Not a "profile ... " but "... a description of the suspects"

Euthanasia by stealth

Brian Lilley's excellent piece on the latest attempt to push euthanasia via assisted suicide:

... A Kelowna woman suffering from ALS or Lou Gherig’s disease has joined a lawsuit seek to overturn Canada’s ban on helping people kill themselves.

Gloria Taylor told a news conference that she’s never agreed with this ban “It is my life, my body and it should be my choice” she said at a news conference on Tuesday.

This may seem harsh but Ms. Taylor already has the ability to take her own life using any number of common household items ...

... What Ms. Taylor and the lawyers from the BC Civil Liberties Association are calling for is for the government to bless the idea that doctors or some other authority figure be allowed to kill them and not be charged....

Video here.

Art Attack!

This deserves to be highlighted up front: Brian Lilley with Ezra Levant discussing the whiny artistes.

[h/t]

Coulter Alert!

Ann Coulter is appearing on Brian Lilley's show tonight at 6PM Pacific.

Harper morphing into Mulroney

What is it they call "progressive" conservatives?  Oh yeah, CINOs.

Whining on behalf of the "artists"

Heh, apparently, SNN's Krista Erickson's interview with Canadian dancer Margie Gillis generated a record number of complaints to CBSC:

Viewers have sent in more than 4,350 complaints since the interview aired on the Sun News program Canada Live on June 1. The CBSC receives on average 2,000 complaints in total in any given year.

Ms. Erickson challenged Ms. Gillis to explain why artists like her deserve public funding.  ...

... the company [SNN] pointed out that a campaign was launched on Facebook, encouraging people to complain about the interview.

Good show Krista!  I wouldn't be surprised if Margaret Atwood organized that blowback to the CBSC. Anyway, here's the interview:



Note Krista's tastefully long sleeves (compared to Margie's). Think there'll be any lefty comments about 'skanky dresses'?

Update: Here's Hunter's take, BC Blue's and SDA's today and yesterday. Brian Lilley with Ezra today.

Tarek Fatah

Fascinating interview.  Tarek Fatah is one gutsy, truly liberal Muslim:



[h/t sdamatt]

R.I.P. Peter Falk

Peter Falk's Columbo at Dean Martin's Roast of Frank Sinatra:



[h/t Vinney]

And here's Mark Steyn's tribute to Falk.

Socialism - "...an unsustainable Ponzi scheme..."

Victor Davis Hanson:

... So what is socialism? ...  – an unsustainable Ponzi scheme in which elite overseers [intellectuals] , for the duration of their own lives, enjoy power, influence, and gratuities by implementing a system that destroys the sort of wealth for others that they depend upon for themselves....

... When this latest attempt at statism is over, Barack Obama will enjoy a sort of Clintonism, a globe-trotting post officium lifestyle of multimillion dollar honoraria to fund a lifestyle analogous to “two Americas” John Edwards, “earth in the balance” Al Gore, a tax-exempt yachting John Kerry, a revolving-door Citibank grandee like Peter Orszag, or a socialist Strauss-Kahn in $20,000 suits doling out billions to the “poor.” ...

[h/t]

No grovelling for Conrad

Conrad Black gave a lengthy presentencing statement to the Federal Court judge in Chicago, yesterday.  Maintaining his innocence as always, there was no insincere grovelling for mercy:

"... I believe in the confession and repentance of misconduct and in the punishment of crime. I don't believe in false or opportunistic confessions...."

I also liked his quotes from Kipling, especially the part he addressed to the prosecutors and the media.

A great performance.  Best of luck, Conrad.

Corporate Social Responsibiliy - Milton's Loophole

Peter Foster:

It was more than 40 years ago that economist Milton Friedman described the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as “pure and unadulterated socialism.” He noted that the embrace of CSR by businessmen helped to “strengthen the already prevalent view that the pursuit of profits is wicked and immoral and must be curbed and controlled by external forces. Once this view is adopted, the external forces that curb the market will not be the social consciences, however highly developed, of the pontificating executives; it will be the iron fist of government bureaucrats.”

In fact, a new “iron fist” has emerged in the intervening period to “curb the market.” It belongs not to bureaucrats but to radical environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), who have achieved a stunning amount of boardroom influence. They have done this, paradoxically, by learning from Prof. Friedman, and in particular by exploiting what might be called “Milton’s loophole.”

