Civic Duty is Forever

other recent motivational posters available here

Print, Frame, and Hang at Work

Finally, the antidote to those cloying motivational posters that are displayed in proportion to how lousy a place is to work.

This is going to be way too much fun. We'll all overdo it and burn out.

See what I mean?

We Can Only Hope

The Australian:

"Many concerned friends have called me, (saying) that because I said 'devil' over there (at the UN), they have sentenced me to die. They will not kill me, I have much faith in life"

Let's hope this one is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Simple Argument Escalates to 10 Church Burnings in Nigeria

It started like a typical exhange in the comments of a blog, but escalated rather seriously.

Joseph Hayab, of the Christian Association of Nigeria, told Reuters that the woman's comment was a tit-for-tat remark after a derogatory comment was made about Christianity.

"Her comment was in retaliation to uncomplimentary remarks made by her colleague about Jesus," he told the news service. The woman was detained briefly by police, then released, and that's what triggered the rioting, he said.

Barnabas Fund:

On 19th September in the city of Dutse, in the northern Nigerian state of Jigawa, a mob of Muslim youths set upon the Christian minority in the city. St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral was burnt to the ground and the Bishop’s office destroyed. Initial reports speak of between 4 and 10 other churches as well as shops, vehicles and homes belonging to Christians having been set ablaze. There are believed to be 15 churches locally, so 10 would amount to two-thirds of all the churches in the area. Several people were injured. According to some reports the state governor was himself attacked when he tried to calm the mob and was hurriedly taken away from the area. The mob was only quelled when hundreds of heavily armed police began belatedly began to patrol the city.

OBL Dead of Typhoid? Disinformation?

Yahoo News:

PARIS - The French defense ministry on Saturday called for an internal investigation of the leak of an intelligence document that raises the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan a month ago but said the report of the death remained unverified.

LCI

Il aurait contracté le 23 août "une très forte crise de typhoïde" alors qu'il se trouvait au Pakistan, et y aurait succombé.

.

No Option But Theocracy

The Times:

AI: You have misunderstood the reality. As a Muslim I believe Allah…created whole universe; he created the UK. It doesn’t belong to you, it doesn’t belong to the Queen, it doesn’t belong to the Anglo-Saxons…Allah has put us on the planet earth to live wherever we want and implement the Sharia rules.

JH: You want Sharia law in this country? ….If you want to change the way this country functions, why can you not do it in a democratic way…?

AI: Democracy means sovereignty for man; and as a Muslim, we believe sovereignty for the Sharia, therefore I would never take part in democratic principles. Rather I will work to change society in accordance with Islamic methodology.

JH: You will not observe the democratic process?

AI: We observe Islamic rules wherever we are.

JH: The Islamic process but not the democratic process?

AI: That’s right, yes.

Taliban Jack wants us to negotiate with these people.

Religion of Peace Reaches Out To Catholics

Sign on right reads, "Let's crucify the Pope".

Walmart Making Healthcare Affordable

AP via Yahoo News:

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, plans to slash the prices of almost 300 generic prescription drugs, offering a big lure for bargain-seeking customers and presenting a challenge to competing pharmacy chains and makers of generic drugs.

The drugs will be sold for as little as $4 for a month's supply and include some of the most commonly prescribed medicines such as Metformin, a popular generic drug used to treat diabetes, and the high blood pressure medicine Lisinopril.

This has to be wonderful news for fixed and lower income individuals and families. What an excellent service Walmart is offering the public. Walmart's efficiencies and smart labor practices no doubt contribute to their ability to offer these badly needed pharmaceuticals at very affordable prices.

h/t: Scrooge

The CBC Redeploy From Afghanistan to Darfur Agenda Again

CBC was at it again last night. Same format as the night before. First a carefully chosen clip from a press statement from Corporal Shane Keating's mother (no mother should lose a son, but they omit the part where she says his sacrifice was worth it - doesn't fit the agenda), more about how are losing and cannot possibly win in Afghanistan. Finally, more Darfur. Towards the end of the Darfur segment, a man from Darfur pleading for the west to come and protect them.

