Saturday Night Special

Because the sun has gone down and it's time to party.....eventually.


Apparently, North Korea is one of the happiest places on earth (just below China and way above the US, of course):

A Chinese media, Chaoxian.com.cn, reported on Thursday that North Korea's Chosun Central TV recently released the survey result of a 'Happiness Index (Gross National Happiness) of each nation,' which was conducted in North Korea.

According to the index, the happiest country in the world is China and North Korea is ranked no. 2. 

Interestingly, South Korea is ranked No.152 and the U.S. ranks last at No.203.

Chaoxian.com.cn sarcastically commented that "North Korea gladly gave the no. 1 spot to China and North Korea itself ranked no. 2. North Korea must be the happiest country in the universe."

China scored 100 points and was selected as the country where the happiest people live in and North Korea with 98 points, ranked at no. 2.

The top five rankings include Cuba (no. 3, 93 points), Iran (no.4, 88 points), and Venezuela (no.5, 85 points). South Korea, with 18 points, was placed at no.152 and the U.S. ranked no. 203 with its score not marked.

Free North Korea Broadcast, a South Korea based broadcast, commented that the North Koreans who are completely brainwashed, repeatedly proclaim "We are the happiest people in the world. I will trust ‘the General’ and always follow him only."

Some readers said the ranking is wrong as it seems to survey only those people who do not know the world. Therefore, precisely speaking, the happiness index of North Korea should be not no. 2 but no. 1 in their survey. Some even commented that the those who voted were not the common people but those who held power and authority in the government of North Korea.

Many Chinese have voiced their comments on the survey. Some of them include:

This happiness index refers to the government officials' happiness index in every country. - Leshanman

I seriously doubt on the authenticity of this rank and the IQ of the North Korean people. - taiyangfan

It's a good joke! - zengfugui

(China）is the first? Maybe it means the last? Why USA ranks 203? - bond99

Hehe, Talk sheer nonsense ... - xiaoxia

There is a minus before the rank number. It's actually - 100. - yueselansha

Kim Jong Il is a real sycophant today. - baimaojin

Of course China was first on the list with North Korea a close second. One hand washes the other at that end of the Korean Peninsula.


This "poll" is complete hogwash and not even worth hashing out. It's like arguing with a brick.



Related: why trust North Korea?


An oversight is forgetting to factor in rain on a picnic day. Including the previous president and vice president in the world's most evil list is a new form of stupidity science has yet to define:

A list in a Russellville Middle School yearbook has stirred up emotions in one Arkansas community and probably for good reason. The newly published yearbook under the direction of a paid teacher included a list some parents and board members find offensive, and the publisher/teachers must have found it bad enough that they covered the list with a strip of black tape.

The list titled, "Top 5 worst people of all time", include the following famous and infamous people in the following order: 1. Adolph Hitler, 2. Osama Bin Laden, 3. Charles Manson (not too controversial), however numbers four and five are former President George W. Bush and VP Dick Cheney.....

Where exactly did this list come from? The middle school students? The teacher?

According to a report, the list came from the web site ranker.com. On the website there is a list called “The All-Time Worst People in History” which does include Misters Bush and Cheney, however ranked at #22 and #26 respectively. Was the list doctored for the yearbook to suit someone’s political bias?

Williams when asked said the list was inappropriate and went on to say, "I think it's just hard to explain, and I've talked to the sponsor and she is very very very upset about it. That she didn't pay any attention to that particular part of that particular page. I think she maybe just scanned the whole page and went on."

George Bush has been out of office for two years and yet somehow trumps Stalin and Pol Pot's rightful places on this list?


This proves once more that liberalism is a mental illness. When you see a liberal, do not approach him or her. If cornered, reassure them in a strong yet soothing voice that there are NO bugs on them and make your way to the nearest exit.


(hat tips)


Oh, the influx of Sarah Palin news!


Andrew Sullivan hearts Sarah Palin.


Piper for President.


Sarah Palin is too genteel to give the middle finger but if she did, this would be it.



Remember, this is not the fault of a member of the religion of peace (which apparently ISN'T a stumbling block to Western civilisation). This is the fault of those within the West for whom moral and cultural relativism are just dandy and who have no idea how damn lucky they are to live in a region of the world where they can be white, toffy-nosed useless liberals who go out for pad thai at lunch and not realise how integral culture is to the larger social fabric. I realise the "dreadful" West ISN'T the paradise of lapdog North Korea and theocratically mad Iran but the framework of basic freedoms these liberal braintrusts enjoy just aren't reciprocated there.





And now, super wicked awesome art.

Mid-Week Post

The first in the merry month of Juuuuuuuunnnnee....


Remember when the popular press couldn't get enough things to hang on of Sarah Palin? Now, they would do anything to get just a word:

Sarah Palin, with her counterintuitive secret publicity bus tour, is demonstrating one of the most important rules of American politics:

There is nothing the U.S. media wants more than something it thinks it can't have. Hence the power of news leaks that manipulate the thrust of their initial presentation. Hard-to-get is a rigid rule of human behavior. Ask any teenage boy or girl.

And there are few things more sweet to Palin and her fervent supporters cheering their TV sets this week than the image of a hungry know-it-all "lamestream media" caravan of 15 or more vehicles traipsing along behind her red-white-and-blue bus enroute to they-know-not-where to do they-know-not-what.

To make it worse, each one of the frustrated, confused chasers knows that Fox News' Greta Van Susteren is....

