Mid-Week Post

It's time to get reasonably rowdy...

She wouldn't need skull reconstruction if the Taliban hadn't shot her:

A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education is to return to a specialist hospital in Britain for surgery to reconstruct her skull.

Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in October and brought to Britain for treatment, was discharged from the hospital earlier this month to spend time with her family after her initial treatment phase.
Her doctors said on Wednesday she would return to hospital within the next 10 days to undergo surgery known as titanium cranioplasty to repair a missing area of her skull with a specially molded titanium plate.

The shooting of Yousufzai, in the head at point blank range as she left school in the Swat valley, drew widespread international condemnation.

She has become an internationally recognized symbol of resistance to the Taliban's efforts to deny women education and other rights, and more than 250,000 people have signed online petitions calling for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.

Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing.


You can blame the GDP plunge on the last four years:

In an attempt to get out in front of startling GDP contraction, Democrats are scrambling to blame the unanticipated growth plunge on spending cuts, not President Barack Obama's trillions in federal spending that have accelerated the need for tightening the nation's fiscal belt.

Elections aren't won; they're bought:

A population perhaps the size of Australia's or four mid-sized EU nations' strolled into America and decided to stay. In doing so, they broke the law. Literally. That's to say, some of the most basic laws of the nation lie shattered and discarded. Municipally, we have "sanctuary cities." At the state level, Illinois is merely the latest to consider issuing driver's licenses and other legal ID to persons who are in the country illegally. Federally, the president himself has decreed by executive order that the laws of the nation not be enforced — and, indeed, anybody minded to try enforcing them (Arizona) gets hauled into court.

This is a highly legalistic society with laws against everything and most of them with stiff jail sentences attached. Yet a group of squatters has rendered the law irrelevant. Four of the September 11 terrorists obtained the picture ID they used to board the plane through the illegal-immigrant day-worker network in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven in Falls Church, Va. But 3,000 corpses wasn't enough to persuade either the citizenry or their representatives to end their indulgence of such networks. Indeed, it's estimated that half of the "undocumented" have come here since 9/11: That's to say, they broke into a country on Code Orange alert. The culture frames the issue, starting with the appropriation of language: These are "hard-working families" willing to do "the jobs Americans won't do," notwithstanding the strains they place on hospitals and schools, the contributions they make to gang crime and drunk-driving statistics . . . Once upon a time they were "illegal," then "undocumented," now just "immigrants," a word with longstanding emotional resonance in America but nevertheless one that used to mean guys who stood in line at consulates, filled in the paperwork, and paid the application fees, and whose redefinition into something entirely different has been accepted as a fait accompli.

Who demanded Obama pay up after the election?

(and I thank you)


Does Kathleen Wynne know that Muslims support their homosexuals with a rope at the end of a crane?


(Merci)


And now, dog fonts. Enjoy.

 

Google and North Korea

First of all, a standing ovation to OFK whose commentary, insight and map work are nothing short of stellar. All applause to him.

Then there's this:

Google is slowly filling in the blanks in its quest to build a comprehensive map of North Korea – one of the world's most secretive states – with the addition of new details, including one of the country's notorious gulags.

Using data compiled with its Map Maker tool – which enables people to submit satellite imagery and knowledge from on the ground – Google claims users can now access maps of North Korea that offer "much more information and detail than before".

Let the Stalinist state be less of a mystery now and let something be done about the camps wherein thousands languish.

THIS Is How It's Done

Because he's Mark Steyn:

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Canadian military special forces are in Mali protecting Canada’s embassy, Postmedia News has learned . . .
It is not known how many members of the special unit are in Mali, or how long they have been there. However, it is understood that with so much instability in the country,  Canada wants to ensure its diplomats are guarded.

By contrast, when US diplomats find themselves operating in an unstable corner of North Africa, their security is outsourced to a Welsh contractor, who hires minimum-wage, unarmed Libyans, plus a few lads from the local revolutionary militia.

Ah, well. As Hillary would say, what difference does it make?

The difference is that one country is competent and the other has serial liar/Obama lackey Hillary Clinton running in 2016.

Getting By With a Little Help From Your Friends

How can a paper tiger and its vassal state (TM- OFK) whose people may be resorting to cannibalism afford to help an embattled Morsi modernise Egypt's short-range missile systems?

This work is being carried out by technicians from China's Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation. They are in Egypt working with the North Koreans, as the North Koreans are working with Cairo.

The aim appears to be to take Egypt beyond a simplistic scud missile capability to a more advanced scud or a different missile altogether. 

This escalation in missile technology comes at time when the U.S. is scheduled to deliver 20 F-16 fighters to Cairo as a part of a $1.5 billion arms package approved with former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. 

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) has sent a letter to President Obama asking for a delay in delivery of the F-16s in order to give Congress time to further evaluate the conditions of the military sale, and of course, the posture of Cairo.

Inhofe wants to be sure the U.S. is not arming a country that is preparing to strike Israel.

Related: it's quite rich when the Chinese, makers of cheaply made and sold crap, complain about the quality of aircraft:

Air Koryo was banned from entering European airspace in 2006 due to its poor safety credentials, but now its main destination China has also followed suit. Moving forward, the North Korean airline will be obliged to replace several aircraft types on its Sino-DPRK services or cease running some flights all together. As a result of the new rules, Air Koryo will be retiring decades old Soviet-era Tupolev and Ilyushin planes on routes into and out of China, replacing them completely with a modern fleet of expensive Russian jets.

