The "Self-Esteem" notion is a racket

Climate crisis? Horse pucky*!

Lorrie Goldstein:

Ever since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his gigantic delegation of Canadian politicians returned from the Paris climate conference they’ve been throwing around the idea of “decarbonizing” the Canadian and global economies [as directed by Lib eco-freak puppeteer, Gerald Butts.]

To which one can only respond: “Oy, vey. ...”

[via Blazing Cat Fur]



*

That phony 97% consensus

The number 97 has become an almost magical symbol among true believers for their righteous belief that man-made global warming is a dangerous threat.  Both clueless believers and those who ought to know better shamelessly peddle that number as if it were some absolute truth.  Skeptics (aka "deniers"), on the other hand, try again and again to explain what is really going on.

Ross McKitrick: Climate change consensus among the misinformed is not worth much

In the lead-up to the Paris climate summit, massive activist pressure is on all governments ... to fall in line with the global warming agenda ... One of the most powerful rhetorical weapons being deployed is the claim that 97 per cent of the world’s scientists agree what the problem is and what we have to do about it.

 ... on what exactly are 97 per cent of experts supposed to agree? In 2013 President Obama sent out a tweet claiming 97 per cent of climate experts believe global warming is “real, man-made and dangerous.” As it turns out the survey he was referring to didn’t ask that question, so he was basically making it up.

... The Canadian government has the unenviable task of defending the interest of the energy producers and consumers of a cold, thinly-populated country, in the face of furious, deafening global warming alarmism. Some of the worst of it is now emanating from the highest places. Barack Obama’s website says “97 per cent of climate scientists agree that climate change is real and man-made…Find the deniers near you — and call them out today.” How nice.

True believers will no doubt be appalled by Prof McKitrick's heresy.

Fact checking the Pinocchio-in-Chief

During his SOTU address yesterday Obama boasted about US diplomacy success in negotiations with Iran saying:

"... for the first time in a decade we've halted the progress of its nuclear program and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material ..."

That might be nice, except that "he outright lied"!



More fact checking at Politico and the WaPo.  Of note (from the WaPo) was his global warmist claim:

“2014 was the planet’s warmest year on record. Now, one year doesn’t make a trend, but this does – 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century.”

That may not have been a "lie", technically, because he was just regurgitating the NASA-NOAA-NCDC alarmist bullcrap.
 

More BS about polar bears

This week the media have been dutifully spreading more alarmist misinformation about declining polar bear numbers.  WUWT, via a Canadian expert,  supplies the true story:

Dr Susan Crockford, a Canadian zoologist and professor with more than 35 years experience, has been highly critical of these stories, claiming that they are misleading the public.

Responding to the claims in the media, Dr Crockford said:

“The main story of this study is the remarkable recovery of the polar bear population by 2010 which has likely continued since then. To suggest that polar bear populations have been declining is hugely misleading.
“The authors have also acknowledged that the cause of the 2004-2006 decline was heavy spring ice conditions. They found no correlation for the decline with summer sea ice conditions.”

 Would it be too much to ask the so-called "professional" journalists of the mainstream media to do some basic fact checking before reporting these stories?  Probably, they're more interested in promoting climate alarmism than in science.

American Lameduck Goofball-in-Chief wows Aussie students

At the University of Queensland:

U.S. President Barack Obama gave a landmark speech ... where his call for immediate action to protect the Great Barrier Reef was met with rousing applause.

... In a pot shot at Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration, Mr Obama said the United States was 'leading in opposing Russia's aggression, which is a threat to the world - which we saw in the appalling shoot down of MH17'. [So, he admits that what Russia is getting away with in Ukraine is thanks to US "leadership".  That's why Putin is shaking in his boots.]

It's easy to see why he picked a university to deliver his feckless bullcrap.

[via]

Major networks collude in attempt to limit free speech

Brian Lilley provides all we need to know about the latest Media Party attempt to
a) smear the Harper government
b) protect its candidate, Justin Trudeau, and
c) limit free speech





Hmmm, to me this smells like illegal collusion by the Media Party network weasels. (Update: Apparently it does to others, too. See BC Blue.)

Here's Brian's column on the history of this dating back to 1988 when the Liberals took the opposite position:

In November 1988, the Liberal Party of Canada went to court to force CBC and CTV to carry their attack ads against Brian Mulroney and his Progressive Conservatives.

... The networks claimed they owned the video footage in question and said the Liberal party’s use of it infringed on their copyright. The networks lost and were forced to run the ads; they were also turned down on appeal by the Supreme Court.

So now the networks are trying to pull the same bullcrap, this time supported by the Liberals?  Outrageous! 

