Amazing How Old Certainties Can Melt Once Debate Is Allowed

By Andrew Bolt

Peter van Onselen is wrong to claims sceptics didn’t like discussing climate change. In fact, what they demanded was more discussion, not censorship and media shut-ups, to achieve just what now so bemuses Peter:

How quickly things can change in politics. At the end of last year the (Australian) government’s CPRS was something most Liberals (The Conservative Party here in Australia) wanted off the political agenda. Whether it was Malcolm Turnbull (the former Conservative leader) and his supporters who wanted it pasted into law so they could get back to talking about debt and deficits or the climate change sceptics who wanted the legislation defeated, conservatives didn’t particularly like discussing climate change.

The reason was simple: opinion polls showed an overwhelming majority of the public supported action on climate change and (Australian Prime Minister) Rudd’s CPRS (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) had become the conventional wisdom for what shape action should take….

The government has (now) looked to shift the policy agenda on to matters other than climate change for two reasons: it is concerned that selling the CPRS might be as complicated as selling the Goods and Services Tax was for John Hewson in 1993 and Howard in 1998. ..

For a government that ended last year urging action on climate change (the greatest moral challenge of our generation, as Rudd calls it), to focus policy attention elsewhere this year has been utterly brazen… The risk for Rudd is that a double dissolution guarantees climate change is more likely to become the central issue of the campaign, exactly what the Coalition now appears to be wanting.

UPDATE 1

Even greens are coming to their senses, scared by the now-imminent prospect of an economy with no emissions-belching industry:

IT’S the Queensland town renowned for a postcard setting, caring community and laidback lifestyle … but has Maleny become too green for its own good?

As the children of a generation of tree-changers begin their working lives, Maleny is discovering that being green is no protection against that scourge of rural communities: youth unemployment….

Community concern has become so acute that even local greenies are calling for drastic action and putting out the welcome mat for new industry.

UPDATE 2

It’s telling that when Canadian commentator Mark Steyn and Canadian blogger Donna Laframboise cast around for examples of outrageously biased reporting, journalists who bought the IPCC spin and academics with a vested interest in defending the IPCC’s dodgy sources, they look to Australia - and specifically to the (Australian)ABC’s Lateline and to Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.

UPDATE 3

Global Cooling – California Now Rethinks Its Gas-Slash Laws

An admission of the fact that slashing gases is also slashing jobs:

Republican politicians and conservative activists are launching a ballot campaign to suspend California’s landmark global-warming law, in what they hope will serve as a showcase for a national backlash against climate regulations.

Supporters say they have “solid commitments” of nearly $600,000 to pay signature gatherers for a November initiative aimed at delaying curbs on the greenhouse gas emissions of power plants and factories until the state’s unemployment rate drops.

Meanwhile another reminder that getting warming won’t be so awful, after all, since it’s a cold planet that’s least comfortable, as Americans have found all winter:

A winter storm continued its blizzard rage in some parts of the Mid-Atlantic region on Saturday morning, dumping nearly two feet of wet, heavy snow that cut power to about 200,000 residents, caused the roof of a private jet hangar to collapse at Washington Dulles International Airport and forced the nation’s capital into quiet hibernation.

(Via Instapundit.)

Andrew Bolt is a journalist and columnist writing for The Herald Sun in Melbourne Victoria Australia.

Read more excellent articles from Andrew Bolt’s Blog

[Via http://papundits.wordpress.com]

Porky's

Porky’s is a 1981 Canadian Comedy that is considered the King of all Teen-Sex comedies of the 1980’s.

The movie was released in the United States in 1982.

The film starred a cast of young, virtually unknown actors.

The film spawned two sequels, “Porky’s 2: The Next Day” (1983) and “Porky’s Revenge” (1985)

Adjusting for inflation, it is the highest grossing Canadian-Produced film of All-Time. The 2006 film “Bon Cop, Bad Cop” (I’ve never heard of it either..) has grossed more, but adjusting to early 80’s inflation, Porky’s is still the leader.

It was directed by Bob Clark who would go on and direct the Christmas Classic “A Christmas Story“.

To date, the film has grossed over $111 Million worldwide.

The film did nothing to launch the acting careers of any of it’s young stars…..with one notable exception.