I am still waiting for the CBC "news" segment with an analysis of the consequences of the Taliban regaining control of Afghanistan. But we'll never get such an analysis from the CBC, because they have their heads firmly shoved up their behinds.

Turn off the taps to the CBC. I don't want to pay for this anymore. I won't have a government funded priviledged media outlet working at odds with our democratically elected government. Especially when their agenda puts us at risk.

And I Have Some Nice Land For Sale In Florida Too

I'm not buying this one:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly Thursday that the planned national unity government will recognize Israel

I think it's a lie just to get the west to turn the taps back on and get them out of their public servant labor crisis - he has to know that if actually recognized Israel he is a dead man. Arafat lied and lied and lied. Now this guy.

Prediction... within a few months there will be a post in this blog linking to this one saying "told ya so".

Update: Hamas is playing it straight. Hamas has issued a statment that recognition of Israel is not going to happen:

The Palestinians' ruling Hamas group will not join a planned coalition government if recognizing Israel is a condition, a close aide to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday.

Harper's Speech Address to the UN General Assembly

21 September 2006
New York

PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Mr. Secretary General,
Mr. President,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me, as Prime Minister of Canada, to speak to you today about the important issues confronting us as members of the United Nations.

The United Nations was born from a combination of the essential needs of nations for stability and security and the higher ideals to which we all should aspire – freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

Our responsibilities in this organization are as varied as they are important and I cannot mention them all or do each the justice it deserves.

Nor can Canada be effective by diffusing our efforts across all of these matters. We must focus our considerable but limited resources where we can make a real difference.

So let me turn to one particular and key area where global interest and higher purpose come directly together: the mission in Afghanistan.

The United Nations recognized shortly after the attacks of September 11th, 2001, that the Taliban regime, by its promotion of terrorism, was a threat to international peace and security.

Kofi Annan, our distinguished Secretary General, whom we thank for his ten years of loyal service, summed up in a few words the reason why we must combat terrorism.

Terrorism, he said, “is a direct attack on the core values the United Nations stands for: the rule of law, the protection of civilians, mutual respect between people of different faiths and cultures, and peaceful resolution of conflict.”

That is why we in the United Nations have the responsibility to defeat terrorism. That is why, with unity and determination, the United Nations undertook its responsibility and its role in Afghanistan. And that is why Canada, which lost 24 of its own citizens on 9-11, answered the call.

And there we are. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is the UN’s single largest special political mission.

It is also, by far, Canada’s biggest and most important overseas engagement. So the UN’s mission is Canada’s mission.

No fewer than 19 UN agencies are in Afghanistan. They are working tirelessly to help the Afghan people and their national government shake off the perpetrators of terrorism and build a democratic and secure society.

At the same time, approximately 20,000 troops from 37 countries – roughly 2,500 Canadians included – are contributing to military efforts to help stabilise Afghanistan and eliminate the remnants of the Taliban regime once and for all.

All our actions in Afghanistan – civilian and military – are being taken in accordance with the mandate of the United Nations Security Council.

In short, we all stand together with the democratically elected government of Afghanistan under the banner of the organization that represents our collective will.

Let us be realistic. The challenges facing Afghanistan are enormous. There will be no quick fixes.

Moreover, success cannot be assured by military means alone. This we all recognize. For success also requires a strong and unwavering civilian contribution: educators, engineers, elections advisors; direct aid and technical assistance. The list is lengthy, but the contributions essential.

That is why Canada is engaged in work like the rebuilding of girls’ schools, ripped down and destroyed by the Taliban in their frenzy of hate.

That is why this spring we increased our development assistance, raising Canada’s total contribution to nearly $1 billion over 10 years, to assist the people of Afghanistan.

These two actions – rebuilding a shattered society and providing a stable security environment – go hand in glove.

And we are making progress – of that there is no doubt - 5 million refugees repatriated; over 5 million children enrolled in primary schools; 10 million Afghans registered to vote in successive democratic elections.

