Thursday, July 31, 2014

Excessive Salaries

UPDATE: Here's a doozy.

B.C. First Nation chief was paid almost $1-million last year
"Chief Ron Giesbrecht of the Kwikwetlem First Nation is listed as receiving $914,219 in remuneration last year, plus an additional $16,574 in expense reimbursement. Individuals with Indian status who work on a reserve are not required to pay income tax."
===========Original Starts Here============
Here's a good description comparing the salaries Chiefs pay themselves and the salaries earned by mayors of nearby communities. The difference is staggering.

A First Look At How Much B.C. First Nations Chiefs Actually Make
"As of this writing, only 15 of the 205 B.C. bands had their information posted. More are expected in the days and weeks to come, but even this sample reveals some very interesting information."

From the sample:
"The Tk'emlúps band paid its chief, Shane Gottfriedson, $92,352 last year. Because that salary is tax-free, it's the equivalent of making $128,000 off-reserve -- far more than the mayor of nearby Kamloops, who will make $85,754 next year. Gottfriedson leads a community of 1,058, half of whom live off-reserve; the mayor of Kamloops governs a city of 86,000 people.

Tk'emlúps also paid six councillors salaries ranging from $79,840 to $84,580 tax-free; far more than the $24,811 Kamloops city councillors make.

Jason Louie, chief of the 235-member Lower Kootenay band, made $60,000 tax-free last year, the equivalent of $76,500 off-reserve. Creston Mayor Ron Toyota made $23,632 for governing more than 5,000 people.

Snuneymuxw First Nation Chief Doug White made $108,022 last year, the equivalent of roughly $155,000 if the salary were taxed. He governed a community of 1,716 -- 1,014 of whom live off reserve. Nanaimo Mayor John Ruttan made $84,370 for leading almost 85,000 people."

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About Those Mysterious Big Holes...

...in Siberia, here's an article about them:

Odd Cause of Gaping Siberian Holes Possibly Found

The article contains a little "oops"in the fourteenth paragraph, namely:
"This part of Siberia contains deep gas fields, and it also contains a lot of small lakes, which formed between 4,000 and 10,000 years ago when the climate was warmer, Romanovsky said. Perhaps these odd holes developed in the same way that sinkholes did, but later expanded."
What's that you say? The climate was "warmer" 4,000 to 10,000 years ago!?!?!?!?!?

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About Those Catastrophic Floods...

...and whatnot, supposedly caused by global warming.  Here's the best rebuttal I've yet encountered, from  the Nongovernmental International Panel On Climate Change (NIPCC for short)  Pay attention to #4 especially:
"More frequent and more devastating floods are both (1) predicted for the future and (2) claimed to already be occurring by a host of climate alarmists, as a result of climate change that they claim is induced by anthropogenic CO2 emissions. But are these claims correct?"
[---]
"In a massive review of the subject conducted by a team of seventeen researchers hailing from eleven different countries, i.e., Kundzewicz et al. (2013), we learn the following: (1) "no gauge-based evidence has been found for a climate-driven, globally widespread change in the magnitude/frequency of floods during the last decades," (2) "there is low confidence in projections of changes in fluvial floods, due to limited evidence and because the causes of regional changes are complex," (3) "considerable uncertainty remains in the projections of changes in flood magnitude and frequency," (4) increases in global flood disaster losses reported over the last few decades "may be attributed to improvements in reporting, population increase and urbanization in flood-prone areas, increase of property value and degraded awareness about natural risks (due to less natural lifestyle)," (5) "the linkages between enhanced greenhouse forcing and flood phenomena are highly complex and, up to the present, it has not been possible to describe the connections well, either by empirical analysis or by the use of models," and (6) "the problem of flood losses is mostly about what we do on or to the landscape," which they say "will be the case for decades to come.""(Emphasis mine.) In closing, Kundzewicz et al. write that "the climate change issue is very important to flooding, but we have low confidence about the science," adding that "work towards improvements in GCMs [global climate models] to bring us to a point where all of this is made clear is much needed, and may take much time." And they thoughtfully remind us - in the interim - that "although media reports of both floods and global flood damage are on the increase, there is still no Mauna-Loa-like record (see Vorosmarty, 2002) that shows a global increase in flood frequency or magnitude."

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Another Round Up

Alaska Hidden Forests Discovered in NASA Images

Must be all that plant food - CO2.

How Arab leaders’ ‘loathing’ of Hamas has kept them quiet on Gaza war
"Battling Palestinian militants in Gaza two years ago, Israel found itself pressed from all sides by unfriendly Arab neighbours to end the fighting.

Not this time.

After the military ouster of the Islamist government in Cairo last year, Egypt has led a new coalition of Arab states – including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan – that has effectively lined up with Israel in its fight against Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip. That, in turn, may have contributed to the failure of the antagonists to reach a negotiated ceasefire even after more than three weeks of bloodshed."
[---]
"The diatribes against Hamas by at least one popular pro-government talk show host in Egypt were so extreme that the government of Israel broadcast some of them into Gaza.

“They use it to say, ‘See, your supposed friends are encouraging us to kill you!’ ” said Maisam Abumorr, a Palestinian student in Gaza City, said in a telephone interview. Some pro-government Egyptian talk shows broadcast in Gaza “are saying the Egyptian army should help the Israeli army get rid of Hamas,” she said.

At the same time, Egypt had infuriated Gazans by continuing its policy of shutting down tunnels for cross-border smuggling into the Gaza Strip and keeping border crossings closed, exacerbating a scarcity of food, water and medical supplies after three weeks of fighting."
[---]
"Egypt and other Arab states, especially the Persian Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are finding themselves allied with Israel in a common opposition to Iran (BINGO!), a rival regional power that also has a history of funding and arming Hamas."(Emphasis mine.)
[---]
"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry turned to the more Islamist-friendly states of Turkey and Qatar as alternative mediators – two states that grew in regional stature with the rising tide of political Islam after the Arab Spring and that have suffered a degree of isolation as that tide has ebbed.

But that move has put Kerry himself in the incongruous position of appearing to some analysts as less hostile to Hamas – and thus less supportive of Israel – than Egypt or its Arab allies.

For Israeli hawks, the change in the Arab states has been relatively liberating. “The reading here is that, aside from Hamas and Qatar, most of the Arab governments are either indifferent or willing to follow the leadership of Egypt,” said Martin Kramer, president of Shalem College in Jerusalem and an American-Israeli scholar of Islamist and Arab politics. “No one in the Arab world is going to the Americans and telling them, ‘stop it now’”"

Israel calls up 16,000 reservists, vows to dismantle Hamas tunnels
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel will destroy the Hamas tunnel network in the Gaza Strip "with or without a cease-fire,"
[---]
"Israel says that most of the 32 tunnels it has uncovered have now been demolished and that getting rid of the remainder will take no more than a few days."
Get 'er done, Israel!


















