20 Alpha 4

Not Going To Take It Anymore

2010-11-17T23:42:00.000-08:00

As happy as I was to see the election results I am twice as happy to see people standing up to the TSA and their totally inappropriate security measures. It's ridiculous to suggest that these annoying, intrusive and offensive searches and pat-downs will stop the real terrorists. If anything it strains the system that should be looking out for the likely suspects, which of course are THOSE WHO CAN'T BE NAMED.

And Big Sis's article was equally laughable. It had the tenor and style belonging to some one running a elementary school, sending out a letter to unruly students that were angry about recess being cut short. Meanwhile those bastions of intellect and truth to power like the LA Times and the New York Times and advising us to "Shut up and be scanned".

How about NO, we won't shut up, and NO you can't grope or scan us.

How is it that suddenly the NYTs and LATs is suddenly concerned about terrorism and security? Right....

The TSA are NOT an actual police force. I can't imagine they have much training beyond the basic functions of their job. They should have no authority to do what they are doing at all. Period. A real peace officer should be called in IF AND WHEN there is probable cause and they can do the check. Professionally, one would hope.

Don't Touch My Rattle

2010-11-16T22:37:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write about the new naked-scanners and the TSA pat down frenzy for several weeks however an extreme case of laziness has prevented from me from acting on this. I have to say I am more than pleased to see the objections grow to their current size and fury during the time I couldn't get around to writing about it.

I believe that following the election at the beginning of the month everyday Americans have realized that they can in fact take control of a situation. With this new found spirit of '76 it was inevitable that the TSA would run into trouble with the scanners and the ridiculous pat down procedure. Perhaps the Tea Partiers could alter the "Don't Tread On Me" flag to say "Don't Touch My Rattle" and use it as banner. Twisted Sisters' "We're not Gonna Take it" could be the anthem.

At what point do people just say "enough of this bullshit" and stand up? Let us see. I predict (using my amazing powers of prediction) that the TSA will be DOA in a few years. I also would be surprised to see the current shake down pat down would survive for Christmas. But then I'm an optimist!

Elections & Erections

2010-11-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

For shame to those conservatives who hung their heads in defeat back in 2008 (or like that Green Football guy, jumped ship) because Obama won. If you truly believe that the lefts policies are doomed to fail, why despair? It was only a matter of time before the Dems screwed things up badly enough that normal folk would run the other direction.

And oh how they've run.

Well... I am sad to see that Boxer survived the night. I haven't seen if Reid has as well. Those two pompous twats would not be missed. But that aside it looks very good. I don't expect the Senate will be won but still with Congress in the bag, and the Senate at least close it will throw a wrench into the works of the socialist machine.

Now it's all a matter of voting fraud for the Dems.

Some Thoughts on Nov 2nd

2010-10-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging much because I've had other items to attend to. However I thought I'd say a few things prior to the US Election. I've already predicted way back in the spring that the Dems will get their asses handed to them. However I am truly worried about election fraud and other typical leftist shenanigans.

The John Stewart rally struck me as totally pathetic. Stewart is not funny. He's the smart ass guy at the back of the class taking the piss out of the Science teachers checked trousers, nothing more. Mr. Know it all, Mr. Sneer. He is a poor imitation of what Chevy Chase did well on Saturday Night Live decades ago.

Colbert is another sad case. The walking talking straw man. If conservatives were of color perhaps he'd put on black face and sing negro spirituals. What he does is no different. He pretends to be a conservative, but isn't, and as a pretend conservative he can say the things that we don't really say, but all the self important progressives THINK we say.

So 30,000 people showed up at their rally. Great.

Cat Stevens?? I'm sorry but why exactly would you invite that old twat? I hated Cat Stevens long before he became a self-righteous Islamic mouthpiece. I hated his flaccid-dick bearded hippy strumming back in the 1970s. But that's just me. I don't understand what point inviting him makes. Are the youth of today interested in this guy? Do they even know who he is other than some crap their bra less hippy Aunt listens to? I don't know. All I know is if Stewart and Colbert were trying to out do Glenn Beck they failed.

As for tomorrow's vote... It would be nice to think that what has been happening, slowly over the last however many years, with more and more intrusive "guidance" from our betters could be stopped at the ballot box. Let's hope it does.

About that "Mubai Style"

2010-10-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

The recent alerts about a "Mubai style" terror attack in Europe should bring home the fact that talking nicey nice to a bunch of murderous religious fanatics is not very affective. The best policy is to either lock them up forever or shoot them. The West ignored the rise of these nutters and has suffered for it. Everyone (the press) seems to have forgotten the planned Salsberg Christmas attack from 2000. The usual suspects were arrested by German police a day before they could pull it off, and the authorities only learned what the target was AFTER the arrest when they reviewed the terrorists recon videos.

Every big attack that has occurred in the West had dry runs or lesser versions in the third world. Even the September 11th attacks were originally planned and dry runs were conducted in the Philippines. The biggest fear for the West should be that the terrorists abandon their desire for spectacular attacks and go for small arms and mayhem. Four or five guys on a roof with a mortar tube and some rifles during some big event could cause untold horror and panic.

The difference though with Mubai and carrying an attack out in Europe or North America would be the response. There would be no video of Police hiding behind pillars while the terrorists rampage. Quite the opposite. The Europeans have had decades of terror problems and besides the usual well armed well trained special police response teams nations like Germany, France England and others have specific military units whose sole purpose is to deal with terrorists. Units like England's S.A.S. or Germany's GSG9 would not be reading any one their "rights". It is also doubtful there would be as much confusion in the response as there was in Mubai. This isn't to say the scenario wouldn't result in horror but it certainly wouldn't go on as long. Let's just hope it never happens.

Sesame Street for Boomers?

2010-09-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

I've read that it was Kate Perry's "cleavage" that was the issue with the Elmo skit being recently pulled NOT her outfit. My question would be "what cleavage?", nice gams but no prizes in the sunshine mountain department.

Meanwhile....

Sesame Street for adults to be launched next year

Dubbed Next Avenue, it is described by Twin Cities CEO Jim Pagliarini as “a virtual ‘life coach’ for baby boomers”.

In the same way that Sesame Street taught baby boomers their ABCs, Next Avenue aims to teach those same baby boomers now how to handle their lives.

And as a lot of those baby boomers spend a huge amount of their time online, Next Avenue also features a website that carries the same theme and objectives as the TV program.

Pagliarini says it will “challenge them to see the opportunities life holds after 45.”

What the...?

First of all do people actually still watch TV?

Secondly I thought they had already done this back in the 90's.

It was called "Teletubbies"

And as for cleavage...

(Any excuse to post a photo of Jeri Ryan)

How to Lose the Youth

2010-09-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have long held that irksome overlords like Obama and his crew are not far removed in their thinking from the type of principals, teachers and school staff that kids instantly recognize as evil meddlesome fun wrecking dictators.

President Obama Calls For Longer School Year; More Math & Science Teachers

Local educators react to the President's repeated support for longer school years.

In an interview Monday morning with the Today Show, President Barack Obama talked about how American students go to school about a month less per year than children in other countries.

The president also cited recent international rankings in which the U.S. ranks 25th in math and 21st in science.

Monday, some teachers told KTXS, that they think more time in school could make a difference.

This will not win any points with the kids. Not that they can vote, but I would wager all my Gold Rush Bubblegum that children are the only folk left who have a positive view of the President.

Perhaps less time in school should be spend on eco-enviro-indoctrination bullshit or field trips to the mosque. I was amazed to find when visiting some family that that nephews and nieces where stumped by math homework and seemed completely unaware of the simple tricks we used in pre-calculator days to sort out math problems. It was also clear that they had no notion of their times tables.

So what are they being taught? Collectivist nonsense.

Elmo-Gate

2010-09-24T06:19:00.000-07:00

I have fond memories of Sesame street. But that was A LONG TIME AGO. I haven't actually seen it recently although I have been annoyed by the second hand smoke of Elmo, who is to Grover what Scrappy Doo was to Scooby.

Apparently the parents who bubble wrap their kids each morning didn't like the Katey Perry outfit. I sort of like it. I suspect I would have liked it when I was 5 as well. But after the cries of the concerned they pulled the segment.

The real reason this should be pulled is not her ugly dress. It is THE MUSIC. Annoying and contrived with that gaspy breath vocal that is supposed to be from the heart or street or something.

That aside Kate does have nice gams.

Spirit of 76

2010-09-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

One image that was en grained in my mind as a kid was "The Spirit of 76". Even though I wasn't even American, this image, the theme and the idea seemed always around in the American media that came across the boarder. Perhaps this was partly do to the Bicentennial but I wonder why I haven't seen more of this used in the current climate.

The "Don't Tread on Me" flag is an obvious choice for the mood of the day but I think the image of regular men throwing off the rule of Kings and claiming their own land free from tyranny is also appropriate. That is what is at stake.

The free world is no longer "free". The West has fallen under the rule of multitude of busy-bodies and meddling do-gooders. These are the same bossy types who as Children we hated having as teachers. Talking down to us, regulating each thing we do and removing any hope for "fun". They must be voted out, and not just on the national level. How many municipalities, cities and counties have been also taken over by these zombies? All intent on making as many rules as possible for every one's own good. It's horrifying to watch, even from this distance.

Religion of Perpetual Violence

2010-09-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

While all the big minds of the West were in a state over some guy burning a Koran the usual suspects were looking for more excuses to continue doing what they have been doing for years; persecuting Christians.

Extremist arrested over Indonesia church attack

JAKARTA: Indonesian police detained an Islamic extremist leader on Wednesday over an armed assault on Christian elders which shocked moderates and raised fears for pluralism in the world's most populous Muslim country.

Police said well-known Islamic radical Murhali Barda could face up to 12 years in prison for inciting violence and assault, after a group of men stabbed a Christian elder and bashed a priest on Sunday.

The elder was hospitalised with abdominal injuries and the priest, Luspida Simandjuntak, received minor head wounds when she was beaten with a piece of wood as she tried to help her friend.

The attack came as Simandjuntak was about to hold a service in Bekasi outside Jakarta, where a Protestant church group has faced months of violence and hostility from Muslim vigilantes.

Barda is the Bekasi area chief of a violent vigilante group called the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which is known for its cosy relations with government officials and its armed attacks on moderates and minorities.

"The FPI's chief is accused of inciting people to do violence against others," Jakarta police spokesman Boy Rafli told AFP, adding that Barda had also been charged under the criminal code related to premeditated assault.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday ordered police to arrest and prosecute the attackers.

The leader of the most populous Muslim-majority nation strongly condemned a US pastor's plans to burn the Koran last week but has been criticised at home for failing to protect minority rights in his own country.

Eighty percent of Indonesia's 240 million people are Muslims.

So 48 MILLION PEOPLE have to put up with this bullshit because they AREN'T Muslim?

This has been going on through out the world for years with out a single word of comdenation from world leaders. Instead we get speach after speach about the religion of peace. If it is a Religion of Peace please it isn't showing many examples. When the minority they demand special treatment, when they are the majority they stiffle anyone else from doing anything counter to Islamic prececpts.

They Who Can't be Named

2010-09-14T01:02:00.000-07:00

Some more thoughts on the current battle between Islam and everyone else. Since the mid 1990s violent extremist Islam has popped up everywhere in the world. Looking to seek Islamic law through both legal and violent means a number of nations have slid into that sphere of influence.

Now the retarded Hippies running Washington are clamping their little hands at the victory of democracy in Turkey. A change in the constitution that empowers the Islamist President to stack the courts in his favor. You can guess what will follow.

So this is how its sits. We invade two countries to remove the evil bastards running them just to end up replacing them with people who either believe the same bullshit that the 9/11 terrorists did or who will make deals with those who do just to save their own skins. Now we've also lost Turkey, and are in the process of losing Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia to the Islamists. And let's not forget about Lebanon. What part of this should we be happy about? None of it.

This will just keep coming at us until someone somewhere stands up and points out the obvious. Unfortunately, like Harry Potter, those with their wits intact are doomed to run around in circles trying to get the "grown ups" to speak the name of the enemy.

9/11 Thoughts

2010-09-11T23:02:00.000-07:00

Today of course is the day everyone remembers, as well they should. Islamic Terrorists killed over 3000 people in the name of their imaginary friend Allah. What I am still amazed by all these years later is how completely surprised people in North America were by this attack. No one in South East Asia was surprised by it and no one had any doubt "who" was behind it. The reason being was most of the world, from Africa to Asia had been under attack by Bin Laden's pals since the mid 1990s.

On New Years Eve 2000 the Islamics set off bombs through out Metro Manila's elevated train system killing and wounding many. The entire previous year had been one terror attack after another. But who in the west cared? They were only killing Philippinos. Nothing worth the evening news unless a western tourist or expat gets killed.

The threat of radical Islam was off the radar somehow. Even after the bombings in Africa and the USS Cole. I remember thinking while watching the news coverage of the USS Cole bombing that it was just a matter of time before they'd blow up something IN AMERICA.

Many pundits talk about "pre-9/11 thinking" and the dangers there in. That same thinking seems to be back in effect.

As for Koran burning, I agree that reading it makes more sense than burning it so that you know what you are really up against, however as far as those who burn it. Who cares? I don't. For the last decade I've had to hear about Islamics blowing up ancient Budhas, burning down churchs (often with people inside), killing priests, nuns, monks, teachers, local muslims who won't sign up, and so on. Never mind their endless flag burning. Why the hell should I worry about offending THEM? The ones who are jumping around protesting are the same ones who want to impose their bullshit beliefs on everyone. The same fellows who throw acid in the faces of unveiled women in Bangledesh. Or kill their daughters for some silly infranction.

You want to burn a Koran, knock yourself out.

Narrow Casting

2010-09-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

With much joy a new "right wing" entertainment Internet channel has arrived. It is called Rightnetwork and is supposedly going to be a place for conservative entertainment. While I do wish them all the best I have to admit that "Conservative Entertainment" sounds too much like "Christian Rock" for my liking. Having spent much of my life being endlessly subjected to Christian Rock by well meaning yet highly annoying family members I am all too familiar with what it is; derivative. For every successful band there will be eventually a Christian version doing a weaker version of what the original did four years prior. Thus I was getting CDs given to me (gee thanks loads) in 1996 of Christian bands that sounded like what Nirvana was doing in 1991. Except they were Christian.

This is the danger of narrow casting. Instead of making conservative entertainment which sounds like PBS' Zoom "made by kids for kids", why not just make good entertainment and put it out there for everyone. Certainly the left stamping its tired old dogma on entertainment hasn't helped its cause. How hard could it be to compete in the free market?

As far as entertainment goes I want to be entertained. NOT preached at. I don't care which side of the political side it comes from.

As for Christian Rock, the only Christian Rock I ever actually enjoyed was Phil Keggy's Glass Harp. The reason being they wrote great songs and Phil Keggy is a great guitarist. Everything else I've been exposed to was never that great as usually I'd heard it done better by someone else before.

I will keep checking out Rightnetwork and see what its like. Perhaps it will entertain me.

Proof of God

2010-09-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

The Proof of God is all around you Stephen

Super-Brainiac guy on wheels Stephen Hawking claims that he knows for sure there is NO GOD and God didn't create the universe.

Professor Stephen Hawking says no God created Universe

There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, the physicist and mathematician Professor Stephen Hawking has said.

He had previously argued that belief in a creator was not incompatible with science - but in a new book The Grand Design, he concludes that the Big Bang was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics.

Well Stephen is certainly entitled to his opinion, as that is all it is. Unless he has some sort of incrediable powers that enable him to safely travel back to the formation of the cosmos, scan the area for signs of deity, then come back to the present day, how can he know for sure? And even if he did that how would be know to believe him?

The only thing more tiring to listen to than a religious zelot badgering on about what ever they think is some supposed proponent of "reason" (aka Atheist) who badgers you endlessly about how can you be so stupid to believe in God.

In any event I hope Stephen takes the time to thank the God he doesn't believe in for being being born when he was, were he was, so that he could have the oppertunity to accomplish all that he has.

Remember we all get to find out the answer about God eventually. You just don't get to tell anyone.

Absolute proof of God! Jeri Ryan!

Thoughts on the Beck-O-Rama

2010-08-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

I've looked at some of the video of the Big Beck Rally in Washington and I am hit by several thoughts.

First of all, that is A LOT of people. There seems to be a debate about exactly how many but it has to be at least 400,000. Even if its only 250,000, that is STILL a lot of people. The various old tyme News outlets can ignore and ridicule all they want but it shows for what sort of numbers Beck and or Palin can muster. The Democrats should be very worried.

