the blog quebecois

As a public service, I present these air safety tips. Now you don't have to feel guilty about ignoring the stupid pantomime show that the stewardesses flight attendants put on before takeoff. Like it's going to save your life or something.

Warning: Some are probably NSFW.

BusinessWire.com:

The attempted bomb attacks this week in London allegedly by five doctors foreshadows a more dangerous world, according to David Wright, CEO of PharmAthene, a leading biodefense company that develops and commercializes biomedical products to counter chemical and biological weapons.

"The presence of so many physicians is very disquieting," said Wright. "Given their training in life sciences, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to believe that they may soon graduate from vehicle bombs to bioweapons."

Which, one assumes, will be transported to the targets in flaming jeeps.

Five of the eight suspects arrested by British authorities are doctors or training to become doctors, according to news articles. One suspect, Bilal Abudulla, earned a medical degree in Baghdad and then moved to Britain where he worked as a doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Another suspect, Mohammed Asha, earned a medical degree in Jordan. He relocated to Britain, where he was training to be a neurosurgeon. A third doctor appears to have been from Bangalore, India.

It isn't the same thing at all, but the last time this many doctors were up to so much mischief must have been the "Doctors' Plot" in the Soviet Union, used by Joseph Stalin as a pretext for launching an anti-Jewish pogrom and a purge of his enemies in the Communist Party:

The death of the Mongolian dictator Marshal Khorloogiin Choibalsan in Moscow early in 1952 concerned the ageing and paranoid Stalin who commented, "They die one after another. Shcherbakov, Zhdanov, Dimitrov [1], Choibalsan ... die so quickly! We must change the old doctors for new ones." [2] Under torture, prisoners seized in the Soviet investigation of the alleged Doctors' Plot were compelled to produce 'evidence' to 'prove' that the Kremlin doctors, led by Stalin's own physician, had in fact assassinated those mentioned by Stalin. [3]

Ironically, Stalin had half of it right: Someone probably was out to poison him, but it was more likely his secret police chief, Lavrenty Beria.

Sydney Morning Herald:

An agriculture professor at the University of Melbourne, Snow Barlow, said the paper showed humans were taking up too much of an important natural resource.

"Here we are, just one species on the earth, and we're grabbing a quarter of the renewable resources -- we're probably being a bit greedy."

So quit hoggin' the 'shine, lardass.

i'm a man without conviction
i'm a man who doesn't know
how to sell a contradiction

culture club

The Politico:

To the frustration of the cameramen in the Fairfield town square, [Barack] Obama delivered his remarks facing east, with the setting sun behind him blotting out their shots.

But here, there’s a power even higher than the television networks: Obama had positioned himself in alignment with the rotation of the earth, in accordance with the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose followers moved en masse to this small Iowa city more than 30 years ago.

The Maharishi’s transcendental meditators, along with vacationing pilgrims from the East Coast, turned out in large numbers in the town’s traditional green square to hear the Illinois senator deliver his stump speech on the night of July 3 -- more people, Fairfield’s sheriff said, than had come out to greet a sitting president.

"I saw him and I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is somebody who could lead us into a new era,’" said Nancy Watkins, an international student adviser at the Maharishi University of Management.

Obama's New-Agey campaign creeps into Dennis Kucinich territory. I never thought I'd say it, but Hillary! almost looks like the rational one in this bunch.

Via The Corner

His response was insolently stupid. Of course at some point in almost any war someone staggers forward to sign an instrument of surrender, but other obvious historical examples of major conflicts that ended by crushing victory include World War I, the Napoleonic Wars and the Cold War. I didn't have time to make this point, but it didn't matter because most other journalists present, including from francophone media, were openly incredulous about Mr. Layton's proposal. They might not support the Afghan war. But even the press grasp that you can't sign useful treaties with people who dream of waving your severed head at a cheap webcam.

