And Now For Something Completely Different

Animals terrified of being at the vet's:

Don't worry there, fella. It won't be so bad.

The Gathering Storm

Even with an estimated larger turnout of protesters, the West has yet to make China account for anything it has done. It would not surprise me if the mainland Chinese repeat Tienanmen Square and the West still trades with them:

On the eve of what could be the biggest turnout yet in Hong Kong’s continuing protests, and a crucial test of wills on both sides, a demonstration that began with physical confrontation between authorities and pro-democracy demonstrators shifted Tuesday into a public relations duel aimed at the mass of undecided residents here.

Three days into protests that have brought large parts of the city to a standstill, both sides appeared to be carefully plotting their next move. Some pro-democracy leaders demanded a meeting with Hong Kong’s chief executive and threatened new acts of civil disobedience if the demand is not met.

The actors in Wednesday’s drama will be the protesters and authorities of Hong Kong, but the mainland Chinese leadership will be following events closely. Huge public protest is anathema to Beijing, and what happens in Hong Kong over the next day or two could shape the Chinese response.

The demonstrators have called for a large showing on the first day of a big two-day holiday and say they’re not backing down. ...

By protesting, activists are trying to force Beijing’s Communist Party leaders to abandon newly declared powers to weed out any candidates in the upcoming Hong Kong election for Leung’s successor. And the cordial nature of the protests over the past three days has perhaps been their most distinctive quality.

In putting a strong emphasis on the “civil” part of their civil disobedience, protesters are trying to sway large portions of the public that until recently have remained on the fence about an occupation of Hong Kong’s all-important financial district.

(Kamsahamnida)

Oh, Look! Hypocrisy!

The same Israel-hating White House that attacked Israel's defensive campaign against Hamas now won't hold itself to account for its indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Syria:

The White House has acknowledged for the first time that strict standards President Obama imposed last year to prevent civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes will not apply to U.S. military operations in Syria and Iraq. 

A White House statement to Yahoo News confirming the looser policy came in response to questions about reports that as many as a dozen civilians, including women and young children, were killed when a Tomahawk missile struck the village of Kafr Daryan in Syria's Idlib province on the morning of Sept. 23.

The village has been described by Syrian rebel commanders as a reported stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front where U.S officials believed members of the so-called Khorasan group were plotting attacks against international aircraft.

But at a briefing for members and staffers of the House Foreign Affairs Committee late last week, Syrian rebel commanders described women and children being hauled from the rubble after an errant cruise missile destroyed a home for displaced civilians. Images of badly injured children also appeared on YouTube, helping to fuel anti-U.S. protests in a number of Syrian villages last week.

“They were carrying bodies out of the rubble. … I saw seven or eight ambulances coming out of there,” said Abu Abdo Salabman, a political member of one of the Free Syria Army factions, who attended the briefing for Foreign Affairs Committee members and staff. “We believe this was a big mistake.”

Workplace Violence

Alton Nolen stands accused of beheading a co-worker and will face first-degree murder charges:

An Oklahoma man who had been suspended from his job was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the gruesome beheading of a co-worker, who was attacked from behind as the man sought revenge, a prosecutor said Tuesday. 

Alton Nolen, 30, could face the death penalty for Thursday's deadly attack on Colleen Hufford, 54, at the Vaughan Foods plan in Moore. He also faces two assault charges.

The FBI is also investigating, given Nolen's interest in beheadings and a recent surge in Middle East violence. Nolen had recently converted to Islam but Cleveland County Prosecutor Greg Mashburn said it appeared Nolen's assault was tied more to his suspension.

Despite his conversion to Islam, attending a mosque with links to terrorism and trying to convert others, this has nothing to do with Islamist terrorism.

Nope.

The First Diagnosed Ebola Case Now on US Soil

I'm sure the very people who didn't restrict flights or even issue advisories against going to hot zones will have this under control:

 U.S. health officials said on Tuesday the first patient infected with the deadly Ebola virus had been diagnosed in the country after flying from Liberia to Texas, in a new sign of how the outbreak ravaging West Africa can spread globally.

The patient sought treatment six days after arriving in Texas on Sept. 20, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters on Tuesday. He was admitted two days later to an isolation room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

This Is An Ex-Parrot

No, really:

A Quebec judge sided with a woman who paid for a parrot autopsy and demanded to be reimbursed nearly $4,000 from the pet store that sold her the sick bird that died three months after bringing it home.

Don't Mention the War

Even though the word "jihad" translated means "holy war", is mentioned one hundred and sixty-four times in the Koran, is clearly a martial philosophy and has been uttered and implemented time and time again by Islamist terrorists, it is not to be said, referred to or hinted at when speaking of obviously Islamist terrorist activities or acts:

The RCMP says it doesn't support an anti-radicalization handbook being distributed throughout Muslim communities in Winnipeg, despite contributing a chapter of its material.

The 38-page booklet, United Against Terrorism, is described as "a collaborative effort towards a secure, inclusive and just Canada" and aimed at a Muslim audience with the goal of dispelling what it says are myths about Islam.

Shahina Siddiqui, the president of the Islamic Social Services Association, the group distributing the handbook, said the handbook was born out of a "necessity" to counter the violent narrative being put forth by extremists.

"Be cautious of Web-based sites that seem Islamic oriented but can be either Islamophobic or extremist sites," it advises.

The handbook also focuses on Islamophobia, which Siddiqui called a form of racism and said is a contributing factor in radicalization.

"Islamophobes also reinforce hatred against Muslims and demonize Islam," it says.

Nothing New Here

Two years prior to the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15th, 2013 that killed three people and injured two hundred and sixty-four others, Russian authorities repeatedly warned American authorities about one of the culprits,  Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

During an interview on 60 Minutes, Obama blamed intelligence services for their alleged inadequate ability to inform him of threats like ISIS even though Obama does not attend most intelligence briefings and was warned of ISIS during the 2012 elections.

There is a man who just doesn't care to lead, let alone be fit to do so.

A Monday Post

Quickly now...


How much would not fighting ISIS cost?