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Round Up





Like all war, the campaign in Gaza is hellish. Stop treating it like a PR battle
"One of the strangest aspects of our Western reaction to Israel at war is our tendency to assess who is “winning” and “losing” as if it were a sports contest. This dehumanizes the victims of this war — including the hundreds of Palestinian children who have died as unwilling martyrs to Hamas’ barbaric human-shield military strategy.

It also provides the terrorist group with an incentive to prolong the conflict by sending more missiles at Israeli towns and cities: Western journalists obsessed with the “who is winning” narrative award “points” to Hamas every time that either an Israeli or Palestinian civilian dies. It is a lopsided scoring system that only encourage the group’s nihilistic tendencies. (Israel’s victories meanwhile, are more obscure — because the tunnels being blown up are underground, and Hamas gunmen killed by Israel usually are presented to the world as innocent bystanders.)

A perfect distillation of all this was contained in Patrick Martin’s July 25 Globe & Mail dispatch, “Why Hamas is winning the war” — a sort of point by point rundown on which side is lighting up the scoreboard and how.

To his credit, Mr. Martin is careful to point out that “Israel’s exemplary practice of issuing warnings before strikes on certain neighbourhoods or buildings has given Israel a degree of respect and understanding in the international community, as has Israel’s exposing of Hamas’s technique of using civilians as human shields, a likely war crime.”"
RTWT

Senate Passes Resolution Supporting Israel
"The Senate has passed a resolution that states the Senate’s support of Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas rocket attacks and condemns a biased United Nations report, reports The Hill.

The resolution, passed Tuesday, was passed through a unanimous consent agreement. It also condemns a United Nations Human Rights Council (Emphasis mine) report that stated Israel had committed human rights violations against Palestinian Arabs.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that UN report was “disgusting” and failed to recognize that Israel is defending itself from attacks started by Hamas, a terrorist organization.

“I’ve always been a supporter of the UN but what I saw last week disgusted me,” Reid was quoted as having said of the report. “It was so one-sided.”"
(Harry Reid has an epiphany! Quelle Surprise!!)

I've saved the best for last:

Rand Paul to MSNBC Host: ‘When Your Network Does 24-Hour News Telling the Truth,’ Then We Can Talk
"Melber pressed on: “But when you said, well, here’s where the rules for private businesses are concerning, why not explain that you’ve evolved on that?”

The senator replied that he has been attacked by “half-a-dozen people on your network trying to say I’m opposed to the Civil Rights Act,” while he’s never actually opposed the law. “I’m not willing to engage with people who are misrepresenting my viewpoint on this,” he said. “For people to say that, really, they don’t want to have an honest discussion about it.”

And Melber continued again: “I think the honest discussion is that you said some title of it, Title II and Title VII, that relate to it…”

With Sen. Paul interrupting: “The honest discussion of it would be that I never was opposed to the Civil Rights Act and when your network does 24-hour news telling the truth, then maybe we can get somewhere with the discussion.”"

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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Vietnam

For someone who is old enough to remember the Viet Nam war and the partition of the country into a northern and southern zone, I find this very interesting:

Welcome to Vietnam
"Ho Chi Minh would be appalled if he could see Vietnam now."
[--]
"...market reforms that began in 1986 (a mere eleven years after the fall of Saigon and national unification under the Communist Party) and a general slackening of state micromanagement have transformed the country out of all recognition."
[---]
"Vietnam makes a good first impression, which pleased me as a human being but challenged me as a journalist. Writing about war zones and other disaster areas is relatively straightforward. Countries on the mend are a bit tougher, and Vietnam has been on the mend for a while now."
RTWT

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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Listen To This...

...and then tell me if you still blame it all on teachers.

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Faster, Please!

The Role of the CBC
"Technological change is challenging traditional broadcasters, including the CBC. The status quo just will not fly. It is always difficult to start talking about changes to the CBC because of the political dynamic around the institution. In this case, technology is driving change, not government budget cuts or political interference."

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So....

Uh Huh

First Nation chiefs' salaries due to be posted under Transparency Act
Most First Nations have yet to post salaries

"The vast majority of First Nations chiefs and band councils have yet to post their financial statements online under new transparency rules passed by the federal government last year.

Under the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, First Nations leaders have 120 days after the first quarter — so, by end of day Tuesday — to make public their audited financial statements for the last fiscal year, including the salaries and expenses of their chiefs and councillors.

As of Monday night, on the eve of the deadline, the government confirmed that 20 First Nations out of more than 600 had their financial statements posted on the government's web site.

First Nations already have to produce their financial statements as part of their funding agreements with the federal government, but this is the first time they are being asked to post the information online.

First Nations without a website can ask larger First Nations organizations to post their financial statements for them.

Under the new rules, the minister in charge must also publish the documents on the department's website.

First Nations who refuse to comply could be subject to a court order or see funds withheld from them."

[---]
"The Assembly of First Nations does not support the new legislation.

The AFN regional chief for B.C., Jody Wilson-Raybould, has told Parliament on more than one occasion that many chiefs resent the added measure.

"Chiefs were clear in their assertion that the proposed measures are both heavy-handed and unnecessary and they suggest that First Nation governments are corrupt, our leaders are not transparent and consequently need to be regulated by Ottawa," she said a year before the act became law.

The government has said all along it was First Nations members who approached Ottawa asking for greater transparency "as a result of difficulty obtaining financial information from their elected local officials."

Although there may be a delay between the time First Nations submit their documents to the government and the time they are posted online, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs has committed to publishing them "without delay."
BRING. IT. ON.

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Why, It Was Just The Other Day...

...that I had to tell a brain dead leftard over at SNN about this:

The Inconvenient Truth About Jews From Arab Lands: They Were Expelled

Onetime Anti-Israel Radical Comes To Terms With Truth

"Nathan Weinstock hadn’t planned to write a book about the Jews of Arab lands. But when he looked for information about the modern history of Moroccan or Iraqi Jewry, he was surprised to discover that there was no book in French that told the story of the elimination of the Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century."
[---]
“In the course of my research,” he continues, “I found out that the story we had been told – that the Jews left the Arab countries because they were Zionists – was for the most part wrong. True, they had an affinity for the Land of Israel – that is certainly correct – but the organized Zionist movement was very weak in the Arab countries. The great mass of Jews left under duress. They were expelled. They were subjected to such enormous pressure that they had no choice but to leave.”
It's amazing what they don't know.

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Monday, July 28, 2014

Yup


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Western Civilization...

...is just to damned civilized:



If it had been me he would have been escorted out a lot sooner than that, and with much more roughhousing.

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Funny, Sorta

Sunday, July 27, 2014

ARRRRGH!!!!


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Cooling. Warming. Cooling. Warming. Cooling. Warming. Take Your Pick

July playing it cool again when it comes to temperatures
"Keep the sweatshirts handy this week because temperatures are going to be below average as July wraps up and possibly stay that way through August."
Earth sees hottest June on record since 1880, NOAA says
"The world’s heat record was broken for a second consecutive month. With the exception of Antarctica, new temperature highs were recorded on every continent."
NOAA quietly changes past climate data
"Global warming supporters have been accused in the past of doctoring statistics to bolster their claims. Now the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been caught doing the opposite, altering data to make the past appear warmer and the present cooler.

