Stats Corner

Haven't done this bit in a while.

I was looking at Canada's Olympic Ice Hockey record.

Canada has won 13 gold medals in men's and women's hockey against principally two countries: Sweden and the United States. Nine against the USA, three against Sweden and one against Czechoslovakia.

Of the three gold medals won by the U.S., two have come against Canada.

As for the Soviet Union/Unified Team/Russia. Their eight gold medals came at the expense of five different countries.

Canada and Russia have met just once. That was back in 1992 in Albertville where the Unified Team prevailed 3-1.

Not a particularly timely post but one I wanted off my medium-sized chest.

Phrases I Hate

Well, I hate 'Investor Class' more when it's uttered by progressives.

In the right hands, say an economist or financial expert it's fine.

I imagine whenever a left-winger hears the term they think of a multi-millionaire old man chomping on a cigar and sipping bourbon laughing heartily while sending orphans to the diamond minds or to produce monocles in a sweatshop.

But the investor class is more than that. It's you and me. Sure there are degrees of investing determined by means. The person who saves more has access to more capital and in theory can invest more.

Nonetheless, at anytime anyone can become an investor.

You're an investor and you probably don't realize it. If you have a pension, the company invests your money on your behalf in, say, stocks or mutual funds.

An investor can simultaneously own a business and earn a modest salary. They are not mutually exclusive.

So by all means. Demonize the 'investor class'. Just recall when you do, you're shooting yourself in the foot just like calls for taxing capital gains and dividends retard your chances of building wealth for you and your family.

Fall Of The West Reason 6778383333

"Now a more intrusive version of that plan has turned up via the University of Denver, where the chancellor believes a bit of social engineering will push students toward a diverse range of friendships. The chancellor, Rebecca Chopp, argued, “I don’t think it is enough to leave new relationships to chance. … Let’s cultivate practices in which students make friends not by chance but because we are cultivating friendships around community values.”

Nice. Pseudo-intellectual gibberish at its finest.

1984 is coming? Nope. It's already here my friend. Good luck getting rid of these idiots in positions of power.

When historians trace back where it all went wrong I sleep comfortably knowing my blog will not be mentioned.




 

My Stance On Global Warming

Interviewer: What would you do to fight global warming?
T.C.: Two words: Air. Conditioners.

/Grin and winks.

Capitalism Cake

From weavingthepast.

Laugh. There are some who walk among us who believe this. Why, they even vote.

"Fuck PETA"

I've managed to work the word 'fuck' twice in one day in my titles!

Yay!

Never heard of Tagaq but I like her already:

"F--k PETA," Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq declared as she claimed the 2014 Polaris Prize in Toronto on Monday night.

The musician from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, used her victory to encourage hipsters to make eating and wearing seal trendy.

"People should wear and eat seal as much as possible, because if you imagine an indigenous culture thriving and surviving on a sustainable resource, wearing seal and eating it, it's delicious and there's lots of them and f--- PETA," Tagaq said.

PETA specifically opposes the East Coast seal hunt, and has lobbied on behalf of the European Union ban that makes an exception for indigenous hunters
Inuit leaders, however, have spoken out against the ban and affiliated campaigns, claiming they stigmatize all people who hunt and harvest the animal.

Tagaq also made waves with her pro-seal activism in April when she contributed to the Inuit-led social media movement of posting "sealfies" with an image of a baby next to a dead seal.

Title Of Day

"Syria Becomes the 7th Predominantly Muslim Country Bombed by 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate."

Glenn Greenwald.

And the left stay silent.

 

The Perpetually Aggrieved: Get Over Yourselves

The more you assuage the less they're pleased:

"These include an aboriginal band that was scheduled to play at Saturday’s public gala, but backed out at the last minute — apparently because its members didn’t like the museum’s portrayal of Canadian indigenous issues. The Manitoba Métis Federation decided to boycott the museum because the gala organizers rejected their suggested Métis musical act. Arab Canadian protestors told National Post reporter Joseph Brean that the museum didn’t have enough information about the Palestinians. (On Sunday, a Quebec man named Pete Kirby was campaigning to have Israel’s war against Hamas included in the museum — because of the suffering endured by Gazan civilians.) James Kafieh, an Ontario lawyer and chair of an anti-museum group called Canadians for Genocide Education is protesting the museum on the basis that it was built on “stolen” (i.e. aboriginal) land, and elevates one atrocity (the Holocaust) over all others, in pursuit of what he calls an “emotionally manipulative indoctrination.”

Then there is the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which has been protesting the Canadian Museum For Human Rights for a decade. Lubomyr Luciuk, who wants Canadians to boycott the museum, calls it “an Olympics of genocide.” He doesn’t like that the Jews get the gold, the Ukrainians a mere bronze."

We're still waiting on Quebec to chime in.

It's all getting so dated and tiresome.

How about this: No one gets a party hat. Now get lost!

Assume The Position

New York Times intellectualism via David Brooks: 

"It's important in times like these to step back and get clarity. The truest thing to say is this: We are living in an amazingly fortunate time. But we also happen to be living during a leadership crisis, and a time when few people have faith in elites to govern from the top. We live in a vibrant society that is not being led.

We don’t suffer from an abuse of power as much as a nonuse of power. It’s been years since a major piece of legislation was passed, and there’s little prospect that one will get passed in the next two.
This leadership crisis is eminently solvable. First, we need to get over the childish notion that we don’t need a responsible leadership class, that power can be wielded directly by the people. America was governed best when it was governed by a porous, self-conscious and responsible elite — during the American revolution, for example, or during and after World War II. Karl Marx and Ted Cruz may believe that power can be wielded directly by the masses, but this has almost never happened historically."

/T.C. walking and whistling with hands in pocket. Sees Brooks. Slaps him off the side of the head. Continues on whistling 'Put on a happy face'.

Obama Attacks Syria Without Congressional Approval

And no one on the left said anything.

Netflix Tells The CRTC To Fuck Off

And I say GOOD.

Hydro Quebec: Like The Mob

Hydro has been cracking down on companies demanding they pay a 'security deposit' up front to avoid late payments or delinquency.

Know what else I just heard through the grapevine they're doing?

They're telling landlords if a tenant doesn't pay the electricity bill they must pay it or risk getting power cut off.

See nothing wrong with a government owned operation doing this?

Okay.

Imagine if a private enterprise - say Bell or a bank - pulling this shit.

Imagine the the public outcry and media attention.

Calls for reigning in 'teh corparashins' would be unbearable.

But Hydro is an 'extension' of the people. So. All good.

Shifting Jargon; Moving Goal Posts

Ok. Let's see. I can't keep up anymore. First, it was global warming, then it was climate change and only to be expanded to system change (because you can't change the climate without first destroying capitalism and bringing in reputable socialism) and now a UN chief chimes in with 'climate disruption'?

I haven't been this confused since Fonzie started wearing a black t-shirt.

Canada's Health System

I appreciate when people go the extra kilometer (mile) to explore the state of Canada's health care system.