More than one-quarter of the seats in Afghanistan’s Legislature are now held by women – remarkable in a nation where a few short years ago girls could not attend school and women had no human rights of any kind.

The success of this mission, in providing both security and development, is vital to the safety, livelihood and very future of the Afghan people – but it is also vital to the health and future of this organization.

Let us recall that the democratically elected government of Afghanistan – led by President Karzai – requested the assistance of the United Nations and its member states in the struggle against terror, intimidation, violence and oppression.

We have responded. But we haven’t made Afghanistan’s progress irreversible. Not yet.

Canadian defence personnel, diplomats, and development officers are on the front lines of the fight for the future of Afghanistan. Canadians feel tremendous pride in the leadership role they have assumed and we share equal grief for the casualties they have taken.

We are therefore acutely aware that the United Nations’ job in Afghanistan is not done. We have no illusions about the difficulties that still lie before us. Difficulties don’t daunt us. But lack of common purpose and will in this body would.

After all, if we fail the Afghan people, we will be failing ourselves. For this is the United Nations strongest mission and, therefore, our greatest test. Our collective will and credibility are being judged. We cannot afford to fail. We will succeed.

The United Nations is also facing other challenges.

In Haiti, for example.

Canada has played an important role in this country, dispatching troops, police and development officers to support UN activities aimed at restoring stability and establishing democracy. And we are offering this country $100 million in economic development assistance.

However, we must act together to ensure that our multinational force paves the way for stability and progress, and empowers the Government of Haiti to help its citizens, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

Darfur too is a significant challenge – as multinational security efforts are transferred from the African Union to the United Nations. It is also a test of the principle that this body endorsed last year – the Responsibility to Protect.

The United Nations has authorized a mission there with a robust mandate. But will the government of Sudan accept it?

In the Middle East, Canada has joined the international community in the reconstruction of Lebanon. But will UNIFIL ensure security on Israel’s northern border and lead to progress in the Middle East Peace Process?

Nuclear proliferation threatens us all. Are we prepared to ensure that Security Council decisions will be implemented fully? Will we act to halt activities that have no reasonable purpose other than the acquisition of nuclear weapons?

These are some of the tests the whole world must face. And there are other challenges internal to this organization.

Will the new Human Rights Council become a forum where human rights are genuinely put above political manoeuvring? Or will it emulate the fate of its failed predecessor organization?

But I must tell you, the early signals suggest that too little has changed, that the page has not yet been turned.

And what will be done to make progress on UN management reform?

Earlier this year, Canada’s New Government was given a mandate to make our national government more accountable, to ensure taxpayers get full value for their money, and to pursue a clear, focussed agenda that produces tangible results.

The United Nations should accept nothing less. This organization must become more accountable and more effective. Management reform must continue, and at an accelerated pace.

The taxpayers of member nations, Canadians among them, make significant financial contributions to this organization. They have the right to expect stronger, more independent oversight mechanisms, more robust accountability for how funds are spent, and human resources practices that are based on merit.

I have just described the tests by which this organization will be judged.

Canada wants this to be a positive judgment.

We were there when the United Nations was founded. Like the other countries, we were motivated by a pressing need to establish a new international consensus in a world devastated by war.

And like the others, we were motivated by our own pragmatic interests and noble aspirations for all of humanity.

More than 60 years later, the formula remains the same.

The challenge has always been to bring nations together to build a better world by forging consensus on common purposes, and by finding the political will to translate these into action.

When these goals have been achieved, Canada has always been with you – through the war against fascism, the Cold War, dozens of UN-sponsored peacekeeping missions, and more recent multinational military engagements in the Balkans and the Persian Gulf.

Today, Afghanistan leads the list of challenges that we face collectively – peace-building in a nation where there is not yet peace, and where progress requires a wide range of capabilities undertaken by a wide array of our member-states.

My earnest hope is that we will say with pride to future generations of leaders: we, the United Nations, took up that responsibility in Afghanistan, rose to the challenge, and met it firmly, collectively, successfully.

In this endeavour, as with the others I have outlined, Canada will be there with you at every step along the way.

Thank-you.

