Gwynne Dyer's Pants On Fire After Substandard Research

Mulder

Ok, so I just continued the line started by Let It Bleed.

But this kind of shlocky journalism has to be stopped in it’s tracks.

Indeed, no other non-Muslim nation except Israel was a target for Islamist terrorist attacks until after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. And the attacks since then have been aimed at the citizens of countries that were complicit in that invasion: Londoners, not Parisians; Spaniards, not Germans; Australians holidaying in Bali, not Japanese holidaying in Malaysia

Considering the bombing in Bali took place on October 12th, 2002, Gwynne should be apologizing to all his readers in all 45 countries he is published in for this bald faced attempt to lie.  Ironically, he even uses Bali in his list which makes it truly sad.

The public, if not already, should be very leery of what they read and see in the MSM.  The press today is not like it was 20 years ago.  The advent of quick exchanges via email and electronic data transfer has made it too easy for information to make it to print without the due diligence being done to make sure the information is accurate.

In their attempts to make their deadlines so they get the scoop before someone else, today’s reporters are starting to slack big time to be first and make the big bucks.

H/T to Let It Bleed.

NDPussies

Mulder

Canadian Casualties Through History

The Great War (World War I) – 1914-1918
Military Deaths – 66,655 (approximately 13,000/year)
Wounded – 172,950 (approximately 34,500/year)

World War II (1939-1945)
Military Deaths – 42,042 (approximately 7,000/year)
Wounded – 53,145 (approximately 9,000/year)

Korean War (1950-1953)
Military Deaths – 516 (approximately 125/year)
Wounded – 1042 (approximately 250/year)

Afghanistan (2001-2006)
Military Deaths – 33 (approximately 5/year)
Wounded – 129 (approximately 20/year)

Note: for annual approximation averages, whole calendar years were used even if the war only took place for part of that year (for ease of calculations)

ADDENDUM In case the above post was misconstrued, it was not meant to put down our military one bit. It is meant to tell those who want to cut in run in Afghanistan to go take a flying leap. If we had cut and run against Hitler, where would we be? If we had not helped South Korea from being overrun, we would not have such great companies like Hyundai or Samsung.

The mission in Afghanistan must continue because the Afghanis need us. These oppressed people need strong humans to help them live free. When schools are blown up because girls are allowed to attend, they need us. When teachers are tortured because they teach girls along with the boys, they need us.

I, and my whole family, are very proud of every single soldier who has set foot in Afghanistan on behalf of the NATO mission which has been sanctioned by the UN. Just because the NDPussies want to get out, doesn’t make this mission wrong.

Don’t be fooled by their pansy asses.

NDP Propose To Ignore Maps Via Pullout Of Troops From Afghanistan

Mulder

…by blaming the Iraq war. Stephen Taylor has busted out the NDP proposals for their national convention and in resolutions 6, page 3, they feel we should leave Afghanistan because the war in Iraq sucks. Ironically, we were in Afghanistan BEFORE the Iraq war.

I really wish someone in the NDP would look at a map of the middle east and figure out that Iraq is not Afghanistan and that there are no Canadian troops in Iraq.

WHEREAS the war on Iraq was based on the threat of weapons of mass destruction, and

WHEREAS there are not and were not any weapons of mass destruction; and

WHEREAS the Canadian mission in Afghanistan helped support the war in Iraq and the bigger picture which includes the control of oil in that region; and

WHEREAS the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan is a mission of military occupation; and

WHEREAS this mission aids the Americans and the transnational oil corporations in their lust for control of oil; and

WHEREAS war resisters in Canada are bravely communicating their difficult conscientious decision to abandon the amoral Iraqi war,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the NDP actively advocates for the immediate end of the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan

You have to love the cute little peaceniks. I bet the person who resolved this wore tye dye at one time and just forgot to take it off. I wore tye dye for a stretch of my life too, but then I grew up.

Refugee Status Vs. Old Age Pension In Canada

Mulder

Apparently, there is an email circulating which discusses the difference between the funds provided for Old Age Pension vs. the funds provided refugees to Canada. It goes as follows.