Yourhealthsystem.cihi.ca goes in-depth not just measuring the overall performance of Canadian health but breaks it all the way down to specific hospitals in your region.

Until now, outside some international indices like OECD and private think-tanks like Fraser Institute, it's hard to get more information.

Here's an OECD working paper on the rising role of private health insurance.

A system based on competing primary private insurers can improve responsiveness and consumer

choice, but this will come at increased cost. Where private health insurance is primary for certain

population groups, ensuring access to affordable coverage will be an important policy

Conclusion? Private gives choice!

/all look around in shock.

Climate Change Week

The Consensus on the consensus.

No doubt he's on big oil's pay roll.

***

My take on Harper's position on Kyoto and climate  system change?

It's the sensible and practical way to go given Canada is a resource based economy. Canada already has strong environmental standards in place and tying our economy to the UN's conditions is not responsible governance. Harper is heavily criticized for this but he's on the right side of this increasingly shrill and discredited debate.

Australia tells a cautionary tale when a resource based economy decides to go green. And Germany, once dedicated to the cause, completely reversed direction because of the destruction green policies were heaping on the economy. Add that the United States, India and China have and will not sign, it makes little sense for our economy - a branch plant American one depended on the U.S. (and to a lesser extent Chinese) - to join Kyoto.

Perhaps there are fair criticisms to be directed at the Harper government, but jumping on Kyoto is not one of them.

Not About Climate Change Anymore

It's system change.

Jesus, can these idiots be anymore predictable? We all knew - the sober ones anyway - climate change had little to do with the environment and everything to do with control.

More to the point, it's nothing but an anti-capitalist movement filled with the usual left-wing buffoons in its ranks.

Their jargon, their thought process (if you could call it that), their position all amount to nothing more than the same, dated socialist ideals that has given to so many state-sanctioned murders.

That 300 000 (and I wouldn't be surprised if the number isn't that high) marched to protest climate-system change only points to the malaise we face in terms of deep-rooted, insecure, irrational fears that exists on the left.

The party of rationalism my ass. Like these people care the policies they support lead to the deaths of people. Of course not. They don't see the path of destruction they leave behind.



Lord. These are the people who will usher in a new 'system'?

Learn to dig a moat and raise a private army because they'll come for blood.

Canada's 'Greatest Canadian'

Canadians love - just love to make fun of American ignorance. I like to counter best to focus on your own back yard.

Case in point, Canadians insidiously voting Tommy Douglas the 'greatest Canadian' during a CBC poll a few years ago.

Such is the obsessive grip universal health continues to have on our minds. To the point we name the guy who set it up as the best Canadian.

Anyway.

Douglas was a eugenicist.

File under 'More proof progressives white wash history and love nasty people'.

Clorox Does Sane Thing; Leaves Socialist Paradise

Clorox pulls out of Venezuela because of 'government restrictions, supply disruptions'.

No shit.

Why would any business or free thinking mind put up with the recent commie crap going on there?

Music To My Ears

The fear of Uber is spreading to Montreal. Competition tends to do that to monopolies.

'Uber defie la loi' screamed the headlines in Le Journal de Montreal. 'Uber defies the law.'

Good.

Anytime the free markets good smash or challenge the permit racket I'm all for it.

Radical Islam: Not Insignificant Numbers

I keep hearing about how radical Islam represent a small fraction of the overall Islamic population.

To any astute observer of history, lemme summarize: Duh.

The 'small minority' or the 'vocal few' or however you want to describe it have always caused the biggest ruckus and sometimes crimes against humanity. The 'silent majority' though likely peaceful generally get ransacked and over run by a bunch of sociopaths or psychopaths. See Soviet Russia, Mao China, Nazi Germany, Castro's Cuba and North Korea for example.

It's no different with radical Islam.

Math time!

There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. It's been estimated by Interpol and the CIA anywhere between 20-25% of Muslims are radicalized and prepared to join terrorist organizations.

Let's use the lower-end of those estimates. This means there are possibly 320 million members of the 'religion of peace' ready to fight for jihad. That's bigger than any nation in the West including the United States.

By contrast, there are about 2.1 billion Christians (according to Wiki). How many of them blow themselves up again? This is why moral relativists who attempt to equate Christianity with radical Islam with strawman logic can suck on a lemon. Same with Hinduism. I don't see too many of the estimated 1 billion Hindi (or Buddhists for that matter) strapping explosives to their chests in an attempt to set up some irrational Caliphate in the West.

It really gets bizarre when you bring in Judaism - the Jooooos! According to the politically correct, progressives and other assortment of morally challenged individuals who can't see beyond their clouded judgment, 14 million Jews - of which six million in a tiny strip of land surrounded by hundreds of millions hostile Arabs and Iranians ready to 'throw them into the Sea' - are the source of all the madness.

If only the Jooooos would stop their settlements!

/points to statistics box.

Sorry pal, even if Israel would go full blown isolationist, you'd still have a gigantic radical Islam problem.

When you consult the numbers, one should quickly dismiss any notions of racism directed against Muslims. Indeed, jihadists are open about their designs - just like Hitler was if anyone bothered to either read his book or take him seriously instead of appeasing him. Yet here we are doing the exact same thing. It doesn't help the United States has a leader who isn't entirely convinced he needs to destroy Islamists or Western governments - save a few sober ones like Poland - so far up the political correctness ass, they can barely defend themselves from within it seems.

So be it.

As history dictates, all it takes is a few to murder on a grand scale.

Mine, Mine, Mine

Weird story involving FIFA, Platini, watches and ethics.

FIFA and the NFL.

Two peas in a pod.

Everyone's doing it!

The Feeling Is Mutual

I find this fascinating though not surprising. 

The thing I find most intriguing about bureaucrats holding hostile views of the people is A) they freely joined the public service to serve, you know, the fucking people and B) who do they think pays their salaries and pensions often more generous than the the taxpayers they hold in contempt?

Put it to you another way. If people don't work and produce, there's no money to pay civil servants since government doesn't produce anything.

Lord, Lord, Lord.

Songs Banned By The BBC

Remember kids, the BBC is not a right-wing extremist organization.

It's a public broadcaster looking out for your best interest.

M'kay?

A Natural Alliance

"The Flying Inn is a novel first published in 1914 by G. K. Chesterton. It is set in a future England where the Temperance movement has allowed a bizarre form of "Progressive" Islam to dominate the political and social life of the country. Because of this, alcohol sales to the poor are effectively prohibited, while the rich can get alcoholic drinks "under a medical certificate". The plot centres on the adventures of Humphrey Pump and Captain Patrick Dalroy, who roam the country in their cart with a barrel of rum in an attempt to evade Prohibition, exploiting loopholes in the law to temporarily prevent the police taking action against them. Eventually the heroes and their followers foil an attempted coup by an Islamic military force.

How's that for prescient?

Sounds familiar doesn't it? Progressives love to ban things - for the children.

