Psychedelic Saturday – Hot In The City

Mulder

It’s been nice and hot in Ottawa this weekend and I think I may have to move a set of speakers out to the garage so I can listen to some tunes while shooting hoops tonight. This weeks set list is full of live tunes so if you are a concert goer, you should really enjoy this. It’s short on quantity but still about 30 minutes long and very sweet.

Set List

Traffic – Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
Grateful Dead – Chinacat Sunflower >> I Know You Rider
Little Feat – Willin’
Velvet Underground – I’m Waiting For The Man

Booming Under Bush??

Mulder

And we don’t mean booming as in bombs. But in a real bombshell of a story, Larry Kudlow cracks open the economic benefit of the Bush tax cuts.

Did you know that just over the past 11 quarters, dating back to the June 2003 Bush tax cuts, America has increased the size of its entire economy by 20 percent? In less than three years, the U.S. economic pie has expanded by $2.2 trillion, an output add-on that is roughly the same size as the total Chinese economy, and much larger than the total economic size of nations like India, Mexico, Ireland, and Belgium.

Once again the right shows that tax cuts benefit the economy and the public.  I can see the Democrats running for cover as we speak.
H/T to Kate

Peace Moonbeam Joins Peace Mother Sheehan (PMS) On Hunger Strike

Mulder

People who simply pass over my link to Peace Moonbeam Chronicles due to the name, HAVE to start reading this blog.

The recent edition is simply priceless.

ADDENDUM:  Just a taste…

I’m very weak but will try to do my best to fill you in on this week’s activities. As you may have heard, Peace Mother Sheehan (PMS), as well as the biggest and brightest stars in media and politics, gathered in front of the White House to fast for an end to the Iraq war. Among those in attendance were Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, and the Reverend Al Sharpton. I knew there was no way I could sit at home while these brave patriots were starving to death, so Scooter and I flew to Washington and joined them.

Autistic Children Left In The Cold With CUPE Doll Wannabe

Mulder

Yellow Bellied McShifty is getting his wish. Autistic children will not get IBI treatment beyond the age of 6, which will save the province quite a wad of cash.

In my fourth blog post ever (back in the early days), I posted how Ontario was “robbing autistic Paul to pay for Mary’s Peter”.

The gender reassignment surgery issue was closed last November with the tribunal stating that three of the four who were fighting to have their surgery paid for by tax payers got their wish, but the fourth (a CUPE employee) did not as he was not enrolled in the program before October 1, 1998. It also closed the door to any others entering the clinic after the 1998 date when the Harris government shut the door on paying for a pump-a-penus.

But the autistic cut being upheld will stand. Now many of the parents are either moving to Alberta and/or petitioning for a national level autism plan. I wish them, and their children well.

"Liberal" … "Advertising" … Is Your Spidey Sense Tingling Now Too?

Mulder

Well it should be.

Steve Janke has done it again. In an incredible excercise of digging up the dirt, he may have just caught that Yellow Bellied McShifty with his pants down.

It is no secret that businesses in Caledonia are suffering because of the land dispute. The provincial government, run by the Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty, has offered to help.

In true Liberal fashion, they are offering to help with advertising.

…

An advertising agency that works in the Hamilton area called Play Advertising was awarded the contract.

The head of the firm is Brian Torsney. His sister is Paddy Torsney, a former Member of Parliament for Burlington for the federal Liberals. Burlington is near Hamilton. From 1985 to 1989, she was a special assistant to David Peterson, at the time the Liberal premier of Ontario.

The same David Peterson who was assigned the task of negotiating on behalf of the province in the Caledonia dispute.

Interesting.

Interesting indeed. I highly urge you all to go read this.

I think we are, once again, getting Officially Screwed by a Liberal and their ad agency friends.

Garth May Sound Right, But He Is Wrong On Per Diems

Mulder

I have seen quite a few Blogging Tories praise Garth Turner for his view on some of the perks being given to MPs and Cabinet Ministers with regards to per diem expenses and having them applied to mortgages.

I hate to go against my BT friends, but I have worked in jobs that have worked on per diem expenses and I have worked on jobs that let you write off specific expenses with the appropriate explanation.

And in the private sector if you have a per diem food expense (let’s say for example $40 per day), then you get that money whether you spend $30 on food or if you spend $60 on food. What a frugal person saves and puts away to spend on whatever they want, be it a mortgage or saving for baby’s new pair of shoes is irrelevant. The per diem expenditure companies make is not something they follow up on.

The whole purpose of per diems was to minimize expense reports and follow up or verification that the expenses submitted were valid.
Many of you know I am quite frugal when it comes to spending tax dollars and that I am quite a fiscal conservative but their is a clear division here.

When a per diem guidelines is set up the only two primary issues should be a) what days should an MP receive a per diem? and b) how much that per diem should be.

How the MP chooses to spend that per diem is up to them. Just as a per diem dining expense rewards the guy who eats McDonalds vs. the guy who eats at Hy’s, a lodging per diem can reward the guy who pays part of his mortgage with it vs. staying in a hotel. Remember, that MP’s do not (or SHOULD not) get the per diem when parliament is not sitting, so if they choose to invest in a home, they still have plenty of time throughout the year to pay their mortgage without a per diem out of their own pockets.

Comments?

Softwood Lumber Deal Gives GDub Potential To Bitchslap Liberals

Mulder

There is much talk about the 23 month lock in period for the softwood deal and the option for the Americans to pull out after this time. Try to follow along.