A brunette Kim Cattrall appeared in the film as Miss “Lassie” Honeywell, who has a very memorable (and loud) scene in the film. (Ya’ll know which one I am talking about…) Kim has gone on to have, by far, the most successful career of all the young actors in the film, at least here in the US.

This film had me in stitches the first time I saw it, and it still has the same effect 30 years later.

[Via http://idiotflashback.wordpress.com]

Disc review: Idlers, Keep Out

This review was originally published on Exclaim!

The Idlers

Idlers

Keep Out

By Ronak Ghorbani

Since forming in 2006, Canadian east coasters the Idlers have taken their reggae ska act across the nation, performing what they call a “reggae circus.” With sophomore album Keep Out, their high-energy live performance doesn’t exactly translate onto disc but there are still many gems. Opener “Wonderwars” features pulsating guitar, an ace horn section and tight musicianship ― no surprise from this well rehearsed 11-piece band. The Idlers’ use of falsetto backup vocals on every track gives their sound an old-school reggae feel. On “Fish ‘n Rum,” a ringing guitar chorus is accompanied by tooting horns making sweet harmonies. Produced by Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer, Keep Out is cohesively mellow from beginning to end. Tracks to look out for are “Better Day,” which gives the horns plenty of room to blow their roaring notes, and “Englishman,” picking up their ska influences with danceable beats. (Independent)

[Via http://geeronak.wordpress.com]

Waking up, "cyber-veillance", and "weapons of mass disruption"

Is it wrong for people to share information and ideas in quest of truth? Would a government with hidden agendas want to disguise national security concerns with an attempt to censor and control the ability for us to discuss the important issues of our day?

Could the message embodying the President’s speech of  May 29th, 2009 be the underlying precursor when an agenda reaches critical mass?

 

It was 6:30 AM this morning, and this site was visited by a cyber security company from Washington, D.C.. For “privacy reasons” I will not disclose the name of the company, but I googled the company name that had a very official, “cyber-security” sounding name.

I am concerned but not intimidated; that an innocent little blog site  like mine would be of interest of cyber-security issues. Although I will not disclose the name of the security firm, here is the actual search term that was used to investigate my site.

The search term deliberately looked for the name of this site as it would appear on google. Again, the company doing the search is based in Washington, D.C., and I have had visits to this site in the past from the CIA, the Justice Department, and the Executive Office of the President. Those visits occurred on the heels of our investigation of potential corruption  in hockey.

Strangely, the hockey investigation led me to discover that for years, Alex Jones was conducting a similar “corruption investigation” on a much broader scale, with greater consequences. My search for truth was Jones’ search on a micro scale, but with striking similarities. Corruption in any form, it would seem, has similar qualities.

But, back to this “cyber security firm” checking us out this morning…

I, in turn, googled this “invader of my space”, and on their website I came across the document of the speech delivered by the President in May, that is linked here. Could there be a link between this company and the government of the United States? Why would this company make a special visit to a little blog like makeiteigheh.com?

And more importantly, should it dissuade a blogger from investigating and sharing honest information as we have done on this site?  Heck no!

And, should it stop others from sharing information of vital interest in the same way? Again, not a chance!

In the speech given by President Obama in May of 2009, he made some very interesting comments, and I’ll start with this one:

Let me also be clear about what we will not do.  Our pursuit of cybersecurity will not — I repeat, will not include — monitoring private sector networks or Internet traffic.  We will preserve and protect the personal privacy and civil liberties that we cherish as Americans.  Indeed, I remain firmly committed to net neutrality so we can keep the Internet as it should be — open and free.

 

Was this “promise” before or after the arrival of Cass Sunstein?

It is up to us, the free on the internet to ensure the President of the United States, and the Prime Minister of Canada continue to allow our liberties to flourish. We must continue to speak strong and loud, and refuse to be intimidated.

We must refuse to allow the twisting of truth, where those expressing opinion and sharing ideas can be viewed as bringing “weapons of mass disruption”, and it is time we remind President Obama of his promise to allow free speech in every form to continue.

For the war is about knowledge, and the seeking of truth!

 

 

 

 

[Via http://makeiteighteh.com]

Mallick at it again.

