Month: March 2007

Marlene Jennings Contracts Foot In Mouth Disease

Mulder

First she attacked partisan government appointments…

…and then we found out her own husband received such an appointment.

Then she attacked the way the C-17 contract was tendered…

…when her own party used this same method of tender 3264 times in A SINGLE YEAR!!

And now Liberal Marlene Jennings is attacking the RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass for his comments following the Liberal support to let the anti-terror legislation sunset clause expiry.

Liberal justice critic Marlene Jennings is lashing out at B.C’s top Mountie for criticizing a move by Canada’s opposition parties not to extend controversial anti-terror powers for police.

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass says an investigation into the 1985 Air India bombing has been harmed by the expiry of investigative hearings. Such hearings allow authorities to compel potential witnesses in a suspected terror case to testify in front of a judge.

Now that we are spending millions to investigate this tragedy again, the Liberals have taken away the tools the RCMP needed. Marlene Jennings and her Liberal partners should hang their heads in shame for how they have let down the families of every victim of the Air India tragedy down. Her dress down of a ranking RCMP officer is deplorable.

Places Al Gore And David Suzuki Won't Lick A Fence Post

Mulder

So far, February 2007 is the coldest in more than 70 years

     – Chicago Tribune

Despite the recent string of above normal readings, this month (February 2007) is averaging only 13.5° making it the 6th coldest February on record here since 1871 and the coldest February in nearly three decades.

     – WGN Weather Center Blog

Coldest Russian Winter in Generation Kills Homeless, Drunks

…
Moscow’s coldest spell in 26 years brought out the quirkiest in the Russian character with one animal trainer feeding an elephant a bucket of vodka to warm it up — only to watch the drunken beast set about wrecking the central heating system.

     – Red Orbit

The milder weather will probably mean that this month will not end as one of the two or three coldest Februarys on record, but it’s not likely that the upcoming milder weather will be enough to keep the month from ending below normal in temperature.

     – Roanoke.com Weather Journal

Liberals Practicing Reverse Psychology On Canadians

Mulder

If you have ever tried to find a lost receipt in a garbage bag full of coffee grounds, banana peels and loaded diapers, then you know how hard it was to find this quote from the mouth of Mark Holland:

Liberals Denis Coderre and Mark Holland came to Dion’s defence, and blasted Harper and the Tories for spending millions of dollars on personal attack ads to force an election Canadians don’t want.

“I think that the Prime Minister wants the election soon,” said Holland, Dion’s natural resources critic. “Canadians don’t, and certainly we don’t. I think that Canadians want a minority government. They wanted it to work. What instead we have is somebody who has a crass political agenda and sort of shoves everything else aside.”

H/T to Jarrett Plonka.

But the story doesn’t end there.

This morning on CTV Newsnet, there was a news clip with Liberal Jim Karygiannis from Scarborough, taking his campaign signs out of storage for the pending election and Jimmy K. was harping about how an election was coming and blamed the reasoning on Harper’s desire to go to election.

“I think the Prime Minister is certainly misleading the Canadian public. He’s eager to go, he’s rarin’ to go, and I think within 4 to 8 weeks he’s going to pull the plug on us.”

But why would Jimmy move signs out of the garage of his mansion and put them in a
minivan? Where could he possibly be taking them? I think it’s clear who is rarin’ to go and it’s Jimmy K.

JimmyK Signs 1

JimmyK Signs 2

JimmyK Signs 3

So what we have here is three Liberals starting the campaign to make it look like they did NOT call the election. The way this works is they scatter the press with images of themselves preparing for an election and blaming it on the Tories, and then they take the government down on the budget and anyone who decides to not pay attention in two weeks will think the Tories called the election.