Prof. Friedman said that part of an executive’s role, beyond his primary task of serving shareholders, was to conform to “the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical customs.” ...

There is not a company on Earth that now fails to pay obeisance to the essentially socialist notion of “sustainable development” (SD), ... Corporations keen to achieve their CSR and SD badges have, meanwhile, found themselves cast as mouthpieces for radical environmentalism.

... A classic example appeared in a recent ad in USA Today. The ad features the names of both California-based grocery chain Trader Joe’s and ENGO ForestEthics...

It seems astonishing that a company would allow itself to be the ventriloquist’s puppet for so much misinformation. ...

Today there were two responses, one from Greenpeace Canada:

[From the first letter] ... firms would not respond to environmentalist bullying if they didn’t think it would help their bottom lines [more accurately avoid having their bottom lines damaged by smear campaigns].

[From Greenpeace]... Milton Friedman would surely have approved of this Greenpeace tactic: private actors negotiating with private actors for the public good ...

The first admits the "bullying" which Greenpeace calls "negotiating".  What neither will acknowledge is that the Trader Joe ad is dishonest scare-mongering aimed at intimidating oil sands producers and fund raising.  Greenpeace's and ForestEthics' "bottom lines" come from the money they raise from whipping up public environmental hysteria. Milton Friedman would definitely NOT approve of such dishonest, extortionate tactics.

Geert Wilders acquitted of "hate" speech

Good news on the free speech front:

... The presiding judge said Mr. Wilders’ remarks were sometimes “hurtful”, “shocking” or “offensive”, but that they were made in the context of a public debate about Muslim integration and multiculturalism, and therefore not a criminal act.... [duh!]

The real question remains - why was he charged in the first place?

Ann Coulter with Ezra Levant

Looking forward to reading "Demonic".

Free speech 101 - in defence of Andrew Bolt

[via]

See also this article on Andrew Bolt's trial for violating Australia's Racial Vilification Laws.
Bolt's offending pieces here and here.

Australian speech prohibition laws are remarkably similar to Canada's. Is there any doubt that Western governments' "human rights" bureaucracies meet regularly to formulate their Orwellian "rights" regimes?

The Van riot - blaming the messengers

This NP front page piece today on Camille Cacnio's "apology" quotes UBC sociology professor Christopher Schneider saying about Cacnio's online outers and related backlash: “vigilante justice in cyberspace…. It is a very dangerous path we’re taking. It is quite unsettling. ..."

Does anyone seriously think that Prof. Schneider's hypothetical "dangerous path" is in any way equivalent to the path that actually led a real mob of privileged, pampered, narcissistic middle class rioters to cause millions of dollars of destruction to the Vancouver city centre and injure scores of people? Please!

Arguably, it's soft-headed "thinking" like the professor's that has influenced parenting, schooling and the justice system to the point where those rioters thought they could get away with mayhem and suffer no serious consequences. I suspect they (the rioters) are not far wrong.

Ezra Levant on the outed Vancouver rioters

Ezra has some great observations on Nathan Kotylak and other idiot rioters (Camille Cacnio, Alicia Price and Jason Li) who've been outed by Captain Vancouver (et al):



[h/t to sdamatt for the vid]

That "apology" from Camille Cacnio  is remarkable.  She apologizes to everyone, says she takes "full responsibility" then, as Ezra points out, slides into a long-winded harangue on why she should be let off easy, playing the victim and blaming everyone else. Truly a pathetic performance. 
So, letting her off lightly, I sentence her to a week in the pillory, 20 lashes (or 20 hard whacks of the cane across the ass) followed by three years in the slammer where she can contemplate how to rewrite her "apology".

See also, and.

One guy's take on the Vancouver riots

There's lots of evidence that the Vancouver riot wasn't just a spontaneous 'happening' - like reports of the chatter of boozed-up youths heading downtown on Sky Train, and this comment on Rex Murphy's video rant (jsmith, 2011/06/19 at 12:33 AM ET):

I was downtown when Boston was up 2-0 and phoned my brother and said "Don't come down here, this is not the Olympic crowd at all, which was a positive vibe. This was the largest crowd of rough looking trouble makers I'd ever been in. I got out of town only to make it home to watch the riot live on CBC.

