Having suffered a trip up along the yellow brick road of social engineering, the NDP government was greeted with good news this morning – the Supreme Court Of Canada will hear the “Shower Curtain Case”.
What is the Shower Curtain Case? Well, mindful that children might see cigarettes for sale in convenience stores, and suffer an irresistable compulsion to crawl over the counter and inhale the things whole, the Saskatchewan government decided this would not do and enacted legislation that compels retailers to cover their displays of cigarettes with a curtain or door in any establishment that serves customers under 18 years of age.
The law was challenged and struck down. Not to be deterred, the Saskatchewan Health Department decided this was worthy of a Supreme Court hearing.
This is same department that announced two days ago that they are “working towards” reducing surgical waiting lists to 18 months. It’s a goal, mind you. May take two years to get there.
Yesterday, the Saskatchewan Government announced yet another ad campaign this one amounts to $75,000 worth of public whining about federal transfer payments. They’re going broke, running a half billion dollar deficit. In a few days, they bring down a budget – tax increases and civil service cuts are expected.
The ad campaign will run in Saskatchewan, of course. To remind us it isn’t their fault.
Our taxdollars at work.
CTV – Spinning The Clarke Testimony
What did I tell you?
I watched CTV National News last night – Clarke’s testimony was presented in surgical out-takes, as though the commission members had remained silent and awe stricken as he spoke. No coverage of the Lehman challenges, no mention of the contradictions between his book, the testimony and his previous statements.
From their website:
Meanwhile, the White House has been fighting back against Clarke, even saying he was angling for a job should Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry win the Nov. 2 election.
“I will not accept any position in a Kerry administration should there be one. On the record, under oath,” was Clarke’s responses.
Problem is, that wasn’t the question to which he responded. And he wasn’t answering to the White House, but to the 911 Commission. The question:
“Until I started reading those press reports, and I said this can’t be the same Dick Clarke that testified before us, because all of the promotional material and all of the spin in the networks was that this is a rounding, devastating attack — this book — on President Bush.
That’s not what I heard in the interviews. And I hope you’re going to tell me, as you apologized to the families for all of us who were involved in national security, that this tremendous difference — and not just in nuance, but in the stories you choose to tell — is really the result of your editors and your promoters, rather than your studied judgment, because it is so different from the whole thrust of your testimony to us.
And similarly, when you add to it the inconsistency between what your promoters are putting out and what you yourself said as late as August ’05, you’ve got a real credibility problem.
And because of my real genuine long-term admiration for you, I hope you’ll resolve that credibility problem, because I’d hate to see you become totally shoved to one side during a presidential campaign as an active partisan selling a book.”
I guess I’m not surprised – CTV’s war coverage and Alan Fryer’s Washington reporting have been abysmal for the past year – error ridden, one sided and poorly researched.
Early in the invasion of Iraq, there were priceless moments when news anchor Sandy Reynaldo would report with sober face that American forces were “bogged down” and suffering immense difficulties… only to turn the cameras over to Ret.Gen. MacKenzie who, complete with maps and pointers, would cheerfully explain how the US military was making military history with the success and speed of the campaign.
Belgravia Dispatch sees the same spin in the US media.
All That Glitters
The famed diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes in South Africa are about the size of your living room.
The kimberlite pipes in Saskatchewan are the size of several city blocks. The Fort a la Corne site, near Prince Albert, has more kimberlite than all the other souces in the world combined.
What does this mean? Watch for diamonds to drop to $3 a bushel.
For the Beltway Traffic Jam
The Missing De-Link?
Scientists: Genetic mutation prompted human evolution
The provocative discovery suggests that this genetic twist – toward smaller, weaker jaws – unleashed a cascade of profound biological changes. The smaller jaws would allow for dramatic brain growth necessary for tool- making, language and other hallmarks of human evolution on the plains of East Africa.
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The mutation is reported in the latest issue of the journal Nature, not by anthropologists, but by a team of biologists and plastic surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
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The report provoked strong reactions throughout the hotly contested field of human origins with one scientist declaring it “counter to the fundamentals of evolution” and another pronouncing it “super.”
I read some texts on paleoanthropology a few years ago. The “strong reactions” are consistant with an observation of one of the authors – that there is so much specialization and competition in the sciences that there exist few who have a depth of knowledge, or even an appreciation of the validity of other specialties – and that this often results in faulty conclusions and outright dismissiveness.
Here’s an example;
Critics said the study wrongly assumes that evolution works so neatly.
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The first early humans with the mutation probably would have had weaker mouths, but still had large teeth and jaws. Many additional mutations would have been needed.