Socialists aligning with radical Islam? J'amais!

Seems like a atural fit.

Perspectives

Today both the President of the United States and the Commissioner of the NFL Roger Goodell spoke at conferences.

Guess which one the networks - every single one of them - aired?

Do I really have to tell you?

Goodell.

That's how powerful the NFL is.

Mr. Lead From Behind

Heard on the radio medical experts regarding the ebola outbreak in Africa say Obama sending in troops to fight it was too late.

Another example of the President leading from behind. He never seems to be ahead of the game.

"The polls are not coming in fast enough!"

Creepy Clemson

Scratch Clemson off the list for my daughter.

"Clemson is requiring students and faculty to complete an online course through a third party website that asks invasive questions about sexual history."

I'm sure the Feds somehow have a part in this on some level.

When Biden Strikes

It's Democrattown.

When The Law Fails

I really hope there's a special place in hell for prosecutors and law enforcement officials who are supposed to find the truth and protect the public do the opposite in an effort to further their careers.

“The whole case rests on the confessions,” Britt said, “and the DNA evidence threw those confessions under the bus.”

I find it hard to believe Johnson Britt didn't know the methods probably used in getting confessions out of mentally challenged people were questionable to begin with. 

They all know they're throwing innocent people in prison. On death row no less.

May they rot in hell.

On this story alone one can easily conclude it's best to abolish the death penalty. Humans are wretched creatures on either side.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/30/4105707_on-death-row-tormented-by-watching.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Morally Detached Progressives

If progressives can point to me of a planned, systematic genocide of Palestinians by Israelis in the manner witnessed and PROVEN under Nazis who hideously orchestrated one of the most evil and hyper-organized ring of murder in world history, I'd like to hear it.

Ga'head.

I'm fucking listening.

In the annals of history, Palestinians have not suffered like Jews have through out history. In just six little years we stared straight into the eyes of EVIL and these clowns are gonna tell me Israel is comparable to Nazi Germany? How sufficiently morally and intellectually bankrupt are people?

And Elizabeth Warren. What a piece of disingenuous work this faux-Native, pseudo-intellectual figment of the left-wing cult she is.

But it's all standard thinking among progressives. Same thing up here too. I doubt you'd find too many in the Liberal or NDP (Trudeau and Mulcair included) parties who wouldn't agree with the idiots in the link.

Plot To Attack Australian Parliament Uncovered.

Scary stuff in Australia.

No one is safe with ISIS I'm afraid. They've made clear their desire to export their violence.

Is Canada prepared?

I'm not so sure.

It's In The DNA

Having fun with the other side:

I see Democrats continue to get in touch with their roots.

The more they scream the other side is extreme, racist and anti-science etc., the more they show their own true colors.

Too funny.

Quebec Nationalism Dated And Boring

It's amusing as well as irritating to have to listen to Quebecois nationalists weigh in on Scotland and what it may or may not mean for its own romantic aspirations.

What more, these are the same people who react with indignant horror when Canadians dare to get involved whenever Quebec throws a tantrum threatening to leave Confederation yet have no qualms doing the same in Scotland.

Canadians have a right to speak, since you know, it's their country. What nationalists in Quebec have in Scotland to permit them the privilege of bestowing their words of wisdom on another country I don't quite comprehend.

Over rate their views much?

We saw on the world stage just how insignificant Quebecois nationalism really is.

And Quebec PQ/QS Have A Sad

Scotland votes to stay within the United Kingdom.

For strictly selfish reasons, it's good or else it would have given the boobs here too much false hope.

I imagine Scots calculated, like rational Quebecers here, the trade-off just isn't worth the head-ache of breaking off.

Realistic considerations prevails over emotion.

To Toll Or Not To Toll

Heard these priceless gems on a morning radio show discussing whether we should have tolls on the Champlain Bridge - that marvel of Canadian engineering: 

Texter: -The rich will get to expense the costs.

Yeah, yeah. Kill the rich - or at least have them pay their fair share. 50% taxes isn't enough.

Anyway. You don't have to be 'rich' to expense anything. If you're self-employed and earn a modest living you can, say, claim gas expenses.

Further proof people play the poor part out of sheer ignorance.

This shit is more dangerous than ebola.

Hang on, it gets better:

On private bridges: "I don't want tolls at the mercy of corporations setting prices."

This is a marvel of derp. Right. Government doesn't bloat prices through inefficiencies and labor. Worse, we never get to see the true price since there's no transparency so we can't even measure the validity of the statement if we wanted to. Government prices is an article of faith I guess. It just pops up and presto! $6 for the Pennsylvania Turnpike! $13 NY/NJ!

Companies have an incentive to keep costs and prices down. It's a basic, elementary business principle. She makes it sound as if the company running the bridge will arbitrarily set a price without considering market forces. Government has no incentive to consider this. NONE.

Worse than ebola I tell ya.

And then this piece de resistance from the resident socialist:

I'm not sure I can make any sense of it but it went something like "I went to Florida. Florida has no taxes. Florida has extreme poverty. No civilization." 

That's standard Canadian nationalist gibberish.

Seeing is believing, eh? Never mind you don't see poverty.

You measure it.

Ebola? Pft.

Should I Stay Or Should I go?

Britain, desperate, is starting to bribe Scotland by throwing free shit at it.

That the UK has lost its luster and balls is pretty clear, but that's sad and reminiscent of the Quebec/Canada issue. When Quebec starts to rail, Canada comes with a bag of goodies.

Both Scotland and Quebec are dependent regions with strong left-wing bents (which is particularly disheartening in the case of Scotland given its contribution to classical liberalism during The Enlightenment) incapable of going on their own.

Best both realize they're NOT Scandinavia.

But what do the political masters (and those connected from intellectual circles) care? They're gonna profit from the scam.

Nonetheless, I'm torn whenever people or regions want to go on their own. What can be more 'free' than exercising their rights of determination? But in these cases, the cons outweigh the pros in my view and is driven less in rationalism and more in emotion.

Bureaucrats Hold The Power

Next time you hear someone babble on about 'deregulation' (still don't know what that means) and the need for more regulations (for civilization's sake) have them watch this. There IS NO FREE MARKET. It's freeish but go out and try and innovate.

You can't without going through them first and that's a huge problem.

The government is fully capable of destroying lives. If it wants its money and wants to show who is in control the pencil pushing bureaucrat with its guaranteed salary and pension doesn't care if it shuts you down so long as it gets its cut.

They're more ruthless than the mob.*

That's the plain truth.

The other day on the radio (CJAD''s 'Gang of Four') I was sickened listening to a bunch of talking heads call for more taxes and regulations on, like everything.  They were talking as if Quebec is Hong Kong when in fact we're closer to a socialist model. Imagine. It's Quebec where the state pretty much controls the plot either through cronyism (which we excel at) or schemes like issuing permits (all I get all day long is propaganda and letters from various government agencies. I swear if I close my eyes it's 1917 Moscow) and they WANT MORE INTERFERENCE.  It was asinine. Only the host showed any sense of sober thought. 