The summer of 2012 was a scorcher. More than half of the country experienced drought and wildfires as temperatures soared. According to the NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, “average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 77.6°F, 3.3°F above the 20th century average, marking the warmest July and all-time warmest month on record for the nation in a period of record that dates back to 1895.” The previous record for warmest July had been set in 1936, when the average U.S. temperature was 77.4°F.
 "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s most accurate, up-to-date temperature data confirm the United States has been cooling for at least the past decade. The NOAA temperature data are driving a stake through the heart of alarmists claiming accelerating global warming.

Responding to widespread criticism that its temperature station readings were corrupted by poor siting issues and suspect adjustments, NOAA established a network of 114 pristinely sited temperature stations spread out fairly uniformly throughout the United States. Because the network, known as the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), is so uniformly and pristinely situated, the temperature data require no adjustments to provide an accurate nationwide temperature record. USCRN began compiling temperature data in January 2005. Now, nearly a decade later, NOAA has finally made the USCRN temperature readings available.

According to the USCRN temperature readings, U.S. temperatures are not rising at all – at least not since the network became operational 10 years ago. Instead, the United States has cooled by approximately 0.4 degrees Celsius, which is more than half of the claimed global warming of the twentieth century."



NOAA Reinstates July 1936 As The Hottest Month On Record
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, criticized for manipulating temperature records to create a warming trend, has now been caught warming the past and cooling the present.

July 2012 became the hottest month on record in the U.S. during a summer that was declared “too hot to handle” by NASA scientists. That summer more than half the country was experiencing drought and wildfires had scorched more than 1.3 million acres of land, according to NASA.

According to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in 2012, the “average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 77.6°F, 3.3°F above the 20th century average, marking the warmest July and all-time warmest month on record for the nation in a period of record that dates back to 1895.”

“The previous warmest July for the nation was July 1936, when the average U.S. temperature was 77.4°F,” NOAA said in 2012.

This statement by NOAA was still available on their website when checked by The Daily Caller News Foundation. But when meteorologist and climate blogger Anthony Watts went to check the NOAA data on Sunday he found that the science agency had quietly reinstated July 1936 as the hottest month on record in the U.S."
NOAA Confirms The US Has 10 Years of Global Cooling
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s most accurate, up-to-date temperature data confirm the United States has been cooling for at least the past decade.  The NOAA temperature data are driving a stake through the heart of alarmists claiming accelerating global warming.

Responding to widespread criticism that its temperature station readings were corrupted by poor siting issues and suspect adjustments, NOAA established a network of 114 pristinely sited temperature stations spread out fairly uniformly throughout the United States.  Because the network, known as the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), is so uniformly and pristinely situated, the temperature data require no adjustments to provide an accurate nationwide temperature record.  USCRN began compiling temperature data in January 2005.  Now, nearly a decade later, NOAA has finally made the USCRN temperature readings available.

According to the USCRN temperature readings, U.S. temperatures are not rising at all – at least not since the network became operational 10 years ago.  Instead, the United States has cooled by approximately 0.4 degrees Celsius, which is more than half of the claimed global warming of the twentieth century."
NOAA quietly changes past climate data
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s most accurate, up-to-date temperature data confirm the United States has been cooling for at least the past decade. The NOAA temperature data are driving a stake through the heart of alarmists claiming accelerating global warming.

Responding to widespread criticism that its temperature station readings were corrupted by poor siting issues and suspect adjustments, NOAA established a network of 114 pristinely sited temperature stations spread out fairly uniformly throughout the United States. Because the network, known as the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), is so uniformly and pristinely situated, the temperature data require no adjustments to provide an accurate nationwide temperature record. USCRN began compiling temperature data in January 2005. Now, nearly a decade later, NOAA has finally made the USCRN temperature readings available.

According to the USCRN temperature readings, U.S. temperatures are not rising at all – at least not since the network became operational 10 years ago. Instead, the United States has cooled by approximately 0.4 degrees Celsius, which is more than half of the claimed global warming of the twentieth century."
NOAA: Climate change is getting worse
"Greenhouse gas emissions, sea levels, global temperatures and super storms all are trending upward, NOAA said."






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Saturday, July 26, 2014

I Love This Woman

Yes. Yes. Yes,

Signs Of Desperation

Meet India’s widows of climate change


Climate change may slowdown crop production in 20 years

(Have you noticed how often they make sure to push off the fruition of their doom and gloom predictions into the future? Trying to scare the naive youth, I suppose. Get the kids to put pressure on the older folks and protect themselves from embarrassment in the present.)

And how's this for desperate?

In Chicago, climate change brings maggots

BWHAHAHAHA!

Fortunately, there are a few bright lights out there:

Climate Change and Corn in North Dakota
"Over the past year-and-a-half, the mainstream media has taken note of increasing corn production in North Dakota since the early 2000s. And, of course, climate change is trotted out as the cause (i.e., the supposed warming is leading to more favorable growing conditions), but—as is far too often the case—much of the journalism is lacking a complete characterization of what is going on.

We can start with this quote from a story that appeared in The Bismarck Tribune last November:

According to studies by North Dakota State Climatologist and North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network Director Adnan Akyuz, the average annual temperature in North Dakota has increased by 0.27 degrees in the last 10 years. Because of the temperature increase, the length of the growing season has increased 17.5 days in the last century.

The average annual temperature in North Dakota most certainly has not increased by 0.27 degrees in the last 10 years. The regression between 2003 and 2012 is massively non-significant (p-value=0.9; almost a perfect non-correlation), and from 2004 to 2013 the correlation was actually negative (i.e., cooling) but still highly non-significant. In other words, there has been absolutely no trend in North Dakota’s average annual temperature over the past decade.

[---]

Here are some quotes from the media articles I’ve cited already that explain what is really going on:

  • “advancements in biotechnology and high corn prices are pushing the nation’s Corn Belt northward”

  • “hardier seeds are enabling farmers to grow corn in areas once deemed inhospitable to the crop”

  • “Corn prices are about double historical norms, driven by food demand in China and other fast-growing countries, as well as the rise of U.S. ethanol production. Farmer Steve Fritel planted more corn than wheat for the first time this spring. ‘Wheat is profitable; corn is just more profitable,’ said the 58-year-old, who farms about 4,000 acres near Rugby with his son Brad.”

  • “Excluding labor and management costs, farmers here in north-central North Dakota will earn about $126 per acre in profit from corn this year, about double the expected return of $65 an acre for wheat, said Dwight Aakre, an extension economist at North Dakota State University.”
  • “Corn is a higher grossing crop than either soybeans or wheat. In 2008, corn created $464/acre of cropland, which is $95/acre more than the second highest crop in wheat, and $192/acre more than soybeans.”
  • “Researchers have developed corn varieties that mature faster and need less moisture, alleviating concern about the region’s relatively short growing season and variable precipitation.”

