Happy New Year: Go West Young Man

Next year, we expect Saskatchewan to take over the top spot in our provincial growth rankings from Newfoundland and Labrador this year. Alberta will be closely behind Saskatchewan, climbing up a notch from this year. Ontario is expected to slip to fifth position in 2011 from fourth in 2010. We project Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to remain at the lower end of the scale in 2010 and 2011, along with Manitoba this year. Our forecast for growth in British Columbia looks fairly similar to the national average,and our forecast in Quebec is lagging slightly below the national average.

RBC

2010 - 2011

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year
leaves." ~ Columnist Bill Vaughan (1915-1977)

Happy New Year: It's Bean Good

A Single Minded Progressive Obsession

To grow government by any means is the Progressive cause ... peacefully, or through violence if need be ... but grow it they will:

Writing in The Nation magazine on May 2, 1966, sociologists Richard Cloward and his wife Frances Fox Piven published what was to become in later years one of the most famous and influential of leftist articles. Titled “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty,” the two socialist intellectuals developed a new so-called “crisis strategy” — that of trying to use the existing welfare system to create chaos that would weaken the corporate capitalist state and eventually foment revolution. “Discover the Networks” has a good summary of their thesis.

Fortunately, the Proles are catching on:

The real story of 2010 is that the voters were finally able to see and judge this liberal agenda in its unvarnished form. For once, there was no Republican President to muddle the message or divide the accountability. The public was able to compare the promise of 8% unemployment if the government spent $812 billion on "stimulus" with the 9.8% jobless result. They stood athwart liberal history in the making and said, "Stop."

Who Raised These Women?

Goats?

She adds: ‘But then Hef was used to dirty carpets. The one in his bedroom had not been changed for years, and things became significantly worse when Holly Madison moved into his room with him as Girlfriend No. 1 soon after I moved in, bringing her two dogs.

‘They weren’t house-trained and would just do their business on the bedroom carpet. Late at night, or in the early hours of the morning — if any of us visited Hef’s bedroom — we’d almost always end up standing in dog mess.

Greens Find their Inner Stalin in Fresno

Central Valley California ... everybody's green future:

Yet far from being a paradise, Fresno is starting to resemble Zimbabwe or 1930s Ukraine, a victim of a famine machine that is entirely man-made, not by red communists this time, but by greens.

Obama and Friends

President "I Feel Your Pain" does Christmas in style:

However, the administration maintains costs are in line with previous vacations of previous presidents.

With estimates secured from a host of professionals, city officials and law enforcement, Hawaii Reporter estimates costs to taxpayers will at least include:

■Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii: $63,000 (White House Dossier)
■Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii: $1 million (GAO estimates)
■Housing in beachfront homes for Secret Service and Seals in Kailua ($1,200 a day for 14 days): $16,800
■Costs for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel: $134,400 ($400 per day for 24 staff) – excluding meals and other room costs
■Police overtime: $250,000 (2009 costs reported by Honolulu Police Department)
■Ambulance: $10,000 (City Spokesperson)
■TOTAL COST: $1,474,200

Yep, everybody has "skin in the game".

Union Scum Doing What They Do Best

Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts -- a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned.

... scum.

Oops ... that's wrong ... it should be murderous scum.

... puts some context to THIS ... doesn't it.

Zomby Science

First they published an obituary to cold and snowy winters. Then they rehabilitated the frost, embraced it, and now predict colder, more snowy, more volatile cold seasons.

They've predicted drought, pestilence, flood, rains, and even encroaching oceans ... not just regionally, but everywhere they happen to occur. There is not a paroxysm of nature that can't be attributed to the great man-caused warming ... including geological violence such as earth quakes.

Indeed, with the adroit feet of cats, Global Warming/Climate Change/Climate Disruptionists have now rendered their science completely and entirely beyond falsification. Like the undead, this baby can't be killed even with hard scientific fact.

New Saskatchewan Oil Field ?

Nordic Oil and Gas Ltd. has been probing East Central Sask. for several years now. So far, all they've managed is to get oily smudges on drill bits.

Today though, things may have changed:

WINNIPEG, Dec. 29 /CNW/ - Donald Benson, Chairman and CEO of Nordic Oil and Gas Ltd. (the "Company" or "Nordic"), (TSXV: NOG) is pleased to announce that the laboratory analysis of the samples taken from the drilling of the Company's 4-11-35-4 W2 site in Endeavour, Saskatchewan has been completed and that all samples show the presence of hydrocarbons.

In addition, the well logs also suggest that hydrocarbons are present, along with very good dolomite porosity - as high as 21%. Given these results, four separate intervals have been selected for perforating.

Furthermore, the Second White Specks has high resistivities and biogenic gas shows are similar to previous wells drilled on the Nordic acreage.

"We are pleased at the results, both from the lab and those from the logs," Mr. Benson stated. "These are positive signs and we will now proceed with perforating and swabbing the well over the next few days."

Go West Young Man

Chicom rare:

China has said it will cut exports of rare earth minerals by 10% in 2011.

World manufacturers are heavily reliant on China for these minerals, which are essential for making many electronic goods, such as TVs and PC monitors.

China has 97% of the world's known supply of the goods. The US mined none last year.

Rare earth minerals have been a thorny trade topic for some time, and China has previously promised not to cut supplies drastically.

Too bad ... eh?

As the site geologist, Kimberly Halpin explained on Thursday to a group of Great Western executives and investment brokers, the rocks in the area, of course, are more than just nice-looking paperweights. Picks are not required to find the veins of pink, red and green apatite and glistening, black alanite in the rock -- they're sitting right on the surface. The rocks are unusually heavy -- Halpin says you can feel the elements in them, you know there's something good here without having to search for it.

Previous.

A Goddess Became Flesh

Let us turn now, to the book of Gaia, Chapter 13, verses 9 through 23:

That’s right. I was tempted in the book to simply give in and call it Earth System Science, because Gaia is earth system science and in many university departments around the world, as you’ll know, Robyn, earth system science is a very respectable science. But as soon as you mention Gaia of course, the scepticism comes out. I didn’t do that though, because I think there’s a certain elegance to Gaia, to that word and the concept, and also because I think that within this century the concept of the strong Gaia will actually become physically manifest. I do think that the Gaia of the Ancient Greeks, where they believed the earth was effectively one whole and perfect living creature, that doesn’t exist yet, but it will exist in future. That’s why I wanted to keep that word.