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“The mutation would have reduced the Darwinian fitness of those individuals,” said anthropologist Bernard Wood of George Washington University. “It only would’ve become fixed if it coincided with mutations that reduced tooth size, jaw size and increased brain size. What are the chances of that?”
Anthropologists aren’t geneticists. The chances are actually not that bad. A single gene mutation can influence an array of seamingly unrelated features – it’s called pleiotropy. An example :
Alaskan Malamute’s dwarfism is a pleiotropic genetic defect that shows up as both dwarfism of their particular type and a blood disorder. It has been fairly extensively studied, and while one dog may vary in appearance considerably from the other, the disorder is a simple autosomal (not sex-linked) recessive trait with complete penetrance. Asynchronous growth of the radius and ulna (one at a different rate or completion than the other, remember) is part of the deformity in this breed. The chondrodysplasia in this breed has at times been mistaken for the Vitamin D deficiency called rickets, but only the tubular bones are affected, other than retarded ossification of the lateral tarsal (cuboid) bone. The head, spine, and other bones are not stunted or changed, and body length is normal. The gene that causes this chondrodysplasia also creates a macrocytic hypochromic anemia; the discovery of this being indicative of the way carriers may be found. A third effect of this one gene, by the way, is a different ability to bind certain trace minerals in the liver.
And certainly, pleitropy may not be a factor here, but it’s entertaining to see the reactions when academic toes have been stepped on.
Another UN Success Story
Greece, Turkey Join Crucial Cyprus Peace Talks
Old rivals Greece and Turkey locked horns Wednesday over a U.N. peace plan which aims to reunite the island of Cyprus before it joins the European Union on May 1.
Both countries are keen to secure a deal, but they also share some of the concerns aired by their respective proteges — the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots — during the past four weeks of fruitless negotiations on the divided island.
I know a retired colonel who was a peacekeeper in Cyrus in the 1970’s. He also tested parachute designs[1] for the Canadian military and served in the US Special Forces. I was in their home on the first night of bombing in Baghdad during the first Gulf War. Gil’s voiceover was pretty amusing, and radically different from the ‘expert analysis’ on CNN – and accurate, as it turned out.
The U.N.-brokered talks have now moved to the Swiss Alpine resort of Buergenstock, where mediators hope Athens and Ankara can exert greater pressure on the feuding Cypriot sides. They end next week.
You know, if I were in charge of these things, talks wouldn’t be held in resorts. They’d be over wooden picnic tables under a leaky tent in Wood Buffalo park. Give them all the time they need – and one can of bug repellent. The float plane would return when the papers were signed.
“I would say the chances (for agreement) are better than even,” U.N. envoy Alvaro de Soto said in comments to U.N. television.
The UN has been in Cyprus since 1964. (Timeline). Food for thought for those who clamour for UN involvement in Iraq. Or anywhere, for that matter – Cyrus isn’t Somalia, for crying out loud.
Footnote:
[1] Not a typo
Miriam Squeezes Off Another Shot
Today at the “Adscam” hearings, Miriam B�dard has testified she was told by Via Rail boss, Marc LeFrancois, that Formula One driver, Jacques Villeneuve, was paid $12 million US to wear a “Canada” patch on his race suit.
Out of a secret fund. [This secret fund?]
And that favoured-ad-agency-cash-clearing-house Groupaction was involved in drug trafficking.
(Who is Miriam B�dard?)
update – denials and skeptcism all around – from the head of Groupaction, obviously, and from Villeneuve – though, it’s hard to dismiss B�dard is an outright liar – a language problem?
Navel Gazing – Not Just A Canadian Pastime.
I’ve been busy painting a helmet today, and am still a little addled from breathing paint, so I’ll just hand you off to Dr. Joyner at OTB for a round up of the navel gazing going at the 911 commission today. I really don’t get the purpose of this entire “he said, they did” exercise. It’s not as though there’s much to be learned in order to “avoid mistakes of the past”. People have been whining for 2 full years about the changes in foreign policy, homeland security and intelligence gathering by this administration.
James has some good exerpts from op-eds and this must read link to Glenn Reynolds:
BUSH CAN’T GET A BREAK: Now he’s being blamed for not invading Afghanistan in 1998! Here’s the relevant passage from MSNBC:
The report revealed that in a previously undisclosed secret diplomatic mission, Saudi Arabia won a commitment from the Taliban to expel bin Laden in 1998. But a clash between the Taliban’s leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and Saudi officials scuttled the arrangement, and Bush did not follow up.
Damn him — governing Texas while Rome burned! Why didn’t he send the Texas Rangers to finish off Bin Laden? (“One mullah, one Ranger!”) Sheesh. Can you say “Freudian slip?”
and here too.– think of it as antidote for the Breathless Revelation Reporting on CBC/CTV news tonight.