Now just remove the climate change related discussions surrounding these quotes in each story and we have a more accurate picture of what is happening with corn production in North Dakota."

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Friday, July 25, 2014

The Best Of Humanity

All those years of communism in Russia couldn't purge the humanity out of the Russians:



Now, if we could just get to work on Putin.

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Flying

I'm beginning to understand why my mother was so afraid of flying. This month has been the month of planes falling out of the sky:

Plane returns to Pearson after threat


And other shit
.

No sooner had I published this post than this appears:

Scared to fly? Recent news of crashes validate fears, psychologist says, but it's never been safer, say experts










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Go Kurdistan!!

Iraqi Kurdish oil nears US port despite concern in Washington

WTF does "Washington" want? That the Kurds should starve? They are blessed with a commodity the world wants and needs. Why shouldn't they be able to sell it? Moreover, they are far more friendly with the West than most of the countries in the region.

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From Michael Yon

Huge Protests in West Bank Over Israeli Offensive in Gaza
"The Toll in Gaza and Israel, Day by Day

The daily tally of rocket attacks, airstrikes and deaths in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Latest totals updated July 25
3,209
targets in Gaza
struck by Israel
800
Palestinian deaths
2,153
rockets launched at Israel from Gaza
36
Israeli deaths"
Oh, but that's not "proportional". /sarc

GO ISRAEL! 

Too bad Israel is so damned civilized.  I'd like to see them turn Gaza into a parking lot!

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Media Bias

Someone finally takes the media to task:



And the truth finally stares the UN in the face.

Pretty hard to deny it.

The times, they are a changing:



I don't think this is what Bobby Zimmerman had in mind through. I wonder what he would think if he were alive today?

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For Men Only

Double BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Vive la France!

French Prime Minister Denounces Anti-Zionism as Anti-Semitism
"Against the backdrop of large anti-Semitic riots in Paris, and the murder of four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels by a French Muslim killer (Emphasis mine), Mehdi Nemmouche, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls made a resoundingly firm connection between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism that other world leaders—and many Jews—are afraid to make. As is his style, he went straight to the point: “Anti-semitism, this old European disease,” he said in a speech, has taken “a new form. It spreads on the Internet, in our popular neighborhoods, with a youth that has lost its points of reference, has no conscience of history, and who hides itself behind a fake anti-Zionism.”

The occasion was the 72th anniversary of the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup—the arrest of 13.000 Jews in Paris, by the French police under German authorities during World War II on the 16th and 17th of July, 1942. Valls’ strong, clear words are a breakthrough that separates him from the general complacency on the subject among most European politicians—and separates France from its growing reputation as a beacon of hate.

The Prime Minister justified his decision to forbid last Saturday’s “anti-israeli” demonstration by stating that the recent acts of violence against Jews “justify the choice to forbid,” and not the other way around, as so many critics had claimed. And without naming Dieudonné, the minister attacked the rancid French performer when he pleaded that “the historical reality of the Shoah should not be denied, or diminished.(…) To laugh at the Shoah is to insult the dead.”

Before those words, Valls reminded his countrymen of the responsibility of the French state, under Pétain’s government, for the fate of France’s Jews during the fatal years of the Occupation. “The honor of a Nation is to recognize what once was his disgrace.” he said hinting at France’s long-time denial of its responsibility during the Holocaust. “The disgrace of France is to have been a accomplice of the occupier when it sent to a sure death women, men and children, because they were Jews.” He also praised the (right wing) ex-president Jacques Chirac for being the first to officially recognize France’s responsibility in his address at the 1995 commemoration. That day, said Valls, Chirac “had the courage to free us from ourselves.”

It was a strong speech and, given the context, it took real courage for Valls to stand up and say words that other European politicians have been too cowardly to speak. Friends of France who have been nauseated by the growing wave of violence against Jews, and appalled by the even more common mainstreaming of anti-Zionism as the socially and intellectually acceptable mask for the crude anti-Semitism of the streets, can take heart from Valls’ words."

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'Nuff Said

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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Cute. Cute. Cute.

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Where Do You Stand?

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

I Wonder What Baby Trudeau Thinks?



You'll note these were the words of a Dipper guest on a CBC program. That qualifies as a double whammy.

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Ahhhhh!!

Too bad, so sad.

Political activities of PEN Canada under investigation
"PEN Canada represents more than 1,000 writers and supporters, including Canadian literary luminaries Margaret Atwood..."
Margaret Atwood is a luminary??!! If we weren't forced to read her garbage in high school, nobody would have heard of her.

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Couldn't Have Put It Better Myself

It Was Only A Matter Of Time

Sunday, July 20, 2014

About That "Global" Warming...

Brisbane records coldest morning in 103 years

Australia: Lowest Temperature

You'll notice the previous record was in 1994.

I know. I know. The industrial revolution just hasn't come to Australia yet. What else could it be? /sarc

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How Is That Possible?

Well, I guess he could also pay large amounts of money to buy the verdict he wanted, too.

'Bunga bunga' showgirl incredulous at Silvio Berlusconi's acquittal
"A showgirl who attended Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties has expressed incredulity that the former prime minister was acquitted of paying for sex with the teenage erotic dancer and alleged prostitute known as Ruby the Heart Stealer.

Imane Fadil, a Moroccan-born model, claimed it was common knowledge among the aspiring actresses and starlets who attended the parties at Mr Berlusconi's villa outside Milan that he would pay large sums of cash in exchange for sex.

Last year the 77-year-old billionaire businessman was convicted of paying for sex with the then 17-year-old dancer and sentenced to seven years in prison.

But he appealed and on Friday a higher court overturned the conviction and also acquitted him of the second charge he faced – abuse of office.

"From seven years to zero – how is that possible?" Ms Fadil, 29, said in an interview on Sunday with La Repubblica newspaper."

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More Evidence

Gaza Public Rejects Hamas, Wants Ceasefire

RTWT. There's too much to cut an paste only the most cogent points.

That's the trouble with elections. You get what you deserve. Better luck next time, if there is a next time.

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Doctrine Of Proportionality Explained

Since the most recent round of hostilities between Hamas and Israel a lot of pixels have been plastered on monitors. This is the best I've found yet:
"Proportionality in international law is not about equality of death or civilian suffering, or even about [equality of] firepower. Proportionality weighs the necessity of a military action against suffering that the action might cause to enemy civilians in the vicinity.