(Kamsahamnida)

Benghazi-gate: The Benghazi Report Is "Incomplete"

Oh really?

According to a press release, three Congressional leaders sent a letter on Monday night to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, seeking documents related to the ARB report on the failures that led to the attack that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

"Unfortunately, the ARB did not address some important questions about the attacks in Benghazi, which we believe may contain crucial lessons learned for other U.S. facilities abroad to follow,” the letter states, citing the board’s failure to interview the Secretary and key deputies, a lack of explanation for Under Secretary Patrick F. Kennedy’s apparent decision to withdraw the Security Support Team from Libya despite warnings from the late Ambassador Stevens and the decision to maintain an isolated outpost in Benghazi even with evidence of increasing violence in the area.

The letter is signed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, (R-CA), House Oversight and Government Reform Darrell Issa (R-CA), and House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
The chairmen are requesting all e-mails, cables, and memoranda received by the Secretary and her deputies related to security in Benghazi, documents reviewed by the ARB, and video of the September 11, 2012 attack on the Benghazi compound.

Hillary Clinton may injure herself on the paper shredder before these documents can be delivered.

Just A Word...

The heckling of a father whose child was killed in last year's shooting in Connecticut did not occur. Here is the video (fifteen minute mark).



Carry on.

A Post... For Now

So much to say….

Go to hell, Dalton McGuinty, and take your hag successor with you.

The March for Life in Washington this year was 650,000 strong with citizens of all kinds (and it was faaaaabulous, y’all) despite the haters. Not even the president is more important than witnessing for life. It must be his pay grade or something.

If it weren’t for his “leadership”, a rabid anti-semite wouldn’t be threatened with ousting from his own beleaguered people:

Well, Muammar Qaddafi probably does not agree with that assessment, or at least if he was around, he wouldn’t agree with that assessment. Obviously, you know, we helped to put together and lay the groundwork for liberating Libya. You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there. But also understanding that we do nobody a service when we leap before we look.

Once more, Obama is a douche. Douche-in-Chief. The First Douche. He’s not a good leader, is my point.

(Gracias)

I don’t even think he brushes his teeth by himself:

CNN’s Erin Burnett Says President Obama May Be ‘Making Up’ Camp David Skeet-Shooting Pastime

(thanks)

Syrian Christians are being run out of the places in which they have lived for centuries:

Syrian Orthodox and Catholics appeal for aid  in Hassake.Local Bishops Appeal For Humanitarian Assistance in Eastern Syrian Town. A new report from Fides News Agency stated that the people Hassake, the capital of Mesopotamia located in Eastern Syria is suffering tremendously from cold weather, lack of fuel and water, and limited electricity. According to the report, over 25,000 Christians (Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholics, and Chaldean Armenians) have crowded the city, mainly seeking refuge from the ongoing conflict. Many have sent messages to Fides asking for aid. …

"The people are hungry and living in fear," he continued. "Every day, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, there is a sort of curfew, because armed groups roam the streets. This is followed by kidnappings, sometimes with ransom demands, not always. In recent days, two brothers of the Bashr family and two young members of the Fram family were killed at point blank range on the street. Young Christians are threatened and terrified, 90% have fled the city. If young people leave, what will our churches be needed for? "

Georgius, a Christian university student whose family is in Hassake and has taken refuge in Lebanan told Fides that the "Jubhat el Nosra" militants have specifically targeted youth born between 1990 and 1992. 

"They look for them, accuse them of being soldiers for the national service and kill them cold-bloodedly. They want to terrorize young people to prevent them from enlisting."
The population of Hassaké are weary and tired. Georgius also stated that he fears a final assault on the city will "cause the definitive exodus of Christians from Hassake."

(thanks)

This is the “religion of peace” and this is what they stand for:

Islamist extremists torched a library containing historic manuscripts in Timbuktu, the mayor said Monday, as French and Malian forces closed in on Mali’s fabled desert city.

Ousmane Halle said he heard about the burnings early Monday.

“It’s truly alarming that this has happened,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from Mali’s capital, Bamako, on Monday. “They torched all the important ancient manuscripts. The ancient books of geography and science. It is the history of Timbuktu, of its people.”

Iran sends a monkey into space. 

Hail, brave monkey-naut!

This would surprise me if it were true:

A starving man in North Korea has been executed after murdering his two children for food, reports from inside the secretive state claim. 

A 'hidden famine' in the farming provinces of North and South Hwanghae is believed to have killed up to 10,000 people and there are fears that incidents of cannibalism have risen. 

The grim story is just one to emerge as residents battle starvation after a drought hit farms and shortages were compounded by party officials confiscating food.

There have been precedents in North Korea and Ukraine. Note the common thread.

(thank you)

Oh, I’m sure they will:

China's role and position are clear when discussing North Korea issue in the UN Security Council. If North Korea engages in further nuclear tests, China will not hesitate to reduce its assistance to North Korea. If the US, Japan and South Korea promote extreme UN sanctions on North Korea, China will resolutely stop them and force them to amend these draft resolutions.

***

 

And the Rest of It

Quickly now...


