May 31, 2009
Preparing to go nuclear
Almost 70 years after the armed forces of imperial Japan captured and force-marched 12,000 Americans and 68,000 Philippines from Corregidor to northern Luzon, a latter day democratic Japan has apologized for the Bataan Death March.
Since the afternoon of September 11, 2001, it has become transparently obvious the American nuclear umbrella is a sham (as is, most probably, the nuclear umbrella of the United Kingdom and, very probably, Israel). A deterrent is only a deterrent if your enemy believes you will make recourse to it in extremis.
In stark contrast, I have no doubt the government of Japan - and more importantly the people of Japan - would will use nuclear weapons to defend the existence of Japan. The Japanese still believe in Japan; the rest of us may live to regret it.
May 30, 2009
I have decided not enough of you followed that link to the Brett Domino Trio cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"
BRETT DOMINO: Live in London.
The virtue of those who have never been tried
Thomas Sowell takes another look at the writings of Edmund Burke in light of the presidency of Barack Obama.
Neither eloquence nor zeal was a substitute for experience, according to Burke. He said, "eloquence may exist without a proportionate degree of wisdom." As for zeal, Burke said: "It is no excuse for presumptuous ignorance that it is directed by insolent passion."
Glukoza: Schweine
The Lord of the Rings pastiche is classic.
English lyrics below the fold.
English:
Flow of cars, I arrived peacefully
Without control and with obstacles in my head
I'm going home
Step, step, step - I ended up in the dark again
For the third time I was completely deceived
Already by you
I won't forgive, and the head goes*
I want to choose the words for them
One, two, three
Swanky-swanky pigs
Oh-oh
One, two, three
Swanky-swanky pigs
Quid pro quo - now a strike for the honest**
I'm in motion top center
Now you aren't mine
Piggy boy, I in no way expected
That I'm flying into a bum deal again
Now with you
Chorus
[Man speaking Russian in background:]
Attention! Attention!
To all cheaters of girl's hearts,
You are ordered to gather together and go on...
Or try to turn from pigs into people
And not cheat on those who love you.
[Woman speaking German in background:]
Attention! Attention!
This is for all liars who broke the heart of a woman,
You are given the order to stick close together,
and, erm, oh-oh, or try to turn from pigs into people
and never lie again to the ones who love you.
May 29, 2009
Brett Domino Trio: I Kissed a Girl
There cover of Beat It is classic.
We call that one Mua'dib
Ever watchful lest I relent and agree to a pet, the Girlfriend of the Flea is now angling for a Greater Egyptian Jerboa.
Or possibly a Long-eared Jerboa.
And thanks for all the fish
Three families of beavers have been released into a Scottish forest, reintroducing the creatures to the UK after a 500 year absence.
Nothing to worry about then. (Canadians will detect a note of sarcasm.)
What has no heart, bones, eyes or brain, is made up of 95% water, and yet is still a remarkably efficient ocean predator?
The answer is the jellyfish.
Red squirrels are such beautiful, mystical little creatures. The greys are not. They are destructive.
Up with the Red!
Down with the Grey!
Something that rhymes!
Eat the Grey!
May 28, 2009
A celebration of diversity, inclusion and tolerance
Frankfurt School thinking is at work as Toronto's Pride festivities have been hijacked by "anti-Israel" interests. Pride organizers claim they are acting to prevent a repeat of last year's anti-Semitic marchers. Toronto lawyer and gay rights advocate Martin Gladstone has little reason for confidence in their claim.
“They listened and sympathized, but it was essentially ignored,” he explained, pointing to the anti-Israel atmosphere that prevailed, according to many participants. This year, however, the committee has formally responded in a positive manner with a policy to put a stop to the situation, Gladstone said.
“They said these are rogue groups that act without authority.” Still, “we’re concerned, because the grand marshall [El-Farouk Khaki] is a featured speaker of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.”
I would like to take this opportunity to cordially invite all members of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid to take a sunny vacation in Gaza. There they shall have the opportunity to observe the alternative to Israel's progressive democracy at close hand.
Protocol and security considerations
"French surrender"?
"Sarkozy: Still President of France"?
So many possible tag lines - only one actual tag line - as the French reverse themselves on their decision to fete Barack H. Obama at Normandy while turning their noses up at the one living head of state who had a direct hand in saving their sorry asses from the Germans.
Again.
But Palace officials maintained that no formal invitation to Normandy had ever been received and that protocol and security considerations made it impossible for the Royal Family to invite themselves or turn up on the beaches unannounced.
I can't see why that should stop anyone. It is not as though we needed an invitation from the French the last time we turned up.
Related: Life for the Sarkozy and Bruni families during the war makes for interesting reading. For example, Sarkozy's father fled to Germany from Hungary in the face of the Russian advance. In Canada, we call this sort of thing "multiculturalism".
James Doman: Everything's gonna be alright
Mock me as you will. Traffic doesn't generate itself.
May 27, 2009
Hermione for Lagerfeld
Narcissistic Socialist
RepublicanAmerican is writing about Maryland's version of what Canadians like to call "free health care". In doing so, he may have coined a name for the most influential political movement of the age.
Another thought: Keep all this in mind the next time anyone suggests Mitt Romney is the future of the Republican party. Mitt Romney is not even the past of the Republican party.
Banzai
We have no one but ourselves to blame. We did not live up to our end of the bargain with Japan.
