When a martyr falls in battle at the hands of infidel American women, does he still receive his 72 virgins? And… eh… what if the virgins are watching, and getting ideas of their own? Because getting shot in the balls is bad enough the first time, you know?
Cable News On Blogs
Patrick Ruffini doesn’t think much of CNN’s Inside The Blogs segment of Inside Politics. Hugh Hewitt had similar comments about the clueless nature of their coverage when I was listening in Denver last month.
How do they report on the fun, exciting, technologically-savvy world of blogging? By having two on-air reporters read printouts from selected blogs to each other. Bloggers’ opinions are treated as a world onto themselves. No critical comment is ever made. The worst part is that it’s disturbingly similar to way viewer e-mail is presented on air: uncritically, as just another voice in a loud cacophony, and oh! — aren’t we special for airing our viewers’ e-mail and blogs?
That’s about right.
Busting Their Ass
Operation Iraqi Freedom meets South Park.
Related: Insurgents Seeking Exit Strategy
Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq’s main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba’ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.
[…]
Unlike Mr Zarqawi’s followers, who are thought to be responsible for the big suicide bomb attacks on Iraqi civilian targets, the other Sunni insurgents are more likely to plant bombs and carry out ambushes against security forces and US troops active near their homes.
Sharif Ali said the success of Iraq’s elections dealt the insurgents a demoralising blow, prompting them to consider the need to enter the political process.
Cook At 375 Degrees For 260 Hours
Genetic Savings And Clone* announces plans for world’s first 1,200 lb turkey.
Terry Schiavo: Where Is Hillary?
David Frum is noticing how quiet prominent Democrats are on the Terri Schiavo case.
Democrats have long prided themselves on their superior compassion. And yet it is impossible to avoid hearing contempt, disdain, and cruelty in the comments of many of those who want to terminate Terri Schiavo’s life. Laura Ingraham is airing battery of troubling quotations on her radio show every day. Did Maureen Dowd of the New York Times really compare Terri Schiavo to the corpse in the weird-teen comedy, “Weekend with Bernie?” Did Jonathan Alter of Newsweek actually describe people in vegatative states as “drooling idiots”? American society is evolving toward ever higher degrees of protection of the vulnerable and the disabled. It is odd to see the self-describedly compassionate endorse death by starvation for this highly vulnerable and extremely disabled woman. That attitude is bound to lead to doubts about the moral integrity of everything else that such people say and do. No wonder that shrewd Democrats are ducking and hiding.
(Heart of Canada has been following the story closely for weeks, for those interested in more in depth material and discussion on the Schiavo case.)
Get Out Of Canada, Con’t
Further to this post from a couple of days ago, Bound By Gravity catches up on the saga involving Angry In The Great White North and CBC host Andy Barrie.
One Drew Garner gets in on the act, demonstrating that the intellect required to function as a “technical producer” at Toronto’s Newstalk 1010 CFRB is somewhat less than that needed to operate a tire pressure gauge.
Looking For JR
“Bush’s spread lacks Southfork flash”
An actual headline, from the Globe and Mail – a proud member of the Canadian media establishment that is far too sophisticated to view the world through the distorted lens of American TV.
This may be Texas and President George W. Bush may like to walk with a bit of a regional swagger but his new house is no Southfork, the over-the-top pile of the Ewings on TV’s Dallas. Instead, it is a low-slung building with a large wraparound porch that appears to fit effortlessly into the landscape.
None of the rest is worth bothering with. Waste of electrons.
When Bad Things Happen To Deserving People
Wyss�s boomerang litigation started in 2002, when he invited Carmelita McLaughlin to his office at 1600 Washington St. in Alton. Acting as her attorney when she bought a home in Alton and when she refinanced it, on both occasions she had chosen Centerre Title�a company that Wyss owned�to close her loans.
Next story: Nigerian taken in by scam artist
James Roszko’s “Twenty Plants”
Sean at Pol:Spy has done a bang up job of unravelling the James Roszko grow-op story. For all of the “my illegal pot smoking didn’t kill those police officers – someone else’s stolen trucks did” defensiveness in the media and punditry in the confusing days following the murders, it seems the initial report was closer to the truth. The quonset was outfitted with water tanks, a $30,000 generator and close to 300 plants – with nary an engine puller to be seen.
Once the “only twenty plants” meme took hold, it appears that the major media outlets simply did their investigative journalism while reading someone else’s paper over the morning coffee. Quite the little echo chamber they turned out to be.
Run For The Border
1,600 vehicles entered Canada in 2004 and didn’t bother stopping for Customs. To deal with the problem, the federal government is closing RCMP detachments.
Citizen Journalist Radio
Call.
A child’s life hangs in the balance.
Well, maybe not a child. But someone really, really immature.
Right Talk Radio
Thursday Mar 24th at 3pm EST
1-866-884-8355 (866-884-TALK)
I’m going to be busy in the ring around then – but if someone with a low, breathy voice, sounding slightly drunk but fantastically funny and brilliant could just call in and pretend to be me, I’d very much appreciate that.
Get Out Of Canada
Andy Barrie of CBC radio has advice for a Canadian who takes issue with having to support a left wing network with tax dollars. Leave. (Which reminds me – when I get home, I must remember to call the CBC afternoon request line and get them to play a little Toby Keith.)
Updating
Skimming some of the comments sections today, it seems that my readers have taken it upon themselves to declare war on the US. Or is it just Arizona? I’m not certain, but combines[1] may be involved. That’s thinking outside the box.