“Under international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute, the death of civilians during an armed conflict, no matter how grave and regrettable does not constitute a war crime…. even when it is known that some civilian deaths or injuries will occur. A crime occurs if there is an intentional attack directed against civilians (principle of distinction) or an attack is launched on a military objective in the knowledge that the incidental civilian injuries would be clearly excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage (principle of proportionality).” — Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court."- "“The greater the military advantage anticipated, the larger the amount of collateral damage — often civilian casualties — which will be “justified” and “necessary.”"
[---]
"Even among Israel’s friends – and some Israelis – a “yes, but…” response is common. “Yes” Hamas started it; “Yes” Hamas puts military infrastructure in civilian neighborhoods; “Yes” Israel is entitled to self-defense, “Yes” the Israelis warn Palestinians. “But” more than 240 Palestinians have been killed to date and only one Israeli has died directly from rocket fire.

Isn’t that the definition of “disproportionate?” No. It isn’t."
[---]
"Proportionality in international law is not about equality of death or civilian suffering, or even about firepower returned being equal in sophistication or lethality to firepower received. Proportionality weighs the military necessity of an action against the suffering that the action might cause to enemy civilians in the vicinity. A review of expert opinion – none of which was written in relation to Israel – helps to clarify."
[---]
"The principle of proportionality is embedded in almost every national legal system and underlies the international legal order. Its function in domestic law is to relate means to ends… In the conduct of war, when a party commits a lawful attack against a military objective, the principle of proportionality also comes into play whenever there is collateral damage, that is, civilian casualties or damage to a non-military objective… attacks are prohibited if they cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, or damage to civilian objects that is excessive in relation to the anticipated concrete and direct military advantage of the attack. This creates a permanent obligation for military commanders to consider the results of the attack compared to the advantage anticipated."

Exactly as Israel does when it aborts missions after finding civilians used as human shields on rooftops.

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Saturday, July 19, 2014

About That Malaysian Airliner Shot Down...

...over Ukraine, I wonder who was on board that Putin wanted dead? Reminds me of the Korean Airlines disaster. Who said the Cold War was over?

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Che



When I was living living in Alberta, not far away from Edmonton, I frequently would drive past the U of A and I was amazed at the number of students that I would see wearing Che T-shirts. On can only imagine what they were being taught by their professors.

I have Humberto Fontava's book Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him 

There's lots of YouTube Videos of Humberto here and here.


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Siberia Is A Strange Place

First there was Tunguska. Now this.

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Here's The Difference Between Us

“We’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles."

RTWT. Krauthammer destroys a lot of cherished lefty myths.

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Say It Ain't So!!!

Obituary: Archibald (Archie) Andrews, 1941-2014

He was 72.

Did he and Veronica ever get married? I doubt it. That would have destroyed the whole schtick.

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What's Going On?

Palestinian UN rep: “Each and every missile launched against Israel constitutes a crime against humanity”
"In an astonishing moment of candor, the Palestinian representative to the UN Human Rights Council — in explaining the high risk of Palestinians being indicted if the International Criminal Court acquires jurisdiction – has admitted that “each and every” Palestinian missile now being launched against Israeli civilian centers constitutes “a crime against humanity”; that, by contrast, Israel’s own response actions in Gaza “followed the legal procedures” because, as Hamas spokespersons admitted on TV, “the Israelis warned them to evacuate their homes before the bombardment; but, however, “as for the missiles launched from our side, we never warn anyone about where these missiles are about to fall or about the operations we carry out.”"
Are they tired of being the world's pariah?

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Friday, July 18, 2014

Say It Ain't So

Salmon May Adapt in the Face of Climate Change: Fish Adjust to Warm Waters

So, some species adapt. Some face extinction. There's nothing new under the sun. Humans evolved in a very hot climate. I'm sure some of us will survive - IF (and that's a big "if"} the planet is really going that way, which, as you know, I have my doubts.

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Christians In The World

Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum
"Iraqi Christians are fleeing Mosul after Islamist militants threatened to kill them unless they converted to Islam or paid a "protection tax".

A statement issued by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) was read out at the city's mosques.

It called on Christians to comply by midday on Saturday or face death if they did not leave the northern city.

Isis has control of large parts of Syria and Iraq and said last month it was creating an Islamic caliphate.

The ultimatum cited a historic contract known as "dhimma," under which non-Muslims in Islamic societies who refuse to convert are offered protection if they pay a fee, called a "jizya"."
Of course we all know Christians deserve it, don't we. Just ask a leftard.

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Dumb Question

Who Should Broker a Gaza Cease-Fire?

Why not just let Israel get the job done, then there will be the cease fire of all cease fires? But I guess that would be disproportionate. /sarc

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Oh, But The Poor Palestinians /sarc

IDF unearths 22 Gaza tunnels, kills 40 terrorists as ground offensive enters second day
"In one instance, IDF troops exchanged fire with a Palestinian gunman, wounding him. The gunman was subsequently rushed to Soroka Medical Center for treatment."
(ED. Say it ain't so. /sarc)

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BWHAHAHAHAHA!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Yeah Baby...

...get er done.

IDF starts Gaza ground offensive
"Netanyahu's office says purpose of mission is to destroy terror tunnels and seriously harm the infrastructure of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza."
[---]
"Signaling that the initial phase of the ground attack would be limited, a statement put out by the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon directed the IDF to prepare to expand the ground operation.

The statement said the security cabinet approved the operation after Israel agreed to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal on Tuesday, which Hamas rejected. In addition, the statement said, Hamas even fired rockets during Thursday’s five-hour humanitarian cease-fire.

The dramatic decision followed, by less than 24-hours, an attempted massive attack by 13 terrorists who burrowed into Israel through a tunnel near Kibbutz Sufa, but were discovered and repelled. “In light of Hamas’s continuous criminal aggression, and the dangerous infiltration into Israeli territory, Israel is obligated to act in defense of its citizens,” the statement said.

The statement said Operation Protective Edge, now in its 11th day, will continue until its goals are reached: restoring quiet for an extended period of time, and delivering a significant blow to Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza."
[---]
"Hamas bombarded Israel with rockets after the humanitarian truce ended, firing more than 100 projectiles after 3 p.m. Eighty-one rockets hit open areas, two struck built-up areas, damaging two homes, and 20 were intercepted by the Iron Dome air-defense system."
[---]
The IDF warned civilians in Gaza to leave their homes and make their way from less populated areas to the Strip’s major cities.

Close to 100,000 leaflets containing the message were dropped over the territory and hundreds of thousands of people received recorded phone messages warning them to vacate villages."

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India Enters The Fray

Indian government rejects anti-Israel resolution, hinting wider policy shift

India has 17+% of the world's population, and growing or 1.2 billion and Gaza has 1.4 million, and shrinking.

Seems the Pals have really stepped in it, this time. The only "friend" they have left is Iran.

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Another Wow!

Keep an eye out for this rally, to be held three days hence:

India With Israel Rally

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Wow!