John Robson waves other Jack Layton body parts in the Ottawa Citizen.

http://1GAME.free.fr

Alternately press the left and right arrow keys to build up your speed (you must be in the red zone in the upper left gauge before you jump off the cliff); your up and down arrows to control your hangglider thereafter. Steer through the hoops to get points and avoid the cruel cruel eagles vultures, who will send you screaming in a death spiral to the canyon floor. Oh, and when the flashing downward arrow appears at the end of the level, it's a strong suggestion that you land your craft. (Press the spacebar while only a few feet above the ground.)

Or smash into a cliff. Your call.

Warning: Sound effects. Also, you might want to stick with the novice version. The expert level is for some reason set in the dead of night, which is a bit challenging, to say the least.

The bandit who wore a leafy disguise while robbing a downtown bank Saturday has been caught, police said.

Investigators say James Coldwell, 49, robbed the Citizens Bank at 1550 Elm St. while clad in clothing adorned with tree branches held on by duct tape.

Coldwell was charged with one count of robbery after answering questions at the police station, Capt. Dick Tracy said.

Video surveillance of the Saturday morning robbery showed a thin white man leaving the bank in a shroud of tree branches, all duct-taped to his shirt and head. His short, dark hair and mustache were clearly visible between the leaves.

from the depths of their long-suffering ears.

Via grow-a-brain

Toronto Star:

Jack Layton, the federal NDP leader, will call on Stephen Harper today to demand that U.S. and NATO forces cease air strikes in Afghanistan.

[...]

Layton plans to speak with Harper today, asking him to instruct Canada's representatives on NATO's North Atlantic Council, which manages NATO's day-to-day operations and meets two or three times a week at NATO headquarters in Brussels, to call for an end to NATO and U.S. aerial bombing.

"The increasing death toll of Afghan civilians is something Canadians don't accept," Layton said. "Across the country people have told me spontaneously that destruction of villages was not what they expected to be part of the Afghan mission in which we're participating.

This contemptible poseur would have you believe that he's only looking out for the welfare of Afghan civilians. What a stinking liar. If he really cared about ordinary Afghans, he'd in favor of doing whatever it takes to pound the Taliban back into their ratholes whenever they stick their heads out.

I trust and pray that nobody in the Pentagon or NATO would pay the slighest attention to Layton -- what, though, would be the practical effects if they did do his bidding?

Leaving aside their superiority in training, firepower and technology, the one unanswerable ace in the hole that Canadian troops can draw on is American or other NATO airpower. It's an overwhelming asset when the enemy tries to make a stand. I wrote about this some months ago, quoting a Forward Observation officer with the Princess Pats:

When the Company Commander asked me what the safety distance for a hellfire was I literally had to go to the reference manual I carry (J Fires Manual) because I had never seen one before and had no idea what it actually could do. I told him the safety distance was 100m. To which he asked how far we were from the compound -- the laser said 82m. We debated the ballistic strength of the mud wall beside us and in the end he decided to risk it. Nothing like seeing an entire Company in the fetal position pressed up against a mud wall! The hellfire came in and it was the loudest thing I have ever heard.

The Taliban knows this full well, which is why they hide amongst civilians as often as possible. So you could expect many more -- hundreds more -- Canadian deaths as they slug it out hut by hut, street by street. (And with probably just as many innocent Afghans cut down in the crossfire.)

But then that suits Layton's goal, doesn't it? More Canadian casualties means more coffins for him to dance on, shrieking that the war is lost, lost: Aieeeee!

Keep that in mind the next time Layton and his crowd babble about how they "support the troops." They don't. They want them to die; the more the better.

AFP:

The Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a new fear -- a giant badger stalking the streets by night.

Local farmers have caught and killed several of the beasts, but this has done nothing to dispel rumours of a bear-like monster that eats humans and was allegedly released into the area by British forces to spread panic.

Good one, British forces. The old "giant badger" tactic. Used last in 1942 at the Second Battle of El Alamein, if I do recall.

Also, it allows me to use this link again. (I was so moved by the Live Earth concerts that I'm now recycling links, saving valuable electrons looking for new ones.)

Warning: Video, music.

