Red Tory v.2.0

We’ve Moved: RT v.3.0

2008-07-06T02:57:00.000-07:00

The new Wordpress site is up and running now, so please drop by and visit.

http://www.redtory.wordpress.com

Don’t forget to update your bookmarks.

Cheers

Red Tory v.3.0 On the Way…

2008-07-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

There won’t be any posts over the weekend as I’m moving over to Wordpress.

I haven’t been altogether happy with Blogger for quite some time and the recent problems with Haloscan (that I can’t figure out how to uninstall) have finally given me the impetus needed to make the switch. It may be for the better, or not… I guess we’ll see.

Fireworks at Mt. Rushmore

2008-07-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Fireworks lit up the sky over the South Dakota landmark last night, kicking off a weekend of activities.

Fun With Torts: Misappropriation of Personality

2008-07-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

To clear up some apparent confusion amongst his readers, amateur sleuth and partisan muckraker Steve Janke says, “I happen to know, but I didn’t realize that it was not common knowledge, so I’ll explain” (Come on people, aren’t you all experts in tort law?) and then goes on to define the expression thusly: “Misappropriation of personality refers to taking someone’s image and using it for financial gain. So if sold widgets, and tried to boost sales by putting Bono’s face on the packaging, I could be subjected to a lawsuit for misappropriation of personality for having used Bono’s picture without permission.”

So, one has to ask the obvious question: When you take the picture of a rival political leader and utilize it in a prominent fashion as part of an advertising campaign attempting to scare voters away from that leader’s party and implicitly encouraging them through your negative, deceitful, and utterly fraudulent fear mongering to join or contribute to yours (thereby constituting a de facto financial gain for your party, one way or the other), how is that not a “Misappropriation of Personality”?

Cleveland's Next Top Model

2008-07-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Never before seen audition tapes!

I’m sure some people might find this offensive. Women, quite possibly. People who live in Cleveland, most definitely. So, in advance, sorry ladies and Clevelanders (is that the right term?)… but I couldn’t help laughing at this.

Links With Your Java

2008-07-04T04:23:00.000-07:00

I’m kind of swamped with work today, so I’m going to try something a little different and go all Glenn Reynolds here for a little bit, with a series of quick hits in the same post that will be updated periodically as the day goes on. The title by the way is a shameless rip-off from Onegoodmove’s daily “Links With Your Coffee” feature. Maybe you can think of something better…

• More legal troubles for the Libs as paper cup wholesaler Jennifer Wright “is moving closer to a full-blown lawsuit” over use of the generic name “Green Shift”… So should we deduce from this that her lawsuit is still just half-baked at the moment? I wonder if she’s found a pro-bono trademark lawyer yet.

• The Tories come up with a new angle on the “in-and-out” campaign fund laundering scheme, claiming that Elections Canada changed the rules on them, citing as “proof” the fact that the handbook for candidates was updated a year after the election. Elections Canada says this was simply to account for provisions in the new Accountability Act. Apparently, this cockamamie argument makes sense to the Conservatives — sounds desperate to me.

• The Telegraph publishes a world map showing which areas are most likely to be vulnerable to climate change — it could be a metaphor for cruel irony. Canada is shown to be “best to escape climate change.” Expect the usual suspects to say incredibly dumb things.

• Editorials from papers across Canada weigh in on Morgentaler’s appointment to the Order of Canada with the tiresome complaint that it was unfortunately “divisive” — you know, as opposed to being innocuous and largely irrelevant is usually the case. Some silly people seem to think these fatuous opinions actually mean something. David Graham calls Rev. Lucien Larre’s returning of the Order “the height of arrogance.” Indeed.

• What a great way to spend $3 million! Absent any way of conceivably blaming past Liberal governments for this egregious waste of money, expect to hear stunning silence from “fiscally conservative” Tory bloggers.