If the US had a real leader and South Korea had the mandu to strike back whenever North Korea sinks a ship or attacks an island, Kim Fatty III would not make such a threat:

North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy".

The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed to a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction North Korea for a rocket launch in December that breached U.N. rules.

North Korea is not believed to have the technology to deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the continental United States, although its December launch showed it had the capacity to deliver a rocket that could travel 10,000 km (6,200 miles), potentially putting San Francisco in range, according to an intelligence assessment by South Korea.

"We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States," North Korea's National Defence Commission said, according to state news agency KCNA.

North Korea is believed by South Korea and other observers to be "technically ready" for a third nuclear test, and the decision to go ahead rests with leader Kim Jong-un, who pressed ahead with the December rocket launch in defiance of the U.N. sanctions.

The UN is like molasses on a newly waxed and polished rosewood floor. It's the last thing you want and has never helped sort things out on the Korean Peninsula.

The next time North Korea acts up, punish China and Russia.


Related:  

Among the most repressive countries in the world, North Korea holds as many as 200,000 people in the vast gulag system known as the kwan-li-so. Under the guilt-by-association system established during the dictatorship of Kim Il Sung more than 50 years ago, real and imagined dissenters and as many as three generations of their relatives are punished to eliminate “the seeds” of bad families. Those imprisoned have almost no hope for release, and it is nearly impossible to escape the camps, meaning these people are almost guaranteed to die as prisoners. Over the past few decades, hundreds of thousands have perished, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea estimates. 
 
But for the first time in recent memory, there is reason to hope that the world might finally take notice. In a clarion call for action, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Navanethem Pillay, last week urged the establishment of an independent international inquiry into the mass-atrocity crimes taking place in North Korea. 

(Sidebar: what is this inquiry going to tell us that we don't already know? What is going to be done about it?)

In the gulag, prisoners are subjected to backbreaking labor, torture, sexual violence and severe malnutrition. Men, women and children are forced to labor in dangerous work environments for up to 16 hours per day. They are given meager rations of corn gruel for food and often eat rats or pick through animal waste for survival. Even though illnesses such as pneumonia and tuberculosis run rampant in the camps, no medical treatment is available. Instead, prisoners are forced to work while sick, and those who are no longer physically able to work are sent to sanatoriums to die. Those who do not abide by the stringent camp rules are tortured or executed. The gulag is a systematic and organized network of concentration camps whose ultimate purpose is to starve and work its prisoners to death. The world also has yet to know the fate of numerous Japanese, South Korean and other foreign nationals abducted by North Korea over the past several decades. 

(With thanks)


Keep it classy, Chief Double Dipping Double Chin.


(Merci)


Have them pay their "fair share" now before their grandchildren and great grandchildren pay off their debt!

A measure to extend the U.S. debt limit for nearly four months moved closer on Tuesday to a vote and the White House said the president would sign the bill if it cleared Congress, easing uncertainty that could have threatened the U.S. economy.

The debt limit "suspension," which would allow the government to borrow money until May 19, is due to come to a vote in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday without amendments. 

House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas said he believed the measure would achieve "near unanimous support" from the House Republican caucus, which would guarantee its passage. 

And:

"For me, this is not just a matter of policy. It's personal," said a verklempt Hillary Clinton choking back the tears at Wednesday's Benghazi hearing. "I stood next to President Obama as the Marines carried those flag-draped caskets off the plane at Andrews. I put my arms around the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, and the wives left alone to raise their children."

Hillary may well have been sincere, but with the Clintons you never know. 

These people are repugnant.


(Gracias)



And now, the octo-pizza. Eight arms of deliciousness.

To the Hague

The Palestinians threaten to take Israel to the Hague:

The Palestinians declared Wednesday that they will have no choice but to complain about Israel to the International Criminal Court if the Jewish state proceeds with plans to build housing on land the Palestinians want for a future state.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the Middle East, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said his government's decision will largely depend on what the Israelis do with the so-called "E1" area outside the Arab suburbs of East Jerusalem.

"If Israel would like to go further by implementing the E1 (settlement) plan and the other related plans around Jerusalem then yes, we will be going to the ICC," he said. "We have no other choice. It depends on the Israeli decision."

The Palestinians have previously suggested that bringing their various disputes with Israel to the Hague-based court was an option, but Malki's remarks on Wednesday were the most direct threat his government has made against the Jewish state to date.

The International Criminal Court prosecutes charges of genocide, war crimes and other major human rights violations. The Palestinians must first apply to join the court, and once a member they could refer Israel for investigation.

The Palestinians became eligible to join the ICC after the U.N. General Assembly upgraded the Palestinians' status at the world body in November from "observer entity" to "non-member state," a move that was widely seen as a de facto recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

After the November 29 vote - on the 65th anniversary of the adoption of U.N. resolution 181 that partitioned Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states - Israel announced it would build 3,000 more settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are areas the Palestinians want for a future state, along with Gaza.

E1 covers some 12 square km (4.6 square miles) and is considered particularly important because it not only juts into the narrow "waist" of the West Bank, but also backs onto East Jerusalem, where Palestinians want to establish their capital.

Approximately 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The United Nations deems all Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal.

Alright.