Nice smoke and mirrors. Watch the press over this two week March break to see how many more Liberals prepare for an election call and then deflect the blame to the Tories. All I have to say is that if Jimmy K has a sign up on his own lawn and is taking signs out of his garage and posting them

But the truth is, the Liberals are itching. They have an ineffective leader. They are losing more and more ground to the Tories daily, and they are in desperate need to find a reason to boot Stephane Dion out of power so they can find a more capable leader.

David Suzuki Foundation Hides Poll Results

Mulder

Their was a poll on the David Suzuki Foundation website that I blogged about here.

As of mid day Sunday, they had removed this poll from their site and the speculation is that the results did not match what their site supports. As Steve Janke points out, for a scientist like Suzuki to not show results that don’t match his expectations is, simply put, a sin against science.

The image below is the results as of 5:50 am EST Monday March 5th.

Suzuki Poll Results 3

What I especially like is that the code can be put on other sites. So I urge you all to continue voting if you have not voted already.

H/T to Neo at Halls of Macadamia

FIFA Human Rights Violation … My (Gr)ass

Mulder

One organization says some must wear the hijab for religious reasons, while some may not.

One organization says they must not wear the hijab for safety reasons and it applies to EVERYONE.

Now whom do YOU think the human rights complaint will be filed against?

This is one of those cases when we just need to stop and slap ourselves.

“I think this is something that needs to be taken up with the United Nations in terms of human rights violations,” Anisa Ali of the United Muslim Women of Canada told CTV Newsnet on Saturday. “We, as Muslim women, have a right to participate in sporting activities just like non-Muslim women.”

Her group will be taking action “ASAP,” she said.

I think what any human rights group’s response to this type of complaint should be that Muslim women are not being prevented from playing soccer, but instead it should be viewed that ALL humans are being prevented from playing soccer with a headscarf.

Since EVERYONE is affected by the no headscarves rule, the only possible human rights violation would be the requirement that all Muslim women HAVE to wear a headscarf when Muslim men are exempt.

Aye, there’s the rub…

Carbon Offsetters Fooling Themselves And Us

Mulder

When the Tories released their Clean Air act, the biggest shot across the bow that the other parties made had to do with the reduction of green house gases with targets going out to 2050.

Well Lorrie Goldstein has done a bit of very smart math that may make people like Elizabeth May head for a washcloth to wipe the egg off their faces.

“Green” celebrities often claim to reduce their carbon imprint to zero when flying around the world by buying “carbon offsets”. One popular way of doing this is by planting trees.

Let’s do the math. It takes 15 trees 40 to 50 years to absorb five tons of carbon.

A return flight from Toronto to Vancouver injects 5.4 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per passenger. Carbon dioxide takes 50 to 200 years to dissipate naturally.

Therefore, to absorb most of the carbon dioxide caused by one passenger taking one domestic round-trip flight across Canada in 2007, requires planting 15 trees today that won’t complete the job until, assuming none is destroyed by fire, disease or insects. If they are, they’ll release their carbon back into the atmosphere.

(bolded emphasis mine)

This is one of those tidy little facts you keep in your pocket for when an environmentalist complains about the Tory play taking 45 years to reach fruition.

And if you happen to be one of those who believes that offsetting is a good plan then I highly urge you save your soul by taking part in my very own OfficiallyScrewed Offsetting Program.

FIFA Board Agrees With Me – Soccer And Hijabs Don't Mix

Mulder

Today in Manchester, England, FIFA soccer legislators ruled that a hijab is not allowed under rule 4 of the FIFA succer rules.

An 11 year old soccer player from Ottawa says she hoped her case would make a difference. But now, Asmahan Mansour says she is disappointed following today’s meeting of FIFA soccer legislators in Manchester, England.

A week after she was ordered off the field at a tournament in Montreal for wearing a hijab, Mansour was hoping the International Football Association Board would rule it’s O.K. to wear her headscarf.

However the board states, the issue of a head scarf is covered under rule four of its soccer laws.

The rule says players cannot wear anything that is potentially dangerous to themselves or another player.