Global Warmists Flaying

If it broils, it's AGW.
If it freezes, it's AGW.
If it rains cats and dogs, it's AGW.
If it parches, it's AGW.

In fact, any weather event occuring anywhere in any random order is now a clear sign of Human Caused Global Warming.

Just thought you might want to know:



More.

Damn Birthers

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

... the discussion.

The Fly in the Ointment

... of climate science:

Third Assessment Report: “In sum, a strategy must recognise what is possible. In climate research and modeling, we should recognize that we are dealing with a coupled nonlinear chaotic system, and therefore that long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible.”

So saith the IPCC.

Happy New Year: Sell Your House

"12 million households are already in negative equity and 8 million more have an LTV btw 95 and 100%. Thus even a 5% fall in home price will push an extra 8 million in negative equity with risk of millions walking away from their home—i.e. jingle mail," Roubini wrote me in a text message earlier today.

... more from Dr. Doom.

Channelling Jack Layton

... and The Honourable Michael Ignatieff:

We all have friends or relatives whose enthusiasm is far greater than their ability. They’re fine people, no doubt about it, but we’ve learned to back away or pretend we didn’t hear whenever our hopeless mates volunteer to help.

Experience is our guide. It might not be the best idea to enlist Dave’s assistance with the house painting, after that time he mistook turpentine for clear coat. Mike’s input won’t be required for any children’s birthday parties since he hired Pervo the Adelaide Clown for his own kid’s fifth. Personally, I suspect I’m banned by my own family from ever teaching my nieces how to drive, following certain licence-revocation issues.

I Came; I Saw: I Recommend

Complaint Department 1974

The Complaint ... click.

The Reply ... click.

The Day Germany Came Out of the Dark

... Angela Merkel is re-elected Chancellor in an unprecedented landslide. “The girl who saved Germany” stars at a rally of supporters in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate.

Not since the Berlin Wall came down have there been scenes like it. Merkelmania. There is no doubt about what has brought this transformation in her fortunes, those of her party, and those of Germany. After a few words of thanks, and in an unusually showy gesture, Chancellor Merkel picks out of her jacket pocket a 100 New Mark note. She waves it to the crowd. They scream approval. Everyone understands the message. Their euro nightmare is over. It had ended just over two years before.

Indeed.

Stunning Discovery Paralyzes Europe

In a finding that runs counter to virtually all the scientific literature produced in the past decade or more, European "experts" are struggling to come to grips with a new reality.

It Snows in December in Europe:

Add to that dismal stew a pinch of global warming, which some people, including Matthews [British Airports Authority chief executive], apparently took to mean the end of European winters, and you end up with the current farce. Europe, thy name is pitiful…

Doing Politics Differently

By Maxime Bernier
Montreal Economic Institute
November 22, 2010

So, let’s discuss a crucial problem of contemporary politics, politics as it is practiced in a conventional manner: why is it that so many people have the impression that things are getting worse, or at any rate are not getting better, despite economic growth and the advantages of modern life?

If we look at certain general historical trends, I think we can conclude that this impression is indeed justified.

The main trend that we observe is that governments are constantly getting bigger. A bigger government means a government that taxes more, spends more, gets deeper into debt, and regulates more. It’s a government which intervenes in all aspects of our lives, all the while curtailing our freedom to act.

This happened all over the world during the 20th century. The scope, size and powers of government have grown tremendously.

Take for example public spending as a proportion of gross domestic product, that is, the portion of the overall economic controlled by governments. In the main countries of the western world, it has gone from around 10% a century ago to beyond 40% today.

... keep reading.

The Green Blood Supply

... is thinning:

This week San Diego’s non-profit blood bank announced that stricter pollution regulations will force seven of its eight bloodmobiles off the road. It says it needs to raise “an extra $1 million” to upgrade or replace what appear to be perfectly good vehicles.

India Rocket Program Fail

Mia

Bean

Progressive

***

Classic

<

Beef Log Christmas

Traditional

Blue

Merry Christmas

We'd like to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas. May your holiday be full of pleasant surprises and good times.

Janet Has a Fit

What a cockroach:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, leaving the funeral of a murdered Border Patrol agent Wednesday, scolded a reporter for asking her to address the victim’s family’s concerns that not enough is being done to secure the southern border.

The family of agent Brian Terry had complained that Napolitano had offered them “empty words” when she called to express her condolences. Terry’s father, Kent Terry, in an interview with ABC affiliate KGUN, said he told Napolitano to “wake your man up in the White House,” to which she replied that he’s done more in two years than any president.

Mr. President

... has a nice ring to it ... especially in the "straight shoot'n son of a gun" era:

“As a 2008 primary front-runner, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani tanked. But as a 2012 dark horse, he could do surprisingly well.

“It’s not because Giuliani has shifted; it’s because the Republican Party has. The 2010 election was less about social conservatism than it was fiscal conservatism, and that aligns with Giuliani’s socially moderate and fiscally conservative ideology.

“There is another promising wind of change blowing Giuliani’s way, one that’s less ideological. This isn’t the era of kinder, gentler politicians. This is the age of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — three politicians whose appeal lives, partly, in their aggressive rhetoric …

“Thus, both the national ideology and aesthetics of these political times are more favorable to Giuliani than, perhaps, at any time in his political career.”

Being that I loath double-talking, bait and switch, greasy politicos who masquerade as conservatives and where the only thing they are good at is never saying what they mean ... I'd love to see Rudy run for the top job.

Janie's Got a Gun

... no more:

Dominic joined dozens of children yesterday at the annual Toy Gun Bash in the gymnasium of Pleasant View Elementary School. There, they lined up to toss their toy guns, from dainty purple water guns to camouflage-painted pistols, inside the Bash-O-Matic, a large black, foam creature with churning metal teeth and the shape of a cockroach spliced with a frog.

Prodded by Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, who wore a fuzzy Santa hat, the children stared curiously as the Bash-O-Matic mashed up their guns and digested them into a plastic bin near its tail.

“He ate it,’’ squealed one delighted little girl.

’Tis the season for joy, peace, and grinding up plastic, orange-tipped AK-47s.

Cozy Up To Violently Militant Organizations

I guess it's the new CPC plan to attract Liberals:

According to CBC, the Canadian Forces are going to provide a ‘heartfelt’ apology for listing the Warriors in a counter-insurgency manual in 2006:

Military officials are still finalizing the wording of the apology to the society, which was included in the draft counter-insurgency manual. The apology is expected in January or February. A spokesman for the Canadian Forces has called the apology important, and said it will be heartfelt. “We want to make sure that it’s [the apology] delivered in a proper format with a proper amount of respect and from the proper level,” Maj. Martell Thompson told CBC News.

