Animal Rights that Kill Animals

Greece:

The National Fur Breeders' Association says most of the released animals are likely to die in the late-August heat. It says the cost to the farm owners could pass euro1 million ($1.27 million).

365

... one for each day of the year:

Through nighttime attacks and drone strikes, special forces led by the United States have massively ratcheted up their hunt for Taliban. In the past three months alone, the highly secretive forces have eliminated 365 insurgent commanders.

I'd love to give a report on how Canada's CSOR is doing in Afghanistan, but can't. Something to do with our PMOs spineless need to inflict PC, Karzai ass-kissing, and red tape to our door-kickers ... so while they sit around in Kandahar for 6 month stints waiting for permission and assets to act on intelligence reports, the yanks step in and get the job done ASAP. I guess that's what happens when economists and political hacks run a war effort.

Breaking Up is Hard

Why Journalism is Dead

It's because of statements like this:

Iraqis, who for years have railed against the U.S. occupation, are generally happy to see that the American presence won't be endless. But there is also considerable trepidation about whether Iraq can go it alone.

... no you pathetic liars ... it's the media that railed against U.S. occupation ... only some Iraqi enclaves railed against U.S. occupation while most polls showed support for the U.S. The disingenuous media scum can't even admit that the cornerstone of surge success was a population of Iraqis who "wanted" the U.S. to stay and fight for them. The fibbing bastards in the MSM created the lie that Iraqis "railed" against U.S. occupation ... and now that lie rolls off their tongues as if it's an undisputed fact.

It's little statements like the above CTV quote that make me loath our "betters" in the MSM.

Beyond Stupid

The least they could've done is pick a credible jihadist:

New reports from The Record out of Hackensack, N.J., reveal Feisal Abdul Rauf, the would-be Ground Zero imam, owns taxpayer-subsidized apartment buildings in Hudson County where the tenants have made municipal health complaints including rat, roach and bedbug infestations, seeping toilets, leaks, urine-soaked hallways, no heat and no hot water.

Despite millions of dollars in government subsidies, Rauf has trouble maintaining several small apartment buildings in North Bergen, Palisades Park and Union City.

Bullet Proof Vests to Go Around

Hell to Pay

The time is coming where it will be a pleasure to grab a soda and popcorn ... and watch the show:

The Obama Administration has some explaining to do. Politico reports in a Friday story that 2011 could be a tough year for an Administration facing numerous oversight hearings on issues ranging from the controversy over the Justice Department’s handling of the New Black Panther Party investigation to the numerous bailouts administered by Obama Administration officials. Specific allegations from Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) regarding the use of government sponsored propaganda should raise ethical flags, if not legal ones, for Americans who don’t want tax dollars used to promote the big government ideas of President Barack Obama.

Bambi

hai!

That's a Question for a Shrink!

What the GISS is Going On?

The lords of hanky-panky are still at it:

GISS recently modified their pre-2000 historical data, and is now inconsistent with other temperature sets. GISS data now shows a steady warming from 1975-2010, which other data sets do not show. Had GISS not modified their historic data, they would still be consistent with other data sets and would not show warming post-1998. I’ll leave it to the readers to interpret further.

The Trash Should've Been a Clue

... now compare.

Who Needs a Rod & Reel ?

Does Islam Suck?

ht

The Root of Islamic Terrorism

... is poverty and a lack of education:

[...]

Arrested in 2009, the Chicago businessman, who co-owned a Kanata house

[...]

Hassan Naim Diab, a 55-year-old university professor

[...]

Ottawa software engineer Mohammad Momin Khawaja

Update:

Khurran Syed Sher, a 28-year-old McGill University medical school graduate

[...]

Ahmed, an X-ray technician who works at The Ottawa Hospital's Civic Campus.

Massive Disappoinment Among Progressives

Why oh why oh why ... could they not have been white supremacists ... or even killer nuns:

The suspects' identities and details about the alleged jihadist plot are to be released at an RCMP news conference this afternoon. An RCMP spokesman would only say the accusations are "very serious."

The discussion.

Islamophobia Gone Wild

Pretty soon those crazed Palinistas will be killing people:

Another day, another left-wing rush to Fox-bashing, right-wing demonizing judgment…

As you may have heard, a Muslim cabbie was stabbed in a terrible incident in NYC today.

The reportedly drunk perpetrator worked/volunteered for a liberal interfaith film company and there is zero evidence that he is a Fox News fan, Glenn Beck listener, Republican voter, or conservative blog reader.

No matter. The left-wing media couldn’t wait to indict the Right.

... and more from Daily Mail Blogs.

... the discussioin here.

Greens and Humanity Don't Go Together

Fiona Kobusingye?

Bluntly put, environmentalists are using African parents and children in anti-DDT experiments. Against all the evidence from decades of using only nets and drugs and maybe other insecticides, they want to keep ignoring DDT as a long-lasting spatial insect repellant. They want to keep us doing what has at best worked only partially, on the assumption that maybe it will work better next year – or that a 30% malaria reduction is good enough.

[...]