The E-1 (East-One) plan was developed but not implemented by Yitzhak Rabin in 1994. It would allow for fifteen thousand residences to be built in a corridor between Jerusalem and an Israeli settlement called Maale Adumim. Because it allows access to the hotly contested Jerusalem, the Palestinian leadership wants it badly.

If the Palestinians do manage to get the Hague to hear their case, I hope the Israelis include in evidence their claims to Jerusalem, Hamas' repeated insistence that Israel be destroyed and its attempts to do so, how much aid Israel gives to the Palestinians and how none of the Arab states offer solace, normal residence or anything else to them.

Chic = Romulan

Someone picked up on this:

George Takei, others note Michelle Obama’s Romulan-inspired Inauguration outfit

Oh, sure, the popular press gushed over Michelle Obama's "new look" but they're just lackeys in the service of the now dominant Romulan Star Empire helping to pave the way for their new pointy-eared overlords!

And I don't need to remind you about the Betazoid infiltrator.

We're through the looking glass here, people.

(Facepalm)

Yeah...

A passenger on a flight to New Zealand this week wore a T-shirt that exclaimed, "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya."

Those who have seen the 1980s film The Princess Bride will already be reciting the rest of that memorable quote. It goes like this:

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

A flight attendant didn't get the joke, according to Stuff.co.nz. When she saw the T-shirt, worn by Wynand Mullins, she asked him to remove it because the slogan was intimidating other passengers.

Mullins told the reporter the person next to him started to laugh but the flight attendant was quite serious and she set out in search of another shirt for him to wear. However, she mustn't have found one because she never returned, according to the story.

Mid-Week Post

If you play Lady Gaga's songs backwards, they still suck.

Say it ain't so!

CBC is reporting that Chief Theresa Spence will end her hunger strike tomorrow morning on Thursday, January 24.

Spence will be making a public statement about the end of her hunger strike at 11:00 a.m. EST on Thursday.

The longing for peppercorn steak overwhelmed her.


No one tells the Australians what to do:

Senior Colonel Liu Mingfu of China's National Defence University has raised the specter of a nuclear war, and warned Australia not to side with America and Japan. Liu is not an official spokesman for China, but his views are approved. Referring to the dispute between Japan and China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, Liu said that China was prepared to fight "to the death": 

America is the global tiger and Japan is Asia's wolf and both are now madly biting China. Of all the animals, Chinese people hate the wolf the most. 

If this Japanese wolf again attacks America's Pearl Harbor or Australia's Darwin, how do you know it wouldn't receive another nuclear bomb? The world would hail if Japan receives such a blow. 

I think the Chinese take a page out of the Islamist paranoid fantasy playbook and run with it. Why are we trading with them again?

Two men enter; one 'roo leaves.

Oh, do shut up:

Taro Aso, who is also the country's Deputy Prime Minister, said during a meeting to discuss reforms to the country's social security program, "Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government." He also added, "The problem won't be solved unless you let them hurry up and die."

God, you sound like this guy.


If not every opinion is valid, is yours extra-irrelevant?

Only hours after students installed a “Free Speech Wall” at Carleton University to prove that campus free speech was alive and well, it was torn down by an activist who claimed the wall was an “act of violence,” against the gay community. ...

By Tuesday morning the wall was gone, destroyed in an act of “forceful resistance,” by seventh-year human rights student Arun Smith.

This is the left and this is what they stand for.


LEGO cannot be used for evil. Therefore, your opinion is invalid (just like Arun Smith):

Lego has been accused of racism by the Turkish community over a Star Wars toy allegedly depicting  a mosque.

The critics claim that the Jabba's Palace model, part of Lego's Star Wars range, offends Muslims as it resembles the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul - one of the world's most renowned mosques.

Yes, this actually happened:

A fire caused by a flaming shipment of gourmet cheese has shut down a northern Norwegian traffic tunnel, a closure that could last for weeks as the damage is repaired.

Have I laid my brain in the sun and dried it, that it wants matter to prevent so gross o'erreaching as this? Am I ridden with a Welsh goat too? shall I have a coxcomb of frize? 'Tis time I were choked with a piece of toasted cheese. (V, 5) (Falstaff, The Merry Wives of Windsor)

(With thanks)

 

Benghazi-gate: Hillary Clinton Testifies

First of all:

Government watchdog Judicial Watch released a report Tuesday criticizing the State Department’s and President Barack Obama’s actions both before and after the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in which United States Amb. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

“The September 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi resulted from a wide range of strategic and tactical failures by State Department officials,” according to the report. “Chief among them was the fateful decision to circumvent established security regulations by designating the diplomatic post in Benghazi a ‘Special Mission Compound,’ ignoring repeated requests for additional security resources by Diplomatic Security personnel on the ground.”

The report also criticized the State Department for being “well aware of the escalating violence in Benghazi and the political threat it posed to the U.S mission there.”

The report criticized the president and administration officials for continued insistence that the attack was triggered by “an obscure Internet video.”

“Our concern is that security has taken a back seat to politics at the State Department,” stated Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton in a press release. “The willingness of the State Department and the White House to lie about the Benghazi attack does not inspire confidence that the Benghazi security failures will be seriously addressed. In the meantime, our diplomatic personnel may remain at risk as politicians and bureaucrats avoid accountability.”