U.S. military efforts against Islamic State have cost nearly $1 billion so far and are likely to run between $2.4 billion and $3.8 billion per year if air and ground operations continue at the current pace, according to a think tank analysis.

But a ramp-up, including more air strikes and a significant boost in ground forces, could send costs soaring to between $13 billion and $22 billion annually, said the analysis released on Monday by the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

How interesting that the most wasteful administration is now considering frugality.

And, of course, throwing people under the bus:

“Our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that, I think, they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” Mr. Obama said on “60 Minutes,” the CBS News program, referring to James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence. Mr. Obama added that the agencies had overestimated the ability and will of the Iraqi Army to fight such Sunni extremists. “That’s true. That’s absolutely true,” he said.

Whatever you say, Mr. Khorasan.


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN with some powerful words:

The Israeli leader compared the spread of Islamic terrorism to a “cancer” that starts small, but left unchecked grows to cover a wider area. “To protect the peace and security of the world, we must remove this cancer before it's too late,” Netanyahu told the crowd of leaders and diplomats.

Referring to Israel’s deadly war in Gaza that ended last month, Netanyahu accused Hamas of committing "the real war crimes" by using Palestinian civilians as human shields. He showed a photograph he described as Palestinian kids playing near rocket launchers in Gaza. “Israel’s defense knocked rockets out of the sky. Israel was using its missiles to protect its children. Hamas was using its children to protect its missiles,” Netanyahu said.  

Israel "was doing everything to minimize civilian casualties. Hamas was doing everything to maximize civilian casualties," he added.

It was an angry response to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the U.N. last week in which he accused Israel of conducting a "war of genocide" in Gaza. Abbas stopped short of saying he would pursue war crimes charges against Israel but said he would ask the U.N. Security Council to dictate the ground rules for any talks with Israel, including setting a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

With memories of the Nazi Holocaust still fresh in Israel, use of the word "genocide" is regarded as particularly provocative both to Netanyahu and Israelis in general.

And turning to another regional rival, Netanyahu said Iran's concern about the spread of terrorism is "one of history's greatest displays of double-talk." He criticized the efforts of six world powers to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, saying, "to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a potential nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war."

“Don't be fooled by Iran's manipulative charm offensive. It's designed for one purpose and for one purpose only: to lift the sanctions and remove the obstacles to Iran's path to the bomb.” Netanyahu insisted.

Netanyahu closed his speech with words of hope for peace with the Palestinians and suggested support from leaders of all Middle Eastern countries could help in those efforts.  

As long as there is a one-party communist state in China, Hong Kong will never have the Western-style democracy it craves:




Words of snark from Three-point-Three-Three Cubits of Rage:

Commission blames homeschooling for Sandy Hook massacre

When obviously all those children would be alive today if they’d been homeschooled.

Go to the new and improved Blazing Cat Fur site. It's sleek, efficient, high in taste and low in calories.


And now, firefighters saved little hamsters.

Yes, that happened.

Friday Freakout

Let it all hang out-ish...


Would that traffic jams be this fun:




The physics of space battles:

 


Control the clutter in your house like this.


Make Indian food tonight.

A Post For It Is Friday

The week-end is here....


"Workplace violence":

A man fired from a food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday.

Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis says police are waiting until the 30-year-old man is conscious to arrest him in Thursday's attack and have asked the FBI to help investigate after co-workers at Vaughan Foods told authorities that he recently started trying to convert several employees to Islam.

The man, whom The Associated Press is not naming because he has not been charged, stabbed Colleen Hufford, 54, severing her head, Lewis said.

Lewis said the man then stabbed Traci Johnson, 43, a number of times before being shot by Mark Vaughan, a reserve sheriff's deputy and the company's chief operating officer.

Coalition of the unwilling:

Bethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali, a Muslim member of Ed Miliband's frontbench team, has resigned as a shadow minister because she was unwilling to vote for British involvement in air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.

 **

Paul Calandra was unapologetic about his performance during Question Period Tuesday. “That’s what Parliament’s about,” he said, in reference to a bizarre exchange with Tom Mulcair, in which the NDP leader asked about the Canadian deployment in Iraq and the prime minister’s parliamentary secretary responded with a non-sequitur about an NDP employee’s social media statements on Israel. ...

You would have been hard-pressed to discern that from his potty-mouthed performance the previous day. But there’s something in it. There is a faction in the NDP that is dragging the party ever leftward. Mr. Mulcair resisted that gravitational pull on Israel, but he appears to be powerless on Iraq.

The world has woken up to the threat of allowing the Islamic State to establish its caliphate. Even Arab nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia have joined the coalition to stop it.

If the NDP votes against Canadian participation in such a patently justified intervention, it will, in the eyes of many voters, disqualify itself as a serious contender for government.

When this guy finally does die, who will miss him aside from a handful of perverts and murderers?

A Calgary man who was rumoured to be dead after travelling to fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria appears to be alive and has conducted a video interview with media outlet Vice.

Farah Mohamed Shirdon, of Calgary, first came to attention in an ISIS video released earlier this year in which he tears up his passport and makes threats against the enemies of ISIS — naming both Canada and the U.S.

In August, CBC reported that social media postings were saying that Shirdon had been killed in Iraq. 

But after seeing reports that Shirdon may in fact still be alive, Vice used social media to track him down and arranged a video interview that Vice says took place on Sept. 23.

Vice says the interview, conducted by founder Shane Smith, was done on Sept. 23. Vice notes that the man Smith is speaking with is thought to be Shirdon. CBC producer Nazim Baksh, who has followed the story closely, says that the man in the video is in fact Shirdon, a former Calgary resident who studied at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

In the video released by Vice, the man said that nobody recruited him, and that he is just one of thousands of foreign fighters who have travelled to Iraq.

"No one spoke a single word to me," he said. "I opened the newspaper, I read the Qur'an – very easy."

Prime Minister Harper's address to the UN emphasised the need to economically boost people in order to combat extremism. Ideology does not recognise class. The nineteen hijackers who murdered three thousand people on September 11th, 2001 came from affluence. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are funding terrorism. The purchasing power the one-party state of China has not increased democratisation. In short, Harper's words are folly.