...riding along with the not-yet-and-possibly-never Republican presidential candidate, filing exclusive conversations for her audience to gobble up that only enhance Palin's already million-dollar value to FNC. Can you hear the teeth grinding? While Palin smiles and waves away? 

The day's best line came from a CBS News producer who tried to claim that the lack of information from Palin's lumbering bus was endangering the dozen competing media vehicles trailing behind, uninvited.

As Michelle Malkin puts it so succinctly here, "The boys behind the bus."

Speaking of CBS, Katie Couric's unemployed now. And forget that front porch in Alaska. Sarah Palin can see revenge from her rear window.

It sucks to be you, popular press.


Remember- this is the religion of peace, not a dangerous impediment to Western civilisation:

A 19-year-old Muslim girl was stoned to death in Ukraine under the Islamic Sharia law after she took part in a beauty contest, a media report said Tuesday.


Katya Koren was found dead in her village. Her battered body was buried in a forest and was found a week after she disappeared, the Daily Mail reported.

Koren's friends said she had come seventh in a beauty contest.

Police are now looking into claims that three Muslim youths killed her.

One of the three youths - a 16-year-old named Bihal Gaziev - is under arrest. He told police that Koren had 'violated the laws of Sharia', and that he has no regrets about her death.

Interesting. Why aren't there Mohawk thugs activists there?

An Ottawa archeologist has discovered a rare site of human activity in Eastern Ontario from between 3,500 and 9,000 years ago. Paul Thibaudeau, an adjunct professor at Carleton University, has been leading a team of archeologists, students, and volunteers collecting artifacts from a dig near Casselman, east of Ottawa. It is only one of a half-dozen sites in Eastern Ontario that are considered reliable evidence of human presence during the period.

Yes, we were aware of that. That's why their shows sucked:

Some of TV's top executives from the past four decades may have gotten more than they bargained for when they agreed to be interviewed for a politically charged book that was released Tuesday, because video of their controversial remarks will soon be hitting the Internet.

The book makes the case that TV industry executives, writers and producers use their clout to advance a liberal political agenda. The author bases his thesis on, among other things, 39 taped interviews that he'll roll out piecemeal during the next three weeks.

And now, cats keeping cool.

May 30th

Celebrate the feast day of Saint Joan of Arc with some French onion soup (you know you want to).


And now, "Le Marseillaise".


Today is the day the Americans remember their fallen.

Why religious relativism is actually a monster in disguise:

A Catholic bishop has slammed controversial Islamic billboards for being "provocative and offensive" and he's calling for them to be removed from prominent locations across Sydney.

The billboards carrying the slogan `Jesus: a prophet of Islam' were erected late last week in Darlinghurst, Rozelle and Rosehill.

They have been paid for by Islamic group MyPeace, which wants to encourage Christians and Muslims to find common ground by raising awareness that Islam believed in Jesus Christ.

No, Muslims do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God because the idea of nothing being impossible with God is beyond them or that God revealing Himself to His people could happen, nor do they tolerate Christianity in any way, shape or form. What common ground is there with Coptic Christians and Egyptian Muslims who burn their churches? If anything, people should start picking up books and reading. Learn how each religion is different. Know from experience how religions of all kinds exist or are not allowed to exist in their respective countries. Don't just take anyone's word for it.


The idea of America as an empire. As with the Roman and British Empires, the citizens therein forgot what made them great. Opulence, idleness of both body and mind, greed and the lack of human dignity helped rot these empires away. Their exceptionalism gave way to mediocrity. I am, by no means, anti-American, but I know doom when I see it. If America wishes to survive another century, it has return to the state it once was.


My God, they could be twins!

Sunday Post

Just some quick words on a nice Sunday afternoon.


North Korea frees a captive American because it wants something.


Sarah Palin has the power of the Matrix. Or something.


Problems at the (Oval) Office.


Watch this:




Are these the starving masses Mr. Ryan was referring to?

It should be noted that when I typed in the search words, "Palestinian shopping mall images", I got quite a few results for Palestinian atrocities committed against Israelis in shopping malls.

(hat tips)


I want to post here a comment I made there:

This idea belongs in the trash bin along with the other things modern feminists thought was a good idea but was really just a way to coddle their sense of selfishness (birth control, abortion, affirmative action, ect).

Which leads me to this: modern feminism, the ugly step-sister of liberalism, is just a form of mental illness. Modern feminists, childless, white, bitter and clueless, hate biology (and perhaps themselves), nor do they understand it. The female of the species is geared toward reproduction. There is nothing whatsoever subjective about it. That's life. Deal with it. Wrap your head around it. Let it soak in. It fries feminists that women have children, or at least other women except them have children.

Why does it bother feminists that women have children? They can deny that all they want but everyone knows the truth. Well-adjusted people who have made conscious decisions about the course of their lives don't need validation for them. Why the incessant need for high-fives from people who have also thrown away their nubile years? Because they need to hear from others that they haven't wasted their lives.

So instead of doing something worthwhile, modern feminists (RE: bitter, white, childless) greedily demand more and more privileges in regions where women already have the basic franchises of citizenry as opposed to campaigning for rights in less open countries like Saudi Arabia. It's easier to be a nag in the Christian West than a firebrand in the Middle East.

If you want to engage these time-wasters, have them first roll up their sleeves and scrub the floors of a hospital in the Third World or hold up a sign outside an Iranian consulate. You know, something practical and selfless. Such things would be beneath them but at least it would tire them out so that they wouldn't blather on.

Or at least cut off the string of these Chatty Cathy dolls.