Update: Charles Krauthammer says it is time for Japan to go nuclear. He is correct though not for the reason he states. The point of a nuclear armed Japan is not to "reshuffle the deck" and give Red China cause to change its calculations vis a vis its North Korean client. The point of a nuclear armed Japan is to defend the people of Japan from the crazies just across the water when it is patently obvious the United States is no longer willing - and increasingly less capable - to do so.
A vampire lives there
I am jealous of Guillermo del Toro's home in Los Angeles.
77 Million Paintings
Brian Eno's 77 Million Paintings is spectacular against the Sydney Opera House (trust me, follow the links). The man still rocks a synth pad.
The following two embedded videos are from a time lapse recording of a different performance of the same piece. Click through to Vimeo if you would prefer to see the HD version; the embedded version will play here after a 30 second delay. Haunting and beautiful - as one would expect from Eno - but for the irritating hang ups in the audio I am getting at my end.
7 Hours in 77 Million Paintings (2008.03.08) from Pitch Bend on Vimeo.
7 More Hours in 77 Million Paintings (2008.03.16) from Pitch Bend on Vimeo.
May 26, 2009
Throttle an environmentalist. But take care to wash your hands when you are done.
As of June 1, the people of Toronto enact out our latest stupidity; an environmental kabuki at the check out counter. Paying five cents a bag to carry home the shopping will be vexing and pointless, I had thought, but mostly harmless in comparison with a plethora of other statist fads that have been imposed upon the Canadian people by our betters (allied with our own ignorance, indifference and self-satisfaction).*
Not so. It turns out the reusable grocery bags of our green masters are a rich source of food poisoning. Also skin infections such as bacterial boils. And allergic reactions. And asthma attacks. And ear infections.
And, in my case, dangerously elevated bile levels.
It is almost as if disposable plastic shopping bags were a miracle product from the future; a product of science and industry meant to save us from all manner of contagious nastiness. In our all too immanent green future, we will be quite literally forced to eat shit and like it.
(via Celestial Junk)
* Excepting those residents of Toronto on a fixed income. As ever, the poor will pay the highest price for the virtue of the Canadian Establishment.
Turning Point 3
Next week Israel is to conduct a five day civil defense drill.
May 25, 2009
An Anti-Semitic Crime: Same Scenario, Same Target
French magazine Choc has published images of "the other Daniel Pearl" - Ilan Halimi - who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by Muslim "youths" (as old as 28) now on trial (in juvenile court). It now appears these "youths" staged Halimi's death in imitation of Pearl's.
I am republishing the photo (below the fold). This needs to be seen and considered. This needs to be avenged. Damn the French publication ban. And damn the French too if they cannot bring themselves to see justice done for one of their citizens.
What we are dealing with
In light of North Korea's latest atomic weapons test, a reminder of what we are dealing with.* I almost wish I could unsee image No. 4.
* Of that with which we are dealing.
Related: From the documentary film A State of Mind, "The story of two North Korean schoolgirls and their families in the lead up to the Mass Games – the biggest and most elaborate human performance on earth."
That's what people are paying for - to be terrified and disturbed
Two stars: One strikes fear into the hearts of millions by offering up serial misogynistic caricatures of femininity as a form of low brow mass entertainment. The other is Eli Roth.
Step 1 - Create bitchin' horror movies.
Step 2 - Get second billing to Brad Pitt.
Setp 3 - Profit!
Related: While not an auteur a la Roth, Paris Hilton has her own terrifying Tarantino ambitions.
Yet more related: Agent Bedhead offers an exceptional rant.
Death defying Update: Inglourious Basterds star cheated death (hat tip to You Know Who).
Appropriate military dress
No, I have not seen the new Star Trek film. Or the the Terminator movie. Or that other thing that came out recently that I was supposed to have seen. I have no good excuse as it is summer term but it is a scheduling problem nonetheless. I expect I shall see the new Harry Potter in a timely fashion.
The sheepdog and the wolf
To the sheep, the sheepdog and the wolf look much the same.
Inside the Beltway has obtained the academy's list of prohibited items for this year's graduation exercises, which, besides ceremonial swords, includes umbrellas.
Canadian warship engages in act of piracy
In the last few days, HMCS Winnipeg intimidated, stopped and searched two Somali vessels, panicking the occupants of the first into jettisoning an aluminum ladder. After detaining a total of six Somali citizens without charge, agents of the Canadian government stole AK-47 assault rifles, ammunition, an M-16 rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher with two warheads. I doubt the Somalis were given so much as a receipt.
No explanation for this high seas piracy has been offered by Canadian officials let alone an apology or offer of compensation for the stolen property.
Which meets and exceeds the technical definition of irony. This post, by contrast, barely manages the technical definition of sarcasm. Now back to work on my Jolly Roger shop; I am going to replace the skull with a maple leaf.
I am more worried about the intended consequences
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, beclowns himself.
“I think the unintended consequence of a strike against Iran right now would be incredibly serious, as well as the unintended consequences of their achieving a weapon,” Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. “That’s why this engagement, dialogue is so important,” he said in an interview on ABC television, referring to President Barack Obama’s aim to engage Iran diplomatically.
Because dialogue has worked so well until now.
May 24, 2009
Kylie wears dress
Eats cherry. In related news: Blogger awaits comp tickets to Kylie Minogue Toronto show.
Still awaiting.
No reply from Walrus re my forwarded link/ticket hint, btw. My working assumption is arts magazines can't get comp tickets to real concerts.