Russia mulls a law that would seize foreign assets:

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media after talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Minsk on Aug. 27. In another dark twist to the West's standoff with Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, a pro-Kremlin deputy has submitted a draft law that would allow the government to seize foreign assets in the country in response to Western economic sanctions. 

The law, submitted after Italian authorities seized €30m worth of shares and bank accounts belonging to the Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg, would also allow for oligarchs to get compensation from the state in the case of an "unjust judicial act of a foreign court." The full (Russian language) text of the draft law can be found here.

Given Russia's parlous economic position — GDP grew only 0.8% this year — the concept of using state funds to bail out multimillionaire businessmen may be received poorly in the country. Already opposition leaders are rounding on the government with Boris Nemtsov, co-chair of the RPR-PARNAS political party and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, writing on Facebook:

What is [the benefit of] a strongman's friendship? It's when you have 4 villas, apartments and a hotel seized in Italy and your accomplice in the Kremlin immediately introduces a bill for damages from the Russian budget.

Kim Jong-Un is reportedly in bad health:

Young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is suffering from "discomfort," state media has said in the first official acknowledgement of ill health after a prolonged period out of the public eye.

Kim, 31, who is frequently the centrepiece of the isolated country's propaganda, has not been photographed by state media since appearing at a concert alongside his wife on Sept. 3, fuelling speculation he is suffering from bad health.

He had been seen walking with a limp since an event with key officials in July and in a pre-recorded documentary broadcast by state media on Thursday appeared to have difficulty walking.

"The wealth and prosperity of our socialism is thanks to the painstaking efforts of our marshal, who keeps lighting the path for the people, like the flicker of a flame, despite suffering discomfort," a voice over for the hour-long documentary said. ...

North Korea observers speculate Kim's weight and family background may have contributed to his condition.

"Based on his gait, it appears he has gout - something (due to) diet and genetic predisposition that has affected other members of the Kim family," said Michael Madden, an expert on the North Korean leadership and contributor to the 38 North website.

How do North Korean doctors treat lifestyle-related problems?


(Paws up)

Mid-Week Post

The crease of the week...


A happy Rosh Hashana to all y'all.


The corpse of New Brunswick has been found floating lifelessly in the Bay of Fundy Tuesday morning. Foul play is suspected (and I do mean foul):

Amid a bizarre vote-counting snafu, rookie politician Brian Gallant led his Liberal party to a majority election victory in New Brunswick, as voters rejected the Progressive Conservatives’ bid to jump-start a moribund economy by expanding its shale gas industry. ...

Before the count was stopped, Gallant’s Liberals and the Tories under David Alward were locked in a tight contest. That changed once the results were updated with the Liberals winning 27 ridings compared to the Progressive Conservatives with 21.

I'll never forget you, New Brunswick.

Justin Trudeau's feelings were hurt... or something:

Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he will continue to snub English-language Sun Media reporters in protest of an opinion piece broadcast by Ezra Levant on his Sun News Network program, The Source.

And Trudeau has filed a complaint with Quebecor Inc., the Montreal-based company that owns Sun Media and Sun News Network.

Sun News Network is a news and opinion cable channel while Sun Media owns dozens of newspapers across the country including the largest French-language newspaper in the country, Le Journal de Montreal, the tabloid Sun newspapers, and several broadsheet daily papers such as the London Free Press and the Kingston Whig-Standard.

Trudeau's office said Levant, in a segment broadcast on Sept. 15, engaged in a personal attack that "was offensive and breached any reasonable measure of editorial integrity" and vowed that until Quebecor resolves the matter, Trudeau will "continue to not engage" with English-language Sun Media reporters or outlets.

For the last several months, Sun Media reporters have literally had to chase after Trudeau if they wanted to get the Liberal leader's thoughts on everything from climate change to fighting terrorists - and, in any event, Trudeau would often ignore them.

Glenn Garnett, Sun Media's editorial vice-president, says his organization is just the latest to be shut out by politicians who don't like the line of questioning from their reporters or the positions taken by their commentators.

Levant is not a reporter but writes an opinion column for the newspaper chain in addition to hosting a one-hour television show Monday-to-Friday.

The Fils had better man up. The prime minister's job is for big boys, not for arrogant trust-fund kids who snub reporters because their questions are too hard.


Why, exactly, do we need the UN?

Canada has received a request from the United States to increase its contribution to the military mission in Iraq and Stephen Harper said cabinet will soon decide on the government’s next steps.

The Prime Minister made the comments in New York during an event prior to speaking at the United Nations on security issues. Mr. Harper also said Canadian forces have been working in Iraq for several weeks and are currently the second-largest force, after the United States, working in support of Iraqi troops. ...

The meeting came amid escalating U.S.-led attacks against Islamic State militants, who are fighting to establish a Sunni Islamic state and already control large parts of Iraq and Syria. U.S. officials estimate some 15,000 foreign fighters from around the world have travelled to the region, fuelling concern that some may return to their home countries to launch domestic attacks. More than 130 Canadian citizens have left the country to join or fund extremist activities, Canadian officials say, including dozens who may have joined the Islamic State group.

The Security Council is responsible for maintaining international peace and security, but its capacity to address major crises has frequently been limited by disagreements among the five veto-wielding permanent members. The resolution could be difficult to enforce, particularly in countries like Canada and the U.S., which don’t conduct exit checks and have constitutional protections, including freedom to enter and leave, for citizens not convicted of a crime.

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister said Canada’s anti-terror laws are under review, amid growing concern about threats against Canadians. And Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander has indicated that the government is already revoking passports from suspected militants who have travelled abroad and is invalidating travel documents in some cases.

Mr. Harper’s participation in the Security Council meeting came four years after Canada’s failed attempt to win one of the Security Council’s rotating temporary seats in 2010. The rejection was an embarrassment for the government and Mr. Harper has skipped annual opportunities to speak at the United Nations General Assembly since that year.

This is the same UN that has done nothing to prevent or stop any war or massacre since its inception. It has China and Russia permanently sit on its security council. It gives a platform not only to the worst human rights abusers on the planet to any celebrity whose opinions should never be taken seriously.