Yes, I DO say a lot.


Interesting.

Mid-Week Post

Why is Israel always called on to "make painful compromises" while the Palestinians- the sandbags of Arab/Israeli conflict- are offered a state they have no right to and no way of holding onto if they DID get it?:

"Israel is prepared to make “painful compromises” for peace with the Palestinians, including the handover of land they seek for a state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress Tuesday. Palestinians swiftly dismissed the Israeli leader’s terms for a deal as placing more obstacles in diplomacy’s way, casting doubt as to whether frozen peace talks would resume anytime soon.

Mr. Netanyahu received frequent standing ovations in addressing the joint meeting of Congress, a bastion of support for Israel. The speech came after a testy exchange last week with President Barack Obama over the contours of a future Palestine and Netanyahu used it to reiterate his expectations ahead of any talks.

They included Palestinian recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people and the scrapping of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ unity accord with the Islamist movement Hamas.

“Tear up your pact with Hamas. Sit down and negotiate. Make peace with the Jewish state,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

“I am willing to make painful compromises to achieve this historical peace. As the leader of Israel, it is my responsibility,” the right-wing leader said, echoing a pledge in a speech to Israel’s parliament on May 15.

“Now this is not easy for me. It’s not easy because I recognize that in a genuine peace we will be required to give up parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland,” he said, referring to the occupied West Bank.

Mr. Netanyahu explicitly suggested for the first time that Israel would cede some Jewish settlements in the West Bank, although others would be annexed under any future agreement.

“In any peace agreement that ends the conflict, some settlements will end up beyond Israel’s borders. The precise delineation of those borders must be negotiated,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

Mr. Netanyahu said any “compromise must reflect the dramatic demographic changes that have occurred,” referring to Israel’s construction of hundreds of settlements on land Palestinians want for a state.

Israel always has to fight for validation. It gives and it gives. It doesn't matter how reasonable Israel is, the insanity of the Arab states' sandbags takes precedence.


A "war zone" is an understatement, unfortunately


Were these attacks on Coptic Christians the result of a sham?

Asked in a recent interview if she converted to Islam for its own appeal, or simply to get rid of her Coptic husband, Abeer said "No, I had a lot of problems with my husband and that's what caused me to do this [convert to Islam]. I asked 'How can I be rid of him [her husband]' and was told to 'be done of him by changing your religion' [to Islam], so I did this to be rid of him." Asked "Do you want to stay a Muslim, Abeer?" she responded with a small "Well, it's something that there's no return from."

As we have seen, and as Abeer knows, Islam's views on conversion are dramatic: Muslims who convert out, the apostates, are to be put to death according to Sharia; non-Muslims who convert in—sincerely or not—are a source of great pride and parade.

In short, all the death and destruction recently visited upon the Copts was performed in the name of a "convert" whose only motivation for converting to Islam was to gain an advantage against her Christian husband. Even the Islamist Muhammad al-Awwa, an inciter against Copts, recently confirmed that Abeer "has no connection with Islam" and does not know the first thing about it.

Many Egyptian media commentators have rightly asked: what sort of Muslims are these who kill and destroy on behalf of an adulterous and bigamist woman—two great crimes in Islam? Apparently for some, gaining converts is more important than actually upholding Islamic principles; for others, any excuse to attack Christians and churches, even in the name of a nominal Muslim, is good enough.

When apologists speak of moderates, please do point this out.


There are plenty of ways to destroy your children: neglecting them, abusing them, failing to mould them into fine, productive human beings, including giving them crappy names and attempting to buck nature:

A Saturday Star story about a Toronto couple who have chosen to keep the sex of their baby a secret has elicited a rush of responses from readers.

“Never has an article left me so upset. These parents are turning their children into a bizarre lab experiment,” wrote Heather Reil in an email.

“The world around us has been set by thousands of years of social evolution. To try to undo this evolution through your child is very selfish and very inconsiderate to the child,” said Wayne Leung.

“Footloose and gender-free” told the story of Kathy Witterick and David Stocker, a couple who lives in Toronto’s Junction Triangle neighbourhood with their three young children, who believe a child’s sex should not determine his or her place in the world. The couple wants 4-month-old Storm to grow up free from strict social norms about males and females, so they have shared his or her sex only with sons Jazz, 5, and Kio, 2, a close family friend and the two midwives who helped deliver the baby....

The family challenges the norm on other issues, too. They practice “unschooling,” an offshoot of home-schooling that centres on the belief a child’s learning should be curiosity driven. They believe children can make meaningful choices for themselves, like choosing their own clothing and how to wear their hair. And the family co-sleeps, curling up together at night on two mattresses pushed together.

“I think the whole story was forcing people to think about the role of socialization of children,” said Zucker.

The family, who the Star had asked to participate in Saturday’s story, has decided not to do any more interviews. Jazz and Kio chose to go to the park over talking to inquiring journalists.

“We don’t want them to feel like exotic bugs, and when consulted, they said no thanks to more media attention,” wrote Witterick, 38, in an email.

As cliched as this sounds, we are the sum of our parts. This includes biology. Do these parents really believe that the power of will is somehow strong enough to ward off the inevitable biological outcomes the kids' respective physiology will endure? "Unschooling" doesn't produce inquisitive children but lazy, purposeless ones. I taught for four years. A student with nothing to do will not develop his intellect sitting on his @$$. Don't get me started on this "celebrating oneself" self-congratulatory nonsense.



