Let's Stop the "Radical Muslims" Theme Already

Islam, as a religious/political/social/economic system is barbaric ... period. The true "radical" Muslims are those who are "reformists" ... or in some cases, Beauty Queens:

A teenage Muslim girl was stoned to death under 'Sharia law' after taking part in a beauty contest in Ukraine.

Katya Koren, 19, was found dead in a village in the Crimea region near her home.

Friends said she liked wearing fashionable clothes and had come seventh in a beauty contest.

Her battered body was buried in a forest and was found a week after she disappeared.

Bakken South

While oil wells gush up to 500 barrels a day each, in the Bakken field of Southern Saskatchewan, a huge new find in Texas is poised to become a game changer:

Until last year, the 17-mile stretch of road between this forsaken South Texas village and the county seat of Carrizo Springs was a patchwork of derelict gasoline stations and rusting warehouses.

[...]

Now the region is in the hottest new oil play in the country, with giant oil terminals and sprawling RV parks replacing fields of mesquite. More than a dozen companies plan to drill up to 3,000 wells around here in the next 12 months.

Cheap oil will likely never come back ... but oil shortages are not going to be a problem either.

That Sinking Feeling

... is what you get from the steady drip drip of insolvency:

Up to 300,000 cash-strapped households have switched more than £60bn of mortgage debt from repayment into risky interest-only deals over the past three years to help cover their living costs.

... and sooner or later, that drip drip will turn to a flushing sound:

It has come to this. A year after rescuing Greece from default, Europe is staring into the abyss. The bailout has proved insufficient. Greece needs more money, and it can’t borrow from private markets, where it faces interest rates as high as 25 percent. But Europe’s governments are reluctant to advance more funds unless other lenders — banks, bondholders — absorb some losses by writing down their debts. This, however, would constitute a default, risking a broader banking crisis that might torpedo Europe’s fragile recovery in France, Germany and elsewhere. There is no easy escape.

Can There Be Any Creature More Beneath Contempt

... than the Mainstream Journalist:

Since Palin and her team won't share where the potential candidate is headed, reporters and producers have little choice but to simply stay close to Palin's bus. This has resulted in scenes of the Palin bus tooling down the highway followed by a caravan of 10 or 15 vehicles all trying to make sure they don't lose sight of the Palin bus.

It adds up to a dangerous situation, says CBS News Producer Ryan Corsaro.

When SWAT Goes Bad

First up, a thoughtful piece that describes cover-up, over-use of police military tactics, and rounds hitting other houses:

Sometimes, law enforcement agencies must choose between the desire of the public to quickly know details, and the very real threat to innocent lives if those details are released prematurely." Dupnik used the same line of reasoning with Brodesky. "Those are the real sensitive parts of why we are having difficulty with trying to put information out publicly--because we don't want somebody getting killed," Dupnik said.

The problem with that explanation is that the search warrants and affidavits weren't sealed until four days after the raids were executed, right at about the time the troubling questions about Jose Guerena's death began to make national headlines. If revealing the details of this investigation -- which remember, was initially described by the Sheriff's Department as a marijuana investigation -- could endanger lives, why weren't the warrants and affidavits sealed from the start?

Hurray ... Middle Eastern quality SWAT working in the US of A:

"I’ve had a chance to talk with my son about this some more, and a good summary of what this raid was like is to say that “It looks like the Iraqi Army raiding a house.” I had known that the ISF wasn’t present during much of his time in Fallujah (most of the security forces were Marines and IPs), so I asked him, “Why do you say that? Have you seen the Iraqi Army raiding a house?” He said yes, and I responded by asking him what it looked like? He said “It looks like that. Just like that. People falling all over each other, emptying their weapons, shooting at everything, and shooting at nothing.”

Gratuitous shooting:

If a single 9mm round from an officer’s handgun stops the bad guy, that’s a good thing. If five rounds from a shotgun are reasonably required, that’s perfectly permissible under the law. However, the second a bad guy ceases to be a threat, all shooting must stop. The law--to say nothing of professionalism, common sense and decency--does not allow gratuitous magazine emptying or “me too” shooting when the danger has clearly passed.

Tornadoes 2011 ... So Far

We Don't Need No Edukashun

... in case that didn't drill your eardrums enough, here's more from Mariachi Cabos.

We're Domed I Tell Ya ... Utterly Domed!

Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year. We now have the highest carbon output in history. Hopes of holding global warming to "safe levels" are all but out of reach.

This is according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency, and the "shock rise" means the goal of preventing a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius – which scientists say is the threshold for potentially "dangerous climate change" – is likely to be just "a nice Utopia".

Dr. North has the details.

... and a bonus read ... The Clouds Gather.

2008: The Most Honest Speech in the History of the World

The Economy: “Make no mistake about it — we must have critical new investment and government priming to free us from the Bush recession. Therefore, if America is willing to embrace such Keynesian spending, I will promise to keep our unemployment rate below 10 percent, while my team borrows no more than an additional $5 trillion for new shovel-ready stimulus. I envision our national debt rising to no more than $16 trillion over my tenure. I also promise to take over any corporation that explores bankruptcy as a way to default on what it owes its union members and pensioners, who will always have a higher claim than any creditors or Wall Street speculators. I have already talked of spreading the wealth; but as president I promise to extend food stamps to more Americans than at any time in history.”

... read the rest @ VDH.

Your Bankrupt Future is Here

... and no amount of pretend and patch-work is going to fix it without the pain of massive cuts and a complete "return" to basic economic principles:

Debt is slavery… or at least indentured servitude of the worst kind. That looming mortgage, the high interest credit card debt, the short-term car loan– these are the forces that keep people from breaking free and taking action.

Ironically, debt begets more debt. According to FinAid, the average US student loan debt for a four-year private university graduate is nearly $36,000, and $24,000 for public. Throw in that first car loan and maybe a mortgage, and suddenly you’re staring at hundreds of thousands of dollars in demoralizing claims on your future income.

[...]

By 2011, the IMF’s biggest customers have become ‘developed’ (i.e. contracting) countries like Greece which are relying more and more on the generosity of China. Now with the IMF’s former chief locked up in disgrace for the foreseeable future, the race is on to see who will replace him.