Stunning admission from the Palestinian UN representative!! This is stunning both because it comes from a Palestinian and from the UN:

Palestinian UN rep: “Each and every missile launched against Israel constitutes a crime against humanity”
"In an astonishing moment of candor, the Palestinian representative to the UN Human Rights Council — in explaining the high risk of Palestinians being indicted if the International Criminal Court acquires jurisdiction – has admitted that “each and every” Palestinian missile now being launched against Israeli civilian centers constitutes “a crime against humanity”; that, by contrast, Israel’s own response actions in Gaza “followed the legal procedures” because, as Hamas spokespersons admitted on TV, “the Israelis warned them to evacuate their homes before the bombardment; but, however, “as for the missiles launched from our side, we never warn anyone about where these missiles are about to fall or about the operations we carry out.”"



Is a sea change just around the corner?

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Gotta Love This Headline

Trudeau serves up the same ‘honest broker’ mush on Israel
"Speaking for the party, foreign affairs critic Marc Garneau issued the standard Liberal trope urging “all parties to without delay seek an immediate ceasefire,” as though Israel hasn’t been demanding it almost since the day it ceded control over Gaza many years ago. (Indeed, Israel accepted an Egyptian ceasefire proposal on Tuesday, and Hamas kept right on shooting.) The statement completely ignores the fact that Israel has been bombarded routinely with rocket fire from Gaza, aimed at civilian targets, and both Israel and to varying degrees Egypt have had to consistently work to interrupt the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the area.As the kimono slowly opens on the nouveau Trudeau Liberals, this time on foreign policy and the party’s position on the Hamas attacks launched against Israel, it’s becoming quite apparent that what’s supposedly new is just more stale bread in the Liberal political pantry."
[---]
He (PM Stephen Harper) said, “The indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza are terrorist acts, for which there is no justification. It is evident that Hamas is deliberately using human shields to further terror in the region.” And then he went on the say that “Canada calls on its allies and partners to recognize that these terrorist attacks are unacceptable and that solidarity with Israel is the best way of stopping the conflict.”

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When They're Killing Each Other....

...don't stop them:

Why the Islamic State isn’t in any rush to attack Israel
"The organization formerly known as ISIS has made clear that fighting Shi’ite Muslims is its top priority."

Related: Kurds re-discover their old ally Israel
"Kurdish oil has been sailing for weeks across the Mediterranean, looking for a buyer. Finally. a country that will take it in has been found,.."
Good to see they can get their oil out. Good to see it's Israel that's buying it. I never dreamed Turkey would cooperate, though. Must be some good money changing hands.

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Old Rockers...

...sometimes make sense, even if their music didn't:


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The Oft Forgotten Minority In Israel

The Most Controversial Priest in Israel
"Christian priest in Israel is at the center of an escalating Facebook battle—complete with death threats—after calling on Christian-Arab teens to start volunteering for the Israeli army.

Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek-Orthodox priest from the town of Nazareth, is openly calling on Christians to start doing something they have almost never done: join the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). Most Arab-Christians, a minority within the Arab minority in Israel, consider themselves Palestinians, and joining the Israeli military is seen as taboo.

Which is why Nadaf and the small group of ex-army Christians around him have been the target of a Facebook campaign by Arab Christians in recent months. Last week, someone posted a wanted sign with Nadaf’s picture on it, offering a reward on his head. It also offers a sum of money for his deputy, who served as an Israeli paratrooper."
This is, after all, the birthplace of Christianity.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Love It! Love It! Love It!

What John Baird says to a CBC reporter at the 4:39 mark:

"You're a member of our national broadcaster. We deserve better questions than that."

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Save Your Breath, Mr. Ambassador

I Told Ya So!

TOLD YA SO! Egypt is publicly supporting Israel and hoping they will “destroy Hamas once and for all”



There's just one thing, though. After years and years and years of Arab Nationalism and its concomitant hatred and hostility to Israel, it's gonna take me a few years to really believe a corner has been turned. I know there's signs, but I remember the Prague Spring. The Slovaks had to wait nearly a quarter of a century before democracy emerged and communism fell. Mind you, there's no one around to invade and put down the movement, except maybe Iran, and their people would likely overthrow the regime should that happen.

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A Journalist I Could Actually Like



I've actually read/viewed a lot of things in the last few days that popular sentiment is shifting in the Arab world. They are sick and tired of Hamas and the whole Palestinian-Israeli conflict and are blaming Hamas for starting this one. Since all journalism in the Middle East (outside of Israel) is state controlled, I have to ask: Will wonders ever cease? Could it be a result of the Arab Spring?

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Lame Ducks At Large

Monday, July 14, 2014

Lame Ducks In Washington, DC

Netanyahu Calls Out Team Obama And Says Israel Will Never Give Up The West Bank
"Citing John Kerry by name, PM says he knows best about keeping Israel safe, and won’t allow West Bank to become ‘another 20 Gazas’"
[---]
"On the fourth day of Operation Protective Edge, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a strong and sternly open rebuke to John Kerry, Barack Obama, and any one else who would seek to pressure Israel to relinquish control over the West Bank."
[---]
"Netanyahu said passionately, “I told John Kerry and General Allen, the Americans’ expert: We live here, I live here, I know what we need to ensure the security of Israel’s people.”

“Adjacent territory has huge importance,” Netanyahu said, and could be used by terrorists to dig tunnels and to fire rockets. The closer terrorists can get to Israel’s borders, he said, the more rockets they fire — as the current conflict was proving."

Israel Defies John Kerry: We WILL Destroy the Terorists(sic) Attacking Us
"The only thing worse than losing lives in warfare is rendering those sacrifices valueless by ending the war without achieving the results necessary to sustain a lasting peace afterwards. That’s a lesson that seems lost on the Obama administration, as they have demonstrated in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now, Israel.

Israel has been bombarding numerous Hamas-controlled sites in Gaza in an attempt to eradicate the terrorist group’s ability to launch rocket strikes–often at civilian targets–deep within Israeli territory. The always-present regional tension erupted into violence recently when Hamas kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers–one of whom held dual citizenship in the United States.

Responding to Secretary of State John Kerry’s bid to work with both Israel and Hamas to negotiate a truce, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said that a cease-fire prior to negating the ability of Hamas to recommence rocket attacks at any time would be “a mistake.”"
[---]
"A truce today would leave Hamas with the personnel and materiel it would need to restart the violence at a time of its choosing, again threatening an unknown number of civilian casualties and collateral damage. Leaving intact Hamas’s ability to commit future attacks will not stabilize the region; just the opposite is true.

Israel is right to stand against the radical Islamist terrorists of Hamas, and the United States should stand firmly with her."

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Muslim Israelis

Muslim Cleric: Israel Defends Us from Hamas Missiles
"The Mukhtar (Islamic religious leader) of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher on Monday praised Israel for defending the city – and particularly the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount – from Hamas rockets.

Just days after wide-scale riots by Jerusalem Arabs over the murder of Arab youth Mohammed Al-Khder, Zuheir Hamadan said that Hamas, which claimed to be “defending” the Arabs of Jerusalem, was doing quite the opposite.