These kids are my candidates for "most likely to go off the deep end". I'm calling it now.



But the stupidity doesn't end there. How long does a show like "Good Christian Belles" have to go before it's put in the dumpster?:

Poor Christians. Just so put upon. Not like they're politically shoving their dogmatic crap and bigotry down everyone's throats on a daily basis, right? They also have to whine about how it's JUST ALL SO UNFAIR! Ugh. 

This would-be viewer is like a lot of sad, little people who have no idea what it is like to stand in a breadline or have their hands cut off in a theocracy. Yes, those dreadful God-botherers are the reason why girls have acid thrown in their faces or are beheaded or why cartoonists and others are forced to go into hiding. Except it isn't Christians.


What this mental midget refuses to understand is that Christians are an easy target not because their values of forgiveness, redemption, human worth and charity are so oppressive but make them less likely to lash out. Would ABC even attempt a show about catty Muslim women or homosexual caricatures? That would be bold, wouldn't it? And suicidal. Though Muslim trumps gay in the "thrown-under-the-bus" game liberals like playing, they can still sue and revile you. Isn't that worth the price of art and free expression? No. This is a TV network we're talking about. Higher principles just don't enter into it.


Unbelievable.


Sad. A dog stays by the remains of its dead relative.



And now, the only soapbox car that can take out the Death Star.

Monday Post

The long week-end is winding down....


Caledonia was our Waterloo. High Park will be our Saigon:

CANACE, founded by Gary McHale, and the Caledonia Victims Project, founded by Mark Vandermaas, are holding an Information Rally in High Park in Toronto on May 28, 2011 in order to inform the public about the dangers to public safety regarding the ongoing illegal occupation of High Park by Native protesters. The illegal occupation in High Park is being conducted under the banner of Six Nations and Mohawk warriors. 

The City of Toronto has already decided to fence off the park land where Native protesters have stated they will continue to use the land at will. There is little doubt non-Natives will be banned from the area in order to appease the protesters.

Screw this nonsense. Push the thugs OFF the land NOW.


Somewhere in Heaven, Saint Thomas More is scratching his chin and muttering: "Damn! I could win that case!"


Related: maybe we owe the British Empire an apology. I mean- it was bad enough that De Valera offered condolences on Hitler's death or that the Irish fawned over Kennedy but this groupie of love of lame-duck Obama takes the cake.


Kim Jong-Il pays a visit to his puppet-masters.


Remember, Pakistan- it takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen.


The good and the bad of "tiger mothers".


(hat tip)

It's Saturday....

...and you know what that means!


It's time to deep-fry some strawberries.


Ponder a dachshund in chain mail.


Uncover some Dickensian photos of London.


Join in the Pope's prayers for space exploration (you can get closer to God AND Spock).

Jim, I feel enlightened.

Mid-Week Post

I thought "V" deserved another season, too, Sad Cat.

Watch Brian Lilley's amazing fortitude as he attempts to have a discussion with a left-bot working for a left-bot organisation.


As the language used in the video is does not compute with the robot's programming so important, let us clarify some terms. Immigrants are considered illegal if they don't have the proper identification or remain in Canada after their application has been denied. That's failure number one for Miss Kidane.  Human dignity is not being preserved through illegal smuggling, by the way. "Turtle Island" is an Iroquois term, and an extremist one at that. Why the Iroquois imperialism? Do the Inuit and the West Coast tribes not matter in this little ethnic equation? "Dignity" and "respect" sound like decent enough goals. It's a good thing, therefore, that this "colony" unaptly named "Turtle Island" by a handful whose hegemony nearly wiped out the Huron (Wendat, as they prefer to be known) is a liberal democracy (and a recognised one at that, just like Israel) that pretty much allows anyone to not only enter the country but stay with relatively few (at least up until now) conditions. If this land called "Turtle Island" is so colonised by white racists and their dreadful policies, should Miss Kidane not also leave? I mean- why should she be allowed to push the minority aboriginals out of land they don't even live on? Shouldn't she just answer the questions posed to her instead of demanding to use vocabulary she has been programmed is familiar with?


And this is why a reasoned discussion about immigration can not be had with a leftist.


Imagine your grandfather was this guy. Awesome.



Because China cares.



And now, a Mentos/pop bottle projectile.

In the Twilight Hours

A few thoughts before bedtime.

If He didn't exist, then explain this LOL.

Is this about Stephen Hawking or about a guy in a wheelchair?

So why does Hawking get awarded this status by the idolatory press? It’s time to stop being squeamish and take the bull by the horns. The Cult of Hawking is the Cult of the Great Mind in the Useless Body. It is attributable in part to a simple, ghoulish fascination with the man’s physical disability, but more so (and more troublingly) to the unspoken astonishment that a man with such severe bodily impairment can be intelligent. It speaks volumes about our persistent prejudices about disability.

Related: the fetish with the perpetually furious:

Although faculty generally oppose religion in the public sphere, many endorse the idea that Muslims should express their religious beliefs in American politics.  Faculty are far less likely to endorse Evangelical Christians expressing their beliefs in American politics.

In fact, the study found that 71% of faculty believed that "this country would be better off if Christian fundamentalists kept their religious beliefs out of politics," whereas only 38% opposed Muslim beliefs being represented in public policy.   In other words, Christians should just shut up.

Scum of the earth (WARNING: shocking images).



Caledonia II: The Return:

A group of Mohawk Warriors has set up camp in a section of High Park, on land it says is a sacred burial site that has been over-run by off-road cyclists....