The new order of things is very clear. The western hierarchy of the past is insolvent, and its capital has migrated south and east. Western leaders refuse to acknowledge this reality and are clinging desperately to antiquated institutions like the IMF in order to retain control of a now defunct financial system.

... what we have in the West, is the end result of politicians feeding the takers, who eventually form large enough constituencies that they can continually vote themselves more "stuff" ... that is, until the whole thing comes crashing down. We are now reaching the natural end of the great Western Social(ist)-Democratic era ... insolvency.

Canada has so far avoided the end-game, largely because massive resource revenue enables governments (including Mr. Harper's) to feed the takers. We will find out in short order (the next 4 years), if Mr. Harper is a true visionary conservative, or just another power-hungry politico willing to shovel the spoils he confiscates from the makers into the trough that feeds the takers. In fact, if he doesn't dismantle the vast "progressive" regime in 4 years, he will go down as just another care-taker for what, in every Western nation, is an entrenched class of "progressive" elites.

The biggest suckers of course, will be those Tories who refuse to hold Mr. Harper accountable to his conservative roots, and instead become little more than a supporting herd of sycophants.  Make no mistake, a "progressive" government will once again take power some day, and if Harper has not destroyed large swaths of the "progressive" infrastructure, the incoming "progressive" rulers will be able to continue as if nothing had ever changed.  We have a once in many generations chance now ... will Harper take it or just continue to play both sides against the middle where clinging to power, not the well-being of the country, is the goal?

For further reading, BCF considers the "conservativeness" of our PM.

And, even more musing on the matter, from The Gods ... something about Herding Cats. 

Update: From the discussion as SDA:

... I live in one of the biggest 'taker' areas in Canada. In the Yukon - once the land of proud entrepreneurs who manned many productive enterprises: staunch, independent individuals who lived life on their own terms - the Yukon under successive Dipper/Liberal/PC territorial guments and Liberano Federals was already a giant leach on the provinces before the Tories won the minority. Billions of dollars have been transferred to this resource rich territory in the last few years and the money has been squandered on the pets of the territorial gument - contracts for their pals, buildings and grants to mega welfare for the cilly servants, high paying jobs for 'friends' to redesign functioning roads, intersections etc. The pricey condo mega projects that have razed the character of the old Gold Rush downtown is sad and very ugly. $$ transferred for affordable housing has been a slush fund for contractors and bureaucrats. The Yukon Medicare is the most generous in Canada and millions of your dollars are spent flying people south for real or imagined ailments. Yukon Housing is luxury housing for old folks/welfare cases - all prescriptions/dental (including dentures) eye glasses etc are paid for by medicare and to top that off, there are no medicare premiums in the Yukon. Gument workers (89% of the workforce) get huge wages (a dishwasher earns $23.50 per hour!) lots of 'perks' - like two free trips to anywhere in Canada per year, many get moving expenses paid, generous income tax deductions...

Meanwhile a modest house costs a half million, rent is sky high for anyone not on welfare, young people move out as gument workers move elderly parents up here for the generous benefits. The Yukon produces nothing; all mines have been closed by the environmentalists. The squawking drove out the miners and the producers - even the farmers. The Yukon is dependant on the provinces for every dime and 35,000 people have been showered with Federal government enabling them all (except private small business) to live like pampered brats.

The Yukon could be your petri dish, cjunk. PMSH warned the Yukon that the 'party' was going to peter out - I hope that will be a good omen for this economic crippled territory to learn to walk again on it's own. My once proud feeling to be a Yukoner has been replaced by embarrassing for many years (I don't work for the gument so I don't have the big bucks to flash around, I do earn a good income but nothing like my pals in the gument) I am hoping that the Prime Minister is going to consider a bit of 'tough love' for the Yukon; out of consideration for the people who do produce.

Update 2: Young Suckers

So let me explain to you young kiddoes out there who voted for "hope and change" and thought Barack Obama's Magic Unicorn would miraculously fart out jobs for all of you.

You've been had.

You've been scammed.

You've been cheated.

And this has been done to you by not only my generation, but the generation before that.

Sense in da Hood

Panic: It's Worse Than We Thought

Australia's huge cattle herd in the north might be burping less planet-warming methane emissions than thought, a study released on Friday shows, suggesting the cows are more climate friendly.

Cattle, sheep and other ruminant livestock produce large amounts of methane, which is about 20 times more powerful at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. One cow can produce about 1.5 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

Read the terrifying details.

Murder by SWAT (the video)

Details
Details2

The video and details as expressed by the police, don't match.  The time elapsed between "siren" (which lasted only a few seconds), knock on door, breach, and the murder, are not as described by the officer in link (Details) above.  There's not a human alive could respond to the calls of "police", and exit or open the door in a timely and safe manner.  What you see in the video is a hit squad at work ... Police State tactic.

* music playing in background ... nice touch.
* one lucky killer got to run up and get a few rounds in over the heads of his buds ... so much for one in the head, 2 in the chest ... more like let's all get in on a good kill ... yeeeee haaaa!

The Horrific Truth Emerges:

Mr Guerena's wife, Vanessa, said she heard her husband moaning as he lay dying, his body struck by 22 of the bullets.

[...]

When she encountered the SWAT team, 'the only thing I told them was take care of him, take him to a hospital,' Ms Guerena told ABC.

An ambulance reportedly arrived in a few minutes, but medical personnel were not allowed inside to see Mr Guerena for an hour and 14 minutes, the family's attorney, Chris Scileppi, told ABC News affiliate KGUN.

In contrast, it took responders only 12 minutes to address Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in Tucson in January, according to Mr Scileppi.

The Greatest Action Story Ever Told

Coming this summer to a theatre near you, it's the most anticipated cinematic epic of the millennium: Executive Termination: The True Real-Life Obama/Osama Story!
It began like any other day in the Republic. The people commuted to work, the radios played, and the golfing weather was fair. No one could have predicted that a series of malicious events were about to unfold that would leave humanity dangling on the brink. And only one man was willing to step blindly into the colossal game of chance, a game where the stakes were the very existence of existence itself!

