Muslim Brotherhood Penetration of the U.S. Government

Former CIA operations officer, Clare Lopez, traces the origins and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood leading to their success in penetrating the U.S. government:

... it should be noted that massive financial support from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf sheikhdoms has always played a central and deeply important role in the ability of the Brotherhood to fund its global expansion,

... The first task was to maneuver Muslim Brothers into positions of trust with key U.S. government ...

... The U.S. executive branch, from the president to the NSC and key Cabinet Departments, had been effectively neutered at the very start of the Global War on Terror. This is how President Bush could stand on 17 September 2001 inside the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., flanked by Nihad Awad, Executive Director of CAIR (the U.S. branch of HAMAS), and in all sincerity, declare that "Islam is peace."

The George W. Bush administration was targeted with a multifaceted, sophisticated information operation designed to deceive national security officials about the true nature of the Islamic jihadist enemy that attacked the homeland on 9/11. Surrounded by Muslim Brotherhood voices which told him true Islam had been "hijacked" by a "tiny minority of extremists," ... President Bush ... was successfully deterred from investigating the belief system that inspired those hijackers by a blanket of Muslim Brotherhood taqiyya that successfully smothered inquiry about the very Islamic doctrine that al-Qa'eda and the hijackers themselves declared to be their motivation. Although few realize it to this day, the crippling of the Bush administration's GWOT response marked a crucial turning point in the U.S. ability to defend itself against Islamic jihad. ...
　

... As bad as these developments were, things became immeasurably worse for American national security under the administration of Barack Obama. Whereas President Bush and most of his administration insiders remained largely unaware that they had been manipulated by the Muslim Brotherhood, Obama and his close advisors proactively chose to reach out to the Brotherhood, its affiliates, and supporters for advice, training, and even administration appointments. ...

That's just a small sample from Ms. Lopez's paper. A fascinating read.

[Via Blazing Catfur]

Pierre Trudeau, the worst Prime Minister in Canadian history

Bob Plamondon on his new book, The Truth About Trudeau:


Though, should Justin become PM, Pierre would slip to runner-up position.

Resolute Forest Products sues Greenpeace

Peter Foster:

In a welcome but all-too-rare display of corporate backbone, Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products has sued Greenpeace Canada.

...claims “damages for defamation, malicious falsehood and intentional interference with economic relations” in the amount of $5-million. It also seeks punitive damages of $2-million, plus costs.

Go, Resolute!

How to make your own Mayor Rob Ford Smoking Crack video

Via Blazing Catfur:

Legion of Decency video

Rand Paul explains Obamacare's new codes for taking care of Americans

Rand Paul’s Hilarious ... Obamacare Explanation

“Your government just wants to take care of you,” ... criticizing the new law’s 9,000-plus pages of new regulations. “They don’t think you’re smart enough to make these decisions.”

And we think Canadian healthcare is bureaucratic, dysfunctional and, what's that word?, oh yeah, unsustainable. The Americans ain't seen nothin' yet.

CRTC grants CBC mandatory carriage

Earlier today the CRTC ... granted CBC News Network ... the mandatory distribution orders they requested as part of their renewed licence application. 

"We view this latest ruling as good news," said Kory Teneycke, Vice President of Sun News. "The CRTC has shown that Canadian content matters and that channels like CBC News Network and Sun News Network are of exceptional importance as outlined in the Broadcasting Act."

Climate-Alarmist-in-Chief pushes bogus 'consensus'

Barack Obama's tweets often promote climate alarmist themes, for example encouraging his groupies to "call out deniers".  In this tweet Obama pushed the bogus notion of scientific 'consensus':

Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree: #climate change is real, man-made and dangerous. Read more: http://OFA.BO/gJsdFp 

The linked web-page references the "Cook" paper on scientific consensus.  However, a closer inspection of that study reveals that Only 65 Scientists of 12,000 Make up Alleged 97%:

“The Cook et al paper is very misleading as described in major media. The breakdown of the survey results are not described up front,” says Ken Gregory, Director of Friends of Science. “The Cook study claims that any paper that mentions CO2 as a possible cause of some warming is part of a ‘consensus’. That is simply not true. Further, this survey does not assess ‘danger’.” 