What if they held a Monroe doctrine and nobody came?
Information Dissemination hosts photos from China of recent work on former Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag. Also an important scoop lifted from a Portugese language defense, strategy and intelligence site: Brazilian Minister of Defense Nelson Jobim has announced a deal whereby PLAN pilots are to train for catapult operations on Brazilian carrier São Paulo.
For the uninitiated: Wikipedia entries for CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery) and STOBAR (Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery).
May 23, 2009
If I can't dance I don't wanna be part of your revolution
When they arrived at Kalam, the Taliban were up against more than that for which they had bargained.* Fifty Taliban were fended off by the locals.
An impressive showing. But imagine the head count of Taliban if they were so foolish as to attack the well armed women on my blog roll.
Related somehow: Irony, they name is swine flu.
* No ending sentences with prepositions for me.
2½ years
Jihadis shake in their boots as Canada's first domestic terrorism conviction lands a 2½ year prison sentence. That'll learn 'em.
He said he will not associate with anyone that has "a view of life or religion that does not believe in being a productive and peaceful member of society." He noted that it will be "very, very difficult" to get an education and find work because of his conviction for a terrorist offence.
"It's hard to imagine anyone that would want to study beside me or hire someone with that type of criminal record," he wrote.
But not so difficult to imagine he will be offered tenure. So what is the over/under on "jihadi" being added to the list of protected community categories under Canada's apartheid laws?
Crush your enemies. Drive them before you. Hear the lamentation of their women.
How Sri Lanka's military won:
Ban the international press.
Ignore the "international community".
Defeat the enemy.
I prefer Sri Lanka's approach to bringing about a ceasefire.
May 22, 2009
And he is right
Tom Tancredo says it is time to consider legalizing drugs (via Hot Air).
Gingerbread haka
Because today I am thinking there are plenty of folks who need a good ass kicking.
If you top yourselves it will be to the sound of cheering. From me.
British MPs claim to be at suicide risk as they deal with the "almost unbearable" stress of being held ever so slightly accountable for their actions.
"I've done nothing criminal, that's the most awful thing," said Anthony Steen, who spent £90,000 [on] his second home, including big sums for lopping trees. "And do you know what it's all about? Jealousy."
No. It is about you learning to pay for your own gardening. The fact you are an insufferable prat only compounds the problem.
Impeccable Update: Via the Drink Soaked Trots. With woom for twees. Former Anthony Steen blames the Freedom of Information Act. And your jealousy.
The third phase
Following the defeat of their terrorist army, terrorist supporting Tamils in Britain and Canada vow to continue the struggle. This should be a cause for alarm to Canadians given the firebombing of a Sinhalese temple in Toronto over the weekend and the cowardice and complicity of our government and police services.
Even in England, the police were prepared to confiscate Tamil Tiger flags. In Canada, you will only be charged with breach of the peace for waving the flag of Israel.
Never again, they said.
Esther's Stronghold
The Torah says the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.
“I always hear people trying to portray Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria as an obstacle to peace,” he said, using the Israeli term for the West Bank. I ask, what was happening before 1967, when there wasn’t a single Jewish settlement ... but there was no peace either?”
An excellent question.
May 21, 2009
Embracing change is never easy
Tongue somewhat in cheek, Allah finds an anti-Obama subtext in the V reboot.
Dare to dream.
Enrich yourselves
American Thinker reprints a letter from a filthy kulak unfit to sell the people's automobiles. RTWT.
(Severe blood pressure warning.)
Excluded
A friend of the Flea - let's call him "Ben" - is an ardent flâneur, gadabout and people viewer who enjoys attending... let's (charitably) call them community events around Toronto and on occasion I tag along. "Ben" is not always the most forthcoming chap with the details and - as I regard the asking of pointed questions as a form of cheating - it was not unusual for me to turn up at last night's event without knowing quite what it was I was attending.
Which is how I ended up at a community party for the Centre for Women and Trans People (UofT) at the Gladstone. The theme? "Policy and Performance" or something to that effect. I am afraid I was not dressed appropriately. In fairness to "Ben", I can imagine how the promise of lesbian musicians, a puppet show and drag acts was too tempting to ignore. Well, we got none of those. Nor did I get an event flier. The be-caped/nebulous character handing them out took one look at us and gave our table a miss.
The nerve of it. The little twerp's social act is predicated on feeling "excluded" and there was I with no clue whose slam poetry I was hearing.
May 20, 2009
Lizard lady
I take back anything snarky I have had to say about ABC's forthcoming V reboot. Morena Baccarin is in it.
Sherlock Holmes trailer
Fun, fanciful and Flea-ish but I am having trouble with Downey's horrendous attempt at an accent.
Victory for the legions
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to acknowledge defeat in his battle with common sense, common decency and Joanna Lumley (bless). This is good news for the UK, as well. Soon enough, the British are going to need every Gurkha they can find handy.
However, Mr Brown has decided to give all Gurkha veterans an entitlement to live in this country.
That could open the door to 36,000 veterans, plus roughly twice as many of their family, although campaigners say the number of arrivals is likely to be no more than 10,000 as many will stay in Nepal.
May 19, 2009
Middle class dialectic
Sarah Yahm askes if Lee Adama is the new Jefferson. The answer is "no, duh", of course, but I point you to her analysis of the Battlestar Galactica finale by way of making a point of my own.