CANADA PENSION

Only in Canada.

Do not apply for your old age pension. Apply to be a refugee. It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.00 and each can get an additional $580.00 in social assistance for a total of $2,470.00.

This compares very well to a single pensioner who, after contributing to the growth and development of Canada for 40 or 50 years, can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees!

I wanted to do my due diligence so took a quick peek around the Government of Canada website for refugee funding and found the $580 RAP (Resettlement Assistance Program) money but could not find where the $1,890 came from.

If anyone out there is aware of where this $1,890 monthly allowance comes from, I would appreciate knowing because if this email circulating is true, it really says a lot about how poorly we have Officially Screwed our senior citizens.

ADDENDUM – I found the Old Age Security payment charts. There is obviously some variation on the amount from the email floating around. You can see the whole grid below and for much more info click the link above. The Guaranteed Income Supplement from the government site is $1006.19. This is not quite the $1012 claimed in the email but pretty darn close so I give the email some credibility here.

While digging for the source of the $1890, I did find the one time household start up page but this is not a monthly allowance. It simply helps refugees start up a household with initial clothing, food, cleaning supplies, phone hookup, etc.

Opinions Needed ASAP On A PDA/Cellphone

Mulder

I am probably going to be getting a new cellphone/PDA over the next week or so and need some input.

I currently use a Treo 600 and have used a Palm device for several generations going back to Palm III devices. I have also used both the original blackberry and one of the newer blue tinted models that are being offered for $150 by Rogers.

If anyone has an opinion on a specific Blackberry model or PDA/Cell that they can give, I would really appreciate it. My main concern is that I hear the sound quality on the blackberry’s is not up to snuff.

I would appreciate feedback in the comments below.

My First (But Not Last) Experience With Mark Steyn

Mulder

Over the past few weeks I have seen and heard the name Mark Steyn several times. I heard about a new book he has coming out at the end of September. I heard about him filling in for Rush Limbaugh. I have heard that he submits work to the Western Standard but I must admit, I have never read a single copy of the Western Standard. A friend of mine with a subscription submitted me for a free copy which may entice me to get a subscription, but I am still waiting for that copy as of the time I write this.

Today, while surfing my usual haunts, there was a link at Dust My Broom to an hour long interview with Mr. Steyn which was done on C-SPAN a few days ago.

With today being a cloudy, lazy Labour Day, I decided to take the hour of time and watch … and boy am I glad I did. Mr. Steyn was mesmerizing to listen to. I quickly found his website and have added him to my pundits section and he made an instant fan. Not because of all the hype around him recently, but because an hour of listening to his frank views was enlightening.

If you have not had a chance to experience Mark Steyn yourself, I highly urge you to check out the hour long interview.

Why Unions Should Respect Conservative Values

Mulder

For those of you who don’t know why you have Labour day off work, below is an excerpt.

For the unions out there, and especially for Buzz Hargrove, I must point out the bolded text below.

The Canadian labour movement can justly claim the title of originator of Labour Day. Peter J. McGuire, one of the founders of the American Federation of Labour has traditionally been known as the ‘Father of Labour Day’. Historical evidence indicates that McGuire obtained his idea for the establishment of an annual demonstration and public holiday from the Canadian trade unionist.

Earliest records show that the Toronto Trades Assembly, perhaps the original central labour body in Canada, organized the first North American ‘workingman’s demonstration’ of any significance for April 15,1872. The beribboned parade marched smartly in martial tread accompanied by four bands. About 10,000 Torontonians turned out to see the parade and listen to the speeches calling for abolition of the law, which decreed that trade unions were criminal conspiracies in restraint of trade.

The freedom of 24 imprisoned leaders of the Toronto Typographical Union, on strike to secure the nine-hour working day, was the immediate purpose of the parade, on what was then Thanksgiving Day. It was still a crime to be a member of a union in Canada although the law of criminal conspiracy in restraint of trade had been repealed by the United Kingdom parliament in 1871.

