"What Difference Does It Make?"

Hillary Clinton asked "what difference does it make?" in response to questions about the murder of a US Ambassador in Benghazi. Bill Whittle:

Ontario headed for Greek-style meltdown?

Ontario's debt load larger than California's thanks to big-spending ways

Ontario’s debt load is higher than that of California, America’s most-indebted state, and could reach 66 per cent of GDP by 2019 unless the provincial government musters the courage to rein in spending

" ... Ontario simply cannot continue spending money it doesn’t have; otherwise it will soon be compared to Greece, not California.”

“If Ontario continues spending at its current rate, its net debt will increase to 66 per cent from 37 per cent in just seven years. It took Greece 10 years to experience a similar increase. ..."
 

Jonas is no libertarian

George Jonas:

I replied promptly: “No, I’m not a libertarian,” and then described briefly what I consider myself to be: an old-fashioned liberal, a type also called laissez-faire or 19th-century liberal. Or classical liberal. I’m what all liberals used to be before many, if not most, became supporters of the interventionist state. Nineteenth-century liberals didn’t leave liberalism, liberalism left them. To be a liberal isn’t complicated: One simply has to revert to being one.

... I’m what a liberal used to be.” It was a comment on liberals, not libertarians. It was also an expression of regret that, in just a few generations, Liberal parties of liberty have become illiberal parties of the social-engineering state.

The Case for Sun News

Pierre Karl Péladeau responds to Andrew Coyne's junk column trashing Sun News and it's application for an expanded license.

Unlike Coyne's dopey rant Peladeau's response is calm, factual and business-like. 
It's difficult to see how the CRTC could possibly justify rejecting Sun's reasonable quest for fair treatment. But we'll see. If it is rejected, again, I predict there'll be Hell to pay.

On Marxism, Obama and gun control

Self-admitted former "brain dead liberal", David Mamet:

Karl Marx summed up Communism as “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This is a good, pithy saying, which, in practice, has succeeded in bringing, upon those under its sway, misery, poverty, rape, torture, slavery, and death.

For the saying implies but does not name the effective agency of its supposed utopia. The agency is called “The State,” and the motto, fleshed out, for the benefit of the easily confused must read “The State will take from each according to his ability: the State will give to each according to his needs.” “Needs and abilities” are, of course, subjective. So the operative statement may be reduced to “the State shall take, the State shall give.”

... President Obama, in his reelection campaign, referred frequently to the “needs” of himself and his opponent, alleging that each has more money than he “needs.”

But where in the Constitution is it written that the Government is in charge of determining “needs”? And note that the president did not say “I have more money than I need,” but “You and I have more than we need.” Who elected him to speak for another citizen?

And on to gun control ...

... it is ... only the Marxists who assert that the government, which is to say the busy, corrupted, and hypocritical fools most elected officials are (have you ever had lunch with one?) should regulate gun ownership based on its assessment of needs. ...

[via]

Andrew Coyne: Sun News' "shameless" "gall"

Barking!

... There just aren’t words for this kind of gall. Even by the standards of the cultural sector, it’s breathtaking: proof, yet again, that the only thing you need to succeed in Canadian business is utter shamelessness, coupled with an invincible sense of entitlement to the public’s money....

Talk about shameless, breathtaking gall! Andrew Coyne, charter member of Group Think Media, smears Sun News for its temerity in seeking a level playing field in the TV news business. His main "argument" seems to be that during its startup period Sun supposedly shunned the mandatory carriage it is now seeking. Even if this were true, Big Deal! What are they guilty of? At worst business miscalculation, or maybe chutzpah as the new network in town. Anyway, now that Sun has, what do they call it ... oh, yes, "experience", and finds that it's accessibility to the TV audience is severely restricted compared to its competitors, its hardly surprising that they would seek to level the playing field, especially since it’s losing money.

Coyne’s second "argument" is that it would be better if the entire system were reformed to offer subsidies to no one. That seems like a reasonable if not laudable goal. No doubt the CRTC’s dopey rules need reform. But why should Sun lead that charge or wait for it to happen? In any case the dollar subsidy* that Sun is asking for is tiny compared to what the others have been getting from square one.  Shouldn’t it get the same as the others, automatically? Although that’s probably small beer compared with the "subsidy" Sun really needs - which is access to the same audience and on the same basis as the other Canadian news networks. That’s also something Sun News should have been granted from the get-go.

Meanwhile, Coyne should tell us, if he can, why he thinks Sun News shouldn’t be treated the same as the other networks. Contemptuous innuendo doesn’t count.

*Clarification: "subsidy" = cable subscriber fee (not taxpayer funded)

More:

Beyoncé lip-synched the Star Spangled Banner

Confirmed by the Marine Corps Band:

... a rep for the United States Marine Band says Beyonce was not even singing the song live. She was lip-syncing.  

The rep said that the multi-platinum singer decided to perform to a pre-recorded track at the last minute.  

“We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyonce was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the reason why.”  

Sources also tell Fox News that Beyoncé was a no-show at the inauguration performance rehearsal on the Capitol steps.

 Like we didn't know that EVERYTHING about the Democrats is fake.

Update (Jan 23): Michael Coren just reminded his viewers that the last head of state Beyoncé sang for was Muammar Gaddafi.  And what happened to Gaddafi?  He was sodomized and murdered by "Arab Spring" rebels who were heavily backed by Obama.  Watch your back(side) Barack!