However, there are a few things that struck me about this riot. There was a moral degredation that I've never seen before. People filming themselves with an unlikely combination of exhuberance and nihilism. Very disturbing to witness.

What is also of great concern to me is how completely out of touch with reality many of the old guard are....including you Rex. Tony Parsons commentary during the riots sounded like Mr. Roger from the 50's...."oh there's a silly guy...a silly guy who's going to get hurt" "It only take a few people to spoil it for all the rest".

The trouble is it wasn't a few hooligans...it was many thousands of people all on the same page. The same wavelength. And as the story developes it seems lots of them were from regular homes, including an aspiring Olympic athlete.

I thought about how people like the CBC commentators in their Ivory Tower and the Mayor Gregor Robertson who probably thought the crowd would all have a carrot juice and ride their bikes home afterwards had to have been extremely naive to believe that their wasn't an undercurrent brooding on the streets. One walk through the crowd and it was completely palpable.

Rex can take the moral high ground in his tirade, but I'm afraid the message might not get through to the younger generation raised on values of disorientation, chaos, pornography, no shame, instant gratification, voyeurism, post moderism, post religion.

A hero of the Vancouver riots

Bert Easterbrook of New Westminster, BC is one of the heros who tried to intervene in the mayhem.  This video shows what he was up against - a mob of violent, drunken, criminal imbeciles:



[via Captain Vancouver]

Compare and contrast Bert with police car igniter Nathan Kotylak who, no doubt assisted by the family lawyer, has since come forward.

Fitting punishment for the Vancouver rioters - the pillory and a good caning

Rex Murphy is seriously choked up (video here) about Wednesday's rioting in Vancouver:

... Those clod poles, ne'er-dowells, vandals, punks, thugs and assorted clueless dolts ... a pathetic pack of cowardly destructive losers ... the scum of the earth ...whiny, pampered, useless sacks of skin ...

... all of the vandals and hooligans, within the confines of what is absolutely legal, should be sought out, named, charged, and offered real, substantial penalties ...

I couldn't agree more!  But what would constitute "real, substantial penalties"? Real jail time, paying for damages and substantial fines would be good.  However, in addition, these destructive nitwits deserve to be publicly humiliated. 

So, let's bring back the pillory to the public square.  Fitting punishment would be a minimum of ten days days kicked-off with the convicted miscreants receiving a solid public whipping or caning (their choice, it's a free country after all).  This should also serve as a serious deterrent to other "useless sacks of skin".

Sadly, however, Ricardo is likely closer to the truth about what will actually happen under our useless touchy-feely "justice" system.

Meanwhile, Captain Vancouver is busy documenting as many of the scum bag rioters as he is able to.

Junk Science Week

Peter Foster on the junk opposition to Keystone XL pipeline:

... Invoking the Deepwater Horizon is typical of the kind of junk science unloaded by opponents of Keystone XL

... Environmental NGOs claim that the diluted bitumen, or DilBit, that the line will carry (along with other types of crude oil) presents a cancer-causing Franken-liquid that not merely threatens to eat through the pipeline but also to flood “sensitive ecosystems,”

... But then this isn’t about sense, it’s about a political battle for greater control of our lives, fought for, and with, junk science.

Scott Stinson on the persistence of the bisphenol-A scare:

... when Health Canada concludes, as it did last year after yet more study, “that the current dietary exposure to BPA through food packaging uses is not expected to pose a health risk to the general population, including newborns and infants,” does it reverse course and undo the ban? Pah. Too controversial.

Junk Science Week

Peter Foster on species extinction and climate refugees:

... the man who both made the 50 million [climate refugees by 2010] projection and was also perhaps more than any other person responsible for hyping the extinction scare, Oxford environmentalist Norman Myers. Intriguingly, the more Prof. Myers is proved wrong, the more he goes on the attack, while his backers castigate critics rhetorically for just not “caring” about refugees and extinction....

Rob Roy Ramey and Laura MacAlister Brown on species extinctions:

... Erroneous extinction predictions may seem laughable, but when they end up being cited as a basis for governmental policy, via the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) or the Canadian Species At Risk Act (SARA), or used in litigation under these laws, they have real-world implications....