*Loansharking is illegal particularly the interest they charge. If you're late with a government payment go look at the interest and penalties they charge. It's obscene.

Between Obama, Biden, Reid and Trudeau you have more gaffes than you could ever imagine.

But it's okay.

They bat for the "right" team.

Fall Of The West Reason 485867789

"A Ventura County high school principal has barred a booster club from selling a popular fast-food sandwich on campus because of the chain’s position on gay marriage."

What Do I Think About The NFL?

I think the league and some teams could use a real consegliere.

Like Tom Hagen.

Feynman On Science

"You cannot prove a vague theory wrong. If the guess you make is poorly expressed and rather vague and the method you use figure out the consequences are vague... then you see that theory is good because it can't be proven wrong. If the process of computing the consequences is indefinite, then with a little skill any experimental result can be made to look like an expected consequence." 

 Richard Feynman. 



Vague theories make big bucks because it scares the shit out of people.

1984 Is Here

It's not 'coming'. It has arrived. Like 30 years ago. Hello.

The government has more power than any corporation could ever dream or imagine.

Plus it has all the guns.

But worry not. It's all for the children.

Ontario Attacks Human Liberty

Ontario going full blown tyrannical:

"Peer support groups, religious mentors, and even help from friends all depend on the constitutional right to freedom of assembly, freedom of association and freedom of speech. These rights are spelled out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada’s supreme law, the Constitution. But these rights may end in Ontario and require the closure of self-help and peer support groups, or place them under the control of a government agency. Interactions for purposes of guidance could net a cleric, pastor or helpful friend a fine of up to $25,000 for a first offence. Clerics who are unable to pay the $25,000 fine for having provided spiritual guidance to individuals who experience emotional or spiritual distress may find themselves delivering their sermons from jail cells or seeing their congregations disbanded."

Remind me who are the 'extremists' again in this plot?

Coercion and violence.

The natural default position of the state.

"The government of Ontario is in the process of granting a monopoly to a politically selected group of people, the Ontario College of Psychotherapy, whose members will have a province-wide monopoly to treat “an individual’s serious disorder of thought, cognition, mood, emotional regulation, perception or memory [that] may seriously impair the individual’s judgment, insight, behaviour, communication or social functioning.” Membership in the college will be restricted to persons holding master’s degrees. Ontario plans to proclaim the College of Psychotherapy into law sometime this fall."


Naturally. Government excels at handing over monopolies of power to one group of people to hold over others.


TOP. MEN.


And women.


"The officials at Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long Term Care who are forming Ontario’s College of Psychotherapy may invoke the notwithstanding clause to bypass statutes in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that assure citizens the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of speech. Totalitarian and police states intimidate citizens into restraining their verbal communication under threat of possible prosecution, allegedly for the greater good of the society. Ontario appears to be getting ready to enforce the standards of a totalitarian state by retraining citizens’ freedom of speech in helping fellow citizens emotionally and spiritually."


This is frightening shit. This is not Russia. It's Canada. One of the most boastful and insecure nations around. 

True north strong and...free.


Canadian intellectuals laud the notwithstanding clause as some form of brilliant idea.


On the contrary, it's a hideous piece of junk conceived by pathetic, petty and insecure minds.


I loathe this aspect of Canada's Charter.


In essence, we DO NOT HAVE LIBERTY. How can we if a clause can be used to 'revoke' it?


The most patriotic thing a Canadian can do is assert their individual rights. It's not an extreme position. It's a human right.


Alas, as often been said, we're too apathetic and invested in the socialist-democratic experiment to care or even be aware of the fact we have no rights when you get right down to it.

Climate Change Sees Bogeyman Everywhere

"Climate change poses threats to India beyond the sphere of environment as passages opened up by the melting snows in the northern Himalayas could be used by terrorists to infiltrate into the country, eminent environmentalist R.K. Pachauri said here Saturday.
 
“Melting snows in the north open up passages for terrorists. The melting glaciers will affect water supply in the subcontinent’s northern part, thus sharpening the possibility of conflict with our neighbours,” Pachauri said.

Pachauri, who served as chairman of the Nobel winner Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was speaking at the convocation ceremony at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering here.

“Our defence forces might find themselves torn between humanitarian relief operations and guarding our borders against climate refugees, as rising sea-levels swamp low-lying areas, forcing millions of climate refugees across India’s border,” Pachauri said.

“Changing rainfall patterns affect rainfed agriculture, worsening poverty which can be exploited by others,” he said.

Ah.

Gatekeepers Gonna Gatekeep

Was listening to The Herd with Colin Cowherd on ESPN sirius radio last week on the topic was, of Ray Rice and how the NFL handled of the incident.

At the time, Cowherd caught my ears when he zeroed in on the calls from some people asking Roger Goodell to resign and that somehow 'wanting to get people fired' is want 'bloggers do.'

Citation needed because I don't know of any reputable blog that explicitly says it does this. It may 'encourage' it by 'outing' information about athletes but if the athlete or executive are doing things they shouldn't be doing then what's the problem? Cowherd makes it sound as if bloggers are a bunch of runaway misfits out to 'get people.'

Er, in case you haven't noticed, the media does this all the time. For example, a rush to judgment before all facts are in is not a problem among bloggers. Shoot, in fact, I've seen blogs treat facts far ore responsibly than the media. Many stories that get confused often originate from the media and not bloggers. Think Duke Lacrosse. Media sensationalizes; not blogs. And don't fricken get me going on the steroids in baseball story. For me, that was the epitome of baseball writers to invested in their 'access' to tackle the issue. It was bloggers who shone a light on it.

Now. It's not the first time Cowherd goes after blogs (he did it again today) and he's certainly not the only one so it's par for the course another 'gatekeeper' makes this argument. Costas and Wilbon have put in their licks as well.

Problem is, I haven't heard or read blogs call for a resignation in Rice's cases incident. In fact, most of it is coming from organizations like the National Coalition for Women. Moreover, I could have sworn I've heard a few radio personalities do the same. 'He should resign' are three words you hear from pundits on TV and radio all the time.

Why he chooses to single blogs out is a bit of mystery. Right. Cowherd holds the tired generalization of bloggers living in the mother's basement in pajamas.

So 1999.

I don't know where Cowherd has been or what he's reading, but in case he hasn't noticed, blogs revolutionized journalism - and for the better. They offer a whole new dimension and perspectives on sports. Why should it be in the hands of the 'gatekeepers'? There are many great writers and blogging permits them an outlet to express their views. Shoot, a few of them, dare I say, are better than half the crap I read at ESPN. And they're not in their pajamas! They wear pants!

Furthermore, inherent in Cowherd's argument is journalists and ESPN are free from statistical errors and bias. 

Nonsense. ESPN is atrocious on matters of stats. I find way too many mistakes in the soccer section of the site alone.

That being said, Fire Colin Cowherd!

I'm joking.