The draft document singled out the aboriginal militant group as an example of “radical native American organizations” that can be “viewed as insurgencies with specific and limited aims.” The mention angered many Mohawks who claimed they were being compared to international terror groups such as Hezbollah and the Taliban.

It all makes sense now, that Mr. "I have never had any tolerance whatsoever for crime" is in The House.

Tommy Douglas: Dirty Little Secret

Unsustainable:

Governments at the provincial and federal level have not been honest with Canadians about rising health care costs that will someday swamp budgets, the International Monetary Fund warns.

The organization, which is based in Washington, states that with escalating medicare costs and an aging population, Canada's health-care system is unsustainable.

Going Native

... in Ottawa:

Continuing on the theme of defending good causes in a bad way, Justin has drowned - the little tykes look about to vanish beneath the furry waves - his family in dead animal skins. He's even sporting a leather jacket. So, that's at least two kinds of dead animal for the price of one PR stunt. Value for money. Just like the old man, really. All we need is another photo shoot, with Justin giving the finger to some PETA activists, while munching on delicious pemmican, and he'd make everyone in Alberta forget about the National Energy Program.

George Monbiot Sees Red

... when he should be seeing grey:

Meanwhile, George Monbiot with the help of the kids at the “Climate Rapid Response Team”, try to argue that the cold and snow in England is a localized event.

George helpfully provides a link to NASA GISS’s map generator along with this hotsy totsy prose:

Read Georgie's colourful quote, followed by its destruction.

Tech Talk

Islam in the House

Benign ... or malignant?

When undeniable information is released that reveals the true radical face of Islamism at home or abroad, leftists simply cannot accept it for what it is—the truth. They say that even if a link between Islam and violent action can be incontrovertibly proven “over there,” in America there is no such problem. We are at the crossroads of the same path that Europe traveled a few years ago; we can choose to move right or left. Western Europe turned left on that path, and it led to a radical Islamization of much of the continent. I pray that we have the wisdom to turn right.

And now, even leftists are offering begrudging realization of the truth:

Attorney General Eric Holder has an urgent message for Americans: While he is confident that the United States will continue to thwart attacks, "the terrorists only have to be successful once."

[...]

"It is one of the things that keeps me up at night," Holder said. "You didn't worry about this even two years ago -- about individuals, about Americans, to the extent that we now do. And -- that is of -- of great concern."

Of course, indigenous non-Muslims trying to exist in Muslim countries would find all of this completely unsurprising ... they live the Muslim Rule daily:

Wherever a plurality of Muslims exists, non-Muslims are persecuted and are not given equality to the Muslim majority.

The Muslim Rule applies not only to Muslim states, but Muslim enclaves within Western nations ... and there are few exceptions.

Previous

Could There be a More Insincere Statement

"I have never had any tolerance whatsoever for crime, to begin with. And also, I have never been able to overlook the victimization that's involved."

Truly, a more hallucinatory statement could hardly be uttered.

The Shotgun has more:

I don't know how Julian Fantino sleeps at night. To utter those words, while having been OPP Commissioner during the worst of the Caledonia Crisis, requires a cognitive disconnect that beggars imagination. It's the sort of double think we expect from politicians, but a police officer? The former head of the second largest force in Canada?

Indeed ... Julian Fantino, serving the cause by challenging academia to reinvent the lexicon when "delusional" and "figment of imagination" don't cut it.

A Euro-Wet-Dream Dies

On the other front, Huhne's wet dream about wind power is looking more and more absurd. At the time of writing, electricity generation reports had coal-fired power stations taking a thrashing, delivering 43 percent of available power, with wind contributing a farcical 0.1 percent, a trivial 44MW out of an installed, metered capacity of 2,430MW. The man's ideas about wind taking up the slack are totally unrealistic. Actually, they are barking mad.


[...]

In part, what is going to do for them is the very issue that the political classes are currently trying to ignore – the utter shambles in the transport system which is very seriously inconveniencing people and causing very great hardship. Patience is stretching to breaking point as people realise that this is a man-made – or politician-made - crisis, not a natural disaster. People frustrated in their travel plans, and condemned to a miserable Christmas, are not going to forget quickly, or forgive easily.

... read the whole thing at EUR.

What We Should, and Shall, Fear Above All Else

Cold:

This scepticism and anger will most likely intensify after next winter. And the one after that. And the one after that too. This is not Nostradamus speaking here. Just someone who reads enough to know that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation moves in 30-year cycles (and we’re entering a cold one) and that low sun spot activity tends to coincide with miserable winters and dull summers. And cold is the thing we should – and shall – most fear, not warmth.

Related @ WUWT.

Could the CPC be Anymore Lucky ...

... than to have faced two ham-fisted opposition leaders in a row:

The Coalition died its unholy death nearly two years ago, and Michael Ignatieff bitterly opposed it within the caucus. So much so Iggy helped to overthrow the then Liberal leader, Stephane "Kyoto" Dion. No wonder Conservatives govern as if they had a majority, they face no intelligent or forceful opposition.

The Gods have more.

How to Totally Destory a Piece of Journalistic Malfeasance

The blow by blow can be found at WUWT, where some "science" journalism is taken apart:

The Associated Press has published one of the most biased pieces of environmental science journalism in a long time, and that’s quite a feat in itself. Indeed, there are some serious journalistic integrity issues with this clearly biased piece: the authors intersperse anecdotes with specific scientists’ quotations while playing fast and loose with the facts in order to push an agenda. Undoubtedly, there is a considerable amount of scientific ignorance on the part of the authors, but using the human suffering associated with 2010′s natural disasters as talking points in this narrative is a new low for the Associated Press.

... and of course, the parrots at CTV create an echo.

Judgement Day

The solution below ... in all of its complexity:

The Day the UN Ended

Mr. Vice President, Members of the Supreme Court, Members of Congress, ladies and gentlemen.

We have arrived at a turning point in history, both the history of these United States and that of the World. A noble experiment which began in San Francisco in 1945 will today come to an end in Washington in 2013. Between these two dates and these two cities lies the wreckage of a dream of world peace through dialogue, of the community of nations, indeed of the ability of countries to put global interests above self-interests.

What we have done in a little over half a century is to prove that wishful thinking leads to death and destruction, that good intentions are no substitute for realistic action, that equality of opportunity does not create equality of outcomes.