My only question is, if the SCOC has already ruled on this, what do the Conservatives want to change? PM Harper and others have already stated that the Copyright law, as is, is sufficient.

Speaking of outrageous, here's that twit, Don Martin, accusing the Conservatives of "flirting with fascism".

More here and here.

The Pinocchio-in-Chief's latest whopper

So Bad the Washington Post Said, ‘On Just About Every Level, This Claim is Ridiculous’:

President Barack Obama earned “four Pinocchios” ...  the highest ranking for a political lie, for asserting that Republicans filibustered 500 pieces of legislation, an exaggeration of nearly five times the reality.

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.

Earls caves to BC "Human Rights" Kangaroo Tribunal

Earls Restaurant decided to drop its Albino Rhino labelled beer in response to a "human rights" complaint from a thin-skinned albino immigrant from Nigeria.  Sadly, according to this report, Earls, rather than fight, caved in with a whimper:

Communications Manager Cate Simpson said it was never their intention to offend anyone, but agreed Earls had come to appreciate people with the rare genetic condition struggle with discrimination.

"We did give thought to the fact we were offending a group of people and to that end we decided to move forward and remove the word albino from our beer branding."

I can understand Earls dropping the label rather than waste time and money fighting this ridiculous nonsense, but did they didn't have to buy into the idiot complainer's bullcrap.

Here's Ezra Levant:

Robo-bullcrap

Bravo, Ezra!
There's not much else we need to know about the Robo-smear campaign.
But here's some more from BC Blue and Brian Lilley.

The certainty of disastrous sea level rises in BC

The Vancouver Sun has this story on today's front page (must be short of "news"):

"South Delta (Ladner) will be vulnerable to disastrous flooding in the coming decades without wholesale adaptation to rising sea levels.

"... global warming likely means a “multi-metre” rise in ocean height by the end of this century."

Even though,

"... global sea level changes at present are lagging behind a global warming trend and no one can predict when the oceans will catch up, although it’s a certainty that they will." ["a certainty" only if the warming predicted by AGW hysterics is a "certainty" - which it most certainly isn't.]

"SFU’s Clague said the sea level may be changing more rapidly than it has in several thousand years ..." [So much for certainty.]

It must be time for these SFU and UBC "researchers" to renew their government grants; and given that the BC government has bought into AGW hysteria lock-stock-and-barrel grant renewals are a near certainty.

When moving to the lower mainland a couple of years ago I considered Ladner but decided against it - not because of global warming but global warming hysteria and the potential for gigantic tax increases - and even worse plummeting Ladner housing values caused by this alarmism. 

Update:  CTV Vancouver News covered this "story" last night as if it were a certainty.  The dimwitted anchor thought it was gospel because "computer models" showed the flooding that would occur (What? No computer model showing what Vancouver would look like after the asteroid hits?)  If I were a Ladner home owner I'd be damn pissed at these SFU, UBC, Vancouver Sun and CTV warm-mongers for depressing my property values.

facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is "a self-serving hypocrite"

Peter Foster: "Two-faced book"

... [Adam] Smith noted that businessmen — like all human beings — are often self-serving hypocrites. His point was that free commercial markets turned self-interest into public benefit. We can only serve ourselves by serving others. Meanwhile Smith scoffed at those who would “trade for the public good.”

Posturing obviously comes more easily to the search engine and Internet tycoons because they can claim they are more virtuous than those who run wicked old smokestack industries. Except, that is, when they are advertising their products, which just happens to be how the new tykes make most of their money. This brings us to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s letter in this week’s IPO filing.

... In his letter, Mr. Zuckerberg, who stands to be worth up to US$28-billion, claims that Facebook was “built to accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected.”

... Where it really gets murky is where he writes, “Over time, we expect governments will become more responsive to issues and concerns raised directly by all their people rather than through intermediaries controlled by a select few.”

... We have representative democracies for a reason. They don’t always work that well, but they are certainly preferable to the rule of any NGO-stoked Occupy cybermob.

... it’s worth noting that while rattling on about higher purpose and the voice of the people, Mr. Zuckerberg ... is keeping a firm grip on Facebook control via a dual share structure.  ... while he is paying lip service to the meddlers, he is doing his best to insulate himself from them. We knew he was a smart young man. Shame about the bafflegab.

Great column!  Read any corporate annual report and you'll find it filled with the same kind of posturing bafflegab about "stakeholders", "corporate social responsibility" and "sustainability". They dedicate people as full-time generators of this bullcrap and to sucking up to NGOs.

Dumb-assed Post editorial trashed by readers

Today's National Post editorial "Don’t help drunk drivers get away with it" was, deservedly, given a big thumbs down by readers. What's with the Post these days? Too much Jonathan Kay?