It's time for Canada to withdraw from this toothless organisation and take our money with us.


A word on Khorasan, that mysterious group that is just now a danger to American national security:

On Tuesday, that campaign expanded for the first time into Syria, where a coalition led by the US, but also including five Arab states, has since launched aerial and naval missile attacks on over 16 ISIS positions at the time of writing. In a surprise additional move, the US also carried out 8 strikes on what the military called the “Khorasan Group,” a shadowy entity said to be an external Al-Qaeda cell embedded among units of Al-Qaeda’s official Syrian subsidiary, Jabhat al-Nusra. Despite the US’s implied distinction between so-called “Khorasan” members and regular Nusra Front fighters, it’s unclear to what extent that has held up on the ground, with some reports citing Syrian rebels and activists to the effect that the sites hit were well-known Nusra bases. ...

The general perception of ISIS as the world’s most dangerous jihadist outfit has been complicated recently by US intelligence claims of the existence of an external, elite Al-Qaeda cell sent personally by Zawahiri to join Nusra militants inside Syria, not to fight the Bashar al-Assad regime, but to plot spectacular, mass-casualty attacks on civilian targets in the West. This cell, dubbed the “Khorasan Group” in reference to the antiquated name used by Al-Qaeda for the region in which its members were previously based (including Iran, where the cell’s Kuwaiti leader, Muhsin al-Fadhli, was quietly hosted by the ruling regime) was said by Washington to pose a more “direct” threat to the West than ISIS. Or, rather, it was, until the “individuals plotting and planning” the attacks were “eliminated” Tuesday by US air strikes, in the words of Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby.

While American claims about the “Khorasan Group” are impossible to verify independently, Gartenstein-Ross told NOW they tallied with previous activities undertaken elsewhere by Al-Qaeda, such as in Yemen, where the Saudi bomb maker and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) member Ibrahim al-Asiri is believed to have developed the explosives used in numerous operations, such as the attempted Christmas Day 2009 blowing up of a passenger jet in Detroit.

At the same time, there is skepticism about the veracity of the US’s claims regarding “Khorasan” among some within the Syrian opposition, who see them as a pretext to weaken Nusra itself, which was designated a “terrorist” entity by the US in 2012.

“We have no idea who these people are,” said Qurai Zakarya, an opposition activist and survivor of the Assad regime’s August 2013 chemical weapons attack outside Damascus. “Throughout all my work in Syria, I never heard about them. And other activists are saying the same.”

“Ever since we heard about them in the news, we’ve been trying to find out who they are and so far we have no answer. Nobody knows anything about them.”

Strangely enough, Khorasan, that threat to us all, was not mentioned once in Obama's address to the nation, itself given after months of ISIS' butchery.


A look inside life under ISIS:

A Syrian woman carried a hidden camera around the streets of Raqqa, a city controlled by ISIL. Somehow she smuggled her video out of Syria, and it was broadcast on French television. It has been on YouTube for a couple of days, but I didn’t learn about it until today. It doesn’t seem to have been too widely viewed, so you likely haven’t seen it either. There are guns everywhere, and a frightening moment when an armed stranger stops the woman as she is secretly filming and tells her she needs to “behave better”–he can see her face through her niqab. ...

What Putin wants:

There’s nothing really secret about Putin’s ambitions. In national security concept papers published in 2008 and 2009 the Kremlin makes clear, notes Janusz Bugajski, that Russia does not share Western interests. In these documents, the Kremlin sees American influence and NATO as a threat, pledges to defend the interests of Russians whenever they live, and claims privileged interests and rights in regions adjacent to Russia. Bugajski also brings our attention to a January 2012 Nezavisimaya Gazeta article authored by Putin, wherein the Russian president lays out a broad and ambitious vision for a new, multi-ethnic Russian empire based on “Russian values.”

Even if a number of his methods differ from Soviet methods of the past, Putin wants to reclaim parts of the Soviet empire. He understands that success abroad will strengthen his authoritarian hold at home. This was likely a large part of his angst at seeing Ukraine tilt toward Europe. Alternative liberal models so close to home cannot be tolerated, as they would naturally threaten Putin’s vision for Russia, his legitimacy and rule.

In case one still thought Putin wasn't an autocrat.



An interesting article on Russians in Estonia:

Nevertheless, as surveys show, local Russians largely disagree with Russian troops going into Estonia under the label of “protection of their compatriots.” Regardless of our different social and ideological backgrounds, we know how little Russia actually cares about Russians. Most of us are convinced that instead of “helping” compatriots outside the motherland borders, Russian authorities should deal with numerous human rights issues inside their own country. Here in Estonia, we do not need to be saved. 

Read the whole thing.


And now, enjoy some autumn foliage.

 

Monday Post

It's time...


ISIS hates Stephen Harper, blahblahblah:

In an audio recording distributed widely on social media Sunday, Islamic extremist group ISIS urged attacks on civilians in member countries of the U.S.-led coalition opposed to their violent spread through areas of Syria and Iraq. 

In the nearly 42-minute long meandering propaganda speech uploaded to Twitter, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani encourages Muslims to kill “disbelievers” in countries, including Canada, currently supporting American and French-backed military action against the group in Iraq “in any manner.”

“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State … kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” said Adnani.

In a statement released Sunday evening, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's spokesman condemned the recording and said Canada will continue to support efforts to defeat ISIS.

"ISIS represents a threat not just to stability in the Middle East, but to global security," said Jason MacDonald, the prime minister's director of communications.

"We will continue to work with allies to push back against this threat. Like our allies we will not be cowed by threats while innocent children, women, men and religious minorities live in fear of these terrorists."

The Canadian government has not said whether it views the recording as authentic, but the French government appeared to be treating it as authentic, as did SITE, a Washington based think tank that analyzes terrorist groups.

The Harper government has taken a hardline against ISIS. Last week Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird compared the fight against ISIS to the struggles against communism and fascism.

(Sidebar: that's nice. Has ISIS been vaporised yet?)

Abolish teachers' unions:

OECTA locals send at least $3,222 more to BC (according to their recent tweets), even though the strike is over. 