Secondly, though I am unsure of the point of this whole thing, I dislike the religious overtones as I am dubious of ANY group of religious folk who'll take it upon themselves as a god given task to somehow try to convert me or impose their ideas of morality on me. You can be honorable and patriotic without bashing everyone over the head with your god stick.

I did like the honoring of the military, which is needed especially now with a bunch of hippies running the White House. But to be honest I'm not 100 percent sure what the point of the whole thing was.

I do think what the point SHOULD have been was liberty, freedom and free enterprise. These are the things which need to be rallied around and defended because they are the things under attack.

However I do understand the Christians must be sick of being the one group singled out as the bad guys in every movie, forbidden to display anything concerning their holidays and so forth. The left jumps on the religious tolerance buggy when it suits them such as with the Ground Zero Mosque but otherwise they've done everything in their power to destroy the rights of Christians to do anything (including telling Beck he can't pray, which they quickly backed away from).

Ultimately this will show, at least to each other, that those in the Tea Party movement are not a fringe group of a few. The media and Dems ignore this at their own risk.

President Urkel

2010-08-28T03:42:00.000-07:00

While Putin is posing bare chested, wrestling with whales and bears, and firing all manner of weaponry in a pathetic attempt to appear taller and or more macho than he might actually be, what do we get out of the White House? This. President Urkel on his widdle bike. All that is missing is training wheels.

Yes it's just a picture. But who exactly, which WH handler, thought this would some how be a good idea? The image hardly invokes confidence in the strength of man leading the free world.

Saudi Maid Abuse

2010-08-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

I don't care what sort of religion of peace glue the folks in charge have been sniffing for the last decade. When I saw the headline "Maid Tortured with Nails" I knew that her employers would be in or be from Saudi Arabia. Why? Because every time a news item about house workers being tortured or held captive pop up its always the same bunch of self-righteous jerk offs who are responsible.

S.Lanka maid who worked in Saudi has 24 nails in body

A Sri Lankan housemaid with 24 nails embedded in her body after allegedly being tortured by her employer is to undergo surgery on Friday, her doctors said.

L. T. Ariyawathi, 49, said her employer in Saudi Arabia inflicted the injuries on her as a punishment.

She flew back to Sri Lanka last week and was admitted to Kamburupitiya hospital in the island's south, hospital director Prabath Gajadeera told AFP on Thursday.

Real class.

She is lucky though. She might have ended up like that Philippina maid in Jordan who had a cinder block dropped on her head by an angry mob of men for some infraction or another.

Which Century is Yahoo in?

2010-08-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

While Google continues to mess up Gmail and You Tube (and anything else it gets a hold of) in some weird attempt to be Facebook, Yahoo has decided to pitch you to set Yahoo as your home page. YES. Your home page.

Facebook has taken things by storm partly due to it's friendliness to 3G gizmos that all the kids love to have. Yahoo is still trying to get people to go into their Netscape and set it to Yahoo. Because in the future having your homepage set there will mean you'll have quick access to what ever annoying redesign they come up with.

Seriously when was the last time someone actually inquired as to what your home page was set at? 1996? '97?

John Cougar Speaks!

2010-08-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

Rocker John Mellencamp likens Internet to A-bomb
Rocker John Mellencamp said on Tuesday that the Internet was the most dangerous invention since the atomic bomb, although new technology could paradoxically delay the inevitable demise of rock 'n' roll.

But before then, "some smart people, the China-Russians or something" may have already conquered America by hacking into the power grid and financial system, he warned during a public seminar at the Grammy Museum.

Yes, some SMART PEOPLE. I read about those. There's a lot of them. And everyone knows the financial system is singular entity that sits inside a big box with wires in a secret room in the White House. All you need is to find the right phone number, call it and then type really fast until you 'hack' in.

Back Again

2010-08-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

Yes.

I know it has been a long time but now I am back. I was doing stuff. Stuff I might actually get paid to do. Rather than this. But I can't contain myself. I must comment on how smug I feel at how right I was in my prediction that Obama would be the American version of Trudeau. And he is.

And just as a note to all the commies. I don't hate Obama because he's "black" (please note that he's only 50% more black than any white guy you know), I hate Obama because he's a pompus full of shit, full of himself College commie type. Every time he opens his trap the piffle that comes out is horrifying.

Obama sucks and the Dems will get their collect collectivist asses handed to them in November.

Buy popcorn!

Karzai Crazy?

2010-04-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

So Afghan President Karzai has threaten to quit and join the Taliban. Big news. Big shock to the White House. Why is he acting so strange? Why would he do stuff to under mind NATO efforts and play right into the hands of the Taliban.

It couldn't possibly be that the US has given a date for when its leaving. At date after which he'll be on his own, surrounded by war lords, Taliban and the business as usual Afghan way.

I would assume that when NATO leaves they won't be taking him with them. So who can blame him. He's not in danger of being kicked out of office. He's in danger of being horribly maimed and killed.

So why is anyone surprised at how he's acting?

2010-04-07T23:15:00.000-07:00

By using my AMAZING powers of prediction, which foretold of how Obama would completely screw up the USA in the same way Trudeau turned Canada into a pine cone republic, I have seen a vision of what is to come.

Obama will be of course noted in history as the first black President, but he will also be noted as the President whose policies led to one of the most shocking turn around in US electoral history. I know that smarter folk than me have predicted the GOP taking back the house or what have you by using more scientific means but I am going to go out on a limb and just predict that not only will it be a victory for the Republicans it will be a massive victory. One so huge that neither the Republicans or the Democrats can possibly imagine.

How is this possible?

How is it IMPOSSIBLE?

Every single thing Obama and his crew do, say or attempt seems to piss off the general populace even more. Each intrusion, and make no mistake people see these endless nanny state things exactly as what they are, drives more people into the arms of the Tea Party.

Sucking up to the bad guys while insulting Allies is also a factor no one is paying attention. If Tom Hanks retarded remarks about fighting the Japanese could basically KILL a big HBO series that was expected to do as well as Band of Brothers that would suggest that people do pay attention. I think that Americans have noticed how the White House is acting to Israel, Britain, etc and they are not impressed.

Obama has basically blown it and it may take some time to recover. Now if only the GOP can learn the lesson that the people don't want big government.

Ukraine Gives Up on NATO

2010-04-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

THIS is what happens when you have a President and Congress who are completely out to lunch regarding who's a friend and who's a foe. The Ukraine is no longer seeking to join NATO. And why would they now that Obama and crew have...

Insulted every ally and sucked up to every tin-pot dictator
Dumped the missle defence shield
Stopped production of the F-22
Slowed or stopped the Future Weapons program
Annouced it wouldn't use Nukes unless its too late

This is what happens when you put grade school teachers in change of a country.

More Bombings In Russia

2010-03-31T01:12:00.000-07:00

The Islamaholics have bombed another Russian city killing 9 so far. The Russians were warned a wave of attacks were coming. The West should remember that lessons learned by these crazies in far off places like Russia or the Philippines can be (have been and will be) applied to attacks in the West. This is why no one in the Philippines was surprised on September 11th, 2001.

But What About Tim Hortons?

2010-03-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this will tip the balance of the war effort against the Taliban. The US Commander is banning junk food in Afghanistan.

Burgers go way of booze as US general Stanley McChrystal bans junk food

First he banned booze in his Kabul headquarters. Now the notoriously austere commander of US and Nato forces has a new target in his war on terror: ice cream and fast food.

General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of Special Forces in Iraq, who runs eight miles a day, eats one meal and sleeps for only four hours a night, has given orders to close the junk food concessions on Nato bases.

Will this affect the Tim Hortons outlets that serve the Canadian Troops?

I would hope not. Tim Hortons has proven to be a great supporter of the Canadian efforts in the region. It would be a shame to have that taken just because some American General thinks junk food is bad.

Moscow Bombings

2010-03-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

Two female suicide bombers have set off explosions in the Moscow subway killing at least 35 people. I am aways amazed this hasn't happened in the US of A yet.

Hopefully it won't while the FBI are busy raiding those evil Christians.

Non-motorized Morons

2010-03-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile south of the border Obama's Army of Luddites push another half baked idea to make the USA more like some sad commie shithole.

Transportation Department Embraces Bikes, and Business Groups Cry Foul

“This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of nonmotorized.”

Now having visited various American Cities I have noticed that some of the sidewalks are on par with say Laos. However, there were also many places I wouldn't want to walk, or bike or even drive into for that matter. But that aside to make something equal which is not is typical of the backwards thinking of Hippies.

Toronto has a policy not unlike what is suggested here and it's nightmarish. Less than 10 percent of the traffic gets huge funding for "bike paths" which means they paint a line on the road making it smaller. The bike-nazis, most of which should be riding a broom, pedal about like the Over Lords of Tomorrowland disregarding all rules of traffic, riding on sidewalks when in suits them, and going into a pious rage when a motorist doesn't notice them. This usually happens when they ride up into a drivers "blind spot". You know, that place where you might not see A TRUCK coming up behind you. But all drivers are some how expected to see them or hear them ringing their pathetic little bells inside a running car.

Jesu Christi, help us. The one thing that is most annoying about these idiots is that they are as self-important and bossy as they are clueless. No wonder so many go of them go into teaching.

Earth Hour My Ass

2010-03-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

One thing that points out the utter and complete stupidity of Earth Hour, besides the fact it doesn't change anything, is that the organizers seem to be under the delusion that its the same time everywhere on the planet. I hate to be the one to point this out but its not. The world is round you see. Because of the the rotation we have this thing called time zones. In fact it isn't even March 28th everywhere at the same time. When earth hour is going on in New York its 7 am in Hong Kong.

Jumping on the the now wheel-less band wagon the Liberal Party of Canada have "heard the call" and are suggesting a new carbon tax. The logic being if we can't dictate your behaviour through the courts we will force you to do as we wish by making it expensive. This won't effect the well paid leadership of the Liberals however.

Liberals hear call for carbon tax

The idea of a carbon tax as a means of curbing greenhouse gas emissions, which the Liberals rode to a resounding defeat in the last federal election, got strong support from invited experts at afternoon panel discussions on the theme of energy, environment and economic growth.

Just what Canadians want, ANOTHER TAX!

Just so eveyone knows. I will be switching on every light in my place and turning on every device for one hour. Hippies I never met don't get to dicate to me when I can shop, use energy and so on. My wallet dicates those things.

Mr Know it All

2010-03-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Free Press Grupenfurher Robert McChesney

If you haven't read this article by Steve Forbes yet please do.

The tedious commie douche bag in question is pictured above. Are we sick of the hippies yet? I was sick of these self important blowhards by grade two. Everyone goes on about Obama being the first Black President. He's actually the first HIPPY President.

With a Friend Like Obama...

2010-03-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

Much noise has been made about how Obama continually snubs various allies whilst sniffing the reeking bum bums of every tin-pot dictator and scum bag leader on the planet. This comes as no surprise to 20Alpha4 as within ten minutes of being made King of the World Obama forgot about the NAFTA deal in favour of isolationism with his "buy local" directive.

This was followed by repeated snubs of our conservative Prime Minister at various international buffets and hob-knobbing conventions.

But, oh by the way, please leave your troops in harms way in Afghanistan beyond the 2011 pull out date. Just don't expect us to ever take note of the dead and wounded. A number that equals Britain's sacrifice in that conflict. (Don't worry though, Britain gets snubbed too.)

Obama is certainly the worst American President in my life time. Carter usually gets that label, but I think if Carter was encountered outside of the realm of politics he'd be an okay guy to go fishing with. Obama is arrogant beyond measure. He might even be as arrogant as Trudeau. And that's saying something.

So America has some big problems, and unfortunately so do all of its allies.

Good Luck!

2010-03-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Well I do like to say "I told you so". And I did. No one was really interested in my comparison of Obama and Trudeau but with the passage of the Health Care Bill I think I have been proven correct. However it took Trudeau many years to complete screw up a perfectly good place to live. It seems Obama is managing to inflict the same sort of damage a lot more quickly.

Just so you know, massive inflation should be the next thing to plague you.

Tom Hanks Needs to Know

2010-03-18T01:26:00.000-07:00

Tom Hanks claims that the War against Japan was due to "racism".

He is correct.

Except it was JAPANESE racism that was at the heart of it.

The belief in the deity of the Emperor, and the superiority of the Japanese Race that gave them divine right to rule over all the lesser folk of Asia. This belief was fully demonstrated in China, The Philippines and else where with local populations either exterminated for fun by bayonet and sword, or used as slave labour.

Western liberals may feel bad about the Atomic bombs but many Asians feel we didn't drop enough of them on the Japanese for what they did.

A John Galt Moment

2010-03-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

You know, when I pop open the Drudge or Powerline and read about all the stuff going on back in the old world I just think to myself "thank God I'm not there".

It isn't just the bad weather. Its the endless micro-management of one's life and the ongoing assault on every thing you do by an unholy alliance of bothersome busy bodies and meddling control freak overlords.

As a friend one said to me "I have more freedom here by accident".

But not everyone can do a John Galt, up and spilt and watch from afar as the West sinks under the weight of debt and eco-commie-bullshit. So for those left behind I would hope you stand up to this nonsense, vote the bastards out on every level, from City Hall to the highest seats of power.

Killer Whale Kills

2010-03-03T23:20:00.001-08:00

I am all for not killing whales. We don't need to, the products once produced by whale bits are now made from other materials and so forth however... Being shocked at a Killer Whale killing a trainer is sort of stupid. It is after all a KILLER whale. They are called that for a reason. They kill seals and eat them. What happened with Tilikum isn't totally clear but it does serve to remind that wild animals are WILD, even in captivity. If domesticated animals such as dogs can attack and kill why should we think a whale might not, especially an older bull whale. Thanks to Disney, PETA and the disconnection between the rural and the urban many people have no idea how dangerous animals can be. Instead we name them cute names, project 'human' qualities on them and forget that they aren't cartoon characters.

20A4 Blasts MSM over Blasted

2010-03-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

There is something about the way Yahoo News or MSN headlines are written that just makes me cringe. I can't quite put my finger on it but I think it might be overuse the terms "blasted" or "blasts". A typical headline would be "so and so BLASTED such and such over something" or "whatshisname is blasted by whoever". This phrase seemed to come into use a lot back in the early zeros. Being blasted no longer meaning having a car bomb go off beside the cafe you are enjoying a peaceful afternoon coffee in, or having some nutter with a shotgun come into the office. Now blasted means some one has told you what for.

Which of these tag lines uses the term blasted in its correct context?

James McAvoy blasted for bulimia gaffe
Huckabee's blast exposes rift on the right
Software maker blasts 'vigilantism' in Pa. school spying case
Simpson dad blasts Mayer
Chinese curling coach blasts team, accuses rink of being 'amused' by loss
Guergis, Conservatives, blasted for neglect of women's issues
Suicide blast in northwest Pakistan town market kills 8 and wounds 37
Zuma blasts sanctions' extension
Chelsea staff are blasted over Cole

Secretary of the Obvious: Hillary Rodham Clinton

2010-02-15T01:50:00.000-08:00

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship, a new U.S. accusation in the midst of rising tensions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and crack down on anti-government protesters.

Speaking to Arab students at Carnegie Mellon's Doha campus, Clinton said Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps appears to have gained so much power that it effectively is supplanting the government.

"Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship," she said. "That is our view."

Well that is worse some how than a dictatorship by a bunch of Religious kooks with beards?

Does calling Iran, which has been as far as I remember ALWAYS been a dictatorship of some sort or another, a "Military Dictatorship" make them less appealing to the hippies and pacifists?

How much is she being paid to say come to these startling conclusions?

More Google Foolishness

2010-02-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

The halfwits at Google have done another retarded thing. I tried to search on a computer product and was confronted with one of those "type in the letters/numbers" boxes to confirm that I am an actual person.

How about piss off. If Google thinks that people will sit and type in confirmation numbers every time they want to search they are more stupid than I'd thought.

I completed the search using live search.

Ruining Gmail

2010-02-11T22:56:00.000-08:00

So for some reason unknown to me Gmail or the Overlords of Google have decided to "take on" Facebook. How? By making what was a simple effective mail service into an experience as complicated, intrusive and annoying as Facebook is. You know, Facebook. Someone you sort of hate has poked you. Someone who couldn't actually be bothered to meet you for coffee has invited you to play some stupid and pointless game. And oh the endless updates.

What exactly is Google thinking?

Hotmail was good. Then Microsoft took over and screwed it up by reducing the amount of storage space to nearly nothing unless you paid them money. Of course no one did and EVERYONE I know moved to Yahoo. Then Yahoo mail did something similar so everyone moved to Gmail. Gmails changes will not make people leave Facebook to go to Gmail. Making Myspace more like Facebook didn't help Myspace so why would it help Gmail? What it will do is make people leave Gmail. Once people leave they don't come back, just ask Hotmail and Yahoo.