Wesley Snipes is Samuel L. Jackson as Will Smith playing Barack Obama in Executive Termination: The True Real-Life Obama/Osama Story! Also starring Megan Fox as movie mega-star Megan Fox as the woman who loved him! And starring Nicholas Cage as Mr. Vanderbelt, the deadly ninja assassin with a heart of gold. Truly a story for the ages, Executive Termination: The True Real-Life Obama/Osama Story! is the gripping retelling of the epic of our time.

With the clock ticking, Obama is in a race against time. Embroiled in humanity's greatest struggle for survival, even he cannot stand alone. A most unlikely band of heroes must join him. Dolph Lundgren is Mace 'Dolph' Mahoney, the Swedish mob boss out to avenge the death of his unborn son. Nick Nolte plays Sergeant Major Killmore, the crusty alcoholic leader of the crack, super-elite, crack, super-secret super-force of crack operatives, Seal Force Delta. Mickey Rourke is the aging Gestapo hit-man Baron Clause von Schtickengruebber. And introducing pop star sensation "Kesha", Kesha Rose Sebert, in her first appearance on the big screen as Vanessa Wentworth Struthersfield, the British Secret Agent and super-vixen with a dark past that threatens to unwind the best laid plans of this unlikely gang of champions.

Yes it's Executive Termination: The True Real-Life Obama/Osama Story! The true story of global catastrophe, a modern day Hercules, and the dark forces arrayed against him. Charlie Sheen stars as evil mastermind Osama Bin Laden, in what critics are calling "an Oscar bi-winning performance for the ages!" And Keanu Reeves stars as Ahkmed Zwari Ahmed, Al-Qaeda super-assassin, four time suicide bomber, and leader of Osama's elite hit squad, "The Fatwa Five".

Romance and suspense loom at every corner in Executive Termination: The True Real-Life Obama/Osama Story! Megan Fox is "Transformers" superstar and contemporary sex symbol Megan Fox in "the greatest romance story since Romeo and Juliet". Will the burning love of sexpot Megan Fox for President Obama be enough to carry him through calamity, or will hearts be torn asunder? Can the simple love of a woman for a man slip the surly bounds of earth as Obama and his elite team hurtle towards Bin Laden's secret moon base aboard a Saturn 5 rocket in a desperate do or die attempt to save the universe?

The New York Time's raves, "Finally, an action movie for the age of hope and change!" Yes Executive Termination: The True Real-Life Obama/Osama Story! is truly the greatest story ever told. If you see only one movie this year, you can’t afford to miss the action, suspense, romance, drama, comedy, and toe tapping musical numbers of Executive Termination: The True Real-Life Obama/Osama Story!

How to Spin a Murder

Seldom before have I listened to more guano per second as in the following ... including the fact that the interviewing reporters are a classic example of boobs who don't know enough to ask piercing and pertinent questions. As I said previously ... only utter incompetent boobs ... or a bunch of power tripped killers would fire 60+ rounds into a dead body. Anyone who as ever been trained as a competent door kicker knows this ... including anyone who has read even a smattering about entry techniques. The reporters in this case couldn't be anymore insipid and the spinning officer, more transparently full of shit:



Previous

The Child President

President Bone-Through-His-Nose

Ah Bejaysus and Begorrah! Oi’ll be swearin’ boi the auld shrine to the Vorgin with the shamrocks growin’ round it next to the hill where Cuchullain slew the Great Leprechaun of Kildare on St Patrick’s Day that Barack Seamus O’Toole Flaherty Joyce O’Bama is the most Irish US president that ever set foot on the Emerald Oisle, so he is, so he is.

Except, when he’s in Africa, of course, when he disappears into the dry ice and re-emerges with a grass skirt and a bone through his nose and declares himself to be Mandingo, Prince of the Bloodline of the Bonga People, Drinker of Cattle Urine, Father of A Thousand Warrior Sons, Keeper of King Solomon’s Mines, Barehanded Slayer of Lions, Undaunted Victim of the Evil Colonial British Empire.

And in the Middle East, where he is Al-Barak Hussein Obama, Protector of the Holy Shrine, Smiter of the Kuffar, Lion of the Desert, Tent-Loving-Aficionado-of-the-Oversweetened-Coffee, Chomper of Sheeps’ Eyeballs, Restorer of the Caliphate.

... more.

Understanding the EU Through Ireland

What voters can't ... or won't destroy ... economics may. If the Eurozone collapses, expect voters to regain the edge or better yet, the entire elitist engineered swamp to drain from simple lack of funds. Consider it the revenge of reality.

If you’re watching developments in Greece, Italy, Portugal or the other PIIGS of Europe, you may be distracted from the real story.

According to strategic investor Dennis Gartman, most investors are betting which of the troubled nations gets kicked out of the EU first.

But he says, don’t be surprised if Germany just packs its bags and walks away. “I think what ends up happening is that Germany says we’re out. We’ve had enough.”

Gartman’s thesis is quite simple. He thinks Germany is tired of paying everybody’s bills.

Conservatives ... or Schizophrenics?

I sometimes think the Prime Minister has a remarkably dark sense of humour. After nearly three-quarters of a century of depriving western farmers of a basic commercial freedom, taken for granted in other parts of the country, Ottawa is at last putting the free back into the market for wheat. Then almost within the same breadth this newly minted - and long awaited - Conservative Majority Government of National Salvation decides that the internet age can do without pesky things like warrants.

[...]

Surely I jest? No gentle readers. Stephen Harper couldn't tell actual conservatism from a barn door. How do I know this? Because the PM does not behave like a conservative who is afraid of losing power, he behaves like someone pretending to be a conservative who is afraid of losing power. Harper's policies and rhetoric are not conservative, or incrementally conservative, or hidden agenda conservative, they are instead a cliched version of conservatism.

Publius captures perfectly the frustration so many of us feel ... we are led by a "c-onservative" for whom "P-ower" and "M-icromanagement" supersede all else. Personally, I'm bracing for 4 years of conservative manic-depression - hopefully more manic than the other :)

The Hope and Change Video

Perfect!

A Crank's Wisdom

• Light travels faster than sound; that’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
• He who laughs last; thinks slowest.
• Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.
• Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
• If the shoe fits; get another one just like it.
• The things that come to those who wait will be the things left by those who got there first.
• Give a man fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
• A fine is a tax for doing wrong; a tax is a fine for doing well.
• When you go to trial you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.