... keep reading.

The Greatest Threat to Free Speech?

Why IPCC Model Input Data is So Hard to Come By

... because they don't want you to know THIS:

1. To a very close approximation (R^2 = 0.91, average error less than a tenth of a degree C) the GISS model output can be replicated by a simple linear transformation of the total forcing and the elapsed time. Since the climate is known to be a non-linear, chaotic system, this does not bode well for the use of GISSE or other similar models.

2. The GISSE model illustrates that when hindcasting the 20th century, the modelers were free to design their own forcings. This explains why, despite having climate sensitivities ranging from 1.8 to 4.2, the various climate models all provide hindcasts which are very close to the historical records. The models are tuned, and the forcings are chosen, to do just that.

3. The GISSE model results show a climate sensitivity of half a degree per doubling of CO2, far below the IPCC value.

4. Most of the assumed GISS forcings vary little from a straight line (except for some of them going flat in 1990).

5. The modelers truly must believe that the future evolution of the climate can be calculated using a simple linear function of the forcings. Me, I misdoubts that …

Sharia Creeping: At Home and Abroad

... and why wrong-headed immigration policies will make Sharia creep inevitable.

Spain:

According to the account of the facts, the teacher was explaining the different climates in a geography class and cited the village of Trevelez due to its cold and dry climate. According to the newspaper account, ”as a story, the teacher told his students that such a climate was conducive to making hams (this refers to the procedure that it’s necessary between the pig is killed and the ham is actually ready to be eaten). Then the student asked the teacher not to speak of hams since it offended him, because he was a Muslim.

Canada:

A Muslim woman in Canada has applied for a job in a men’s prison. In order to comply with sharia strictures on the segregation of the sexes, she will be permitted to wear a special hijab with a face mask and gloves so that she never risks contact with any males.

On why not all cultures are equal:

There is another strong difference between the people of Western and Muslim cultures; their locus of control. Locus of control is a psychological term describing whether people experience their life influenced mainly, by internal or external factors. It is clear from a psychological point of view that Westerners feel that their lives are mainly influenced by inner forces – ourselves. This is reflected in our points of view, our ways of handling our emotions, our ways of thinking, our ways of relating to people around us, our motivation, our surplus, and our way of communicating. These internal factors are what guide our lives and determine if we feel good and self confident or not.

Update: YouTube Sharia

P. E. Trudeau: Alive and Well

How many times have European governments lectured the US about their alleged moral superiority? They care more about people, we care about money and power. Or so they tell us. Now WikiLeaks reports that several Euro countries are turning a blind eye to human rights in Cuba in the hope of landing lucrative commercial contracts.

... Oh Canada.

Global Warming License: Carte Blanche to Claim Anything

Using a population-weighted approximation finds the high likelihood that the combination of the eastern U.S. and northwestern European major population areas of the world and energy consumers are having their coldest start to winter since 1989, which of course was heavily U.S. weighted.

So it's not local, especially when one considers what is going into the Far East and world's most populated nation, China. Whether low solar or volcanic activity have anything to do with it is debatable, but what is not debatable is that CO2 has nothing to do with it, since the argument four years ago was that these were not going to happen anymore (recall the Academy Award Winning Al Gore movie saying that, along with the hurricane idea), and yet now that both turn the other way, many of the people on that side of the argument are claiming it's because of the very argument that they used to say it would not happen. They now have cloaked it under climate change, or disruption, which gives them carte blanche to claim anything as right.

... more from Joe.

The Redneck gives us historical climate perspective from Canadian historic archives ... errrr ... weather, that is:

""I have observed during my several journeys in those parts that all the way to the north of Seal River the edge of the wood is faced with old withered stumps, and trees which have been flown (sic) down by the wind….Those blasted trees are found in some parts extend to a distance of twenty miles from the living woods, and detached patches of them are much farther off; which is proof that the cold has been increasing in these parts for some ages. Indeed some of the older Northern Indians have assured me that they have heard their fathers and grandfathers say, they remembered the greatest part of those places where the trees are now blasted and dead, in a flourishing state.""

Words That Come Back to Haunt

It is now mid-February, and already I have sown eleven species of vegetable. I know, though the seed packets tell me otherwise, that they will flourish. Everything in this country - daffodils, primroses, almond trees, bumblebees, nesting birds - is a month ahead of schedule. And it feels wonderful. Winter is no longer the great grey longing of my childhood. The freezes this country suffered in 1982 and 1963 are - unless the Gulf Stream stops - unlikely to recur. Our summers will be long and warm. Across most of the upper northern hemisphere, climate change, so far, has been kind to us. ~ George Monbiot February 15, 2005

... then, reality paid a visit.

More at CTV.

Yes, yes ... I know ... it's weather; but it wasn't weather when the UK and Europe were unusually warm a few years ago. That is why Proles by the millions would like to take giant snow balls and stuff them up the asses of every Global Warmist who declared that catastrophic warming was upon us. Everyone with an IQ over 70 knows that COLD is far more dangerous for civilization than warmth.

Let's hope that the past few years are just a blip and not the beginning of a trend; I can't imagine the calamity awaiting us were growing seasons in the Northern Hemisphere to shorten substantially.

Northern Flicker

Looked outside today, and spotted a Northern Flicker on our feeders. Somebody forgot to tell it to migrate ... oh well, the peanut butter/suet mixture should keep it fat and warm.

Cutural Suicide

Choices, choices ... it's so hard to decide:



... not bad; has a wonderful 1400 year old aura to it ... inspires visions of spice caravans, deserts, and of course, the slaughter of an estimated 270 million non-believers over 1400 years.

... but then, we have the Euro-barbaric tradition of Yodelling ... even in peaceful Switzerland:




Austria:

It seems as though in Austria, the popular yodel is an insult to Muslims.

An Austrian court has recently fined a citizen for yodeling while mowing his lawn, according to a report in The Kronen Zeitung newspaper.

The citizen, 63-year-old Helmut G., was told by the court that his yodeling offended his next-door Muslim neighbors, who accused him of trying to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin.

... quick, hide your loved ones, the Yodellers are coming.

Sarge ... We Can’t Let Him Go Like That.

Since this is our last visit in this space before 2011, I wanted to recognize the single most important event of 2010 that never got the headlines it so richly deserved.

Citizens of Adler Nation got to know it as the Firefighter Wilson story and, while it didn’t happen on Christmas Day, it has Christmas Miracle written all over it.

