Tuesday Post

There are always solid reasons why a nation should have and maintain a good standing army and navy and China's sabre-rattling in the Pacific is one:

Canada should get out of is cold war mindset and move the majority of its warships from Halifax to the B.C. coast in response to the Chinese navy’s aggressive military buildup, say defence analysts. ...

The Canadian military’s tiny fleet of warships is split up on a 60-40 basis favouring the Atlantic coast, with seven frigates and two destroyers in Halifax compared to five frigates and one destroyer in Esquimalt.

When submarines, maritime patrol and supply vessels are included there are a total of 18 vessels assigned to Halifax, where approximately 5,000 military and 2,000 civilian personnel are located, and 15 to Esquimalt, where roughly 4,000 military and 2,000 civilian employees are stationed.

Analyst David McDonough said Ottawa should reverse the emphasis, with at least 60 per cent of the frigates and destroyers in B.C.

He also argued that once the submarine fleet is fully operational two of the three subs in service (one will always be in the Esquimalt dry dock undergoing repairs and upgrades) should be based out at Esquimalt.

“Nowadays, the threat on the East Coast is pretty mild, whereas the Pacific is a more dangerous environment,” McDonough, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of B.C.’s political science department, said in an interview Friday.

The U.S., Japan and Australia have all taken steps to expand their military muscle in response to the Chinese military’s naval buildup. Fears of a potential Pacific conflict have been exacerbated by China’s territorial disputes with the Philippines and Japan.

McDonough argued in a blog post last month that Canada could use its Victoria-class diesel submarines to develop an anti-submarine warfare capability in the region, though such a commitment would ultimately require costly purchases of a new fleet of subs and a replacement for the aged Aurora maritime patrol aircraft.

Such a contribution would help the cash-strapped Americans “at a time when China is expanding its own naval fleet and showing greater assertiveness in its maritime disputes with its neighbours,” he wrote.

Canadian victories in the War of 1812, Vimy Ridge and Holland greatly exceed the "value" of an inadequate nationalised health service and political multiculturalism that creates more divisions than unity:

A history-heavy advertizing blitz leading up to the sesquicentennial, with a proposed $20-million budget, is in the works at Heritage Canada. Last month, the department announced $12 million for a Canada History Fund. It will pay for, among other things, new awards for outstanding high school history students and teachers. Who could object? Yet the push is prompting angry charges that the Tories are manipulating history for ideological purposes. In the political arena, the New Democrats accuse them of “remaking the Museum of Civilization in their image.” The NDP points to the Harper government’s high-profile, high-cost commemorations of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 as evidence of a Conservative bias for celebrating military exploits over, say, exploring social history.

So, no, Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn't re-writing history, just emphasising the bits of it that should matter to all Canadians.What would our "social history" be like under the thumb of a loser like Obama and where the French language has zero lease?

(Now, I've shaken the peaches.)

Mmm... peaches...

Why BCF deserves the accolades:

The Masjid al-Furqaan teaches hatred of Jews & Christians. Here's an excerpt from a document on their site entitled The Ideological Attack - A complete and final demolition of the plots of the Communists, Zionist Jews and Christians; and a wake up call for those who still stubbornly maintain that the Scholars of the Ummah do not know the current state of affairs.

THE ZIONIST JEWS:

The Zionist war is just the same. The Jews strive their utmost to corrupt the beliefs, morals and manners of the Muslims. The Jews scheme and crave after possessing the Muslim lands, as well as the lands of others. They have fulfilled some of their plans and continue striving hard to implement the rest of them. Even though they do engage the Muslims in warfare involving strength and arms and have occupied some of their lands, they also fight them through spreading and aiding the spread of destructive thoughts, beliefs and ideologies; such as Freemasonry, Qadiyaanisim, Bahaa‘ism, Teejaanism, and others - seeking the support of the Christians, and others, in order to fulfill their objects.

Why isn't this everywhere, spawning endless unrest? People can get upset over Christmas but they can't get angry enough to loudly condemn Jew-hatred? This is going on right now. If you stand back and do nothing, you must want it.


