The Moral Superiority Of The Left

Moonbats 11 Comments

When I was in North Carolina (just returned home last night at midnight), I caught a brief interview with Jerry Falwell on Fox News about the Terry Shiavo case, where he mentioned he had been on life support earlier this year. He also added that if he had a relapse, he did not want his “plug pulled” and jokingly stated that the interview should be considered his living will. Ironically, only a few days later he is back in the hospital, in critical condition.
I haven’t followed Falwell that closely, though I’m aware he had become the favoured whipping boy of the political and media left for his activism and outspoken views. In a world where provocative and offensive views from the religious left (both Christian and Islamic) are cloaked under terms like “progressive”, “diversity”, “dissent” – or even rewarded politically (see Al Sharpton) I pretty much concluded that most of the criticism of Jerry Falwell had more to do with frustration at the electoral success of the religious right, than it did any genuine outrage over his statements or fundraising activities.
Angry In The Great White North has a selection of comments from Democratic Underground that provide illustration.

“Nah, let him rot on a bed for fifteen years. Then after 15 years of being a veggie, maybe, just maybe, there will be a miracle. Nah.”
“Spunge him, spunge him”

Pathetic. But predictable.

Alive, But Dead

Media 3 Comments

In the fine tradition of “Fake, But Accurate”, CBS erroniously reported on March 28th via their website that Terry Shiavo had died (Radio host Glenn Back grabbed a screen capture (pdf).) – then quietly removed the story absent retraction, correction or apology. (And some claim that bloggers lack “journalistic ethics”…)
One wonders how a news organization with as many resources as CBS could manage to jump the gun so badly on the number one news story of the day – perhaps someone finally noticed the Kinko’s fax number on the leaked “death certificate”?
hat tip OTB

Caning Your Way To Better Mental Health

Little Known Facts 11 Comments

Well, I must admit I like this a lot better than the free heroin treatment approach…

A group of Russian scientists has suggested caning as a treatment for those who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction as well as depression and suicidal tendencies, the Izvestia daily reports.
The name of the report delivered at the international conference on new methods of treating addictions is �Pain affliction as a method of treatment for addictive behavior and other manifestations of non-vitalistic activity�. Scientists claim that drug addiction, alcoholism, suicidal behavior and psychosomatic disorders are all caused by a lack of zest for life. When a patient is caned, the body starts producing endorphins � happiness hormones � and life seems attractive again.

Doc, I feel so much better when it stops!

The scientists claim the effect of the treatment is even greater if a patient is caned by a doctor of the opposite sex.

Or a nurse in black leather.

Is That A Pistol In Your Sleeve?

Penis News 3 Comments

Russian doctors have conducted an 11-hour operation to replace a patient�s deformed penis with one grown on his forearm, the Moskovskiy Komsomolets daily reports.
The 30-year-old Russian man, whose name was changed in the article to protect his privacy, had a defect from birth � his penis was crooked, two-and-a-half-inches long and lacked a scrotum, the newspaper writes.
The doctors had the penis removed and attached to the man�s arm. Using his body tissue it grew to six-and-a-half inches and was sewn back on to his groin.

It must have made for some interesting handshakes.

New Study Confirms The Blatantly Obvious

Moonbats 30 Comments

Washington Post;

College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says.
By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week. The imbalance is almost as striking in partisan terms, with 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identifying themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans.
The disparity is even more pronounced at the most elite schools, where, according to the study, 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.
“What’s most striking is how few conservatives there are in any field,” said Robert Lichter, a professor at George Mason University and a co-author of the study. “There was no field we studied in which there were more conservatives than liberals or more Republicans than Democrats. It’s a very homogenous environment, not just in the places you’d expect to be dominated by liberals.”
[…]
The liberal label that a majority of the faculty members attached to themselves is reflected on a variety of issues. The professors and instructors surveyed are, strongly or somewhat, in favor of abortion rights (84 percent); believe homosexuality is acceptable (67 percent); and want more environmental protection “even if it raises prices or costs jobs” (88 percent). What’s more, the study found, 65 percent want the government to ensure full employment, a stance to the left of the Democratic Party.