The Cook et al study data base has seven categories of rated abstracts.
1. 65     explicit endorse, [greater than]50% warming caused by man
2. 934 explicit endorse
3. 2933 implicit endorse
4. 8261 no position
5. 53     implicit reject
6. 15     explicit reject
7. 10     explicit reject, [less than]50% caused by man

Papers in the third category which Cook alleges, “implicit endorse,” in reality make no comment on whether humans have caused warming. This category includes papers about mitigation policies.

Including category 2 the so-called "consensus" rises to a whopping 8%.

Conclusions:

(1) there is miniscule support for notion of dangerous man-made global warming
(2) there is no consensus supporting man-made global warming
(3) Obama is a warm-monger
(4) warm-mongers are liars
(5) Twitter is an effective propaganda tool.

Eco-obsession invades medical science

I'd give these medical students a big fat FAIL for wasting their time studying this eco-obsessive topic:

Operations to replace worn out knees in Canada ... generating nearly half a million kilograms of surgical waste every year, according to a new study that says more needs to be done to "green" the nation's ORs.

... "It is imperative that efforts to promote sustainable OR practices are strengthened," they said. [There's that annoying, over-used and... abused word "sustainable" again. When I hear it, I want to reach for my 357 Magnum.]

"... average surgical waste per surgery was 13.3 kilograms. When extrapolated to the more than 47,000 knee replacements performed in Canada in 2008-09, the authors estimated knee surgeries generated 407,889 kg of landfill waste."

The "researchers" extrapolate to generate what they think are impressive levels of landfill waste.  For some real perspective, let's calculate that waste on a per capita basis: 408,000/(34 million) = .012 Kg per person = less than 1/2 of one ounce per person PER YEAR of landfill waste. Every Canadian generates many times that amount of waste on a DAILY basis much less annually.  It's a drop in the bucket.

This kind of "study" may be suitable for majors in eco-freakery or anal-efficiency, but medicine? If this is what the three medical students think important to the advancement of medical science, then, when they graduate and become MD's, please, KEEP THEM THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!

Daniel Pipes and Salim Mansur disappoint Toronto audience

This week in Toronto, Daniel Pipes, Salim Mansur and Father Raymond de Souza had a panel discussion on the subject of Islam and Islamism.  The discussion was moderated by Fred Litwin of the "Free Thinking Society".

Blogwrath attended the event and posted a detailed account which includes a video clip of the audience's engagement with the panel during the Q&A.  Very interesting!

As Blazing Cat Fur observes: "it went downhill pretty fast". 

It's easy to see why the audience was disappointed.

Update: In the comments, Fred Litwin responds:

This is a completely erroneous account of the meeting. There were over 120 people there, and a few were rude and complained. What the video and description doesn't show is the many people who came up to me after the event to thank me...far more people than were enraged by my criticism of Pamela Geller. The audience was not disappointed.

A pandemic of Harper Derangement Syndrome

Peter Foster:

Harpergate, the rickety contraption hastily assembled by a team of the media’s worst handymen, has come off its hinges.

... What this “affair” has exposed more than anything is a pandemic of Harper Derangement Syndrome, combining lack of  proportion with an almost psychopathic desire on the part of the media to “get” a Prime Minister who won’t pander to their self-importance.

... These twin aspects came excruciatingly together on the CBC’s The National on Wednesday night. The programme pulled out all the stops in attempting to compare Mr. Harper unfavourably with President Obama.

... More egregious than this pile of flapdoodle – which muddles accountability with media accessibility ... the most stunning part of the CBC report, which was what it left out about the performance of a President who, far from being a model of accountability, has recently been compared to Richard Nixon.  [Dennis Miller joked that the only difference between Obama and Nixon is that "when Obama gets around to saying 'I'm not a crook' they'll have to put it on his teleprompter."]