Toronto was not the only city to witness a labour parade in 1872. On September 3, members of seven unions in Ottawa organized a parade more than a mile long, headed by the Garrison Artillery band and flanked by city fireman carrying torches.

The Ottawa parade wound its way to the home of Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald where the marchers hoisted him into a carriage and drew him to Ottawa City Hall by torchlight. ‘The Old Chieftain’, aware of the discontent of workers with the laws which made unions illegal, in a ringing declaration from the steps of the City Hall, promised the marchers that his party would ‘sweep away all such barbarous laws from the statute books’.

The offending conspiracy laws were repealed by the Canadian government in 1872.

What’s that? A Conservative Prime Minister repealed the laws that outlawed unions?

Can I get a “Hell Yeah!!” from the autoworkers in Oshawa??

Can I get a “Hell Yeah!!” from the CUPE workers in Ottawa??

Can I get a “Hell Yeah!!” from the CUPW workers around the country??

Can I get a “Hell Yeah!!” from the teachers around the country??

Not a chance in hell.

Because the unions of today have gone beyond what they were created for. They are now the impervious shield of the “me generation”. The word grievance has gone from meaning “a wrong considered as grounds for a complaint” to “Back off or my mafia style organization is going to sue you, the company and the parent corporation and put you all out of business even if it costs me my job.”

Unions are not only joined to fellow union members, but they are joined to the hips of every other union’s members as well. This is most easily demonstrated by the inability for union members to cross the picket line of another union.

This post may not change the way unions operate, but perhaps it will give union members a bit more respect for the Conservative Party because, historically, it was the Conservatives who made it all possible. It was the Conservatives who cared about the working conditions. And it was the Conservatives who cared about Canadians of all stripes, and still do.

Coren Goes Beyond Ballistic

Mulder

I have heard a few discussions on what a nuclear bomb might accomplish if dropped in the middle east, but I have yet to see it in print … until today.

It is surely obvious now to anybody with even a basic understanding of history, politics and the nature of fascism that something revolutionary has to be done within months — if not weeks — if we are to preserve world peace.

Put boldly and simply, we have to drop a nuclear bomb on Iran.

Not, of course, the unleashing of full-scale thermo-nuclear war on the Persian people, but a limited and tactical use of nuclear weapons to destroy Iran’s military facilities and its potential nuclear arsenal. It is, sadly, the only response that this repugnant and acutely dangerous political entity will understand.

The tragedy is that innocent people will die. But not many. Iran’s missiles and rockets of mass destruction are guarded and maintained by men with the highest of security clearance and thus supportive of the Tehran regime. They are dedicated to war and, thus, will die in war.

Frankly, it would be churlish of the civilized world to deny martyrdom to those who seem so intent on its pursuance. Most important, a limited nuclear attack on Iran will save thousands if not millions of lives.

(emphasis mine)

I have often wondered if the terrorist cells would just all activate if a nuclear bomb hit Tehran or some military installation outside of the capital. Or if the bases in Iran and Afghanistan would just dry up and in a quiet way admit they can’t compete when it comes to warfare. i.e. utter surrender the way Japan did.

What do you think would happen globally?

How The Twin Towers Fell

Mulder

I tried swimming through the NIST report on how the towers fell but not until this morning did I get a decent, easy to understand explanation. This came courtesy of Discovery Channel’s Frontiers of Construction, one of my favourite shows.

It helps dispel the theory that bombs or internal explosions brought the tower down and runs through the key reasons why the towers fell.

Of particular note is the comment that once the towers hit, it was inevitable that they were going to fall due to the fireproofing being scoured off the supports. Had the fireproofing been intact and the fire continued to rage, there was a very high likelihood the towers would have remained standing.

This was an incredible revelation.

I recorded and uploaded to YouTube for the world to see two things.

1) how the towers fell and
2) what a great show Frontiers of Construction is.

If you can’t see the above video, then you can visit the YouTube link here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-UZoNqluFs