Majestic

... fantastic (except for the final frame):

Could've Shot You Anywhere

... so we shot you in the face:

An Alligator Picked Clean in Seconds

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Romneycare is not part of the solution; it embodies the problem. If Mitt Romney cannot recognize that, it’s unlikely that he’s the guy to pull American politics back into a passing acquaintance with reality. To put it in Obama terms, America is a moat, and it’s filled with government spendaholics. You could toss a poor alligator in there, but they’d pick him clean in seconds, and leave what was left for Nancy Pelosi’s shoes.

Steyn

Made in America

Wild Bill

A Sterile Golgotha of Wind Towers?

What efforts has this famed floral conversationist, this defender of old-school values, this ex-foxhunting, stalking-about-the-Highland-Glens-with-his-crooked-stick countryman made to prevent a 100 square mile stretch of Britain’s most glorious countryside being transformed into a sterile Golgotha of wind towers?

Being Green, is often anything but "being green".

But, He Went to Harvard

But I don’t know that we’ve ever had a president who seemed, as much as Obama does, to live in a galaxy far, far away from “negotiation,” the human concept. It’s not that he appears to dismiss the ramifications of his actions for ongoing negotiations; it’s that they don’t even seem to occur to him. In one of the most counterintuitive episodes in a long time, it took an attitude this blunderingly dysfunctional to corner the consummate statesman Benjamin Netanyahu and induce him to say, bluntly and unequivocally, what had to be said about Israel’s irreducible requirements for survival.

... read it all.

Flag-burning With a Difference

Through decades we saw protesters within the Middle East burning the flags of both America and Israel as these countries were believed to represent the “enemies of the people.” For the first time, we see protesters burning the Russian and Iranian flags and not the American and Israeli flags. Are we watching the redefinition of the “enemies of the people” within the Middle East?

ITM

Police State

Heh ... it's progressive (do read the comments):

personally I think they are a necessary part of police work.

but not the go to tool in the tool box.

everything is not a nail and everything does not require a hammer

the unless you have ever worn a badge comment goes over with me the same as unless your black you dont know how I feel…

we as citizens are entitled to be alarmed and outraged when police create situations that end in the death of good people.
why were they on a neighborhood fishing expedition?

with a swat team?

why go military right off the bat as the go to plan?

got news for ya boyo your not military and the civilians around you are not the enemy.
if you have reached that point in your career I respectfully subit maybe you should do some reflection
I have all the respect in the world for police,

but a two tour marine is dead, a real soldier who was in his own home, the invaders were the police.

its pretty simple the whole mission was flawed and careers should be on the chopping block.

all the investigating in the world cant get past the fact that he’s dead in his own home and unless he had a history as a drug kingpin this dog dont hunt.

... and in the end, it's just a drug warrant being served on a guy who happens to have a gun (think hunter, recreational shooter, family defender ... "registered owner") ... not a terrorist, not a cartel kingpin, not a perp with a long violent history ... and not some thug being hit where there is minimum chance of children or others becoming victims. Yeah, I support the police 100% as I've got one in the family ... but I'm also an avid student of history and I know that above all else in a free and democratic society, police methods and culture must be constantly scrutinized. Police forces must constantly be reminded that "they" are "us" ... that "we" are not the enemy ... sad, but it's true.

And finally ... 71 shots fired ... into a lifeless body ... is not the work of pros ... it's the work of undisciplined boobs and yahoos on a murderous power trip. I can't get over the 71 shots ... WTF? That's a gun battle with a corpse.

What Comes After a Trillion? (Update)

... Abyss:

Million, billion, trillion . . . and now we’re going to need a word for the unit that comes after “trillion”? Oh, wait, how about “abyss”? I was struck by reader Dolores Proctor’s observation that, until spendaholic government showed up, 140,000,000,000,000 was the kind of number one would find only in a book about astronomy, and even then it would be pretty cosmic. In other words, our spending has literally (well,numerically) burst the bounds of the planet. Ms. Proctor says that if you take $140 trillion and spend a thousand bucks every second from right now going backwards through time, you’ll run out of money in 2400 b.c., just in time for the invention of the abacus, which as a bankrupt time-traveler you happily won’t require. In other other words, we have outspent human history.

Update: Visualize

It's the Aerosols ... Stupid

Every word of it sounds just like science. What a relief. Finally, there are some scientists working on questions of global warming. My hat is off to Uggerhoj and crew as well as Svensmark and crew. And you know what is so cool about this work? They have actual physical hypotheses that are not Arrhenius’ CO2 hypotheses.

This could be a tipping point for Climate Hysteria. Just the fact that scientists are publishing about physical hypotheses in climate science could totally change the terms of the debate. Maybe some people who work in the MSM, aka journalists, will be motivated to learn about physical hypotheses and their role in scientific method.

Finally, these scientists are in a Win-Win situation. If their hypotheses are shown to be reasonably confirmed they will have created the first genuine climate science after the turn of the Nineteenth Century. If their hypotheses are shown to be false, they will have established that they are the first climate scientists to have put forward a falsifiable set of hypotheses. Either way they qualify as scientists and distinguish themselves from the Warmista. Win-Win.

... the details.

Julian Fantino's Legacy

... comes to High Park:

The campers said Monday they had no choice but to occupy the park, because the city has ignored their demands that it stop mountain bike riders from using the area, and they plan to stay until it is restored.

“We want the same rights and protections as any cemetery has,” said Rick MacRae, 51, who gave the spirit name Northern Medicine Wolf. Mr. MacRae sat by a smouldering fire in the drizzle, under the protection of several tarps strung between the tall oaks. “Nobody would go and ride bikes in a Christian cemetery or a Jewish cemetery.”

What Next ... Five Year Plans?

... oh ... wait:

The "budget", though, is an exercise in fantasy – a prolonged sojourn in Cloud-cuckoo land – as it seeks to impose national limits on carbon dioxide emissions for the five year period from 2023 to 2027. And the idiot Huhne has decided that this nation of ours should produce no more than 1950 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent - a 50 percent reduction from 1990 levels.

... once their five year plans prove useless, they'll introduce "Struggle Sessions and Purges".