Ontario teachers, aren't you tired of having this mafia union take your money and use it this way?


For every Russian fighter jet that skirts Canadian air space, offer Ukraine some more weapons:

Two Russian Tupolev bombers got within 100 km of Canadian airspace in the Arctic northwest at about 1:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday morning. They were met by Canadian CF-18 fighter jets, which had scrambled out of Inuvik, N.W.T.

After a period of time, the Russians changed their course and headed home without further incident.

 
Does Putin know what flag would look good at a NATO summit? Ukraine's.


Uh-oh:

Tokyo has rejected Pyongyang’s proposed initial report on its reinvestigation into its abductions of Japanese nationals, on the grounds that no fresh information is contained on 12 Japanese nationals officially recognized by Japan as having been abducted to North Korea, a source said Saturday.

Where is Megumi Yakota?

(Kamsahamnida)


The Fur: it's what's going on.


And now, prepare for fall baking.

An Important Message

To Islamists the world over:

Before you embark on a career of rape, pillage and child murdering, know this:

you're not going to Heaven.

I'll repeat that: the vain assumption made by an irritable, irrational war-monger who married a child is a very, very erroneous one. Whatever one's beliefs may be, it defies reason that if you wilfully murder people you will find yourself in some kind of paradise for all eternity or be accepted by the majority of the people on this planet, most of whom will settle for mere civility which seems to be another stumbling block of yours. Seriously. Haven't you ever thought that through? Study any religion and you'll find that the more wicked you are, the less likely it is that you will merit a peaceful afterlife.

And look at the "heaven on earth" you're creating now. Do you think people are fleeing because they believe you will bring prosperity, enlightening and cultural pluralism? It's no accident that whenever you embrace a culture that forces women to wear body coverings, blames Jews and Americans for things you did to yourselves and even bans music that one's economy goes down the crapper. Who wants to trade with a mad theocratic state? Someone who had his or her entire brain removed, that's who. You're not even pleasant to be around. Nobody likes an intolerant grumpy-pants.

In conclusion, your quest for eternal happiness is a failed one. You're going to hell. Stop being a social reject if you can. Nobody likes you.

Friday Freakout

Let the week-end begin...


Scotland voted "no" and remains in the Union.

Had the Scots voted to separate, who would be on their money?


British legal terms.


Two koalas bickering... or something:

 


Can you search for Spock?

But Wait! There's More!

A huge terrorist plot, one of the biggest in Australian history, has been foiled:

Militants connected with radical group Islamic State were planning to behead a member of the public in Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Thursday, after hundreds of police raided homes in a sweeping counter-terrorism operation.

Abbott said there was a "serious risk from a terrorist attack" days after Australia raised its national terror threat level to "high" for the first time, citing the likelihood of attacks by Australians radicalized in Iraq or Syria.

Australia is concerned over the number of its citizens believed to be fighting overseas with militant groups, including a suicide bomber who killed three people in Baghdad in July and two men shown in images on social media holding the severed heads of Syrian soldiers.

More than 800 police were involved in the pre-dawn security operation in Sydney and Brisbane, which was described as the largest in Australian history and resulted in the detention of 15 people, police said.

Abbott told a news conference that members of the radical group had planned to conduct a public beheading.

"That's the intelligence we received," he said.

Media reported that the plans included snatching a person at random in Sydney, Australia's largest city, and executing them on camera draped in the group's black flag.

"The exhortations, quite direct exhortations, were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country," Abbott said, referring to the group otherwise known as Islamic State that has seized large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq.

But the real news is this:

AN URGENT meeting was called last night by members of the Muslim community who were outraged about yesterday’s anti-terror raids in Sydney. 
 
A speaker at the protest, said they were not there to interfere with security, despite what many believed.

Of the arrested people he said: “We are not here to determine guilt or innocence ... but we are greatly concerned.”

Women and children had been terrified during the raids and homes “smashed” as they were carried out, he said, adding they took place only days after the Government claimed there was no direct terror threat.

He spoke from the steps of the Lakemba War Memorial, which drew criticism from many on social media.

The Muslim community they were “not fools” and could see through the “spin” and “propaganda” of the Abbott Government who he insisted were seeking to politicise the security situation. ...

The crowd chanted “we reject the terror laws, they only serve American wars”.

“Terror raids can’t break the spirit of Muslims” and “stop terrorising Muslims” were some of the anti-government placards held by protesters listening to the speakers at Lakemba station.

“These are the same people who brought us children overboard and Iraq.

“So what do we expect from this [new] tale from ASIO and the police commissioner?”

There were about 200 people at Lakemba station for the protest in response to what organisers say is the Federal Government’s heavy-handed approach to the raids, which resulted in 15 arrests.

“My house was raided by these police pigs,” a teen from within the crowd screamed.

  
It's the sort of mental dissonance one expects from a perpetually aggrieved mass, a mass that just doesn't get that repeated threats and attacks don't convince thinking individuals that this is all isolated. The arrests weren't a misunderstanding nor were they acts of an overreaching government. For once, the police were doing their jobs, arresting people who plotted the murders of innocent people done in the name of the Islamic state.

I might just be "emotional" about this, emotional enough to call an emergency session of Parliament to talk about it and then not turn up, but the plan to deliberately murder random citizens in a show of terror and power is no small matter.

And, yes, it is all related.


Jerk:

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau refused to answer when asked if convicted terrorist Hiva Alizadeh - a Canadian-Iranian dual citizen sentenced to 24 years in prison this week - is the type of Canadian whose citizenship his party wouldn't revoke.

When asked, Trudeau simply said "next question" and turned away.

 
How about this, Trudeau, you jack-hole, answer the damn question? Did your handlers not prepare you enough? Was the question worded too poorly? Was it beneath you?

People want to vote for him.


Votes are still being tallied in the Scottish independence referendum.


And now, an illustrated guide to dogs.  Enjoy.

Mid-Week Post

Quickly now...


Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko addressed Parliament today and thanked Canada for its generosity and support:

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told Canadian parliamentarians there is no turning back to the "awful days" of the Soviet Union for his country.