Two, actually. First, not so much as to levee an objection to the sweep of her of thoughts on the subject (much of which I find sympathetic, egaging and entertaining if not quite thought provoking: "Those racists are looking at black people!") but to offer yet another dispiriting example of academia so obsessed with its rhetoric it can only find a tortuous, cramped, sado-masochistic enjoyment in a frakking television program. So much effort expended on this splinter of the ideology of her Other (formerly known as "the Man"); so little expended on the leftist plank in her own eye.
Such is a perfect example of ideology in action. Irony, thy name is Antonio Gramsci.
Second, and this is the fun part, to quote the following.
Until reading this summary, I had never thought of a graduate education in the arts and social "sciences" as a form of pop culture consumption. But apply Jameson's logic to the exercise and the comparison is inescapable. Here is a middle class dialectic: Indulge yourself for a few years with Marxist fantasies, pat yourself on the back for your broad mindedness then it is back to the real world of Prius ownership, climbing the tenure ladder and package holidays in Cuba.
Not that these latter thoughts apply directly to Sarah Yahm.* She works for public radio and consequently can sleep the sleep of the just.
* You ever notice how there are no fat activists on Galactica? I hadn't either. Clearly an aporia in Yahm's Galactica critique.
The mother of broken windows
Greenwich Village residents are shocked by an alarming 43 percent increase in violent crime so far this year relative to the same period in 2008. If only there were some difference between 2008 and 2009 that might explain why violent criminals* now feel they have license to do as they please. Oh well; I expect it will always remain a mystery.
Other hot Manhattan neighborhoods tainted by the crime wave include TriBeCa, with a nearly 17 percent jump, and Gramercy, which has seen a 24 percent increase in assaults. The danger zones also include the East Village from East 14th Street to Houston Street and the East River to Broadway, which has seen a 27.7 percent rise, from 47 to 60 assaults. The Lower East Side has experienced a whopping 30 percent hike in assaults.
* Be they foreign, domestic or Congressional.
Deadliest Warriors: Doc Martin vs House
House would use his sarcasm which would bounce right off Doctor Ellingham because he could not care less, is impervious to sarcasm and would treat anything House said as a genuine question. This in turn would only cause House to increase his sarcasm at a geometric rate.
Advantage: Doc Martin.
May 18, 2009
Svetlana was robbed
Jeff makes an excellent point vis a vis Ukrainian Eurovision hopeful, Svetlana Loboda.
LTTE headquarters
As Sri Lankan special forces deal with the last Tamil Tiger redoubt (outside Toronto) and dispose of the remains of Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran, outraged Sri Lankans gave the British diplomatic mission to Colombo a well deserved redecorating.
In Colombo, demonstrators threw rocks at the British High Commmission, tossed a burning effigy of Foreign Secretary David Miliband inside and spray-painted its heavily fortified wall with epithets and a message: 'LTTE headquarters'.
Miliband has been critical of the Sri Lankan government's prosecution of the war, and is seen here as sympathetic to the vocal pro-LTTE lobby that has protested outside parliament for weeks in Britain. London has said it backs a war crimes probe.
Don't forget the Canadian High Commission!
A direct consequence of leftist racism and Canadian indifference: Tamil Tiger allies set fire to a Toronto Buddhist vihara in their continuing campaign of terror and intimidation against Sri Lanka, Sinahlese Canadians and Canadian Tamils who came here thinking they had escaped Tamil fascism (via Blazing Cat Fur).
Both these places of worship are revered by Buddhists all over the world. LTTE's counterpart supporters attacking Temples in foreign countries can't be anything new to their agenda.
Aesthetics are a moral imperative
Ten year old Natalie Okri is bullied at school for her hard work and her natural talent. Such is today's England on a Leveller's path to ruin.
May 17, 2009
Not a fan, an admirer
A brief note to preempt well meaning advice/alerts. Yes, I am aware Kylie Minogue is coming to Canada as part of her first North American tour. Yes, it is a show I would quite like to see. It is just not a show I can quite picture paying to see. I have this perhaps unwarranted personality quirk that finds something squalid in turning up for this sort of thing as a fan.
Nothing against fans, you understand, any more than I have something against tourists. It is just that I am one of those people who thinks of himself as a traveler rather than a tourist.* A distinction without a difference? Perhaps. Irritating to many? I believe so. But such is my cross to bear.
PS: Seriously, wtf? I have been publishing this thing for how long? And yet some sneering leftist arts reporter from Now Magazine is going to get comped to see this guaranteed. Now Magazine, for pity's sake. So much for blogging. What a complete waste of time and effort.
PPS: If anyone at the National Post is paying attention, you should send me to cover this for you. This one you get free.
Or Walrus. If Walrus gets me a press pass, Walrus gets linky love in the sidebar. You see where I am going with this.
* In my defense, I do have some wasted years in anthropology to justify this impression.
Existentially related: Written by: Paula Abdul, Kara Dio Guardi and two other guys, btw (butterfly effect story at the link).
It's (not quite) my time
Eurovision 2009 featuring Dita von Teese and Russian cops misdirecting their aggression.
And the winner: Alexander Rybak of Norway.
May 16, 2009
The highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences
Congratulations are in order: To our weakling police force. To our spineless mayor. To our "conservative" federal government. To every ignorant, condescending progressive in the 416. And especially to the shade of Pierre Trudeau.
"Members of the Sinhalese Buddhist community gathered outside the temple this afternoon said they had no doubts about who was responsible: Canadian Tamil Tigers supporters.