“Israel is the one defending Al-Aqsa from the missiles of Hamas,” Hamadan said. Speaking to Israel Radio's Arabic service, Hamadan said that Hamas' seemingly careless firing of missiles endangered Muslim holy places, as well as Arabs, who live and work in all parts of the country."

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Question

What would Jesus do, if Germany won the World Cup?

Answer: Lighten up.

Christ the Redeemer in German colors

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Sunday, July 13, 2014

Oooookay

Why I'm on the brink of burning my Israeli passport
"I can no longer stand by while Israeli politicians like Ayelet Shaked condone the deaths of innocent Palestinian women and children"
[---]
"I know what it is to have been helpless victims, living and dying under racist oppressors’ boots, and I know that today’s Israelis are no longer the victims but the perpetrators of the current crisis. Yes, Hamas are dreadful hate-filled killers and woe betide Israel had they had the wherewithal to carry out their intentions. But the fact remains that it is Israel which has the tanks, bombers, artillery, nuclear warheads and missile defences of Goliath, while ordinary Gazans had nothing a week ago and even less today, as even hospitals and schools were bombed.

Shaked got what she wanted: the death toll in Gaza is nearing 100, one in four being children. Hundreds more have serious injuries in a place where hospitals have also been bombed and medical essentials are running out."
Hospitals and schools, huh.

And just why is it that the Pals have nothing? Do you think it may be because the expend so many of their resources on rocket launchers and stuff? Could it be this? This? This? Or this?

And perhaps, just perhaps, hospitals and schools are targeted because that's where Hamas chooses to launch their rockets from. Dingbat.

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Interesting!!

UPDATED:
Rocket barrage targets Ashkelon area, breaking hours of quiet
"Iron Dome intercepts seven rockets over Ashkelon and Hof Ashkelon, after several hours of quiet as Germany and Argentina face off at the World Cup final."

"Several rockets have just been fired at Ashkelon and the Gaza periphery, breaking about two hours of calm during the World Cup match.

The match is now entering overtime after 90 scoreless minutes, but the terrorists apparently could not wait until the game ended."
Soccer is way more important.

================Original Starts Here===============

Don't know what to make of this other than it sure is interesting:

In the Arab world, does World Cup soccer trump the Gaza war?
"The situation in Iraq, the Islamic State (IS), the war in Syria, and the World Cup in Brazil are grabbing the attention, expert says.

While violent clashes between Israel and the Palestinians tend to attract a disproportionate amount of the Arab world’s attention, the current war between Hamas in Gaza and Israel seems to be getting less responsiveness.

Arab newspapers are still giving top coverage to the conflict, but it is not appearing to be dominating the news as other ongoing conflicts in the Arab world are still getting lots of coverage."
[---]
"“Hamas wants to get over the World Cup and grab the world's attention,” added Kedar.

In addition, as if that were not enough, there is the ongoing turmoil in Libya, Lebanon, and Yemen which are drawing attention away from Gaza. The intra-Islamist conflict, particularly that between the jihadist groups IS and al-Qaida. And speculation over a Kurdish declaration of independence.

Then, there is the talks between world powers and Iran over the country’s nuclear program - and this - within the context of the regional Shi’ite-Sunni conflict."
I guess with the old guard dictators club now largely gone, there's nobody to feed them a steady diet of anti-Israel rhetoric. But what to make of the fixation with Muslim on Muslim conflict? I know there is no love lost between the Arab world and Iran, but which side are they rooting for?

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Grandson #3


At three and a half months.

Single-handedly keeping red-headedness alive.

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Wednesday, July 09, 2014

In My Entry Below...

...I wondered what Iran would do. It seems I've asked the wrong question. It should have been "What has Iran done?"

Iran spawns new jihadist group in Gaza
"Out of the Palestinian unity deal forged between Hamas and Fatah earlier this month, a new splinter has formed. Hesn is a shadowy Iran-backed jihadist faction in the Gaza Strip. The group's name is an acronym for Harakat as-Sabeereen Nasran li-Filastin, or "The Movement of the Patient Ones for the Liberation of Palestine."

Iran's Hand in Gaza
"More than 200 Palestinian rockets have descended on Israel in recent days, triggering an Israeli counteroffensive that was still taking shape as we went to press Tuesday. But as the drama plays out in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, it's worth noting the role Iran—now under new and allegedly moderate leadership—has played in this latest spasm of violence.

In March, Israeli naval commandos interdicted a Panamanian-flagged ship, the Klos C, off the Sudanese coast in the Red Sea. The ship's cargo contained 40 M-302 surface-to-surface rockets, 181 mortar shells and some 400,000 rounds of 7.62 caliber ammunition—all concealed under bags of Iranian cement. The weapons were almost certainly intended for Iran's terrorist clients in Gaza."
[---]
"The panel concluded: "The shipment of arms and related material found aboard the Klos C is a violation of Iran's obligations under paragraph 5 of resolution 1747," referring to an embargo on Iranian arms transfers imposed by the Security Council in 2007. The panel didn't weigh in on the ultimate intended recipient of the shipment, yet previous such shipments have made their way to Gaza."

Iran connection: Why are Gaza rockets reaching so deep into Israel?
"A recent United Nations report, still classified, confirms that Iran is implicated in exporting longer-range missiles to the region, such as the M-302 rockets launched from Gaza."
[---]
"Evidence that Hamas is firing more sophisticated weapons at Israel – including longer-range rockets – than in past conflicts is focusing a new light on Iran’s role in arming the militant organization.

As Israel is contending with rockets launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza that are reaching deeper into its territory, a classified United Nations Security Council report concludes that a shipment of weapons intercepted by Israel on a cargo boat in the Red Sea last March originated in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

At the time, Iranian officials denied any knowledge of the arms, which were found in 20 crates buried under bags of cement. Iran is barred from exporting weaponry under an arms embargo approved by the Security Council in 2007." (Emphasis mine)
Kinda inspires confidence in the Useless Nations, don't it.
"...one reason the arms shipment – and the Security Council Sanctions Committee’s report on it – are drawing interest now is that under the bags of cement and among thousands of rounds of ammunition were tucked several dozen M-302 rockets. It’s the same longer-range, larger-payload rocket that Israel reports has been fired from Gaza in the current fighting."
Israel Isn't Eager For A Big Escalation In Gaza But Might Get One Anyway
"Hamas operates in plainclothes and launches rockets from civilian areas, all but ensuring that any major operation in Gaza will have civilian causalities-"
[---]
"The 2012 Israeli campaign against Gaza was mostly aimed at destroying a stockpile of Iranian-made Fajr 5 long-range missiles that arrived in the Gaza Strip through Egypt and Sudan. These rockets were capable of hitting both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and Israeli policymakers considered them to be a potential game-changer."
[---]
"A direct hit on Tel Aviv or Jerusalem might also leave Netanyahu with little choice but to launch a large-scale operation. So might another week with scores of rockets launched at Israel per day. This map tweeted by a pro-Palestinian twitter activists suggests that the rockets have already hit most of the populated areas around Gaza:

Interesting map showing the range of Hamas' (Iranian supplied) weapons.
View image on Twitter
"...so far, damage from the rocket attacks has been minimal. There's a chance that Hamas or some faction within the organization is attempting to bait Israel into a conflict for its own internal or strategic reasons, or that the Qassam Brigades are acting independently of the rest of Hamas's highly fractured leadership structure. There's simply too much uncertainty for Netanyahu to want to act, along with too great of a potential downside.