Dallas Morning News (article has been updated, so paragraphs are out of sequence):

In a keynote speech at the International Women's Peace Conference on Wednesday night, Ms. [Betty] Williams told a crowd of about 1,000 that the Bush administration has been treacherous and wrong and acted unconstitutionally.

"Right now, I could kill George Bush," she said at the Adam's Mark Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas. "No, I don't mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that."

She apologized for her remarks today, blaming them on her "passionate" nature.

The Secret Service did not immediately return a call about whether it is investigating the comments.

The Bush administration’s response was blunt.

"That's surprisingly hostile rhetoric coming from someone who has been recognized for promoting peace and doesn't warrant further comment," said White House spokesman Blair Jones.

Hostile, yes; but not very surprising. Just over a year ago, she had this to say in Australia:

On July 24, 2006, while delivering a speech at the Earth Dialogue forums, Williams told school children at the Brisbane City Hall, "I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence,' because I don't believe that I am non-violent." She went on to say, "Right now, I would love to kill George Bush", blaming him for the deaths of children, particularly in the Middle East.

The corollory to the maxim that you should always wear clean underwear when going out in case you are involved in an accident is that you should refrain from wearing T-shirts with some message on them that could prove amusing (well, to the rest of us, anyway) if you get arrested.

Trinidad & Tobago Express [emphasis mine]:

SURGERY was performed on Sunday to remove a coconut from the body of a man who was sodomised with the fruit during an attack by a gang of men.

Ste Madeleine police are now investigating the case, in which the 27-year-old victim was found at the side of a canefield road at Golconda Village, near San Fernando.

Police were told that the man was seen drinking alcohol in the hours before he was found, and a group of men who picked him up are being sought.

The man is reported to have undergone surgery at a private medical centre.

So an impoverished Trinadadian gets to opt for private medical care, while the list of Canadians waiting for coconut-ectomies grows and grows.

And let me tell you, it's damned uncomfortable after two years or so.

Via grow-a-brain

PAGANS have pledged to perform "rain magic" to wash away cartoon character Homer Simpson who was painted next to their famous fertility symbol - the Cerne Abbas giant.

The 17th century chalk outline of the naked, sexually aroused, club-wielding giant is believed by many to be a symbol of ancient spirituality.

Many couples also believe the 180ft giant, which is carved in the hillside above Cerne Abbas, Dorset, is an aid to fertility.

A giant 180ft Homer Simpson brandishing a doughnut was painted next to the well-endowed figure today in a publicity stunt to promote The Simpsons Movie released later this month.

The lads at b3ta have their own take on it. Warning: Possibly NSFW.

Another tie-in to the Simpsons movie: This game, where Homer (you, using the arrow keys) attempts to free his family by smashing a police car with a wrecking ball. In theory, anyway -- the only thing I succeeded in smashing was Homer himself. Sound effects.

There's a beta game site that's popped up recently that's available by invitation only; it so happens I have three invites to give away. (I understand that they're replenished quickly, so despair not if you're not one of the first three. I'll send it along as soon as I can.) If you'd like one, leave your name and email address in the comments.

It's a bit much to explain it all, so I'll let Moola do the work:

Moola's patented tournament model allows millions of people to attempt to win anywhere up to $10,000,000 playing exciting, nearly addictive games against one another, for free. How? Players start by receiving 1¢ from sponsors. In order to receive this penny, one may be required to read or watch an ad and then answer some kind of trivia (or "AdverTrivia") question to prove that attention has been paid.

With penny in hand, users may begin ascending the Moola Tower: The progressive level system at the heart of the tournament model. On level 1, a player will be matched in a 2-player game against another player who also has 1 penny. Players may choose from a variety of existing games, and Moola will regularly offer new titles to choose from. The winner of this game will emerge with the other's penny, for a total of 2¢, and have the opportunity to continue climbing to the next double or nothing level.

On level 2, a player will be matched in a game of choice against an opponent who also has 2¢. The winner will emerge with 4¢ and continue to climb the Moola Tower. At each new level, a player will select a game of choice and be matched against another opponent with equal financial interest, whereby the winner will emerge with twice the account balance he/she had previously. Players may choose to cash out at any time, in which case Moola will pay out real money to that player via mailed check in local currency, or save account balances and return later for continued play.