"Bundula Jayasekara, Sri Lanka's Consul General in Toronto, said the Sinhalese Sri-Lankan residents in Toronto have been threatened for years.
"'There is a Mafia,' Jaysekara said, speaking of some Toronto Tamils who he said support the Tigers. 'People don't feel safe here and this is a G8 country.'
No, this is "Canada".
(hat tip to Kathy Shaidle)
The History of Political Correctness
This is a handy introduction to the before of political correctness for the unindoctrinated Flea-reader. And if, by chance, you have taken an MA in the arts or social "sciences" at some point in the last thirty years, it is a useful road map to the names-of-power your professors read about second hand through the output of Duke's English Lit department (via Big Hollywood, also worth the read).
This is what we are up against. Best viewed with pipe in hand. My standard is a Butz-Choquin churchwarden prince in honey burl.
Related:
Kate Bush: The Big Sky
Rainy afternoon in Toronto. Something to cheer me up.
Performing the Fourth Amendment
Now they have incorporated a TSA-style metal detector into their stage act, Penn & Teller give Americans something to think about every time they are waiting on line at an airport security-checkpoint.
Once it's established that the metal detector is working, the always-innocent-looking Teller walks through it and sets off no alarms. But then, from somewhere inside his coat pocket, he pulls out a metal pan that's on fire. Next, he produces a fire extinguisher and, after that, a full-size shovel. "The point we're making," says Jillette, "is that if two goofball magicians can slip this stuff by with full lights shining on them and the full attention of the audience, then what could a really bad person do?"
Elena: The Balkan Girls (Romania)
Time to find out if the HQ button works on an embedded video.
Monkeyspace 2030
Charles Stross considers the future of gaming and challenges for video game designers in light of coming augmented reality applications, prosthetic memory and the internet smeared all over the world around us. The post is too detailed to summarize adequately; best read the whole thing.
Frankly my dear
The top five ways classic pieces of literature would be different if written by Robert Heinlein.
Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus
Allahpundit calls it "the 'Citizen Kane' of giant octopus movies."
May 15, 2009
The Torment of Saint Anthony
The words "prodigy" and "genius" are most often used lightly. Which is a problem.
Sometimes we need these words to do their job.
Big Design
Kay Hymowitz considers (at considerable length) the new Design Economy, a world where information technology has enabled and democratized the design process such that it is no longer an add-on but integral to the products and services we use including virtual ones such as this weblog.*
What does this suggest for designers of all stripes given our wider economy's current straightened circumstances?
Design anthropologist. I like the sound of that.
* Or "blog".
Emphasis on the part with the MIG-29s
The Israeli air force is flying MIG-29s against the IAF's own F-16s. Just practicing.
The jets were loaned to Israel by an unnamed foreign country. The experiment is meant to prepare IAF pilots for missions where they might have to fight a foreign air-force.
Important to note: This not only gives the IAF practice taking on MIG-29s, it gives the IAF practice flying MIG-29s. Now wondering if the owners of said aircraft mind if the Israelis take them for a spin around the block. Have to be careful with livery; someone might mistake them for their own.
Time for some popcorn. Canadian popcorn.
Still wondering when the penny is going to drop among NDP*, Liberal** and Red Tory*** enthusiasts: President Obama is not your friend.
Outrage spread in Canada, with the Toronto Star last week bemoaning "a plague of protectionist measures in the U.S." and Canadian companies openly fretting about having to shift jobs to the United States to meet made-in-the-USA requirements. This week, the Canadians fired back. A number of Ontario towns, with a collective population of nearly 500,000, retaliated with measures effectively barring U.S. companies from their municipal contracts -- the first shot in a larger campaign that could shut U.S. companies out of billions of dollars worth of Canadian projects.
Fascinating. But am now thinking to add a rider specifying none of my popcorn is sourced in Quebec.
* Canadian for "socialist".
** Canadian for "socialist".
*** Canadian for "socialist".
Brinck: Believe Again (Denmark)
Poking through this year's Eurovision entries I am forced to conclude the first language of most "European" countries is English and that crap dance music serves the transcendent function once intended by the Tower of Babel.
This is quite nice though.
May 14, 2009
Christina Metaxa: Firefly (Cyprus)
I am geeky enough to read this as a tribute to the lost works of Joss Whedon.
Inconceivable reality
Commander of US. Pacific Command, Admiral Timothy J. Keating discusses a sea change in relations with India. Well intentioned PR fluff for the most part but with the following point of interest.
Don't ask me what his office meant by "inconceivable reality"; could be some new buzz-term that has yet to escape into the private sector.
The death of parody
I would fisk this column for style but cannot bring myself to read the whole thing, if I'm honest. Did George Will just say "fuck it" and decide to pay Iowahawk to write his columns for him?
...
Such a federal ukase (the word derives from czarist Russia; how appropriate) to a state legislature is a sign of the administration's dependency agenda -- maximizing the number of people and institutions dependent on the federal government.
Didn't we tell this guy not to vote for Obama?
Dear Robin
A recovering leftist offers a letter of apology. One small step for Robin, one giant leap for Berkeley (via the Jawas).
Dark Void
Battlestar Galactica composer, Bear McCreary talks about scoring for television, scoring for video games and his signature accordion.
My problem isn't piracy
Harlan Ellison takes a hard line on protecting his intellectual property: "If you put your hand in my pocket,” he said, “you’ll drag back six inches of bloody stump.”
