Mid-Week Post

But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

O. Henry, "The Gift of the Magi"


12.12.12.12.12. Remember.


A nation that allegedly can't feed itself has launched a faltering rocket so that its citizens may get their one channel more clearly:

The satellite launched by North Korea on Wednesday (Dec. 12) is "tumbling out of control," according to U.S. officials, NBC News reported.

The vehicle is in an uncontrolled orbit around Earth, and officials aren't sure what the spacecraft's purpose and capabilities are, NBC News reported.

North Korea lofted the spacecraft on its long-range Unha-3 rocket Wednesday at 9:49 a.m. local time (7:49 p.m. EST on Tuesday) from Sohae Satellite Launch Station on the nation's northwest coast. The liftoff sparked widespread international objections.

Sanctions mean nothing to a state where only one eats well and where its owners- the Chinese- permanently sit on the UN's security council.


The object should be not to pick sides but to watch what happens next:

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have fired Scud missiles at rebels trying to overthrow Syria's government, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, a step seen as an escalation in Assad's struggle to retain power. ...

Thomas Houlahan, a military analyst at the Centre for Security and Science, said the weapons were probably North Korean-made Hwasong-6 missiles, an improved variant of the original Soviet Scuds.

"In terms of the short-range battlefield missiles, they produce a pretty good missile and because of North Korea's constant need for hard currency, they sell them pretty cheap. So they have moved a lot of missiles around and Syria has ended up with a lot of them," Houlahan said.

(Sidebar: so much for those sanctions.)


Assad must go. But, just as the dictatorial Morsi replaced Mubarak, who replaces Assad could be worse. 


Meet one of Iran's useful idiots:

On Page 3 of today’s National Post, Tristan Hopper reports on the conspiracy theory, being promoted on Iran’s Press TV network, that Canadian “counterterrorism squads” are abducting First Nations children for sale to adoption agencies.

Like just about everything on Press TV, the story is garbage. But the name of the Press TV “Calgary correspondent,” Joshua Blakeney,” jumped out at me.

I’ve met Blakeney. And National Post readers might be surprised to know that his conspiracism is actually funded by the government of Alberta. Or at least it was as recently as two years ago.

Related: state-funded useful idiots and freelance idiots mimic Walter Duranty wilfully.


Right-to-work legislation could be heading to Canada:

The federal opposition parties are warning that so-called “right-to-work” legislation that has passed in Michigan could soon come to Canada. 

Thousands of people in that state protested Tuesday as the first of two laws designed to weaken union power passed in Michigan’s Republican-dominated House of Representatives.

Opponents of the law, including U.S. President Barack Obama, say the law only gives workers the right to work for less pay. ...

(Sidebar: trust Barack Obama, who has never held a real job in his life, to pontificate on what right-to-work really means.)

Ottawa-area Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre has already been calling for new rules allowing union members to opt out of paying dues.

The proposal is similar to the legislation adopted in Michigan and 23 other states south of the border — as well as a private members bill proposed earlier this year by Conservative backbencher Russ Heibert.

His financial transparency bill, which was debated Tuesday in the House of Commons and will likely go to a final vote Wednesday, would require unions to disclose how much money they spend on political activities.

Critics say it would also create mountains of paperwork for the unions and almost anyone doing business with them, forcing them to file reports including “the percentage of time dedicated to political activities.”

Labour groups say it’s simply a power grab.

So sorry about that paperwork, chaps, but when you demand that joining a union is a requirement for a job, use union dues to fund questionable causes, make ludicrous demands that ultimately send jobs overseas where workers toil in unsafe conditions for far less pay and security and then use violence to get what you want, you kind of force the government's hand. That, and stop being Mafia-like with people willing to hold down a job.


I want these earrings for Christmas.



(With thanks)