China's Awesome!

Just like the way Germany was awesome in 1938!

The British government is now requiring its athletes to sign an oath to stay mum about Chinese human rights abuses this summer while competing at the Beijing Olympics. Refuse to sign, and the government won't let them compete.

It has no been a good week for the UK on the old national self-assurance front.

Vanilla Dissent Crushing

Recent Reynoldsism: They told me if W were reelected, there would be public shamings for not reading commumity-approved materials. And they were right!:

He didn’t start calling me a Nazi and racist, though, until he noticed the book in my hand. Saturdays arethe only time off I have from this job, so I try to get a little reading in sometimes. In this case, it was Liberal Fascism, and I’m up to the part where Goldberg gets into Wilson versus Teddy Roosevelt in progressive ideals. Apparently the red cover is a red flag. Then I got called a racist for being white–how do you know what I am, quite frankly?–and it got a little loud in the shop.

What if the Fix was Broken?

Besides sleeping in, a brisk dog walk, meat ready for the smoker and an evening of NHL action, what I love on a Saturday is a new way of looking at convention:

“The surprising conclusion using the Stern Review’s own estimates,” Dr. Goklany writes, “is that future generations will be better off in the richest but warmest” of the I.P.C.C.’s scenarios. He concludes that cutting emissions will do much less good than encouraging sustainable development in poor countries and policies of “focused adaptation” to deal with disease and environmental problems like coastal flooding.

For a fifth the cost of the Kyoto Protocol, he calculates, these adaptation policies could yield more immediate and also long-term benefits than would a policy that entirely halted global warming (which would cost far, far more than Kyoto). He argues that this path isn’t merely an economic but also a moral imperative: For the foreseeable future, people will be wealthier—and their well-being higher—than is the case for present generations both in the developed and developing worlds and with or without climate change.

But if You Try Sometimes

You get what you need.

Stolen from here.

Cashing in on Sharia Law

Of all the things to write off as tax season approaches:

Hundreds of GTA Muslim men in polygamous marriages -- some with a harem of wives -- are receiving welfare and social benefits for each of their spouses, thanks to the city and province, Muslim leaders say.

He estimates "several hundred" GTA husbands in polygamous marriages are receiving benefits. Under Islamic law, a Muslim man is permitted to have up to four spouses.

Another nation so afraid of being demonized as intolerent it bends over finacially for those who seek to recast as Islamic the entire established society.

Brenda Nesbitt, the city's director of social services, said benefits are only paid to one spouse and names and addresses are cross-checked for possible fraud. "There may be polygamous cases we are not aware off," Nesbitt said yesterday. "They can apply as single people and we won't know."

So that whole 'cross-check' is rally just jive, as the government has no real handle on what it's paying out to Muslim polygamists.

Councillor Rob Ford said taxpayers' money should be spent on education and schools instead. "This is wrong," Ford said yesterday. "They should put a stop to this immediately."

Come on, Ford, get with the program; don't you want Canada to be the open, compassionate, accepting, anything-goes alternative to that bad, bad United States?

I sometimes sadly wonder if Canada is an acronym, with the 'C' standing for "chump."

Meanwhile, across the ol' pond, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has already thrown in the towel with regard to Sharia Law.

My Big Weekend Plans

I love how both the announcer and the song have to explain what's going on, as the visuals really don't convey all the important details of what goes on with the game.

Coldest Global Warming in a Long Time

Compiled by Gateway Pundit:

Bangladesh, with 134 deaths, is the worst affected. The northern Dinajpur and Rangpur regions, close to the Himalayan foothills, are facing the coldest winter in recent years. In Nepal, the toll is nearly 50, with the temperatures well below the normal mid-20s for this time of the year. Parts of Pakistan, where at least 16 people have died, have recorded their lowest temperatures in more than 70 years. Temperatures have fallen as low as minus 14 degrees in northern areas. In India, the toll has crossed 60. Millions of Chinese began the New Year on Wednesday without power after more than a week of fierce winter weather, making it China's coldest winter in 100 years.

Looks like Groundhog Al, who will not come out of his hole unless a first-class ticket on a jumbo jet is involved, will be sitting this one out. Anyway, it's not like anyone is going to politicize the weather, right?