Fair dues. Though I tend toward Cory Doctorow's line of thinking on the subject.
May 13, 2009
The mathematical patterns of warfare
Sean Gourley used open source intelligence from newspapers, cable news and NGO reports to build a sample distribution for numbers of attacks and numbers killed in the Iraq conflict.
Strangely, the same distribution occurred in other insurgencies regardless of their size and circumstance...
Ahh, not so strange then. What Gourley has found is a distribution of fatalities as they are reported by CNN and al-Jazeera; a beast of a different feather, so to speak.
Meet me at the Argentine
Most often a smart cookie, Camille Paglia asks how assassination of top government officials is fodder for snide jokes on national radio; a fair question, though misdirected.
Instead of asking this question of disaffected Republicans, she might use the wayback machine to travel to those halcyon days of - for example - the last eight years. There have been all too many disaffected Democrats Americans made happy at the thought of the assassination of their President and to whom the annihilationist fantasies of the jihadis were a welcome psychic release.
This bit is good. Though she means it rhetorically.
In a harried, fragmented, media-addled time, there is an invigorating simplicity to this political fundamentalism.
Yes, there is.
May 12, 2009
The war with (our friends) the machines
If the doomsayers are right to fret about demographic trends, dying democracies might turn to robots to guard their borders. Israel's Genius is quite sporty looking but what I am after is a Japanese model. I am possessed by an image of Hello Kitty mowing down corsairs and other trespassers and the like.
Video at the link.
The sinking ship
Bruce Bawer's City Journal piece offers some horrifying statistics to conjure with. I had written a longer post citing a number of said statistics but thought the better of inciting some bureaucrat to violating my human rights in front of a human rights drumhead trial. This is Canada; we can't handle the truth.
One factoid did stand out, however.
Polysics: I My Me Mine
We were not doing anybody any favours by not nuking folks on the afternoon of September 11, 2001. If we had, large parts of the world could be almost a decade closer to awesome by now.
May 11, 2009
It was the seventy-seventh richest country in the world. And it didn’t even exist.
After yet another querulous note from The Walrus I am throwing them a link (but not to the sidebar). Game Theories by Clive Thomson is a piece from several years back. It remains of interest; first, as a comment on virtual economies and; second, as a rags-to-riches tale of academic excellence. The latter is heartening as it suggests it just may be possible to succeed in higher education without signing away your soul.
To fill his evenings, Castronova did what he’d always done: he played video games.
Far too much to summarize; I shall leave the rest at the link.
Twilight
Christopher Caldwell discusses a post-war Europe where Europeans behaved "as if no one’s culture was better than anyone else’s." Such is the official cant across what remains of the West. Defy it at risk of persecution, prosecution and - inevitably - demonisation.
Particularly telling is a throwaway observation which should be obvious to anyone. Pity none of us are taught history any longer; we have so little time before the subject is no longer offered in a local vernacular.
Unicorn farts and moonbeams will serve us badly now in the wrong quarters of our cities. Worse yet tomorrow in whatever quarter of the city is left to us.
This is not science fiction: "Run, you cowards! Kuffar!"
The race for the bottom: Toronto on a quiet weekend.
Freedom of speech and expression? Most Canadians have signaled they would not miss it; would not know what to do with it in the first place. But interfere with Toronto commuters at your peril.
Urban Symphony: Rändajad
Estonia's entry for Eurovision 2009 at Moscow is disappointingly listenable. Spain's hopeful, Soraya, by contrast, has got the attractive lampshade constituency locked down.
All very well and good but the Flea shall be rooting for Ukraine this year: Svetlana Loboda for the win. Let's face facts.
It is worth the trouble to click the "HQ" button.
May 10, 2009
D'Ampton Revisited
Committed Gorean "BDSM lifestyler", Peter Hayes was denied a chauffeur's permit by the Vancouver Police Department reportedly on the basis of his sexual orientation. Something to do with having had a sexual experience with a reptile.
Which Blazing Cat Fur implies is a bad thing.
Let's not be hasty. This could be one of those "drinking and driving" vs "drinking while driving" situations.
May 09, 2009
It's like a dog meowing
Greg Pritchard - Britain's Got Talent: For the Flea's many enthusiasts of British reality television.
Oh hell, I'll post Mr. Methane too.
By hand and ingenuity
Robert Hardman celebrates the Royal Navy's field gun race.
The men of the Naval Brigade removed six guns from their warships and placed them on hastily-constructed gun carriages. These were moved inland first by rail, then by mule and, ultimately, by hand and ingenuity. Once in action, they brought down enough withering fire to drive off the Boers and liberate the diseased and starving garrison.
Queen Victoria was most impressed and dispatched a congratulatory telegram to the Naval Brigade, who returned home to a euphoric welcome. They were soon re-enacting their heroics at the Grand Military Tournament which, in due course, became the Royal Tournament, the annual celebration of the British Forces.
The owner of the Castle replies with YouTube documentary evidence in case I had never seen such a race run.
Margaret Thatcher on Socialism
Will remember the bit with the hands for all future conversations related to this subject.
Margaret Thatcher: Free Society Speech (1975)
I want that feather duster.
May 08, 2009
God bless Joanna Lumley
Jay Currie calls it a hand-bagging.
Coup latest: Joanna Lumley to lead Government of National Salvation.