Where to move to next?

Avatards!

2010-01-22T00:51:00.000-08:00

Joining the REAL Marines would do this lad wonders!

Okay, I was wrong about Avatar failing. It would seem that the opposite is has happened. That doesn't mean however the movie doesn't suck.

What I find amusing though is how some people (who clearly don't get out much and never kissed a girl) have taken the whole thing to heart not unlike those annoying Star Wars, Star Trek and Lord of the Rings fans.

As Trekkies or Trekkers have a name, so I name the Avatar fans AVATARDS. They are now located just below those pompous Star Wars I Wish I was a Jedi types and slightly (only slightly) above those who think cartoon animals can be sexy.

Obozo Goes After "The Banks"

2010-01-21T23:45:00.001-08:00

The Yahoo News (AP) was spouting yesterday that the Dead Kennedy Seat was a message about "Jobs". No the message was, to translate to Limey, "Sod Off, Swampy". In the wake of getting their asses handed to them at a home game now the mighty hope and change bringer has decided to go after "Wall Street". This is retarded on so many levels I hardly know where to begin.

But I will.

Despite what your hippy commie ass Womyn's study teacher might have lead to you believe Wall Street and similar financial hubs are not populated by thousands of little guys who look like the Monopoly Man, sporting top hats and monocles. In fact people 99.9 percent of the people on Wall Street are just people busting their ass to get by. I'm not talking about 'the brokers' or 'bankers' as they make up only a small percent of the group. Nor am I talking about some imaginary fat cats who "make to much" despite the fact that for probably the bulk of their working lives they busted their asses and got paid zero while they built their book or their business. So being enthusiastic about going after Wall Street or any street just means you don't know anything about anything.

As for limiting the size of banks...

Why? What is with the commie preoccupation with limiting sizes of anything and everything except for THE GOVERNMENT. No limits there, because they need MORE Government to tell you what you can't do and make sure you don't. Basically what Obama is suggesting is to apply the same half thought out theories of collective farming to the financial industry. The crisis isn't with the Banks. It is with the Government making the Banks hand out loans to people who would NEVER have got a loan in Canada. Because Canadian Banks, which are by the way run by guys who look like the Monopoly Man, aren't having problems which is amazing considering what other problems Canada might have. Instead of trying to copy Canada's screwed up health care system they should try to look at what our banks do and don't do.

Don't give out money to people who can't pay it back. Very simple.

But the real issue here is that Obama and his ilk are just the same old same. Socialists are all about controlling everything. Nothing can be too big unless they are in charge of it. Everyone must settle for less, everyone must join the miserable march of revolution to box like hovels and let our betters tell us what to do.

Scanning and the Obvious

2010-01-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

None of the 'security measures' that have been imposed on air travel over the last few years have really done anything other than annoy people. Once something is banned the guys who want to blow up a plane for Allah think of something else. Because the West has no minerals to even come out and say which particular group of dickweeds are the ones who wish to do this there is just no way the issue will ever be effectively addressed.

Take the new scanners for example. What will happen when a certain group of religion folk who believe women should be covered up like the ghost of Christmas yet to come encounter one of these I can see your ass type scanners. It will result in some sort of bitching and moaning with the end result being people who belong to that religion DON'T have to be scanned because it breaks their religions laws. And so the end result will be all of us will be scanned but the members of the very religion that want to take explosives on to a plane to blow up the filthy kufar ... will be exempt?

You think that's far fetched? Watch and see.

As for Canada banning books purchased pre flight... what the hell? Who thought that up?

Ten Ideas for Bono

2010-01-05T02:34:00.000-08:00

Bono, Holy Bono has writen an opinion piece for the New York Times regarding his ten great ideas for the next decade. This comes on the heels of his chatter about how to police the internet because file sharing hurts everyone. You see Record Company weasles can't afford their coke habbit anymore and that makes them less effective at ripping off and exploiting their talent pool, which are by all accounts nothing more than serfs.

I'm not going to review Bono's ideas. They might be good. They might be bad. I don't care. And that's the point of this. Bono doesn't give a shit what I think. And that's good. I don't care what he thinks. He made two good albums back in the early 1980s then spend the next 100 years pumping out mullet powered rubbish. Now he wears silly sunglasses and goes around speaking his wisdom to all who will listen.

So here are my Ten Ideas for Bono.

1) Get rid of those sunglasses

2) Get rid of those sunglasses

3) Get rid of those sunglasses

4) Get rid of those sunglasses

5) Get rid of those sunglasses

6) Get rid of those sunglasses

7) Get rid of those sunglasses

8) Get rid of those sunglasses

9) Tell The Edge to lose the wool cap

10) Shut up, Bono. We don't care what you think.

Pre 9/11 Thinking?

2009-12-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

The last line of defense; heroes like Jasper Schuringa

One thing that many good bloggers have pointed out is that the current US Administration is living in a pre-9/11 land of make believe. This has been demonstrated very clearly by their abandonment of the term "War on Terror". Not that it was the best term, but it was better than nothing. Which is exactly what we have now.

By going back to the Clinton years of not admitting there was a problem, or taking actions to prevent problems and the foolish notion that it is some thing for the police and courts Obama and friends are setting up the west for another big attack.

Fortunately it is not Pre-9/11. The Administration can live in that land of make believe all they want but majority of the public in the West is well aware of who is a threat. So while airport security is wasting time treating everyone equally except those who should be watched the average person is aware. Thank God for that. Because the second some kook starts to try to set his ginch on fire or light his shoes he will find himself in a rugby scrum of heroes.

I think it is highly doubtful that without actual firearms a gang of 9/11 types could take control of an airline. Certainly they couldn't do it without being challenged and fought by those who are not willing to go like cattle to the butcher. The old thinking that when terrorists strike we are to sit quietly and do what we're told until the 'authorities' can take care of it will never be heeded again. People know now who the threat is, what they want and what the result of doing nothing is.

Unclear?

2009-12-25T18:46:00.000-08:00

NWA passenger was trying to blow up flight into Detroit

A man suspected of planning to blow up a Delta Air Lines flight in Detroit could face charges as soon as Saturday according to an official familiar with the case.

The suspect is a Nigerian national who claims to have ties to al-Qaida.

It was unclear today why the man wanted to attack the flight arriving from Amsterdam.

Unclear????? Did the person who wrote this type that sentence in all seriousness? Unclear. If some bomb happy Islamic Nutter's motivations are unclear to you, Mr. Reporter perhaps you should get another job. Like pumping gas.

A Sad State of Affairs

2009-12-19T19:24:00.000-08:00

Running for the cash-grab

Is there not ONE politician or leader in the Free World who has the minerals to stand up and point out what a bunch of bullshit this all is and what a bunch of murdering despots and dime-store hoods people like Chavez and Mugabe are?

Anyone??

Hello?

We are truly screwed.

Regarding Comments and Dumb Asses

2009-12-13T18:53:00.000-08:00

"Trudeau's Father wasn't an industrialist, he just owned a couple of gas stations...."

If you don't have the sand to post as anything more than 'anonymous' I might not let the post go up. Although, if it amuses me and it displays how much of a moron you are, like the pea brain who claimed Trudeau's Father wasn't a wealthy man but only owned "a couple of gas stations", I will let the post go up and then ridicule it, point out the facts and call you a dumb ass.

As for Mr. Gas Station Dumb Ass' remarks...

Trudeau was born in Saint-Michel-de-Napierville, Quebec, the son of Marie-Malvina (née Cardinal)(1849 - 1931) and Joseph Trudeau (1848 - 1919). Trudeau built a fortune by building a number of gas stations around the Montreal area. Among his investments, Trudeau had interests in mining companies and was a shareholder and a member of the Board of Directors of the Montreal Royals baseball team.[2] He also had a financial interest in Montreal's Belmont Park

As for posts in languages I don't speak, sorry. No English, no approval.

Diane Franics Proves Her Ignorance

2009-12-13T18:24:00.000-08:00

Canadian "writer" (that's not writing, that's typing) Diane Francis was digging through her box of old first year York University Essays last week and gave one to the Financial Post to be published. This article on how everyone should only be "allowed" to have one kid each in order to save Mother Earth has gained more than a bit of international attention. Although there are no shortages of things to pick at with her article or the premise it puts forward there is one thing that needs to be pointed out to Diane and all the other morons who seem to worship Mao.

The One Child Policy didn't come about because the Jedi council sat down with Gandhi, Peter Gabriel and Bono to figure out a do-able solution for Beijing traffic problems. The One Child Policy was imposed because collective farming didn't work. In fact when it failed to provide for the current population Chairman Mao issued a decree for everyone to "kill a swallow" which the party blamed for eating the harvest. When the swallows were all dead the result was the "bitter harvest". With no swallows to eat the locusts and grasshoppers the harvest was destroyed.

The unforeseen result of this policy today is that Chinese have to "hire" daughters from elsewhere to care for them in their old age. Yet all of these points are lost on genius and Mother of two Diane Francis.

Arms Bust in Bangkok

2009-12-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

More of the usual from the usual suspects...

From the BBC

Thailand seizes 'arms plane flying from North Korea'

Thailand has seized a cargo plane refuelling in Bangkok airport, which it says was carrying weapons from North Korea to an unknown destination.

The five crew members were also detained.

Rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other weapons were found aboard, military investigators said.

It is believed that the plane had made an emergency request to refuel. It had taken off from the North Korean capital Pyongyang, the Thai Air Force said.

According to local media reports, four members of the crew are from Kazakhstan, and one from Belarus.

Thai officials said they had acted on a tip-off from foreign intelligence, with one official telling Reuters news agency, on condition of anonymity, that the US had supplied the information.

"It [the plane] came from North Korea and was heading for somewhere in South Asia, probably Pakistan," the same official added.

Another unconfirmed report suggested Sri Lanka as the destination.

AVATAR: FULL METAL SMURF

2009-12-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

I know there has been much hype about this new movie but it combines many of the elements that I have grown to hate despite the love of Sci-Fi I had in my youth. I strongly dislike CGI. I strongly dislike 3D. I strongly dislike how every potentially good movie in the last ten years has had the same commie subtext. This movie is no different. It's Vietnam/Iraq in space with the skinny Smurfs as the unfortunates who stand in the way of the military industrial stuff.

Pah.

PLEASE, someone make a movie about bad guys getting their asses kicked because they deserve it. Bad guys who aren't us. You know the REAL bad guys. Like the Taliban. Or the bastards who run Burma or Laos.

I would bet this movie will be, to use the parlance of our times, "A Massive Fail".

Warmer Colder

2009-12-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

In light of the recent Climategate email leak one thing all those opposed to these stupid hippy laws restricting everything on behalf of Gaia should consider.

The question here isn't whether it is getting colder or warmer. Because they'll (the hippies) will switch that up as it suits them. The question that they need to be called on is DID WE CAUSE THIS. When they say "yes" we need to say, "okay, prove it to me".

Clearly it is not getting any warmer and they've bet on the wrong horse. But don't think they won't rename warming to something else and just keep going with this. They will. They are like zombies.

Shut Up and Bring Tanks

2009-12-06T20:08:00.001-08:00

These are not American Soldiers

A few thoughts on both Obama's speech and Hillary's comments about "all nations" getting involved in the Afghan mission.

A whole bunch are. Already. In fact several of these countries, the ones actually fighting not just hiding in their bases, have been asking for MORE troops for several years.

So perhaps Hillary should tell her boss to send as many troops as possible and shut about about withdrawal dates. Outside of the US Military Canada's work, sacrifice and commitment has been largely ignored.

As for all nations... This sort of retarded League of Nonsense Teach the World to Sing crap reveals how naive Team Obama are. There are an awful lot of nations who shouldn't be there. Who you don't want there because they'd side with the bad guys. The Taliban are bad guys. Not just people we don't agree with. They are folk who are evil, believe evil things and have no problem killing anyone who disagrees with them. So instead of all this dancing around the Barney tree holding hands and singing Michael Row Your Boat Ashore, Hillary snap out of it and take the gloves off.

What Obama should have said was "We are going to win. The Taliban are evil and we will kick their asses into the vortex of history and we will take as long as it takes". But that would take a real leader to say. Not just some commie meat puppet.

By the way. Bring lots of tanks. The Taliban don't have any and we do. They are very afraid of them.

Now I need a morning coffee.

The Shanty-Town Shakedown Goes Global

2009-11-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

A face you can trust "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!!"

One thing that amazes about some folk back in the first world is how much they believe and trust the UN. If you have any experience with Third World countries, their police and governments you understand that as a body made up of such countries the UN is going to employ the same sort of little greedy Nabobs that run those countries. No doubt flunkies of who ever is the current dictator. In the Third World being the sneakiest and most corrupt means you will end up with the most pay. What more plum job could some one corrupt bastard ask for than being part of the UN. Good pay, nice posting, expense accounts, perks, and no accountability for what little work you actually do. It sure beats trying to shake down the locals or the tourists.

I'm not surprised the UN jumped on the Global Warming bandwagon. What actually surprises me is why they didn't think of it themselves. It is a cash cow. The Mother of all Shakedowns. No need to plant drugs or hire the police chief's niece to make false accusations. The UN can shake down the whole Western World for a crime it didn't commit and like a frightened traveller in a foreign land they have no recourse. In fact they even believe they did something wrong so they will folk over all the money in their bank account to make the problem "go away" and like those I have known who have been kidnapped will continue to pay protection money to the Police to keep from being re kidnapped.

Sure beats working!

Over the top, Lads...

2009-11-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

I am back. I was busy. But now I'm back. Has it only been less than a year?? Well it certainly does seem longer. And who could have guessed how quickly Obama would turn out to be even worse than Trudeau or Jimmy Carter!

TOLD YOU SO!

2009-03-05T21:32:00.001-08:00

Well... I am not normally one to pull an "I told you so" on anyone but I will this time. Mostly because the Canadian media keeps wondering who'll be "Canada's Obama". Which of course is silly since we had our Obama already and he wrecked the place. His name was Pierre Trudeau.

And all the retarded stuff the Democrats are trying to pull now, from protectionism to massive spending are all the same things that turned Canada into a pine cone republic. So good luck down there. There's nothing worse than being ruled by an pompous intellectual socialist. We know.

The King Of Scorn!

2009-01-30T09:04:00.000-08:00

Scorn!

The most impressive and commonly used weapon in the socialist shoulder bag of tricks. Scorn, collected through those teen years from Cheerleaders and Jocks can be transformed through proper education into a weapon to be hurled like Lynda Blair projectile vomit at anyone who dares to question or stand in the way of the revolution. Scorn belittles the unfaithful and amuses and rallies the revolutionaries allowing them the pleasing socialist afterglow of smugness.

NDP heaps scorn on coalition-killer Ignatieff

Women, step aside. Hell hath no fury like a political party scorned.

On Thursday, furious federal New Democrats turned their scorn on Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, the man who to them has become The Coalition Killer.

The party quickly launched an advertising campaign that aims to vilify the Grit leader for getting into bed with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in support of Tuesday's budget.

In its first phase, the campaign consists of two 30-second English-language radio ads being broadcast in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, regions where the party elected new MPs last October or where voter support is growing.

Party rep Karl Belanger said a French-language ad is almost ready to go and, depending on donations flowing from the campaign, TV ads may follow.

The party's original intention had been to advertise in support of the Liberal-NDP coalition proposal to replace the Harperites, Belanger said.

But the coalition crashed and burned Wednesday when Ignatieff declared his party intended to vote for the budget.

For Jack Layton and his party, that coalition, slapped together in the first week of December, had been the ticket to ride.

By joining forces with Liberals, the NDP had hoped to get six MPs into a Liberal-led coalition cabinet and, for a change, make real advances for their cause.

But with the early December switch from Stephane Dion's leadership to that of Ignatieff, it gradually became clear the coalition was no more than a theoretical tool to be dangled but never deployed by Ignatieff.

Then came the Ignatieff announcement of Grit support for the Harper financial plan contingent on three monitoring reports in March, June and December, an idea Conservatives -- to secure their own survival -- promptly endorsed.

At that point Layton had little choice but to cut his losses and try to maximize his party's advantage, as the only stalwart federalist opposition to the government.

"It's official," asserts one of the ads, "Michael Ignatieff failed his first big test as Liberal leader. He's thrown his lot in with Stephen Harper, a person average families can't trust to look out for them.

"Jack Layton -- the only leader strong enough to stand up to Harper and create the change that will get us through this economic crisis."