Ponzi Hell

... time to lay low:

The news media in this country are in a stupor. Either out of ignorance, or complete leftist bias and fraud to protect their socialist hero Barack Obama, the mainstream media has turned a blind eye toward the enormous disaster facing our economy. The greatest Ponzi scheme in world history is coming to an end, leaving America on the precipice of economic Armageddon. Here are the facts the mainstream media does not want you to see- hiding in plain site just like Osama bin Laden was.

Bill Gross is the world’s biggest bond trader. He runs the PIMCO bond fund with over $250 billion under management. He recently disclosed through financial filings that PIMCO has sold every single U.S. bond in its portfolio. Local, state, federal bonds- all sold off. Gross knows bonds are about to default in record numbers. And most importantly, he knows that the last resort of the Federal Reserve buying our own government’s bonds at auction is a certain sign of Armageddon. When no one is left to buy your own debt but you, you have reached the end of a Ponzi Scheme.

Green Forever!

Big environment. Big issues. Little you. If you feel as if there's not much one person can do to make a positive impact on the environment—just take a look at these Go Green (Forever®) stamps. They illustrate simple things we each can do every day. With only a few small changes to the way we live.

... makes one want to create a set of stamps that help you piss off a green a day.

Why Socialists Love High Oil Prices

VDH:

In short, the only reason why Obama brags about record US oil production is for purposes of reelection (otherwise, he would rather borrow to buy Brazilian off-shore finds to help our southern neighbor). We are living the Obama-Chu dream as outlined by both. Again, to quote Secretary Chu, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”

Oh ... The Humanity

Identity Crisis:

“His view of Canadian identity would appear to be a limited one, focused very much on traditional Canadian immigration from western Europe and the United Kingdom,” Nater said Tuesday. “The concern is it does exclude a large segment of the population … from non-traditional ethnicities. He is entitled to represent these views and put out his understanding of (national) identity, but the challenge with his position is they are not challenged. He is presented as a hockey commentator and there’s no challenge function to what he says on non-hockey related issues.”

Sharia Spring: In Canada

"Due to this partnership, and through the initiative of the Islamic Foundation, the Scarborough Hospital changed its policies in relation to shrouding the bodies of the deceased Muslims to respect religious injunctions, with male staff handling male bodies and female staff handling female bodies.
“The Mosque is also recommending to various hospitals that they implement policies for treatment and caring of the Muslim female patients, preferably by hospital’s female staff only,”

... more.

Cooling

The Magnificant Bastardi:

And that leads me to another point. the summer is going to be cool in a large area of the nation from the northern rockies into the midwest because of what has happened and what is going on now. The extra precip makes it harder to get hot, the sun has to work harder to evaporate water… the global temp GOING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF LAST YEAR WHEN WE CAME OFF THE NIno also throws in its 2 cents, especially with the cooling in the mid troposphere. The BUST in May, fully 75% of the nation will wind up at or below normal temp wise can be tracked to such things. Interestingly enough, a cool May in a neutral enso coming off a nino within 2 winters is a hurricane impact signal, the last 3 cool Mays were 03,05 and 08 with that… 05 was much drier though, and so the summer was hotter. In any case one can see the link, past to present..then project into the future. If climatologists want to deny that, then thats fine with me… perhaps they feeled threatened by those of us that love what they do as much or more than they may, and dig into this stuff night and day to try to give us an edge on tomorrow. as imperfect as we may be

A Most Excellent Libyan Adventure

Slip sliding away:

Two months have now passed since RAF jets began bombarding Colonel Gaddafi’s defences yet the despot’s regime shows little sign of crumbling.

Frustrated by this lack of progress, the head of the Armed Forces, General Sir David Richards, yesterday argued that if Nato members want to get rid of Gaddafi they must intensify their bombing onslaught.

Later, Defence Secretary Liam Fox backed this call to ‘up the ante’ – despite the fact it appears to go beyond the original United Nations resolution on Libya which permitted only those measures necessary to protect the civilian population.

The Fall of a Europhile

Whether innocent or not ... some are finding the fall of the Frog Prince delicious:

In truth, if the man is actually innocent, then what he has been through over the last few days is unconscionable, barbaric even. One can quite understand why the finer sensibilities of the Kermits might be offended.

But, on the other hand, he is one of "them". Whether he is guilty or not does not really matter. As a representative of "them", the ritual public humiliation and the suffering of DSK serves a greater purpose. It is a reminder of what we would like to do to them all – would do to them all – given a chance.

When one considers that it is the likes of the Frog Prince who have brought Europe less freedom, dangerous Muslim immigration, zero upward mobility, and stagnation ... it's small wonder that pitch forks and mobs are just around the corner. Unfortunately, Europe has proven again and again that its pendulum has a dangerously wide swing.

The Best Way to Create Conservative Voters

... is to give them a taste of the alternative:

Last week John Scales, of JWS research, polled 2141 people in the 10 most marginal Labor seats and the 10 most marginal Coalition seats. Asked which, of the past five, had been the best government for Australia, 50 per cent nominated the Howard government, followed by 13 per cent for the Keating government, 13 per cent for the Hawke government, 12 per cent for the Rudd government, 8 per cent were unsure and, bringing up the rear, were the 4 per cent who nominated the Gillard government.

Dear Friends

My friends, I am here to speak words of truth and freedom.

Do you know why America is in a better state than Europe? Because you enjoy more freedom than Europeans.

And do you know why Americans enjoy more freedom than Europeans? Because you are still allowed to tell the truth.

In Europe and Canada people are dragged to court for telling the truth about Islam.

[...]

Islam is an ideology of conquest. It uses two methods to achieve this goal: the first method is the sword. Do you know what figures on the flag of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a country where Christian churches are banned and Christians are not even allowed to wear a tiny crucifix? There is a huge sword on that flag, just below the Islamic creed. The message is clear. Without the sword Islam would not have been able to spread its creed.

The second method is immigration. Islam’s founder Muhammad himself taught his followers how to conquer through immigration when they moved from Mecca to Medina. This phenomenon of conquest through immigration is called al-Hijra. My learned friend Sam Solomon has written a perfect book about it.

... keep reading.

F-35: The Elephant Grows Bigger

Distortions:

I retired in 2005 after enjoying a 33-year career in the federal public service, the last 10 years of which were spent in defence procurement. As the person who signed the 2002 Memorandum of Understanding with the Pentagon for the F-35, committing Canada to the second phase of the Joint Strike Fighter program, I continue to be alarmed as to how the facts continue to be distorted.