Your tax dollars at work
Toronto commuters have been enthralled recently by tens of thousands of chanting "protesters" waving the flags of banned terrorist organizations. Not to be outdone by maniacs of the middle east - and as the proud innovators behind suicide bombing - the Tamil Tigers are a particularly egregious example of how a quarter million New Canadians have missed the memo about our happy-clappy values and how uncounted millions of Less Recent Canadians are too lethargic and ignorant to know they are witnessing yet another Nazi rally under different colours.
This video (WMV format) should be prime time viewing. I will not hold my breath for the Al Jazeera farm team at the CBC to air it, let alone understand and explain what a real war crime looks like.
The video footage provides substantial evidence on the heinous crimes perpetrated by LTTE against innocent civilians held at gun point.
The video shows footage of terrorists in civilian attire firing at both security forces and fleeing hostages by a pedal gun fixed to an armour-plated 'Unicorn' type vehicle. In the background, civilians brought to build earth bunds are forced to camouflage the vehicle with leaves and branches. The video clearly shows another LTTE cameraman who is positioned to video any form of military retaliation towards the terrorists, taking cover among the civilians brought to forced labour. This is what they do and this is the very sort of footage extracted by international media to carry spread the LTTE's spin on the ground reality, the defence observer further stated.
Why I am not a free speech absolutist
I am less alarmist than some in the blogosphere at the state of right-of-centre European politics. For the most part, European conservatives seem well to the left of the Democrats (perhaps including even the current administration). Wets and squishes, in other words. As to the supposed "right wing extremists" on Europe's right, excepting a post-Soviet-basement-Nazi fringe element, they mostly appear to believe everything the average Labour party supporter believed forty years ago.*
That said.
What is David Duke doing in Prague? If the KKK thinks it has an audience in New Europe, there is sufficient reason to pay close attention, if not yet perhaps for alarm.
Good. David Duke has the right to say what he likes in the United States. The Czech Republic is under no obligation to entertain him.
* Except for having adopted more contemporary views about gender and sexuality. These days, of course, expressing the views of the Labour party of the 1960s is likely to land you in front of a human rights tribunal. But that is another story.
Israel today, the rest of us tomorrow
Mark Steyn. Read the whole thing. In horror.
Consider yourself
At ’ome!
Consider yourself
One of the family!
Those few dozen London Jews considered themselves at ’ome. But they weren’t. Not any more. The tour was abruptly terminated when the group was pelted with stones, thrown by “youths”—or to be slightly less evasive, in the current euphemism of Fleet Street, “Asian” youths. “If you go any further, you’ll die,” they shouted, in between the flying rubble.
Steyn quotes George Jonas to good effect: "It isn’t silent majorities that drive things, but vocal minorities. ... Don’t count heads; count decibels. All entities—the United States, the Western world, the Arab street—have prevailing moods, and it’s prevailing moods that define aggregates at any given time."
Forward Steyn's article to everybody. Speak up.
May 07, 2009
Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
Heavy weather for the indoctrination of British students as 40 schools watched the eco-friendly Fleur* run into trouble on its 5000 mile renewable voyage to Greenland. Taking on water and with wind and solar generation ripped from the yatch by high winds, it seemed the tiny ship was lost...
* A French word meaning "We speak French".
9.7" DX
I have hundreds of books in txt form that I am most likely never going to get round to reading at the computer. Maybe, just maybe, it is time to think about an e-book reader... I cannot endorse the product as I find the concept an abomination but I confess I am tempted by the new, larger format Kindle DX
So much for civilization; try stashing this lot in an Irish monastery through the coming Dark Age. The auto-rotating screen feature would probably get right up my nose too.
By contrast: While I have yet to read it, I am sufficiently convinced of its currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose to endorse Hairy Pothead & the Marijuana Stone
May 2009
Robert Jago updates his ranking of Canada's top 25 political blogs by Alexa traffic rank and Google page rank.
No. 4, you say? In honour of another unaccountably popular figure who enjoys graphic, beautiful lines: Lady GaGa on MySpace Fashion.
MySpace Presents: The Fit with Lady Gaga
A modern fairy tale
I have very little to say about Warren Kinsella especially after the mini-debacle exiting a Porter flight last weekend. He was traveling in the other direction and dropped something right next to me as he exited the ferry but was on his way before I could yell "Punk sucks!"
Such is the spirit of the stair.
On a brighter note from the Pre Raphaelite Files, the story of Sophie Merry (Part I).
(And Part Deux.)
May 06, 2009
True colours
Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller says that Israel should join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That is to say, the Obama administration believes the path to peace in the Middle East begins and ends with the disarmament of Israel.
Well, they say Islam means peace.
"If these statements indicate a change in American policy on this issue, I believe this may be the most worrisome development for Israel's security in many years," he told Army Radio.
No, the most worrisome development for Israel's security in many years is how American Jews remain overwhelmingly clueless about the man they helped vote into the presidency.
Directly related: America's Praetorian Guard may have decided that having taken down one President they might as well try to take down another.
Many are furious about his disclosure of explicit details of the interrogation methods used on some al Qaida bigwigs, and his waffling on whether or not those who employed them will be subject to prosecution. Others are incensed by his decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and to let some of those incarcerated there (17 Chinese Uighurs) loose in the United States.
It gets better.
"All of us in our little community are worried -- us, our friends in Berlin, London, Tel Aviv," the DGSE officer told Jack. "It is not like the barbarians at the gates. It is every barbarian horde in the world being told there are no gates."