This is good strategy for the New Democrats, who understand their party has nothing to gain and everything to lose through Ignatieff's decision to reassert a stand-alone Liberal identity in Ottawa.

If Ignatieff's plan works, a strengthened Liberal party probably would steal support from New Democrats. That's a trend New Democrats must thwart. An Angus Reid poll Thursday showed Liberals with 29-per-cent support, behind the Conservatives with 38-per-cent backing.
The NDP were well back, at 18 per cent. More worryingly, the poll found the socialist party is hanging on to only 64 per cent of its 2008 voters.

To some degree, Liberals and New Democrats fish in the same anti-Conservative pond for votes. By making Liberals appear ineffectual against the government, the NDP is hoping to attract disenchanted Grits.

But it would seem Ignatieff's strategy is more in keeping with public opinion. An Angus Reid poll earlier in the week showed Canadians would prefer to see an election rather than a coalition government if the Harper government falls.

That said, there's a great deal of truth in the NDP's ads. The NDP has fundamentally lost faith in the Conservative government and can be relied upon to vote against the Harperites in any non-confidence matter. Liberals, just starting the process of rebuilding their party, prefer to bide their time before facing another election.

Jack Layton, the only political leader strong enough to try and sniff the cave reeking bum bums of the Taliban. Jack Layton, the only political leader strong enough to make a coalition with a bunch of weenies from Quebec, whose declared agenda is to break up the same country Jack Layton would seek to lead. Lead, that is if he or his stupid party ever had a hope outside of Annex Soy Bean Cooperative of actually being elected. Jack Layton, watching the closest he will ever be to actually being part of any sort of Federal Government slip away turns to his mighty sword of scorn.

What ever works for you, Jack.

Bono NOT at Davos

2009-01-28T09:49:00.000-08:00

The amazing Superhero know as Bono and his magic sunglasses won't be appearing at the Davos conference. I believe he normally attends to see through peoples clothes and stuff. I have it on good authority that is what his glasses do. He can see peoples bums and because they can't see his bum that makes him better than them. I suspect one the reason he won't be there is that Bono, holy Bono is trying and get his supermullet back. With the power of that mullet he once saved Africa. Then Maggie Thatcher had the SAS steal his mullet and its now locked in the Tower of London.

Damned Brits!

But WHAT IS Davos? Maybe the BBC can tell us.

Q&A: World Economic Forum 2009

Every year at the end of January, the heads of the world's leading companies and top politicians travel to the Swiss mountain resort of Davos.

But what is it all about?

It's about this long and about this wide and its about this country here we're singing about...

The world is in turmoil and these people jet off for a week of fun in the snow - haven't they got anything better to do?

NO. Being self important and lording over you is their divine destiny. Since the Almighty made THEM famous and or rich and not you just shut up and take their orders.

Well, they come for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. And yes, it is fun - but not as we know it.

Because we are mere minions to the greatness of THEY. And you never get invited to some kind of rich people trophey wife swap orgy do you? No. Me neither.

Organisers say the forum is all about "improving the state of the world".

Yes. Hitler wanted to do that too. And Pol Pot. And so many others through history.

Indeed, business leaders are joined by top politicians, artists, academics, religious leaders, trade unionists, and campaigners from organisations such as Greenpeace, Oxfam and Amnesty International.

Translation - Leftist Politicians, Socialists, Socialists, Islamists and Socialists, Communists, and campaigners from organisations such as Luddite Kooks, Commies and Commie Israel Haters.

The five days - from 28 January to 1 February - are filled with discussions, lectures and workshops.

Oh sign me up.

The programme is packed, with sometimes eight or nine events running in parallel.
Apart from the talking, the forum is mainly a networking event, an opportunity to meet friends and rivals and to get close to high-powered people.

Get close to them and absorb their super-greatness rays and become more powerful.

The forum's annual meeting is usually held in Davos, but it has also branched out into a series of regional meetings in places such as Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Delhi, Dubai and Dalian in China.

All well known centers of fairness, justice and freedom.

But you are right, some people have been told they should not be there. President Obama, for example, has told several of his biggest hitters (and Davos regulars) to stay at home and fight the crisis.

Oh well, if our Lord and Saviour Obamatron says do we must obey.

What are the people in Davos talking about?

Think big: the global economy; wars; poverty; energy; banks; business.

And big regulations and taxes.

Every year the annual meeting has a "big theme". This year it's Shaping the Post-Crisis World.
Yes, it sounds lofty, and don't believe that participants will come up with a solution to end all problems in the world.

Shaping it into a socialist paradise where choco rations will increase from 5 to 4 percent.

There will be around 2,500 participants from over 90 countries.

And you won't be one slave. Now get back to work.

For five days they will listen to new ideas, exchange views, strike valuable contacts - and just may come up with solutions for tricky problems.

Yes. Many great inventions and innovations have been created at this event such as the wheel.

True, some sessions are just platforms for powerful people to put forward their ideas, but others are intense workshops that help chief executives to guide their companies through troubled waters.

Will Simon and Garfunkle be there?

With so many powerful people in one place, don't they just get together to divide up the world?

One step at a time.

Davos has attracted plenty of conspiracy theories, but the event is really just a very high-powered talking shop.

Shop. Yes. That and dividing the spoils!

Yes, there are private meetings and deals are struck. In 1994, for example, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat talked for hours and managed to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Boy that sure worked out well didn't it!?

Bill Gates and Bono have used the forum to launch global initiatives to fight poverty and epidemics in the developing world.

Hmmm. Bad operating system. Crap music and ridiculous sun glasses. I'm sure they can come up with an answer on poverty and epidemics.

But the forum is mainly about exchanging ideas, and the discussions can be surprisingly frank.
Don't forget: this is not a meeting solely for business tycoons. Many participants are social entrepreneurs, and politicians and business people from poorer countries. They relish the opportunity to make their case and meet the people who have the money to help.

Help!

So who are these famous people coming to Davos?

The list of Davos participants reads like a who's-who of business and politics.
Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Google co-founder Larry Page, the bosses of corporate giants like BP, Citi, Coca-Cola, Intel and Volkswagen will all join the crowd thronging the labyrinthine conference centre.

Oh its all so grand. How can I attend?

In recent years, organisers have cut down a bit on the number of politicians coming to the event, with the forum rediscovering its focus on business.

Because really business is the only way to help anyone.

Numerous heads of state or government are expected in the Swiss mountains - among them Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Two giants in the fight for liberty!

As economic times have become harder, the number of celebrities has plummeted. A few years ago, showbiz stars such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Richard Gere and Michael Douglas stole the headlines.

But now eveyone is sick of them.

These days the guest list is toned down, and only a few stars with serious humanitarian credentials - like rock stars Bono and Peter Gabriel - are welcome in Davos. For them, the event is a platform to push their good causes, although Bono is giving it a miss this year.

How do they manage to attract all these people?

Free drinks and teen girls in miniskirts of course!

The forum is the brainchild of Swiss Professor Klaus Schwab.

In 1971 he invited European chief executives to Davos to discuss business strategy.
Over the years the event widened its agenda and attracted ever more prominent guests, which in turn made it interesting for yet more big names to come.

Because it was such a party!

The forum is now run as a not-for-profit member-based organisation.
The paying members are about 1,000 big companies, while non-business participants attend meetings for free.

And write the whole thing off their taxes as well as getting to feel smug.

But ultimately it's all about boosting globalisation, isn't it?

This is a sore point.

The forum has been targeted repeatedly by anti-globalisation campaigners.

Because they've just nothing else to do.

The organisers of the World Economic Forum, however, insist that they are at the forefront of persuading companies to live up to their social responsibility.

Be good members of the party!

WEF founder Klaus Schwab warned back in the 1990s of a globalisation that served only a few - well before the anti-globalisation movement got under way. More recently he has pressed the need for business leaders to tackle climate change.

Yes. Its just so warm out now.

The biggest criticism, though, will be that many of the people who hope to solve the world's problems are also those who have caused them.

You mean the Bono and Bill Gates right?

The Coalition of Losers Dies

2009-01-28T09:36:00.001-08:00

Well so much for modeling Canada's Parliament on Italy's. The coalition between the Liberals, Bloc Heads and Taliban Jack's crew is kaput.

Ignatieff wants updates on budget's impact

OTTAWA — Michael Ignatieff effectively drove a nail in the coalition coffin today, confirming Liberals will support the Conservative budget as long as it makes key amendments.

Calling the Tory record “reckless, arrogant and short-sighted,” the Liberal Leader said he is putting the government “on probation.” He said yesterday’s budget is a “flawed document” because it does not go far enough to help Canadians who lose their jobs, fails to seize on opportunities to green the economy and lacks a credible plan for getting out of the $85-billion deficit hole.

Right. No bailout they whine, bail out they whine. And the Liberals NEVER incurred any debt when they were in power did they?

But he will table proposed changes to improve the fiscal plan and support it for the good of the country.

“Should Mr. Harper fail to satisfy the expectations of Canadians, we will be ready to defeat him and lead in his place,” he said. “Canadians don’t want another election, and they’re tired of political games. They have waited too long for action on the economy for us to fail them now because of partisan interest.”

So Mr. Unpronounceable DID check the poll numbers that came out after the coalition idea and saw the writing on the wall. Smart fellow. I will miss mumbler Dion though.

Back Again

2009-01-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

Yes I've been away. I blame the demon liquor.

Dion Out, Mr Unpronouncable In

2008-12-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

If Canada's current political situation isn't confusing enough with peroggies and coalitioning of the losers now the Liberals have a new leader. How will this effect the coalition? Only time will tell...

Ignatieff takes the prize

Michael Ignatieff has seized his long-sought prize – the Liberal leadership – raising fresh questions about the future of the opposition coalition that has vowed to defeat the minority Conservatives next month.

The fate of the coalition will be among the pressing issues facing Ignatieff as he prepares to take over the leadership of a party battered by cash woes, two lost elections and dismal poll numbers.

Heading into the caucus meeting expected to officially name Ignatieff as leader Wednesday morning, Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla said she feels relieved the "bitter" leadership contest is finally over.

As with her new leader, she left room for backing down on the coalition if the Tories propose a budget they could accept.

"I think Mr. Ignatieff said it best: a coalition if necessary but not necessarily a coalition," she said.

Liberal MP Scott Brison delivered a similar message when he used the past tense in saying "the coalition was effective" at forcing Harper "back to the drawing table."

Brison said it is clear Canadians want an alternative to Harper, but that alternative could be something other than a coalition."It’s up to Canadians to tell us what they want," he said.

He said the alternative could be "a strong Liberal party with a permanent leader in place."

LeBlanc said the Liberals should accept Harper’s invitation to give their input on the budget but also said Harper would be difficult to trust.

Late yesterday, Ignatieff paid tribute to the two candidates who had pulled out of the race and hailed the party for responding "quickly to changing circumstances to offer stability and leadership to Canadians."

The 61-year-old Liberal MP for Etobicoke—Lakeshore was assured of the leadership yesterday after Bob Rae – the last rival candidate in the race – dropped out, conceding he didn't have enough support to win in the party's stripped-down contest that left little time to sign up new backers.

Ignatieff, a runner-up in the 2006 contest that saw Stéphane Dion elected party leader, could take over as interim leader as early as today. That's when Liberal MPs and senators meet behind closed doors and are expected to make their own recommendation that Ignatieff serve as interim leader.

At the same time, the party executive were planning to conduct a hurried "consultation" with riding association presidents and various ex-officio members to solicit their confirmation of Ignatieff. He won't be ratified as full-time leader until the party's convention in May in Vancouver.

Last night, the party announced that consultations would be completed by 1 p.m. today, clearing the way for the national executive to announce Ignatieff as the interim leader by 2 p.m.

The Liberals are in a rush to have a new leader in place by the end of January, when a key budget vote could see the minority Conservatives defeated, sparking a new election or paving the way for a Liberal-led coalition to take power.

Need We Say More?

2008-12-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

Robo-Girl Does All The Maths

2008-12-10T07:48:00.000-08:00

Okay. This I would expect from some one in Toyko not Brampton Ontario... Then again... Have you been to Brampton? Have you been to Ontario? Robot lover? Not a bad idea perhaps.

Fem-bot's my love machine

A BOFFIN too busy to find real love has INVENTED his idea of the perfect woman – a female ROBOT. Inventor Le Trung, 33, created Aiko, said to be “in her 20s” with a stunning 32, 23, 33 figure, shiny hair and delicate features.

She even remembers his favourite drink and does simple cleaning and household tasks.

"Fem-bot" Aiko, who has cost £14,000 to build so far, is a whizz at maths and even does Le’s accounts.

Le, a scientific genius from Brampton in Ontario, Canada, said he never had time to find a real partner so he designed one using the latest technology.

He said he did not build Aiko as a sexual partner, but said she could be tweaked to become one.

but Aiko never eats anything.

Le said: “So far she can understand and speak 13,000 different sentences in English and Japanese, so she’s already fairly intelligent.

“When I need to do my accounts, Aiko does all the maths. She is very patient and never complains.”

She does all the maths?

Yeah, but what good is that if she doesn't swallow?

Taliban Bobi Dead

2008-12-09T08:20:00.000-08:00

Generally when Canadians are killed the international press uses the term "NATO Soldiers" to describe them. I hope that this also applies below in the use of the term "NATO".

NATO kills Taliban commander in targeted operation

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO and Afghan forces killed a Taliban commander during a targeted operation just south of Kabul in a province militant fighters have poured into this year, the NATO-led force said Tuesday.

The commander, Mohammad Bobi, had facilitated suicide bombings and had a history of torturing and kidnapping Afghan civilians in the province of Logar, NATO said.

Bobi was given the option of surrendering, but he instead attacked the combined force and was killed during an overnight raid, NATO said. His death was confirmed Tuesday.

Logar province, which is directly south of Kabul province, has seen an influx of Taliban militants this year. Residents there say the government has little or no control in the province outside the provincial capital.

Between 3,000 and 3,500 additional U.S. troops scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan in January will be sent to Logar and Wardak provinces, two regions adjoining Kabul that have seen an influx of militant fighters over the last year.

U.S. commanders say the troops will aggressively attack militants in those regions and that they expect violence there to spike over the coming months as the number of clashes increases.

The main highways that run through Wardak and Logar are extremely dangerous. Convoys of supply trucks are regularly attacked and militants set up temporary checkpoints in search of government employees and foreigners to kidnap or kill.

Martin Regg Cohn makes a good point in The Toronto Star. Something the pea-brains in Parliament need to think about.

Afghan attention deficit disorder

Anyone who doubts the importance of Canada's mission in Afghanistan should consider the eight schoolgirls who were sprayed with acid in Kandahar last month, a reminder of the old Taliban ban on female education. Their injuries put the lie to the fantasy that education and reconstruction are possible without security.

Afghans are looking to the West for a signal that we won't abandon them again. Staying the course in Afghanistan doesn't mean sticking to outdated tactics or a discredited strategy. There is every reason for Canada and its allies to reassess where we have gone wrong, where the Taliban have succeeded, and what the Afghans themselves must to do set things right.

Hippy Report Says "Taliban Everywhere, Man"

2008-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

I have my doubts about this "thinktank".

Taliban Expanding Foothold in Afghanistan, Report Finds

The Taliban have expanded their footprint in Afghanistan and now have a permanent presence in nearly three-quarters of the country, according to a new report.

The Paris-based International Council on Security and Development, a think tank that maintains full-time offices in Afghanistan, said the Taliban have spread across much of the country and are beginning to encircle the capital, Kabul.

The group said Taliban fighters have advanced out of southern Afghanistan, a region where they often hold de facto governing power, and carry out regular attacks in western and northwestern Afghanistan as well as in and around Kabul. Taliban forces can be found in 72% of Afghanistan, up from 54% a year earlier.

"While the international community's prospects in Afghanistan have never been bleaker, the Taliban has been experiencing a renaissance that has gained momentum since 2005," the report said. "The West is in genuine danger of losing Afghanistan."

Afghanistan has seen a sharp spike in violence this year, with U.S. fatalities and civilian casualties hitting records. Some American commanders fear the Taliban will start an offensive this winter. President-elect Barack Obama has said he will deploy tens of thousands of new troops to Afghanistan, shifting resources from Iraq.

There are currently about 34,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and the Pentagon has announced plans to send at least 20,000 reinforcements in 2009. Obama aides have said the new administration also will work to strengthen Afghanistan's central government, judiciary and national police force.

The think tank mapped recent attacks in Afghanistan and said provinces with at least one strike per month had a "permanent Taliban presence."