I kid.

Now where are my pajamas?

NYT: Reversing A Myth They Pimped

The New York Times spends a lot of energy advocating all sorts of state control initiatives. Reading the NYT is a form of soft and subtle indoctrination given it's not only positioned as the paper of record but a news outlet perceived to be the voice of 'reason' and 'facts' in the face of an irrational world. The NYT is where its readers go in search of much needed perspectives.

Yet, its roster - outside of a couple of writers - is anything but a commitment to ideas. Its biggest writers from Friedman, to Krugman to Dowd and Brooks (who recently surprisingly described Obama as a 'reluctant warrior' on PBS) - are just your mundane run of the mill defense of progressive liberal ideals. If you're a 'think outside the box' sorta person, you kinda scratch your head at them. If you're already set in the progressive agenda, they speak truth to power.

The whole gun control debate during the Obama administration has been marked with all sorts of misleading information and downright silliness. The deliberate grouping of guns into one gigantic basket of goods and models, the excessive and sometimes irrational attacks on the NRA (and by extension Koch brothers), the misuse of statistics on deaths by firearms, and the general overall tone of manufactured sheer fear against the rights of man who choose to be armed. The fear went as far as showing pictures of rifles - regardless of genre - as scary 'assault rifle' as if they're all machine guns.

This illogical fear has gone to the point of the left attacking (and I argue engaging in mental gymnastics) the 2nd amendment.*

To people who are able to catch the deliberate appeal to emotion, a simple investigation would have put an end to it as they would learn guns are not a monolithic product. Yet, the media ran with it because the public at large is ignorant. And when you're ignorant nothing rallies the mob more than emotion.

Then, once they lay waste to the collective playing on their emotions explaining they need more control for their own good, they pull this.

"The Assault Weapon Myth"

Recall, they were the cheerleaders for more gun control using the very opposite argument to push the agenda.

*The Democrat party and its extreme left-wing arm, even VOTED on an amendment on the 1st amendment. I don't see anything on the right that comes close to attacking liberty like we do on the left. It's not even close the spread between the statists who want to control large parts of the lives of Americans and the rest.

Perspective

"By winning the World Cup, we didn’t change the world, we didn’t bring down the price of bread. It was a lovely thought that football players can solve people’s problems; I wish we could. We’d all be better off."

Diego Maradona 

On Second Thought

 Nobel Committee regrets giving Peace Prize to  Obama.

No shit, Einsteins.

They just were too busy stroking it to the silly notion of Obama's promise like a bunch of school children. That and they were dying to make a point about Dubya.

If Obama had any dignity, he wouldn't have accepted it in the first place.

A simple, humble thanks but no thanks would have been more than appropriate. A wise man would have understood his job would have taken him places he did not want to go.

Nevertheless, Obama is still less nauseating than some of the other douches - like Arafat - who got one.

Who are these people giving out these prizes?

Braddeck Pharmacist Moonlights As Dietary Alchemist

Derp in Braddeck, NS:

"Refined sugar is almost as addictive as some street drugs. It starts at an early age." 

Wasn't there a study that just debunked this notion? Why, I think I even posted it on this blog not too long ago. 

He said his pharmacy does a lot of one-on-one consultations that end up veering into giving nutritional advice to patients.

"Just about every conversation led to, 'Please don't drink pop.' Juice is, the sugar in it is, not the healthy thing you've been made to believe your whole life. So as they're leaving the store they're walking past the coolers and the juice," MacKenzie said. 

Juice is not healthy? Because sugar? He's giving diet advice? 

The pharmacist said he had been thinking about pulling the drinks for the past four to six months. He hopes the move will educate frighten and misinform customers. 

 FTFY.

"I don't think I'm going to stop people. 

Nice observation on his part.

They can go a block and get a drink of pop, you can go anywhere and get some juice or pop. I don't think I can bar people from drinking. 

He doesn't 'think' he can implies he's looking for ways to do so. He really has a fetish for control. 

It's just the act of doing this will hopefully spur them into thinking, 'OK, there is something wrong with this,'" he said.

MacKenzie stresses the move is personal and he understands many other pharmacies have different business models.

Sugar intake should be cut, says foundation

"If government wanted to look at it, that would be awesome," he said. 

It. Would. Be. So. AWESOME! Mo MMMM ents! Mind. BLOWN!

Naturally. Since he doesn't think he can stop people he'll rely on the government to do that for him. To people like this, it's always about getting the government involved to fuck things up still further. Let's, you know, remove choice from people because they're too fucking stupid to make the right decisions this dope feels is appropriate. I'm sure other pharmacists appreciate his invitation to bring bureaucrats into their stores.


The store isn't sugar free yet."

/face palm.

Democrat Party Of The United States Knows Its Priorities

And its rather tyrannical.

One of the most outrageous attempts at curbing free speech through trying to amend the First Amendment was killed in the Senate.

It should have been executed in front of the people.

Shows how far left the Democrat party has pulled.

Oh, I see extremists alright.

As usual, comments at Reason tell a lovely story.

And just so we're clear. Liberals up here are no different when it comes to free speech. In fact, they have an upper hand given how shitty and meek our Charter is worded when it comes for our freedoms.

In the end, Canada was careful to put it in such a way that the government has final say over our rights.

Nice.

*****

Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice...

John Kerry claims U.S. is not at war with ISIS.

He said this one day after Obama's 'we're gonna but not gonna' speech.

Question: Will Obama personally account if things don't go according to plan seeing he may bypass Congress?

I guess it can be a rhetorical question too.

Creative Juices Flow Under The Enemy

President Kill Again was written while Reagan was in office. Green Day's landmark American Idiot was penned under Bush ditto Death of a President. Left-wing musicians and artists tend to unite under Democrat leadership. They become dissidents when their guy is not in power.  Doesn't say much about their principles, no?

They suddenly go silent or become uncreative under Democrat Presidents like Clinton and Obama.

Which is interesting since they initiated force more than Reagan did.

Interesting that. 

Hydro-Quebec Dragged Into The Charbonneau Show

Surprise.

Like most things in Quebec and Canada, we 'discovered' Hydro lacks transparency so that there may have been collusion involving Hydro.

Wha? Public trust! Yeah? Go take a look at what Hydro is doing to businesses in the name of the 'public trust'.  But most citizens could care less because it doesn't affect their part of the 'public trust.'

It's a state-backed monopoly. Know what that means? TOP. MEN. That's what it means. It also means f-you because, no competition.

Look, the Americans! At least, we're not American!

Dead White Guys

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. ... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

James Madison.

Who? Him again? Well. We're just gonna hafta amend that.

In the meantime, Forward!