By playing double or nothing, player account balances multiply extremely quickly, producing exponential gains as high as $1000 by level 17, $10,000 by level 20, or $10,000,000 by level 30. However, players may also choose to compete on any lower levels which they can afford, thereby reducing their risk and reward. And, new players or anyone losing their entire balance at any time may start over for free, and get their first penny from Moola and/or its sponsors once again.

A note on Moola's advertising: Throughout the game play experience, players will be required to watch periodic ads and occasionally answer trivia (or "AdverTrivia") questions about the ads being watched. These ads appear before each game, and when a user receives his/her "Starting Penny." The purpose of these ads, or "AdverChallenges" are designed to assure advertisers that their messages are being watched by target audiences. This, in turn, gives advertisers greater confidence and willingness to continually sponsor the Moola tournament model, allowing users to continually vie for serious cash prizes. The result is an advertiser/audience harmony, in which advertisers enjoy certainty that their messages are not being "skipped over," and audiences, for the first time, enjoy thrilling monetary and entertainment benefits from their willingness to watch intermittent ads.

They've paid out over $3 million so far, and I see no reason to doubt that: The advertisers are brand-name (the ads are short and unobtrusive) and the site is well-designed, with the exception of not supporting my usual (Mozilla) browser. You'll have to use Internet Explorer 5+, Netscape 6+ or Firefox 1+.

I've only played with it briefly, but I think I'm well on my way to multimillionairehood. I'm tempted to cash out and invest in some blue-chip stock. Anybody know how many shares of Google I can get for four cents?

Which is why they so seldom appear on the CBC.

CNN (via the corner) :

And, I'm Kiran Chetry. America' top general is in Iraq right now, and he is actually taking a surprising step. He wants to show that things are safe enough that he could actually walk through the streets of one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq in the Sunni Triangle. The streets of Ramadi.

That is where General Peter Pace is right now. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is actually traveling with him as well...Are you guys actually walking through the streets as we speak, Barbara?

VOICE OF BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, it is an extraordinary thing. I hope everyone can hear me. We are absolutely walking through the marketplace as we speak. General Pace just stopped and brought some fruits and vegetables from a dealer here in the market. He is stopping to say hello to every little kid he can find and take pictures with them.

What's really extraordinary here is, of course, Ramadi was the real heartland of al Qaeda, if you will, just a few months ago. So many U.S. troops lost their lives on these streets and the battle for this city. Now, today, the streets are quiet. Rebuilding is underway. Perhaps one of the most extraordinary things is they have not have an IED attack on the streets of this city since February.

It's not to say that there aren't plenty of problems around. Lots of security challenges to overcome, but I don't think anyone really expected even six months ago that a chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff would spend the afternoon walking around the streets of the city. It's a pretty extraordinary event...

Max Boot, quoting an email from Colonel John Charlton, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division, in Ramadi:

Security here in Ramadi continues to improve as the Iraqi police and army forces work daily to keep the population safe. When we arrived in February, we were averaging 30 -- 35 attacks per day in our area of responsibility. Now our average is one attack per day or less. We had an entire week with no attacks in our area and have a total of over 65 days with no attacks. I attribute this success to our close relationship with the Iraqi security forces and the support those forces receive from the civilian population. The Iraqi police and army forces have uncovered hundreds of munitions caches and get intelligence tips from the local population every day.

Our biggest challenge with the Iraqi police is getting them fully equipped, paid, and consolidated in police stations. The support system that begins with the MOI [Ministry of the Interior], and extends through the provincial police chief, is still a work in progress. As a result, the Iraqi police still rely heavily on coalition logistics and support. We expect the equipment issue to improve soon, and we are working hard to get their logistics and command and control systems in place. One thing that is not lacking is the courage and the dedication of the Iraqi police in al Anbar. For them, this fight is personal. They know that al Qaeda is targeting them, their families and their tribes.