Sgt. Rob Cullen of York Regional Police was just answering the call of duty one day in a town about an hour’s drive north of Toronto. Something happened that day that moved him to write a different kind of police report, in an e-mail to our national radio show.

“Last night, while working in my usual role as a police platoon sergeant, we were called to a VSA — vital signs absent — in the basement apartment of a house just north of Keswick.

“The victim was 78. A retired firefighter. His small basement apartment was tidy. Upon the walls were tonnes of framed photos.

“He was very well read. History books lined his bookshelves. His specialty was the Avro Arrow.

“He was a huge supporter of our troops. An article from the Toronto Sun about the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion sat on his desk. Pictures of cops and firefighters were found here and there.

“But he had no next of kin. I had no one to visit, no one to see. I left the detectives and constable to await the coroner, and have the body removed to its final rest.

“As I walked down the driveway, the constable followed me and said: ‘Sarge, they’re gonna carry this guy out in a plastic bag. All the neighbours are watching. He was a firefighter for 30 years. He’s got no one ... we can’t let him go like that.

“‘Can you find us a Canadian flag, so that when they take him out of the house, we can lay it on the gurney when they roll him to the hearse?’

... the rest of the story.

Transnationals: If it Isn't One Thing, It's Another

The UN wants the Internet:

The United Nations is considering whether to set up an inter-governmental working group to harmonise global efforts by policy makers to regulate the internet.

Establishment of such a group has the backing of several countries, spearheaded by Brazil.

At a meeting in New York on Wednesday, representatives from Brazil called for an international body made up of Government representatives that would to attempt to create global standards for policing the internet - specifically in reaction to challenges such as WikiLeaks.

Canadian Banks on the Move

BMO expands its US Penetration:

BMO Financial Group said Friday that it would buy Marshall & Ilsley for about $4.1 billion in a stock-for-stock deal, strengthening its position in the U.S. Midwest and more than doubling its U.S. branch network.

Your Friday Morning Drill

Go West Young Man

The Region Grows ... and will continue to:

Canada’s western provinces are ramping up plans to create an “energy powerhouse” that will boost sales of energy-related commodities to China, India and other booming Asian economies.

Under the recently formed New West Partnership, energy ministers from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan signed a memorandum of understanding in Calgary yesterday. The alliance aims to improve access to Asian markets, as well as the development of resources in partnership with Asian investors.

... and the Greens will fight back every step of the way, with the help of their corporate and Liberal backers.

And, in a marginally related matter ... it's not all prairies out here.

A Friendly Blogger Challenge

Rob of Searching for Liberty has issued a friendly blogger challenge.  I think it's a great idea.

If you agree, be sure to let Rob know ... click.

California: Not Dead Enough

Quick ... make sure it's dead:

California’s unemployment rate has soared to 12.4%, third highest in the nation. For the sixth straight year, it has a net loss of population to other states as employers look to escape the onerous regulatory regimes and high tax rates in the nation’s most populous state. What better time to make energy more expensive and give government even more command control of the economy?

Your Daily Dose of Sober Reality

This is the point of the story where many Americans typically glaze over because they see Michigan as a long-standing financial basket case of a state thanks to the shrinking U.S. auto industry. But the problem is that the broad decline of the manufacturing sector that has been underway in this country for decades now may threaten not just the long-term health of the economy but also the living standards of all but the wealthiest Americans.

"The whole country is now seeing the story that Michigan has been living with for a long time," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. "We have kicked the can so far down the road that now all we have is a cliff to fall off."

... be sure to read the whole thing.

For a follow-up, read Core CPI.

Behold, the Rental Fascists of Ontario

What's the best why to reduce the availability of housing stock in a large city? Make it as unappetizing as possible for owners to rent out their properties. Case in point, Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act:

The Gods have the details.

Is Corporate Welfare Back?

The Conservative government has announced it is loaning aerospace giant Pratt & Whitney Canada $300 million for a $1 billion research project to develop the next generation of aircraft engines.

Industry Minister Tony Clement made the announcement on Monday saying it will create 700 high-skilled jobs in the GTA and more than 2,000 over the 15-year lifespan of the project. He also claimed the firm is in the process of hiring 200 engineers.

... keep reading.

The Courageousness of Julian Assange

Julian Assange, the public face of WikiLeaks, is, among many things, cowardly. Courageousness would involve meeting with Iranian dissidents, Russian journalists, Pakistani Christians, or Chinese human-rights activists — and then releasing any confidential information that they might have about the torment institutionalized by their countries’ authoritarian regimes. That would be risky to Assange, however, since such governments do not customarily go to court against their leakers; they gulag them — or liquidate them.

... keep reading VDH.

Democratic Shangri La

Jay ... I'm Jealous:

Lucky me. The first of these campaigns has been launch in my very own riding. The requirement is 40% of registered voters signing the recall. In this riding that means 15, 366.

Regardless of what I think of Ida Chong (not much) or the HST (not much) two principles are engaged here. Politicians should be called on their lies and it is important to use all the democratic tools we are given.

BOC Pouring Oil on the Fire

The Bank of Canada is in a bind. In a speech in Toronto on Monday, its governor, Mark Carney, admitted to an extremely risky strategy that could lead to even greater financial and economic imbalances than those of the past three years. But, he said in so many words, the bank has no choice but to continue to throw oil on the fire and urge everyone to stay as far away as possible from the fire.

... read more from Max.

The Serpents Slither In

They send their children to schools here. They have investments here. They themselves have contingency plans for when there is a democratic change in Iran. Where are they likely to escape to? Well, they are likely to come to countries like Canada. So they set up an alternative life here. And one of the messages the international community has to send is that you will have nowhere to hide . . .

T.G.

Julian Fantino's Legacy

Victims of Caledonia appear in radio broadcast:

One segment of the show was devoted to fellow guest Wayne Forbes a fish farm operator from Grand Bend (near Ipperwash) who refused to submit to unequal enforcement by Ministry of Natural Resources officers who targeted him for repeated inspections (and eventually charges when he refused to comply) while ignoring violations by native fish sellers.

Further Reading ... The Cost.

Replacing Education with Windmills

Now, there's a deal:

The starkest fact of the week - according to Booker - is that, while the stoods are being stuffed for £2.9 billion to keep the education budget down, £2.9 billion is precisely the sum we are being forced to dole out to the jungle bunnies so that they can buy windmills, solar panels and new Mercedes cars for their rulers and their entourages.