At least the price can fly:

Newly revealed details of F-35 cost issues, assembled for the Pentagon’s Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) dated Dec. 31, shows an average procurement unit cost (APUC) of $125 million for 1,763 USAF F-35s and $150 million for the Navy variants. Already the cumulative cost and schedule pressure have resulted in Munn-McCurdy breaches in the 2001 and 2007 baselines for both program acquisition unit cost (PAUC) and APUC. According to the SAR, “the breech is currently at 78.23% for the [original 2001 figures] and 80.66% for the APUC.” The increase over the 2007 baseline is figured at 27.34% for the PAUC and 31.23% for the APUC. “These increased costs reflect the comprehensive program restructure … that occurred in 2010,” the report continued. “New calculation will be completed against the new Acquisiton Program Baseline currently being updated for the milestone B review scheduled [for this month].”

If ... if ... if:

The average procurement unit cost for the USAF F-35A, over the planned 1,763-aircraft run, is about $125 million (page 29). The rock-bottom cost is $105 million in 2018. But there’s a catch: this assumes (page 15) that the on-record plans for international partner buys, reflected in the Production, Sustainment and Follow-On Development MoU, remain intact.

But that assumes substantial international buys starting in 2014, when APUC is projected to be $140 million — and if, as is now all but certain, IOC slips to 2018, that’s most unlikely to happen. And up to FY16, more than half the F-35As on the books are supposed to go to international partners.

That and other factors will have been in play as a new independent cost estimate has been prepared, for this month’s Milestone B review. So, a word of caution — the SAR 10 numbers are not final…

Whither Go The Forces

... a discussion:

Now that the election is over, we can do some sober analysis, and one area that deserves parsing is the Liberal and NDP platform positions on peacekeeping. Both were enthusiastic about serving the United Nations. Neither seemed unduly interested in war-fighting, although the Liberals, whose agreement was essential for the 2008 three-year extension of combat in Afghanistan and for the three-year training commitment there, did seem to concede it as a possibility.

Nonetheless, the now-defeated Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff made some interesting comments in the French-language leaders' debate that deserve to be remembered, if not heeded. The UN Security Council, he maintained, should decide if Canadian troops are to be committed to operations: "The Canadian Army must never be used outside the country without the authorization of the UN."

My personal feelings go something like this ... first lets develop a consistent foreign policy, then lets discuss the military. It'd be a first.

Grounded: Next Generation ... or No Generation Fighters

Look at the bright side; at least Quebec firms will be kept busy fixing things:

Two Raptors have crashed since the jet entered service in 2005.

The smaller F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, also made by Lockheed, is meant to complement the F-22 starting around 2016. The F-35 was meant from the outset to be more reliable than previous airplanes. But early experience on the JSF indicates it could be as finicky as its bigger cousin, the F-22. The future Air Force could have its hands full just keeping its high-tech planes in the air.

Mounted Him On Top of the Ground Zero Mosque

... with a pork chop in his mouth:

Perhaps, the Bravest President Ever

But he made that decision to go without telling Pakistan and that took some real courage, as much courage as our Navy SEALs did in pulling off a near flawless operation.

~ Wendy Chamberlain

Damn the Media; Damn Muslims

Nice trick here ... where CTV refers to violence in Egypt as a "clash" (which suggests equal guilt); CTV just about chokes on its own guano attempting to turn the story into a simple case of violence among equally guilty antagonists, but fortunately the facts are so overwhelmingly clear, that even CTV can't water down what's happening.

The reality is that Muslims have been attacking and murdering Christians in Egypt for a long time now, and it's getting worse. It's purely a case of Christians defending themselves against post-modern fascism (Islam) ... just as in the rest of Africa the Muslim horde is slowing and surely squeezing the life out of all other religious groups.

The bubble heads at CTV don't even stop long enough to let their common sense engage ... which screams at us that only the utterly suicidal would "clash" or "riot" against a Muslim state, where Christians are a tiny minority, confined to ghettos, surrounded by barbarians.  The least that the "progressives" at CTV could do, would be to clearly innumerate the dire and deadly circumstances that Christians find themselves in.  In the past, we would've called that "context".

This piece consists of classic "progressive" watering down of fact that should've been simple to enunciate: 1) Christians are under attack in Egypt  2) They are in desperate straights  3) They are simply defending themselves and they are "victims" while the Muslim state is the "antagonist".

Religious tension continues to seethe in Egypt after a violent clash between Christians and Muslims left ten dead and 190 arrested, heading for military trials.

The county's military rulers reacted swiftly after an attempt to burn down two churches set off a riot in a Cairo slum.

Mobs of ultraconservative Muslims from the Salafi religious trend converged on a church in the slum of Imbaba late Saturday following rumours of an interfaith romance.

Christians barricaded themselves inside and around the church when the demonstrations turned violent. Witnesses said people on rooftops fired into the crowd.

At least six of the dead were Muslims.

The incident follows the bombing of a church on New Year's day that left 21 dead and sparked clashes between the country's minority Christians and riot police.

"This is something that's very much seething underneath," said CTV's Martin Seemungal, reporting from Jerusalem, noting that since Egypt's recent revolution, "people are wondering, and Christians in particular are very concerned, how they are going to be treated in a new Egypt."

The military said the mass arrests were to deter people from threatening the nation's security. Military trials are notorious for their speed.

Weaponizing Children

Not Everybody Just Stands Around

Two sandwich shop workers are getting credit for saving a couple from an attack by thugs on the Southwest Side.

It was all caught on a security camera.

Chicago police say three men jumped the couple in the drive-up lane of a Mr. Submarine restaurant, 10509 S. Western Ave., early Sunday morning in the Beverly neighborhood.

The attackers demanded money and the couple's sandwich, but worker Ernesto Romero was able to pin one of the men against a wall while Romero's brother, Agustin, rushed outside and defended the couple until police arrived.

Arrested were Conor Heffernan, 24, of the 3000 block of West 98th Place; William Butler, 20, of the 9000 block of South Central Avenue, and Robert Heffernan, 20, of Kalamazoo, Mich. Each was charged with misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property, said Police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez. They are scheduled to appear in court June 3.