To State The Question Is To Answer It

Terrorism 3 Comments

From Hansard,

Mr. Stockwell Day (Okanagan�Coquihalla, CPC): Mr. Speaker, according to Unicef and other international groups, the Tamil Tigers forcibly recruit children and train them to become suicide bombers. Unicef has recorded over 3,500 cases like this.
In Canada the Tamil Tigers raise funds. Our allies, many other governments, have made it a matter of their foreign policy to ban the Tamil Tigers. The recruitment of children has continued even after the tsunami. Why will our government not ban this group?
Hon. Dan McTeague (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the LTTE has been listed in Canada pursuant, as the hon. member knows, to Canada’s United Nations suppression of terrorism regulations since 2001.
I want to point out to the hon. member that this listing makes it an offence for persons in Canada or Canadians outside of Canada to provide funds to the Tamil Tigers, as well as fundraising on its behalf. The hon. member clearly knows this. We will continue on that assumption because it is the right thing to do.
Mr. Stockwell Day (Okanagan�Coquihalla, CPC): Mr. Speaker, that is a separate list and the member well knows that. That is not the list we are
talking about in terms of banning the Tamil Tigers.
I will refer to comments made by a former director of Canada’s intelligence service. He said that our government’s policy of not banning the Tamil Tigers, and they are not banned under the classification that the member just mentioned, even puts the good people of the Tamil community in Canada here at risk. The Tamil Tigers as a group are not banned in Canada.
What does a terrorist group have to do that is more horrific than train
children to become suicide bombers in order to be banned in this country?
Hon. Dan McTeague (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, to state the question is to answer it.
The hon. member knows full well that the government is concerned about
terrorism. It is one of the reasons we have spent a considerable amount of
money toward ensuring that we have safe and secure borders.
The hon. member also understands that there are, in essence, certain
considerations that he is taking into account, including the concern we all
have to ensure that the people of Tamil origin in this country are not
treated as if they are all terrorists.
The hon. member has the same objective that we do, which is to ensure
that we keep a safe country and to work hard to ensure that in Canada we
keep security as the number one issue.

To put it another way – all a terrorist group needs to do to remain off the banned list in Canada is to continue supporting the Liberal Party.

Academic Intolerance At University Of Toronto

Insufferable Twits 12 Comments

Over 100 academics have signed a letter calling for the censorship of Daniel Pipes.
Globe And Mail;

A visit today to the University of Toronto by a controversial U.S. scholar of the Middle East is causing an uproar among academics and students, who say that “hate, prejudice and fear-mongering” do not have a place on campus.
[…]
In an unusual move, more than 80 professors and graduate students wrote an open letter pointing out that Mr. Pipes has a “long record of xenophobic, racist and sexist [speeches] that goes back to 1990.” […] “Genuine academic debate requires an open and free exchange of ideas in an atmosphere of mutual respect and tolerance. We . . . are committed to academic freedom and we affirm Pipes’ right to speak at our university,” the letter states. “However, we strongly believe that hate, prejudice, and fear-mongering have no place on this campus.”

Signed by the Faculty of the U of T Dep’t for Intolerance and Censorship:
1. Prof. Jens Hanssen, Dpts of History and Near and Middle East Civilizations
2. Prof. Carol Chin, Dpt. of History and International Relations Programme
3. Prof. Rick Halpern, Dpt. of History and American Studies
4. Prof. Paul Kingston, Dpt. of Political Science and Near and Middle East Civilizations
5. Prof. Melanie Newton, Dpt. of History and Caribbean Studies

Continue reading →

The High Cost Of Poor Maintenance

Roadkill 5 Comments

James notes an item questioning how this could happen;

A Czech tractor driver died under eight tons of manure in a bizarre accident that has baffled his employers, local media reported. The 34-year old man, identified only as Martin T, suffocated after the load fell on him while he was dumping it in a field near the western Czech city of Karlovy Vary, news Web Site www.novinky.cz reported Sunday. “It absolutely beats me how this could happen,” said Vladimir Erps, chief of the company employing the victim. “The truck is operated from the tractor cabin, using hydraulics. There was nothing for him to do under the truck, but it’s tough to blame him now that he is dead,” the news site quoted him as saying.

I know someone who was killed doing this, in what I suspect was the same manner. The truck’s hydraulics were functional, but the control levers to engage them were not. Thus, the box had to be raised by activating the hydraulics from under the truck. As it did, the weight of the sliding load caused the truck to suddenly move forward (the brakes were defective or disengaged) and he was crushed beneath the rear wheels.