Terence Corcoran on rising sea levels:

... In summary, add disappearing Venice and drowning Pacific islands to scores of other IPCC myths about the impact of climate change.

Steve McIntyre on a Greenpeace study:

... Everyone in overall IPCC group – known as Working Group III — associated with this report should be terminated [with extreme prejudice] and, if the institution is to continue, it should be re-structured from scratch.

Bad news on the climate change front

Global cooling!

... a flurry of other reports, including from scientists at the U.S. National Solar Observatory (NSO) and U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, indicating that global cooling, and perhaps even a new Little Ice Age, is on its way. ...

Now, compared to the AGW hypothesis this is really scary, especially for northern countries like Canada.

Will the UN IPCC now begin calls for us to increase our carbon footprints?  Will our Tory government demand the same?  Will Al Gore make a new movie using a hockey stick graph with the blade pointing down (and garner another Nobel Peace Prize)?  So many questions!

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!

Only one hold-out on extending the Libya mission

The vote was 294 Yeas to 1 Nay. Lizzy May was the only hold-out. Even the Bloc and the NDP went for it. Impressive for such an iffy, ill-defined mission. What is it about Obama's wars?

Junk Science Week

The 13th Annual Junk Science Week kicks off with Terence Corcoran:

... dedicated to exposing the scientists, NGOs, activists, politicians, journalists, media outlets, cranks and quacks who manipulate science data to achieve their objectives. Our standard definition is that junk science occurs when scientific facts are distorted, risk is exaggerated and the science adapted and warped by politics and ideology to serve another agenda. [Last night Lloyd Robertson and his CTV News crew of lazy, scientific illiterates indulged in the pesticide scaremongering featured in this column.]

[...]

and Vivian Krause:

... before the end of this month, an expert panel appointed by the Alberta government is expected to unveil recommendations for a “world-class” system for monitoring the environmental impact of oil sands on the Athabasca River basin.

... It all began to escalate in 2008 ... CBC documentary for The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, fuelled in part by a media-hyped visit by Avatar director James Cameron...

... what we have here isn’t a case of bad science. On the contrary, this is a case of how bad media happened to good science, or at least relatively sound science. The heart of the matter is how — and why — the media blew up a small but reasonable study that produced little new information into a major international scandal.

... U.S. tax returns show that the Sea Change Foundation in 2009 paid the Tides Foundation $2-million “to promote awareness and opposition to tar sands.”

... the Oak Foundation, another U.S. foundation, paid the Tides Foundation $700,000 “to conduct research to determine whether tar sands mining is adversely impacting the Athabasca River of Canada and its tributaries, and to report the findings.” A second goal of the same grant was “to raise the visibility of the tar sands issue and slow the expansion of tar sands production by stopping new infrastructure development, supporting policy reform in the U.S. and Canada, and reducing future demand for tar sands oil.”

What an incestuous circle-jerk. A mainstream media that is simultaneously gullible, scientifically illiterate and headline-seeking promotes the junk science of Rick Smith's Environmental Defense who in turn takes money from murky foreign foundations and environmental scaremongers.  You get the feeling that the last things they give a damn about are the environment or science which, as they practice/promote them, are turned into junk.

Socialist resentment trumps rich people’s charity

David Thompson parses Zoe Williams’ Guardian column griping about rich people’s charitable giving:

... Zoe tells us that the Ark Gala raises “extraordinary sums - £14m in just one night in 2007.” And all for good causes. So, er, what’s not to like?

[ZW]“Nevertheless, I object to high-net-worth philanthropy in principle.”

Feel the warmth of that great big socialist heart. Helping orphans is objectionable if the people doing the helping are wealthier than Zoe Williams. Principles, see?
[...]

[ZW] There are financial arguments to be made about whether or not these people would do more good by just desisting from their activities and making do with normal jobs that paid normal salaries.

... Zoe’s personal resentments are the important thing and these “obscenely” rich people should stop “creating inequality” while giving money away. Given time, the orphans of Romania will doubtless learn to do without while sharing in Ms Williams’ moral satisfaction.

In my previous post I opined that lefties were motivated by their "good intentions". For those of Zoe Williams’ ilk add "resentment" and "stupidity" as motivators.