I thought Canada was only taking in immigrants we need:

Speaking at a Canadian citizenship ceremony in Surrey, B.C. on August 12, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has made its position on the Russian laws against homosexual proselytizing known and that Russian refugee claims “related to this particular issue will of course be looked at very seriously by our very generous system.”

Well, this doesn't look good:

On August 12, Joe DiGenova, attorney for one of the Benghazi whistleblowers, told Washington D.C.'s WMAL that one of the reasons people have remained tight-lipped about Benghazi is because 400 U.S. missiles were "diverted to Libya" and ended up being stolen and falling into "the hands of some very ugly people." ...

Months earlier, following then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's February 7 testimony on Capitol Hill about the Benghazi attacks, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) suggested that one of the causes behind the terrorist attack "may have been that there was a gun running operation going on in Benghazi, leaving Libya and going to Turkey and [distributing] arms to the [Syrian] rebels."

Who is responsible, I wonder?

Liar, liar, handbag on fire:

While promoting her new film, "Lee Daniels' The Butler," Winfrey relayed an anecdote about being a victim of racism to Entertainment Tonight. "I say to the woman, 'Excuse me, may I see that bag right above your head?' And she says to me, 'No, it's too expensive.' … She refused to get it."

Those are Oprah's exact words -- all told within the context of racism still being a very real problem for black people throughout the world.  

During the interview, though, Oprah also refused -- and this will be important later --  to identify the store.
Immediately after airing this anecdote, the story blew up here in America and around the world -- and did so with scarcely anyone in media bothering to verify the story or express any kind of skepticism. 

Within a few days, the entire country of Switzerland apologized. 

Then, Tuesday, this sales clerk, who has been vilified globally as the second coming of Bull Conner (who was a Democrat, by the way), finally spoke out and declared Oprah a liar:

I didn't hurt anyone. I don't know why someone as great as her must cannibalize me on TV. … If it had all taken place as she claimed, why has she not complained the next day at the wedding of Tina Turner with Trudie Goetz, my boss? She was there also at the Turner wedding as a guest. I don't understand it. ... I spoke to Oprah Winfrey in English. My English is OK but not excellent, unfortunately. ... I didn't know who she was when she came into the store. That wouldn't have made any difference if I had.”

And what is Oprah's reaction to being called a liar by a racist? Well, it certainly isn't the reaction of someone who was the victim of racism and then called a liar by the racist. 

No, when confronted with the shop girl's charge, Oprah issued a non-apology apology saying she was "sorry" the incident "got blown up."

Bono is really right about this:

Now, Bono is speaking up in a manner that would make his famous peers go slack-jawed. He says capitalism is the key to helping the poor, not merely handouts. 

“Aid is just a stopgap,” he said. “Commerce [and] entrepreneurial capitalism take more people out of poverty than aid. We need Africa to become an economic powerhouse.”

Forget "Game of Thrones". Tolkien was the real powerhouse:

Tolkien was so appreciated by the Nazis that he was asked by the German publisher Rütten & Loening  in 1938 to affirm that he was, indeed, of “Aryan” lineage before the planned release of a German translation of The Hobbit.

Tolkien responded to their inquiry into his heritage with the following letter:

25 July 1938
20 Northmoor Road, Oxford

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject — which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.

I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and remain yours faithfully,

J. R. R. Tolkien

Shark Week: is there anything it can't do?

A good Samaritan who came across the scene of a horrific jeep accident in the town of Boston, New York, last week, used skills learned from watching the Discovery Channel to save a teenager from bleeding to death.

Robert Nicholas stopped to help Bailey Mcgroarty, 16, and three other teens in an overturned jeep. The teens had been on their way to a local fair when the driver veered off the paved portion of the road and lost control of the vehicle.

Mcgroarty suffered a severe arm laceration with arterial bleeding. The teen was in danger of bleeding to death.

"You don't even know if you're capable," Nicholas said of trying to help at the scene. "There was a lot of blood."

Fortunately for all involved, Nicholas have been watching TV that week.

"I've seen 'Shark Week,'" he told WGRZ. "I just got done watching, they showed how to do a tourniquet. That's where I learned. Quickly."