Heather Mallick is at it again, pointing out that Harper is no ladies man (hint:he doesn’t have a mustache), and that he is returning women to the 18th century.  She truly fears for you ladies, as you can tell from the spit dripping off her keyboard as she hurriedly tries to warn you.

Ms. Mallick inexplicably clings to the minor nuances of Canadian policy, so much so she can’t see the forest for the trees when it comes to the status of women.   It seems odd that someone so sophisticated; who is typically embarrassed of her hidebound homeland, should be so obsessed with the internationally renowned boredness of Canadian politics.

What is pathetic though is that she reads like she looses sleep at night because moderate conservatives are running the country.  This could require medication if the electorate doesn’t come around to her thinking-which in 143 years hasn’t happened.

Predictably, she condemns conservatives and Harper, pushes all the panic buttons and trots out all the boogeymen (except she forgot Bush??).  Of course she misses the point,  women in Canada today are better off than they ever have been.  Numbers in parliament or in caucus are not a reflection of the greater populous.  Such measures are not informative considering the nature of politics and the difficulty finding good candidates male or female.  But, if that’s the kind of score she likes to keep, why not mention the party the first female Prime Minister came from?

Where this charlatan goes wrong in her eagerness to sling mud at conservatives, is her failure to recognize meaningful outcomes.  By most objective measures the status of women in Canada is better than ever before, amongst the best in the world and a model for others.  This is not something to sniff at and certainly can not be credited to any one party.  It should not be looked down upon to try and score cheap points.

Mallick recognizes (as Ignatieff set out the marker) much is also likely to be made over childcare in the next election battle.  She attacks the government for lack of government childcare, although this was never a conservative cross to bare.   She actually suggests electing Liberals to make sure childcare happens, ignoring that the stock Liberal promise is never accomplished.  She smugly dismisses the $100 dollar a month subsidy taxpayers provide to help with childcare, yet has no problem suggesting turning your young children over to bureaucrats for indoctrination-without even considering the cost.

Luckily most people don’t consider Mallick a victim of society; and only a victim of self-loathing.  I think I’ll leave it at that.

[Via http://darcymeyers.wordpress.com]

China Warns Obama On Meeting With Dalai Lama as US Ties Sour‎ -

China has warned Barack Obama not to meet with Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, saying such a meeting would harm bilateral relations. China considers the Tibetan leader a dangerous separatist, and opposes any such meeting. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He claims he isn’t campaigning for Tibetan independence but only seeks ‘meaningful autonomy’ for Tibetan areas within the framework of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. The Chinese government said that it would give “no concessions” on the issue of Tibet’s sovereignty but the “door remained open” for talks with the Dalai Lama.

Given that India has offered refuge to the Dalai Lama and the countless Tibetans who’ve fled their homeland, China’s strategy on Tibet lies in ‘waiting out’ the Dalai Lama.

Envoys of the Tibetan religious leader have been in Beijing this past week for the ninth round of talks with the Chinese government on the question of Tibet’s autonomy. The Dalai Lama maintains that his demands for greater autonomy were within the limits of the Chinese constitution. He wants the Chinese government to do more to protect the religious rights and ethnic identity of Tibetans, which he says have been eroded under the Communist Party’s rule. China said a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Obama would set back ties with the U.S. that have soured in recent weeks.

Click On Links:

Obama Won’t Meet Dala Lama

Dalai Lama Fist Bump

Google May Leave China

Obama Visits Great Wall In China

Obama Bowing To Japan’s Emperor Akihito

Obama Wants More Internet Freedom In China

Wang Zifei, Obama Girl In Black

Impeach Obama

The House Negro And The Field Negro

Burning Man Obama

Obamamania Hits Japan

Obama Image in Tomb

[Via http://emptysuit.wordpress.com]

2010: Pizza and Landscape

2010: February. Cold Pizza, originally uploaded by Jon Chiang.

2010: February. Cold Pizza, originally uploaded by Jon Chiang.

This daily “what did I eat” theme is going to be interesting because I don’t have a kitchen. It’s kind of a downer because I love to cook and this would have been a perfect chance to share the delicious food I made with you guys. Anyways here is the first of them, Cold delicious Panago pizza. Also here’s my first week landscape photo from Steveston dike (again). Enjoy!

[Via http://nobuddyreads.wordpress.com]