... The CBC entirely ignored the administration’s attempts to spin last year’s Islamic terrorist attack on the consulate in Benghazi, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the Ambassador.

... even some of the most incisive political analysts, such as our own Andrew Coyne appear to have been carried away by HDS.

... the notion that this was ever an affair that might have justified Stephen Harper’s removal from power is about as unhinged as the CBC’s claim that “accountability changes at the border.”

Great column, Peter!

London's Muslim terrorist butchery "A portrayal of Islam"

Ezra's excellent assessment:


... along with Tarek Fatah's:


Brit PM David Cameron's pathetic response:

“This was not just an attack on Britain and on the British way of life, it was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act.”

Al-Qaeda begs to differ:

Al-Shabaab To British PM David Cameron: “Not A ‘Betrayal’ Of Islam But Rather A ‘Portrayal’ Of Islam”…

Update [via Blazing Cat Fur]:

Dumb-assed BC court OKs teachers' pushing politics in the classroom

In a 3-0 ruling the BC Court of Appeals OK'd teachers pushing their politics in classrooms:

Teachers who wore campaign buttons to school five years ago and posted political messages on classroom doors were exercising their right to free expression in a way that did not detract from their students’ education ...

... “There was no evidence in this case of any actual or potential harm to students from being exposed to the materials about educational issues, nor any facts from which an inference of harm could be drawn, Madam Justice Risa Levine says in a 3-0 ruling that sided with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF)...

... “Open communication and debate about public, political issues is a hallmark of the free and democratic society the Charter is designed to protect. Children live in this diverse and multicultural society, and exposing them to diverse societal views and opinions is an important part of their educational experience.” ...

What utter bullcrap!  No 'evidence of harm to students'? How would that be measured with any credibility? And, invoking "Charter" rights, "democracy" and "diversity of opinion" is little more than bafflegab to justify teachers pushing their politics on students to further their own self-interest.  If "diversity of opinion" is a legitimate "reason" for their ruling, maybe the judges could have explained from whom the students would be getting an opposing point of view.

In the classroom teachers have, for many hours each day, a captive audience over which they exercise adult authority and influence.  Teachers should be absolutely barred from pushing their politics on students.  It's an abuse of their position of power and influence.  Teachers have ample opportunity to exercise their "right to free expression" outside the classroom.  Besides being able to do it personally, the BCTF does it on their behalf, year-round, day-in, day-out.

A more dumb-assed ruling is hard to imagine.

Obama's banana-republic

Obama: "Reject Voices That Warn About Government Tyranny"


Sure, so he can more easily get away with using the IRS to punish his political enemies:

Was the White House involved in the IRS's targeting of conservatives? No investigation needed to answer that one. Of course it was.

... [Frank] VanderSloot is the Obama target who in 2011 made a sizable donation to a group supporting Mitt Romney.  In April 2012, an Obama campaign website named and slurred eight Romney donors. It tarred Mr. VanderSloot as a "wealthy individual" with a "less-than-reputable record." Other donors were described as having been "on the wrong side of the law."

... Mr. VanderSloot, who had never been audited before, was subject to three in the four months after Mr. Obama teed him up for such scrutiny.

... according to Mr. Obama, he is "outraged" and "angry" that the IRS looked into the very groups and individuals that he spent years claiming were shady, undemocratic, even lawbreaking. After all, he expects the IRS to "operate with absolute integrity." Even when he does not. ...

Mark Steyn:

... Most of those who’ve caught the eye of the IRS share nothing in common with [Mr. VanderSloot] other than his political preferences. They’re nobodies — ordinary American citizens guilty of no crime except that of disagreeing with the ruling party. ... Is that banana-republic enough for you yet?

Krauthammer to Hannity: It could be a ‘fatal problem’ for Obama

Oh crap! The BC Liberals won

But the NDP lost - Yaaaayyy!!!

Nanny Bloomberg

Or, as Mark Steyn dubs him, Michael Poppins:

So, when the Big Apple volunteers to spend a dozen years under a colorless antiseptic zillionaire with whiny, hectoring, faux-patrician Boston vowels who weekends in Bermuda and jets back to his nanny state on Monday morning to declare it illegal to put more than three sugars in your coffee, either the city's self-mythologizing has always been a total crock or something is shifting in the American psyche.

... he is a portent of the future. To a man like Bloomberg, believing in global warming and gun control is like believing the sun rises in the east and water runs downhill...

Philadelphia abortion doctor found guilty of first degree murder

Fox News story:

... Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, was convicted of first-degree murder and could face execution in the deaths of three babies who authorities say were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his grimy clinic, in a case that became a flashpoint in the nation's debate over abortion....

Scientific American on the "science of guns"

Scientific American recently published an article on guns.  Naturally, it spins an anti-gun line.  The best reading is in the many comments that lambaste the article.  Readers were not impressed.

Years ago I subscribed to SA before becoming disillusioned with its leftist political orientation which crops up in many areas including "climate change" where articles have featured Michael Mann attempting to defend himself in the "hockey stick" wars.  It took years before cancelling my subscription because back then I leaned left/liberal (I was going say "brain-dead left/liberal" but that would have been redundant.)  Now, thankfully, following a successful 12-step program, I'm a happy recovering liberal.

Al Gore et al - oil sands ignorami

Ezra further examines Al Gore’s war against Canada’s oilsands and reveals an egregious comparison made by Obama’s anti-oil supporters.



More.

"The Invisible Hand vs. The Hand of God"

Peter Foster:

The problem is excess of moralism, which bolsters divine regulatory aspirations of those who would paint themselves onto the roof of the Sistine Chapel 

“A banker, a professor and a priest walk into a bar.”  Thus Father Raymond de Souza – to appreciative laughter – began his contribution to last Friday’s panel discussion titled “Banking, Trust and the Culture of Capitalism” ... the “banker,” outgoing Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney. The “professor” was Roger Martin, who is also soon to leave his post as dean of the Rotman School at the University of Toronto.

Melanie Phillips

Talks about her new autobiography, Guardian Angel, My Story, My Britain



Excerpt.

[Via]

AMERICA'S MOST FEARED ECONOMIST

Ann Coulter:

... conservatives liberals fear most ... start being automatically referred to as "discredited."  

... no one is called "discredited" by liberals more often than the inestimable economist John Lott, author of the groundbreaking book 'More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws.' 

... Lott's economic analysis of the effect of concealed-carry laws on violent crime is the most thoroughly vetted study in the history of economics... 

... "Discredited" in liberal lingo means, "Ignore this study; it didn't come out well for us."

Liars - York Regional Police "diversity" squad changes its story

The York Police having previously admitted to the Toronto Sun that they pressured the rabbi, the National Post reported:  Police deny pressuring rabbi to cancel speech ...

Pamela Geller responded, blasting the Post as well as the police:

... look at the agenda driven picture they [the Post] use ...
... The fascist cop, Insp. Ricky Veerappan, already admitted that they threatened the rabbi with his removal from the York chaplaincy, so how does the National Post run a headline like this? ...

More reaction from Pam Geller.

And from Mark Steyn - on York Regional Police's chief  "diversity" cop:

Get lost, creep. In free societies, a constabulary isn’t there to enforce its “values”, it’s there to uphold the law. This man is unfit for his job.   [I'll disagree slightly: He's not fit to be a regular law enforcement cop, but he's probably quite well trained and fit for his Orwellian role as "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" enforcer.]

Blazing Cat Fur with Salim Mansur's letter to the York Police. [Outstanding letter, Salim!]