Small Live Animals – week 10
See any cats, kid?
Frank J. on J. Kerry
Protection on the Slopes: So Kerry was skiing in Idaho (Idaho! I don’t care how much he skis; he ain’t winning that state), and then fall downs when he runs into a Secret Service agent. Then he exclaims, “I don’t fall down!” and uses and expletive to describe the Secret Service Agent. Makes him seem a wee bit haughty. And why is the Secret Service skiing with him anyway? Why can’t they just post snipers to watch Kerry? Then, if a Secret Service agent caused Kerry to crash, Kerry would have a better excuse.
“I don’t fall; that son of a bitch shot me!”
And then you’d hear up in the trees, “My bad.”*
Canadian Military Spending: 2004
Our allies in the WOT are going to be rocked back on their heels by the military spending increases in today’s 2004 budget.
An additional $250 million over two years for peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism. $50 million for the peacekeeping force in Haiti.
That’ll have them sucking in their breath.
Exemption from tax of the income earned by Canadian Forces personnel and police while serving on high-risk international missions.
Woo-hoo! and all this time they were thinking helicoptors! new ships! eh… bullets?
“An additional $605 million over five years for the security contingency reserve.”
“Reserve” means that it doesn’t get spent unless the Peace Tower comes crashing down.
Building on the 8-per-cent increase for 2004-05, an additional $248 million for international assistance, or an 8-per-cent increase, for 2005-06.
Something tells me this doesn’t mean rounding up the 36,000 missing deportees in the country.
update – others are noticing.
added to the Snark Hunt
Spain Adopts Canadian Foreign Policy
In a move that might help muffle criticism of a Socialist pledge to pull troops out of Iraq, Spain’s incoming prime minister is considering increasing the number of Spanish soldiers guarding the fragile peace in Afghanistan, sources in his party said today.
Less than two weeks after the deadly train bombings in Madrid, the incoming prime minister, Jos� Luis Rodr�guez Zapatero, wants to signal his commitment to fight terrorism and show the United States that Spain remains a loyal ally, said one of the sources, a high- ranking party official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
He added that the new government wants “to send a message that the Socialists do not believe in appeasement.”
Since Mr. Zapatero’s election victory on March 14, he has faced two tasks: responding to overwhelming opposition to the American- led war in Iraq among his backers and staying on the good side of the United States administration as its seeks international cooperation in its war on terror.
Mr. Zapatero has confirmed a campaign pledge to pull Spain’s 1,300 troops out of Iraq unless the United Nations assumes greater control by June 30. Critics, notably in the United States, accused Mr. Zapatero of handing a victory to terrorists.
Well, to be fair, Zapatero had Spanish troop withdrawal on the table prior to the bombings – which cast his pledge in a new light, transforming a foreign policy position into a surrender. The decision was made by the Spanish electorate. Rock, hard place?
If there is palatable solution for the political dilemma, I suppose this is a defensible one. Though, the blustering rhetoric he indulged in after the election doesn’t incline one to think he realized a dilemma existed. Maybe it hadn’t quite sunk in.
The party official close to Mr. Zapatero said the war in Iraq might have made the world a less secure place.
“Our disagreements are not with the United States itself, but with a specific doctrine of preventative strike, which we believe creates more insecurity in the world,” he said.
I guess this means Spain won’t be having any 3-11 commission.
Egg Hunt
Dr. Rusty Shackleford on Type I and Type II errors and the eggs of paint destruction.
Pediatrician Of Death
Over at Command Post Michelle has a bio for the newly promoted Abdel Aziz Rantissi, as he rises the ladder of the Terrorist Who’s Who.
[H]e has consistently argued that Palestinians have a right to resist Israel by any and all means, including the suicide bombing of civilians.
“They are not terrorism,” he told the Arabic newspaper Kut al-Arab in 1998.
“They are a response to Israeli terrorism, individuals and governmental, against Palestinian civilians.”
Vowing to keep fighting on till “our homeland is liberated”, Rantissi offered a reciprocal initiative, whereby “we will stop hunting for Israelis in return for allowing them to get out of our homeland safely”.
Reload.
Glenn Reynolds Is Back
After a brief hiatus, Reynolds is making up for it with a blogging binge, even by his prolific standards. As usual some good links provided – but this from his reader mail caught my eye. It illustrates why the blogosphere has taken off as a source for news and opinion for those of us who have been complaining of the uneven coverage and spin of news reporting.