The leader was in Ottawa on Wednesday, meeting with politicians and Ukrainian immigrants.

In his address to Parliament, Poroshenko thanked Canada for its unqualified support and lamented that "today, Ukrainians are paying a high price for what we believe in - freedom and democracy."

"Now is the real fight for our independence," Poroshenko said.

More than 3,000 Ukrainians have died since conflict began late last year when then-president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich declined to ratify a trade deal with the European Union in favour of forging close ties with Russia. That led to the overthrow of the Yanukovich government, which then raised the ire of Russia, and ethnic Russians within Ukraine.

Earlier in the week, Poroshenko ratified that trade deal with the E.U. but also made painful concessions to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, including allowing them to appoint their own judges, form their own police forces and participate in programs that would strengthen ties to Russia.

Harper was the only foreign leader to attend Poroshenko's swearing in ceremony last spring.
Canada also sent several hundred observers to oversee the election.

More observers will be sent to oversee Ukraine's parliamentary election Oct. 26 - something for which Poroshenko praised and thanked Canada.

"I look forward to Canadians coming to that (to) ensure (the election is) free and fair," Poroshenko said.

But he also spoke of the continuing Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and asked Canada to supply more military aid including "signal intelligence" and surveillance equipment.

Canada has already delivered several plane-loads of humanitarian aid and military supplies.

Shortly before Poroshenko's address, the government announced an additional $3 million in such funding.

That will go directly to aid groups, including the Red Cross already operating in Ukraine.

More broadly, Poroshenko talked of a global "common goal" in the fight against terror, and thanked Canada for being among the countries actively working to unite the world and send a strong message to Russia.

Oh dear:

The tumour in Rob Ford's abdomen, the discovery of which led the mayor of Toronto to drop out of the election last week, is both malignant and rare, according to medical authorities.

Dr. Zane Cohen of Mount Sinai Hospital's surgical team addressed the media today to provide an update on Ford's medical condition, which, he noted, was done due to great public interest.

He said a repeat biopsy was done Monday on "the mass," meaning the abdominal tumour.

"The diagnosis is a malignant liposarcoma," said Cohen, which is a form of cancer that arises in fat cells in deep soft tissue; it is, Cohen said, a rare and difficult tumour to treat.

"It has about 60 different cell types and that's what makes it a very rare tumour and a very difficult tumour," he said.

"We have not found cancer" in Ford's organs, Cohen noted, later adding that the tumour appears "very aggressive" based on its size after its recent discovery and that it has been growing since well before that, but Cohen added that the treatment plan is also aggressive, involving an initial three days of chemotherapy, a rest day and an 18-day "washout period" before possible subsequent 40-day cycles over the treatment plan, which Cohen said is to begin within the next 48 hours.

A hike in minimum wage ignores the cost of big government, the inflated cost of living and squeezes out those who need to work but don't let facts get in the way of a good campaign:

On Tuesday, Thomas Mulcair’s New Democrats introduced a doomed-for-failure motion in the House of Commons, which would reinstate a federal minimum wage, and increase it to $15/hour.

Even if the motion somehow passed, it’s affect would be limited — it would only apply to those workers who belong to a federally regulated industry such as banking, air transport and radio and television broadcasting. 

It has, however, re-ignited the debate about the efficacy of raising the minimum wage, for all workers, across the country — a debate that has reached grand proportions in the United States. 

"Here in Canada, the minimum-wage debate has been trapped in a time warp," the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Trish Hennessy wrote in an essay praising the New Democrats for introducing the motion. 

"Provincially, any attempt to increase the minimum wage on a steady basis has been overly cautious, muted by a loud and powerful business lobby.

"[The NDP motion] is the beginning of a national conversation about the inadequacy of the current minimum wage level. It’s the beginning of a national conversation about the value of a minimum wage that is a living wage — one that can actually help a household pay all of its most basic bills, such as housing, transit to work, child care, and food."

Whoops:

With just five full days of campaigning to go until New Brunswickers vote on Monday, Liberal Leader Brian Gallant will be struggling to recover from the worst political media interview since Stéphane Dion got confused in the 2008 federal election. ...

CBC Reporter Bob Jones and others reported that, despite Liberal claims to the contrary, Gallant's plans would lead to the highest tax jurisdiction in the country. The Liberals pushed back and argued that reporters were wrong.

So on Friday morning CBC offered Gallant an interview to explain the policy.

During the interview, CBC New Brunswick host Harry Forestell challenged Gallant repeatedly on his tax policy (and on other confusing aspects of Gallant's platform) but Gallant, in a tone that, at times seemed both slightly indignant and condescending, told Forestell he was wrong and kept repeating his talking points.

But my by mid-day, the Liberal war room realized their talking points were flat-out wrong.

And now, this is a real thing:

Obama the Spineless

Obama's presidency has been a failure.

There are several things that highlight this conclusion: the attack on the American embassy in Libya, the deplorable state of the American economy, the near-shattered relations with Canada and Israel and the dramatic rise of Islamism since his administration began.

One must question whether Obama's mistakes are the results of his incompetence or are deliberate on his part.

The most recent example of Obama's failure to lead is the increasingly decrepit situation in Iraq. Obama had American troops withdraw from Iraq in 2011 and the situation has disintegrated from there. ISIS has been committing atrocities since June of this year.  Only last Wednesday, after months of inaction, did Obama give the impression that he would act.

The impression.

He is not putting boots on the ground where they would be most beneficial:

As I have said before, these American forces will not have a combat mission –- we will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq.  But they are needed to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment.  We’ll also support Iraq’s efforts to stand up National Guard Units to help Sunni communities secure their own freedom from ISIL’s control.

The Kurds have been holding off ISIS and training and bolstering Iraqi troops has not been successful.

Obama is putting boots on the ground in Liberia:

President Obama is ordering U.S. military personnel to West Africa to deal with the Ebola outbreak, which is he calls a potential threat to global security.

Apparently, the long-standing Ebola crisis has now reached a point where American military intervention is warranted.

One can conclude the following:

Obama has dithered and underestimated not only what being an American president entails but the people with whom he expects to deal successfully. This makes him short-sighted.

