and he denied knowing about the controversial bonus program until last week.

"I did not want to make changes to my original Senate-passed amendment but I did so at the request of administration officials, who gave us no indication that this was in any way related to AIG," Dodd said in a statement released by his office.

AIG"s payment of $165 million in bonuses has set off a firestorm on Capitol Hill and around the country. AIG Chairman and CEO Edward Liddy was grilled by lawmakers for hours on Wednesday over the payments, and the executive said the company would ask bonus recipients to give back at least half the funds.

Increasing attention is being paid to what and when policymakers knew about the payments. Liddy was repeatedly asked during a House subcommittee hearing whether the Federal Reserve and now Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner were aware of the bonus program last year.

-By Michael R. Crittenden Of Dow Jones Newswires

In Bernanke We Trust: Update

Only one person has been able to give markets any confidence ... and not one ounce of credit can be given to the Obama team. Bernanke may have been slow out the gate, but now he is the only voice that investors trust ... at least a little bit:

President Barack Obama’s economic team finally found its voice -- and it belongs to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.

Bernanke’s March 15 appearance on CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes” -- the first televised interview by a Fed chief since 1987 -- gained praise from experts who drew a contrast between his defense of government efforts to fix the financial system and the sometimes-floundering efforts of Obama’s top economic aides to explain to the public what they were doing, and why.

On the struggle:

Federal Reserve policy makers will likely determine today that the U.S. recession is still deepening, while clashing on what to do about it.

Officials will debate how to provide further stimulus to the economy, from purchasing more mortgage bonds to buying Treasury securities. They’ll also keep the benchmark interest rate as low as zero percent, according to all 71 forecasters in a Bloomberg News survey.

At least three of the 17 top Fed officials want to buy Treasuries or target the supply of money, while Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has favored reviving specific credit markets. Central banks worldwide are grappling with how to set policy when rates are near zero; the Bank of England started buying government debt this month, and the Bank of Japan said today it would increase its purchases of sovereign bonds.

Update:

1970's Redux:

How to give the economy a short term booster shot ... with possible severe inflation down the road:

Saying that the recession continues to deepen, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it would pump an extra $1 trillion into the economy by buying mortgage-backed securities and long-term Treasury issues.

"Job losses, declining equity and housing wealth, and tight credit conditions have weighed on consumer sentiment and spending," the Fed said, adding that it would "employ all available tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability."

As expected, the Fed kept its benchmark interest rate virtually at zero. But in a surprise, it drastically increased the amount of money it will create out of thin air to thaw out the still-frozen credit markets that have cramped lending to consumers and businesses alike.

The Fed said it would purchase an additional $750 billion worth of government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities, on top of the $500 billion that it is currently in the process of buying. In addition, the Fed said it would buy up to $300 billion worth of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months. That would tend to push down longer-term interest rates on loans of all types.

The immediate result ...

Yuk-Yuk-In-Chief

When in doubt, dumb it down:

Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to appear on a late night chat show tomorrow when he is a guest of comedian and writer Jay Leno.

While most of the people on The Tonight show will promote a film or record, Mr Obama will be pushing his economic rescue plan for America.

Thank You Mr. Bush

... and especially United States Military Forces:



... I only have one complaint about the vid ... the closing phrase suggests that after 6 years Iraq is moving from darkness into light ... it's been a lot longer than 6 years sir ... it's been decades of darkness.

... Leftists ... you lose.

ht