Since all these stoods are dead keen on saving the planet and being nice to jungle bunnies, they surely can't possibly object to paying up to £9,000 a year for their degrees. They must, therefore, agree to the sacrifice if it means that they are making a contribution to slowing planetary heating to 3.2 degrees instead of the fantasmagorically super-critically dangerous four degrees that we would achieve otherwise - if Messrs Gore, Jones, Mann et al are to be believed.

What's a Criminal Code Worth?

I happened to be at this year’s Pride parade in Toronto — covering the event for this newspaper. As you can see from some of the photos I took, McVety is perfectly correct that some of the people in attendance were completely nude. You can also see, from my photos, that some of the people in attendance at the parade are small children.

What does the the Criminal Code say about this?

... keep reading.

UHI

A Visual.

And from the comments:

“However, accurate comparisons have long eluded scientists because ground-based air temperature sensors tend to be unevenly distributed and prone to local bias. The lack of quantifiable definitions for urban versus non-urban areas has also hindered comparisons.”
=====================================================
It’s only 1/2 a degree….
…..I thought they knew what they were doing
;-)

Seriously Folks

... it can mean only one thing:

Seriously folks, this really is evidence ...

[...]

Thus, when we get fears of flooding in the Jordan Valley and the Judean Desert and nearly four feet of snow falls in the area of Mount Hermon, with light snow in Jerusalem, it has to be ...

Canada Accelerates Past USA

But it ain't pretty:

Canada’s top economic officials yesterday urged households to be wary of taking on too much debt after data showed the indebtedness of Canadians surpassed U.S. levels for the first time in 12 years.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in separate public appearances that they are concerned about rising debt. The ratio of household debt to disposable income in Canada was 1.48 in the third quarter according to Statistics Canada, exceeding the U.S. level of 1.47.

Voyager

1977:

The spacecraft was launched in 1977 and has since snapped images of Earth and other planets in the solar system and provided NASA with crucial information as it makes its long journey into outer space.

NASA researchers think Voyager 1 will leave the solar system and enter interstellar space, or the area in between the end of the Sun's influence and the next star system, in about four years.

Yep ... That Long Ago:

Such Nice People

I can't wait to see your Zonist blood in the streets and I envision you crying over teh grave of a dead loved one. Do you know in Iran, after te revolution, me and my family cheered in teh streets as teh glorious Islamic warriors strung you in the streets and disembowled your stomachs. We would anxiously wait for the riggs to come on Enghelab Avenue to view you filthy Zionist being torn to shreds one by one as you deserve. This isn't Gaza. You will learn soon that you don't play around with righteous individuals.

Showing the "Peace of Allah" ... or something.

Take the Ribbon From Your Hair

Echoes of Arizona

When the government refuses to protect its people ... the people must come together:



ht

Celestial Tips

Reader Tips

Einen Wutanfall Bekommen

Little by little they awaken, but in typical European fashion, they react with useless pinpricks, and bandages.

But when some find their voice ... it ain't pretty:

Elections Canada Probe

Why oh why do the boobs in the CPC insist on pushing the rules to the limit.  Sure, in the end it may be that no law was broken ... but why give the media and opposition so much to chew on?

Just follow the bloody rules ... and don't push them to the edge:

Elections Canada has opened a second front in its battle with the Conservative party over what it considers systematic attempts to hide national campaign expenses during the 2006 election.

The Canadian Press has learned that chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand has taken the governing party to task for failing to properly report the cost of running two regional campaign offices in Quebec.

The $107,000 tab was divvied up and claimed as a shared expense by 15 candidates in Montreal and Quebec City. They claimed the expense even though Elections Canada found many candidates never used the regional offices, which were staffed by central party workers involved in what appear to have been national campaign activities.

Is Afghan Violence More Columbia than Cambodia

CTV Reports on attempts to wipe out murder squads:

NATO has given itself a licence to kill those who are murdering government workers in Kandahar, but the mayor of this embattled city says those lurking under the assassin's masks are not all Taliban.

The general commanding Canadian troops in the war-wasted region calls hunting down insurgent assassination squads "an absolute focus."

"I have some very capable intelligence resources linked in with the Americans, linked in with the international community; (and) we have these guys on the run," said Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. "We are targeting these guys nightly. We're going after them."

Moderate Muslim Indonesia

Progressives will tell you that there are, in this world, Muslim states which practice a form of Islam that is compatible with Western values.  These same progressives will hold up Indonesia as an example ... as a shining beacon unto the world of the "peace" of Islam.

Really?

Two people received eight lashes each in Islamic Shariah law-controlled Aceh on Friday after being found engaging in an extramarital kiss.

A crowd of hundreds watched as Anis Saputra, 24, and Kiki Hanafilia, 17, were given eight lashes each at a mosque in Jantho, some 60 kilometers southeast of provincial capital Banda Aceh.

Prosecutor Deby Rinaldi said that both were married to other people. Deby said that Kiki had been married for two years while Anis was a farmer whose wife had just given birth.

The Muslim Plurality Rule holds ... wherever Muslims hold a plurality, Western Liberal Democratic Values become degraded, or don't exist at all. Not only does this apply to states and geographic regions, it applies to Western states where Muslim enclaves exist.

There is no exception.

The Economy Sucks ... Buy Stocks

The following piece is what I consider one of the best I've read in a while.  It looks at the interesting situation in the stock market right now, where stocks ... no matter how shaky the economy ... may be on the way up for some time.

Why? ... because Uncle Ben is flooding institutions with massive amounts of QE, and that cash has a way of finding its way into the stock market (fundamentals be damned).  Couple that with the fact that even in recession, Canadian resources are in great demand, and the stage is set for a constant creep upward for equities.

If Ben works his magic correctly, and proves Maxime and just about everyone else wrong (except Stephen Harper), then consumers will enter the market just in time for Uncle Ben to take his foot off the pedal and things may return to a more natural situation without a massive stock sell-off.

Being nimble though, is the key ... if Uncle Ben fails, or if the QE gas pedal is released to abruptly, there may be hell to pay sometime down the road.  There are also incredible headwinds to overcome ... debt, debt, and more debt from Athens to Toronto.

But that's what shorts are for.

Saunta Has More to Go:

The great thing about the stock market is there is always an opportunity, especially when you have a tsunami of liquidity out there looking for yield. Don't get too caught up in all these technical indicators or in the negative macro news environment. At the end of the day, the powers that be will keep buying the dips because it's all part of the master plan to avoid debt deflation at any cost.