But this calculus could be a few hundred rockets — or even just a couple of direct hits — away from shattering."

More here.

And, of course, Iran is feigning outrage:

 Iran censures Israel’s attacks on Gaza

Iran urges end to ‘human catastrophe’ in Gaza

Iran Strongly Condemns Intensified Israeli Attacks on Gaza

Why do I have the feeling WWIII is about to break out? I have a feeling, if it does break out, several Arab nations will sit this one out while quietly cheering on the West. They want Iran defanged and are happy to let someone else do it for them. (Not that they could do anything.) And perhaps, the US of A will sit this one out. The One is not about to go to war against his brethren.




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This Usually Ends Badly...

...for the Arabs. YOU GO ISRAEL!

Hamas tries to target Dimona nuclear reactor with rockets
"Peres says Gaza ground offensive ‘may happen quite soon’; as Gaza death toll rises, Abbas accuses Israel of ‘genocide’; rockets land near Zichron Yaakov, 120 km north of Strip, lightly injuring one"
[---]
"Israel’s Operation Protective Edge entered its second day Wednesday after a chaotic first 24 hours. Terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip fired over 150 rockets into Israel, reaching farther into the country than ever before, and Israeli Air Force jets and Navy ships bombarded Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, putting the groups’ leadership in the crosshairs."
[---]
"Hamas is waging war on the psyche of the Israeli public.

That is the root of terrorism: the spread of fear. The rockets, though, with Iron Dome operating at a reported 90 percent success rate, have been somewhat defanged."
Waiting to see what Iran does.

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Monday, July 07, 2014

Wow!!!

The Assiniboine River overflows it's banks.

I wonder if the Climate Change CAGW crowd will blame this on CO2?

Here's a little article about the history of the Red River flooding. (The Assiniboine flows into the Red in the centre of Winnipeg.)
"Henry Youle Hind, writing about an expedition to the Red River in 1857, reported that known floods had occurred in 1776, 1790, 1809, 1826 and 1852."
1776? They won't like that.

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Sunday, July 06, 2014

Who Ya Gonna Believe?"

Climate change means more storms, more risk of coastal erosion
"“All the available evidence we have suggests that the storms are getting more frequent, they’re getting stronger, they’re statistically an earlier occurrence,”..."
What Obama Has Wrong on Climate Change
"As observed by Roger Pielke Jr., a scientist who testified before Congress last July: “It is misleading, and just plain incorrect, to claim that disasters associated with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or droughts have increased on climate timescales either in the United States or globally.”"
I know where I fall. And here's why.

It's politics, not science, driving climate mania: Why are environmentalists and scientists so reluctant to discuss long-term increases in southern hemisphere sea ice?
"For years, computer simulations have predicted that sea ice should be disappearing from the Poles.

Now, with the news that Antarctic sea-ice levels have hit new highs, comes yet another mishap to tarnish the credibility of climate science.

Climatologists base their doom-laden predictions of the Earth’s climate on computer simulations.

But these have long been the subject of ridicule because of their stunning failure to predict the pause in warming – nearly 18 years long on some measures – since the turn of the last century.

It’s the same with sea ice. We hear a great deal about the decline in Arctic sea ice, in line with or even ahead of predictions.

But why are environmentalists and scientists so much less keen to discuss the long-term increase in the southern hemisphere?

In fact, across the globe, there are about one million square kilometres more sea ice than 35 years ago, which is when satellite measurements began.

It’s fair to say that this has been something of an embarrassment for climate modellers. But it doesn’t stop there.

In recent days a new scandal over the integrity of temperature data has emerged, this time in America, where it has been revealed as much as 40 per cent of temperature data there are not real thermometer readings.

Many temperature stations have closed, but rather than stop recording data from these posts, the authorities have taken the remarkable step of ‘estimating’ temperatures based on the records of surrounding stations.

So vast swathes of the data are actually from ‘zombie’ stations that have long since disappeared. This is bad enough, but it has also been discovered that the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is using estimates even when perfectly good raw data is available to it – and that it has adjusted historical records.

Why should it do this? Many have noted that the effect of all these changes is to produce a warmer present and a colder past, with the net result being the impression of much faster warming.

They draw their conclusions accordingly.

Naturally, if the US temperature records are indeed found to have been manipulated, this is unlikely to greatly affect our overall picture of rising temperatures at the end of the last century and a standstill thereafter.

The US is, after all, only a small proportion of the globe.

Similarly, climatologists’ difficulties with the sea ice may be of little scientific significance in the greater scheme of things.

We have only a few decades of data, and in climate terms this is probably too short to demonstrate that either the Antarctic increase or the Arctic decrease is anything other than natural variability.

But the relentless focus by activist scientists on the Arctic decline does suggest a political imperative rather than a scientific one – and when put together with the story of the US temperature records, it’s hard to avoid the impression that what the public is being told is less than the unvarnished truth.

As their credulity is stretched more and more, the public will – quite rightly – treat demands for action with increasing caution…"








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Quintessentially Canadian

Mountain - Mole Hill - Lamestream Media

The lamestream media is at it again, making a big deal out of Aussie PM's slip of the tongue in mis-pronouncing Canada. Big freaking deal. At least he knows we're not the fifty-first state.

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Saturday, July 05, 2014

Lord Monckton Again

Haven't heard from him for quite a while.

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Thursday, July 03, 2014

Babies And Cuteness

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Thinking Of Iraq Again

I think I've posted this before, but it's worth a repeat.



More.

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Looking Back

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Have You Noticed?...

...So many articles on the net concerning global warming show photos of smoke belching out of chimney stacks? Like these for instance. Often the same ones.

And this one:

Global Warming Minnesota

I'll betcha greenie weenies would be very surprised to learn that CO2 is a colourless gas. Just part of the scam.

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Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Persecution Of Christians?

CBC Has Some "Splainin'" To Do

Haida Gwaii underwater archeological expedition returns
"Underwater archeologists with Parks Canada have returned from an expedition that took them below the surface in B.C.'s Haida Gwaii region.

The team spent two weeks using a combination of high-tech underwater tools and scuba diving to look for historic artifacts in Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve.

Jonathan Moore, one of the archeologists, says they found remains of structures such as piers and wharves that were once connected to mining villages, fish canneries and other industrial sites."
What???? You mean sea levels have risen before?? You better ask your in house expert, David Suzuki, to explain.

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Happy Canada Day!







O Cana-duh!

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