Damned By Faint Praise

12 years, four Sea King crashes and 10 deaths after Chretien cancelled the Mulroney government contract for 50 EH-101 military helicopters,

… the Martin government has announced they have approved the purchase of 27 twin engined S-92’s. By all accounts, this is a magnificent piece of aviation engineering.


For an air taxi.

Response has been enthusiastic. David Rudd, Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies – “glad to get anything.”

The Iranian Threat

Further to this, David Warren at the Ottawa Citizen:

With the sort of arrogance made visible even to Canadians in the recent “trial” of suspects in the murder of Zahra Kazemi, the regime’s officials from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei down have been making bellicose declarations against America, Israel, and the West generally.
“Today we have in our possession long-range smart missiles which can reach many of the interests and vital resources of the Americans and of the Zionist regime in our region,” writes Yadollah Javani, political head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the daily Kayhan, which has become the Iranian “Pravda”.
General Javani was echoing remarks made by Ayatollah Khamenei in Hamadan a week earlier, in more Koranic language. “The entire Islamic Middle East is now a volatile and tangled trap, and will be set off by the smallest bit of silliness,” Javani declares. “Indeed, the White House’s 80 years of exclusive rule are likely to become 80 seconds of Hell.”
Translations on the excellent MEMRI website (see Internet) flesh out such threats. Recent announcements include: the recruitment and training of thousands of Iranian volunteers for suicide attacks against U.S. and other targets in Iraq; the resumption of work on Iran’s long-range Shihab 4 and 5 missiles, capable of reaching targets in Europe and the U.S.; and references to a “master plan” to eliminate “Anglo-Saxon civilization” with missiles and martyrdom, mentioning “29 sensitive targets”.
These threats are not uttered from a cave in the Hindu Kush. They are official Iranian state announcements. The ability of the Western media to ignore them is astounding.

Just a question… how much airtime over the past 6 months do you suppose has been devoted in the national news airwaves to the current NHL player-owner stalemate by CTV and CBC? To Todd Bertuzzi? How many man hours spent bringing us stories about former figureskaters turned boxers? To stupid pet tricks and the threats of sun exposure and uncooked meat?
What are we going to say about the seriousness of our press, when the day comes that a major metropolitan area is laid waste, and we know more about obese film makers than we do the formally sworn enemies of our civilization?
Hat tip – Occam’s Toothbrush

Viacom, Clarke and The 9/11 Report

Republican commissioner John Lehman on the circus that overtook the 9/11 commission hearings when Richard Clarke was testifying;

“I think we were mugged by Viacom,” Lehman told NRO in a phone interview on Thursday afternoon. “Because they changed the release date of the book and geared up 60 Minutes to launch his book to time them with his testimony and they edited his book to take out all of the criticisms of Clinton from his [original private] testimony. Because they wanted to make it a jihad against Bush.”
Lehman says that Clarke’s original testimony included “a searing indictment of some Clinton officials and Clinton policies.” That was the Clarke, evenhanded in his criticisms of both the Bush and Clinton administrations, who Lehman and other Republican commissioners expected to show up at the public hearings. It was a surprise “that he would come out against Bush that way.” Republicans were taken aback: “It caught us flat-footed, but not the Democrats.”
Clarke’s performance poisoned the public hearings, leading to weeks of a partisan slugfest. Lehman says Republican commissioners felt they had to fight back, adding to the partisan atmosphere. “What triggered it was Dick Clarke,” says Lehman. “We couldn’t sit back and let him get away with what he wanted to get away with.” He adds, “We were hijacked by a combination of Viacom and the Kerry campaign in the handling of Clarke’s testimony.”

Gwynne Dyer Moves His Lips

Gwynne Dyer explains the root causes of poverty and female illiteracy in the Arab world;

“… President George W. Bush … West … Western nations … the West … France … U.S. troops … Britain … the CIA … It was Britain that carved … joint Anglo-U.S. project. The British Foreign Office … conspired with France and Israel … West … Washington … U.S. foreign aid … Britain …the West’s purposes. The United States and France … The West … the West … the West…”

(I told you so.)
There’s no mention of literacy rates in Israel.
Odd, that.
hat tip- Pol:Spy

Bill Graham

When the competent David Pratt was removed from his brief tenure as Defense Minister when he lost his seat, the pickings for a worthy replacement were slim. Really slim.
Jaeger on the UN-idolizing, Foreign Affairs embarrassment, Bill Graham;

So rather than restoring the Canadian Forces to something resembling a fighting force capable of defending the nation’s interests we will see the Liberal transformation accelerate. Soon we’ll have an army completely disarmed, staffed exclusively with women and homosexuals engaging in social outreach programs in third world countries, if they go abroad at all. I can’t think of a worse time to be a Canadian soldier.

Watch for the Canadian Armed Forces float entry in next year’s Toronto Gay Pride parade.