While it has been established that the Benghazi mission (whatever its purpose was - see pages nine and ten of the report) was dangerous and that all parties involved, including and especially the president, lied about the video being the instigator, it does not go far enough and demand what the parties involved were doing and why they failed to do something during the attack.

What is especially troubling now is Hillary Clinton's response at the 1:21 point:



For weeks, the Obama administration lied about what was clearly an al Qaeda (or variant) attack by blaming it on a film, even going so far as to arrest the filmmaker. It had taken months to co-ordinate responses, each of which do not stand up to scrutiny. What does it matter? It matters that the "peace in our time" president who now aids Egypt militarily sent an ambassador to co-ordinate what is the equivalent of "Fast and Furious" and then lied and prevaricated and let others take the fall. THAT'S what matters.

By the Bond of Peace

Pope Benedict XVI's message to the Martyr Church of Cambodia:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters in Cambodia,"

"It is with great pleasure that I join you in prayer these days and through the heart, send you warm greetings while you gather around your pastors to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I hope that the Cambodian language translation of the conciliar documents and the Catechism that you will receive on this occasion will allow you to better understand the teaching of the Church and grow in faith".

"In this Year of Faith, I invite you to keep your eyes fixed on the person of Jesus Christ who is the origin and end of our faith and to reiterate the Good News to the world today. In Him, the examples of faith that have marked our history, find their full light. Also, remembering the period of troubles that precipitated your country in the darkness, I would like to emphasize the faith, courage and perseverance of your pastors and of your Christian brothers and sisters, those so many who have died, is a noble testimony to the truth of the Gospel. And this testimony has become a priceless spiritual strength to rebuild the church community in your country. Today, many catechumens and adult baptisms show your dynamism and is a happy sign of the active presence of God in you".

"Dear brothers and sisters, after the Apostle Paul, I urge you to 'keep the unity of the Spirit by the bond of peace'. Be assured of the prayers of your brothers and sisters whose blood flowed in the rice field! Be a leaven in the dough of your society, witnessing to the love of Christ for all, building bonds of brotherhood with members of other religious traditions, and walking on the paths of justice and mercy". ...

We're Just Mad About Harry

Or mad at Harry. Or just mad:

Taliban leaders have fired back at Prince Harry over the royal's comments that piloting a helicopter in Afghanistan—where he says he killed insurgents during his recent tour of duty—is like playing a video game.

Harry, who co-piloted an Apache helicopter during his 20-week tour, made the comparison in an interview broadcast by the BBC Monday night.

“It’s a joy for me because I’m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox," the 28-year-old said. "So with my thumbs I like to think I’m probably quite useful."

The Taliban did not appreciate the comparison.

“This statement is not even worth condemning. It is worse than that,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told London's Telegraph. “To describe the war in Afghanistan as a game demeans anyone—especially a prince, who is supposed to be made of better things.”

(Sidebar: Insert eyeroll here.)

Mujahid continued: “It shows the lack of understanding, of knowledge. It shows they are unfamiliar with the situation and shows why they are losing. ... It’s not a game. It’s very, very real."

In comments published in the Daily Mirror on Monday, Harry confirmed that he killed Taliban insurgents during his deployment.

“Yeah, so lots of people have," Harry said. "The squadron’s been out here. Everyone’s fired a certain amount."

The prince, known as Captain Wales and nicknamed "Ugly," said he fired on the Taliban during an attack on Camp Bastion in southern Afghanistan last fall. “Take a life to save a life," he said. "That’s what we revolve around, I suppose."

That's some big talk for a woman-hating coward hiding in a cave. Did that prince hurt your little feelings, big baby?

Prince Harry is a soldier. It's what he does and, as he is royalty, he is not shifting that weight on anyone else. Yes, he killed Taliban. So? When did the Taliban acquire respect for human life and decency? During Western etiquette class?

What a bunch of soft-bellied, little worms they are!

Fractured Nations

As Canada is only ONE nation, the above is figurative only.


Moving on....


Manitoba chiefs are considering withdrawing from the Assembly of First Nations:

Manitoba chiefs meeting in Winnipeg this week are reportedly slated to consider pulling out of the Assembly of First Nations, highlighting the fragility of a national body that some say needs a reset of its own.

Since National Chief Shawn Atleo met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Jan. 11, the assembly has been dogged by renewed doubts over its mandate to negotiate treaties on behalf of the province’s First Nations. But recent reports of Manitoba chiefs potentially channeling their frustration into outright ejection casts a cloud over the assembly’s efforts to quash internal dissent.

Reports of mismanagement and corruption have fragmented not only Canadian opinion but bands, chiefs and aboriginals themselves. The thought of accountability or even abolishing the Indian Act have polarised those who stand to gain from the status quo and those who would benefit from its complete removal. Why not abolish the Indian Act and treat aboriginals as citizens in a twenty-first century, First World nation and whose rights are measured by their responsibilities?

Americans: Your (Insert Word Here)-in-Chief

How about... cheapskate?

Whoever coined the term 'to the victor goes the spoils' did not have President Barack Obama's official inauguration party in mind.

They knocked on doors for him and helped him win re-election, but when Obama supporters put on their tuxedos and ball gowns to celebrate the start of his second term in office, they feasted on pretzels, peanuts and Cheez-its.

'This is the food? I'm not too thrilled about it. It's for the birds,' said Ben Shelly, who helped mobilize support for Obama on the Navajo reservation in Arizona.