Norine MacDonald, the think tank's president and lead researcher, said the Taliban, following the strategy of earlier Afghan insurgents, are slowly encircling Kabul by establishing bases close to the city and regularly attacking three of the four major roads leading out of the capital.

Ms. MacDonald said the number of attacks inside the city, including assassinations and kidnappings of Westerners and Afghans, has also increased sharply.

The group recommends that U.S. and NATO commanders minimize their use of military power, recruit troops from Muslim nations into the current American- and European-dominated multinational force and expand economic assistance.

So the Taliban are expanding and NATO should not use military power? Huh? If you had any doubt this "Thinktank" was in Paris...

There is one central problem with this report. Even if the Taliban were every where and ready to pounce... They can't fight our troops beyond the road-side bomb method.

For every "attack" they try they lose 10 men to NATO's one. In some cases NATO hasn't lost any men while killing dozens of these idiots. So if the Taliban is indeed in 72 percent of the country all that really means they're just that much closer to being killed.

Three Canadians Killed Return Home

2008-12-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

Bodies of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan due to arrive home today

TORONTO — Canadians will salute and wage flags from overpasses above the "Highway of Heroes" again Monday in honour of three young soldiers.

Cpl. Mark McLaren, Pvt. Demetrios Diplaros, and Warrant Officer Robert Wilson died Friday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The military flight carrying their caskets home is scheduled to arrive CFB Trenton in eastern Ontario at about 2 p.m. ET.

The bodies will then be taken to the coroner's building in Toronto along a 172-kilometre stretch of Highway 401 called the "Highway of Heroes."

The public outpouring of respect and affection along the highway has become familiar, yet the poignancy of the ritual seems to grow each time.

The deaths of McLaren, Diplaros and Wilson brought the military toll on the Afghan mission to 100.

Tens of thousands are expected to line Canada's Highway of Heroes today to pay tribute to the three soldiers killed in Afghanistan, marking both their sacrifice and the grim milestone of 100 Canadian soldiers killed on active duty there.

The bodies of Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren – victims Friday of an explosive device near Kandahar – will make the now-familiar journey from CFB Trenton to a coroner's morgue in downtown Toronto.

Expected at the repatriation ceremony at Trenton are Governor General Michaëlle Jean, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. W.J. Natynczk.

The military plane carrying the bodies is to land at Trenton at 2 p.m. The motorcade is expected to leave the base at around 3 p.m. and depending on traffic variables, reach Oshawa at 4:15 p.m., Scarborough at about 4:45 p.m. and the coroner's building in Toronto at about 5:15 p.m.

A Toronto traffic officer cautioned that the motorcades from Trenton usually travel 30 minutes to an hour behind schedule.

The public tributes for Canada's fallen along the 172-kilometre route have caused commentators in other countries, including Britain, to take note and wonder why its own military victims aren't similarly honoured.

Greek Anarchists On A Rampage

2008-12-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

How is it that Greece went from being the cradle of democracy and reason to being... well... Greece?

More rioting breaks out in Greek cities

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Riot police fired tear gas at youths smashing storefronts and throwing rocks at a police station in this Greek port city on Monday, one of scattered confrontations around the country on a third day of rioting sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager in Athens.

Gangs of youths overturned trash cans and set them on fire in Thessaloniki, one of several cities where rioting began Saturday.

Running battles between riot police firing tear gas and about 400 high school students throwing rocks also broke out Monday morning in Veria, a town about 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of Thessaloniki.

Violence was reported in the central city of Trikala, where one police officer was reportedly injured, while authorities braced for more possible riots during demonstrations planned across the country, including in Athens, in the central city of Larissa and on the island of Corfu.

In the capital, high school students blocked streets across the city to protest the 15-year-old's death, while dozens of youths were still barricaded at two university campuses in Athens. Under Greek law, the police are barred from entering university campuses.

Rioting, much of it by self-styled anarchists, broke out across the country within hours of the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Saturday night in the often volatile central Athens district of Exarchia.

The circumstances surrounding the death are still unclear. Two policemen claimed they had come under attack by a group of about 30 youths, and that three warning shots and a stun grenade were fired when they sought out the group a few minutes later.

But witnesses have disputed the officers' accounts, telling Greek media that the policeman intended to shoot the youths. The two policemen have been arrested and charged, one with murder and the other as an accomplice.

About 30 civilians were reported injured on Sunday. Authorities have said 37 policemen were hurt in Athens over the weekend by objects thrown at them by protesters.

"Under the circumstances, I think we achieved the best possible result. Human life was protected, both that of the demonstrators and the police, that's the most important thing," police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis said.

In Berlin, 15 Greek youths occupied their country's consulate to protest the Athens shooting, the mission said without elaborating. Berlin police say there have been no violence or disturbances. The last time a teenager was killed in a police shooting — during a demonstration in 1985 — it triggered weeks of rioting.

Schools across Athens and the neighboring port city of Piraeus will remain closed in mourning for the dead teenager.

The Police Officers' Association has apologized to the boy's family, and President Karolos Papoulias sent a telegram to his parents expressing his condolences.

"This death was a blow to the country," Papoulias said. "I am certain that those responsible will be held to account."

Violence often breaks out between riot police and anarchists during demonstrations in Greece. Anarchist groups are also blamed for late-night firebombings of targets such as banks and diplomatic vehicles. The attacks rarely cause injuries.

The self-styled anarchist movement partly traces its roots in the resistance to Greece's 1967-74 military dictatorship. The youths tend to espouse general anti-capitalist and anti-Establishment principles, and have long-running animosity toward the police.

The country has experienced frequent and sometimes violent demonstrations recently against the increasingly unpopular conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, which has been rocked by a land swap scandal and has struggled to push through economic reforms. The opposition Socialists are now consistently ahead in opinion polls for the first time in eight years.

How Could Anyone Refuse?

2008-12-05T07:35:00.001-08:00

Boy George cuffed escort

SHAMED pop legend Boy George has today been convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort.

Norwegian Audun Carlsen, 29, said the baldy musician beat him with a metal chain as he tried to escape from his flat after a naked photo shoot.

A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court found the 46-year-old ex Culture Club star – tried under his real name George O’Dowd – guilty.

The star did not give evidence but the court heard he told cops he handcuffed Mr Carlsen to his bed at his flat in Shoreditch, east London.

It happened on April 28 last year while O'Dowd investigated alleged tampering with his computer.

The singer had accused Mr Carlsen of obtaining photos of himself from his laptop, taken by the singer when the pair met three months earlier.

He told cops he did not punch or assault Mr Carlsen or swung a chain at him as the escort fled the flat.

Instead he suggested the bruises Mr Carlsen got could have been because he was HIV positive.

The defence claimed the dispute was over whether Mr Carlsen had stolen photos and, in doing that, “messed up” O’Dowd’s computer.

The suggestion it was because Mr Carlsen refused to have sex with O’Dowd on the previous occasion was “entire fantasy or a lie”, the defence said.

Mr Carlsen told the court O’Dowd concocted the story about computer tampering so he could punish him for not having sex during the first meeting.

He said: “I think he couldn’t handle the refusal - me not having sex with him.”

A shamed pop star. Is there any other kind?

Dion's Speech Didn't Help His Cause

2008-12-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

Stephane Dion as Mayor Tommy Shanks

Imagine... Canadians don't like the idea of the three losing parties taking over the Government. Colour me shocked. I think really the Canadian word for what the Libs, NDP and Bloc-heads are doing is pronouced "CHEATING" and the collective revulsion to it is akin to having someone score a goal while being offside and not getting called on it.

Harper has crushing poll lead on crisis

Prime Minister Harper has mounted a crushing polling lead as the result of a political crisis in which an opposition coalition sought to take power, a new survey showed on Friday.

If an election were held now, Harper's Conservatives would take a whopping 46 percent of the vote, more than enough to transform his minority in Parliament into a strong majority. In the October 14 election they received 37.6 percent of the vote.

The main opposition Liberals, the leftist New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois, which wants to take Quebec out of Canada, signed a deal on Monday to try to replace Harper with a Liberal-NDP coalition supported by the Bloc.

They were upset with Harper's attempt, since withdrawn, to cut off direct subsidies of political parties and they also said he was not doing enough to boost the economy. During the election campaign, they had ruled out forming coalitions.

Harper mounted an attack on what he called a coalition driven by separatists and socialists, and public opinion swung his way.

Liberal support dropped to 23 percent from the 26.2 percent they won in the election and the New Democrats saw their backing fall to 13 percent from 18.2 percent.

An Ekos poll released the night before showed a lead of a similar magnitude, of 20 points, for the Conservatives.

Fifty-six percent of those polled by Ipsos Reid said they would rather go to another election, even though one was just held, rather than let the coalition govern.

Harper won seven weeks of breathing space on Thursday with the suspension of Parliament until late January, when he can present a budget with economic stimulus.

The coalition could try to bring him down then, though some Liberals are saying they should think hard before doing that.

Ipsos sampled 1,001 people, a sample which should carry a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Happy Birthday to His Majesty The King

2008-12-05T06:12:00.000-08:00

Today marks His Majesty's 81st Birthday. With Thailand's many political troubles and challenges I really hope that his reign continues for many years to come. If you've ever lived in Thailand you'll understand that sentiment. He is without question the most stabilizing factor in the turbulent world of Thai politics.

Harper Hangs In

2008-12-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

The Press is spinning this as a bid to keep power. Imagine the nerve! After being elected an everything too.

What no one seems to be mentioning is that a large part of why the losers of the last Federal Election have ganged up is because the Conservatives were going to cut all public funding (about 28 million tax dollars) to political parties.

Harper hangs on as PM, shuts Parliament

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has won a stay of political execution - at least until January.

Harper convinced Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to suspend Parliament on Thursday, delaying a non-confidence vote scheduled for Monday that would have brought down his beleaguered minority Conservative government.

The House of Commons has gone dark until Jan. 26, when Harper will return and present a federal budget the next day - followed by a confidence vote.

"Today's decision will give us an opportunity - I'm talking about all the parties - to focus on the economy and work together," the prime minister said outside the front door of Rideau Hall.

The decision also sets up the prospect of a fierce battle with the opposition coalition for public support over the coming weeks.

Jean agreed to Harper's unprecedented request after a face-to-face meeting at the vice-regal residence that lasted more than two hours.

Rather than parliamentary tradition, Harper pointed to public opinion polls as the source of government's ongoing legitimacy in the face of a stated absence of confidence in the House of Commons.

"This government was recently elected with a stronger mandate and, according to the polls that I've seen, the people of Canada believe that we should be able to work to fulfil our mandate," he said.

The decision pulls the teetering minority Conservative government back from the brink, at least for the moment.

"We must realize the enormity of what has happened here today," said Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, standing in the foyer of the Commons.

"For the first time in the history of Canada, the prime minister of Canada is running away from the Parliament of Canada."

All opposition leaders insisted they still intend to bring down the government. Dion said only a "monumental change" by Harper would have any hope of altering that.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said the coalition will not be abandoning its accord over the next seven weeks while the Commons sits in silence.

"I do not see that changing," Layton said.

"I cannot have confidence in a prime minister who would throw the locks on the door of this place, knowing that he's about to lose a vote in the House of Commons. That's denying about as fundamental a right as one has in a democracy."

The Bloc's Gilles Duceppe had a similar reaction. "We don't believe him and we don't have confidence in him."

But buying time may well work in the prime minister's favour, with cracks in the unwieldy alternative governing alliance are already evident.

At least two Liberal MPs suggested it's time to step back and reconsider the coalition.
Dion said Harper is putting partisan politics ahead of the best interests of Canadians, and accused him of "paying lip service to co-operation and consensus."

After the Oct. 14 election, Harper spoke of the need for all parties to work together for the common good.

But he then precipitated the crisis with the provocative economic update Nov. 27 that contained no stimulus package, killed public financing for federal political parties, and banned public sector unions from striking for two years.

The opposition coalition had asked Jean to refuse to prorogue, arguing that Harper no longer enjoys the confidence of the House of Commons.

A petition signed by 161 MPs went to the Governor General on Thursday morning stating that "a majority of Members of Parliament . . . believe that a viable alternative government can be formed."

The Conservatives hold just 143 of the 308 seats in the Commons.

Harper and Dion TV

2008-12-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

I managed to catch a bit of Dion's sales pitch on the Coalition of the Losers last night. I have to say that it was challenging to listen to. What exactly was he saying? The coalition is good... It works in other countries... Such as? Italy? Mexico? Togo? And on and on in broken English that was actually more annoying to try to listen to than old Jean Chretien was. At least Jean was amusing. Dion was just unintelligible. I missed Harper's speech altogether so I have no commentary on how he sounded.

Once again this comes back to the same old Canadian issue; East (the coalition - Liberal, NDP, The Bloc) verses West (The Conservatives).

Here are the transcripts of Harper and Dion's TV presentations.

Harper visits Governor General to ask for suspension of Parliament

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has arrived at Rideau Hall to ask the Governor General to suspend Parliament until January.

It's a bid to avoid Monday's non-confidence vote that would bring down his minority Conservative government.

Harper set up the meeting with Michaelle Jean by telling Canadians in a televised appeal that the opposition coalition represents a threat to the economy - and democracy.

But he admitted no errors in political judgment.

Nor did he offer any new measures - such as moving up the date of the budget to deal with the economic crisis - to placate the opposition.

About 40 chanting supporters, including Conservative staffers, greeted Harper as he arrived at Rideau Hall.

A single anti-Harper demonstrator stood waving a sign reading: "Harper Must Go."

Prorogue This

2008-12-03T07:49:00.000-08:00

With the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc all lined up to form a coalition the Tories may shut things down until the new year.

What Does Proroguing Parliament Mean?

For many Canadians, it's a term they're not familiar with but have come to know all too well in the last week: proroguing Parliament.

It appears to be the option Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading towards, as he rushes to save his fragile minority government in the face of the coalition agreement with the Opposition.

But just what does it mean?

Proroguing Parliament is a lot like rebooting your computer after you've finished working. You're essentially starting with a clean slate uncomplicated by all the programs you may have been into before you hit that restart command.

It's the period between two sessions of a legislative body, although it rarely happens just weeks after an election has been held.

If the PM gets permission from the Governer General to prorogue the current session, it means all the MPs who were elected last October 14th will remain in place, but any unpassed bills or motions - like the controversial economic statement that started this mess - will be non-existent.

In effect, when the session starts again, in this case in early January, it would be as though the Conservatives never brought in the document and they get a second chance at presenting a new one.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is expected to do just that, bringing down an early budget if the P.M takes the prorogue position and Michaelle Jean agrees to it.

She's cut short her mission to Europe to be here, and it's expected Harper will ask her to end the session. But Jean has to agree, and the fate of what happens next falls squarely on her shoulders.

She can deny the P.M's request, force a new election or approve the controversial coalition forged by the Liberals, NDP and the Bloc, depending on what she believes is best for the country.

Many Canadians are openly questioning the wisdom of letting a de facto bureaucrat no one voted for decide such a vital issue, but under our system, it inevitably falls to her. It's not yet clear when her ruling might be issued, but stay tuned. As Lewis Carroll noted in "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland," things are getting 'curioser and curioser' in Ottawa.

PAD Wins (For now)

2008-12-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

The political crisis in Thailand is over for the time being. This doesn't mean things can't go pear shaped again in a few months. For now though the Thai Government has been dissolved and the protesting PADs have left the two main airports.

First plane out

A Thai International Airways flight to Australia on Wednesday was the first international flight in a week to leave Bangkok's main airport after protesters ended their crippling siege to bring relief to tourists.

The end of the blockade came a day after the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) claimed victory against premier Somchai Wongsawat, when a court barred him from politics and disbanded the ruling party.

Officials said 388 passengers were on the Thai Airways flight to Sydney that departed from Suvarnabhumi Airport, most of them Australian tourists who were among the 350,000 travellers stranded in Thailand for the past eight days.

"It's really good to go back home," Australian Brad Wheeler told AFP as he waited for the Sydney flight, which left nearly 90 minutes late due to problems getting passengers from a makeshift check-in desk in central Bangkok.

A handful of domestic flights and a plane from Jordan also trickled in to the airport, while international departures to New Delhi, Narita, Frankfurt, Seoul and Copenhagen were due during the night.

Hundreds of yellow-clad demonstrators had earlier streamed out of Suvarnabhumi and the Don Mueang domestic airports in cars, taxis and buses after the PAD handed over control to authorities.

"We will come back when the nation needs us," warned Somkiat Pongpaibul, a key leader of the PAD.

Thai authorities concentrated Wednesday on getting the airport up and running following a week in which governments around the world have operated emergency flights to evacuate desperate tourists.