“I realize you generally assume that the vast majority of reporters are praying to their pagan gods for our failure in Iraq and the war against terrorism (I am not one of them), and are now crafting their stories to reflect and facilitate such a thing. While I think you are dead wrong on this, I have to admit I was taken aback by a conversation I had recently with a colleague.
I work as a freelancer for a major national publication, and was talking to my editor as we were closing a piece last week. It was Thursday, and the reports were coming out of Pakistan that we might have Ayman al-Zawahiri surrounded. I passed this news on to the editor, who was crestfallen: “Oh, no. I don’t want anything good to happen for Bush before the election,” was the reaction (P.S., this editor does not edit foreign or political stories).
It was a sickening moment. This is a man responsible for thousands of American deaths. So while I have no desire to see Bush re-elected, and I disagree with our attack on Iraq, to hope for our failure in capturing one of the deadliest people in the world is a moral blindspot.”
Question is, how could someone in the profession be so unaware of the fact that there is a problem of anti-Republican/conservative bias in the media, when we news end-users figured it out during the Reagan administration?
Land Of Living Skies
Sunday evening I heard a loud bang – thought it was a cattle hauler pulling up to the stop sign outside the house. Turns out, it was a sonic boom.
A brilliant fireball streaked across the central Saskatchewan sky Sunday night around 8:30 p.m., providing a colourful spectacle and rattling windows and walls with its pressure wave. But what has astronomers agog is the possibility it landed.
| A Saskatoon astronomer interviewed this morning confirmed that cameras in Calgary caught an image, and indicate that the fireball – described by some witnesses as blue in color with a long orange and white tail – was moving slowly enough to have survived entry and probably landed in the Kindersley area – around 80 miles from here. |  |
Despite the dramatic display, the show lasted only about four seconds. But it will stay in the memory of Ronalda and Ben Kleinsasser, who farm near Kerrobert. That’s where Beech suspects the meteorite may have hit because of the intensity of the smell and tremors.
“I was watching TV when I saw this ball of fire dropping out of the sky with a tail of flames,” said Ben, who described the rock as larger than a half-ton truck. “I watched it coming down until it was right in front of us.
“My hair went up on end and I had goose-bumps. It was wild. And it rumbled the floor pretty good because my daughter came running upstairs asking if someone fell in the house.”
Dirty Commies
Small Dead Animals has been hauled before theBlog Firing Squad at the Politboru Diktat.
This part is true, at least.
Comrades, ordinarily, Politburo could sentence reactionary like Small Dead Kate to Siberia, but since she lives in Saskatchewan, she may not notice difference.
Lileks
I meant to do put this link up this morning, but ran out of time before I had to go to town. Lileks comments on the peace hate protests this weekend.
Imagine if you woke from an operation and discovered that your tumor was gone. You’d think: I suppose that’s a good thing. But. You learned that the hospital might profit from the operation. You learned that the doctor who made the diagnosis had decided to ignore all the other doctors who believed the tumor could be discouraged if everyone protested the tumor in the strongest possible terms, and urged the tumor to relent. How would you feel? You’d be mad. You’d look up at the ceiling of your room and nurse your fury until you came to truly hate that butcher. And when he came by to see how you were doing, you’d have only one logical, sensible thing to say: YOU TOOK IT OUT FOR THE WRONG REASONS. PUT IT BACK!
Beaurocratic Efficiency
No, that’s not an oxymoron.
Last Monday I filled out an express post envelope with my application forms and passport for a Brazilian tourist visa. The Brazilian Consulate is in Toronto. I enclosed an express post envelope for its return. The paperwork stated to allow 10 working days. Add two days each way I figured… two weeks.
It arrived this morning.
Wow. Just unbelievable.
Mad Cow Relief. Thankyou, Adscam
Paul Martin is announcing aid for the cattle industry this morning – to the tune of nearly a billion dollars, with a considerable part of that going to the actual cattlemen. [note to urban media types – not “cattle farmers”]
The best news to come out of Adscam yet.
Last week it was federal Finance Minister, Ralph Goodale, taking a look at the transfer payment situation and declaring Saskatchewan has been – gosh darn golly gee! shortchanged after all! – a hundred million on the way, and more to come. Heh.
Got to love the irony of that – Paul Martin is fighting for his political life – in Picture Butte, Alberta, while the premier of the same province is in Washington representing Canadian interests to the US on getting the borders open.
Put Another Dime In The ATM, Baby
What happens when an ATM crashes and reboots into a regular copy of Windows XP on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University? The world’s first Diebold Brand Media Player. Using the touch screen and the character mapper in Windows, the ATM was reprogrammed to play various looping songs (including Talking Heads) while occasionally belching out ‘What, am I made of money?’ via text-to-speech.
Diebold – also known for their eVoting machines.
Via Franksworld