Shiny Little Pill

Insufferable Twits 2 Comments

Well, wasn’t that clever?
And most everyone thought Morissette was making a statement about censorship in the US. Even Drudge – Morissette, hosting Canada’s annual music awards, said the stunt, in which she appeared in a provocative skin-hugging body-suit was intended to expose US “censorship.” and quotes her as saying “They’re in an era when they’re scared, when there’s lots of fear.”
I’m sure she said something to that effect. (I didn’t really pay attention, as I was getting up to turn it off.)

But, of course, the tit ‘n bush suit wasn’t about censorship at all. It was about the number one source of angst in Canada – that peculiar inferiority complex we have about our cousins to the south, that we’ve code-named “Canadian identity”.
You see, Alanis Morrisette would still be playing shopping malls if it weren’t for the American market. Nickelback would be slogging the bar scene in Vancouver. Avril Lavigne would be catching the bus to her job at Wendy’s. (And they’d make her tie back that hair.)
One cannot become a bona fide Canadian superstar without gaining the approval of the USA. Not that the Americans give a damn – we do. Nobody cares about Canadian bands if they haven’t had a gig on the Grammys or scored a number one song – a chart topper makes us positively giddy. It just kills these people to admit it.
So, chubby little smirk, desperate to prove she isn’t one of them, (though of course, we all are) – decides that dressing up in Spandex and throwing a little hypocrisy around is the way to make a statement about Canadian superiority. That’s right. Not censorship at all. Throwing off a bathrobe in a faux moment of exposure makes us better than you.
Should be good for about a week of smug.
Don’t believe me? Try mentioning that “only the Europeans and the French” wear visors on their hockey helmets during a CBC Hockey Night In Canada broadcast. Then, get back to me about the freedom of the Canadian airwaves.

My Contribution To Kyoto

April 5, 2004

Radioactive 2 Comments

It appears that spring may finally be here for good. The roads, however, are still an absolute mess. Sand, gravel, everywhere. Why does this matter?
Aretha! Aretha is my 1981 liquid cooled Yamaha RD350. Someone once described riding an RD as being somewhat akin to leading an angry Rottweiler through a room of yapping Chihuahuas – on a shoelace. (The little photo of me on the sidebar was taken when I was repacking the mufflers.) You do not ride fast angry Rottweilers on roads strewn with winter sanding crap.
Two strokes have “peaky” powerbands. If you’ve ever ridden one, that sentence just made you grin. Remember that moment when the Starship Enterprise enters warp speed? And the stars turn into streaks of light? That’s what happens when you hit the powerband.
You move through 5K, 6K, 7K rpm fairly smoothly and uneventfully (though with increasing volume) and then, without warning, at around 8000 rpm — wham — suddenly the lightpoles and other objects beside you turn into streaks. At 10K there’s only one thing to do. Shift into second.

Oh, why did I mention Kyoto?

Because this is what happens when you start an RD in a basement

But soon.

More photos here. And yes, I truck her to my riding destinations. Until you’ve ridden a vintage two stroke for more than 7 hours, in 40 mph cross winds, as I have – keep your snarky comments to yourself, thankyouverymuch.

Shotguns And Small Dead Animals.

April 4, 2004

Blogging 2 Comments

Well, it’s been quite a day.
First, I’ve been invited to join the group blog “The Shotgun” for the Western Standard. (I didn’t say “yes” until I was promised Mark Steyn’s autograph.)
And now an Instalanche.
Pretty cool.

Rex Meets Reynolds

April 4, 2004

Blogging 14 Comments

I listened to Rex Murphy on the drive home from town today. Rex is a genuine Canadian treasure, but sometimes you do want to reach into the radio and just slap a hand over his mouth. He is to brevity what, well … what Stephen Den Beste is to brevity. Rex cannot – cannot – ask a question without meandering, eloquently and descriptively, for a full paragraph or two.

“We have up next, Mrs. Pincuttle, from the cozy background of Peggy’s Cove. Mrs. Pincuttle – you’ll be our last caller, as we have only a few seconds left – what do you think of the question being asked today – do you believe that, like the previous guest Mr. Ilperwash believes, that the addition of a sperm whale now being considered on Newfoundland’s coat of arms is a honourable manner in which to note that rocky province’s unique history, or do you think, as do the People To Save The Whales, that such a representation is, to use their words “highly inappropriate” in a time when this magnificant marine species may be in its death throes? Do be brief as we have only a few seconds.”