Condi Versus Couric

***

Stephen Harper to Offer Putin Lessons

... the student:



... the instructor:



... and in a case of  shameless promotion ... I'll suggest my daughter teach them both:

Eventually They'll Get it Right

A car loaded with gas canisters detonated in a busy section of downtown Stockholm today, followed by another explosion 10 minutes later caused by a suicide bomber. After the explosions, the bomber was found dead lying about 300 yards away from the car bomb, reportedly wearing a suicide vest and a backpack full of nails and surrounded by the remains of pipe bombs. The bombs apparently were inexpertly crafted and failed to detonate to full capacity. Two people were wounded in the bombings, which took place in a street filled with Christmas shoppers.

Read more:

Sweden: Progressive Shangri La

On Afghanistan: Sebastian Junger

... Afghanistan was my concern, and as the situation deteriorated, I went back again and again. In the spring of 2007, I began a yearlong project of following one platoon of American soldiers—about 35 men—at a remote outpost in the Korengal Valley, the eastern part of the country. The outpost was named Restrepo, after the platoon medic who was killed early in the deployment, and while I was there, nearly one-fifth of the combat in all of Afghanistan was happening around our little base. I wrote a book about it, called War, and shot and directed a film—called Restrepo—with British photographer Tim Hetherington. As longtime war reporters, Tim and I were both well-acclimated to the idea that journalists refrain from advocating any particular political position or course of action, and that was the approach I took with both the book and the movie. “We don’t tell people how to think,” was how Tim put it.

... read the unambiguous rest of the story.

Another Monckton Mexican Missive

... and this one is a real gem:

Here goes, then. Electricity accounts for 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Mexico accounts for 1% of world electricity consumption. Light-bulbs use at most 3% of that electricity. Mercury-vapor fluorescent bulbs reduce electricity consumption per candela by – at the very most – 33% compared with incandescent bulbs that one can actually read by. So, once the President’s Initiativo Grande has been put into full effect throughout Mexico, world carbon emissions will have fallen by 40% of 1% of 3% of 33%, or a dizzying 0.004%.

So far, so good. We shall generously assume that 0.004% of the entire manmade greenhouse-gas contribution since 1750 will be forestalled by the Grand Initiative. Now for the equation. The amount of CO2 concentration forestalled by, say, 2100, is in the present instance, 0.004% of the difference between the CO2 concentration predicted for that year, 836 parts per million by volume on the IPCC’s A2 emissions scenario, and the CO2 concentration of 278 ppmv which the IPCC thinks was present in 1750.

So we’re looking at 0.00004(836-278), or 0.0223 ppmv. Not a lot, really.

Be sure to read it all.

Levin Speaks to Canadian Conservatives Republicans

Canadian Conservatives Republicans ... always operating on the left's terms ... VIDEO.

National Post Editorial Board:

Last week, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty declared a long-awaited war on government largesse. “We have to stay on track to balance the budget in the medium term. And that requires some decisions. I’m consulting with my colleagues here and discouraging new spending.” In the spirit of the season, he added, “It means that not every wish gets fulfilled. I’m not Santa Claus. I’m, at best, a mere elf.”

Well, it’s about time government shrunk its spending, if not its ministers. In their first two years in office, the Tories increased spending by 14.8%. Then the recession hit, and the Conservatives posted the biggest federal deficit in Canadian history: $55.6-billion in the fiscal year that ended in March. The government estimates it will bleed red ink until 2016, by which point the national debt will have grown to $628-billion.

Sarah Palin: The New Green-Queen

... because she's a Locavore:

Where to begin, as they say. Well, first, it wasn’t a moose. It was a caribou. Certainly, a real sign of respect for the animal might be to get its name, or kind, right. Of the vile “snuff film” slur, I’d say that’s both a term and a product far more likely to be found and appreciated in Aaron Sorkin’s Hollywood neck of the woods than in Sarah Palin’s. Furthermore, where’s Sorkin’s appreciation for Palin’s environmentalism? She’s showing herself to be one of the most advanced of our kind these days: She’s a locavore. No carbon footprint on her prime rib.

But what on earth was Sorkin attempting to say with his confused lament that Palin’s was the “first moose” ever killed for politics? Palin hunted before politics, and will continue to do so after politics. Same goes for her husband. It’s what people do in Alaska — or Newfoundland. She didn’t just take it up for the Discovery Channel. Secondly, unlike those who are on a first-name basis with Martin and Charlie Sheen, most people have considerable admiration for those who can make their way in the wilds. As the Davy Crockett song makes so vividly clear, hunting prowess has always been held in special esteem — and that esteem was not exhausted with the end of pioneer days. The skill still earns a man — or a woman — a singular kind of credit with others.

Previous

Globalist Bureaucracy Grows by 100 Billion

Cancun:

Delegates to a UN climate-change conference in Cancun overrode objections from Bolivia and agreed to a framework for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to establishing a new fund to help developing nations combat global warming.

While the agreements are small in scope, they mark a breakthrough in co-operation among the 193 signatories, who last year made little headway at another UN climate-change summit at Copenhagen.

The Cancun Agreements establish the Green Climate Fund, a framework for providing billions of dollars in funding and technology to poor nations to stave off the threats posed by climate change, though it is not clear where the money will come from. The fund will manage the annual $100 billion pledged to developing countries at the Copenhagen summit, money that is to be handed out beginning in 2020.

Monckton explains the process of bureaucratic tyranny:

I usually add some gentle humor to these reports. Not today. Read this and weep. Notwithstanding the carefully-orchestrated propaganda to the effect that nothing much will be decided at the UN climate conference here in Cancun, the decisions to be made here this week signal nothing less than the abdication of the West. The governing class in what was once proudly known as the Free World is silently, casually letting go of liberty, prosperity, and even democracy itself. No one in the mainstream media will tell you this, not so much because they do not see as because they do not bl**dy care.

... where is Mr. Harper on this ... just wondering? For those conservatives who think we are winning, I ask, winning what? Unless you know the goal of the enemy, can you really say you are winning? Monckton lays it out pretty well, I'd say.

Could This Be the Worst Recruitment Ad Ever?

Previous

Until The Endsieg

Channelling Goebbels:

As the Euro dream has rapidly mutated into a nightmare for Greece and Ireland, with Portugal and Spain to follow for sure, I note a fatal tendency in EU circles to hold out for the Endsieg despite all the contrary evidence pointing to a not too distant disintegration of the common currency.