The Chicago City Council plans to honor the Romero brothers for their actions.

Teachers, Leave Our Kids Alone

Because they've lost the battle of logic and science among adults; the battleground will now increasingly become the classroom. Projects and stunts will be the new brainwashing technique.



... and of course, they won't stop at Global Warming.

Decliner - in - Chief

One of his advisers described the President’s actions in Libya as “leading from behind.” That’s not a slogan designed for signs at the 2012 Democratic Convention, but it does accurately describe the balance that Obama now seems to be finding. It’s a different definition of leadership than America is known for, and it comes from two unspoken beliefs: that the relative power of the US is declining, as rivals like China rise, and that the US is reviled in many parts of the world. Pursuing our interests and spreading our ideals thus requires stealth and modesty as well as military strength. “It’s so at odds with the John Wayne expectation for what America is in the world,” the adviser said. “But it’s necessary for shepherding us through this phase.”

What the hell is “this phase”? Where are we “reviled” and by whom? Syria? Russia? Yemen? Somalia? Cuba?

[...]

President Obama, listen carefully. By every benchmark, this should be an American century. Our known fossil fuel reserves are soaring, as new finds of coal, natural gas, oil, tar sands, and oil shale keep growing, not shrinking. Demographically, we are expanding; Europe, Japan, and China are shrinking.

We do not have the strikes of Europe, the violence of the Middle East, the state oppression of China. India has religious, social, and caste tensions unknown in the US American farmland is the most productive in the world, its farmers the most gifted and innovative. We inherited a vast, developed infrastructure; out duty is to improve and expand it, not, as our ancestors had to, start from scratch building a Hoover Dam, intercontinental railroad, or port facilities in Oakland.

... more from VDH?

What Actually Happened to OBL

A Woman with Confidence; Competance; Class

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sweating Palms

Catastrophe:

Rogers said the UK coalition government needed to go further in order to avoid financial catastrophe.

“They [the government] are not doing it. They are saying they are doing it but they are not. They are saving £1 billion ($1.6 billion) here or there but they are not doing what they really need to and I’m not sure the government would survive the kind of pain that is really required," he said.

Greece:

An influential member of Germany's governing coalition backed the possibility on Tuesday of easing the terms of Greece's euro zone bailout, a move that might help Athens better weather the debt crisis.

Michael Meister, deputy parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said he saw logic in extending the repayment schedule for the 110 billion euros of loans granted to Greece on May 2, 2010.

Eurozone:

The euro's slide accelerated Friday after a report that Greece could leave the euro zone. The common currency just hit session lows against the dollar, Swiss franc and yen.

The euro fell as low as $1.4420, from about $1.4532 late Thursday, according to EBS via CQG. The common currency fell as low as CHF1.2628, its lowest level against the franc since March 18.

The euro dropped to Y116.12, its lowest level against the yen since March 29.

"Progressive Education"

According to a new report, 47 percent of Detroiters are ”functionally illiterate.” The alarming new statistics were released by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund on Wednesday.

WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with the Fund’s Director, Karen Tyler-Ruiz, who explained exactly what this means.

“Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday (things). Reading a prescription; what’s on the bottle, how many you should take… just your basic everyday tasks,” she said.

“I don’t really know how they get by, but they do. Are they getting by well? Well, that’s another question,” Tyler-Ruiz said.

Some of the Detroit suburbs also have high numbers of functionally illiterate: 34 percent in Pontiac and 24 percent in Southfield.

“For other major urban areas, we are a little bit on the high side… We compare, slightly higher, to Washington D.C.’s urban population, in certain ZIP codes in Washington D.C. and in Cleveland,” she said.

Tyler-Ruiz said only 10 percent of those who can’t read have gotten any help to resolve it.

The report will be used to provide better training for local workers.

... source.

Windfarms: From Ridiculous to Bizarre

Since wind is anything but consistent, energy providers who use wind power must have power "on tap", for when the wind doesn't blow. What this means is that wind farms, the world over, have not reduced the need for conventional power by one electron.

Now we are struck with the bizarre reality that when the wind blows too much ... grids can't handle the extra surge because all that "on tap" power can't be just switched off:

Six Scottish windfarms were paid up to £300,000 to stop producing energy, it has emerged.

The turbines, at a range of sites across Scotland, were stopped because the grid network could not absorb all the energy they generated.

Details of the payments emerged following research by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF).

The REF said energy companies were paid £900,000 to halt the turbines for several hours between 5 and 6 April.

Previous:

German Wind Farm Boondoggle

German Solar Power Crash

Final Remarks

Mister President, members of the Court:

I recently tried to have Your Honors removed from the case for your refusal to register a statement of perjury against Mr. Hendriks. My challenge of the court did not succeed. I must accept that. I do wish to say, however, that I was more annoyed by another declaration of the President of the Court on the day of the official hearing of Mr. Jansen. He said that I was a free man, that I could not be compared to Mr. [Gregorius] Nekschot because I was a free man.

Mister President, you could not be more wrong. For almost seven years now, I have not been a free man. I lost my freedom in 2004. I live as a prisoner with guards without you having convicted me. Without protection I am even less certain of my life than I am now. Mister President, you would not use the words “free man” if you could change places with me for one week.

... keep reading.

Celestial Junk Would Like to Dedicate The Harper Majority To ...

Jack Layton Money Line

From Jack's victory speech ...

"I've always favored proposition over opposition"

Indeed!

Thank You Thank You Jack; Congratulations Mr. Harper

Harper did it.

But the story of the night is Jack Layton. Conservatives should be over-joyed that Layton will be leading the opposition. Conservatives should be elated that Jack Layton will now stand as the "alternative" to a CPC government.

Talk about an easy ride from here on in. I said earlier today that if Mr. Harper can't get a majority when Canadians are facing a possible Layton PMO, then he'll never do it. Who are we kidding ... Canadians, because they are more or less reasonable folks, will never give Jack the keys unless the CPC utterly and completely mess up. As long as the choice remains Jack or Steve, you know which way things will go.

So, let's thank Jack tonight and wish him continued victory as the official leader of the opposition well into the next election cycle ... for that alone will guarantee the CPC years of power to come.