Meanwhile:

 

 

The menu for today's Inaugural lunch, with President Obama and members of Congress, has been posted:

First Course: Steamed Lobster with New England Clam Chowder Sauce
Second Course: Hickory Grilled Bison with Red Potato Horseradish Cake and Wild Huckleberry Reduction
Third Course: Hudson Valley Apple Pie with Sour Cream Ice Cream, Aged Cheese and Honey

The wines served will include: 

Tierce Finger Lakes Dry Riesling (2010)

Korbel Natural, Special Inaugural Cuvée California Champagne

Bedell Cellars Merlot (2009)

NBC reports the total calorie count per meal is 3,000...

 

This isn't the first time we have seen a shocking lack of class from the First Couple (one might remember how British former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's children were treated). It is a form of outright contempt for those who bafflingly still support them despite their voters' efforts and wishes.

Thanks for nothing.

Related: Classless-Tart-in-Chief (and I don't just mean how she treated Brown's children, either.)

 

Faker? Can't even phone it in?

Uh oh. As the news of Beyoncé’s Inauguration Day lip-syncing spreads, many Twitter users are weighing in on her “lip singing.” Yes, lip singing.

Twitter = dunce cap. AND they voted for Obama. Remember this the next time someone tells you liberals/leftists are intelligent, almost too intelligent for their own good.



Spender-in-Chief?

It is official: America is not a nation of takers.

How do we know? Because the President of the United States just said so. President Obama used the occasion of his second inaugural address to take on the question of moral hazard emanating from our burgeoning entitlement state. In his estimate, there is no such risk — or at least none worth the mention.
Here is the inaugural passage in question:

…We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. [emphasis added]

With these words, the president 1) made it clear he is aware many Americans are troubled by the seemingly relentless expansion of government entitlement benefits and its impact on our way of life, and) 2 also made it clear that he totally dismisses their concerns.

Obama’s declaration is astonishing and bold–and not in a good way. This is an extremely peculiar (and, indeed, a peculiarly extreme) formulation—and posture—for a President of all the people to adopt.
Consider the following basic facts this assertion ignores:

– According to the most recent HHS figures, over 12 million working age Americans are cashing government disability benefits: A larger total than those cashing paychecks from the entire US manufacturing sector;

– Over twice as many Americans are obtaining “means tested” anti-poverty benefits from the government as are receiving old-age pension payments from Social Security;

– Only about a tenth of the increase in Americans depending on benefits from government entitlement programs can be explained by the aging of the US population per se;

– The Social Security and Medicare programs cannot cover their own outlay commitments on the basis of the contributions of the workers they “insure”: According to the actuaries for those two government trust funds, tens of trillions of dollars of future benefits have been promised in excess of expected future Social Security/Medicare funding streams.

We could go on–but you get the point.

No entitlement problem today? Really? Enormously powerful as the office he commands may be, the president is not invested with authority to make facts disappear.

We could alleviate a bit of this if Obama kicked in his "fair share". Why not put him a higher tax bracket or reduce his salary or compel him to vacation locally?


Footdragger-in-Chief?

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approved a new route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline on Tuesday that avoids the state's environmentally sensitive Sandhills region. 

 Heineman sent a letter to President Barack Obama confirming that he would allow the controversial, Canada-to-Texas pipeline to proceed through his state.  

Murderer-in-Chief?

Just hours before he died in a terrorist attack at the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Ambassador Chris Stevens sent a cable to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton painting a chaotic, violent portrait of the eastern Libya city and warning that local militias were threatening to pull the security they afforded U.S. officials.

Militia leaders told U.S. officials just two days before the attack that they were angered by U.S. support of a particular candidate for Libyan prime minister and warned “they would not continue to guarantee security in Benghazi, a critical function they asserted they were currently providing,” Stevens wrote in the cable the morning of Sept. 11, 2012.  He also cited several other episodes that raised questions about the reliability of local Libya security.

“Growing problems with security would discourage foreign investment and led to persistent economic stagnation in eastern Libya,” Stevens cautioned.

The Washington Guardian obtained a copy of the memo, a weekly summary of events in Libya dated just hours before a band of terrorists struck the unofficial U.S. consulate in Benghazi and a neaby annex building where the CIA operated, killing the ambassador and three other Americans.

Did Hillary Clinton hand this memo to Obama while he was in the situation room or couldn't she find him?

(With thanks)

A Grim Reminder

Dig that she is right:

Forty years ago today the Supreme Court rendered its Roe v. Wade decision. Those who believe in the sanctity of human life and long to see America embrace a culture in which innocent life is honored and protected continue to look for a day when humanity is again deemed valuable, where we cherish even those who would be born in "less than ideal circumstances." Children are our most precious resource and remain the greatest symbol of hope God has given us. This is just one reason why the annual March for Life has been such a powerful aspect of the pro-life movement. This year’s event is Friday, January 25th, and once again a multitude of Americans will gather in Washington, D.C. to show their support for precious little ones.

Our Founding Fathers declared: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” However, since 1973, millions of children have been denied the basic right upon which all the others hinge: the right to life.