The term Endsieg was first coined by immortal social-libertarian Austrian politicial critic Karl Kraus in 1918 - he was the official Austria's pain in the a.. a century ago with his weekly newsletter "Die Fackel" - and was hijacked later by Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Maxime on QE

World Oil Demand at All Time High

... but don't expect $150 oil just yet:

Worldwide oil demand hit its highest level ever on the back of explosive growth in the developing world, according to preliminary figures in a recent report.

But the world's thirst for the hot commodity is unlikely to lead to the price spike witnessed in 2008 -- largely due to oil field investments made during the last bubble, analysts say.

Madame President ?

... has a nice sound to it:

It’s not just the fact of the trip itself that suggests she’s running, it’s the destinations on her proposed itinerary. If you were an aspiring Republican nominee, which foreign hotspots would you be sure to hit to further ingratiate yourself with the base? For starters: Israel, of course, not only to show solidarity but to counter Huckabee’s appeal to evangelicals. He’s been to the Holy Land more than a dozen times and has plans to go again soon. Beyond Israel, where else? Well, to draw a contrast with Obama, you’d naturally choose an ally with whom relations have deteriorated under Hopenchange, signaling that as president you’d restore American prestige by repairing vital relationships. Which means Britain.

Tell Us What You Really Think

(language warning)

Mother Nature in a Tantrum

The situation has now gone far beyond parody ... mother nature is telling them ... nay, screaming it aloud, that cold is the greatest danger to civilization ... it's not a fraction of a degree of warming we need fear.

And, as if to drive the point home, she has punished one of the hot-beds of warmist lunacy ... The UK:

After a further 4in of snow fell yesterday the Met Office warned that – despite a brief respite this weekend – temperatures would stay ‘remarkably’ low for another fortnight.

If that happens, this month could replace 1981 as the coldest December since records began in 1910.

To do so, the average mean temperature for the month will have to be lower than 0.2c.

The coldest place in England overnight was Topcliffe in North Yorkshire, which saw a low of -12.8C.

Bastardi weighs in:

While I realize it's open for debate, the patterns that are developing are part of what I described would start to happen a few years ago when the combination of oceanic, solar and even seismic cycles (the last one being the biggest wild card) began to take effect. The coming years will tell who is right and who is wrong. The true shame here, though, is that people were brainwashed into thinking such things could not happen anymore, and it's almost dastardly that the ones that did the brainwashing are now claiming it's because they were right (we go from saying it won't occur because of something, to it is occurring because of what was supposed to prevent it from occurring). In any case, it is my sincere hope that folks in the targeted area do not take this lightly. If I am overdone in some places, all the better. There will be a price to pay in hardship for this, and in studying the whole pattern that is in front of western and northern Europe for the next 15 days (the shot of cold into the south and east comes and goes, but when it comes anew after the New Year, it may remain), the bitter pill to swallow for not being prepared for such things is as nasty as the cold itself.

EUR piles on:

The reality for millions of people in the UK is the global warming lying thick on the ground – in particular in Scotland. There, hundreds of thousands of people have gone through 24 hours of misery, so much so that Scottish politicians are bickering about the lack of preparedness, while the Met Office is trying to dodge the blame for getting its forecast wrong. That reality is expressed by a Guardian comment:

... and just to rub salt into the gaping green wound ... Mother Nature delivers a goodie for Cancun:

Either way, 50°F is a new record for December low temperature, and it couldn’t happen at a more inconvenient time for the Cancun COP16 climate conference.

A Sarah Palin Low

1. Sight in your rifle before you go hunting.

2. Practice with it, so that you can load it, unload it, and be familiar with it.

3. Practice with the backup rifle if there is one.



The only thing I can say positive, is that the lady can shoot ... once she's behind a rifle that is sighted in, that is.

The discussion.

Earlier Today.

Islam is Cleansing Itself

... in the 1400 year old manner:

In a statement the Islamic State of Iraq justified the massacre in the cathedral by claiming that the Coptic Church in Egypt was holding two women who have converted to Islam. It said: “The Ministry of War in the Islamic State of Iraq announces that all Christian institutions, organisations, centres, leaders and followers are legitimate targets for the Mujahedin [holy warriors] wherever they can find them.”..

** Note: The Islamic State of Iraq is a terrorist organization, not the Iraqi government. Christians in Iraq have found great support among local Muslims which have marched by the thousands in support of Christians.

But, Iraq is just the tip ... Christians are under attack all over the Muslim world. Read More.

US Forces Ambush Taliban

Day in, day out, the surge goes on ... the pressure is unrelenting. And commanders report, Taliban will is deteriorating:

Snuff Film

Oh ... The Humanity:

"And you didn't just do it for fun and you didn't just do it for money. That was the first moose [sic] ever murdered for political gain. You knew there'd be a protest from Peta and you knew that would be an opportunity to hate on some people, you witless bully. What a uniter you'd be – bringing the right together with the far right."

... somebody give the boy a kleenex.

Julian Fantino's Legacy

... is a good fit for Stephen Harper:

Having long ago abandoned the pretence of being financially conservative, the Conservative Party has, in its promotion of Julian Fantino's political career, destroyed their credibility on law and order. Yet this is only the latest in a series of incidents that show that the Conservatives are not serious about protecting Canadians. Rather than offering an agenda that focuses on fighting violent criminals, they instead target petty fraudsters and perpetrators of victimless "crimes," while dismantling effective rehabilitation strategies. When faced with a challenged to Canada's archaic prostitution laws, the Prime Minister could only crack bad jokes.

Of course Dear Julian isn't a perfect fit for everyone, especially for those who value the rule of law ... or perhaps another way of putting it is that some still expect their MPs to have that special quality the Romans called "Gravitas".   It all goes counter to the thinking these days, though.

... "Gravitas ... who needs Gravitas?"

"The only thing that counts is that team blue wins".

Sometimes I wonder if for some, politics isn't  just another fucking hockey game ... us against them ... with the stands full of mindless fans who hate the other team, hate the other fans, and go apoplectic over every call the referee makes against their team ... while demanding ever more calls against the other team.  Like hockey, for these folks politics has nothing to do with concepts, ideas, or principles ... just putting the puck in the net more often than the other guy.  For them, Julian F. is a score.

For some however, Julian F. is cause to consider "drastic action":

She didn’t pull any punches. She said non-natives need to stop “cowering at the altar of native self-determination.” The election of former OPP chief Julian Fantino – who she blames for abandoning the rule of law in Caledonia – to a federal seat in Vaughan “makes me want to slit my wrists,” she said.