Until Wednesday they were being ferried slowly out of a naval base southeast of Bangkok and a handful of regional airports.

"We will try and get everything back to normal as soon as possible," said Airports of Thailand chief Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana.

Damage from the occupation had not yet been estimated, Vudhibhandhu said. But Thai Airways said it alone had lost about $560 million.

Acting Prime Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul said parliament would likely vote on a new prime minister on Monday or Tuesday.

"In the next two weeks I think we will come again," said protester Pas Apinantpreeda.

Tories Face Coalition

2008-12-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

The problem with Canada's electoral system is about to be clearly demonstrated. Even though the Tories won a "minority" their rule may end as of December 8th if the NDP (aka commies), Liberals (aka thieves) and Bloc (aka traitors) form a coalition to replace them.

Liberals, NDP one step closer to coalition deal

Liberal MPs are expected to receive on Monday the outline of a Liberal-NDP coalition agreement that would see the two parties replace the minority Conservative government.
Details of the agreement were being fleshed out Sunday night.

Under the proposed deal, the NDP would hold 25 per cent of cabinet positions while the positions of finance minister, treasury board president and deputy prime minister would be held by Liberals.

The deal would reportedly last 30 months.

The Bloc Québécois would not officially be a part of the coalition, but the new government's survival would depend on its support.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has shown the outline of an agreement between his party and the New Democratic Party to Liberal leadership candidates Michael Ignatieff, Dominic LeBlanc and Bob Rae.

The Liberal caucus is meeting Monday and will discuss the proposed agreement.
What remains unclear is who would lead the coalition.

"The real obstacle to this deal going through is still within the Liberal party," CBC's Keith Boag reported, adding the deal is being negotiated by Dion, who believes he has the right to be prime minister.

But it's unclear whether the party wants him to continue, and the leadership candidates met Sunday evening to discuss the matter, Boag said.

The National Post reported that a deal has been worked out that would make Ignatieff, who has the support of a majority of Liberal MPs, the prime minister in a Liberal-led coalition, with Rae being named to a senior post.

But in an interview with CTV's Canada AM, Rae said there was no discussion at the meeting among the leadership candidates that someone other than Dion would lead the coalition.

However, Prime Minister Stephen Harper could still block coalition efforts by proroguing Parliament, that is, suspending it without dissolving it. That would mean his government could not be defeated in the current session of the House of Commons.

Hostages Killed

2008-11-28T06:58:00.000-08:00

This is unfortunate but not unexpected. These murdering nutcases don't take "Hostages" in the traditional sense. Their singular aim is to kill.

Hostages said dead in Mumbai Jewish center

Commandos who stormed the Mumbai headquarters of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group found the bodies of five hostages inside, an Israeli emergency medical crew said, as a fresh battle raged at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel and other Indian forces ended a siege at another five-star hotel.

More than 150 people have been killed since gunmen attacked 10 sites across India's financial capital starting Wednesday night, including 22 foreigners — two of them Americans, officials said.

Early Friday night, Indian commandos emerged from a besieged Jewish center with rifles raised in an apparent sign of victory after a daylong siege that saw a team rappel from helicopters and a series of explosions and fire rock the building and blow gaping holes in the wall.

Inside, though, were five dead hostages.

A delegation from Israel's ZAKA emergency medical services unit entered the building after the raid and reported through an Indian aide that five hostages and two gunmen were dead, a ZAKA spokesman in Israel said. The spokesman had no information on the hostages' identities or whether there were wounded inside.

Jewish law requires the burial of a dead person's entire body, and the mission of the ultra-Orthodox ZAKA volunteers is to rescue the living — and in the case of the dead, carry out the task of gathering up all collectable pieces of flesh and blood.

By Friday evening, at least nine gunmen had been killed, one had been arrested and as many as six were still in the Taj Mahal, said R. Patil, a top official in Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is the capital. He said more than 150 people had been killed and 370 injured.

Bangkok Airport Stand-Off

2008-11-28T06:35:00.000-08:00

The Airports in Bangkok are still closed. This might get uglier. How unfortunate.

No surrender

The government indicated on Friday it would try to talk protesters out of the Bangkok airports without using force - but the demonstrators sneered at a request from a high-ranking official to leave and claimed they would "fight to the death" against any police attack.

The state of emergency declared by the embattled cabinet of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat sparked widespread fears that any attempt to use force to clear Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports could spark a bloody confrontation with the anti-government activists.

Airlines began flying stranded air travellers out from Utapao naval base on Friday. But there are tens of thousands of passengers who have missed flights from the four days of unrest that have badly hit Thailand's tourist industry and Utapao is a Vietnam war-era base with few tourist facilities.

Somsak Kosaisuk, a core leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, told a crowd of yellow-shirted supporters occupying Don Mueang airport: "We are not afraid. We will fight to the death, we will not surrender and we are ready."

Top PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang told reporters that "a senior person in the country" had telephoned to ask him to move his protest out of Suvarnabhumi airport because the closure has severely damaged the economy.

Maj-Gen Chamlong boasted he had told the senior person that he will halt all rallies - if the prime minister resigns.

Anti-government activists braced for an assault Friday night. They extended barbed-wire cordons to about three kilometres around Suvarnabhumi, and blocked the few access roads, witnesses said.

Police say around 4,000 protesters from the PAD are occupying Suvarnabhumi for a fourth day.
The international community openly criticised Thai officials on Friday. At a meeting called at the Foreign Ministry to "explain" the situation to ambassadors, the foreign envoys called on the government to clear the Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports as soon as possible.

Police began planning what they described as an open operation to reclaim the airports.
Bangkok police chief Pol Lt Gen Suchart Muankaew said after a video conference with the prime minister that he will begin with peaceful means, and try to talk the demonstrators into leaving, but with plans to escalate action.

Before any operation, he will invite representatives from the National Human Rights Commission, the Lawyers Council, the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the media to a meeting to give advice. He would allow live television broadcasts of any police operation, to counter any possible charges of brutality.

No Vegans Allowed

2008-11-28T06:23:00.001-08:00

This is where I want to 10-51 !

The Heart Attack Grill

Just south of the Phoenix Metro area at 6185 W Chandler Blvd. in Chandler, Arizona. (South-West corner of Kyrene & Chandler) Our hours of operation are Monday - Saturday 11am - 9pm and Sunday 11am - 4pm.

Change?

2008-11-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

As much hand wringing as there as been (and I have done myself) about Obama and what he might do/not do regarding Terrorism (which far too many folk seem to think isn't "real") I would suspect the events in Mumbai and what ever super secret stuff the President Elect is now privy to will be a wake up call. Unless he's a complete moron like Jimmy Carter.

Chabad House in Mumbai Attacked

2008-11-27T07:06:00.001-08:00

Eight Israelis held by terrorists in Mumbai Chabad House

Indian commandos and police were evacuating civilians and cordoning off the area apparently in preparation to storm the Chabad House in Mumbai, India, where a rabbi, his wife and several other Israelis were being held hostage, according to IBN, an Indian news agency.

Chabad spokesman in Israel, Moni Ender, said there were eight Israelis inside the house, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka Holtzberg.

Several other Israelis were reportedly being held at the Oberoi Hotel, Israel Radio reported.

Newscasters were calling it the "final assault" on the Nariman House, where Chabad headquarters are located, adjacent to the Leopold Cafe, a major tourist center in Mumbai's Colaba area, which was also attacked Wednesday night.

According to a report by Reuters, the terrorists have expressed their desire to negotiate with the Indian government for the release of the hostages. The government, however, has repeatedly stated that it will not negotiate.

Several senior Indian police and security officers have been killed in the joint attack, which has caused police to take more cautious measures before storming the Chabad House, said Indian reporters.

Earlier, Reuters reported that one terrorist had been killed by Indian special forces in the Chabad House, but four others still remained barricaded inside, where they were holding off efforts to reach those inside.

Sky News reported that a loud explosion had been heard at the Chabad House. There was no official word as to the cause of the explosion, which could indicate the onset of an attempt to storm the compound.

On Thursday morning, Moshe Holtzberg, the toddler son of the Chabad emissaries, was rushed from the house in the arms of one of the Chabad House's employees, Sandra Samuel.

"I took the child, I just grabbed the baby and ran out," said Samuel, 44, who has worked as a cook for the center for the last five years.

She said that the rabbi and his wife, along with two other unidentified guests, were alive but unconscious.

"Pray that we should hear good news," urged a Chabad spokesman, Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, in a telephone conversation with The Jerusalem Post from New York in the early hours of Thursday morning, Israel time.

Shmotkin also said that the gunmen had seized a police vehicle, which allowed them access to the area around the Chabad House.

Joshua Runyan, the news editor of the Chabad.org/news website, told the Post that there had been "several reports that shots were fired in the vicinity of the Chabad House, and unconfirmed reports on CNN of casualties in the Nariman House." Nariman House, Runyan said, was the original name of the Chabad House, which was purchased two years ago.

Runyan, who is in Jerusalem, said that a friend of the rabbi's had received an email from Holtzberg, unrelated to the attacks, at around the time of the attacks or shortly before they began, but that there had been no contact with Holtzberg since. "Since then, we've been trying all the numbers," he said.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem confirmed that hostages had been taken in the Chabad House area. The ministry had yet to make contact with some 20 Israelis in the Mumbai area.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke with the Israeli consul general in Mumbai, who briefed her on the attacks, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. According to the statement, the ministry and the consulate were making "maximum efforts to ascertain the situation of the Israelis in the city as quickly as possible."

Livni sharply condemned the attacks, saying, "This is further painful evidence that the terrorist threat is the greatest challenge which Israel and the international community have to face. Nothing justifies the unforgivable slaughter of innocents."

Indian news agencies reported that three people were killed in or close to the Chabad House. The dead were not hostages, the reports said.

Phone calls by the Post to the Chabad House and to the Holtzbergs went unanswered late Wednesday night and in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Friends of the Holtzbergs placed messages on various Internet sites appealing for information about them.

Israel Radio reported that consulate staff were visiting local hospitals. Runyan said the Chabad House was a popular tourist destination and that "Israelis regularly come by and visit."

In an article on the chabad.org Web site, Runyan wrote that "Chabad-Lubavitch representatives in New York and Israel are working alongside the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the US Consulate in Mumbai and a volunteer team of local residents to ascertain the well being of the Holtzbergs and other Jews in the area."

He added: "People are urged to say Psalms for Gavriel Noach ben Freida Bluma and Rivka bas Yehudis, and anyone affected by the tragedy."

Attackers "Foreign"?

2008-11-27T06:41:00.000-08:00

Apparently the terrorists who attacked Mumbai weren't from India. What a shock that is. Especially since all the other attacks were done by non-Indians. Let's see... What country might they be from? I'd guess it starts with a P and ends with a stan.

Mumbai Attackers Based Outside Country

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the perpetrators of coordinated attacks on the financial capital Mumbai were likely based outside the country.

Mr. Singh addressed the nation Thursday a day after heavily armed men attacked 10 sites in the city, killing about 100 people and wounding about 300. Without specifying another nation, he said he will tell "neighbors" that the use of their territory for launching terrorist attacks will not be tolerated.

As Mr. Singh was speaking, Indian security forces were moving through two luxury hotels, The Taj Mahal Palace and the Oberoi-Trident, in an attempt to free hostages and find remaining gunmen. Gunfire and explosions were heard from the hotels, and another fire broke out at the Taj after an earlier blaze caused serious damage to the historic building.

Police were also trying to resolve a standoff at a building belonging to a Jewish group, Chabad house.

Wednesday night, groups of assailants with machine guns and grenades attacked several locations popular with foreigners and business people, including hotels and train stations.

Witnesses said gunmen were looking for U.S. and British citizens.

Local media report a previously unknown militant group, called the Deccan Mujahideen, has claimed responsibility. The term Mujahideen is associated with Islamist extremists, while Deccan may be a reference to the Deccan Plateau - an area of southern India.

Islamic militants have been blamed for past bombing attacks.

Among those reported killed in the attacks were Mumbai's anti-terror chief, Hemant Karkare, and at least 11 policeman. Foreign nationals, including an Australian and a Japanese citizen were also killed.

Police say at least four gunmen have been killed and nine arrested, but it is not clear where these encounters occurred.

Please send in the S.A.S.

Thailand : STATE OF EMERGENCY

2008-11-27T06:26:00.000-08:00

Thailand's political problems continue.

STATE OF EMERGENCY

Authorities have officially declared Suvarnabhumi airport closed until Saturday at 6pm at the earliest.

Agriculture Minister Somsak Prisananantakul told reporters the special Cabinet meeting held in Chiang Mai declared emergency laws will apply in and around both the closed Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports.

Meanwhile, growing numbers of tourists, business executives and government officials are stranded by the severed transportation links between Thailand and the rest of the world. Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat was reported stranded in Germany where he was on a private visit on Thursday.

Some flights have continued through provincial airports but the main bulk of the 75 flights per hour through Suvarnabhumi have been cancelled.

The emergency decree orders the police to restore order and gives the military the right to help to "restore order, allow the suspension of civil liberties, ban public gatherings of more than five people and bar the media from reporting news that causes panic."

The military thus can clear out and reopen both airports, which were attacked, occupied and closed by the People's Alliance for Democracy on Tuesday night and Wednesday respectively.

Airport Closed

2008-11-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

I believe (and I may be wrong) that the King has TOLD the Army not to Coup. I wonder at what point he'll have a talk with the Government and PAD. Hopefully soon.

Army helpless

The government on Wednesday rejected a "suggestion" by army chief Anupong Paojinda for the prime minister to resign, and the protesters who seized and closed Suvarnabhumi airport on Wednesday similarly declined the general's demand to leave the airport.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, meanwhile, returned to Thailand without incident through Chiang Mai airport. He spend the past week out of the country to attend the Apec summit in Peru, and the PAD was trying to block his return.

"The prime minister should dissolve parliament and call a snap election," Gen Anupong said. "The prime minister should think about the benefit of the country, and so should the PAD," he said.

But he tempered the demand, just as he did a month ago when he also told Prime Minister Somchai Wongbsawat to step down.

"We will not seize power from the government," said the army commander. "We are just making a suggestion and will let the government decide.

In that case, said spokesman Nattawut Saikuar, the government will stay on.

He spoke by telephone to Channel 3 news and said, "The prime minister has said many times that he will not quit or dissolve parliament because he has been democratically elected. That still stands,"

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) gave an equally dismissive shrug to Gen Anupong's demand that they call back their protesters and reopen Suvarnabhumi.

Mr Somchai must resign, PAD leader told cheering supporters inside the airport terminal.

The government "must quit first before we sit down and talk," he said.

PAD ideologue Suriyasai Katasila said flatly that the group would stay at the airport until it could discuss the matter among members, and rejected the general's demand.

Gen Anupong's strong stance against a coup gave him no leverage in trying to handle the situation, and he has time after time been reduced to little more than another helpless spectator.

Late last month, he attempted to intimidate Mr Somchai into quitting by appearing with other service commanders, the supreme commander and the national police chief on an evening TV news programme, but Mr Somchai simply ignored the demands to quit.

Bangkok's Airport Closed

2008-11-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

Airport closed, shots fired

"For the safety for passengers, we have to stop flights out of the airport temporarily until the situation returns to normal."
Suvarnabhumi airport manager Serirat Prasutanon at 9pm Tuesday evening.

Protesters rushed into Suvarnabhumi airport and forced a halt to all flights on Tuesday, as rival forces clashed at outside, as well as on the road from Don Mueang airport where two people were wounded in the first exchange of gunfire between the PAD and UDD.

"I can confirm that there were gunshots," a police colonel on the scene said.

"There was a slight clash and two people were wounded."

In the eastern suburbs, protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy - some masked, some armed with metal rods - rushed into the main terminal, startling thousands of passengers and staff. They forced airport officials to shut down operations and cancel all outbound flights indefinitely. Planes on their way to Suvaranabhumi were still landing late on Tuesday.

Some Russian Predicts End of USA (again)

2008-11-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

You'd think Drudge would know better than to post up this rubbish but it is amusing.

RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Because when you think of "Political Analysis" Russia is the first country that springs to mind. Right after Togo.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily IZVESTIA published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse."

If this guy was right, and he's not, and everything "collapsed" I'd say the standard of living would still be HIGHER than Russia. So shut up, Ivan.

The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events.

Yes. And Global Warming looks best in the summer too.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator."

When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia."

Right. Of course. China. Because they don't have any bad debt at all. And Russia. Right.

Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles."

But what about the "HOPE"?