But environmentalists constantly block coal, gas and hydro-electric power plants. They want us to live in experimental societies where people get whatever limited electrical power can be generated day to day with wind turbines or solar panels. They pressured the World Bank to reject loan applications for power plants in Ghana and South Africa, and support President Obama when he says Africans should focus on wind, solar and bio-fuel power, instead of fossil fuels.

Being Green: The Wanker's Choice

Fun With the Muslim President

... just another reason why "progressia" has cooked its own goose:

Evidence for the Proposition That Obama's a Muslim: His father was a Muslim; his mother, an atheist, married two Muslims; he attended a Muslim school in Indonesia from age 6 to 10; and, during the campaign, he proudly posted on his webpage his statement that America is "no longer" a Christian nation, a statement he has repeated as president, while announcing on French TV that America is "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."

Long Time Democrat Unloads

Obama never had the right ... then he lost the middle ... and now his former cheerleaders are fleeing:

It would be a real eye-opener, and it would let him know that Biden is wrong -- and Biden is, well, Obama. Any more of this "Soak the rich; don't worry about the stock market" sub-rosa rationale for this moment and I think it'll be safe to say what we have is an undeclared war against equities. Wouldn't shock me. Do Obama or Biden impress you as people who even follow the market? Hardly.

Tea Party Fire Bombs Office

... no ... wait:

The suspect was reportedly a disgruntled progressive activist employed by Russ Carnahan. An unnamed source familiar with the case released the information. Suspect Chris Powers reportedly was upset because he did not get paid so he firebombed the Carnahan finance offices at 2 in the morning.
What a complete shock.

Every Dipper's Wet Dream

Sweden:

Mother-of-two Elin Andersson has highlighted staffing shortage problems at a maternity ward in Sundsvall in northern Sweden after she was asked to clean out her own hospital room just two days after giving birth by caesarean section.

Carry On Katie

Mark 2010 down as the year the progressive class lost its grip on America. With a super majority and POTUS, the fools let the mask slip ... and now Americans by the millions are fleeing the progressive cause. Progressives, in a desperate attempt to stem the tsunami, have used up all the name-calling cards ... the race card, the haters card, the gender card, and even the Islamophobia card. All the tired old socialist catch-phrases now sound beyond hollow, and the media has been exposed for what it is ... simply a tool of the progressive elite.

It will take Progressia decades to recover ... if ever.

Case in point ... Couric invokes imagery of the collapsing towers in a stunningly insensitive utterance I'm sure she thought quite brilliant. In reality, only the disdainful left would find such musings "smart" .. the rest of us cringe.

"There is a debate to be had about the sensitivity of building this center so close to Ground Zero. But we can not let fear and rage tear down the towers of our core American values." -- Katie Couric

Carry on Katie ... with each expansion of your pie-hole you alienate more ordinary people. Conservatives couldn't have planned it better as millions of new 911 Republicans are being forged by the likes of toffee-nosed Katie.

Ground Zero: The Muslim Backlash

... against the project:

American Muslims who support the proposed mosque and Islamic center near ground zero are facing skeptics within their own faith — those who argue that the project is insensitive to Sept. 11 victims and needlessly provocative at a time when Muslims are pressing for wider acceptance in the U.S.

Previous

Crimes Against Liberty

Mr. Prentice!

... you've got a spill in aisle five.

From the “we told you so time and again department”, Canadian weather data is a mess. It took an FOIA to get the “fess up” out in the open. Anybody got a copy of the EC report? So far all we have is press reports

Feeling Blue?

***

Swine? you say?

Silly Proles

Leave the thinking to progressives:

For the families of the victims of 9/11, whatever emotions they want to have, I respect and I honor. But somebody needs to lead them through a discussion

It comes to my mind, that no family of a victim "wants to have" the emotions associated with having a loved one crushed to death under tons of debris ... as if they have, or had, a choice.

... and my favorite:

But I cannot help feeling that if we block this mosque we will not only be doing what Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh want, we will also be doing exactly what Osama Bin Laden wants.

Sunday Nightcap

Give me an army of these, and I could get just about any zero elected ... oh, wait ...

Reactionary Scum are Reactionary Scum

... the world round:

This why the "anti-war movement" tells such hysterical lies: Their troops-out politics, which have now so deeply poisioned establishment politics in Europe, Canada and the United States, run in precisely the opposite direction to what Afghan women want. Says WAW board member Esther Hyneman, a strong and tireless feminist I recently had the honour of meeting in Kabul - "Every woman who we have talked to in Afghanistan, all the Afghan women in the NGOs, in the government, say the United States and the peacekeeping troops and NATO must stay, they must not leave until the Afghan army is able to take over."

Forgive the Progressives

It's not their fault ... it's genetic:

Speaking in Washington at a noon briefing for congressmen, Professor William Garfield of the University of Minnesota said, "Despite what you hear, nobody has ever proven a single gene causes a single human behaviorial trait. Some of my colleagues believe such associations may eventually be found. Others don't think it will ever happen, that the interaction of genes and the environment is just too complex. But, in any case, we see reports of new genes for this or that in the papers every day, and none of them has ever proven true in the end."