The New Short List

I give you the anti-Camrys:

Aston Martin DB9
Audi S6
Cadillac CTS-V
Fiat 500
Ford Mustang Bullitt Edition
Holden VZ Monaro CV8
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Prodrive P2
Volkswagen R32

I'm going to need a bigger garage.

Celebrity Cooking Tips

I've been going about meal planning all wrong, especially when it comes to combinations of individual foods to make a meal. See, dummy me would, for example, combine spaghetti, meatballs, marinara sauce, garlic bread and Chianti.

Now - if I want to be somebody, what I need to have is a narcotic pain killer, valium, a heavy sedative, some more pain killers, an anti-depressant and a prescription sleep aid all at the same time.

No wonder I don't have parasitic photographers following me.

High School Economics

Just another not-so-complicated filter you can use when aomeone is asking for your vote:

(I)f Saudi funding for terrorism is the crux of the issue, then we have little choice but to confront the Saudis directly. The indirect approach of reducing oil demand is meaningless. Only a worldwide boycott of Saudi oil would effectively cut off their oil revenues. Yet such a boycott would be difficult to orchestrate and would itself be tantamount to war. The problem with sponsoring terrorism is not that oil revenues are the source of funds. The problem with sponsoring terrorism is that it is grossly immoral. People introduce the connection with oil revenues as a red herring. As we have seen, trying to make a connection between fighting terrorism and regulating SUV's or drilling for Alaskan oil is a violation of Oil Econ 101.

At best, it is a way to dodge the challenge posed by apparent Saudi support for terror. At worst, it is an attempt to advance another agenda using terrorism as an excuse. The real issue is the alleged Saudi funding of terror. No matter how much demand we withdraw from the oil market, the Saudis will have revenue and we have to be concerned with how they use it. If cutting off funding is critical to winning the war on terror, then we must press the Saudis on that point. We should tell them that we respect their rights as a sovereign nation, but they owe it to the community of nations to not fund terrorists. If that approach does not work, then it is a waste of time to wring our hands over our "dependence on foreign oil." The only fallback position is the one suggested by my wife: just take the oil.

Where's the ACLU When You Need Them?

Maybe the ACLU needs to add an 'S' in their name, for 'selective.'

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE REELECTED, public access to places offering unpopular minority views would be restricted, and government stooges would use zoning restrictions to crack down on free speech and crush dissent. And they were right:

Berkeley peace activists are gearing up to circulate a petition to place a measure on the November ballot restricting where public and private military recruiters can locate within the city.

-----------------------------------

When a group of people have the power of leading a city government, they have certain responsibilities that come with that power. Those responsibilities don't include fighting for social justice or ensuring every business in their city is ideologically acceptable, as the Berkeley City Council has tried to do. Nor do they include supporting the Federal Government and the United States Military, as many on the right want them to do. Those responsibilities include protecting basic human liberties, such as the rights to life, liberty, and property, and providing a city where citizens and business have basic protections and services like police, fire, and infrastructure.

The Berkeley City Council's refusal to meet its basic responsibilities makes it a disgrace and a failure. Period.

Where's that governor of theirs?

Foreign Relations

The Iraqi people know who to throw in with:

When an insurgency that is so favored ends up as ineffective as the one in Iraq today, there can only be one reason for it: a lack of support from the local population.

This is because native populations are to this type of fighters what water is to fish. Since they move and live among them, the insurgents depend on locals for cover, sustenance and other necessities. But the Iraqis apparently do not provide them with the support they need and demand. In fact, the opposite is the case. Everyday our soldiers receive tips which help them to bust enemy safe houses, find weapons caches, and foil plots.

This may come as a shock to some, but our low casualty rate clearly shows that the Iraqi people have taken the side of America and that on a mass scale.

Yea, read it all, for it names domestic collaborators.

A Sure Sign of Age

This morning an unmarked* St. Paul Police car was catching speeders on my street. He'd get 'em on radar, pull 'em over after a one-block nonpursuit, write 'em up and be back in his hiding spot in about 15 minutes.

There was a time when I got mad about cops 'hiding out' and writing tickets. Today, my first reaction was wanting to buy him a coffee and wish him "good hunting." That's because I'm of that adult age where I do not want to go back to being younger.

*that is if you are too preoccupied to notice a strategically-parked and idling bright red CVPI Crown Victoria with a rear deck lightbar and a full spread of electronic countermearsures.

