Ranting and Roaring

I got a little ahead of myself in those last two posts. I’ve been composing something in my mind for a while but I’ve never really found time to flesh it out.

Take any “progressive” person you know, especially someone who vocally calls themselves so. Which of the following two statements better predicts what their viewpoint on any particular issue will be:

1. progressives have a thirst for justice and a belief that all people should be able to live in a world free from violence and in a condition of human rights
2. progressives hate Americans and Jews (or if you prefer, what is widely viewed as American and Jewish cultures) and almost any cost is worth paying to undermine such

If you picked (1), I suggest you pay more attention.

Arthur Chrenkoff (þ Tim Blair):

So why, among the original 7/7 bombers, the next lot of recently captured bombers, and all the other people arrested in connection with the attacks, aren’t there any British Iraqis?

In my mind, I’ve reframed many of the issues related to Islamofascism primarily as a racist movement, not as a religious one. From the reference frame, the reason for progressive support for truly monstrous regimes becomes a little more obvious (though no less stupid): “we hate Americans, you hate Americans, therefore we must be on the same side”.

Don’t hurry back^* you fucking tool.

^* “alternate link”:http://news.google.ca/news?hl=en&ned=ca&ie=UTF-8&q=ken+wiwa+nostalgia&btnG=Search+News

Two things Trinity-Anne will be experiencing tomorrow morning. She cannot breathe through her nose anymore, so out they go.

• ent.uk
• Wikipedia

I can read the Post again.

Someone from TD Canada Trust just phoned me up and wanted to ask me questions to “better understand my credit needs”. I’m moderately sure it was legit, as they’ve been calling for weeks on end and getting my wife every time BUT it would be better if all the banks didn’t do this and very publicly say this.

Why? Because ID theft people could very easily do the same thing.

London police respond to subway ‘incidents’

Scotland Yard says emergency services workers are responding to “incidents” at three London Underground subway stations. Scotland Yard told CNN that one incident was also reported on a bus in Hackney, in east London. Meanwhile a nail bomb exploded at London’s Warren Street underground station, a source at a city transport company told Reuters news agency. No casualties have been reported.

Obviously, developing….

Study concludes civilian casualties in Iraq over 25,000

A new study says more than 25,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the war began more than two years ago.

It shows U.S.-led forces were responsible for more than 37 per cent of those deaths and that 30 per cent of those killed died during the invasion phase of the war.

Breaking those numbers out: 30% is 7500 people; 37% is 9250 people. So in the 4th Iraq War (where Iraq was invaded by Arab terrorists, the so called “Iraqi Insurgents” because all Muslims look the same to progressive media types) 2250 people civilians (or more likely, a civilian/“civilian” mix) where killed by Americans out of a total of 17500. That is Muslims killed Muslims at a rate of 6:1 to what is claimed the Americans are doing in Iraq. Note also that the civilian death attributed to Americans is very close to the number of Americans who died in Iraq over that same period.

Just to keep things in perspective when you read apologetic blather about Falluja or whatever it is the West is supposedly doing in the Middle East. And if that’s not enough, read this, this or this.

Google Moon. Hint: keep zooming in.

I’m tired of deleting spam every morning when I wake up, so good riddance trackback.

The London Fog via Free Dominion dug up the ugly ugly CBC commentary I heard the other day on the radio and mailed Kathy about. I’m still shaking my head. One of Kathy’s readers calls it “out to lunch” but I find it chilling and scary that this sort of nonsense is entertained seriously by anyone.

Now what is the point of proposing this? I do it because I am worried that the separation between church and state is under threat. Religion is important in our lives, but it can become a danger to society when people claim that the unalterable will of God is the basis for their opinions and actions. Yes religion can be a comfort and a guide, but we cannot take rules from our holy books and apply them to the modern world without democratic debate and due regard for the law.

Note the inversion, that opinion and belief should flow through from the state to the people, not the other way around.