He also cited the "vulnerable political setup", "lack of unified national laws", and "divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions."

He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts - the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

The influence of Canada??? That statement proves this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

He even suggested that "we could claim Alaska - it was only granted on lease, after all." Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare.

Sure, claim that too. You've already claimed most of the North Pole. By the way, how are those oil prices?

Bangkok Protests

2008-11-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

Major protests in Bangkok.

Parliament paralysed

Protests on Monday forced parliament to cancel its planned joint session, and left anarchy on the streets from Government House all the way to the old Don Mueang airport.

The People's Alliance for Democracy declared victory, but failed to gain its objective. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resolved to stay in office, and the military showed no sign it intended to seize power.

More than 5,000 protesters led by PAD leaders Sondhi Limthongkul, Piphob Thongchi and Somkiat Pongpaiboon were still gathered in front of the parliament building on Monday evening. Traffic lanes were closed around the venue, as more protesters were expected to join the mass rally.

The protesters also cut off electricity to the parliament building and the Chart Thai party headquarters.

Suriyasai Katasila, PAD coordinator, said the siege would continue until parliament goes into recess or government MPs abandon their attempt to amend the constitution.

"May victory be with the people," PAD leader Somkiat Pongpaiboon chanted.

But from the Apec summit in Peru, Mr Somchai said he no intention of resigning, because the government emerged from democratic elections.

If the government has to be forced out, it should be done by the parliamentary election or the general public in a ballot, he said.

He said the global economic crisis was more important than the protests.

"The situation in Thailand at the moment is small - only a single location in Bangkok, and it has not significantly destroyed the country's economic foundation," claimed the prime minister.

"We have to talk and try for reconciliation," he told a reporter from the Reuters news agency.

An estimated 18,000 flag-waving demonstrators split up throughout the capital. They hijacked buses, fanned out in running protests through the central part of the city, and even wound up outside the new government offices at Don Mueang.

Six armed men claiming to be PAD security guards hijacked a public bus at gunpoint in front of the army’s Survey Department in the Nang Lerng area not far from Government House.

Police confronted the hijackers, and shot out the tyres of the bus. When it ground to a halt, the six men were arrested and police seized knives, a shotgun and ammunition.

House speaker Chai Chidchob called for calm and announced the postponement of a joint parliamentary session which was supposed to consider legislation needed for the Asean summit to be held in Chiang Mai beginning in December.

"I ask for all sides to stop the movement now. If you love the king, please return home," he said on parliament radio.

He was forced to call off the scheduled parliament sitting because elected MPs and senators could not enter the building. Police did not confront the protesters as they did last Oct 7, when a tear-gas assault killed one person.

The yellow-clad PAD protesters marched through the Ratanakosin district, waving Thai flags and holding aloft portraits of His Majesty the King.

Monks joined the protest, which supposedly was aimed at toppling the government. Black-clad volunteer PAD security guards wielding homemade batons protected the crowd.

Market Tipsy

2008-11-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a free market tip for all you would be investors out there. Only pay attention to the last half hour of the market day because everything before that looks like a good old fashion game of Pong.

Mars Invades Alberta

2008-11-21T08:21:00.001-08:00

"Across two hundred million miles of void, invisibly hurtling towards us, came the first of the missiles that were to bring so much calamity to Earth..."

They're here...

Reports of meteor streaking across Prairies

A bright light lit up the sky around 5:30 MT Thursday evening in Western Canada, with people reporting sightings in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

People telephoned the CBC newsrooms in Edmonton and Calgary to talk about what they saw.

"It was a really big flash, lit up the sky, and there was this huge, flaming fireball falling from the sky," said Rowyn Windsor, 12, who lives on the Canadian Forces base in Cold Lake, Alta., about 350 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

"This huge light in our kitchen window lit up our whole kitchen," said Sabrina Schneider, who lives just outside Lloydminster on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border. "It kinda flashed a couple of times. It was really bright. It was a different light than lightning.

"We weren't really sure what happened ... got up to look out the window, and all of a sudden, we heard this rumbling."

Schneider said her sister saw the meteor while she was driving past North Battleford, Sask.

Torey Van Vam was driving north from Redcliff, Alta., outside Medicine Hat when he saw a bright white streak.

"As it got closer to the ground, it was more visible as a ball of white light with green around it. And as it got really close to the ground, it turned kind of orange, and I'm pretty sure it went straight to the ground," he said.

Bev Ully, who lives on a farm near Unity, Sask., was watching TV when she saw a light through her west-facing living room window.

"It was just like there were headlights right outside the window and that something was moving. It wasn't just one big, bright flash. It was several flashes," she said.

Ully said her daughter in Brooks, in central Alberta, had told her she had seen the light as well.

The fireball was also visible in Edmonton. Kim Wingrove was driving in the city's west end when he saw something in the sky.

"I saw this large orb shoot across in an east-southeast direction, on a very steady trajectory," he said. "It was very, very big. And I've seen a lot of shooting stars from all the world as I travelled, but I've never seen one so large. It was very bright yellow, with hints of green in it. It stayed in the air ... for about two to two and a half seconds."

Alister Ling, an Edmonton-area amateur astronomer who is a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, recorded the fireball using equipment from Alan Hildebrand, a meteorite researcher at the University of Calgary.

"When it flares out on the tape, you can see there's several of these multiple flashes, and that's when it's probably partly blowing up, which is also a really good indicator ... that there's multiple stones that have come down," he said.

He said anyone who sees a fireball with their own eyes has a hard time judging where it came down, because fireballs stop glowing when they are 50 kilometres above the earth.

Ling said he will be consulting with other astronomers in Alberta, who will look at tapes from a local network of cameras and assess eyewitness reports to try and figure out where the fireball may have landed.

Although its early in the process, he thinks it may have fallen somewhere in central Alberta, and there could be search parties out looking for chunks as early as this weekend.

"Who knows," he said. "We might be really, really lucky."

Yah, wait until the lid of the Cylinder unscrews...

Thailand Not For Sale to "Middle Easterners"

2008-11-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

I'd like to know which Middle Eastern countries they're worried about and which part of Thailand is being bought up.

Somsak: Middle East hunting for Thai land

The minister of agriculture is hoping to persuade the Cabinet to issue a law preventing excessive land grabbing by Middle Eastern groups.

Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Somsak Prissananantakul revealed his ministry has received reports of groups from Middle Eastern countries collaborating with large agriculture firms in Thailand to grab up farm land through mass-buying and renting of farmers' land. Mr. Somsak said this would lead farmers to their downfall.

The agriculture minister said his ministry is not idly sitting by and preventive measures against land grabbing are being sought.

According to Mr. Somsak, the issue would be brought up for discussion at a Cabinet meeting so appropriate laws on land rent or ownership could be laid down. One idea would be limiting holding of land to 50 rai per person.

Bomb Attack in Bangkok

2008-11-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

More violence directed against the Anti-Thaskin/Anti-Government group PAD. Wasn't the 2006 Coup supposed to prevent this sort of thing?

Bangkok bomb

At least one anti-government protester was killed and 24 were wounded in a pre-dawn bomb blast Thursday inside a demonstration site in Bangkok, emergency services said.

The bomb went off at 3:28am in front of a stage at Government House compound, which protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have occupied since late August.

Twenty-two demonstrators wounded by the explosion were taken to four nearby hospitals, emergency services said. One later died and 11 were still in a serious condition, they said.

"It's a powerful bomb, so far one has died. We are still waiting for forensic officials and for PAD permission to go into Government House," local police commander Colonel Somchai Chueyklin told AFP.

An emergency medical official speaking on condition of anonymity also confirmed that one man had died.

"Ten are in critical condition at (army-run) King Mongkut hospital, one serious at Ramathibodi hospital. The man died at Ramathibodi hospital," the official said.

The protesters have vowed not to leave Government House until the government, which they accuse of being corrupt and a proxy for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, steps down.

There was no immediate comment from the anti-government alliance.

The months-long stand-off erupted into bloodshed on October 7 when police fired tear gas at the demonstrators, sparking clashes that left two people dead and nearly 500 injured.

A number of small blasts have also rocked the protest camp at the complex, injuring several people.

Canucks Remember in Kandahar

2008-11-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

Canadian veterans honoured in Kandahar

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The dark sunglasses worn by some family members of fallen soldiers yesterday to block out the unfailingly bright desert sun could not hide the flow of tears that streamed steadily throughout the bagpiper's mournful song.

For nearly half an hour, families of six slain soldiers had held back, looking pained but stoic during a Remembrance Day ceremony as Brigadier-General Denis Thompson, the commander of military troops in Kandahar province, outlined the specific gains that each soldier's death helped the military enable.

“They need to be reassured that everything that they put into this country, their blood, their family, is not a waste,” Gen. Thompson said.

The parents of Private Mark Graham, a former Olympic sprinter who was killed horrifically by friendly fire – an American fighter jet bombed a Canadian camp they mistook for insurgents – during the infamous Operation Medusa in September, 2006, were told that the place their son died has been rehabilitated into a wellspring of life.

“Mark lost his life in an area absolutely infested with insurgents who had forcibly evicted thousands of local villagers for the sake of their philosophy,” Gen. Thompson said. “Today, two years later, Mark would not recognize his battlefield. Schools are operating, local governance is prospering, and infrastructure is being built …A major coalition forward operating base has been constructed on the very spot that Mark lost his life.”

The family of Private Blake Williamson, killed in October, 2006 in the volatile Zhari district, was assured by the General their son died in what was then “without a doubt the most dangerous part of Afghanistan.” Today, the region is a “stability box”, he said.

The area of northern Kandahar province where Cpl. Randy Payne lost his life in April, 2006, is now secured and serves as a key access route linking Kandahar province to Uruzgan; nearly 1,000 troops were recently anchored in dangerous Maiwand district, the wild-west of Kandahar province where Private David Greenslate fell in April, 2007. They are disrupting the insurgent supply lines emanating from nearby Helmand province, the General said.

After he extended similar assurances to the families of Cpt. Matthew Dawe, killed in July of 2007, and Pte. Michel Levesque, who died in April, 2006, each family was invited to lay wreaths at the airfield's Canadian war memorial, a marble-tiled structure carved with the names and faces of all 97 soldiers our country has lost so far here.

With the bagpiper playing, they rose from their seats family by family, some clutching hands for support, most looking as if the act of placing their wreath deepened the ache of their loss rather than easing it. That is when tears began to flow.

Still, the families – flown to Afghanistan by the military as part of Remembrance Day tradition – said spending the day close to the spots where their sons breathed their last breaths was somewhat cathartic.

“Being here and just feeling the air … hearing from the Afghan people and hearing what has happened here since Mark has passed away has made a huge difference,” said Linda Learn, Pte. Graham's stepmother. “It really puts a different picture in my mind about Afghanistan. We had a picture of where he died. Now we know that there's roads and marketplaces and bazaars and schools,” she said. “It doesn't bring him back … but it does bring some comfort.”

Peter and Reine Dawe, parents of Capt. Matthew Dawe, took their visit one step further – the pair asked to see and sit in the actual vehicle their son was killed in. Mr. Dawe called the process “traumatic”, although his wife said it helped her feel closer to her son.

Thai Senate Finds Police in the Wrong

2008-11-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hope for Thailand. The Government finds out it just can't shoot a people who disagree with them.

Senate finds police, govt guilty

Senate panels on Tuesday found the government and police guilty of violating human rights for the crackdown on the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on October 7.

The Senate committee on human rights, freedom and consumer protection chairman Somchai Sawaengkarn said violent crowd dispersal tactics - which left two people killed and more than 400 people injured - could have been avoided.

Mr Somchai also said government officials could have used alternative routes to enter parliament while meetings could have been postponed or relocated.

“The committee sees that the incidents reflected the guilty party’s lack of discretion and their inappropriateness of using weapons to disperse people,” the senator said.

He added the actions carried out by the police followed the cabinet’s resolution on October 6 to allow the government to announce its policy at the parliament as scheduled. Therefore, the government and the Royal Thai Police must be responsible for the damage done.

“Police officers did not negotiate with the protesters but instead used tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets against them, causing many injuries. Their acts infringed on the Declaration of Human Rights and were more than necessary,” Mr Somchai said.

Mr Somchai said a budget consideration of 56 million baht for victims was inadequate and unjust.

Burn in Hell

2008-11-10T06:44:00.000-08:00

Who's smiling now, Jackass? Yes the Bali Bombers are dead. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Relief in Australia as Bali bombers executed

Australian victims of the Bali bombings and their families expressed relief Sunday after the execution of three Islamists for the attacks, but said they were still struggling to cope with their grief.

"It's just utter relief," survivor Peter Hughes told CNN on the news that bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra had been killed by an Indonesian firing squad shortly after midnight.

Hughes, who sustained horrific burns after a suicide bomber detonated himself within metres of him, said the executions took him back to the moment the first bomb went off and he found himself surrounded by burning bodies.

"We had to fight for life pretty hard back then and it's been a struggle every day since," he said.

"So from my perspective these guys set about mass murder and they've paid the highest penalty."

But he added: "It doesn't feel good."

Trent Thompson, whose brother Clint was among the 88 Australians killed, said he would have been happy if the bombers had lived long, miserable lives in jail but he was pleased they would no longer be able to spread their views.

"I guess the overwhelming feeling isn't joy because they're dead, but it's definitely relief that we don't have to continue with the circus," he told national news agency AAP.

"It hasn't bought anyone back. Everyone is still dead."

Yes and unfortunately there's someone they DIDN'T execute. Old Bashir the Nutter.

Become terrorists, cleric urges

AS the Bali bombers prepared for their executions, radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir urged Muslims in their home villages to follow them as terrorists.

After visiting the bombers' mother Tariyem in this tiny rural hamlet, Bashir emerged to praise Mukhlas and Amrozi and fellow bomber Imam Samudra as Islamic heroes who had brought honour to themselves and their families.

"Their fighting spirit in defending Islam should be followed,'' the ageing bearded preacher said.

"We will win the fight in this world or die as martyrs.''

Appearing before a large banner featuring photos of the condemned men at the hastily established "Heroes Who Fight For Islam Media Center'', Bashir said he was both sad and happy at the same time.

"Even if they are murdered, they will die as Islamic martyrs,'' he told the small but noisy crowd of mostly unemployed young men and curious locals.

In a rambling speech, the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group promised his impressionable audience that everything would be good for Mujahid (Islamic fighters).

Bashir also conceded that his brand of radical Islam, which is followed only by a tiny minority in Indonesia, faced an uphill battle.

Officials visited the family on Friday night to make final arrangements for the bombers' last journey.
Ali Fauzin, the younger brother of Amrozi and Mukhlas, travelled to the prison yesterday to deliver the shrouds that the bodies will be wrapped in before being flown back to their home village by helicopter.

The executions were expected to be carried out overnight

Raja Petra Kamaruddin Freed

2008-11-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

This is good news out of the increasingly over-Islamic Malaysia.

Malaysia's top blogger released from detention

Malaysia's leading blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, was Friday released from detention under controversial internal security laws after a court ruled the government had no right to hold him.

Raja Petra, a vocal government critic who had been held at a notorious detention camp since September, wept and embraced his family after being freed by the Shah Alam High Court.

"I'm realy glad it's over. I'm really tired. The judge's decision proves that there was no justification for my detention," he said, calling for an end to the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for detention without trial.

"We have to fight all-out and get the ISA abolished," he told reporters.

Looking haggard and dressed in a brown T-shirt and jeans, Raja Petra was garlanded by dozens of supporters outside the court before stepping into a maroon Rolls Royce provided by a supporter to ferry him home.

"It's a great day for human rights and fundamental liberties," said Malaysian human rights commissioner Denison Jayasooria.

"The executive must use the ISA only in situations where there is a real threat to national security," he told AFP.

Raja Petra, founder of the popular Malaysia Today website which has outraged top leaders with its stream of critical stories, was detained in September for writing articles that allegedly insulted Islam.

His lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said the High Court ruled earlier Friday that Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar had acted outside his powers by ordering Raja Petra to serve two years in detention without trial.

"The judge ruled that the circumstances which existed at the time that Raja Petra was detained did not satisfy the threshold conditions under the ISA," he told AFP.

Malik said it was the first time a court has ordered the release of an ISA detainee since 1989, when courts were barred from interfering once a detention order has been signed by the home minister.

"It is certainly an historic ruling and a profound moment for civil liberties in this country," he said, while adding that the government can appeal the decision.

Opposition parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang said the ruling "sustains hope that basic judicial decency, independence and integrity have not been completely destroyed, despite two decades of judicial darkness."