Oh, Kojo

Roadkill 1 Comment

Roger Simon has an Oil-For-Food investigation scoop;

The committee has been interviewing Pierre Mouselli, a businessman in Paris who was Kojo’s business partner. Their relationship started in 1998 when then 45-year old Mouselli met young Kojo (then 23) at a Bastille Day Party in the French Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria. Mouselli, who has been a cooperative witness and is not under investigation himself, has told the committee numerous interesting things, which deserved to be followed up, They include:
1. Previously unrevealed private meetings between Kojo and two separate Iraqi Ambassadors to Nigeria, arranged by Mouselli in or about August 1998. At these meetings Kojo presented the business card of Cotecna, which subsequently won the lucrative oil inspection contract for Oil-for-Food. Cotecna had previously been blacklisted from doing business in Nigeria for alleged arms trafficking.
2. A trip in September 1998 by Mouselli and Kojo to the Non-Aligned Nations Movement Conference in Durban, South Africa during which they traveled with the Secretary General’s entourage and later had a private lunch with Kofi Annan. In Mouselli’s view, the purpose of the lunch was to make the Secretary General aware of the various business dealings in which he and Kojo were engaged, in order to get the Secretary General’s “blessing”. It was Mouselli’s understanding at the time that Kojo had previously discussed the Iraqi Embassy visits with his father, though he does not recall specific statements regarding the UN inspection contracts.

Stay tuned.
March.29 update – Roger Simon is perusing the report.

$200,000 Hooker Budget

Insufferable Twits 11 Comments

A group of MPs studying Canada’s prostitution laws is seeking $200,000 in federal funds to visit European cities with red-light zones and legal brothels. The five-member justice subcommittee plans to visit Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden. Reno, Nevada, is also on the destination list.
“We want to go to Sweden because they have a particular model there where they decriminalize the sex worker, or the prostitute, and they still criminalize the customers,” said NDP MP Libby Davies.
“In the U.K. they actually allow women to work out of their own homes. The Netherlands, of course, is a well-known situation where they have a fully operating area for the sex trade, and I think we’re very interested to see what the impact of that is from various perspectives.”

I suppose that a little “impact” from the “bent over a chair” perspective of the Canadian taxpayer is too much to hope for …

“I Pray For Chaos”

Moonbats 15 Comments

The BBC asks readers; “What Are Your Hopes For Iraq parliament?”
A response that reveals what passes for thought in the anti-American, “morally superior” Canadian left.

I hate to say this to Iraqis, but I pray for chaos and civil war: it’s the only way to stop Bush’s policies and show that peace can never come through force. If Iraq gets peace, Bush wins credibility. It cannot be allowed to happen.
Nina, Toronto, Canada

It could have just as easily been written by any number of Liberal or NDP members of parliament.
hat tip Belmont Club

Don’t Let The Door Hit You, Kofi

Roadkill 11 Comments

Kofi Annan is depressed.

KOFI ANNAN, the United Nations secretary-general, is said to be struggling with depression and considering his future. Colleagues have reported concerns about Annan ahead of an official report this week that will examine his son Kojo�s connection to the controversial Iraqi oil for food scheme.
Depending on the findings of the report, by a team led by the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, Annan may have to choose between the secretary-generalship and loyalty to his son.
[…]
American congressional critics of the UN are already pressing him to resign over the mismanagement of the oil for food programme, and even his supporters have been dismayed by the scandals on his watch, including the sexual abuse of children by UN peacekeepers in Congo.
One close observer at the UN said Annan�s moods were like a �sine curve� and that he appeared near the bottom of the trough.

What the hell. Time to insert a feeding tube.
Just so it can be pulled later.
More on the report out tomorrow. Also – don’t bother looking for this report on either the CBC or CTV websites…
(Don’t forget Friends Of Saddam – your one stop shopping center for Oil-For-Food updates.)

Michael Mandela in “Intense Pain”

Insufferable Twits 1 Comment

[H]e said he believes he is just the latest of several “black luminaries” to be unjustly accused, citing former South African President Nelson Mandela and former heavyweight boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Jack Johnson as others.
[…]
Jackson also said he is in “intense pain” since falling in the shower earlier this month, although he said at another point that his health was perfect. He arrived late to court on March 10, wearing pajama bottoms, a T-shirt and walking stiffly, and his representatives said at the time he had been treated at a hospital for a serious back injury.
“I was coming out of the shower and I fell and all my body weight – I’m pretty fragile – all my body weight fell against my rib cage,” Jackson said. “And I bruised my lung very badly.”
He said the injury has caused him to cough up blood and was so painful that it brought him to tears in court one day when he was seen wiping his eyes with a tissue. He said he remains under a doctor’s care.
When Jesse Jackson noted how thin he is, the pop star replied that he has never been a big eater, something he said has always concerned his mother and others, including actress Elizabeth Taylor, a friend.
“Elizabeth Taylor used to feed me, to hand-feed me, at times,” he said.

Time to yank his feeding tube.

Southern “Frahed” Food

Little Known Facts 8 Comments

Here in North Carolina, even the vegetables serve as saturated fat delivery systems.
On the buffet menu today were deep fried green beans. They accompanied the deep fried chicken, and were topped off with deep fried pastry desserts with fillings, which I was told are called “Frahed Pah”.
I’m going to need a plunger to unclog my arteries.

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