Thanks For the Infection; Praise Allah!

I guess in many Islamic cultures, there is no word for "hygiene."

Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.

That whole 'clean health environment' thing is really just a ploy to opress Islam ya know.

Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.

Universities and NHS trusts fear many more will refuse to co-operate with new Department of Health guidance, introduced this month, which stipulates that all doctors must be "bare below the elbow." The measure is deemed necessary to stop the spread of infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have killed hundreds.

What's the big deal of a few more hundred people die, I mean, we're talking Islam here. At least one MP is not afraid to be painted as a Great Satan (as he surely will be soon):

Dr Charles Tannock, a Conservative MEP and former hospital consultant, said: "These students are being trained using taxpayers' money and they have a duty of care to their patients not to put their health at risk. "Perhaps these women should not be choosing medicine as a career if they feel unable to abide by the guidelines that everyone else has to follow."

I guess when you live in the West, it's your lot in live to abandon what you know, one thing at a time, in order for others to be happy by avoiding assimilation in all it's forms.

More Better

When you are more better, you defeat who is less better.

That's how it works.

Another Day in Paradise

I sure hope no one ever meddles with the status quo in Utopia.

Last week, the government shut down Iran's most important feminist magazine, which had been published for 16 years. The authorities also arrested a small group of students after a protest at Tehran University over poor conditions in their dormitory. In the middle of a snowy, icy winter, women have been arrested for not wearing proper Islamic clothing. Hats over head scarves, boots over pants, can bring trouble.

"Their harsh reaction to everything shows they feel very vulnerable," said Morad Saghafi, a philosopher and writer in Tehran. "They arrest 10 students because they think, if they don't, 100 will come. Yes, they feel vulnerable."

"The present government, similar to any other government, has certain shortcomings which should be mentioned sympathetically," (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) said recently before warning critics not to go overboard.

Hell, why go overboard. Sounds like a magnificent place.

Outraged About Oil Compnay Profits?

There might not be a better litmus test for journaistic objectivity and integrity these days than the way profits for oil companies are reported. Look at how the class-warriors at National Socialist Radio spun it:

Beating its own record to rack up the largest annual corporate profit in American history, Exxon Mobil Corp. said Friday it earned $40.6 billion for the year, reaping the benefits of crude-oil prices around $100 a barrel. Exxon Mobil also topped its own record for profit in a single quarter, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of the year - about $1 billion more than the same period in 2005, the previous quarterly record. And the quarterly profit alone is about the same as the size of the entire economy of Iceland or Namibia.

Chevron Corp., No. 2 behind Exxon Mobil among U.S. oil companies, also had its best year ever in 2007, saying Friday that it banked a profit of $18.7 billion. With the economy weakening and the prospect of $4-a-gallon gas looming for spring and summer, the hefty oil profits immediately renewed charges that Big Oil was profiting at the expense of most Americans.

Oh, those greedy corporate oligarchs, taking food off the tables of starving children. Don't forget that this sort of news attracts all the usual political buzzards:

Within hours of Exxon Mobil and Chevron reporting their results, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, urged Congress to repeal tax breaks for the oil industry. "Congratulations to Exxon Mobil and Chevron - for reminding Americans why they cringe every time they pull into a gas station and for reminding Washington why it needs to act swiftly to break our dependence on foreign oil and roll back unnecessary tax incentives for oil companies," Schumer said.

Three times in the story they breathlessly wail about $100/barrel oil (it closed today at $88, by thte way) and never mentioned two important facts. First is that Exxon Mobil alone paid $30 billion in taxes in 2007. They paid $28 billion in 2006. That's $58 billion into government coffers over two fiscal year. No other compnay has ever paid that sort of tax bill over two years. There are entire sectors of our economy don't contribue $58 billion over two years.

Oh yea, that money goes through the formality of the treasury right to the clowns, liars, cheats and finks in the US House of Representatives who use it to buy votes to get themselves reelected. By the way Senator Schumer, what sort of "tax breaks" are the oil companies enjoying since they are they are paying 41% to demagauges like you.