Progressivism Pays

 A lucrative business:

"The site Buzzfeed is the physical manifestation of progressivism transmutated into gigantic piles of cash. So is xoJane, Jezebel, any woman’s site, and even sites that were formerly the domain of men, like Cracked, Forbes, and College Humor. More sites are veering left simply because that’s where the cash is. It’s not hard to see why: the modern West has become more liberal than at any other time in history while bored citizens are wired with tablets, smartphones, and computers that need a replenishing flow of content that can be laced with advertising to enrich the media owners. Even better for those owners is the fact that we still haven’t hit a peak at much content can be consumed by your typical consumer zombie, because I’m sure you’ve noticed how all those blogs are huge even though they write about identical topics.

Maybe progressivism in the past really was about social change and equality, but the owners of these sites don’t care about anything that doesn’t give them money. Buzzfeed was recently valued at $850 million. Huffington Post was sold for $315 million three years ago. Tumblr, the most anti-intellectual and anti-science community on the internet, was sold for a staggering $1.1 billion."

It's all so ironic given their stances on various issues, n'est pas?

Study: Sugar Not Addictive

Bloomberg has a sad.

But will remain undeterred because he has the right science on his side!

Ta-da!

New York Times Issues Correction

The paper of record.

And the gate keepers make fun of blogs?

Honest mistake! 

Words I Hate

Optics and Moderate.

These two ding-a-lings have been used quite a bit lately.

The former is just jargon while the other is just a euphemism for 'without ideas or principles.'

Fall Of The West Reason 45666888: Europe In A Scientific Dark Age; USA Goes Back To Witch Hunt Technique

"It's enough to make you choke on your marmalade. An EU watchdog says toast, that most British of breakfast delicacies, should be eaten only when it is a light yellow colour – not an appetising brown.

And heaven forbid if you prefer your toast – whisper it – burned!

The new warning from the European Food Safety Authority is designed to highlight the dangers of the chemical acrylamide, which forms in certain foods cooked at high temperatures."

European Food Safety Authority, huh.

Four words that should frighten any level-headed 'Pean. So we're clear, the acrylamide scare was dealt with, like, over 10 years ago. Like anything else, you need to consume tons of it to increase any health risks. Like tons.

Personally, I like a little burnt on my meat and toast. What I don't like is people (bureaucrats) with burnt minds trying to scare us.

Alas, we're so far up the state's ass may as well be another brick in the wall.

****

More and more schools are taking to 'slut shaming' girls.

Remember. These are educators who take to the streets whenever they feel threatened and babble on about caring for the children. That without public educators there's no civilization - or something to that vapid effect. These are the people in positions of authority over kids.

They're no better than witch hunters.

To call these people retarded would only insult the mentally challenged.

Nicholas Dirks: I'll Tell You What Free Speech Is

Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks can lick my asshole for penning such an atrocious attack on free speech. It's wonderfully manipulative as it is remarkably vapid in its stupidity.

Read it here with commentary.

Blah, blah (picks nose) blah, blah, bling (picks ass), blah (locks jaw, adjust ascot), blah, blah, blah. We'll tell you what free speech is.

Such is the stellar, quality minds in academia these days.

His thinking is not the exception but the rule. I heard Colin Cowherd of ESPN make a similar assertion today when he said something to the effect he's okay with government and law enforcement regulating free speech.

I don't think Colin has thought this out hard enough by following this disturbing position to its logical end.

But let me take a more blunt approach: You either have free speech or you don't.

Quote Of The Day

"The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in "Metcalfe's law"--which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants--becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's. "

Paul Krugman, The Red Herring (1998).

File under: I would like to have that one back.

Not quite as bad as Bob Ryan claiming Michael Jordan wasn't going to amount to anything but right up there.

If his economic predictions are this accurate everything will be okay. 

Just yet another reason A) they talk mostly out of their asses and out of place and B) they talk mostly out of their asses and know shit about the future.

Franklin Expedition Found

Nice piece of Canadiana finally solved.

Putting Music To Words

Obviously, Hip Hop may work for these lyrics.

Or Country-Western.

Punk?

***

Check this blog out. But only if you're wasted.

Understanding Europe Through Maps

Europe in 38 maps.

Canadian Rights

"The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

In other words, Canadians have no rights.

It's all conditional.

Won't Fool Cuba

This has got to be in my top articles for 2014 list - if I do one. Which I probably want.

The thing is, they scream they're not left-wing on college campuses. Yet, Cuba targets those schools because they ain't fools. They know that's where the progressives who are sympathetic to Cuba are.

Useful idiots.

FBI: Cuban Intelligence Aggressively Recruiting Leftist American Academics as Spies, Influence Agents

Obama Flipping By The Day

I know Obama's foreign policy at the moment is bad but this bad?

From Business Insider:

"President Barack Obama at a news conference at the conclusion of the NATO Summit in Wales on Friday.

President Barack Obama on Friday said unequivocally that the extremist group calling itself the Islamic State must be dismantled, degraded, and "ultimately defeated," days after he earned criticism for saying the goal was to roll back the organization to a point it was "manageable."
"We are going to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL, in the same way we went after Al Qaeda," Obama said Friday, later adding that "you can't contain an organization [like ISIS]. The goal has to be to dismantle them."

And this is the man that wants to bypass Congress? If anyone needs proper backing it's this President.

Besides saving the economy, he did get America - ahem - out of Iraq.


Of course, he didn't start it so that's why he failed.

Anti-GMO Has An Immoral Angle

Aside from the fact there is ZERO legitimate, scientific data - ZERO - supporting (no, the little cute mouse running away from GMO corn as if it knows something we don't is not fucking science) any of the claims made against GMO* (did I mention zero?),

I heard Daniel Chamovitz of Daily Plant earlier today explain on a radio show that anti-GMO is completely irrational. All fruits and vegetables have been altered in some way. The belief that you can eat a fruit in its natural 'position' is rooted in pure scientific ignorance. He used the tomato as an example. If you ate a tomato from the Andes in Peru where it originates, you'd die of poisoning. It was only through man modifying it did we get to be able to eat it.

But extreme environmentalists have invested so much emotion and passion into their causes, the science - the real science - means squat to them.

The dark side of this First World luxury crusade is that it has negative impact on poor countries looking to feed their respective populations.  In the case of GMO, which would do wonders for them, they can't export them because of EU bans.

So, in part, the West is responsible for keeping them starved. Not to mention other irrational regulations we impose on them for environmental reasons.

The way I see it, environment should not come at the expense of human life. It's nice to protect the environment but it should not trump human needs.

To me, once this happens, it becomes a moral issue.

No one has the right to prevent another from eating what they choose.

*I think it's appropriate early in the post to disclose the fact that I am no on Monsanto's pay roll. Or Exxon. Nor am I affiliated with any of the Koch Brothers.

Caliph Crunch wears a deshdasha & turban. The cereal pieces are shaped like severed heads.

Obama: The Behind The Pack Leader

What a shame how Congress gets bypassed so easily.

From comments:

"Obama's modus operandi is to say one thing and do another. By not committing to a strategy, or by leading from behind, or conducting a shadow war well out of public view he allows himself political plausible denyability and preempts any charges of political hypocrisy which he considers to be job 1. He can pick and choose his shots on a case by case basis without complication as per his use of UAV's. His alternative plan when painted into a corner is to take the issue to a forum where debate and politics and/or diplomacy provide him the time and space to wriggle free, the pickerel in the weeds approach - politically speaking a very slippery character."