Drawing a Line in the Sand

ht

Who Said the Chi Coms were Stupid

Telegraph:

One of the great lies told us by our political leaders in order to persuade us to accept their swingeing and pointless green taxes and their economically suicidal, environmentally vandalistic wind-farm building programmes is that if we don’t do it China will. Apparently, just waiting to be grabbed out there are these glittering, golden prizes marked “Green jobs” and “Green technologies” – and if only we can get there before those scary, mysterious Chinese do, well, maybe the West will enjoy just a few more years of economic hegemony before the BRICs nations thwack us into the long grass.

ht and more

1998 Heat Wave

So says one of four data sets:

Dr. Hansen thinks that warming has continued unabated since 1998, while HadCrut, RSS and UAH think it has stopped or slowed to a crawl.

The Government Needs to Get Out

... and let the marketplace do its work:

For eco-conscious homeowners who have considered a solar system for their rooftops but have found the cost and complexity daunting, Clarian Power thinks it has an idea.

The Seattle-based clean tech start-up is developing a “plug-and-play” solar appliance called the Sunfish that will generate clean solar electricity for the home. “You bring it home and plug it in, just like a refrigerator, and it will cost about the same,” said the company’s president, Chad Maglaque.

Reaffirming the West

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

The West's universalist pretensions are increasingly bringing it into conflict with the other civilizations, most seriously with Islam and China. Thus the survival of the West depends on Americans, Europeans and other Westerners reaffirming their shared civilization as unique—and uniting to defend it against challenges from non-Western civilizations.

[...]

Our civilization is not indestructible: It needs to be actively defended. This was perhaps Huntington's most important insight. The first step towards winning this clash of civilizations is to understand how the other side is waging it—and to rid ourselves of the One World illusion.

Understanding the Difference Between Weather and Climate

I think I've finally wrapped my head around the concepts of weather and climate ... after reading a lot of BBC, CBC, CNN, NYT, and other such prestigious sources:

- July drought in Moscow... climate.
- January thaw in Moscow ... climate.
- Early August frost in Moscow ... weather.
- Massive animal deaths from cold in South America ... weather.
- Spruce beetle infestation due to warm winter ... climate.
- Saharan famine ... climate.
- Tens of thousands of song bird deaths from June blizzard ... weather.
- Deaths from record cold in Buffalo NY ... weather.
- Unusual tornado summer in Saskatchewan ... climate.
- Record breaking cold August in Saskatchewan ... weather.
- Ice free North West Passage in summer ... climate.
- Summer Arctic Tourist ship trapped in ice-pack ... weather.
- Decreasing arctic ice mass in summer ... climate.
- Increasing arctic ice mass in summer ... weather.
- ICE ... climate.
- WUWT ... weather.

Teasure Island

Blink:

"There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded," she said. "How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we've been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we go forward to an election about the future of our country and two of the first three questions are about a zoning issue in New York City."

Destroying Progressia

He never had conservatives ... he's lost centrists ... and he's bound and determined to lose his base:

Obama traveled to Los Angeles last night for a fundraiser at the home of a wealthy Hollywood producer and managed to pi$$ off the entire city after locking up traffic for hours. JSF at Valley of the Shadow was one of the Angelenos stuck for hours on the road without warning.

Coming Home

It's Come to This

Leftist Journalists begging the GOP to back off:

Yes, Republicans, you can take advantage of this heated circumstance, backed by the families of the 9/11 victims, in their most emotional return to the public stage since 2001.

But please don't do it. There are a handful of good reasons to oppose allowing the Islamic center to be built so close to Ground Zero, particularly the family opposition and the availability of other, less raw locations. But what is happening now — the misinformation about the center and its supporters; the open declarations of war on Islam on talk radio, the Internet and other forums; the painful divisions propelled by all the overheated rhetoric — is not worth whatever political gain your party might achieve.

... fat chance.

The New Golden Rule

Islam ... is ... as ... Islam ... does.



... and let's not forget Back to School Time.

Lesson Number One: The Painful Expression

Moderate Indonesia

Progressives like to point to Indonesia as proof that Muslim majorities can coexist peacefully and even-handedly with non-Muslim minorities ... doing so is an epic fail because Indonesians are becoming increasingly intolerant of their non-Muslim citizens.

I point out, on the other hand, that it is almost impossible to find modern historical examples where non-Muslims are afforded equal treatment in Muslim countries ... even Turkey, where only military strong arm tactics have in the past kept Turkey moderate.

Police and local government officials joined forces with a Muslim mob to close a church in North Sumatra Province on July 30, with church leaders forced to promise never to hold services at the site.

The Rev. Leritio Panjaitan of the Binanga HKBP (Huria Kristen Batak Protestant) Church on the Gunung Tua-Sibuhan Highway in Siboris Dolok Village, Sipirok, North Sumatra Province said government officials and mobs threatened to burn the facility if worship continued there.

The Hockey Stick in One Easy Sentence

That is, the very method used in Mann et al. (1998) guarantees the [hockey stick] shape of Figure 1

... details.

