the blog quebecois

Big Government:

If this rule is implemented, it would force the shut down of many coal-fired power plants. For states like Ohio, who rely on coal power for 90 percent of their energy, this is a major problem. According to some estimates, enough coal-fired power plants would close to equal about 30-70 gigawatts of electricity generated nationwide. A single gigawatt of energy can power about 750,000 homes.

In a time where national unemployment hovers around 9 percent, these regulations threaten to lead to more job losses and do some serious damage to the economy. The American Legislative Exchange Council estimated that the EPA regulation will eliminate 2.5 million jobs, depress investment by $300 billion by 2014 and reduce GDP by up to $500 billion.

Many states and local communities are already voicing strong concern about the EPA’s regulations. States like Michigan and Utah have claimed that the EPA has overstepped their regulatory jurisdiction and urged the U.S. Congress to intervene and provide much needed oversight over the agency.

More citizens, communities and states need to join in the call for Congress to intervene if the EPA is to be reined [in] before it does the anticipated damage to our economy, which recent speculation has suggested could be headed for more trouble.

Whew. Glad to hear that this is all about a War On Coal. Because otherwise you might think it's a War On People.

And unlike people, coal to date has shown little interest or aptitude in organizing, say, a .303 counterstrike from a few hundred yards away.

This was the second iteration of You, a collaboration. Notable for my cheesy "harpsichord" playing and my cousin's truly unfortunate lyric; yet, there was a third claim to infamy, albeit one I didn't spot for a few decades.

I started giving our different takes of the same song Roman numerals "title II, title III, etc.," but that soon became confusing, especially heading into double figures (by then, it was also a sure sign that the song stunk, if we still couldn't get a handle on it). So I switched to more conventional numbers.

Neither of us spotted the obvious, but we should have -- this was in early 1984, and U2 had just a few months earlier released their first really big album, War ("Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Pride (In The Name Of Love)." Little did I suspect it then, but my musical career would last nearly as long as that of Bono and the lads. Not nearly as lucrative, mind you -- but here we are in 2011, listening (well, some of you are, I hope) to the timeless tunes of the times.

PBS:

Was Julian Assange prepared to publish some of the leaked documents without adequately redacting the names of people who could have been harmed by the disclosures? “Julian was very reluctant to delete those names, to redact them.” David Leigh of the Guardian newspaper tells FRONTLINE of meetings he attended with Assange in the run-up to publication of the war logs. “And we said: ‘Julian, we’ve got to do something about these redactions. We really have got to.’ And he said: ‘These people were collaborators, informants. They deserve to die.’ And a silence fell around the table.”

When the Wikileaks documents first came to light, there was considerable discussion as to whether Assange's failure to redact the names of people who could suffer serious harm by their publication was simple sloppiness or laziness or something else. I think now we can attribute it to sheer bloody-minded malice.

But hey, karma's a bitch, huh? What goes around comes around. Very Buddhist, when you think of it.

Which is why there won't be many tears shed when his bullet-riddled corpse is fished out of the local canal.

Fun Assange Fax!

He has a mighty curious name. Well, besides that Julian part too.

I was wondering about the derivation of "Assange." No idea what that is, ethnically. So let's break it down.

The first syllable, "Ass" seems quite self-explanatory. That leaves "ange."

Wait a minute. Isn't that the French word (or more correctly,"l'ange") for "angel"?

Julian Ass-angel. Works for me, and I'm sure his future bunkmates in a Swedish prison are going to be delighted to hear it.

Farmington, Utah:

While the state has yet to officially cancel any events involving horses that might have been exposed to a local recent equine herpes outbreak, owners and arenas are taking precautions.

Because of the outbreak, contestants at the Davis County Sheriff's Mounted Posse Junior Queen Contest had to cowgirl up Thursday night without their mares.

Instead of competing on horses, as is typically the case, contestants were asked to trot around the arena with stick horses as their show ponies.

McClatchy Newspapers:

Egypt's military rulers told human rights advocates Monday that at least 7,000 civilians have been sentenced to prison terms by military courts since Hosni Mubarak was ousted — an astoundingly high number likely to fuel debate over how much the revolution has changed the country.

Advocates said the military promised to review the cases and vacate any improper guilty verdicts and commute the sentences. But the advocates voiced skepticism and demanded more information about civilians in military custody.

"This is not the first time they've promised," said Mona Seif, a member of a rights group called No Military Trials that met with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's ruling body. "We were offered no guarantees whatsoever."

The use of military courts to try people who've been detained in anti-government protests in recent months is highly charged here. One of the complaints against Mubarak's regime was that it silenced dissidents by quickly prosecuting them in military courts. The caretaker government that took over after Mubarak's resignation has done little to alter the practice, however.

Same as the old boss. If not worse.

National Enquirer:

King schmuck ANTHONY WEINER action figure on sale figs are rocketing as embattled pol enters “Tweetment”.

HeroBuilders.com which has already cornered the newsworthy action figure doll of the moment with spoof Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton dolls has unsheathed the Anthony Weiner doll – in two collectible versions.

“Everyone wants a Weiner,” Herobuilder prez Emil Vicate says.