CBC News last night - CBC (LPC) agenda exposed?

Anybody else notice this on the CBC news last night? Lead with story of the suicide bombing in Afghan.

Then, significant coverage of Darfur. More Darfur. And yet more Darfur.

The CBC agenda? Bail out of Afghanistan and redeploy into Darfur.

Watch for the CBC to continue to pound away on this theme.

Chavez The Skinflint

And the cheap bastard didn't even buy the hardcover edition...

Once More With Feeling

Benedict XVI:

"I trust that after the initial reaction, my words at the university of Regensburg can constitute an impulse and encouragement toward positive, even self-critical dialogue both among religions and between modern reason and Christian faith"

Islam, self-critical? In the same sentence? This Friday afternoon, after the imams have a chance to work their goons into a lather, we'll see yet more evidence of Islam's ability to enjoin dialog. Meanwhile, Islam lays it out cold for us to see once again, in case we missed it last time:

The Mujahidin Shura Council, an umbrella group for Sunni Islamists, said in a statement: “We tell the worshipper of the Cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated . . . May God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahidin.”

Could it be this kind of self-critical dialog to which Benedict refers?

The Muslim Ummah, or the Islamic world, he said was presently living in darkness.

"Today we are the poorest, the most illiterate, the most backward, the most unhealthy, the most un-enlightened, the most deprived, and the weakest of all the human race," he told the delegates.

President Musharraf then made a comparison of the economic growth in Islamic countries with some developed countries.

Rather a bold statement, and a rare voice within Islam. Some significant ground-shifting is taking in place in Pakistan at the moment. I'm still thinking about it. But given so fews voices dare to make such public statements, I wonder what it is about Islam that makes it so reluctant to reform? Could this be a clue?

No wonder the extremists have hijacked Islam. They make it very clear to all those within Islam the price they will pay for being critical. Reform cannot take place without freedom of expression. Islam is trapped. It also explains why Musharraf did this.

The Suicide Bicyclist in Afghanistan

An acquaintence, very traumatized, was there at the scene, and was covered in blood. He saw the cyclist approach. He says that the cyclist had two children with him on the bicycle at the time of the detonation.

Update: I have heard this through very reliable intermediaries. Elaborating further may not help our service people in the field. Please understand.

Nanny State Says You're Not Eating Enough

It has a name now, so the MSM has a new meme: dysmorphia. That's right folks, the MSM now has it's size 6 knickers in a twist over skinny models. Except they were skinny models yesterday, today, they are dysmorphic.

Fat runway models must be a Bush plot. Follow me here if you can. We all know that Bush (and his poodle PMSH) are, if nothing else, hellbent on creating the fascist state and robbing us of our freedoms. Now look who they've singled out: women who don't eat enough.

The models are free to starve themselves to death. The free market will determine when their morphology becomes unattractive.

I wonder what part of our lives the MSM doesn't think is any of their or the state's business? Who is it that has the erosion of individual freedoms agenda again?

I think it's going to be fun to find out which female politicians and MSM "journalists" are behind this meme. What do you think I will find when I check out their BMIs? Oh, so bitchy...

Tessa Jowell (UK Culture Minister) is campaigning for a low BMI catwalk ban in the UK:


Think this gal has some jealousy issues? Hey, she's a cabinet minister now, in a socialist government - that's real power to get even make a positive change.

On Second Thought, Cancel The Apology, I'll Have The Rack of Lamb Instead

news24.com:

"We say to the pope - whether you apologise or not is irrelevant, as apologies make no difference to us."

Somebody's Pumping

Breitbart:

OPEC ministers could hold an emergency meeting ahead of the next regular conference in December as the oil market is clearly "out of balance" and prices are falling, a senior OPEC official has said.

Sound like a meeting to find out who is pumping the oil? Somebody is, and OPEC wants to find out.

Smashing the Cross

Al Qaeda vows jihad over Pope remarks:

"We will smash the cross ... (you will have no choice but) Islam or death," the statement added, citing a hadith (saying of the Prophet Mohammed) promising Muslims they would "conquer Rome ... as they conquered Constantinople".