The natives arrived Friday in a forest at the south-east section of the park, near Parkside Drive and The Queensway, and pitched three tents. They affixed three red Mohawk Warrior flags to tall dead tree branches, which they lashed to trees and stumps. Also tied to trees: two purple flags of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy.

The campers said Monday they had no choice but to occupy the park, because the city has ignored their demands that it stop mountain bike riders from using the area, and they plan to stay until it is restored.

“We want the same rights and protections as any cemetery has,” said Rick MacRae, 51, who gave the spirit name Northern Medicine Wolf. Mr. MacRae sat by a smouldering fire in the drizzle, under the protection of several tarps strung between the tall oaks. “Nobody would go and ride bikes in a Christian cemetery or a Jewish cemetery.”...

Yesterday, William Chief, a Cree from Loon Lake, Sask., worked with a shovel, leveling out one section of the sandy soil. As he worked, his BlackBerry buzzed; a correspondent asked, “How is your protest going today?”

He typed back, “I am still here in the rain, shoveling.”

As he worked, a flatbed truck with a crane attached pulled up outside a nearby gate, unloading a cement bunker about the size of a garden shed. Mr. Chief said it was a loan from the City of Toronto, as a spot for the occupiers to store their tools. The city is also delivering a portable toilet, he said.

Councillor Sarah Doucette (Parkdale-High Park), who met with the natives last Tuesday at City Hall, said she is aware of the “sit-in” and is “OK with it.”

“The city has had archeologists go and test, they’ve had about 40 test pits, and it does not show it to be a burial mound. However, we realize that the BMX bikes, as great as exercise and fresh air for these kids as it is, we want to return High Park to what it should be,” Ms. Doucette added.

“We have requested that they not be in the park at night time. It’s trespassing if you’re in there during that time. Eleven Division police have been brilliant, they’re going to be going by there more often,” said Ms. Doucette, who is focused now on finding a new location for the BMX bikers.

Staff-Sgt. Niels Sondergaard of 11 Division said he understands that the City of Toronto has approved the camping for an undetermined length of time.

We have the identification of thugs calling themselves "warriors", the stereotypical Indian spiritual name which just makes one look like a caricature and a jackass, the Chinese-made Blackberry in the hands of the "oppressed", the complete lack of evidence that the park was EVER an archeological site, moral equivalence and spineless local government and police refusing to do anything about this matter.


It's going to be a long summer.


Enjoy your backyard, Torontonians.




This is what vindication looks like. Now apologise to traditional marriage activists. Be adults about this.


It's still wrong.


(hat tips all around)



And now, the Muppets just got more awesome.

The Longish March

A few photos from the March for Life 2011 in Ottawa which CBC claims was sparsely attended.

There seems to be quite the number here.

And here.

I'll narrow this question down: tell me what is right with this picture? If you can't figure it out, don't worry. It means you functioning synapses and doctors agree that that is a good thing.

This doesn't seem like a small group to me.


But then again, the CBC isn't very good at reporting.

Monday Post

Starting the week off right.


Unbelievable:

One-third of Slave Lake, Alta., has been lost to fire, the town’s mayor, Karina Pillay-Kinnee, said Monday.

Speaking at a technical briefing via phone from the razed community, Ms. Pillay-Kinnee said the town’s southeast, where about half of the homes and buildings have been damaged or destroyed, is most affected. The community has also lost its town hall and library, but the hospital, school and RCMP detachment remain.

Letting one's hair down is just one way of dealing with earthquake-related power shortages:

Vending machines and heated lavatory seats will be turned off, and men will swap their suits for Hawaiian shirts and shorts as Japan prepares for a summer of power shortages after an earthquake and tsunami devastated parts of the country two months ago. Japan's environment ministry has announced a "Super Cool Biz" campaign, to persuade workers to swap their suits for polo shirts, Hawaiian shirts, jeans and sneakers. Shintaro Ishihara, the Tokyo governor, has called for hundreds of thousands of vending machines to be turned off. The trade ministry pointed to another target for additional savings -- lavatory seats with sprays of water and dryers account for 4% of household energy use.

I don't know why the UN cares if they are never going to do anything about North Korea in the first place:

North Korea remains "actively engaged" in exporting ballistic missiles, components and technology to numerous customers in the Middle East and South Asia in violation of United Nations sanctions, a U.N. panel said in a new report.

The seven-member panel said in a report to the U.N. Security Council obtained Monday by The Associated Press that North Korea has also completed — or is about to complete — construction of a second launch site for long-range rockets.

The launch site on the country's west coast is close to Tongchangdong and could be used for ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. sanctions, the report said. It said the installations appear "bigger and more sophisticated" than the original site on the east coast used for the 1998, 2006 and 2009 Taepodong missile launches.

North Korea embarked on the development of ballistic missiles in the 1970s and in the 1990s it test-fired a Nodong missile with a 1,300-kilometre (810-mile) range.

"In an effort to get hard currency and advance its own programs, the country has been actively engaged in the export of complete (missile) systems, components and technology to numerous customers in the Middle East and South Asia," the panel said.

Somebody's letting the Queen into Ireland. Discuss.


Geometry in space:

Glowing sedately with a steady yellow-white hue, Saturn is visible in the night sky right on into the wee hours of the morning before it sets. This weekend, the ringed planet will appear in a triangle pattern with the moon and a bright star.

Here's how the Saturn triangle will work:

Situated below and to Saturn's left is the bluish star Spica, in the constellation Virgo, the 16th brightest star in the sky, which is located 260 light-years from Earth. Spica is about eight times larger than our sun and nearly 2,300 times brighter. 