Chi-Com Heaven

... In Kabul:

Afghanistan said on Sunday it had discovered an oilfield with an estimated 1.8 billion barrels in the north of the war-ravaged country, where U.S. and other foreign forces are trying to tame a Taliban-led insurgency.

The discovery of the basin between northern Balkh and Shiberghan provinces was made after a survey conducted by Afghan and international geologists, said Jawad Omar, a spokesman for the ministry of mines.

You Want Racism

I'll show you racism:

All They Want is Security

Vance in Nakhonay:

“I think people are seeing more clearly what we’ve known or perceived here for quite some time. Given an opportunity, the insurgency has demonstrated a willingness to kill what we would term as innocents. They don’t perceive them as innocents. They perceive them as being on the other side.”

[...]

The situation is improving. On a visit to the village this week, he said he noticed some “unclenching.”

“It’s nothing big, but I’ve got to tell you, I walked into the town, and election posters are up in the town for the parliamentary elections coming up in September. There’s actually a couple of posters up, of candidates.”

In the end though, Canada's message to the villagers will be ... we're too bloody self-centered and decadent a country to stick it out. Canada is picking up her marbles and going home.

Thank goodness for the USA.

New Taliban Commando Methods on Video

Wow ... ISAF is in trouble now:

Having a Cow

... over a calf:

“Even a big piece like this over 50 years is not that significant. It’s just the normal rate,” he said. Muenchow warns people not to jump to conclusions. “An event like this, this specific event, all flags go immediately up, ‘Oh, let’s explain this by global warming.’ I cannot support that,” he said.

... back story.

Consumers Lead

... where governments should follow:

U.S. consumers have tightened their belts to the point where they could take on a lot more debt if they wanted it.

But they don't.

The average credit score rose to 704 in July, a level not seen since the first quarter of 1998, according to data that Equifax [EFX 30.20 --- UNCH (0) ], one of the largest U.S. credit bureaus, provided exclusively to Reuters.

That means lenders consider consumers to be improved credit risks and would be happy to have more of them as customers. Yet many consumers still seem to find debt too risky, said Dann Adams, an Equifax executive.

How to Deep Six a Presidency

If you thought The Big O's poll numbers were bad now; you ain't seen nothing yet:

President Barack Obama on Friday endorsed plans for a Muslim mosque two blocks from ground zero in New York City, declaring that "Muslims have the right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country."

Speaking at a White House dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Obama said all Americans have the right to worship as they choose.

"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances, Obama said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable."

You can feel the collective wince from millions of Democrats ... ouch.

They Completely Disappear

Bravo boys:

Rousseau took aim at the dust cloud where he'd seen the attackers. He unleashed 10 rounds of 25mm incendiary ammunition, which explodes on contact.

When the dust lifted, between eight and 10 attackers were dead.

"It wasn't pretty," he said. "If you hit directly someone with that, they completely disappear, kind of. So it's hard to say exactly how many there were."

More of Sheryl's Crow

Delicious dim-wittery from Crow:

Touring the United States and Europe this year, Sheryl Crow arrives at venues with an assortment of environmental demands certain to vex concert promoters, according to a review of the musician’s 2010 backstage rider.

The document, excerpted here, actually has a 2-1/2 page “environmental portion” to be “strictly followed and policed.” Seeking to “minimize the overall environmental impact of our tour,” Crow demands that only biodegradable cups and dinnerware be used by the caterer. Produce should be “organic and purchased from local suppliers as much as possible.” And for the five backstage “watering stations,” water “must be sourced from a local spring water vendor.”

... previous Crow.

I Fought For You

Bush Tax Cuts

... for the poor and middle class:

According to Treasury, the total ten-year cost of completely extending the Bush tax cuts is $3.675 trillion. The ten-year cost exclusively associated with extending tax cuts to folks Obama, the Democrats, and the media consider rich is $679 billion.

This means that almost $3 trillion of the cost associated with the Bush tax cuts over the next ten years, or 82 percent, is not for benefits to the so-called rich.

As such, despite what the Left and their media minions have been claiming, 82 percent of the Bush tax cuts benefited the poor, middle-class, and upper-middle class in this country.

A Governing Strategy

At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.

Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available. (click image for story)

Ann has more ... and a Saskatchewan travesty to boil the blood.

Global Warming Heart Attacks

It's come to the point where you can't even lampoon these people anymore:

Die, I tell you, die ... ye're all going to die, die a most horrible death ... die, yes you ... die. And so reports the BBC: "Many more people will die of heart problems as global warming continues, experts are warning," they tell us.

"Climate extremes of hot and cold will become more common and this will puts strain on people's hearts, doctors say ... A study in the British Medical Journal found that each 1C temperature drop on a single day in the UK is linked to 200 extra heart attacks."

"Heatwaves, meanwhile, increase heart deaths from other causes, as shown by the events in Paris during summer 2003."

But wait, there is hope ... the UK government is coming to the rescue.