Say, Taliban Jack, what was it your were saying about negotiating?

Footnote: although it may seem odd, I actually welcome this kind of rhetoric from al-Qaeda. They grow more confident, and are less circumspect. Language such as this is difficult for the Western dhimmi MSM to spin in their appeasements of Religion of Peace™. The plainer the message that Joe and Jean Average get that al-Qaeda has one of two plans in store for them, and their children, the more likely it is that they will wake up and understand we're in an existential war.

Elsewhere, the Religion of Peace™ demonstrates how a security contingent makes a path through a crowd of protestors for an official:

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a leader of the Islamic militant Hamas, was approaching the building for a Cabinet meeting when he was blocked by the protesters, police said. His bodyguards then opened fire to disperse the crowd, police said. Reporters heard the gunfire and saw a woman being taken away by ambulance.

No God that I would worship would condone killing children in His name.

Muslim Brotherhood Unaccepts Pope's Apology

Reuters via National Post:

The deputy leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Habib, initially called it "a sufficient apology" but later said: "It does not rise to the level of a clear apology and, based on this, we're calling on the Pope of the Vatican to issue a clear apology that will decisively end any confusion."

We in the west anquish about the silence of moderate Islam. This should explain the silence. The Muslim Brotherhood found itself too moderate, and has quickly corrected itself to fall in line with the rest of the extreme Islamic world.

Pope Did Not Apologize

"At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims.

These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.

Yesterday, the Cardinal Secretary of State published a statement in this regard in which he explained the true meaning of my words.

I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect."

Note that he is sorry for the reactions.


The Pope asks for a frank and sincere dialog. Islam's response? An Italian nun is fatally shot in the back three times in Mogadishu.


Leonella

Support the Pope

Anyone who has actually read the Pope's address at Regensburg will realize that Islam is mounting a disproportionate response. The Pope does not need to apologize for his words. Help support the pope by spreading this graphic far and wide:

The Pope Is Sorry They Are So Easily Offended

"The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers"

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

"You're an idiot".
"I demand an apology for that".
"OK, I'm sorry you're an idiot".

Regensburg Speech

While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them. We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically verifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons. In this sense theology rightly belongs in the university and within the wide-ranging dialogue of sciences, not merely as a historical discipline and one of the human sciences, but precisely as theology, as inquiry into the rationality of faith.
Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures. At the same time, as I have attempted to show, modern scientific reason with its intrinsically Platonic element bears within itself a question which points beyond itself and beyond the possibilities of its methodology. Modern scientific reason quite simply has to accept the rational structure of matter and the correspondence between our spirit and the prevailing rational structures of nature as a given, on which its methodology has to be based. Yet the question why this has to be so is a real question, and one which has to be remanded by the natural sciences to other modes and planes of thought - to philosophy and theology.

I interpret the Pope's speech as being about the limitations of scientific reasoning absent faith, calling for a new synthesis rather than a binary choice. Quite topical I would say given the debate over creationism. Would Islam not see the same philosophical problems? Good thing I read the speech before burning the Pope in effigy. But then, I have access to the text. The roiling masses don't, and have to rely on their imams to pass along the speech. Might there be some distortion in that filter?


Whoop-it-up after Friday prayers at the mosque

Certainly one thing democracy can do is make possible the infrastructure in which access to information, such as the Pope's Regensburg address, are available more or less universally.

I was impressed by the Pope's speech and the depth of thought it represented. No, I'm not Roman Catholic.

Another Montreal Nutjob Lurking?

Is there another dangerous individual lurking somewhere in Montreal? You'll have to decide for yourself after you read this:

If you can't read the content...

I've been to dawson college.. a real peace of shit school.. the ppl there are so superficial.. I acctually thought about shooting the school up myself..
thank you unknown guy with a mohawk.. I salute you! :)

hahaha run u coward pussies... RUN.....

Larger version of screen capture here.

Link to the posted message here, (while it lasts)

The poster's MySpace profile is here.

Observing the 5th Anniversary