During a three-night span of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a third celestial object will join in the scene: the moon....

At a distance of about 225,000 miles (362,000 kilometers) the moon will appear to sweep past the planet and star rather rapidly. The moon, in fact, appears to move its own width per hour to the east (left) relative to Saturn and Spica. As a result, the scene between this trio will appear to change noticeably from night to night.

Superman in England.



Stay Puft...but not for long!



Historic photobombs are still funny.



I was really worried about this sloth.

Happy Mother's Day

To mothers of all species.

Thursday is a Day for Dancing!

It's Cinco de Mayo and Children's Day. Take your kids out for some Mexican food.  They'll thank you for it later.


Would it kill the Obama administration to be upfront?

Only one of the five people killed in the raid that got Osama bin Laden was armed and fired any shots, a senior U.S. defence official said Thursday, acknowledging that the new account differs greatly from original administration portrayals of a chaotic, intense and prolonged firefight.

The sole shooter in the al-Qaida leader's Pakistani compound was quickly killed in the early minutes of the commando operation, before the Navy SEALs assault team swept through the house and shot the others, the official said. The details have become clearer now that the assault team has been debriefed, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

He said the raid should be described as a precision, floor-by-floor operation to hunt and find the al-Qaida leader and his protectors, rather than as it has been portrayed by a succession of Obama administration briefers since bin Laden's death was announced Sunday night.

In another development, aviation experts said a helicopter used in the assault appeared to be a stealthier, top secret and never-before-seen version of a routinely used special ops helicopter. The helicopter made a hard landing and was destroyed by the military team at the site, leaving behind wreckage for experts to analyze.

As the SEALs moved into bin Laden's compound, they were fired on by bin Laden's courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, who was in the guesthouse, the senior defence official said. The SEALs returned fire, and the courier was killed, along with a woman with him. She was hit in the crossfire, the official said.

The Americans were never fired on again as they encountered and killed a man on the first floor and then bin Laden's son on a staircase, before arriving at bin Laden's room. Officials have said bin Laden was killed after he appeared to be lunging for a weapon.

White House and Defence Department and CIA officials through the week have offered varying and foggy versions of the operation, though the dominant focus was on a firefight that officials said consumed most of the 40-minute assault:

— "There were many other people who were armed ... in the compound," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday when asked if bin Laden was armed. "We expected a great deal of resistance and were met with a great deal of resistance."

— "For most of the period there, there was a firefight," a senior defence official told Pentagon reporters in a briefing Monday.

— And though officials later revised these words, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan originally said bin Laden, too, took part in the shootout. Later the administration said bin Laden wasn't armed but that there were guns in the room.

Islamofascists hate the West and Obama needs a win to secure a second term. It's that simple. Show a photo with appropriate warnings, have a clear time-line and grow a backbone. You ARE at war with those whom you coddle.


And now, cut Pakistan off. They don't need our money to hide terrorists.


I knew he wouldn't stick around:

Michael Ignatieff is returning to his first love — academia — after leading the federal Liberals to their worst electoral showing in history.

Ignatieff, who lost his own seat in Monday's bloodbath, has been appointed as senior resident at the University of Toronto's Massey College.

He will be teaching at university's faculty of law and the political science department, as well as at the Munk School of Global Affairs and the School of Public Policy and Governance.

Ignatieff is a graduate of the university and an internationally acclaimed academic and author.

Politics is a game for the lecherous and those who vacation in Las Vegas, not for visiting Americans.


The Great Firewall of China gets some new bricks:

China announced a new State Internet Information Office Wednesday to unify the squabbling agencies that oversee the Chinese Internet, which Beijing views as both a potential gold mine and a political threat. The State Internet Information Office appears intended to help improve coordination and rivalry among the dozen or more Chinese government ministries and agencies with a stake in the Internet. It will be based in the State Council Information Office, the government's propaganda and information arm. In February, President Hu Jintao called for stricter government management of the Internet, telling officials they needed to come to grips with the "virtual society" online.

Stephen Harper has apparently taken a page out this book:

One of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's campaign promises was that he would pass the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act within 100 days of his May 2, 2011 election. This bill contains some of the most dangerous and oppressive sections in Canadian law.

One example of the dangers of this bill is:

Clause 5 of the bill provides that the offences of public incitement of hatred and wilful promotion of hatred may be committed by any means of communication and include making hate material available, by creating a hyperlink that directs web surfers to a website where hate material is posted...

Hyperlinks are at the very core of the internet, they are what enables every internet user to view any available page on the internet and direct others to view pages. This bill will put the control of all hyperlinks into the hands of government bureaucrats and put all Canadian internet users in legal jeopardy.

This clause essentially makes any Canadian posting a link on the internet legally responsible for the content of any web page linked to even though the person posting the link has no control over the content of that page. If the person who does control the page you've linked to changes the pages content you are still legally responsible because you posted a link.

This will make it unsafe for any Canadian to post a link to any page on the internet that he does not control.   

If I link to a page that promotes hatred to expose that hatred to someone who may be unaware of it, am I some sort of troublemaker or hate-monger? What the hell is Harper thinking?


Remember when George Bush was attacked for not jumping into action the second he heard about the Twin Towers? Well...