Or: after months of doing nothing, he has to appear to be active so he picks what he thinks is a manageable crisis.

Or: his support of Islamism is so paper-thin that he would let ISIS and/or any Islamist group run amok. In 2008, he declared he would deal with Iran without pre-conditions. He sat back while the Green Revolution was decimated. He made Islamic overtures in Cairo. He persisted in the myth of a Youtube video being responsible for the attack on an American embassy in Benghazi. He declared that the "sweetest sound" he had ever heard was the Islamic call to prayer. He is doing nothing now.

By the way, former president George W. Bush has been noted for his charity work in Africa.

No fan fare for that.

McGuinty's New Job

A new train wreck to preside and profit over:

Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty is lobbying the government to increase its use of one company's education technology in the province's schools.

McGuinty's seeking "to enhance the presence of Desire2Learn education technology in Ontario's schools, colleges and universities," reads his online registration as a consultant lobbyist.

Desire2Learn Inc. created Brightspace, which it calls "the world’s first truly integrated learning platform," according to its website.

The record shows D2L has received $3,143,666 from government and government agencies in the current fiscal year. This includes $3,000,000 from the Ontario Ministry of Education.

South Korea Extends An Olive Branch to North Korea (Again)

To wit:

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, thwarted so far in ambitious plans to begin the process of reunifying the Korean peninsula, said the door is open for talks with the North during the upcoming U.N. General Assembly.

However, Park said in an interview that Pyongyang must show sincerity in seeking a constructive dialogue and "walk the talk" in taking up South Korea's offers for engagement aimed at ending a deadlock after a decade of warming ties.

North Korea will send its foreign minister, Ri Su Yong, to the U.N. General Assembly meeting, the highest ranking official from the reclusive state to attend in 15 years. Ri's official agenda is not clear.

Pyongyang has not accepted South Korea's overtures and the unpredictable North's official media has heaped insults on Park. Park said there are no current plans to meet North Korean officials in New York.

I don't know what President Park is thinking. Does Kim Jong-Un even seem slightly more reasonable than his dictatorial father? Has North Korea ever shown a genuine interest in making peace with its southern neighbour?

At least President Park can say she offered but it profits her nothing. It is a continuation of the same dance the Koreas have done for decades.

This Is the Cutest Thing You Will See All Day

Just cute:

Monday Post

(sigh)


Australia picks up Obama's slack commits to sending forces to fight ISIS:

Australia became the first country to detail troop numbers and aircraft for a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq, as Washington drums up support for global action to counter the terrorist threat.

Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Sunday a 600-strong force comprising some 400 airforce personnel and 200 special forces soldiers would be deployed to a U.S. military base in the United Arab Emirates. ...

Abbott said along with the troops, Australia would send eight super hornet fighter jets, an early warning and control aircraft and an aerial refueling aircraft. He said they would be deployed in the coming days.

A task group of military advisers to assist Iraqi and other security forces fighting the militants would form part of the deployment but Abbott said he had not yet made the decision to commit troops to combat action.

"I have to warn the Australian people that should this preparation and deployment extend into combat operations, that this could go on for quite some time," he told reporters in the northern city of Darwin.

Abbott said Australia did not intend to operate in Syria.

SHAZAM!

Meanwhile, Obama has a gut feeling:

President Barack Obama would seek to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad if American planes were attacked upon entering Syrian air space, Peter Baker of The New York Times reports .

If Assad's troops fired at American planes entering Syrian airspace,  "Obama said he would order American forces to wipe out Syria’s air defense system," Baker reports. "He went on to say that such an action by Mr. Assad would lead to his overthrow, according to one account."

Is this because Assad is beheading children?

Obama: coward who takes easy shots at nearly-deposed dictators or a secret ISIS supporter?

You decide.

Trudeau is a moron but don't take my word for it:

The Liberal leader is loved and lauded, of course, by his own troops and their supporters and why not? Since he became leader in the middle of 2013, there have been more than 50 polls by several different firms using different methodologies. Except for two or three where the Liberals are in a statistical tie, Trudeau's Liberals lead in every single one.

Canadians keep telling pollsters they'll vote Liberal despite millions of dollars already spent by the Conservatives attacking Trudeau on radio, TV and the web, and despite Trudeau's propensity to say the darndest things sometimes.

Just last week, at Western University in London, Ont., Trudeau was explaining to students how he stood for a different kind of politics and, in the course of that explanation, had this puzzler: "We have to realize that the way of thinking that got us to this place no longer holds. We have to rethink elements as basic as space and time."

Canadians need to rethink the laws of physics?

While Harper can boast some significant achievements, Trudeau wants to bend time and space... or something.

Remember- there are people who want to put Trudeau (with his "irresponsible" sympathies) into the seat of power.

What was this guy thinking?

North Korea sentenced an American to six years of hard labor Sunday for allegedly entering the country illegally and trying to spy on the highly secretive state.

Matthew Miller, 24, of Bakersfield, Calif., has been held since April 10, when he entered North Korea as a tourist with a New Jersey-based tour company.

State news agency KCNA previously reported that Miller had torn up his tourist visa during his trip and said he wanted asylum.

At Sunday's 90-minute trial at the North Korean Supreme Court, the prosecution argued this was a ruse that Miller hoped would enable him to commit espionage against North Korea, the Associated Press reported from Pyongyang.

The court said Miller had admitted to having the "wild ambition" of experiencing prison life in order to carry out a secret investigation of North Korea's human rights situation, AP said. The prosecution alleged that Miller had claimed, falsely, that his iPad and iPod contained secret information about the U.S. military in South Korea.

Miller is the second of three U.S. citizens being detained in North Korea to be tried and jailed. 

Kenneth Bae, 45, a Korean-American missionary, is serving a 15-year sentence of hard labor in North Korea. Another U.S. tourist, Jeffrey Fowle, 56, a street repairs worker from Miamisburg, Ohio, still awaits trial for leaving a Bible at a seamen's club in May.

But then again, this information is coming from the North Koreans, so....