Lately, President Obama has taken to boldly highlighting children in his speeches. Using kids as the backdrop for his gun control speech, the President claimed his commitment to young ones. "If there's even one life that can be saved, then we've got an obligation to try,” he said. He then outlined why gutting our Second Amendment is the means by which he believes we accomplish this. Every law-abiding citizen’s heart is broken when children are the target of men hell-bent on committing acts of evil, and we agree that the safety and protection of innocent life is paramount.

The hypocrisy of it all, however, is that while the President publicly acknowledges the value of “even one life” when it advances his own political agenda, he fails to acknowledge as much when it comes to protecting the lives of children soon to be born. In that same speech, he proclaimed that “when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now.” Well, who is more vulnerable than those who find themselves at the mercy of others to honor their existence and receive them into our world? Are these—the truly vulnerable—not worthy of the protection of which the President speaks? Why is it that their cause is never the subject of one of his lofty addresses to the nation? Has he ever even mentioned the March for Life that takes place in his own back yard and ought to be worthy of at least a scant mention? If indeed we have an obligation to save “even one life,” when will we hear our President rally Americans to stand alongside women who find themselves in these less than ideal circumstances to offer the support they need, to encourage parents to choose life, and to promote the option of adoption? Instead, he has committed himself to the most liberal of abortion agendas—so much so that as a Senator he couldn't even bring himself to support the Born Alive Act that would save the lives of babies ALREADY BORN and needing medical aid. Further, he believes taxpayers should betray their consciences by paying for his abortion agenda. This same President has stated he didn’t want his daughters “punished with a baby,” and remarked that it was “above my pay grade” to answer a pastor's question: “At what point does a baby get human rights?” Yet now we are to somehow believe that children are the priority in his current aggressive campaign against the Second Amendment?

The President continued to herald his support of children in yesterday’s inaugural speech. “Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit, to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm,” he said—and I agree. Nor is our journey complete, I would add, until all our children soon to be born are also “cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.” The President, of course, did not include this, as it does not line up with his worldview or his party’s platform. See, his commitment to our children is selective. When children in the womb are on the chopping block, the President is silent.

(Merci)


Also:

The motorcade carrying President Barack Obama was forced to confront pictures of babies victimized by abortions. A pro-life group that took up a position along the presidential parade route set up graphic abortion pictures.

So much for the pleasant ride.


Stay classy:

“… And as we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”

We don't want any of those "punishments" to be mentioned.



(Gracias)

A Case For Sun News

Ezra Levant makes a better case than I could but I will try.

The CRTC grants the state-funded CBC and CTV must-have carriage on cable TV bundles so it is only fair that Sun TV News at least get a bite at the apple. It has Canadian content, a broad appeal, an international appeal and offers perspectives many find wanting in other networks. Currently, it is considered a specialty channel. The consumer has to go though the bother of ordering it if possible. One may neither watch nor support the CBC or CTV but are both still included in cable packages. CNN is also provided in most cable packages even though it is an American news source (and a biased one at that). The consumer is held captive to networks they may not watch or support. The idea that consumers have a choice is an illusory one, therefore, given what is considered mandatory to carry in cable packages. Will cable companies, in an effort to appear willing to please consumers and in fairness, pare down the mandatory channels carried in packages? Will cable providers offer a more "cafeteria" style approach in letting consumers pick the channels, as opposed to bundles, they prefer or will companies offer their programming online to those who would rather not have cable TV? Until either (or both) of those options are available, why not give Sun TV News mandatory carriage? If the CBC and CTV are followed, trusted and needed, an additional news channel will be at the worst a minor distraction. At best, it is another option for those who wish to view an array of news and commentary.

Please go here to support Sun News' petition.

On A Monday

It goes on….

While the loss of life in Algeria is tragic, it is important to keep in mind that the terrorists, who have taken their cues from a seventh century war-monger and who value no human life at all, would never have negotiated with states who were willing to surrender what would otherwise be unthinkable:

The charred bodies of victims were discovered as the terrorists either blew up or burnt their captives – some in retaliation for the Algerian offensive to try to free them. 

One witness told how a Briton was forced to call out to colleagues to entice them from their hiding places before being shot dead in cold blood. 

Another Westerner was shot while trying to give first aid to the injured. 

Others were killed as they tried to flee while survivors spoke of having Semtex and other explosives strapped around their necks or bodies. 

DNA tests were having to be carried out on many of the victims because their injuries were so severe and the search for bodies was hampered by the fact the terror group had booby trapped the site.

Sadly, these victims of terrorism never had a chance. Any negotiation would have been fruitless both pragmatically and morally. What would the states affected have offered thugs who murdered so freely?

Al Qaeda is not dead. Benghazi. Mali. Algeria.

It is believed that Syrian president dictator Bashar al-Assad used a nerve gas, Agent 15, on his own people:

A secret cable sent to the State Department in Washington last week, indicates that it is likely that Assad used chemical weapons in an attack on the city of Homs on 23rd December, 2012.

The cable was produced by US officials in Turkey and signed by the US consul general in Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner. The report is based on interviews conducted with activists, civilians, doctors and aid workers on the ground.

An Obama administration official, who reviewed the secret cable, revealed that it makes a “compelling case” that Assad indeed resorted to a form of poison gas, although it is impossible to confirm “100 per cent”.