As to the Liberals ... I wouldn't write them off ... not quite yet, but with a few defection to either the NDP or CPC, a change in funding rules for the parties, and some targeted ruthlessness on the part of the CPC and this could be it ... the end of a Canadian LPC era.

Even better is the reality that a Canadian Party can win a majority without a massive Quebec following ... that alone is outstanding news. Quebec is shut out ... or is it; separatism is out?

So, congratulations Mr. Harper. The LPC are crushed; the separatists are crushed; Robert (knuckle-draggers) Fife is downcast; and your opposition is now clearly a far left pack of utopians ... talk about easy pickings. How about a starboard nudge to that rudder now ... a slow and steady demonstration to Canadians that there is life beyond Big Government and it's far better than anyone could imagine.

Cheers!

Celestial Junk Predicts

Stephen Harper will win a small majority tonight ... 158 to 161 seats. It will go down to the wire in BC.

One by one the targets have fallen ... the LPC is dead ... the BLOC is dead ... and now Jack (John) Layton will terrify the rest of centrists to walk to the CPC camp.

I will be surprised, in fact, if Harper doesn't get his majority. IF, Harper doesn't win tonight, he will never win, what with the four most terrifying words hanging in the air from coast to coast:

Prime Minister Jack Layton !

How it Went Down

When one of Osama bin Laden's most trusted aides picked up the phone last year, he unknowingly led U.S. pursuers to the doorstep of his boss, the world's most wanted terrorist.

That phone call, recounted Monday by U.S. official, ended a years-long search for bin Laden's personal courier, the key break in a worldwide manhunt. The courier, in turn, led U.S. intelligence to a walled compound in northeast Pakistan, where a team of Navy SEALS shot bin Laden to death.

... keep reading.

There's a Man Going Round

For Osama (crab food)

OBL Buried at Sea

WTF

Didn't Obama just say that OBL was NOT a Muslim, but a murderer? Uday and Qusay were held from July 22 to August 2nd before being handed over ... but now when dealing with the number one terrorist they quickly dump his body into the ocean as to not offend Muslim tradition.

Furthermore, the Hussein bodies were subjected to "indignities" so that there would be proof and witnesses outside the military to confirm the fact ...

Sorry, but I've got a major case of What The Fuck?

After all the sweat and blood ... after a decade of war ... after all the lives lost, Obama has the thug dumped into the ocean without a full civilian and judicial confirmation process that it was OBL?

Jimma Carter ... indeed.

Steyn on Steroids

Once we raise the old debt ceiling, we’ll be pretty much at the point where the U.S. government is spending $4 trillion but only taking in $2 trillion: For every dollar we raise in taxes, we spend two. No surprise there: The “poorest” half of the population pay no federal income tax. They’re not exactly poor as the term would be understood in almost any other country, but in federal-revenue terms they’re dependents, so in order to fund government services for the wealthiest “poor” people on the planet we borrow money from a nation of subsistence peasants where pigs are such prized possessions they sleep in the house.

... read it all.

ht

Breaking: Bin Laden Dead

CTV:

Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is dead, multiple sources are telling the media.

U.S. President Barack Obama is set to make an important "national security" announcement from the White House at any moment.

CTV Washington Bureau Chief Paul Workman said bin Laden is believed to have been killed in Pakistan several days ago and the U.S. has his body.

A nationally televised address on a Sunday night called on such a short notice is considered an "extraordinary" development.

The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, took the lives of nearly 3,000 people, including 24 Canadians.

Visitors outside the White House could be heard chanting "U.S.A! U.S.A!" prior to Obama's speech.

The President's Speech

He May be a Barbarian ...

... but he's our barbarian:

There are a number of videos circulating about from "free Libya" showing grotesque head-loppings, executions, torture and desecration of bodies, of African mercenaries who apparently were captured or killed by the rebels in Libya. No doubt, the mercenaries were quite brutal thugs whom Qaddafi employed to coerce or kill his opponents; but the sort of barbarity we see is also the sort that we are subsidizing now with direct cash infusions, as well as with military logistics and support (and who knows whether today the on-again-off-again US participation in the NATO bombing "no-fly" zone missions is on again?). One could argue that these are isolated incidents beyond the control of the Westernized professionals who pop up on CNN and the BBC as the official face of the "rebellion," but the filmed savageries take place amid large crowds, urging the executioners and torturers on, often in an apparently jihadist manner, which suggests both race and religion contribute to the hatred of the hired enforcers. (When I was in Libya the most common complaint quietly aired against Qaddafi were his cash subsidies of all sorts to black Africans, both in and out of the country).

... keep reading VDH.

Gravitas

The hubbub was enough to cause one reporter to quip: "Look at all these reporters who typically rip her a new one mosey on up to her, desperate to get a photograph."

... the details.

Thank You Thank You Jack

In what has been the prozac election, John (Jack) Layton has given Canadians something to vote for ... or against.

In a field of dud candidates, Layton's sudden surge has injected much needed passion into the election and above all, much needed sensation.

For Socialists, be they old time union hacks and or star struck university students, there is now hope ... hope that they may for once transform Canada into Europe, or better yet, a transnational utopia that is governed more by global norms, than by Canadian norms.

For Liberals, the fight has now become one for survival. It's moved far beyond Iggy and into the realm of the previously unthinkable ... this could be the last election where the LPC plays any significant role.

For Conservatives and centrists, there is now something to fear ... it's the kind of fear that, no matter how ugly and unfair the Conservative attack ads, was not generated by targeting Iggy. After all, he's not that scary ... neither he as an individual nor his party ... Canada roared through the global recession after all, thanks largely to Paul Martin's economic policies. Nope, it's fear that the life-long public teat sucking socialist, one John (Jack) Latyon, may actually become Prime Minister of Canada.

For those conservatives like myself, who are disgusted not only with Stephen Harper's blatant pandering to progressives, but with his utterly droll public personality, the fear of Prime Minister John (Jack) Layton may actually get us out of our houses and into the voting booth. Thousands of us have, after all, refused to donate funds, nor pound signs or ring door bells this election ... but for those in swing ridings, John (Jack) Layton may actually provide incentive to hold their noses (and breath), and vote for the Big Government Tory candidate.

Thank you John (Jack) Layton for the spark ... or is it Jack (John) Layton?