Those (well intended) “human rights” codes must be abolished

Kathy Shaidle observes that even some of their strongest critics allow that Canadian human rights codes originally had noble intentions. She thinks not, hasn’t for some time and is gratified that others are now coming round to her thinking:

[Karen Sellick]:
... bulldog ... Ezra Levant describes the human rights system as "a beautiful idea -that failed." He credits it with the "noble goal of eliminating real discrimination ..."
Wrong.
Human rights codes have fabricated a phoney "right" to be free from discrimination and used it to override a panoply of genuine human rights, including: freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of contract and control over one's private property. There can be no such thing as the right to violate someone else's rights. It's a contradiction in terms. The only solution to this seeming paradox is the complete repeal of the human rights codes, not mere changes to the enforcement mechanisms.

[Chris Scafer]:
Now that Tim Hudak, leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party, has backtracked on his plan to scrap the province’s Human Rights Tribunal if elected, the focus of debate has turned to reform.
[...]
... if history has taught us one lesson, it is that a government that is powerful enough to outlaw discrimination by individuals is also a government powerful enough to compel discrimination when the public mood of the majority changes. This is why Ontario’s human rights system must be abolished.

Couldn’t agree more. Though I still think, like Ezra, that the meddling liberal social engineers responsible for enacting the “human rights” codes actually did have good intentions. They always do, don’t they? Good intentions are what mesmerize liberals - to the point that they are incapable of thinking them through to their logical, very often rotten conclusions.

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.

The One-State Solution

Andrew Klavan: "Give the Middle East to the Jews":



Hilarious ... but when you stop to think about it, it's the perfect solution, and therefore impossible.

Suing the useful idiots behind the Canadian Boat to Gaza

Eye On A Crazy Planet:

Canada has designated Hamas, the "Islamic Resistance Movement" in Gaza, as a terrorist organization and it is a criminal offense in Canada to provide aid to terrorists.

Why then are Canadians allowed to launch an effort to provide Hamas terrorists with material aid without facing prosecution in the Canadian courts?

This is a question effectively being asked by a law suit just launched against "Turtle Island Humanitarian Aid" and the Montreal-based activist organization Alternatives International which has become notorious as a recipient of taxpayer money while working for an agenda that conflicts with Canada's foreign policy goals.

Cherna Rosenberg is a Canadian citizen who divides her time between Israel and Canada. She is the plaintiff in a million dollar law suit against the Canadian organizers of a boat meant to challenge Israel's arms embargo of Hamas-ruled Gaza.

[...]

[Via]

The idiot page "protest"

Mark Steyn nails it:

... the post election Speech from the Throne is the ... logical endpoint of Magna Carta: the state as servant of the people. So, when you urinate all over a Throne Speech, it’s not like lobbing a pie at the Defence Minister during a war debate: You’re disdaining the very essence of the constitutional order.

But that's all a little too fusty for a know-nothing like Brigette DePape.  ... her own ingenious substitution for representative government: A "STOP HARPER" sign. When she's removed from the chamber, she's ready with a press release and a publicist to book media appearances. She says Canada needs its own "Arab Spring".  What, you mean with virginity tests for female protesters?

... She is said to have had several job offers ... I can think of few people I’d be less likely to hire than a pampered beneficiary of a leisurely navel-gazing pseudo-education too stupid and self-absorbed at the age of 21 to be able to tell the difference between Mubarak's Cairo and Harper's Ottawa.

... The west is facing not an Arab spring but a long bleak winter of post-prosperity discontent.  I don’t think the likes of Brigette DePape will adapt very well – and I would wager their disenchantment with responsible government will grow. As for the Muslim Brotherhood so for stunted morons like Miss DePape: The democratic process is legitimate only if you vote for the approved side.

Exactly. DePape's "protest" is lauded by those other "stunted morons" of the left - Green leaders losers Elizabeth May and Jane Sterk.  When they're not calling every Harper policy they dislike "undemocratic" they're pissing on democracy by praising juvenile clowns like DePape.

See also, Kelly McParland.

Bye, bye Guzoo?