Socialism only works until you run out of other people's money
Yeoman's work at Ace of Spades HQ regarding President Obama's unprecedented intervention in bankruptcy proceedings.
Well, here's the harm. Obama is so far to the left he needs to relearn South America banana-republics' unhappy lessons regarding nationalization.
Oh, it's fun to nationalize things at first. You get to seize money and assets from big, unpopular "speculators" and give them to your voters.
And then what? What do you do five years down the road, when you desperately need capital but no one wants to loan it to you, because they have the quite-reasonable suspicion you'll just end up taking their money again?
Non-leftists, including centrist liberals like Clinton, know this, of course. It's obvious -- except to starry-eyed True Believers in socialism, who just don't grasp the idea that socialism only works until you run out of other people's money.
Also, Dijon mustard.
This dead horse needs a beatin': New allegations of White House threats over Chrysler.
A moment in film making
Neutral Hills Stills / Words considers an exceptional fan film, state subsidies for art and the concerns of Sarah Polley (RTWT).
Polley is NOT an artist. Artists create art. They find a way around obstacles. They go into debt. They take a third mortgage on their home. They find volunteers who share their vision. And they create.
Whores, on the other hand, won’t hop into bed until they negotiate a price first.
May 05, 2009
The Land of No Smiles
Documentary photographer Tomas van Houtryve entered North Korea by posing as a businessman looking to open a chocolate factory (via).
Please consider supporting van Houtryve's work:
The true face of Leonardo Da Vinci
To quote from the comments: Very impressive and persuasive short speech.
J-XX
The PRC's top admiral Wu Shengli claims a supercruising fighter aircraft - the J-XX or an advanced J-10 - is a priority for the PLAN. Sounds like a great time to cancel the Raptor.
Importantly, Wu lists a supercruising fighter among a series of technological demands that all look quite achievable for the Chinese navy over the next decade or so, suggesting that he does not regard such flight performance as a pie in the sky.
May 04, 2009
The Hunt for Gollum
Mother of all fan films, The Hunt for Gollum is now on-line at DailyMotion; full screen HD all the way (hat tip to various).
Beautifully, beautifully done.
The Sikhs of Orakzai
Another dhimmi population discovers the joys of the jizya. The Sikhs, it should be noted, played no part in the liberation of Iraq - or its oil - and make no claims to the Temple Mount. Yet somehow this is their fate and somewhere a progressive mind is conjuring excuses for this latest sharia-inspired barbarity; most probably at your expense.
And mustn't forget the rape. The Taliban are enthusiastic about their theology.
The weakest link
The Taliban return to their old stand by of anti-aircraft artillery and eye up a soft target, "British" public opinion. Given the UK's foreign policy is now directed by the whims of its colonizers, I expect the Taliban consider the British a proxy army of Pakistan.
Phalanx
Every once in awhile someone in public office makes a sound decision.
May 03, 2009
This government is commited to destroying this country and nothing less
In yet another misguided shift to an all irregular warfare military, Britain has stopped producing its own tanks. Future armour will rely on a Swedish chassis and - for pity's sake - German guns.
'Are we saying it could never happen again, that we will not be drawn into a war where we will need a full range of forces and equipment?'
In Weimar England, the government surrenders for you.
Communicable
Wesley Pruden considers the White House' brush with hoof-in-mouth disease.
Zing!
Arrogance on the part of the meritorious is even more offensive to us than the arrogance of those without merit: for merit itself is offensive.
Sue Son has no friends; only a master, her talent.
Etc.
Also, she was the hot one.
The betrayal: Best friends in better days. Also featuring: Legs.
May 02, 2009
The principle of reciprocity is lost to us
We are at war with Pakistan whether or not we choose to admit it. The Establishment may be satisfied by the fig leaf of farcical criminal proceedings but the British people are not fooled.
It is as if the whole of Western civilization had been transformed into a social experiment: Progressives have recreated the conditions of Weimar Germany - with a Frankfurt School zombie President at the helm - and this time they are convinced they will get the revolution they seek.
33 Minutes
The Heritage Foundation presents an HD trailer for an argument in favour of ballistic missile defense.
"More warning than our sailors got on the morning of December 7, 1941"
In fairness, Mr. Whittle, our Prime Minister Churchill did his best. The Americans were not the first not to listen. As to the rest, a brilliant summary. Bill Whittle discusses Jon Stewart, war criminals and the true story of the atomic bombs which ended the war in the Pacific.
A further note to Jon Stewart: The war criminals were running Japan.
May 01, 2009
No. No no no.
Universal to remake "Videodrome".
They got the scarequotes right. Videodrome is not a large-scale sci-fi action thriller. I hope the videodrome signal infects all of these vandals. Long live the New Flesh.
Fritz Lang's The Indian Tomb
You ever have that thing where you dream you are a Hindu priest doing some sort of initiation thing beneath a pneumatic idol and before you go all 2nd edition Player's Manual cover and make for the jewel you realize you are speaking German
Yeah, like that.
The growing reach of the Danelaw
In England, a soldier with the word "England" tattooed on his arm will not be hired as a police officer lest someone take offense. In England, a Christian woman who refuses to wear a bin bag and walk like a dog behind her male owners will lose her job lest someone take offense.
Related: "Theologically as well as socially, Muslims in Britain and their countries of origin form a seamless whole."
The Ferris Bueller Fight Club Theory
Blindingly obvious once it is pointed out (via Agent Bedhead).
Further explication at the link.