And still manage to look cute and innocent in front of his fans.

"B...b...but...Congress is not listening!"

Still. It's the Daily Beast and it's not without its nutcase idiots who bow to dictatorial actions at the drop of a hat:

"Usually, I'm a big fan of congressional oversight.  You know, checks and balances, accountability and all that other good stuff.  But given how hugely important this issue is, and given how radically inept the House of Reps is, I don't blame the Prez for twisting himself into legal knots to avoid dealing with them.

This is grown-up business.  Leave the kids out of it."

What a fool. Can't even see the dangers of such a position. Yes, because Obama the Grown Up's foreign policy record has been stellar enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. If anything, Congress needs to be involved because if there's one President who's likely to make the wrong move it's Obama.

"Admirals King and Leahy didn't invite FDR and the Congress to help develop the  strategy for  fighting in Europe and the Pacific during W.W. II. FDR called for declarations of war and Congress voted on both. Why should it be any different today? The President should go to Congress and ask for a declaration of war against ISIS and the members of Congress should go on record individually for voting for or against that declaration. Leave the planning to the military experts. The less Congressional intrusion the better."

 Ah. That's more like it.

/breathes sigh of relief.
  

They Never Learn

Venezuela free fallin'.

Know why dictatorial socialism doesn't work - aside from being the mortal enemy of human nature and a piece of shit world view?

Because it's a piece of shit world view wrapped up in envy and victim-hood  pointing fingers and blame instead of getting to work to take care of your own business all the while giving power to corrupt top men who use useful idiots as pawns.

There's nothing good or honorable in it. Never has, never will.

It's never for the children.

/takes breath. Spits to the ground. Takes puff from cigarette.

Corporate Songs: IBM

Songs of IBM (via Ars Technica):

Thomas Watson is our inspiration,
Head and soul of our splendid I.B.M.
We are pledged to him in every nation,
Our President and most beloved man.
His wisdom has guided each division
In service to all humanity
We have grown and broadened with his vision,
None can match him or our great company.
T. J. Watson, we all honor you,
You're so big and so square and so true,
We will follow and serve with you forever,
All the world must know what I. B. M. can do.

—from "To Thos. J. Watson, President, I.B.M. Our Inspiration"

Creepy as hell.

Links And Stuff

The Tea Party, we're told, are extremists.

Exactly how isn't, say,  Wasserman an extremist? Heck, the Democrats have outright commies in their ranks - and ABC glosses over it!

Her name is Amanda Curtis by the way and she's the poster child for the politics of envy.

Blah, blah.

She needs a new hair stylist.

***

More crap clueless people say about libertarians.

Who said they hated buses?

Children is different. We use them for the diamond mines. What? They're orphans. Oh, like they have anything better to do. Hey, we're keeping them off the streets causing trouble, no?

***

Rotherham: But he's missing the point. Liberals have good intentions. Results don't matter when you mean well.

/Burning bush in background.

"This isn’t just a problem with political correctness or multiculturalism. It’s a failure of every component of the modern bureaucratic state, and every element of modern liberalism, from an education system that fails many poor youngsters and a welfare state that traps its dependents in poverty (both of which systems the current Conservative-led government are slowly reforming), to inertia and unaccountability of public sector bureaucracies, and the dynastic and often corrupt culture of the “Old Labour” political machines that dominate the UK’s northern cities.
One of the many disturbing aspects of the Rotherham scandal is that virtually no one has been held to account for the multiple failings that allowed the abuse to continue for so long. Many of those responsible have simply disappeared into the public sector morass, with some moving to other councils and some still involved in child “protection,” where they will continue to pull down their six-figure salaries before retiring on six-figure pensions.
The poster boy for these shameless public servants is Shaun Wright, a former Labour councillor who was responsible for children’s services in Rotherham between 2005 and 2010, when hundreds of children were being abused. He resigned from the council, only to continue failing the victims in his new post as police and crime commissioner. Wright has so far refused to resign from that position, insisting that he is “part of the solution.”

Britain should be embarrassed.  Just an absolute disgrace.

***

So it's okay when Ben or Jerry gets involved in politics to make changes but Koch is not?

And Lord oh me, the commenters at Salon should not be allowed to handle money.

Leave that to the grown ups.

***

Arron Woolf thinks Americans should pay more for food.

Nice.

***

This is the best.

"The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama’s former minister, was convicted by a federal jury Friday of laundering thousands of dollars from a $1.25 million state grant for a Chicago-based job-training program."

God damn America!

***

Look. I think Obama is as bad a leader I've seen in my short life. I don't particularly think he's a powerful orator nor do I care for his banal takes on economics.

That being said, conservatives keep repeating the line about how he'd side with Muslims should it come to war.

It's not what he said.

"Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

There's plenty to be critical of Obama without resorting to misrepresentations and fabrications.

Italians were interned as well. Just saying.

Videos Of The Moment

Lord do I love the Internet:





Sometimes T.C. feels like Angry Ram.

Rise Of The Machines

Keep inflating your value.

Go ahead.

You're not worth what you think.

And you're more expendable than you believe.

Enter robots.

Best comment:

"See what happens when you walk off the job and protest for double the pay? A superior robot replaces you. You just got Detroited"

Ignore community organizers and unions and their commie gibberish.

Nothing good will come out of it.

When All Else Fails

Go totalitarian!

Amusing how they enjoy ignorance wallowing in non-scientific garbage.

It's the progressive way.

Of course if you let TOP MEN rule over you they can make you do anything they want they can 'achieve' eternal bliss of most wonderful 100% everything.

I mean. Look at Cuba. 100% perfection!

And yes. China. Most efficiently run.



Idiots.

The Redskins Must Stand Strong And Resist

Or else it will empower and excite the PC police, parasites and professional victims. Never give such a people an inch.

Ever.

We should all be Washington Redskins fans this year.

Ok. Maybe I won't go that far.

And Justice For All

Arizona tells man who was raped he must pay child support for a child he didn't know existed.

This is fucked up.

And it takes a special type of government and bureaucrat to pull this crap.

The laws are coming full circle to fuck rape victims.

This world is messed up.

Believin' In Karma

I don't believe in Karma.

But stories like this tempt me.

The old man was a jag-off to begin with and all the commenters supporting him are bigger jag-offs.

"T.J. Guerrero has gained international attention this week because of his lemonade stand. • Since a story about a neighbor's efforts to shut down the 12-year-old boy's venture ran in Sunday's Tampa Bay Times, T.J. has been given donations, treated to a limo ride and featured in news reports from New York to Europe. He also has given back by donating some of the money to a local animal shelter.