Car Bomb In Nashville

What looks to be an amateur car bomb has detonated near Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville. Fortunately, the only fatality was the driver. Via James Joyner, who observes:

But, had this been a sophisticated terrorist operation, a lot of the people in those 2881 rooms and the adjacent shopping mall could have been killed. If we can’t stop amateur suicidal nuts–and we can’t–then we can’t stop committed professionals.
The day is coming.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go,
I’m standing here outside your door,
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye.
(Not that you could with that much narcotic in your system)
But the dawn is breakin’,
It’s early morn,
Deportation order’s waitin’
Tube’s outa my arm,
Already, I’m so lonesome I could die.
Kiss me and smile for me,
Take this little pill for me,
Pass out so you’ll never, ever know.
‘Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane,
Don’t know when I’ll be back again,
Oh, babe, I hate to go

Pantsgate, Con’t

James Joyner: “So, he accidentally took documents more than once, and only after a pattern emerged did the staffers report him.”
Sandy Berger was National Security Advisor. What the hell was going on?
Update – Glenn Reynolds has extensive followup this morning., and on the further collapse of Joe Wilson’s credibility.
This email he recieved is enlightening:

Just to back up some of your other correspondents. I spent 27 years total in the AF – with a Top Secret clearance. I had at times, specific appended code word clearances, which are controlled on a strict need-to-know basis – because they often involve sensitive sources (say, you are getting data from a mole in the Itanian Gov. – that particular data would be graded TS and then given a code word to further identify it as very sensitive and to restrict access from those with just general TS clearances). In a nutshell, the security system from least classified to most classified was: Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, Top Secret codeword). When we worked on Top Secret codeword (it might read something like Top Secret Fishhook), it was in a vault and our notes were put in burn bags. We were not allowed to take any notes out -period. We clearly understood that you didn’t screw around with Secret, much less TS or TS codeword. For us a slip-up meant the slammer. What Berger did is so far removed from accepted security procedure, that I can only see two possible explanations: dishonesty with an ulterior motive (political CYA, I would guess) Or he’s crazy. There is no way a veteran in the security business doesn’t understand the gravity of walking out with TS codeword data.
Doug Rivers
USAF Ret.

A Blog About Nothing

I’ve added A Blog About Nothing to the sidebar, proving my boundless generosity, as it appears the selfish bastard doesn’t do reciprocals.
Nonetheless, here’s why.

“I think the course of a marriage runs much like the course of The Shining. It starts out great, sure, but boy does the author have a surprise in store! You may be lost on my comparison of a wedding to a hanging, but considering 50% of all marriages end in divorce, that leaves the rest to end in death. Given the long course of a marriage that ends thusly, and all the torture that comes with it, and given the relative lack of BS during a hanging, I guess I would rather be hung.”

My Name Is Joe


(clears throat)
Hey.
I’m not a lumberjack,
or a fur trader…
and I don’t live in an igloo
or eat blubber, or own a dogsled…
and I don’t know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada,
although I’m certain they’re really, really nice.
I have a Prime Minister,
not a President.
I speak English and French,
NOT American.
and I pronouce it ABOUT,
NOT A BOOT.
I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack.
I believe in peace keeping, NOT policing.
DIVERSITY, NOT assimilation,
AND THAT THE BEAVER IS A TRULY PROUD AND NOBLE ANIMAL.
A TOQUE IS A HAT,
A CHESTERFIELD IS A COUCH,
AND IT IS PRONOUCED ‘ZED’ NOT ‘ZEE’, ‘ZED’!
CANADA IS THE SECOND LARGEST LANDMASS!
THE FIRST NATION OF HOCKEY!
AND THE BEST PART OF NORTH AMERICA!
MY NAME IS JOE!
AND I AM CANADIAN!
Molson, Coors talk union
Molson Canadian may soon become a dual citizen. Molson Inc. and Denver-based Adolph Coors Co. have confirmed they are in “advanced” talks to combine the two firms. Prompted by swirling rumours, the two beer makers announced yesterday they are working on a “merger of equals.”
Though nothing has been finalized or approved, the terms of the deal include retaining Eric Molson as chairman and Coors’ Leo Kiely as chief executive. Yesterday’s announcement wasn’t much of a surprise, noted Keith Howlett, an analyst with Desjardins Securities. “Molson has been pretty open that it is reviewing strategic alliances and alternatives,” he said. “Coors is the first one that comes to people’s minds because they have so many business relationships already.”
[…]
In addition to being roughly the same size, Molson and Coors share a similar history and share structure. John Molson started his company in 1786, and his family still controls the voting stock. Adolph Coors started making beer 87 years later. His relatives own about a third of the voting stock. Peter H. Coors, the fourth generation chairman, had decided to run for the U.S. senate, raising doubts about his succession plans. At Molson, Eric stepped down as chairman last year. However, he prevented his cousin Ian from taking over, hence the feud.

Professional Attribution

The Associated Press has already pulled this item, but not before it was saved for posterity

Police are asking for help to solve the mystery of Powell’s death.
“The public is very important, especially if they know her from a different name or may have seen her sometime before Saturday,” Ryan McFarland of the Adams County sheriff’s office said.
Investigators are not sure if Powell died where her body was found or if she was killed elsewhere, WLWT Eyewitness News 5’s most- overrated, obnoxious, annoying, stick-like, ho-bag, sperm- receptacle staff member Raegan Butler reported.

Via Outside The Beltway and Wizbang.

Job Vacancy

Sean has found his dream job. Sort of.

There are only three things standing between myself and a job like this. First, it’s only open to those living in the Ottawa and Quebec regions – not good-for-nothing Westerners like myself. Second, French is a requirement and I’ve let mine atrophy to the point where I struggle with reading my old French language Asterix cartoon books. Lastly, I’m pretty sure that my sponsor in a certain 12 step program that I may or may not belong to would kick my ass into low orbit if he even thought I was serious about applying for the position.

Salary: $61,312 to $66,287. It’s a 3 – 6 month position.
Sean, don’t give up hope. We lowly Western wine connoisseurs�may yet be able to apply for the job of cleaning the spiffy new granite curbs in Ottawa.
“Excusez moi, monsieur! Permit moi to polishez les gutter pour vous!”

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