I’m assuming the Ferguson doesn’t plan for the Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace and other animist/gaiaist organizations to have to sign up for the charter either.

Internet Radio Recorde…

Take your time to check out some information dedicated to texas holdem rules

I’m changing the tagline of the blog to “Skeletor Tries His Luck”. Previous tags:

• I am partially infused with infinity
• Never stop swimming till you reach the the ocean

As per the last time, kudos to the person who figures out where this came from. I’m putting the answer in the comments.

I was preparing a blog post in my mind why it’s important for us to understand why the London bombs where set off by suicide bombers rather than timers or remote activation. Well, never mind.

If this story is true, I’m wondering if the killers had to make a phone call back to base before heading into the trains. The “mastermind” could then use this phone call to make another phone call back to arm the bombs via the cell phone network.

Another possibility is that the “mastermind” was at the station to observe them arriving and then sent a (cell phone or short range radio) signal to arm the bombs — or to directly trigger them. In this case, there may be video available.

One further thought: maybe they thought they were just delivering something?

Does anyone else thing that The Killer’s Mr. Brightside: sounds very very similar to Born Slippy by Underworld (as best known from the “Trainspotting”: soundtrack).

Update: quick Google. I’m not the only one.

Update 2: Someone Told Me from The Killer’s is reminding me of the 80’s quite a bit too. Midge Ure?

Life in a beer commeri…

Something to cheer about

Via Slashdot, we learn that Canada may be (inadvertently) preparing to make search engines illegal. The Globe and Mail writes:

Bill C-60, which amends the Copyright Act and received its first reading in the House of Commons on June 20, suggests it could be illegal for anyone to provide copyrighted information through “information-location tools,” which includes search engines.

Ottawa copyright lawyer Howard Knopf, of the law firm of Macera & Jarzyna Moffat & Co., has been poring over the bill since it was tabled, and says he was startled to discover the potentially negative effect of Bill C-60’s provisions on “information location tools.”

The phrasing of the proposed law is difficult, Mr. Knopf says, because at first glance it seems to be a helpful provision in that it limits the liability of companies such as Google to no more than an injunction when they have not received actual notice of infringement. But then the language of the bill works on the assumption that the search engine itself is capable of infringing copyright by having archived copyright material on it.

Sigh. I guess this is why they have readings and stuff.

Does anyone out there have a gmail invite they’d like to spare. If so, please drop a comment. I need to set my Mom up with a real e-mail system.

Update: thanks. Got it.

An interesting and probably long overdue application of AI:

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is experimenting with a squad-car-mounted image processing system that detects and reads license plates, then matches them against a list of stolen cars’ plate numbers. During one night of testing, four squad cars automatically looked up more than 12,000 plates, which resulted in seven recovered cars and three arrests.

Kathy writes, in response to a juvenile Chomsky-themed article article in DOSE:

we’re not afraid. OK, I’m not. I’m really not. And no one I know is actually cowering in fear of a terrorist attack in Toronto. We’re personally concerned about it (even if our public officials aren’t) but “manufacturing concern” isn’t stirring enough to make a really catchy documentary or book title, is it?

I’m not afraid either. In fact, I don’t know anyone who is. Concerned, yes; afraid no.

I always though this whole “fear” thing was kind of strange, especially with regards to comments that Bush won the election because of “fear”. So the urban areas voted for Kerry and the rural areas for Bush, because some guy in Alambama thought his local bait and tackle shack was going to be blown up by Al Qaeda?

So far, so good; no shakes or anything like that. My biggest enemy is boredom—I’m always drinking something, from when I wake up to when I go to bed. Water gets a little monotonous. I’m going to try soda water today.

I’m not going to count Starbuck’s Iced Venti Lattés against the total, just because I only have one a week

If you’re interested in following or discussing the Wilson/Plame/Rove story, Balloon Juice is the best place to go, no matter what your politics. (Specific example).

Here’s a picture of me during the Shark Worlds, intently staring into the distance.