Update:  Ottawa Citizen editorial. Insp Ricky Veerappan, the YRP head of diversity enforcement, is a Muslim! (Doubly foul! Mighta' known.)

York police thugs enforcing sharia

York Regional Police threaten rabbi's role as chaplain over Pamela Geller speech

York Regional Police threatened to remove a rabbi as one of the force’s chaplains if he hosted a controversial anti-Islamist speaker at his Thornhill synagogue.

Insp. Ricky Veerappan, of the force’s diversity, equity and inclusion bureau, confirmed he and officers from the service’s hate crimes unit met with Rabbi Mendel Kaplan of the Chabad Flamingo Synagogue on Tuesday.

... They expressed concern about an upcoming talk to be given by Pamela Geller, a vocal critic of radical Islam.

...Veerappan said a member of York Region's Muslim community, whom he wouldn’t identify, brought Geller’s scheduled talk to the attention of police. ...

The ridiculous sharia-enforcing thugs of the York Regional Police's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Bureau, can be reached by email at diversity@yrp.ca.

Nudge, nudge - the Sunstein doctrine

Peter Foster:

Cass Sunstein obviously takes pride in having been called “The most dangerous man in America”...

... Mr. Sunstein dangerous was that ...  he is the leading peddler of the “nudge” doctrine, which aims at bigger, smarter, more subtle government.

The Orwellian rationale for this Brave New Government ... Nudgery says that governments should use these foibles in a clever form of policy jujitsu, utilizing individuals’ own stupidity to guide them towards falling on the “right” choices.

... the complex of psychological quirks that determine their own immoveable, history-free, left-liberal interventionist mentality, not to mention the fact that politicians invariably use public ignorance not for the public good, but to gain power.

... The clear and present danger represented by Mr. Sunstein is on display in his new book, Simpler: The Future of Government, and in an article he penned for the Globe and Mail on Saturday, titled Green by default.

... According to Mr. Sunstein, the answer to using more green energy is to make it ... the default “choice.”

... Ontario’s experience ... shows that Mr. Sunstein’s suggestion that “green default” would “save money” is pure biomass.  

...

 There's lots of evidence of green nudgery being applied here in BC:

Our provincial carbon tax is being used to bribe BC cities, towns and municipalities to sign on to the BC Climate Action Charter. (All driven or guided by UN Agenda 21 and ICLEI)

Vancouver Mayor Gregor ("Moonbeam") Robertson's and other cities' "smart growth" schemes (thanks again to UN Agenda 21 and ICLEI) with everything from laneway housing (boosting population density) to dedicated bike lanes (discouraging automobiles).

My own city's planning documents are saturated with green "sustainability" bafflegab that drives everything from building construction to casino approvals to our brand new, expensive (and pain in the ass) waste collection and recycling system.

This is why the left are so dedicated to pushing the global warming theme.  It enables easier nudging of the sheep into their socialist pens.

Joe Fesh and Bangladesh - Jon Kay gets it right

Dear CBC ... please lay off Joe Fresh

This was the worst accident in the history of the garment industry ... Almost every CBC show I’ve heard singles out Joe Fresh, identifies the Executive Chairman of Loblaws Companies by name, and laments the fact that he has not decided to come onto CBC airwaves to confess his company’s sins. ...

... This feels wrong to me: There are 3-million textile workers in Bangladesh, working at tens of thousands of facilities, many of which no doubt are also in a poor state of repair.  For activists, I see the logic of naming and shaming particular retailers. But the only difference between Joe Fresh and thousands of other Western companies that follow standard low-cost Western outsourcing practices is bad luck. 

... A building collapse is just one of many ways to die in a nation such as Bangladesh. Someone who’s laid off from a textile job surely won’t die in an industrial accident. But penniless and improvident, they might then be forced to watch a child expire from malnutrition or an otherwise preventable disease. Which is worse?

Peter Foster recently said something similar in Lessons for Joe Fresh from Bangladesh.