Ezra Levant had an excellent show today about Alberta government bureaucrats shutting down Guzoo, a small private Alberta zoo.  The shutdown order is based on an inspection by CAZA under contract to the AB government.  There was no hearing, no court proceedings and, according to the AB minister in charge, no possibility of appeal.  Zoo owner, Bill Gustafson, has $1.5M and over 20 years invested in a project that is being shutdown by bureaucratic fiat.  I can't say I know much about the conditions at Guzoo but this Gestapo-like behaviour by the AB government certainly isn't right.  It's one more black mark against the Stelmach regime.

Ezra did a great job of interviewing grilling CAZA National Director, Bill Peters, questioning why CAZA (which represents the big professioal, government funded zoos) didn't recuse itself from involvement because its member are competitors of private zoos and, according to Peters, are against the existence of any private zoo.  Peters nevertheless insisted on CAZA's complete objectivity in the matter.  Ya, sure!  Ezra also noted that the Calgary Zoo (a CAZA member) has in recent years had 41 exotic animals die under its 'care'. Yet it's Guzoo, whose animals are apparently well treated, that is being shut down. Peters mumbled something about CAZA having done a very extensive report on the Calgary Zoo.

Ezra asked that listeners write weasely Alberta MLA Richard Marz to protest the Guzoo shutdown order.  Will do.

Dear President Obama

From Hunter's Friday Night Funnies:

Dear President Obama:

I am writing today with a somewhat unusual request. First and foremost, I am asking that you return America to its August 20th, 1959 borders so that Hawaii is no longer a state and you are no longer a citizen.


Your BFF,

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

David Suzuki debates Vivian Krause

My post below  was about Vivian Krause's article exposing those, including the David Suzuki Foundation, who have been campaigning against the Canadian salmon farming industry.

Yesterday, the Suzuki Foundation responded to Krause's article, denying her claims and accusing her of being a shill for the salmon farming industry.

Today, Vivian's response to Suzuki is a highly detailed rebuttal including:

... You note that I used to work in the salmon farming industry. That's true. That was in 2002 and 2003, eight years ago. I also did two short consultancies in 2007. For those, I was paid $10,000 and $7,750, respectively. As I've said many times, since July of 2007 I have not worked for the salmon farming industry in any paid capacity. In January, I was the keynote speaker at the Nova Scotia Annual Aquaculture Conference but apart from my airfare and hotel costs, I was not paid. Over the years, I have also tried to support the Aboriginal Aquaculture Association in small ways but I have not been paid.

To be clear, if anyone has reason to be an adversary of the salmon farming industry, it might be me. After all, I was fired.

The debate score (scale of 0-10): Suzuki - zip, Vivian Krause 10.

Keep up the great work, Vivian.

Pushing statism at the gas pumps

Chris Selley is depressed that the press and police are agitating for a new law forcing Alberta motorists to pre-pay before pumping gasoline:

... The problem isn’t the idea, or the inconvenience it portends — which, let’s face it, is minor. The problem is who supports the idea: at least some gas stations, the Edmonton Journal’s editorial board and, most perplexingly, the Association of Alberta Police Chiefs, which is the driving force behind the idea....

Concluding:

Alberta’s seen better times, but it’s still a rich, safe, proud, reasonably law-abiding place most of the world would hack off an arm to live in. It’s a place where you should be able to pay for gas after you pump it, and if it isn’t anymore, the police should be explaining how they can help turn it back into that place.

I agree (with some modifications).  We in BC went through the same thing. Service station operators complained about losses to gas theft but none wanted to do anything about it, presumably because they feared losing business if they went pre-pay and their competitors didn’t. And naturally the police didn’t like having to investigate petty gas theft.

Then a gas attendant, Grant De Patie, was killed while attempting to chase down gas thieves. It was a horrible crime. It had all the emotional ingredients needed to stoke sympathy for a new law, called Grant’s Law, ‘forcing’ gas stations to implement pre-pay. The cops, the gas companies, the press and the emotionally manipulated public were all for it.

What happened to Grant De Patie was God-awful but the fault was first with the criminals who killed him, then it was with Grant’s recklessness in attempting to stop them (I doubt that his job description required him to chase thieves.)

I found the whole thing annoying - first because the law treated me like a thief, second because it was an inconvenience (things have improved since), and third because it became another instance of unnecessary government intrusion. When I expressed these views at gas stations, attendants were defensive (no surprise) - it was all about poor Grant and losses at the pumps.