National Review's Rich Lowry must be wondering if TV fame is worth it:

LOWRY: What if he said robo-stripper? Would you be upset?

SHARPTON: I asked you why.

LOWRY: What do you mean why?

SHARPTON: Why does it look like a prostitute?

LOWRY: It looks like a robot and it is very trashy and sleazy. Would you agree it's trashy and sleazy?

SHARPTON: No.

LOWRY: It's self evident.

SHARPTON: No.

SHARPTON:The outfit when you - that's sleazy? You cannot see anything but her face.

LOWRY: It gets sleazier by the minute.

SHARPTON: She takes off the .

LOWRY: Would you mind if your daughter. Would you let your daughter wear that outside?

Update: It didn't occur to me until just now that it would be helpful if we could see what they were talking about.

Click here.

Yup, that's a "roboho" if I ever seen one.

Other BET fashion atrocities here.

CTV:

"They hit me with an electrical current and I fainted," player Isaias Perralta told Chilean media. "When I regained consciousness, I saw 10 police officers were hitting me and throwing acid in my face."

Certainly sounds plausible to me. Geez, you get your asses kicked by the Argentines, then the Toronto police? Maybe you should consider more congenial pursuits, like lawn bowling.

Don't make us send Marty McSorley down there.

CTV:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spent more than $20 billion so far on his military spending spree. But the Opposition is accusing Harper of an American-style defence buildup that seems "more attuned to offensive warfare" than peacekeeping.

[. . .]

The opposition leaders agree the military needed an upgrade, but they accuse Harper of a U.S.-style defence buildup.

"We have a prime minister who has George W. Bush as American Idol," Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said.

And we have an Opposition Leader who is the William Hung of Parliament -- off key, off the beat, and aw-ful.

If I were Dion, I'd fire the speechwriter who gave me that lame riposte. But I suspect he cooked it up all by himself. Clever boy!

Who says this blog isn't educational? Behold Statetris, which combines geography and crazy Tetris fun fun fun in one fell swoop. Now if we could just figure out what "one fell swoop" means.

You might want to check out some of the other things on the site. You can send messages with smoke signals, etc., overlaid onto Google Earth, put your own face on famous monuments, and so much more. And you were worried how you'd fill the hours tonight.

Warning: Minor sound effects.

Via Diffusio

Warren Kinsella:

When you preach equality, as I do, you need to practice it. Therefore, I owe my saintly wife - and my mother, and the amazing women I know and work with, in politics and business - a lot better than some puerile and sophomoric attempt at humour.

Grovel, grovel, grovel. But to no avail:

Women politicians' clothes, hairdos, weight, and other physical characteristics have been the obsessive focus of journalists ever since women first began holding public office in this country. We've had it!

Er, no. That was the final paragraph of a mass mailing from Ms. Magazine protesting this article by the Washington Post's Robin Givhan, focusing on the low-cut blouse Hillary Clinton recently wore in the Senate. (I choose to spare readers' sensibilities by not posting a picture -- you can find one at the link.) It probably escaped the harridans at Ms. that the piece in question was unquestionably flattering, praising Clinton's "confidence" and lauding her as "utterly at ease in her skin".

Givhan, the Post's fashion editor, was previously known for her catty attacks on Condoleezza Rice ("Dominatrix!") and mocking the looks of Katharine Harris, the Florida Secretary of State, who came to prominence during the contested 2000 Presidential election. Not a peep from the feminists on those counts.

I happened upon this by accident the other day. It was written in 2003 but I think it applies equally now:

1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media. The integrity of science rests on the willingness of scientists to expose new ideas and findings to the scrutiny of other scientists. Thus, scientists expect their colleagues to reveal new findings to them initially. An attempt to bypass peer review by taking a new result directly to the media, and thence to the public, suggests that the work is unlikely to stand up to close examination by other scientists.

He wasn't speaking about climate change but these are all salient points when considering it. David Suzuki, call your office.