So in contrast, who comes up on the interview list on Cross Country Checkup (on the topic of the legality of music downloads) but the linkmeister of brevity himself, University of Tennesee Law Professor and “Emperor” of the blogosphere – Glenn Reynolds. Glenn has a link to the interview.
It’s obvious that he reads blogs. But this was the part I noticed – Rex Murphy – he of lengthy and detailed explanations, who never met an adjective he did not like or a metaphor he will not molest – didn’t bother explaining what the blogosphere is.
That’s noteworthy – he assumed his Canadian audience knew what he was talking about. It’s not something I would have taken for granted, quite frankly. Secondly, it may help to explain something else. Rex Murphy’s Cross Country Checkup has remained a “fair and balanced” voice in the wilderness on matters American, including the Iraq war – a phenomenon nearly unheard of at the CBC.
Score another for the “new media”? I wonder.

The Libranos

Political Animal 3 Comments

Andrew Coyne has the text of the Guit� testimony tapes available, and hilights a few passages.

Guit� [from his opening statement]: … I will decline today to answer any question that relate to discussions that I may have had with ministers. It will require ministerial authorization for me to disclose any discussions I’ve had with ministers prior to answer any questions that will deal with discussions with ministers…

And now – the “creative” use of pension money for unrelated matters… by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Corruption in the highest levels of government, with tentacles reaching into crown corporations, into the RCMP. Career beaurocrats ignoring the rules. Secret accounts. $100 million missing. Falsifying receipts. Shawinigate. Untendered aircraft purchases. TotalFinaElf-Desmarais-Chr�tien. Drug raids. Money laundering.
At what point does government wrongdoing cross the line into organized crime?

Air Canada And Vampire Bats

Roadkill 4 Comments

Victor Li has backed out of talks to rescue Air Canada. I will be in Brazil at the World Show when the airline’s bankruptcy protection expires on the 15th, with an Air Canada return ticket for the 20th.
Just great. Just bloody great. And now, this

Vampire bats kill 13 people in Brazil

The dog has his shots. I don’t.

The Shotgun

Media 1 Comment

The upstart Western Standard has upstarted a blog – “The Shotgun”.
update – the url has changed, and I’ve changed the link accordingly. Comments and trackbacks are now active, so it’s becoming a blog in the truer sense.
Mark Steyn writes for this new Canadian magazine. It’s gotta be good.

Publisher Ezra Lavant – “Enough about us. The Western Standard is about you – thoughtful readers who want to know the other side of the ‘official’ news and views. If you watch the CBC, we will be your antidote. If you read Maclean’s, we will be your fact checkers.”
Fact checking Macleans? Can you do that in only 72 pages?
Hat tip Jay Currie

Doomed

Terrorism 1 Comment

Anne Mclellan – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness – was interviewed on CBC Radio this morning. She was invited to respond to the criticisms of the Auditor General on glaring failures and gaps in homeland security, and the continuing problems with lack of integration between security and intelligence agencies.

“Appreciate the question … challenges … new committee … my department … same in Britain … as we saw in the US … challenges… lessons learned … bring cultures together …. challenging problems … God forbid … another 911 … challenging … accountable … my department …. as we saw in Madrid … challenges … lessons learned … “

We’re all going to die.

Insect Free Munitions

What He Said 3 Comments

Douglas Hansen, at the American Thinker, has an article that examines the strange locations of barrels of “pesticides” found by WMD teams in Iraq, and questions why such discoveries have been dismissed.

Specifically, the DIA noted that Baghdad had rebuilt segments of its industrial chemical infrastructure under the “guise of a civilian need for pesticides, chlorine, and other legitimate chemical products.”� Pesticides are the key elements in the chemical agent arena.� In fact, the general pesticide chemical formula (organophosphate) is the “grandfather” of modern day nerve agents.� Pesticides are also precursors of many other chemical weapons including Mustard-Lewisite (HL), Phosgene (CG) a choking agent, and Hydrogen Cyanide (AC) a blood agent.�
It was not surprising then, as Coalition forces attacked into Iraq, that huge warehouses and caches of “commercial and agricultural” chemicals were seized and painstakingly tested by Army and Marine chemical specialists.� What was surprising was how quickly the ISG refuted the findings of our ground forces, and how silent they have been on the significance of these caches.
…
One of the reported incidents occurred near Karbala where there appeared to be a very large “agricultural supply” area of 55-gallon drums of pesticide.� In addition, there was also a camouflaged bunker complex full of these drums that some people entered with unpleasant results.� More than a dozen soldiers, a Knight-Ridder reporter, a CNN cameraman, and two Iraqi POWs came down with symptoms consistent with exposure to nerve agent.� A full day of tests on the drums resulted in one positive for nerve agent, and then one resulted in a negative.� Later, an Army Fox NBC [nuclear, biological, chemical] Recon Vehicle confirmed the existence of Sarin.� An officer from the 63d Chemical Company thought there might well be chemical weapons at the site.�
But later ISG tests resulted in a proclamation of negative, end of story, nothing to see here, etc., and the earlier findings and injuries dissolved into non-existence. Left unexplained is the small matter of the obvious pains taken to disguise the cache of ostensibly legitimate pesticides. One wonders about the advantage an agricultural commodities business gains by securing drums of pesticide in camouflaged bunkers six feet underground.� The “agricultural site” was also co- located with a military ammunition dump, evidently nothing more than a coincidence in the eyes of the ISG.
…
Then in January of this year, Danish forces discovered 120mm mortar shells with a mysterious liquid inside that initially tested positive for blister agents.� Further tests in Southern Iraq and in the US were, of course, negative.� The Danish Army said, “It is unclear why the initial field tests were wrong.”� This is the understatement of the year, and also points to a most basic question: If it wasn’t a chemical agent, what was it?� More pesticides?� Dishwashing detergent?� From this old soldier’s perspective, I gain nothing from putting a liquid in my mortar rounds unless that stuff will do bad things to the enemy.

Read the whole thing.
hat tip – Occam’s Toothbrush

Little Shop Of Horrors

Roadkill 1 Comment

I spent an hour and a half in a dentists chair this afternoon, while two people in masks competed to see who could put the most metal instruments into my mouth at one time. They even had the worlds smallest hairdryer in there.
So, now that the freezing is gone (I always end up getting extra freezing), I have a toothache. And I can’t get my mouth closed. I’m not kidding. My mouth won’t close all the way, as the only points of contact between my upper and lower teeth are the ones that have the new fillings.
The ones that hurt.
It’s going to be a long, hungry weekend.

Daily Koward

Blogging 1 Comment

Yesterday Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, otherwise known as “Daily Kos”, a left-wing blog of some repute, had this to say about the 4 Americans killed in Fallujah.

Every death should be on the front page
Let the people see what war is like. This isn’t an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush’s folly.
That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren’t in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.
by kos on Thu Apr 1st, 2004 at 15:08:56 GMT

It generated a good deal of blowback. One of his advertisers has already pulled the plug, and he was rightly denounced across the blogosphere. Today, the link has been changed, and has been expunged from Google cache’s.
NIce try, Zuniga. Screenshot and discussion here
Despite of the warnings of traditional media about the lack of editors and risk of being fed misinformation by bloggers, incidents like this demonstrate that the opposite is true. While an obscure blog like this one (actually, I depend on it) may get away with fudging the facts, as soon as a statement becomes well known (and potentially damaging), there will be no end of rebuttals and dissections.
And as we see here, simply deleting the offending entry is no way to “make it go away”.
Zuniga, you’re a coward. Either stand by your words, or apologize and retract them properly.

Reporters Without Borders Target Cuba

Friday, April 2nd, 2004 – Reporters Without Borders Presents a public conference with Alina Fernandez(Castro), daughter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
…
A 26-minute documentary “One party, one newspaper : Cuban press from the republique to Castro” on the history of liberty of the press in Cuba from 1952 to the 1990s will be presented before the debate. This event will take place Friday, April 2nd at 6:00 p.m. in the amphitheatre of the Henri-Julien pavillion, located at 4750 Henri-Julien (Mount Royal metro.) [ ed- in Montreal] The event is free and open to the public, but donations would be appreciated.
…
During the March, 2003 crackdown, 27 independent journalists were arrested, adding to the three journalists who were already in prison. The journalists were charged with “acts against the independence and economy of Cuba” (law 88) or with “acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the state” (article 91 of the Cuban penal code) and were condemned to sentences of 14 to 27 years after summary trials that often lasted only half-a-day. In general, these journalists are accused of collaborating with the United States by publishing articles that present a different vision of Cuba than is presented in the official press. Their articles generally discussed opposition within Cuba (which is not recognized by the official press), human rights violations and the daily life of Cubans.
For further information: Emily Jacquard, (514) 521-4111 or email: rsfcanada (at)rsf.org

More here
Sounds like the makings of a movie plot… someone call Spielberg.
Eh.. .come to think of it, someone call the media. They’ve been all over this Cuban jail story.

Fallujah Response

Military No Comments

Fallujah – the anti-Mogadishu – “the strung up bodies were bait”.

The Marines have long studied Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT). They will put snipers in dominant overwatch; use the road network to divide up the town into zones by posting the intersections; they will build EPW cages outside the town; they will put persistent aerial surveillance aloft; there will be a blanket of electronic surveillance and electronic jamming over the town; they will map out the operation to a room-by-room detail. Then they will lop off bits of Fallujah one slice at a time.
The biggest danger, as Kimmitt knows, is that the Anti-coalition Forces will use civilians, particularly children, as human shields by sheltering and firing from houses. Unfortunately for the enemy, the cordon ensures that Kimmitt will be in no particular hurry. The enemy can shoot it out with Marine snipers who have plenty of match grade ammunition. The presence of Iraqi policemen will allow Kimmitt to direct civilians into processing areas. Then the evacuated houses will be searched individually until the entire leadership structure is taken apart.
The deliberate, even cold-blooded approach by the Marines makes this incident the anti-Mogadishu. The tactics employed against the Rangers in the Blackhawk Down incident relied on the belief that Americans could be reflexively trapped into defending unfavorable positions in attempts to recover bodies. The Anti-Coalition Forces probably felt sure that taunting Americans over the media would produce the desired impulsiveness. As the minutes lengthened into hours and the Marines responded with icy professionalism, the enemy may have come the unpleasant realization that this was not the former administration and that other still more unwelcome surprises were in store for them.

Federation Of Walmart Employees

Gopher News 1 Comment

North Battleford Walmart employees are attempting to make history.
Earlier this week, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union signed up several North Battleford Walmart employees. If they recieve certification, the NB outlet will be the first unionized Walmart in the world.
North Battleford used to have a Saveway, too.

Saskatchewan Budget Highlights

Gopher News No Comments

I’m not going to tear into this in detail. Just the fun highlights:
Provincial sales tax increases to 7%. Together with the GST, that means most items one purchases in the province are taxed 14%. Sales tax free Alberta revises revenue projections upward due to a bump in retail sales.
Usual cigarette and beer tax increases. Four pages of free increases, on everything from registrations of births to fishing licenses to hearing aids to estate settlements (from $600 to $900). The comic relief is provided by Parks – new “Weiner Roast Tax”. Lighting a campfire will require a $3 permit. Per day. Summer officially postponed to mid June, as provincial parks openings are pushed back to save $$.
Green Economy; Government to allow “fire to play a more natural role in the forest.” Permit may not be necessary, after all.
Under “Government By The Unions, For The Unions” aka “keeping your base on the payroll” ; 95% of 20,000 civil service employees have contracts due for renegotiation this year. SaskPower is in a legal strike position. Oops. No can do.
Budget mandates 0% wage increases this year, 1% in 2005, 2006. Over 400 jobs cut. Heh. I’m getting me a lawnchair to watch the fireworks. (Next time I’m in Alberta.)
No relief for astronomical rural property taxes. Clawback of farm fuel tax rebate. Can you spell t-a-x r-e-v-o-l-t? Rural Service centers closed, replaced with Agriculture Knowledge Centres. Can’t have a budget without the “rename game” and another sign contract for someone.
44% of entire budget goes to health care. Promise to bring surgical waiting lists to a maximum of 18 months…. in two years time. Tommy Douglas, still dead.
But, another balanced budget….. 6.1 billion spent on 975,000 residents.
Eh… well balanced by borrowing money from a “rainy day” line of credit, and leaving out losses incurred by publicly owned Crown Corporations.
The SaskParty responded with a non-confidence motion today, vote on Thursday.
One defection, new election.

Who Killed Cecilia Zhang?

Uncategorized 2 Comments

Jan Wong has some enlightening tidbits on the Cecilia Zhang case. Taken from her family’s bedroom 5 months ago, the case was suspected to have been an abduction for profit. The 9 year old’s body was discovered this week in a wooded area in MIssissauga.
The family had rented out rooms to 20 students in the 5 years they’ve lived there. (On a not totally unrelated topic, just how does someone get away with turning a single family dwelling into an quasi apartment complex for Chinese students?) For reasons unknown, the Toronto police didn’t even bother looking for them all and are noncommital about reinterviewing those they have. They also ignored offers of assistance.

Asked specifically if Toronto police had received help in Toronto from mainland Chinese criminal investigators, Mr. Perry referred further questions to his successor. Mr. Cashman didn’t return a call seeking comment or a message left with the Toronto police communications department. Mr. Pugash said that while mainland Chinese police gave their ”co-operation” in locating people, they had not come to Toronto to assist police here.
After Mr. Perry’s retirement, Mr. Hart said he left e-mail and phone messages for Mr. Cashman. To make sure he had received the messages, Mr. Hart enlisted the help of an American friend with connections to the RCMP. He says Mr. Cashman finally called him back about five weeks ago.
”I was very unhappy with the ‘thanks, but no thanks’ call. They said, ‘We’re making great progress, and we have offers from all over the world,’ “‘ said Mr. Hart, who had offered to pay the costs of Mr. Duan’s air fare and hotel.
Experts in Chinese culture and history have said that Toronto police — and Cecilia’s parents — may have inadvertently violated a well- choreographed tradition: pay off the ransom quietly without ever alerting law enforcement. Instead, Cecilia’s mother, Sherry Xu, ran to school and then, at the principal’s suggestion, called the police.
Despite the apparent lack of progress, Mr. Cashman gave this warning to Cecilia’s killers. “As always, turn yourself in,” he said. ”We are coming. We are looking. We are going to find you. There are no stops. There is nothing we aren’t going to do to locate the individual responsible. My best advice is get a lawyer and call us.”

Another effective crime investigation tactic, I’m sure.
hat tip – Who Killed Theresa

John Kerry, Not French

Political Animal 3 Comments

Via Glenn Reynolds, who suggests that John Kerry (Kerry quotes form the foundation for the piece) should read it – today’s Lileks:

We stopped pretending we would ratify Kyoto. We only spent $15 billion on AIDS in Africa. We did not take dictation from Paris. If we had done these things, it would minimize the world’s anger.
Is the world angry at Russia, which spends nothing on AIDS and rebuffed Kyoto? Is the world angry at China, which got a pass on Kyoto and spends nothing on AIDS for other countries?
Is the world angry at North Korea for killings its people? Angry at Iran for smothering that vibrant nation with corrupt and thuggish mullocracy? Angry at Syria for occupying Lebanon? Angry at Saudi Arabia for its denial of women�s rights? Angry at Russia for corrupt elections? Is the world angry at China for threatening Taiwan, or angry at France for joining the Chinese in joint military exercises that threatened the island on the eve of an election? Is the world angry at Zimbabwe for stealing land and starving people? Is the world angry at Pakistan for selling nuclear secrets? Is the world angry at Libya for having an NBC program?
Is the world angry at the thugs of Fallujah?
Is the world angry at anyone besides America and Israel?
…
But even if you admit that the world is angry at America – so angry that the poorest of them can�t wait to come here and stake a claim � you have to stand in awe at the sheer political idiocy of Kerry�s conclusion. Boiled down:
“There are countless numbers of things that we could be do minimize the kind of anger and … almost recruitment that has taken place in terrorist organizations as a result of the way the administration has behaved.
By toppling the fascists in Baghdad without French seal of approval, we have encouraged recruitment in terrorist organizations. It�s not the invasion that ticked off the Man in the Arab Street, it�s the lack of a 17th UN resolution on Iraq. Right now in a caf� in Beirut an educated man, a chemist by trade, schooled in the ways of the West, is reading an article about how the US will only spent $15 billion on AIDS and probably won�t reduce its carbon emissions to 1817 levels, and he throws down the paper in disgust: bastards! I must join Al Qaeda, move to Iraq and kill the contractors who are upgrading their outmoded infrastructure!