The second thing unreported is how these profits were not divided among only 15 or 20 old, fat, white guys in suits who eat red meat 8 times each day. That's not reported because Exxon Mobil, like all the other oil companies is publicly traded. Anyone can own a piece of Big Oil, and many of us do in mutual funds in our 401(k) plans. Those who portray oil profits as some unattainable club for others are fooling themselves and they hope you go along with them. It's like craving the sunshine but being too obstanant to come out from under the shade of the tree.

So when you hear the feet stomping and the alligator tears over the profits from big oil make sure you ask the right questions of those who thing they have all the answers.

Daily Hot Venom

Matt Drew's arrow hits it's inteded taget dead center:

Operating under the false pretense that being elected to the prestigious Minneapolis City Council gives him carte blanche to impose PETA's fringe agenda on the rest of us, Cam Gordon, hero to persecuted pachyderms, appears bent on running the Shrine Circus, and all the good it does, out of Minneapolis.

Since his proposed all-out ban on circus elephants failed in September, Clever Cam, marinading in sour grapes, has decided to play the role of busybody and tack on an amendment to the proposed ordinance that would forbid children from touching or riding elephants. Perfectly aware that elephant rides are a large source of revenue for the circus, Gordon is attempting to hurt the circus financially and impose a de facto ban by citing a newfound concern for "public safety."

To hear Gordon tell it, letting small, grinning children touch or, even worse, enjoy a short ride on a circus elephant is akin to placing a child on a trunked, floppy-eared 5,000-pound grenade, then pulling the pin. And to back up his assertion that circus elephants pose a public safety threat, Gordon even provided this troubling list of the names of children maimed by elephants at the Shrine Circus. It looks like this: ----.

So instead of laughably hiding behind the public safety issue, Gordon and the other elephant-obsessed members of the Minneapolis City Council should just admit that they're sore losers and, acting as dutiful stooges for the animal-rights lobby, are callously putting a far-left agenda ahead of the free orthopedic care the Shriners' hospitals provide to needy children.

MATT DREW, MINNEAPOLIS

The inability of the Minneapols City Council to keep its eye on the ball is legenday. It's about time Cam Gordon and the other juviniles were more regularly skewered for it.

Rethinking Value and Law

A lack of understanding about what's going on in the modern world should not excuse anyone from their responsibility.

(Geoff) Luurs collected jewels, charms and rare coins - some 50 items - over four years while playing FFXI, an online role-playing game where he adventured as Sots, a tiny magician. Worse yet, Luurs suspected a fellow gamer and friend by the character name of Ayri had emptied him of treasure worth 75 million Gil, the currency used to measure success within the game.

Luurs decided to get justice and took his virtual beef to Blaine police. He told them Ayri could make real money, he said about $3,800, from selling the loot to gamers who would rather pay for it than play for it.

So, would police charge Ayri with theft? No.

If I steal names, addresses and social security numbers from a source via the internt, I could sell that "valueless" information to someone in the identity theft business and it would be a crime. Why is this any different?

"What happened here is somebody stole almost $4,000 and got away cold," said Joshua Fairfield, an associate professor of law at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He said he thinks if the monetary value of the goods had been higher and if a corporation instead of individuals had been involved, cops would have investigated.
"This is just a matter of zeros," Fairfield said. "The first time IBM loses $10 million, we're going to see some police action."

Why I'm Leaning Mitt

Mark Levin:

I could see (McCain's) personal contempt for Mitt Romney roiling under the surface. And why? Because Romney ran campaign ads that challenged McCain’s record? Is this the first campaign in which an opponent has run ads questioning another candidate’s record? That’s par for the course. To the best of my knowledge, Romney’s ads have not been personal. He has not even mentioned the Keating-Five to counter McCain's cheap shots. But the same cannot be said of McCain’s comments about Romney. Last night McCain, who is the putative frontrunner, resorted to a barrage of personal assaults on Romney that reflect more on the man making them than the target of the attacks. McCain now has a habit of describing Romney as a “manager for profit” and someone who has “laid-off” people, implying that Romney is both unpatriotic and uncaring. Moreover, he complains that Romney is using his “millions” or “fortune” to underwrite his campaign. This is a crass appeal to class warfare. McCain is extremely wealthy through marriage. Romney has never dennigrated McCain for his wealth or the manner in which he acquired it. Evidently Romney’s character doesn’t let him to cross certain boundaries of decorum and decency, but McCain’s does. And what of managing for profit? When did free enterprise become evil?