Soft on crime, short on sense

Jonathan Kay starts his column today with this nonsense:

The biggest problem for opponents of Bill C-10 ... is that criminals and prisoners have no political constituency.

I'm not exactly sure what he means by 'political constituency' but if he means political 'support' Kay is either being ridiculously naive or he's a brazen liar.  Criminals and prisoners have in their corner the entire political left, most of academia especially criminologists and sociologists and a large percentage of nitwit pundits like J. Kay.

Anyway, with that kind of a start you can be sure the rest of the column is a waste of your valuable time.  So let's skip to the end where Mr Kay closes his 'argument':

Stephen Harper and his cabinet ministers bristle when they are accused of inflicting an "ideological" agenda on Canada. So I put the question to them: In the absence of evidence or expertise to back up your policy, what other word would you offer me?

Well, we can be sure that they don't share Kay's ideology.

"Fourth-trimester abortion"

That's how Mark Steyn referred to Katrina Effert's murder of her newborn son. Effert's 2nd degree murder conviction was downgraded to "infanticide" and given a 3-year suspended sentence by Alberta superior court judge Joanne Veit:

"...in what sense was Miss Effert a “mother without support”? She lived at home with her parents, who provided her with food and shelter. How smoothly the slick euphemisms — “accept and sympathize . . . onerous demands” — lubricate the slippery slope."

And even if you accept that "mother without support [etc]" bullcrap it's not as if there weren't alternatives to murder, like, say, adoption.  What's next? Fifth and sixth-trimester "abortion"?

More at Blazing Cat Fur.

Outrageous! And, except for Sun Media, barely a peep out of the MSM.

Useful idiot of Omaha

Peter Foster on Warren Buffet's "tax-the-rich" bullcrap:

... The Wall Street Journal’s Stephen More has pointed out that Mr. Buffett misrepresents the U.S. tax system, which is still sharply progressive, even if monstrously convoluted. The median-income household in 2008 paid just 4% federal tax on its US$35,000. Those with more than US$2-million paid 32% in 2005, the last year for which data is available.

Warren Buffett is just one more useful idiot helping Obama push his class warfare re-election platform.  The fix for the current economic mess is to starve the government of revenue and force it to cut spending, not give it more money to waste on entitlements.

Lowell Green on the TDSB's Mosqueteria

Via Blazing Cat Fur a must-listen-to piece from Lowell Green:


Lowell Green on the Toronto Mosqueteria from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.

There are some excellent callers-in. Green comes on strong but seems to be a bit of a naif when he says that he has no problem with Muslims having these priveleges as long as other faiths do also.  That seriously underestimates Islamic aggressiveness.  One caller suggests (~22 min) that our local culture will gradually be "annihilated" by creeping Islam. Green responds that "... this is what Canadians want. Canadians very clearly by their agreement to this are quite prepared to see the traditional culture here totally subjugated ...".  I don't believe that for a minute.  Canadians are just beginning to see what's going on here and what's at stake. No doubt the lib/left 'intelligentsia' with its pc/multi-culti agenda has seriously weakened Canadians' resistance and subverted their thinking but it's ridiculous to suggest that Canadians would knowingly consent to be "subjugated" by Islam.

Vancouver aflame

From the story:

"Angry Canucks fans are on a rampage, smashing windows, looting and torching cars and dumpsters on the streets of downtown Vancouver. ..."

"Angry"? "Fans"?  Bullcrap! They're drunken vandals, laughing and cheering each other on. What a disgrace!

Police brutality - bring it on!

Chrysler bailout a success? NOT!

We have heard both the Harper and Obama administrations use the Chrysler bailout as an example of successful government intervention, both claiming that Chrysler has paid back the bailout loans, in full and all those "jobs were saved".

Mark Milke and Milton Friedman beg to differ:

Milton Friedman once said his greatest fear about the 1979 U.S. government bailout of Chrysler was not that it would fail, but that it would succeed. Chrysler's rescue, he said, might lead some to draw the wrong conclusion -that such actions save jobs.

... Industry Minister Christian Paradis on Wednesday: that Chrysler paid back its entire loan from taxpayers ... "in full and ahead of schedule."

Actually, Paradis is widely off the mark. Chrysler repaid just $1.7-billion of the $2.9billion loan from 2009, or just 59%. The remaining $1.2-billion will never come back  ...  something his colleague, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, publicly admitted last week. ...  Chrysler before bankruptcy reorganization absolved the "new" Chrysler of past debts.

... let's examine the notion that Chrysler's repayment of 59¢ on the dollar is somehow proof positive that government intervention worked. ...

[...]  Read the whole column.