A very good point and a very compelling argument for dragging Kim Jong-Un through Sejong-no with a rusty meat hook:

There are compelling arguments from defectors that suggest it’s time to cut loose, no matter how Machiavellian that may seem. The growing suspicion is that food aid inhibits the population’s ability for self-determinism and profligates the regime’s control. In other words, while we pump $200,000,000 of food aid into the country, Kim Jong-un can spend the national budget on 4-D cinemas, water parks and, you guessed it, nuclear armament (though, that, too, is unfounded hearsay—the kind of scaremongering required to get people to take notice).

The detractors of aid argue that North Korea does not suffer from a lack of food because it can’t afford to import enough, rather, that it does so due to a systematic governmental plan of expenditure that excludes food. The government needs to adjust its own budgets before aid will be invigorated. This is almost certainly correct.

Worse still, the population suffers from dual mismanagement, first from the government and second by the WFP, whose hands are tied by the latter. There isn’t compelling evidence to suggest the aid even breaks the surface of the population. Due to the lack of transparency by the North Korean government, the vast majority of the money donated, for all we know, may have been thrown into a gigantic suitcase under Kim Jong-un’s bed. ...

In excess of 80% North Koreans do not eat enough. That’s 20 million people, or, to pick at random the major cities of countries that have provided very little food donations this past year, the populations of New York, London, Paris and Berlin combined.

(Kamsahamnida)

And now, non-recipe recipes. Enjoy.

Mid-Week Post

Hey! It's Wednesday and you know what that means!


A First Nations group has declared sovereignty in Quebec:

The Atikamekw First Nation in Quebec has declared its sovereignty over 80,000 square kilometres of territory and says any development in that area must get its approval. 

Armed with a Supreme Court of Canada judgment recognizing ancestral rights for First Nations in British Columbia, the Atikamekw want to have their say on projects located in the Nitaskinan region.

That's nice. Let everyone know when you will man your own power plants.


All is fair in the land of internal Liberal politics and by fair I mean unfair:

Two members of a Liberal riding association in southwestern Ontario have quit in protest over what they say is the party’s failure to respect its pledge to hold open nominations.

“This goes explicitly against what [Justin Trudeau] has said in terms of free, open, transparent nominations. We’ve had something that was distinctly closed and very, very opaque,” said Bryan Kerman, who quit the board of the Brant riding association after 40 years as a Liberal.

And they expected something else?

That's what you get when you put your faith in a band of crooks, liars and congenital idiots.

(Merci)


ISIS is afraid of Kurdish women fighters:




Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Loretta Lynn.

(Gracias, El Gordo)


News from the Korean Peninsula -

Impoverished states just don't do this unless they are getting help:

U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea is building a submarine capable of launching ballistic missiles, potentially increasing the threat posed by the nuclear-armed rogue state.

**

Cynical but probably true:

Separately, South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission says “it plans to open a permanent exhibition hall on North Korea’s human rights conditions in an effort to raise public awareness about the issue.” That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that the opening date is scheduled for 2017, which should give South Korean’s left-wing parties, whose human rights policy can be summarized as “die in place,” plenty of time to cut funding for it.

 
Leftists suck no matter where they come from.

**

I wouldn't think so:

Analysts expect the shake-up of the Obama administration’s Korea policy-makers to bring about momentum in the long-stalled six-party talks.

But other Washington and Seoul sources indicate such anticipation may still be premature.

“In regard to North Korea, Washington’s tactic of strategic patience, the trend of ‘not doing anything,’ has not changed,” said a high-level diplomat here who has dealt with the six-party talks.

 No, it certainly has not changed. Putting in new faces will not create the illusion that something is being done.

(Kamsahamnida)


Getting one's priorities straight:

Penn State has removed Gideon Bibles from hotel rooms after a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) accused the Bibles of advocating the killings of nonbelievers.

“The bible [sic] calls for killing nonbelievers, apostates, gays, ‘stubborn sons,’ and women who are not virgins on their wedding nights,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement last week. “What is obnoxious in a private hotel, however, becomes inappropriate and unconstitutional in state-run lodgings.”

This Penn State.


Horse crap by any other name:

A study published by professors at North Carolina State University claims that pressure put on mothers to cook nightly meals is elitist and stressful for working class families.

Published in late August, "The Joy of Cooking" reports the authors' findings after interviewing 150 mothers from diverse ethnic backgrounds over the past year-and-a-half. The professors also spent time shadowing 12 working-class and poor families.

According to the study, the heightened pressure from influential figures like Michael Pollan and Michelle Obama for families to sit down to healthier, home cooked meals on a nightly basis has become a source of stress for American mothers. The study refers to the message that "good mothers" cook for their families as "unrealistic."

Authors Sarah Bowen, Sinikka Elliott, and Joslyn Bretton (a professor at Ithaca College) relay a number of anecdotes culled from their body of research. Interviewed women cited time, money, and picky children as obstacles.

"Romantic depictions of cooking assume that everyone has a home, that family members are home eating at the same time, and that kitchens and dining spaces are equipped and safe,” the authors write. “This is not necessarily the case for the families we met."

The study alleges that even in modern America, expectations for a home-cooked, nightly meal constitute a "widely promoted standard to which all mothers are held." The authors document the experience of Elaine, a married mother of one, who feels inadequate because she struggles to provide a relaxing dinner for her family despite her love of cooking and preparation on the weekends.

The study suggests various different solutions, including the advent of healthy food trucks, monthly town suppers, shifting society’s emphasis towards lunch, and schools offering to-go meals that families can heat up for dinner.

The study does not mention any families that were able to enjoy a nightly home-cooked meal without drama. It concludes that the resurgent emphasis on home cooking is "a tasty illusion, one that is moralistic, and rather elitist."

(Sidebar: it's supper. Everyone eats it and somebody - ie, Mum - has to make it. It's not hard. You can even teach older kids to do it. It's a healthy, time-honoured, realistic, practical, affordable thing to do. Really. I'm not making that part up.)

I wonder if this study was racialist in not including Third World mothers who would give anything to put food on the table for their children.

Gee, I guess First-World problems are more important.


And now, a bear saving a crow: