— the F-35 Fugue —THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER: according to DEFENCETECH "Did Chinese Espionage Lead to F-35 Delays?", that's what happened.Chinese spies apparently hacked into secure conference calls and listened to meetings discussing the classified technologies aboard the jets. In particular, China may have stolen info about the F-35’s secure communications and antenna systems; leading to costly software rewrites and other redesigns to compromised parts of the plane.The worst part, this problem isn’t just limited to the F-35, though the program’s size and the fact that it’s …
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—  Mr. D. —HARD TIMES AGAIN: that's the title to a fine article on The American Conservative (go figure) by Theodore Dalrymple, who contends that "Amid the wreck of capitalism and socialism, Dickens is timelier than ever."We live in hard times, and all the indications are that they may get much, even very much, harder. No one, at any rate, would take a bet that they won’t.The number of children in America claiming subsidized meals in school has shot up; the homeless are increasing by the hour; the formerly prosperous are laid off without so much as a thank you; the young struggle to …
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Ah ... the speculation. Let's not get ahead of ourselves — Karen Handel hasn't resigned (yet), but as pressure for her to quit grows, it seems like odd timing for the organization to post an ad that looks a lot like it's an ad to fill the embattled Senior Vice President of Public Policy's shoes. The ad is for a Director of Public Policy — are we just mincing labels here? Director, Senior Vice President — tomato, tomahto.Or perhaps - Basset, Basset Hound. Personally, I've always been one in favour of the captain assuming responsibility for sinking the ship and in this case that means …
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Since the dreaded Super Bowl is over, its time to get your political seriousness back on! For the record, I have never seen so many Tweets over somebody giving the middle-finger on live TV; there were probably more Tweets about that than about the entire war in Afghanistan. ~*~ I once told the story on this blog (or touched on it briefly), of the time I was shaken very hard by a bigshot leftist. If you are up-to-date on your true-crime scandals, you have likely heard of the death of Yeardley Love, University of Virginia lacrosse player, who was shaken so hard by her …
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YOU ARE HERE. Indeed. Earth From Mars.This is the first image ever taken of Earth from the surface of a planet beyond the Moon. It was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit one hour before sunrise on the 63rd Martian day, or sol, of its mission. (March 8, 2004) …
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I don’t care what religion anyone has …or even if they don’t have one.  That’s a personal decision: each to his own; or to some new direction he or she has found on their own; or been converted to by others … PRIVATELY. I don’t even object to private religious schools … that’s a parental or family decision: although my own experience in Quebec was that separating people by faith in segregated schools …. by legislation… right up to college for up to 20 years contributed to the divisions, suspicions and discrimination that pervaded …
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Robert L. Brown, pretty much lays down the gauntlet over Harper's claims that the Old Age Pension is "unsustainable". In his article he refers to a report by the Chief Actuary of the OAS which actually challenges Harper's assessment with facts.So do we need to worry about the sustainability of OAS?Not according to the Chief Actuary.Based on the assumption that the cost of living would rise 2.5 per cent a year and that earnings would rise at 3.8 per cent a year (i.e., real wage growth of 1.3 per cent per annum), the Chief Actuary projected that the cost of OAS as a percentage of GDP would be …
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According to the National Institutes of Health, Stem cells are cells with the potential to develop into many different types of cells in the body and serve as a repair system for the body. There are two main types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Scientist believes they may be used to make cells and tissues for therapy of many diseases, including Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.Now the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and the government want to make a ridiculous claim suggesting they own your stem cells because they are drugs. This has come about as a …
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"A gaffe," Michael Kingsley wrote, "is when a politician tells the truth." Americans have been treated to several examples of this phenomenon as Mitt Romney seeks the presidency. Last week, Vic Toews treated Canadians to a homegrown version of the same. "I don't know if statistics demonstrate if crime is down," he told a Senate committee. "I'm focused on danger."Stephen Harper used the same argument in Davos when he implied that the Old Age Security system is unsustainable. The truth is, writes Robert Brown in today's Globe and Mail, that  the system is quite sustainable: The Chief …
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How low can Pamela Geller sink? The classification of “honour” killing has just become too much of a dog whistle for the bigotted extremes, these days. Pam Geller is running with it to promote her Islamophobic agenda. Anti-Muslim hate group leader Pamela Geller has seized on the murder of a 20-year old . . . → Read More: Pam Geller Pushes Her Hate-fest Agenda–Even if it Means Perpetrating a Lie …
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Sorry for the delay in getting this up! Here's what I've been reading this week:Joyce Arthur on why we don't need to reopen the debateCanada's role in the sex-selective abortion debate; and a couple more pieces on sex selectionThe Tories are still mad about funding IPPFThe NDP accuses Harper of allowing them to reopen the abortion debateAnd my latest post at Abortion Gang regarding the menstrual cupWhat have you been reading about? …
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They expected 2,000 to attend and, according to police reports, 2,000 people demonstrated their opposition to the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and shut down the main street of the small northern city of Prince Rupert, BC.  When 15% of the 13,000 who live in any city are marching on the street, it’s significant.  Also significant is that CBC reported only 600.  The lesson?  Never trust the media to count your crowd. CBC also reported that First Nations’ leaders are worried about their relationship with Ottawa as a result of their opposition to the pipeline. Dallas Smith, …
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Seems former White House Bush spokesy, sometime Steve fluffer, and anti-Planned Parenthood campaigner Ari Fleischer was involved in vetting job applicants for the Susan G Komen For the Cure foundation, which then dropped their funding for Planned Parenthood's breast cancer screening last week after its anti-choice leadership reverse-engineered its funding rules to align with anti-choice groups opposed to abortion, contraception, and stem cell research. Dr. Dawg has already done a takedown on their subsequent non-apology apology, made in the wake of considerable …
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TEL AVIV - Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird implied in a speech that Nazis weren't the great guys some people made them out to be. Mr. Baird claimed that their leader even wrote a book about their philosophies and plans. Baird is due to leave Israel soon, joining Prime Minister Cowboy Steve in China. A Canadian Foreign Affairs attaché said Canada's chief diplomat has been eagerly looking forward to visiting the many fine porcelain shops. "He's stoked. Wildly enthusiastic about those China shops!" …
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Much more awesome than worrying about some sort of allegedly super bowl Related posts (randomly generated) Watch out Korea, Thailand has you beat… in BBQ! Yahoo Music to record execs: No more DRM, ever …
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Here is a concerned citizen from the Saguenay region, who has taken things further. Mr. Jacques McBrearty has filed a criminal complaint against Senator ‘sell-out’ Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu following his remarks regarding providing ropes to prisoners so they can hang themselves if they wished.  Mr. McBrearty lodged a complaint against Senator sell-out because he . . . → Read More: Good Luck, Mr. McBrearty! …
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CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, ARIZONA: three states where water is becoming top-of-mind, because it may become rather scarce. According to Austin Troy's Design Observer article, "Thirsty City", it's been a long time coming."Under no contingency does the natural face of Upper California appear susceptible of supporting a very large population"So wrote Navy lieutenant Henry Augustus Wise, after spending considerable time in the Golden State in 1847. Although Lieutenant Wise would no doubt be surprised to know that California is now home to almost 40 million people, the fundamental water constraints that …
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Jeffrey Simpson wrote in yesterday's Globe and Mail that:Under the Harper government, Canada lost its bid for a Security Council seat – the first time it had ever been defeated. Were a vote held today, chances are Canada would get even fewer votes.Consider Canada's performance on the world stage since Stephen Harper became prime minister:The latest egregious example of truculent morality was this week’s visit by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to the West Bank. At a meeting with the most moderate leadership in Palestinian Authority history, the …
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We don’t want to return to the bad old days of the back alley, when a poor vulnerable person who made the mistake of stepping out of line had to be forced into the shadows and have the realities explained to them with a tire iron.If I told you, Mark Steyn, you probably wouldn't believe me. But I would be the one who's right. Steyn, however, is just fine if we return to the bad old days of the back alley, as long as it's occupied by a poor vulnerable pregnant woman forced into the shadows and facing the realities of a coat hanger. …
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DEMOTIVATIONAL POSTERS are such a delight, especially if you have a sense of humor that is somewhat oblique. The Demotivator is part of the Tumblr world, and is a great collection from all sorts of places. Great place for a cynical re-charge. …
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HISTORY:ROSA PARKS:On this date Rosa Parks (1913-2005), the mother of the American Civil Rights Movement was born. On December 1st 1955 she refused an order from a bus driver to give up her seat for a white and "move to the back of the bus". This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott that was the first action of the civil rights movement in the USA. The notice for this anniversary was from the Daily Bleed. To learn more about Rosa Parks see this Wikipedia entry. …