City Journal:

My work has caused me to become perhaps unhealthily preoccupied with the problem of evil. Why do people commit evil? What conditions allow it to flourish? How is it best prevented and, when necessary, suppressed? Each time I listen to a patient recounting the cruelty to which he or she has been subjected, or has committed (and I have listened to several such patients every day for 14 years), these questions revolve endlessly in my mind.

Theodore Dalrymple, the Orwell of our times (sorry, Christopher Hitchens) announces his retirement. From psychiatry, that is. I assume he'll now devote his full time to writing.

It's odd. Psychiatrists are notorious for muddle-headed jargon; but two of the best, most lucid political writers around come from that profession. (The other being Charles Krauthammer.)

Via ThePolitic.com

given that Japanese "food eaters" tend to eat some, um, interesting "food." It's a banner ad that I spotted on this manga site.

Vanity Fair:

"The Simpsons is the bane of our existence," says Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park with Trey Parker. "They have done so many parodies, tackled so many subjects. 'Simpsons did it!' is a very familiar refrain in our writers' room. Trey and I are constantly having our little cartoon compared to the best show in the history of television, The Simpsons. Why can't we be compared to According to Jim? Or Sister, Sister?"

A very entertaining piece on The Simpsons, worthy of reading whether you're a fan or not.

can the CBC be far behind?

After the furnace-like heat, the first thing you notice when you land in Baghdad is the morale of our troops. In previous trips to Iraq we often found American troops angry and frustrated - many sensed they had the wrong strategy, were using the wrong tactics and were risking their lives in pursuit of an approach that could not work.

Today, morale is high. The soldiers and marines told us they feel that they now have a superb commander in Gen. David Petraeus; they are confident in his strategy, they see real results, and they feel now they have the numbers needed to make a real difference.

I keed, I keed. The CBC will report positive news from Iraq about the day after Peter Mansbridge's hair grows back.

Via SDA

press.co.nz:

Vegansexuals are people who do not eat any meat or animal products, and who choose not to be sexually intimate with non-vegan partners whose bodies, they say, are made up of dead animals.

The co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Human and Animal Studies at Canterbury University, Annie Potts, said she coined the term after doing research on the lives of "cruelty-free consumers".

Cruelty-Free Consumption in New Zealand: A National Report on the Perspectives and Experiences of Vegetarians and other Ethical Consumers asked 157 people nationwide about everything from battery chickens to sexual preferences.

Many female respondents described being attracted to people who ate meat, but said they did not want to have sex with meat-eaters because their bodies were made up of animal carcasses.

No, we usually poop them out. Day or two, tops. Unless those bones get stuck again.

See, I can be adult about this. Unlike these news anchors at WBFS Miami, who seem to find the subject amusing. Warning: News anchors, amused.

The Winnipeg Sun:

Imagine a society where people were free to express their opinions on most subjects, no matter how unpopular, and the only thing standing in their way was the sanction of open debate and public scrutiny.

In other words, it would be a society where adults were treated as adults.

This society cannot become reality as long as human rights commissions exist in their current form.

This transcends ideological lines, as it is not good in any society to always have to look over your shoulder or watch what you say in case the thought police are on your tail.

Created by legislation, these tribunals have become a way for mainly left-wing interest groups to bypass elected legislatures and criminalize opinion they dislike.

Joseph Quesnel looks at Human Rights Commissions, in particular the complaint filed against Free Dominion.

These farcical commissions -- call them by their true names, kangaroo courts and star chambers -- have no place in an ostensibly-free society. I once took a look at a year's worth of decisions by the British Columbia HRC and I could predict without fail the outcome of each case by reading a summary of the complaint.

They are stacked with activists; the rules of evidence are non-existent; you are not entitled to legal counsel during the proceedings. They are an utter blot upon Canadian jurisprudence.

To be sure, you can appeal their prestamped "verdict" in Provincial Court at the Superior or Queen's Bench level. That is, if you have $10,000 (for starters) in loose change to finance it. Make that $100,000 if you take it to the Supremes. With the government bankrolling your opponent all the way.

These disgraceful institutions should be dynamited and then the ground salted so that nothing ever grows there again.