He called on the government to "fully respect" the verdict and "slap down any trickery or stratagem to frustrate the judicial decision, such as a re-arrest."

Raja Petra is best known for his articles on politics, and had already been charged with sedition and defamation for linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.

But he was also accused of threatening public security and causing racial tension by inciting hate in his articles on Islam -- a serious offence in predominantly Muslim Malaysia.

There has been a rash of detentions in recent months under the ISA, which allows for renewable two-year periods of detention without trial.

Raja Petra was detained on the same day as opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok and journalist Tan Hoon Cheng, both of whom have since been freed.

Tan's arrest in particular caused a furore as she had merely reported on racist comments from a ruling party member who was subsequently suspended by the United Malays National Organisation.

Sell, Sell, Sell!!!

2008-11-06T06:47:00.000-08:00

The press continues to sniff Obama's saintly arse with this article on why the markets tanked yesterday. Because the market decline COULDN'T have something to do with a collectivist getting elected could it? No. It's "recession fears".

World stocks plunge as recession fears bite

Global stock markets tumbled for a second day running on Thursday as investors shrugged off Barack Obama's election as US president to focus on growing recession fears, traders said.

Europe's main markets were up to four percent lower in late morning trade after Asia saw losses of around seven percent. Wall Street shed five percent overnight and on Thursday there were also sharp losses for Nordic and Gulf share prices.

"The honeymoon period for president-elect Obama is already proving extremely short-lived, with the run of grim US economic data (on Wednesday) highlighting the mammoth task ahead in terms of getting the economy back on its feet," said Mitul Kotecha, an analyst at Calyon investment group.

"As attention turns from credit problems to economic concerns, any improvement in risk appetite will be limited, as seen in the sharp pull back" in equity markets, Kotecha added.

Investors in Europe were gearing up for interest-rate decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of England later on Thursday, with both widely expected to slash key lending rates by half a percentage point.

"The ECB and BoE rate verdicts do have the potential to provide some cheer, especially if the cuts end up at the more aggressive end of the spectrum," said CMC Markets dealer Matt Buckland.

Some economists say the Bank of England may to reduce its key lending rate by as much as one percentage point. The BoE decision is due at 1200 GMT with the ECB call 45 minutes later.

"What is clear beyond what takes place today (Thursday) is that further substantial monetary easing will be required globally," said Derek Halpenny, an analyst at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in London.

"Tomorrow's employment report from the US may well remind markets of the potential scale of the slowdown coming."

Yep. It's not the commie.

That Didn't Take Long

2008-11-06T06:38:00.001-08:00

Let the Obama-bashing begin! He's not even the Prez yet and already the bitching starts. Hurray for democracy!

Obama campaign workers angry over unpaid wages

Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown to control the crowd.

The line was long and the crowd was angry at times.

"I want my money today! It's my money. I want it right now!" yelled one former campaign worker.

A former spokesman for the Obama campaign said 375 people were hired as part of the Vote Corps program and said people signed up to work three-hour shifts at a time. Three hours of canvassing got workers a $30 pre-paid Visa card.

The workers showed up to get their cards Wednesday morning at 10:00 am.

"There was a note on the door saying 1:00 pm and then at 1:20 pm everybody was like why is nobody here. They just got here and they're trying to get it organized," said Heather Richards, a former campaign worker.

The large gathering of around 375 people prompted police to call in extra officers and set up temporary barricades. The barricades helped keep the crowd from spilling out onto Meridian Street. Police say the several hundred people in line were for the most part orderly.

"No arrests. Some of the people were upset at first because the line wasn't moving as fast as they thought it should. But we really haven't had any problems," said Major Darryl Pierce, Metro Police.

Eventually people did start getting paid, but some said they were missing hours and told to fill in paperwork making their claim and that eventually they would get a check in the mail.

"Still that's not right. I'm disappointed. I'm glad for the president, but I'm disappointed in this system," said Diane Jefferson, temporary campaign worker.

"It should have been $480. It's $230," said Imani Sankofa.

Get used to in Imani, redistribution applies to YOU too.

Obama in The House

2008-11-05T06:24:00.000-08:00

Well I'm sort of glad it's all over.

Now the Dems will have their chance to mess everything up, or at least get the blame for messing things up, or for failing to deliver what ever it was they promised.

Also this will hopefully allow the Americans to move on from obsessing about race and color. If Obama fails to get re-elected it will because he blew it, not because of his race.

Here's Your Change, America

2008-11-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

Imagine if you will the emergence of a young charismatic political leader. One who would appeal to the youth vote, inspire a devoted following, and a Beatles like frenzy where ever he went. Imagine an attractive stylish man who would promise to unite a divided country and bring about real change. But if one scratched beneath the surface of this media darling one would find a history of socialist thinking and admiration towards Dictators such as Fidel Castro.

Sound familiar?

It does to Canadians. His name was Pierre Eliot Trudeau and he ruled Canada almost continuously between 1968 and 1984. If Americans want to see what an Obama presidency might look like, or what effects socialist policies might have in the long run they should look to the North.

Trudeau came on to the Canadian political scene in the mid-sixties and benefited greatly from the wave of change that was moving across the Western world. Youth culture was taking shape, all things “old” were being questioned, and aging polititans just weren’t “with it”. Canada was moving with great optimism towards its Centennial celebration and the mood of the country was positive. Now, to look at the young Trudeau’s Austin Power’s fashion sensibilities it’s hard to believe women actually threw their panties at him but he out-styled the stodgy old parliamentarians of the time and “Trudeaumania” swept much of Canada. It was with this mania that Trudeau easily took power in 1968’s Federal election.

Trudeau, the son of a wealthy industrialist, had been pretty much unheard of outside of Quebec before the previous Canadian Prime Minister; Lester B. Pearson had brought him into his cabinet. In his youth Trudeau had supported the socialist New Democratic Party, as well as having worked with Quebec labor unions. During the Liberal Leadership convention prior to the 1968 election Trudeau seemed to come out of the no where and surprised everyone by winning over old party favorite Paul Joseph Martin who was expected to easily take the position.

During the election itself the Liberals campaign focused on Trudeau being the leader of the future who would build a "just society", unite English and French Canada and allow the expansion of social programs. The Progressive Conservatives with and their leader Robert Stanfield didn’t stand a chance. Stanfield was portrayed as a bumbling old man and the Conservatives couldn’t seem to make their minds up on how to deal with an increasingly demanding Francophone population in Quebec. When the votes were counted the Liberals had won over 45% of the popular vote giving Trudeau the majority he needed to make the changes he’d promised.

Trudeau’s economic policy largely based on the theories of the British socialist Harold Laski, whom Ayn Rand based the character Ellsworth Toohey on in her novel “The Fountainhead”. Thanks to these policies between 1968 and 1984 the Canadian National debt rose from $18 billion to $200 billion. Trudeau later brushed off criticism of this debt by noting “it mostly wasn’t foreign held”. Foreign held or not the tax burden it created crippled the Canadian economy while driving many professional Canadians such as Doctors or Engineers to “vote with their feet” by relocating to the United States or elsewhere. Trudeau’s advice to those average Canadians suffering from the bad economic times of the early 1980’s was to “tighten their belts”.

As the Canadian economy began to feel the effects of the Liberals’ policies inflation began to soar. Rather than dealing with the causes of this inflation Trudeau imposed wage and price control legislation. Even with this draconian “cure” Canada saw an annualized inflation rate of 7.63% between when Trudeau came to power and when he finally left office. Unemployment went from 4% in the early 1970s to 11% in 1984, and again Trudeau’s sought to deal with the effect rather than the cause by increasing unemployment benefits, strengthened the power of the Unions, increasing the unemployment insurance bureaucracy. This in turn led to additional taxation to support these policies.

Even during the oil thirsty 1970’s Canada’s resource sector was betrayed by Trudeau’s protectionism and socialism in the form of the “National Energy Program” which regulated free market prices, and effectively destroyed the growth in energy rich Alberta. In 1974 Trudeau’s government created The Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA) which put the nail in the coffin of foreign investment in Canada, particularly in the areas of resources and energy development. It was these two policies, and Trudeau’s endless pampering of his voter base in Eastern Canada that laid the groundwork for the regionalism that now dominates Canadian politics.

Trudeau had come into power promising to “unite” Canada, East and West, Francophone and Anglophone in to one strong country. Instead in 1970 when Quebec nationalists the F.L.Q. began a campaign of bombings and kidnappings Trudeau invoked the “War Measures Act” which suspended civil liberties and declared martial law. Although many applauded Trudeau’s get tough approach the heavy handedness of Canadian soldiers being deployed in quiet Quebec streets actually furthered the Quebec separatists cause by forever fixing Canada as “the oppressor” of Quebec and its culture. In contrast to his “tough” approach to the F.L.Q. crisis Trudeau had no problem with negotiating with the terrorist or allowing them to flee to Cuba. Today almost all of the F.L.Q.’s most wanted have either returned unhampered from exile or are free from prison including those involved in kidnapping and murder. One of the F.L.Q.s leaders, Paul Rose was sentenced to life, paroled in 1982 and is now a political leader in Quebec.

The Canadian Justice system also faltered under Trudeau’s rule. More liberal minded Judges were brought in and sentences were changed from the traditional punishment to focus on reform. In 1982 Trudeau’s Liberals replaced the long standing Juvenile Delinquents Act of 1908 with the half thought out “Young Offenders Act”. This progressive bit of legislation applied to anyone between the ages of 12 and 17 and completely protected offenders under the age of 12 from any prosecution at all. The act specified a maximum sentence of two years except in cases where an adult could face life imprisonment, such as murder or manslaughter. In those cases the young offender could be subject to the harsher maximum sentence of three years. The act also imposed identity protection for the offender throughout the court proceedings and often after their release. Needless to say youth crime skyrocketed. Although the Act was replaced by a slightly better one in 2002 Canadian Courts still tend to treat youth crime with incredible leniency, while attempting to regulate gun ownership to control the chronic gang violence now plaguing schools in the larger Metropolitan areas such as Toronto.

Trudeau is remembered as the Prime Minister who fought to save Canada from Quebec separatism and who gave us our Constitution. The Constitution we were given however does little to protect individual rights of Canadians. For example if I were to open a shop anywhere in Quebec and post a sign in English I would be arrested and or fined by the Quebec Government for breaking their language laws. The Canadian Constitution does nothing to protect me, as Quebec has special status under that Constitution. The Canadian Constitution also provides Quebec with an unfair voting advantage in Federal Elections. Even though the population of the Western provinces Ontario and Quebec are equal to that of Quebec they do not receive an equal representation in Parliament. The tiny province of Prince Edward Island receives a guaranteed four seats in Parliament for its population of just over 100,000 people while a section of Toronto receives one seat for the same amount of people. Trudeau’s Constitution which was created under much media fan fair (while the Canadian Economy was at its worse with 12% unemployment) didn’t improve the rights of Canadians beyond insuring Eastern Canada would forever rule over and dictate to the West. This did nothing to appease Quebec and further drove apart the regions with hostility and suspicion. The Canadian Charter of Rights limits rights subject to "limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." Or in other words you have these rights until we say you don’t. There is no guarantee of property rights included at all.

One proud Canadian institution that suffered the most under Trudeau was The Canadian Military. Canada, like Australia came to age in the trenches of the First World War 50,000 Canadians gave their lives during the Second World War. Trudeau, unlike others of his generation, avoided fighting in the Second World War by joining a seminary. During the War the young intellectual would ride a motorcycle through Montreal’s Jewish quart wearing a German army helmet. While this doesn’t suggest he was a Nazi, it displays the indifference many Quebec intellectuals had regarding the War, which they saw as unjust.

When in power, while he was hobnobbing with various Third World tyrants such as Castro, Trudeau reduced Canadian Military spending to the point where its NATO commitments were impossible to live up to. The government amalgamated the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, and the Army into the singular Canadian Armed Forces, thus illuminating the contentions word “Royal” that was the bee in the bonnet of so many in Quebec. The old duty uniforms that had distinguished the services that had fought against Nazi Germany and Japan as well as North Korea were replaced with hideous “pine-scent air-fresher green” outfits that’s soviet style was more befitting a gas station attendant than a soldier, sailor or airman. Equipment fell into disrepair and Canada was unable to even police its own shorelines effectively. It is only with in the last decade that Canada’s military has begun recover from the Trudeau years and the continuation of his policies in subsequent Liberal Governments since.

To understand the degree of which Trudeau memorized many Canadians, especially those in the areas of culture and media, one only has to look at how Trudeau has been canonized since his death in 2000. Former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (arguably the most unpopular Prime Minister in Canada’s history) has recently come under attack for “speaking ill of the dead” in his memoirs, and in 2006 when authors Max and Monique Nemni’s “Young Trudeau: Son of Quebec, Father of Canada, 1919-1944” painted a picture of Trudeau as an anti-Semite and admirer of Mussolini many saw their well researched book as nothing short of blasphemy. Trudeau is proclaimed as the savior of Canada despite Quebec’s continued separatist efforts and a bitter regionalism that dominates Canada’s parliament. After his death in 2000 some Canadians lay roses on the train tracks as his coffin was transported to his funeral which was attended by long time friend Fidel Castro and President Jimmy Carter. Ironic as he once gave the finger to a group of unemployed protesters from the comforts of his luxury train car as he traveled by them.

Canadian tax payers continue to pay for Trudeau’s policies quite literally with an annual $ 125 million tax dollars being used to fund “The Trudeau Foundation” which is supposed to provide for 100 doctoral and post-doctoral students and to preserve Trudeau’s ideas.

You would think Canada had already paid enough for those ideas.

Bombs in Thailand

2008-11-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

In case you've forgotten Thailand is under attack in the South from Islamic Nutbars...

Triple blast

Three bombs apparently set on motorcycles by southern insurgents killed a woman and wounded at least 71 passersby in Sukhirin district of Narathiwat on Tuesday, police said.

Police said the first two bombs went off almost together around 11:15am on the edge of a parking lot near the entrance to the district office, where village leaders from the area were holding an outdoor meeting.

The third went off a few minutes later near a tea shop.

Wounded people were rushed to Sukhirin and Sungai Kolok hospitals. Mobile phone access to the area was cut to try to prevent more explosions, adding to the chaos.

Initial reports by hospital officials said a woman was killed in one of the blasts. At least 30 of the 71 wounded were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Military officials said they had received reports of a bomb and explosives disposal teams tried to rush to the scene.

"But as they were closing the area, the bomb exploded and many bystanders were also injured," said an officer.

The bombs were the latest incidents in a sudden upsurge of violence as students returned to school after the autumn harvest break.

An army spokesman said security personnel also found a 5kg bomb in next-door Rueso district, also in Narathiwat, but it did not explode. On Monday, a roadside bomb targeting soldiers escorting teachers exploded but there was no casualty.

Last week, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat visited the South and commented that troubles in the region appeared to have eased.

On Monday night a 47-year-old religious teacher was shot dead in Narathiwat province, while a 41-year-old man was killed laterthe same night in a similar attack in nearby Pattani province, police said.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

Infomercial Special

2008-10-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't watch it. Did anyone? I would have if Obama had used that spray on hair stuff on Biden's lid. That would be good TV.

Bomb Thrown at PAD Protesters

2008-10-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

More violence in the Land of Smiles. How unfortunate. When will the King step in and sort this out?

Explosion at PAD

Nine people were wounded, one seriously, when someone threw an explosive among anti-government protesters at Makkhawan Bridge near the Government House.

The bomb was lobbed at around 3:30am from outside the gathering of members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who have been staging anti-government protests since May 25 around the Makkahawan Rangsan Bridge, site of the explosion.

The target appeared to be a "forward post" used by internal security guards of the PAD movement, which has established its current headquarters inside nearby Government House.
PAD core leader Chamlong Srimuang blamed the attack on the government.

He said that the attack would not stop the PAD from marching on the British Embassy in Bangkok on Thursday to demand the extradition of Thai former premier Thaksin Shinwatara.

Khanit Sapitak, commander of the First Army region in and around Bangkok, described the explosive as a bomb, and denied any connection with the army.

Lt-Gen Khanit said he has contacted the police to investigate.

Army specialist Maj-Gen Khattiya Sawasdipol, an outspoken anti-PAD activist, also denied any involvement in the bombing.

He said, however that it is now time for the PAD supporters to leave Government House. He added that he believes the PAD faces "a group of enemies" who are adopting guerrilla techniques.

He also said that PAD guards will die every day if the group does not withdraw from the Government House.

Maj-Gen Khattiya said there are many groups that are unhappy with the PAD seizure and occupation of Government House, and its response against high-ranking officials who have came out to warn the group for the occupation.