Chr�tien sent our representatives to the Kyoto negotiations with a decree – not to protect the western based resource industries – not to fight for recognition that a thinly spread population in one of the most hostile environments in the world may just need to heat their homes – but to “beat the US by 1%”.
So today, tax dollars are funding home improvement projects to continue the charade that is still known as “meeting our obligations under Kyoto”, while the media ignores the fact that Kyoto is dead.
Kofi Annan visits Ottawa and Paul Martin cuts him a check. The bad guys in Iraq are the Americans, didn’t you know? Ipsos-Reid polls confirm that Canadians are convinced that “Bush lied” and the media outlets report it as fact. Polls tell us that Canadians believe the Iraq invasion a failure and the Canadian position not to back the US to be the right one. No surprise there. Public perception as reality, public opinion as a substitute for foreign policy – it’s the Canadian way. You won’t see the Fifth Estate visit the Saddam Hussein – TotalFinaElf – Power Corporation – Paul Desmarias – Jean Chr�tien connections. Not a peep about the Annan/UN Oil-For-Blood scandal. How can they? There hasn’t been a poll.
John Kerry receives much ridicule for being “French looking”. I can understand why the comparison is tempting – but I’m not sure it’s an entirely accurate.
Internationalist, UN-friendly, Kyoto defender, poll driven? That’s not France. The French aren’t “internationalists”, for one thing. There’s no such thing as French altruism – the UN is used to secure French interests, not world interests. Most importantly, the French don’t care if others are angry with France. Or if others like them.
No, John Kerry isn’t French.
The Liberal Party of Canada would fit him like a glove. He’d thrill in Montreal. Or Quebec City. My God – how he would love multi-cultural Toronto. And the Liberal Party of Canada. How proud he would be of a reputation for personal politeness and international peace-keeping. Of our health care system. Kyoto – why, Canada signed Kyoto, and meant it. Gay marriage would be much easier to understand in Canada, once the pollsters tell us we like the idea. One can almost picture him standing in the backbenches behind Carolyn Parrish and echoing her refrain about those “bastards” south of the border.
John Kerry is Canadian.
(Added to the Beltway Traffic Jam)

Canadian Breast Implant Registry

Not Quite News 3 Comments

Following on the heels of the highly successful and universally praised Canadian Firearms Registry, a new Canadian Breast Implant Registry has been announced.

The registry would address concerns of Health Canada that illegally sold and unregulated breast implants are making their way across the border from the US and Asian countries. It is estimated that the illegal breast trade has swelled to nearly $300 million since most breast implants were banned in Canada in the early 1990’s in a wake of device failures and court settlements.
The Breast Implant Registry would be backed by new legislation that would allow police to enter any hospital or commercial place of business without a warrant. In special circumstances, searches can be extended to allow physical examinations if illegal implants are suspected. Negotiations are underway with the provinces to hammer out who pays for removal of illegal implants, as these devices are a known threat to health, and many victims are unaware they have them.
The legislation also further restricts the use of approved breast implants, including limits on minimum age and maximum size. As of Jan 1, 2005, no implant in excess of a B cup will be legal in Canada, unless approved by a hospital committee.
Health Canada reports that about 4,500 Canadian women per year, as well as a handful of men, require surgery for breast implant related injuries or illness, and that many others go unreported. It is unknown how many illegal breasts are in Canada, but estimates go as high as 40,000.
“We are seeing just the tit of a breast implant iceberg”, says New Democrat MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis. Wasylycia-Leis is part of an all party committee looking at the problem.

Canadian Suspect Linked To British Plot

March 31, 2004