Similar fears started running through Mariah Williams' head. "I don't remember the story we were reading — was it about pigs?" says Williams, 16. "But I'll always remember watching his face turn red. He got really serious all of a sudden. But I was clueless. I was just 7. I'm just glad he didn't get up and leave, because then I would have been more scared and confused." Chantal Guerrero, 16, agrees. Even today, she's grateful that Bush regained his composure and stayed with the students until The Pet Goat was finished. "I think the President was trying to keep us from finding out," says Guerrero, "so we all wouldn't freak out."

Guerrero, today a junior at the Sarasota Military Academy, believes the experience "has since given us all a better understanding of the situation, sort of made us take it all more seriously. At that age, I couldn't understand how anyone could take innocent lives that way. And I still of course can't. But today I can problem-solve it all a lot better, maybe better than other kids because I was kind of part of it." Williams, also a junior at the military academy, says those moments spent with Bush conferred on the kids a sort of historical authority as they grew up. "Today, when we talk about 9/11 in class and you hear kids make mistakes about what happened with the President that day, I can tell them they're wrong," she says, "because I was there."

Stick it in your ear, leftists.


And now, under the sea.

Fourth Time's A Charm

The Conservatives have a majority government. Harper is in the seat of power.


A vote for the NDP is a vote for sloth and sleaze.


Canada's loss is Harvard's gain.


The Liberals find themselves relegated to the wings, not in the saddle or begging favours from the Queen. How humiliating. For them. I'm fine with their defeat.



The Bloc have been kicked out. Quebeckers would rather throw their votes to the NDP than the separatists these days, even if the candidates don't speak French.


What interesting times we live in.

An Earth-Shattering Monday Post

I voted! Like a baby...stoat-ed....


I cast my ballot, is my point.


By the end of the day, we shall know how much of an official opposition the NDP (putting the party in "party") is.


The late Pope John Paul II, a man whose humility and prayerfulness belied is his staunch opposition to communism, is now blessed. That this should happen on the same day Obama takes credit for killing Osama bin Laden may seem fortuitous. I believe Obama will use this for a second term (despite the previous efforts), that the cranks will either congratulate Obama on killing Osama bin Laden even though they might really think bin Laden "stuck it to the Man" or complain that "we will never know the truth about September 11th" and that we should cut Pakistan off today. That's just what I think.


Go out and vote.

Mid-Week Post

A nice, daffodilly start to the Easter season....


How offensive is "Kung Fu Fighting"?

A pub singer has been arrested on suspicion of racism for singing the classic chart hit Kung Fu Fighting.


The song, performed by Simon Ledger, 34, is said to have offended two Chinese people as they walked past the bar where he was singing.


The entertainer regularly performs the 1974 number one hit, originally by disco star Carl Douglas, at the Driftwood Beach Bar in Sandown, on the Isle of Wight.

But after one of the passers-by reported his routine on Sunday afternoon, Mr Ledger was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated harassment.

‘We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets,’ he said.

‘People of all races were loving it.  Chinese people have never been offended by it before.


‘But this lad walking past with his mum started swearing at us and making obscene hand gestures before taking a picture on his mobile phone.

'We hadn’t even seen them when we started the song. He must have phoned the police.’


Officers later called Mr Ledger while he was eating in a Chinese restaurant to arrange a meeting.


The singer assumed it was a prank – but he was later arrested and is still under investigation.


‘They seemed pretty amazed but said the law is the law and it was their duty,’ he is reported to have said.

I assure you, if kung fu fighting WAS offensive, THIS guy would let you know.

There is so much wrong with this. First of all, Carl Douglas gets the short end of the stick and ABBA does not spend ONE minute in jail for its disco travesties? Just wrong. Secondly, how and why have we let idiots have so much power to change the course of not only the law but the entirety of Western civilisation? Since when is "aggravated racism" a crime on par with- oh, let's say- aggravated assault? In a sane world, it isn't. Make no mistake, racism is a disgusting attack on the human person and on reason but we are fooling ourselves if we think that "aggravated racism" constitutes a legitimate crime rather than an offense conjured up by politically correct bullies for whom anything and everything is offensive. I thought show trials, forced confessions and re-education went the way of the Yugo (save in North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam and other Third World hell-holes). Now, the entire system is geared toward padding things. For as much as people might find this situation absurd, they cannot divorce their thoughts from it. Could they ever imagine the state NOT interfering and declaring ANY slight to be a crime or something that needs regulation? Are we children in need of constant protection? Shall we place corks at the ends of forks next?  Thirdly, why do we infantilise grown people? Whatever happened to walking away while plugging one's ears if the strains of the disco martial arts anthem was so noxious? But that would give power to intelligent, thick-skinned individuals who are able to distinguish a SONG from a slur (which the song is hardly).


And now, "Kung Fu Fighting".



Pull this stunt anywhere else and it would be a news quip. We don't HAVE to give them a state, you know.


(hat tip)


How will inflation affect how China puts down a revolt?


From a tasteless attack to a parallel on eugenics. Leftists are both cockroaches and Medusa- they hate the light and mirrors.


Layton as PM means sticking it to the taxpayer and his descendants.

Happy Easter!

Let us relish the Paschal season.

Friday Freakout

For Good Friday.


Earth Day... or something... who cares?


Easter egg fun.


More Easter egg fun but with movies this time.


Simon's Cat and a wily rabbit.

Thursday Post

Guts are only for elected people:

The spectre of a hidden social conservative agenda forced the Harper government's tightly-scripted election campaign into damage control mode Thursday in an attempt to keep the divisive abortion issue off the table.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief spokesman summoned reporters to the lobby of a Newfoundland hotel early Thursday to offer unsolicited comment about a Toronto Star and Le Devoir story about a Saskatchewan MP that apparently went badly off message.