Stephen Harper Takes the Right Stand

A very bold move:

While American politicians almost across the board have either stayed silent or endorsed the erection of Le Mosque de Triomphe just yards away from where Muslims recently killed thousands of Americans, in a little-noticed development this summer, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper became the first Western leader to stand up to what is generally considered less insidious Islamic dogma: that coming from Bosnian Muslims. Here is what happened.

For some time now, Bosnian Muslims have been pushing their campaign to get the world’s governments — from the international level to the national level to the local level — to turn July 11 into an almost compulsory “genocide commemoration” day on behalf of the “8,000″ Muslims supposedly executed by Serbian forces in 1995. (This figure includes the 3,000 Srebrenica soldiers who were redeployed without their families being informed.)

... read the details.

Not Robin Hood

... robbing the poor, to pay for the union:

Some Democrats are upset and advocacy groups are outraged over the raiding of the food-stamp cupboard to fund a state-aid bailout that some call a gift to teachers and government union workers.

House members convened Tuesday and passed the multibillion-dollar bailout bill for cash-strapped states that provides $10 billion to school districts to rehire laid-off teachers or ensure that more teachers won't be let go before the new school year begins, keeping more than 160,000 teachers on the job, the Obama administration says.

A Computer Model Garbage Dump

... or as they say, "garbage in; garbage out":

So Ross McKitrick, Stephen McIntyre, and Chad Herman took their critical work to another journal (say “cheers” for competition.) And the IJOC have missed out on what looks to probably be a very cited paper. But they did successfully delay it for 18 months, past the crucial Copenhagen conference, allowing Santer et al to be cited elsewhere and at length. Perhaps the IJOC got what they wanted, but it seems that what they wanted is not a full debate and discussion about climate science. This is the sad joke of relying on “peer review”.

A big step forward in this paper is the use of econometric statistical analysis. As Wegner found, the top guns in climate science relied heavily on statistics, but didn’t rely heavily (or at all) on expert statisticians. McKitrick et al bought in some cutting edge tools from economics, and did the-not-too-complicated-step of including the most recent data.

The end result is that where Santer et al found the error bars could overlap, McKitrick found that the models overestimated temperatures by 200 and 400% in the lower and mid troposphere respectively.

And then, we have the typical conspiracy among warmists to hide their obvious errors:

We requested this data from S08 lead author Santer, who categorically refused to provide it (see http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=4314.) Instead of supplying what would be at most 1 MB or so of monthly data collated by specialists as part of their research work, Santer directed us to the terabytes of archived PCMDI data and challenged us to reproduce their series from scratch. Apart from the pointless and potentially large time cost imposed by this refusal, the task of aggregating PCMDI data with which we are unfamiliar would create the risk of introducing irrelevant collation errors or mismatched averaging steps, leading to superfluous controversy should our results not replicate theirs.

Following this refusal by lead author Santer, we filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) Request to NOAA, applying to coauthors Karl, Free, Solomon and Lanzante. In response, all four denied having copies of any of the model time series used in Santer et al. (2008) and denied having copies of any email correspondence concerning these time series with any other coauthors of Santer et al. (2008). Two other coauthors stated by email that they did not have copies of the series. An FOI request to the U.S. Department of Energy is under consideration.

... speaking of garbage ... click.

Not Your Grandmother's France

A diminutive white lady, followed by her ten years-old son, makes a desperate effort to keep the place bearable: while on her way, she stoops to pick up three discarded bags of French fries, and throws them in the bin where they belong. As soon as she walks into the lobby, a youngster dumps his uneaten shawarma right in front of the glass door.

[...]

The stench of urine is suffocating. Tears come instantly to my eyes. It gets worse as we set foot in the elevator.

[...]

“She (my wife) was aghast when she first set foot in France”, says Alibekov. “She told me: why, this is Africa!”

... be sure to read every single word.

What a Great Political Ad Looks Like

Canadian Muslim Speaks Out

Update: More

We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation

Why the Afghan Wikileak is Treason

... and potentially devastating:

Then, just four days after the WikiLeaks documents were published death threats began arriving at the homes of Afghan tribal leaders. A few days later, one such leader was dragged from his home and executed. It is unknown whether his identity was exposed in the WikiLeaks documents, but according to Newsweek, his execution and the death threats "sparked a panic among many Afghans who have worked closely with coalition forces."

... read the whole thing, and then let it sink in just how treasonous the CBC is, and how utterly spineless our PMO is.

As if our limp-dish-rag PMO refusing to stand up for our Afghan allies and our troops isn't insulting enough by its silence, we now have to contend with the fact that our PMO can't even manage a proper retreat:

Can Canada not even manage a retreat without a spectacular, deadly fiasco?

Our troops are to leave Afghanistan during 2011. Officially, that is everyone in uniform, leaving behind some not-very-well-defined assistance programs, but this man's odds are that by 2012 nothing will be left of Canada in Afghanistan but memories -- and some very imperilled Afghans. At the moment, it seems many are being imperilled by the very policy supposedly meant to help them.

Every military withdrawal leaves behind people who have been far too closely associated with the departing side for their own good. Saigon 1975 is the chaotic archetype. Given the past track record of this enemy and its present statements of intent, having worked with Canadians is a probable death sentence for anyone involved. That could be -- usually will be -- interpreters, but the ripples spread far wider through Afghan society than that.

More reading , on Canada and her friends in Afghansitan.

Killing Recovery

How the progressive economy-crusher works:

Employing Sally costs plenty too. My company has to write checks for $74,000 so Sally can receive her nominal $59,000 in base pay. Health insurance is a big, added cost: While Sally pays nearly $2,400 for coverage, my company pays the rest—$9,561 for employee/spouse medical and dental. We also provide company-paid life and other insurance premiums amounting to $153. Altogether, company-paid benefits add $9,714 to the cost of employing Sally.

Then the federal and state governments want a little something extra. They take $56 for federal unemployment coverage, $149 for disability insurance, $300 for workers' comp and $505 for state unemployment insurance. Finally, the feds make me pay $856 for Sally's Medicare and $3,661 for her Social Security.

When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits. Bottom line: Governments impose a 33% surtax on Sally's job each year.

It Never Ends

... new tax proposal:

Carbon taxes, add-ons to international air fares and a levy on cross-border money movements are among ways being considered by a panel of the world's leading economists to raise a staggering $100 billion a year to fight climate change.

British economist Nicholas Stern told international climate negotiators Thursday that government regulation and public money also will be needed to create incentives for private investment in industries that emit fewer greenhouse gases.

Summer Storm Pics: Delisle Sk

Pathetic

A Soldier Writes:

Goes to show how ridiculess it is that a modern, ultra-rich, industrial powerhouse like Canada can only deploy 6 of these birds to the warzone....and just lost 1/6th of them at the cost of a few 7.62 rounds fired by stone age barbarians.

... back story.

Previous ... and more.

All I Have is Ground Zero

From a Muslim ... a plea for sanity:

I have no grave site to visit, no place to bring my mother her favorite yellow flowers, no spot where I can hold my weary heart close to her. All I have is Ground Zero.

[...]

To the supporters of this new Islamic cultural center, I must ask: Build your ideological monument somewhere else, far from my mother's grave, and let her rest.

In a related essay, Bill Kristol describes progressive logic ... Just Shut Up.

ht

Global Warming Freezes Millions of Bolivian Critters

Flood or famine, heat or snow, AGW does it all:

Over 1 million fish and thousands of alligators, turtles, dolphins and other river wildlife are floating dead in numerous Bolivian rivers in the three eastern/southern departments of Santa Cruz, Beni and Tarija. The extreme cold front that hit Bolivia in mid-July caused water temperatures to dip below the minimum temperatures river life can tolerate. As a consequence, rivers, lakes, lagoons and fisheries are brimming with decomposing fish and other creatures.

Unprecedented: Nothing like this has ever been seen in this magnitude in Bolivia. Inhabitants of riverside communities report the smell is nauseating and can be detected as far as a kilometer away from river banks. River communities, whose livelihoods depend on fishing, fear they'll run out of food and will have nothing to sell. Authorities are concerned there will be a shortage of fish in markets and are more concerned by possible threats to public health, especially in communities that also use river water for bathing and drinking, but also fear contaminated or decaying fish may end up in market stalls. They've begun a campaign to ensure market vendors and the public know how to tell the difference between fresh and unhealthy fish.

... at this point in time only the most stubborn zeolot or sad simpleton won't be getting at least a bit sceptical.



Previous @ Cjunk

Kudlow on the Party

Previous

Budget Shortfall?

How about cash cow for "insider" scheduling. This is a result of healthcare for the employees, instead of healthcare for the sick.

250 K Per Year:

"I'm at $45 an hour. When I work overtime, I make $90 an hour because it's double time. We work 12-and-a-half hour shifts so it's $1,000 per overtime shift," he said.

"And in our contract, we have consecutive weekends. You have to work four weekends in a row and then per contract all of your regularly scheduled weekends automatically become double time. I never take a weekend off."

He says people shouldn't think that the $213,868 he earned in 2009-10 is too much money. The base rate for a registered nurse is $88,000 annually.

... Saskatoon Health Region, not broke ... enough.

Outstanding Pushback by African American Tea Party

Bastogne Texas

A Democrat Star is Born

ht

Rifqa Bary is Winning

Excellent news ................. in five days she turns 18 and the door would close on juvenile status.

... more at Atlas.

Mo and Baby-Daddy

... "are not that far removed from what most Americans are going through."

I miss Laura Lane.

Chinese Firedrill Justice System

Pickton:

During that violent struggle, the woman said she slashed Pickton's jugular vein and was able to escape, flagging down a passing car for help.

She had lost three litres of blood and had no pulse when she arrived at Royal Columbian Hospital with stab wounds to the upper chest, the abdomen, hands and arms. The woman, who was then 30, remained unconscious in hospital for four days.

Pickton, who also lost three litres of blood that evening, drove himself to Eagle Ridge Hospital, and was then transferred to Royal Columbian. The two stabbing victims were in separate operating rooms when a handcuff key was found in the pocket of Pickton's pants. It was taken to the woman's room and used to unlock the cuffs dangling from her wrist.

Pickton was charged with attempted murder, assault with a weapon and forcible confinement following the incident, but the charges were eventually stayed because the Crown considered the woman too unstable to testify in court at the time.

How Easy the Lies Roll Off the Tongue

More.

BP Spill: The Next Phase

Finally, good news from the Gulf:

The Deepwater well has now reached a point where the mud inside the well is applying enough weight to the fluid in the formation that the flow of fluid, when such exists, is now from the well back into the rock. The well is sufficiently secure that, just before 7 pm CST Wednesday, Admiral Allen issued the following press release:

... including this dubious claim ... dubious because 5000 feet down, I'm not sure anyone knows for certian what's going on. For instance, the estimates of how much oil spilled are wildly varied. The most encouraging part I think, is that given the nature of the oil, it is possible that much of it evaporated.

Great Military Quote

"Basically, we took care of them rather quickly and efficiently. They really only succeeded in blowing up a very small section of fence."

... back story.

AGW News Quiz

... your question for today:

How many climate-gates are there?

The Answer.

That Ever Thinning Arctic Ice

North Pole, 1959:

“the Skate found open water both in the summer and following winter. We surfaced near the North Pole in the winter through thin ice less than 2 feet thick.”

NYT, 2000:

The thick ice that has for ages covered the Arctic Ocean at the pole has turned to water, recent visitors there reported yesterday. At least for the time being, an ice-free patch of ocean about a mile wide has opened at the very top of the world, something that has presumably never before been seen by humans and is more evidence that global warming may be real and already affecting climate.

... the details.

The Long Walk

An outstanding Glavin piece:

Imagine that your daughter is being constantly and viciously harassed by a gang of racist bullies at school. You make an appointment with the principal. You show him your daughter's bruises, her torn clothes, and you ask him what he intends to do about it.

The principal listens sympathetically to your story. Then he proceeds with a litany of all those things that make his work so difficult, the person-hours lost to teachers taking stress leave, the uncaring, cost-cutting conservatives on the school board, the socio-economic conditions that prevail in the homes of the boys who have been tearing out clumps of your daughter's hair, the deficiencies in the working-hours provisions of the principals' union contract, and so on.

Anatomy of Cowardice

I’ve caused a good deal of huffing and puffing among Stephen Harper lovers for my claim that Mr. Harper is a coward. I made my statement in the harshest of terms, evoking the expected reaction from loyal Tories. What surprised me though, was not the visceral reaction to my polemics, but the amount of support I’ve received from fellow conservatives on and off line.

Allow me to enunciate, in the starkest of terms, why I would call my leader a coward.

An American criminal soldier stole state secrets and passed them onto Wikileak, which in turn published the material. Among those American state secrets were Canadian state secrets, written by Canadian soldiers in the combat theatre.

Those who prepared the Canadian documents operate under strict security. Only they and the immediate members of their team ever share the material before it is passed on to higher authorities. If those who prepare the documents were, for instance, to speak about these materials in the Kandahar gym or in one of the mess halls, they would find themselves in deep guano. Most soldiers serving in Afghanistan never see these documents.

The secrecy is designed to protect our soldiers and their Afghan allies and to assist tacticians in improving our methods. Once in the hands of the enemy, these reports become a gold mine allowing the enemy to ground proof his tactics, our tactics, and to adjust his activities accordingly. In other words, it makes it easier for him to kill our soldiers. In the cat and mouse game of ambush and IED, every little advantage counts. Once the reports have been archived and made searchable, they essentially become a Taliban Research Library, which is exactly what the CBC has done. Let’s put this into concrete terms.

Canadian forces find most of the IEDs that are planted. Only a few score. Let’s imagine that in village X, our troops tend to find all IEDs, as is the case in most of our zone. The Taliban have no way of knowing whether these devices are discovered by our technology, or through informants. But now, our enemy just needs to punch in the right dates at Canada’s very own publicly paid broadcaster and read through the reports that deal specifically with village X on specific dates of interest to Taliban operatives. And what do they find?

They find that villagers have been informing our soldiers, and what’s more, they find names of Afghans in the CBC Taliban Research Library. What this means is that the fog of war gets parted and the Taliban now know where to send their thugs to have a “come to Muhammad” meeting with locals. And then, guess what ... the hapless civilians in village X aren’t so loyal to our soldiers anymore, and perhaps the next IED will be missed by our techs and another Canadian family will be grieving ... not to mention the Afghans who have been brutalized because of the handy Taliban Research Library provided by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

It matters not that Wikileak has already made public the 9000 plus docs. What matters is that CBC, an organization which owes its entire existence to tax payers, has taken the time to archive and post secret documents that belong to Canada and which were stolen via criminal action. What this means, is that while tax payers fund the military effort in Afghanistan where our soldiers die and are maimed, and where Afghans risk their very lives to support them, another government funded organization knowingly and willingly puts those very same soldiers and civilians at risk.

Put another way, it's like one branch of government offering policing service, while another fences stolen goods.