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LEONARD COHEN has a fabulous new CD out. Love that guy, and so does Liel Leibovitz at The Tablet, whose review of Lenny's new oeuvre, "St. Leonard’s Passion" is a great read. Remember the festival at the Isle of Wight in 1970? Lenny was there. The account is hair-raising:The audience wanted to see Jim Morrison, so they tried to burn down the stage.By the time Jimi Hendrix came on, they succeeded. …
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Sitting back after the dust has settled on Susan G. Komen’s awkward about-face (which is actually no about-face at all but a bit of temporary cover), one thing has become clear. Komen has given a renewed voice back to the pro-choice movement, too long drowned out by the money and loud talking . . . → Read More: Fallout from the Komen disaster. New-found power for pro-choice voices. …
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It's been quite a week. It began with Mitt Romney declaring, "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there." It ended with Caterpillar shutting down its locomotive plant in London, Ontario and moving operations to Indiana -- two days after Governor Mitch Daniels signed legislation making Indiana a right to work state.It's not that Caterpillar is in trouble. Last year the corporation made $4.9 billion -- an increase of 83% over last year. Caterpillar bought the plant from General Motors in 2010. In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave the plant $5 million in federal tax …
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Dr. Beatrice Golomb's presentation This Is Your Brain On Politics pulls no punches in its critique of conflicts of interest, bias, censorship and intimidation involving pharmaceutical companies, health authorities and academic institutions and publications.  Professor Golomb's presentation includes commentary on pressure tactics, including intimidation, used by some pharmaceutical industry representatives to silence criticism of their products and the research that accompanies them. Professor Golomb's presentation provides an interesting framework with which to consider the continued …
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LONDON - Taking the sting out of the recent closure of the Electromotive plant, the Prime Minister announced Friday that London will be the site of the Navy’s new headquarters and largest naval shipyard. London's new military command centre will oversee operations of Canadian Fleet Atlantic, responsible for the operation and readiness of the Atlantic fleet. The Canadian Task Group Centre in London will be the home base for any East Coast deployment of ships to military exercises or operations. The new Ontario base will have the ability to protect Canadian waters while boosting employment in …
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TALI-TUBBIE. Now, that sure is something you don't see every day.  …
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AMERICAN LABOUR: WORKERS WIN INJUNCTION AGAINST WALMART CONTRACTORS:Here's an interesting item and an appeal for solidarity from the Making Change At Walmart group.*************************Workers win injunction against Walmart contractorsPosted on February 2, 2012 by benjaminwaxmanYesterday, employees working for two Walmart contractors that operate warehouse facilities won a major victory in federal court. The U.S. District Court for Central District of California issued an injunction prohibiting two companies, Schneider Logistics and Rogers-Premier Unloading Services, from firing workers …
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Fetus fetishists whining and crying victim because they didn’t get their way with Komen/Planned Parenthood?  Now whoever coulda seen that coming!?  K-Lo breaks out the violins on Twitter: But not before the deranged SUZANNE had added her dulcet tones to the rising tide of whine: Oh well, I suppose it changes things up from regular [...] …
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Blame Twitter. Someone was tweeting about a musician named Lincoln Durham the other day and when he included the magic words — slide guitar — I went off to see what I could find. The result is the set you see before you beginning with Living This Hard. Once I'd found Lincoln Durham I poked around some more. I thought this was interesting: Blackie and the Rodeo Kings with Another Free Woman Gets To Walk Away. I'd seen Will Kimbrough before but not this track and it makes a good closer. This is Piece of Work. Have a good weekend. …
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…but was secretly nurtured and guided by former Bush Press Secretary and Planned Parenthood critic Ari Fleisher: Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for George W. Bush and prominent right-wing pundit, secretly helped guide Komen Foundation’s disastrous strategy regarding Planned Parenthood. Fleischer personally interviewed candidates for the position of “Senior Vice President for Communications and External [...] …
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Well, so much for their trustworthy “new” perspective on Canadian news:  Sun News Network have been caught AGAIN running faked content. The latest embarrassment surrounds a faked Citizenship Ceremony created in Sun TV’s Toronto studios last October, because for some mysterious reason, covering the 13 already-scheduled swearing in ceremonies around the city for new Canadians was not good enough. It didn’t start out as a faked event ….but became one when not enough “real” new Canadians could be found to take part.  So six federal bureaucrats stood in, …
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Well, maybe. At least consider the Komen controversy well and truly #occupied: The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation backed down from its decision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and birth control services, a move that had thrust the world’s largest breast cancer charity into a deeply politicized controversy. Komen [...] …
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