The neighbor, Doug Wilkey, hasn't fared as well. He is now under investigation by the city for — of all things — potentially running a business out of his home without a license.
A tipster contacted the city and pointed officials toward records that show Wilkey, as recently as March, listed his Patricia Avenue home as the principal business address for Bayport Financial Services."

North Americans are turning into snitches.

Idiots.

It's not Cuba for God sakes. Leave one another alone!

If you're the sort who would report your neighbor you're pond scum. 

The Bumble Bee Is Dead

Jew-hating piece of shit racist gets his.

It takes some special, morally bankrupted society to create a 'Jew-hating Genocidal Bumble Bee' on a children's show.

Quote Of The Day

And it's a doozy from The New Republic:

"With the government, we can take comfort that layers of bureaucracy, minimization procedures, and oversight prevent tyranny and mitigates the damage from leaks. But with private corporations, we have no such assurances"

I can't even begin to mount a response to this. It just blows me away after all we know about government that someone would claim such utter bull shit.

It's stunning.

Their rabid hatred and outright ignorance for private enterprise goes beyond anything I can comprehend or fathom.

Bunch of stupid, fucking sheep and extremists is all they are.

Between Salon, Huffington and TNR, there's some serious vacuous and vapid gibberish going on there on matters of business, economics, finance and even privacy.

Statistics Rarely Back Up Statists

It's amazing.

It really is.

Take any issue the media is hyping for thoughtless people to gobble up and look at the statistics.

"We need more gun control!" Yet, gun violence has been on a steady decline for decades.

"We need to destroy rape culture!" Yet, rape has also been on a decline.

"We need more regulations!" Yet, it the cost of doing business through red tape is slowing growth.

And so on.

Public servants are good at this game. Somehow, if you privatize parts of say, education, kids will become illiterate - though I think we're already there judging by the inability to enjoy satire and sarcasm these days. Everything needs to be "cleaned" in the Holy Church Of Don't Offend Me. If you allow doctors to perform private surgeries, there will be a spike in sponges forgotten in the stomach and poor people will die.

Now it's the cops.

Why, they need all these fancy military weapons because the people are turning on them. Yet, nothing is further from the truth. The more people are peaceful the more it threatens the jobs of cops because they got nothing to arrest and with arrests comes cash.

So they dream up stuff that basically makes people the enemy.

What the fuck do cops need tanks for?

It's so incredibly absurd someone signs off on SWAT to go bang down a door to catch some deadbeat smoking a joint or cops shooting down family pets because they 'feared' for their lives.

The stats simply don't back cops on the 'dangers' of their jobs. More people die from drowning than they do in the line of duty. In 2013, 105 police officers unfortunately lost their lives. Of the 105, 30 were by gun fire.

30!

People die more in car crashes.

And this to justify all these weapons and gun control?

We need to go back to the basics.

Sir Robert Peel's Nine Principles of Policing (I remember reading this in university).

I would add, for Montreal cops, you enter the police force to serve the people and the people in turn respect you. You don't get into it solely to get a pension paid for by us and storm City Hall because you feel dissed.


Remember when Reagan fired 11 000 of 13 000 air traffic control workers and people said planes would fall from the sky?

Yeah.

Mandatory Voting Mulled By Liberals

Heard on the news that the Federal Liberals are looking to make voting mandatory.

Not surprising given to them all solutions run through higher taxes and coercion.

Nothing can be more anti-liberty and democratic than forcing people to vote. If they don't vote, then that speaks volumes to what they think of the options. At least, that's what I think. I vote but believe me, I swallow the bad taste each time. No party or candidates remotely cover issues I consider important.

Just more of the same from unimaginative ideas from (sometimes clueless) people looking to get a pension.

So.

Make it mandatory. Get 100% voting. Just like in Cuba. Cuba is the model free nation. 100% literacy, 100% health care, and 100% voting - all for Castro! We must clone Cuba! 100% perfect!

Bah.

But I ask. How much it would it be worth? All you've done is create a hall of mirrors filled with deception and lies.

Unless.

Unless they add a 'none of the above' option on the ballot. Still, I don't like the idea of the state forcing people to do anything. After all, we are free to even ignore our politicians.

Or else, I'm pretty sure people will spoil their ballot. At which point, I'm sure the authoritarians will look to levy a fine on that too.

Such is the state of democracy in the West. We're forced to accept mediocrity.

The Real Losers

Having watched progressives and liberals alike spend an inordinate amount of time misrepresenting libertarians and the philosophical tenets of its principles, I can but conclude they're the real extremists. 

There's nothing 'extremist' in what libertarians are trying to accomplish in Washington. In fact, it's extremely sad and pathetic watching the left (along with their conservative brethren) protect the status quo from the war on drugs that destroys the lives of too many people for nothing, the war on poverty to failed economic policies, to the rise of the police state.

The new breed of young politicians have the will, passion and courage to challenge the hideousness of modern American politics.

They should be encouraged; not dismissed or chastised.

Those who take valid concerns and claim to be extremist views are the losers - and pose the real threat to liberty.

Quote Of The Day

“Socialism means equality of income or nothing... under socialism you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not. If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well.” —George Bernard Shaw

Salon should just become the socialist publication of record.

0% Unemployment!

Read at your own risk. Seriously. It's that bad.

Examples:

"The conservative objection to jobs programs is usually that such win-win scenarios are impossible. Writing in National Review, Kevin Williamson writes that what guaranteed jobs provide, “by definition, is: nothing of economic value.” But this objection only holds if the market perfectly provides all human wants at the correct human prices. "

/face palm.

"Once we start investigating the numbers, it’s surprising how doable guaranteeing jobs looks. If there are 9.8 million unemployed people, giving each of them a $30,000-a-year full-time job (approximately $15 per hour) would cost about $294 billion. "

Overhead? What's that?

Let's get one thing clear. There's no investigating going on here. Just a stupid interpretation of numbers without much reason or context - and magic. All numbers are fixed to a subject that is in constant flux.

What is 'human prices?' Never mind. I don't want to know.

What I find most interesting - nay disturbing - all the basic, rudimentary fundamentals we learned in economics class seem to be outright ignored by articles like this one - and the commenters.

It goes without saying I trust they never had the benefit of learning economics - never mind about business and finance.

Anyway.

Things like 'overhead' go right over their, erm, heads. They make calculations based on 'other people will eat the difference because living wage!" And when a 'living wage' (whatever that means) is not given, it's because evil.

Only a simplistic mind rooted in zero-sum ideals overlooking subtle actions of the market could accept the notion espoused in the market.

This is what a 'grown up' discussion on economics looks like.

People like Elizabeth Warren - for some reason seen as a Presidential candidate - talk like the former. Which says a lot about the ignorance of people when it comes to economics and business.

But what do you expect from a publication who publishes stupidity like this? Uber is a sign of true progress and they hate it because they're fucking commies.

Keep the guns (and knives) out of the hands of such people.

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I have this 'Cultural comparative Jewsih and Muslim transgender issues in Africa and the paternalist world' degree and can't pay down my debts! Someone must pay because fairness!