But of course there are always unintended consequences. Now I happily pre-pay at the pump but never go near the store where I used to buy odds, sodds and lottery tickets. I wonder how that’s working out for the station operators. I’m told a huge part of their profits come from store sales. Also, Grant’s Law required that there be two attendants on duty at night. The gas companies want that expensive part repealed but Grant’s parents and WorkSafe BC are objecting to changes - so best of luck with that!

Personally, I’m all for arming gas attendants, putting thieves in stocks in the public square and giving victims the opportunity to pelt them with rotten tomatoes (and excrement).

Earth to earthlings: "Atmospheric CO2 is not a problem"

A long essay by Pat Frank concludes:

... In the context of the IPCC’s very own ballpark, Earth itself is telling us there’s nothing to worry about in doubled, or even quadrupled, atmospheric CO2.

Farmed salmon - another phony enviro-scare

Vivian Krause exposes yet another bogus Suzuki Foundation hobby-horse:

Anthony Watts' surface station research paper

Geez, how'd I miss this - Anthony Watts' long awaited research paper on the U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) has been accepted for publication.  Details on the project and paper here. The abstract concludes with:

... According to the best-sited stations, the diurnal temperature range in the lower 48 states has no century-scale trend.

[H/t]

On the road to "if it isn't forbidden it's mandatory"

Via Blazing Cat Fur - the NDP wants to put cancer warning labels on cell phones.

That makes three consecutive posts on creeping statism.  Brison's mandatory voting, the 2,4D ban and now cell-phones which, as the story above notes, is about more than just cell-phones:

"It’s WiFi, baby monitors and cordless home telephones, which all operate at 2.4(gigahertz)," 

We gotta get a grip! It's time to break out the tar and feathers and do a few "activists".

Environmental fraud - the 2,4D scare

Today, on page 5 of the Post, Terence Corcoran responded to Monday's happy-faced front-page story about dandelions:

So now the old "yellow flower" is a thing of horticultural attraction. This glorious news hit the front page of the National Post Monday in a report that portrayed the weedy dandelion as a reborn object of beauty and affection.

... Unfortunately, the yellow dandelion flower has a halflife of about nine hours, after which it starts cranking out fluffy white seed carriers that scatter billions of future dandelions all over the urban nation.

... oh how the green activists and environmental alliances must have loved that story. What an achievement, a great science con job, a brilliant bait-and-switch policy scam, and a model for future activism. It's a con job the National Post story, brightly illustrated and with an upbeat headline (Dandelions finally get their day in the sun), failed to mention.

Ottawa, the Quebec government and Dow AgroSciences settled a lawsuit under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Dow AgroSciences had sued over Quebec government claims the pesticide 2,4-D, the key dandelion exterminator, was a health risk.

The settlement agreement, a victory for the company, includes a statement from the government of Quebec saying the pesticide 2,4-D does "not pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment" when used according to instructions. It is too late, however, to undo the damage at the municipal level.

... Governments have long known that 2,4-D is safe, but they eventually caved in to activists, who ... turned the pesticide battle into a war on cosmetic pesticides as a "precautionary" move. [The same fraudulent "logic" they use to push their AGW scare-mongering.]

... Celebrating seeming acceptance of the weeds as "flowers" is to celebrate the triumph of the politics of social and esthetic control by government. The dandelion is the official flower of statism.

Now, if only I can get my strata landscaping committee to resume use of 2,4D before their new "environmentally sensitive" pesticide-free lawn keeping takes its toll any more than it already has. That is, assuming that the push for a complete ban doesn't come to pass. Oops - my City of Surrey, a self-proclaimed champion of the environment and "sustainability", has already effectively banned it.

Scott Brison - just another Liberal fascist

To save the Liberals Scott Brison wants to inspire young Canadians and get them voting:

The goal of the Liberal Party of Canada today should be to build the most modern and inclusive political organization in the country, one that inspires young Canadians to vote.

And if Liberals can't "inspire" them - force them:

... the Liberal party may consider going a step further and advocate the adoption of mandatory voting, as exists in Australia.

Scott Brison is an idiot.  Any party that advocated forcing me to vote certainly wouldn't get mine. To think that Brison was once a leading Conservative. Blecchhh!