Spokesman Dimitri Soudas's impromptu scrum at 12:30 a.m. was sparked by reports that quoted a Conservative Saskatchewan backbencher bragging in a weekend speech that International Planned Parenthood Federation had its funding blocked because it supported abortion.

Candidate Brad Trost reportedly told a pro-life meeting in Saskatchewan that the efforts of the movement had likely denied the organization funding after decades of receiving it.

A recording of Trost's remarks was obtained by the Liberals and given to the media.

(Sidebar: if the Liberals use this against the Tories, that would only make the Tories more appealing.)


What Trost said:

“Those petitions were very, very useful and they were part of what we used to defund Planned Parenthood because it has been an absolute disgrace that that organization and several others like it have been receiving one penny of Canadian taxpayers dollars,” Trost said.

Why not defund Planned Parenthood? They don't need public money to exploit minors.


(hat tips all around)


Baby Joseph is breathing on his own, no thanks to Canada's "universal healthcare" system.


The Holy Father asks we get right with God this Holy season:

Pope Benedict lamented the widespread abandonment of religion in Western countries at a Holy Thursday ceremony, saying the heartlands of Christianity were turning away from their faith.


The German-born pontiff said during the service at St. Peter's Basilica it sometimes seemed as if the West had become bored by its own history and culture.

(Sidebar: AMEN!)

"Have not we -- the people of God -- become to a large extent a people of unbelief and distance from God?" he said during the service in which he blessed oils to be used in Catholic rites.

"Is it perhaps the case that the West, the heartlands of Christianity, are tired of their faith?"

We've abandoned faith not for reason but for instant gratification, whether it is in the form of decadence or instant proof of God's Love or existence. I suppose no one has read the Bible.


A slight continuation of yesterday's post.



I cannot decide if back-pedalling on a vile (and ultimately futile) attack on a three year old with a mental disability is cowardice or just another example of stupidity. Freedom of speech is a gift. Many have suffered and/or died for it. To pretend that calling a CHILD WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME a "retard" (among other completely sickening things) is not only freedom of speech but perfectly objective and valid political criticism insults not only the freedom for which many risked or gave their lives, but insults the intelligence and even the very soul of the human person. What is profited by (quite frankly) losers who hide behind supercilious monikers attacking a CHILD WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME (this cannot be emphasised enough because it is the crux of the matter)? Let us be clear that the only kind of person who would sling this kind of excrescence at a child, especially one with a disability, is scraping the bottom of the barrel. The offensive post was left up for TWO days with equally repulsive comments to it unmoderated and totally tolerated. The post itself was nothing more than a beating of sorts on a kid with cackling crudity tacked on. What brave, manly pundits Wonkette must be populated with! They stood by their sickening assault until the sponsors started withdrawing. Way to defend the very principle of freedom of speech, a convenient refuge for the hacks of the world who pick on kids. It's pointless to mention how these disgusting cowards would NEVER, EVER utter such calamities to anyone outside their hovels, let alone tell the Palins what they really think. I certainly don't want to subject the Palins to the crap that's been slung at them. However, I think people should really start examining things. Really. After the Two Minutes Hate, don't you feel like taking a shower, even a little?


Lady Gaga is an insecure, attention-seeking poseur. Who knew? Happy Easter, you talentless wonder.

Mid-Week Post

Something quick for the remains of the day (that was a good movie, actually. Damn, Anthony Hopkins is a great actor!).


But I digest....


What he said:

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said in an interview this week that he’d be willing to work with leaders of the other parties — “even Mr. Harper” — if Canada once again finds itself with a minority Parliament.

But Mr. Harper shot down that possibility, saying he believes the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois have already decided to team up to defeat the Conservatives soon after the election and form a coalition government.

I do not believe for one minute that Ignatieff returned to Canada to "rescue it". His threats to form a coalition (especially with the Bloc whose mandate it is to separate the country) should be sufficient reason to distrust him. He came back because Liberal leadership is a career change, and a lofty one, too. Who needs that kind of leadership?


The scar on Che Guevara's face was actually caused by his shooting himself in the face, not during the struggle against imperialism or whatever Kool-Aid Castro wanted people to drink. Never ask a rich boy to do a revolutionary's job.


How vile do you have to be to attack a toddler? Seriously? Is your paranoia and misogyny so great that the only counter-argument you can come up with is an attack so completely immoral that corporate sponsorship runs from you as though you were a rabid dog?



Beyond disgraceful.


John Cleese is being quintessentially English... or something:

Cleese also spoke about the shift in British attitudes away from a “middle-class culture” and the emergence of a “yob culture”.

He said: “There were disadvantages to the old culture, it was a bit stuffy and it was more sexist and more racist. But it was an educated and middle-class culture. Now it’s a yob culture. The values are so strange.”

He added that he preferred living in Bath to London because the capital no longer felt “English”.

“London is no longer an English city which is why I love Bath,” he said. “That’s how they sold it for the Olympics, not as the capital of England but as the cosmopolitan city. I love being down in Bath because it feels like the England that I grew up in.”

I could discuss this at greater length on Saint George's feast day but I will say the sun has set on the British Empire. It did so ages ago. Any country that extols the virtues of Posh and Becks, soccer and the dole to those who hate British infidels has nothing to be surprised about.


And now, some really bad looking Easter cakes. Way to break off Lent.