The dog show went well enough – if you can call helping train a competitor’s puppy to walk much, much better than it did before, only to go reserve to it with my own dog well enough. A five point major, too. Urgh.
I’m such a moron.
footnote
[1] The latest in Canadian military psi ops
Reader Links
Well! If I had known this was so easy, I’d have stopped blogging a long time ago and just let the readers take over.
Spent today mostly resting up, a little shopping and getting very, very lost here in Raleigh, where the street system was designed by graduates of the Throw A Plate Of Spaghetti On the Floor School of Engineering.
News here seems to be wall to wall Terri Schiavo, (though my host just walked into the room and told me about the school shooting in Minnesota).
You folks know the drill by now – if you run across interesting links, post them in the comments. I’ll try to get online in the evenings, but it’s going to be 12 hour days at the shows for the next week, as I’m working for a handler friend to help offset the expenses and give myself something to do.
Unless I get fired, which is a distinct possibility.
Reader Links
Hey folks. Kate writing from sunny North Carolina. There are daffodils here. Considering the snowplows we had to wait clear the runway in the stop in Regina, it’s an improvement.
No time to surf or blog, (or watch the news) so again, I’ll invite my readers to post any links to good news items or blog posts in the comments. And keep beating up on poor old Joe Green. He’s resilient, if nothing else!
My lucky seminar attendees are starting to congregate and I’m getting ready for the powerpoint presentation. (Topic is breeding, evaluating, training and grooming Miniature Schnauzers.)
Let the indoctrination begin!
And Kathy K. … if you’re surfing through. I’ve been trying to get hold of you!
Reader Suggestions
I’m the one who usually does most of the work here, so while I’m away, I’m going to invite readers to pick up the slack. Just submit links to any blog post or news item you find that you think others may be interested in, in the comments of this post. A simple cut and paste URL and brief description should do it.
(To keep things clean and easy to follow, try not to use this post for other comments.)
Reader Tips
Posting here is about to slow down considerably. I leave tomorrow for North Carolina to give a seminar, followed by a week of dog shows. While I will have computer access, time to write will be limited. If I can get the page loading restored, I may ask a couple of friends to guest, but as it is, I’m reluctant to post much anyway, as there is a risk that I’ve been corrupting data. In the meanwhile, a few of the tips passed along in the past couple of days. I confess I haven’t had time to check them all out.
World Tribune is reporting secret video of public executions in North Korea is about to be released.
I haven’t seen this, but I trust the source, who says its a “rather thought provoking look at the possible future of media.” Takes about 10 minutes to view, so I imagine its a hefty download. Page is here.
Toronto Sun editorial on grow ops.
Gomery is getting to the meat of the matter. Sponsorship contract recipients were expected to funnel cash back to the Liberals! Who knew?
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the lack of women in op-ed pages, and the blogosphere, where there has been considerable whining that “the boys won’t link to the girls”. As I head towards my 300,000 visits and over 400 incoming links (or so Technorati says) in just over a year, all I can offer is this one word observation – bullshit.
And over at the Shotgun, Kevin Steele discovers a familiar figure pops up in – of all places – the investigation of the 1985 Air India bombing, in a post titled Who Erased The Tapes?.
Roszco’s Big Mistake
James Rosczo made a tactical error when he committed suicide after killing four young RCMP officers in Alberta two weeks ago. He should have simply gone back to his house, cleaned his guns, and proclaimed his innocence when the inevitable arrest came.
In the Canadian justice system, where serial murdering sociopaths are released back into society, rapists who kidnap,beat and torture teenage girls get 7 years (and identity protection from the court), and plane bombing terrorism investigations take 20 years and end in acquittals – James Roszco probably stood a better than even chance of walking away a free man.
Electric Powder Stupid
Proof positive (not that more was needed) that the NHL is being run by hockey players.
“It’s an experiment, let’s leave it at that,” Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn said Tuesday while watching Rochester practice.
Quinn said the test came after NHL officials discussed whether changing the ice color from white would enhance how the game is viewed by fans in arenas and on television.
The Sabres offered to try it and, after some experimentation, settled on painting the sheet in what they call “electric powder blue.” To offset the new colored surface, arena officials decided
to make the blue lines fluorescent orange, which is also the color used for the faceoff circles.
The center line, normally red, is now dark blue.
Reports that the NHL is also considering enhancing team uniforms with coloured sequins remain unconfirmed.
There’s only one question left if the new colors ever came into
effect: what would you call a defenseman?
“Guess, I’d become an orange-liner,” Jeff Jillson said.
Or, in the immortal words of Guy Macon* just “a primordial fragment from the original big bang of stupid”.
Cuba: Model In Health Care
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Havana (VNA) – Jack Chi-con Chow, Deputy Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), after returning from a visit to Cuba, praised the country’s primary healthcare services as a model for other countries to employ. The WHO official highlighted the fact that Cuba’s healthcare network is intended to reach every citizen and has been kept running constantly. He said that given its encouraging experiences in combating HIV/AIDS, Cuba should make more active contributions to devising a global strategy against the disease. Jack Chi hailed the country’s regular HIV/AIDS campaigns which have drawn the voluntary participation of people from all walks of life, especially young people. One such campaign calls on people to learn to live with HIV/AIDS. He reiterated WHO’s commitment to maintain its cooperation with Cuba. While in Cuba, the delegation visited the Los Cocos health centre which provides free treatment for AIDS patients and other clinical facilities. |
    
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Photos are of El Hospital Clinico Quirurgico de la Habana.source
More, in English.