This is exactly what I had stated in my blog post earlier today. Rule four does not specifically mention headscarves, but it does have safety guidelines which seem to be the basis for the ruling, and rightfully so.

I can empathize with the young lady who was disallowed from playing, but I played competitive soccer for well over a dozen years and as the father of a soccer player, I know that safety is always of the highest concerns. This decision may not be a popular one, but it is the right one.

Can Soccer And Hijab Mix?

Mulder

Oh no, not another story about the young lady kicked off the soccer field for wearing a hijab!!!

Wait!! Don’t leave. This one is different.

In every story I have read in the press about Asmahan (Azzy) Mansour, the argument surrounds the religious argument, the safety, and FIFA. We hear about the referee being Muslim. We hear about the rules, and we hear about FIFA letting women wear Hijabs in soccer games in Pakistan and Iran.

But do we even know what the rules are there for and if they apply? The answer to this is no, because no one has ever addressed what a hijab is or how it is worn to see if it constitutes a safety risk.

From FIFA’s own website, the latest rules state:

Law 4 – The Players’ Equipment

SAFETY

* A player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player (including any kind of jewellery)

…

BASIC EQUIPMENT

The basic compulsory equipment of a player comprises the following separate items:

* jersey or shirt;
* shorts – if thermal undershorts are worn; they are of the same colour as the shorts
* stockings;
* shinguards;
* footwear

…

NON-BASIC EQUIPMENT

*A player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself/herself or another player
*Modern protective equipment such as headgear, facemasks, knee and arm protectors made of soft, lightweight padded material are not considered dangerous and are therefore permitted

Now my quest was to determine “is wearing a hijab dangerous?” so to do so, I had to see what a hijab is and how it is worn so I did some googling and found a video series put on by The Canadian Muslim. The speaker is clear, articulate, and provides many types of demonstrations on how to wear various kinds of hijabs, oblongs, shaylas, etc.

The two things I noticed about wearing a hijab that had me most concerned are:

a) the pins and b) the wrapping of the hijab around the neck.

There are one or several pins used to keep the hijab in place. Since there is no rule on pins, the only two areas that might address this are the section on Jewellery (which states under no conditions is any jewellery to be worn) and the section on safety. In my mind, the pins alone would be enough to constitute the hijab as a risk to the wearer and, possibly, other players.

The video link below will show you how the hijab is typically worn. I watched both Part I and Part II and for the most part, the hijab is draped over the head with the ends coming under the chin and then being pulled back above the head over the ears (where they are pinned, or they can be draped over the shoulder. In addressing the positions, I came to the conclusion that each and every way the hijab was worn, there is a risk of a third party grabbing it in a way that would create a choking hazard.

In light of these two reasons, I would, personally, say that the hijab should not be worn on the soccer field AS IT IS TRADITIONALLY WORN. Note the emphasis. If there is a style of hijab or a way to wear it that does not use pins, or if there is a way for it to fall apart with absolutely no risk of choking, my view would change. But from what I have seen, I do believe they constitute a safety risk and should not be allowed on soccer fields.

I hope this article sparks someone to develop an “athletic hijab” the way others have developed athletic shoes, athletic bras, athletic socks, etc.

You can see “How to wear a hijab: Part I” by clicking Here.
You can see “How to wear a hijab: Part II” by clicking Here.

Get Out The Vote

Mulder

Suzuki PollI think there could be more categories in this poll, but I think the fourth choice is the closest to my view.

I wonder if David Suzuki would change his view if no one cared. I find it quite a relief to see no one cares for carbon credit programs. That’s a big sigh of relief.

Go vote!!

H/T to Kate at SDA

ADDENDUM: I love the internet. I went to bed last night at 11:30 shortly after posting this, and the blogosphere has reacted dramatically to Kate’s call for a vote. It is now about 5:50 am, a mere 6 and a half hours later and the poll results are below. Quite a dramatic jump in the fourth answer!!

Suzuki Poll Results 2