And now Weiner up and quits, the dick.

Never mind this poor entrepreneur, who has invested countless dollars in a now-obsolete property. What about me? The hundreds of hours spent researching and writing this -- all wasted now.

Oh, well, I'll still have Jack "The Hmong Handjobee" Layton to kick around. (Rumor has it that the young lady who successfully applied the "Kung Fu" grip could earn as much as a shiny new toonie tip from Jenerous Jack.)

There wasn't much of a melody to this one -- instead it was atonal and harsh. But then I intended it to sound mechanical and thudding from the outset. So, then . . .

Mission Accomplished! Yay me!

Previous: Video Ace

Bloomberg:

At $40 a share, or an almost 55 percent markup to yesterday’s price, RIM would be valued at 7.29 times next year’s earnings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s still less than the average communications equipment provider, which trades at about 12.3 times profit, the data show.

RIM also generated $2.87 billion in free cash flow, or cash from operations after capital expenses, in the past 12 months, the data show. That equals about 21 percent of its market value, the highest proportion in the industry.

Among potential acquirers, Microsoft could build its share in smartphones and gain a device to complement its Windows Phone 7 mobile-phone platform, said BMO Harris’s Taylor.

I hadn't seen this coming, which might explain my failure to snag that coveted spot of VP for Strategic Acquisitions (I also think they're still blaming me for Microsoft Bob. Hey, I thought it was a promising idea -- just not cute enough. We shoulda gone with the Hello Kitty theme.). It looks potentially a good pickup for Redmond; but I think that there is a bit more going on behind the scenes.

Given the brutal economy in the States, the people at Microsoft would have to be nuts not to be concerned about their company's future, and might well be looking at diversifying beyond the U.S. border. And what better place than the culturally-similar, G8-leading economy just a few miles to the north?

If the nightmare scenario happens and that clown in the White House is somehow reelected through some miracle (or more likely through massive voter fraud) then Canada could become a haven for some iconic American corporations.

The Heritage Foun­dation:

EVAN SAYET: I call myself a 9/13 Republican. I grew up a liberal New York Jew; you don't get much more liberal than that--although it was lower-case "l," not what's considered Liberal today. I graduated from high school knowing only one thing about politics: that Democrats are good and Republicans are evil.

I tell a story. It's not a true story, but it helps crys­tallize my thinking that brought me to become a conservative. I say: Imagine being in a restaurant with an old friend, and you're catching up, and suddenly he blurts out, "I hate my wife." You chuckle to yourself because he says it every time you're together, and you know he doesn't hate his wife; they've been together for 35 years. He loves his daughters, and they're just like her. No, he doesn't hate his wife.

So you're having dinner, and you look out the window and spot his wife, and she's being beaten up right outside the restaurant. You grab your friend and say, "Come on, let's help her. Let's help your wife," and he says, "Nah, I'm sure she deserves it." At that moment, it dawns on you: He really does hate his wife.

Good metaphor, and I saw it too after 9/11. CBC had one of their "Town Hall" broadcasts, full of the usual university types, journalists, and professional Marxists (but I repeat myself), all happily babbling along about how much America "deserved it."

Unfortunately the screeners made the fatal error of letting some ordinary Canadians into the studio. One of them, clearly exasperated, said something like: "You people are exactly like the types who blame a raped woman for the way she was dressed."

Well! Woman = Good; Rape = Bad; America . . . Victim???

Cognitive dissonance writ large. Does not compute! Danger! Danger! Danger!

It was a rhetorical masterstroke, the equivalent of a baseball bat (or hockey stick, if you prefer) across the chicklets.

After much stammering and harumphing they got back on track, but it took awhile to get those hamsters up to speed again.

Via Blazing Cat Fur

Montreal Gazette:

Many Canadians don't realize that slavery existed in Canada, he [Conservative Senator Don Oliver] said. A number of legislators in Ontario, which was then called Upper Canada, were slave owners, as were a number of eminent people in the province of Quebec. In Nova Scotia, where Oliver is from, black people were sold at public auction.

"I still have an ad for a 'buxom young female, 14 years of age, for sale,'" he said.

Has Jack "The Cambodian Creeper" Layton heard of this? Because I'm sure he'll be all over her this delicious disgusting example of female entrepreneurship subjugation. Or maybe she's got a sister?

Blazing Cat Fur:

Every Friday my daughter's school cafeteria changes into a mosque as dozens of Muslim boys and their imams (Islamic preachers) lead Islamic ritual prayers and no one else can even walk through the cafeteria.

Some imams (Islamic preachers) come from the outside of the school and lead Muslim students in the Islamic prayer and this happens at the school Cafeteria after the lunch on Fridays. All other non-Muslims are in classes in the afternoon when they are using the cafeteria as mosque. There is a mosque nearby but the Muslim kids pray in the school.

School administration take part preparing the Cafeteria and making it into mosque every Friday and no one but Muslims can use the Cafeteria during the Islamic prayers on Friday.

Why these belligerent morons are so intent on creating another Syria is a mystery to me; but I'd be willing to pack them all up (along with their craven enablers) and ship them off to the real thing.