The CBC have become an enemy of our troops. And, the CBC does this for no purpose other than public mischief. A few short decades ago we would’ve called their action treason.

Public mischief ? Indeed. The CBC archive provides the Canadian people no service, but it certainly makes the CBC complicate in escalating the risk to our soldiers, and it most certainly assists the enemy in picking its murder victims more precisely from among the Afghan people. Were the CBC to report “on” the wikileak, it would be doing its job in “reporting” the news. Were its op-ed personnel to crow about this or that; it would be simply getting on its op-ed soapbox. Were the CBC to privately find hidden within the docs a scandal that the Canadian people should know about and would report it after doing due diligence; we would call it investigative journalism. But, the CBC Taliban Research Library is none of these ... it is out and out mischief and complicity in a crime using tax payer dollars.

Now you may ask, where does cowardice in the PMO fit in?

Given the above; given that the CBC is engaged in public mischief and complicit now in the publishing of classified Canadian documents that assist the enemy in adjusting his tactics and in hunting down our Afghan civilian friends, it is unconscionable that our government would not in the very least publicly condemn the CBC. After all, over 140 soldiers have died at the behest of our government ... that is, the Canadian Parliament. Many times more have been maimed. For the chief executive officer of the country to remain speechless in this situation is a stunning abrogation of responsibility to our soldiers and our nation.

Cowardly ... for certain. But, if our PM and his government remain silent because of political machinations, then the cowardice on display is all the more egregious. It is the kind of behaviour one would come to expect from the most cynical of political classes ... some would call it sleaze. It is the kind of behaviour expected of hacks and soulless tribalists, so hell bent on destroying each other that they can’t take a clear, concise, and transparent stand for what is right; that they can’t take a stand for those they send to die. In essence, this kind of political class has lost sense of what is decent, right, and wrong, and won’t take a stand on anything unless it can justify it for the political advantage gained.

Cowards indeed. But, coming from a Prime Minister whose grip on power is so controlling that the PMO will hardly let MPs speak to a senior’s group without first approving the talking points ... it’s utterly repugnant, because the silence is planned. Coming from the Prime Minister who once warmed our heart when he spoke to the troops in Kandahar, where he said that “we don’t cut and run”, it’s simply a tragic sign of how deep the rot in Ottawa has grown ... where our top man can't stir himself from the barbecue circuit long enough to condemn the CBC. While he and others make the rounds gladhanding; our soldiers toil and die in the Afghan heat.

Sometimes, the most cowardly act a man can do, is to do nothing.

Titus Plautus, a Roman playwright once said: A brave man benefits more his country than the finest, cleverest speakers.

Given the state of Canada’s political class, truer words were never spoken ... especially since we can’t even describe them as fine and clever speakers.

Update: Essay by Marc Theissen

Offering a Service to Canadian Conservative Politicians

Since it seems that many Conservative politicians (and all of their opponents) have forgotten what it is like to be plain spoken, concise, and honest, I give you Lesson Number One.

Let's call this lesson ... Treating Voters Like Adults

You can thank me later:

Canada's Cowardly Prime Minister

Canadian soldiers put their lives on the line daily in Afghanistan. Canadian soldiers get killed and maimed serving their country. Canadian soldiers even put their lives on the line for the poverty stricken and hapless citizens of Afghanistan. Canadian soldiers do so willingly ... in fact, they volunteer to do so.

Yet, our Prime Minister can't muster the balls to utter a word of public complaint, when our public broadcaster assists the enemy. The least he could do is to give public condemnation of the treasonous actions of the CBC.

Truly, Canada's political class is comprised of spineless hacks ... one of which is our very own conservative PM. He loves to preen with the G20, loves to wow us with piano and vocal cuteness, and to dabble in the literary world of sport writing ... but when it comes to being a bold, concrete, and transparent defender of our troops ... PM Harper is about as useful as the little foster- kittens he so loves ... or pabulum.

Mr. Harper's crystal clear message to our troops and their families is that he will not stand up for them lest he offend "progressive" sensitivities.

Our soldiers deserve better. Our country deserves better.

CBC Treason

My son just pointed out to me that he can now read the content of the confidential reports he was privy too in KAF ... online.

Kill the beast!

... and while we're at it, where is our technocratic fluff-ball of a PM on this?

Would You Like Some Ice with that Hyperbole

So much for the vanishing ice:

Summer is rapidly winding down in the Arctic, and (based on DMI graphs) the region north of 80N appears set to finish the summer as the coldest on record. So far, there have only been a small handful of days which made it up to normal temperatures. The Arctic is one of many places described by climate scientists as “the fastest warming place on earth.”

The Enemy Within

Yep, the Big O is post-American:

“What’s very troubling is the fact that at a time when we in law enforcement and our state need help from the federal government, instead of sending help they put up billboard-size signs warning our citizens to stay out of the desert in my county because of dangerous drug and human smuggling and weapons and bandits and all these other things and then, behind that, they drag us into court with the ACLU,” Babeu said.

Metaphor?

This has just got to be a metaphor for something:

Giving Up the Fight

**

... I wonder what they'd say?

... we know what the barbarians have to say.