Month 0 – July 2006 – softwood deal struck

Month 5 – December 2006 – $995 Liberal Party Leadership convention (I have to put that $995 in ‘cuz it’s so damn expensive)

Months 11 to 17 – June 2007 to December 2007 – Liberals set a bit of policy (estimated as 6 months to a year following leadership convention)

Month 18 – 21 – January 2008 to April 2008 – Tories drop 2008 budget in early 2008 which might be looked at as a good time for left wing parties to take down the government on the money bill.

Month 23 – June 2008 – Softwood deal option can be excercised

Month 19 to 23 – February 2008 to June 2008 – Potential Canadian election timeframe if the Liberals feel comfy. (Note it could always happen sooner but this might be the first reasonable attempt for taking down the Tories)

Month 29 – November 2008 – American Elections (which Republicans stand a decent chance of losing unless they find Osama bin Laden)

Month 31 – January 2009 – New President of USA sworn in.

Did you see that? Let’s look closer at 2008.

The option to cancel the softwood deal happens after the Liberals elect a new leader and at a time many pundits think the Tory minority may be taken down but BEFORE George W. is gone. This gives him a nice chance to bitchslap Canada if we put Liberals back in power.

Sweet!!! That would make my Smackdown list for sure!!

OS Bookshelf – Godless-The Church Of Liberalism by Ann Coulter

Mulder

As many know, you need to take Ann Coulter with a bit of salt, but not too much. She definately does her research and footnotes her information very well.

What I found really informative in Godless is Coulter’s view of the American education system and the mythconceptions many have about teachers. Considering there is now talk in Canada of setting up a Native School Board to help swell the numbers of leftist teachers, I was quiteAnn Coulter's Godless interested in this chapter. Even if you are not a Coulter fan, you really should read it. It is full of great information on how the education system is screwing up our kids.

I am in full agreement with Coulter on this fact. When I hear teachers say “I had to take a summer job to make ends meet.” I laughed. Because she responded the way I do. I say “most people work 49 to 50 weeks a year, why do you think you, as a teacher, deserve anything different?

The last 4 chapters were quite an in depth view of Darwinism. Having read The Origin of Species years ago and being one of those who tries to balance evolution with religion, I found her information on the lack of a fossil record to prove Darwin’s theory quite interesting.

I must also say that the bad rap Coulter gets for slamming the 911 Widows is way overblown. She does deal them a nasty hand of slams but backs up the slams quite well. Similarly, she tosses Cindy Sheehan to the sharks and, as Sheehan has done, Coulter uses Sheehan’s son to do it. Nice turnaround Ann!!

All in all, it was a good read and I give it a solid 8 screws out of 10.

Mini ScrewMini ScrewMini ScrewMini ScrewMini ScrewMini ScrewMini ScrewMini Screw

Did The Korean Missile Fail? Or Were The Americans Successful?

Mulder

Reprinted from Jack’s Newswatch

I was thinking about the huge missile that Korea launched all day today as I followed the news…

Bravo to the Bush administration for its measured response to North Korea’s Fourth of July fireworks display.

The North’s missile tests, their date chosen to coincide with America’s Independence Day, were, as the president’s national security adviser called them, “provocative behavior.”

Yet the firing of the single intercontinental Taepodong II, which exploded in mid-air less than a minute after launch, just shows how unsophisticated Pyongyang is. The overall display, which included up to six other missile launches as of this morning, also demonstrates how desperate the country is for international attention.

…And I just chased something down that has been bothering me.

The ABL is designed to detect and destroy theatre ballistic missiles in the powered boost phase of flight immediately after missile launch. The aircraft loiters at an altitude of 40,000 feet. Missile launch is detected by a reconnaissance system such as satellite or Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft and threat data is transmitted to the ABL aircraft by Link 16 communications. A suite of infrared, wide-field telescopes installed along the length of the aircraft’s fuselage detects the missile plume at ranges up to several hundred km.

The pointing and tracking system tracks the missile and provides launch and predicted impact locations. The turret at the nose of the aircraft swivels towards the target and a 1.5 metre telescope mirror system inside the nose focuses the laser beam onto the missile. The laser beam is locked onto the missile, which is destroyed near its launch area within seconds of lock-on. Where the missile carries liquid fuel, the laser can heat a spot on the missile’s fuel tank, causing an increase in internal pressure resulting in catastrophic failure. Alternatively, the missile is heated in an arc around its circumference and crumples under atmospheric drag force or its own G-force.

“Nah, couldn’t be – could it?”

It sure could be Jack!! I was never a true believer that the Star Wars SDI program was something that would work, but I also know laser technology fairly well. I also know that computers these days can accomplish amazing things, and the capability to use DSPs and high speed sampling is quite possible. In fact, capabilities of processors and DSPs are often measured in MIPS (millions of instructions per second) and sampling in the 100’s of millions of samples per second can easily keep a focus on a moving object at high speed. Lasers travelling at the speed of light can zip (or zap as the case may be) 300km in 1 millisecond. i.e 1/1000th of a second.

If I were Pyongyang, I would be quite concerned about that failure.

Breaking News: Three Urinators Found

Mulder

The Ottawa Police has just announced that they have identified two of the three suspects who urinated on the War Memorial but they cannot be named due their age.  In late breaking news, the third suspect who is also now known to the police was in the process of being contacted when he called the Ottawa Police himself.  He is apparently 23 years old.

The fact that the only one old enough to be named is the only one who contacted police himself seems quite fishy to me.  I suspect this is just part of some way to deflect the anger and let the guy live a normal life without being harassed by bloggers like me!!

I am also now wondering if the photos of the two young offenders constitutes a breach in publication bans on their identity.  If anyone with a legal mind out there knows the answer to this I would really appreciate it since I have several photos of the urinators on this blog.