The weapon in question is Iraqi Agent 15, chemically either identical or closely related to BZ, and is controlled under schedule 2 of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

(Sidebar: don’t worry. Obama will not do a thing about this. Rest easy.)

Saddam Hussein also used that gas:

President Saddam Hussein was last night accused of stockpiling a new nerve gas called Agent 15, capable of paralysing victims into a zombie-like state. Intelligence sources have warned the allies preparing for an attack on his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction that Iraq has possessed the capability to make large quantities of Agent 15 since the 1980s. 

George Robertson, Secretary of State for Defence, told MPs: " ... At the time of the Gulf war Iraq may have possessed large quantities of a chemical war mental incapacitant agent known as Agent 15." Immediate effects of exposure include weakness, dizziness, disorientation and loss of co-ordination. Officials said large doses could prove fatal, and could render victims into a zombie-like state.

Something to think about.

Say it ain’t so!

Unfortunately, according to a new report by the Fraser Institute, Obamacare might have negative consequences for our healthcare system in Canada.

The report — included in a collection of essays titled 'The U.S. Election 2012: Implications for Canada' — suggests that America's new healthcare plan could increase costs in Canada.

Report author Steven Globerman — who is also a professor at the Western Washington University — suggests that Obamacare could lead to healthcare service scarcity because of greater demand and because lower payments to service providers could encourage consolidation in the sector. Globerman says longer wait times in the U.S. invariably mean longer wait times in Canada.

"The emergence of rationing and waiting times in the US might also increase the costs of Canadian health care by constraining provincial governments from using spare capacity in the US as a buffer against “excessive” waiting times in Canada. Rather than relying upon sending Canadian patients to the United States to deal with excessive wait times, provincial governments will presumably need to add domestic capacity or else increase waiting times for Canadians to receive medical treatment.

The demand for procedures such as CT scans that some Canadians acquire outside of provincial insurance plans could increase in Canada if those procedures become less readily available through US clinics. This development would intensify concerns about “two-tier” Canadian health care."

Globerman also argues that industry consolidation along with a new tax regime could reduce competition in United States and, consequently, reduce pressure on providers to innovate with regard to healthcare services and medical equipment.

That also impacts us here:

"These anticipated changes have implications for Canada. The United States is the leading source of new health care products and services, including medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and surgical and clinical techniques. Other countries, including Canada, benefit by importing products developed in the United States, often at marginal cost.

Canadian health care providers also benefit by waiting until new procedures and techniques are proven effective in the United States before adopting them in Canada. The ability of the Canadian sector to acquire technology and knowledge from the United States reduces required Canadian investment in expensive research and development, clinical testing, and the like, thereby making state-of-the-art health care services less expensive for Canadians. If the ACA reduces innovation in the United States, other countries will presumably need to spend more on health care innovation."

There’s your Plan B, useless gated-community Canadian leftists.

Let it be known that I am not one of those Canadians who thinks Obama is just “awesome”. He is a dreadful leader and human being. If any American reads this, know that not every Canadian thinks Obama is capable of tying his shoelaces let alone leading a country. He is a narcissistic socialist with dreams of grandeur and aims to destroy North America if he can. 

Chief Theresa Spense commands an audience still.

There is a difference between not being able to do one's job and just not willing to do it. If raving, Jew-hating unwashed masses blocking traffic and graffitting buildings don't merit arrests, then what good are the police? They have failed to uphold their end of the social contract.

China acts like a huge Richard (diminutive form) to South Korea by sending some lackey to meet with the president:

In her meeting with China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun yesterday, President-elect Park Geun-hye said North Korea’s nuclear weapons development cannot be tolerated and that Seoul will take stern measures against Pyongyang’s additional provocations, according to her spokeswoman.

Blow them off, President Park. It’s not like China cares one way or another about any Korean.

Related: the “war against women” continues as Ed Royce’s bill to protect North Korean women and children is signed. My God. He’s a monster and must be stopped. There are pasty, pudgy Ivy League chicks out there who need help more than the North Koreans do!

Also related: things might really start to suck for Vietnam:

I quoted Dai Xu, a Chinese Air Force Colonel, as advocating a short decisive war against one of China's neighbors:

"Since we have decided that the U.S. is bluffing in the East China Sea, we should take this opportunity to respond to these empty provocations with something real. This includes Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan, who are the three running dogs of the United States in Asia. We only need to kill one, and it will immediately bring the others to heel." ...

This discussion highlighted something that hadn't occurred to me before: That an attack on Vietnam is the "logical" choice for China. From China's point of view, there would be several advantages:

• It would raise far less nationalism in the United States than would attacks on Japan or the Philippines.
• China has a score to settle with Vietnam, following the 1979 China-Vietnam war.
• The motive would be "kill a chicken to scare the monkeys," as the old Chinese saying goes.
• It would assert complete control over the South China Sea.
• China claims that America has been a troublemaker in the South and East China Seas, because these countries have been confronting China in the confident belief that they would be defended by the U.S. If the U.S. does not defend Vietnam, then the other countries would no longer feel confident, and would no longer challenge China.
• It would scare Japan, so that China could take control of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, and Japan would retreat.

It wouldn't be the first time China was hostile to Vietnam and given who now occupies the White House, it may be up to freer states in Asia to defend or support it if possible. 

I would like to state once more that we should not trade with China.

(With enormous amounts of thanks)