• Well whattaya know, Ezra Levant was right (yes, it does happen; broken clocks and all that). His nemesis Mohamed Elmasry is, in fact, a stunningly clueless, blithering idiot.

TDTUC: The Way We Are (Part 1)

2008-07-04T03:37:00.001-07:00

The Day the Universe Changed (TDTUC) is a British documentary television series produced by and starring science historian James Burke, originally broadcast in 1985. A companion book of the same title, also written by Burke, was published the same year, presenting the same general premise of the television series in expanded detail (highly recommended, btw).

The series’ primary focus is on the effect of advances in science and technology on western philosophy. The title comes from the philosophical idea that the universe essentially only exists as you perceive it; therefore, if you change your perception of the universe, you have changed the universe itself.

To illustrate this idea, much as he did in his previous series Connections, Burke tells the various stories tracing the development of important scientific discoveries and technological advances and how they fundamentally altered how western civilization perceives the world. The series runs in roughly chronological order, from around the beginning of the Middle Ages to the present.

Who Wrote the Bible? (Part 1)

2008-07-04T03:35:00.000-07:00

This 2004 Channel 4 documentary about the Bible opens with images of George Bush – and Osama Bin Laden. The Bible, holy books and the religious faith they inspire are on the news agenda as they’ve rarely been before, and the presenter of the program, British theologian and Oxford lecturer Dr. Robert Beckford, is looking for good answers to what sounds like a simple question: Who wrote the Bible?

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T02:19:00.000-07:00

To all my American friends, all the best for a very happy July 4th holiday!

The following is from an editorial in today’s Bangor Daily News and after that, an interview from a while back between Bill Moyers and Harvey J. Kaye, author of the book Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. By the way, I had wanted to run the last episodes of that excellent PBS series “Liberty” but unfortunately, they no longer seem to be available online. Anyway, cheers.
(Have a Sam Adams for me, eh?)

Two-hundred thirty-two years ago, representatives in the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and adopted their Declaration of Independence. It expressed frustration and anger with the policies of Great Britain and its king. It argued eloquently for the fundamental, universal rights of those who are governed. It emphatically conveyed the determination of the colonies to be free and independent states. Below is an excerpt from the document the Fourth of July holiday is about:

When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes, and accordingly all Experience hath shown, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.

Liberty: The American Revolution (Episode 4)

2008-07-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

“Oh Fatal Ambition” 1777-1778

The “united” states remain in dire need of funds and military support. Congress dispatches Benjamin Franklin to France in hopes of creating an alliance which will provide both. Meanwhile, a British army marches down the Hudson River trying to cut off New England from the other colonies. After failing to link up with another army under Gen. Howe marching north up the Hudson, the British under Sir John Burgoyne are crushed by Americans at Saratoga, thereby prompting the French to enter the conflict on the American side.

The Most “Beautiful” City in Canada? (Poll)

2008-07-03T16:22:00.001-07:00

In Quebec City today to celebrate the city’s founding at the arrival of Samuel de Champlain 400 years ago, Stephen Harper declared it Canada’s “most beautiful.” Perhaps he’s correct, although many surveys have suggested that Vancouver holds this title. So what do you think?

Not sure what’s up with the spacing on this Buzzflash poll, but it doesn’t seem very co-operative when it comes to modifying it. Oh well.

Update: That awful spacing was driving me bonkers (anal, what can I say?) so I’ve hived it off to the sidebar.

Thoughts on the Existence of God

2008-07-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

We are unable to find such a god,
because a creator of the universe
must exist outside of it.
We would have to leave the universe
to find its creator.

So, if we do find a god in our universe,
that is surely not its creator.

Kind of a weighty subject for a Thursday afternoon.

I neither the time nor the patience to get into it with this sadly deluded fellow, although Lore Weaver (“The Atheist Conservative”) is making a valiant effort to knock some sense into the unfortunate Mr. Ball. It’s quite an entertaining discussion actually.

Update: It seems Mr. Ball is eager to propound a lot of misconceptions about atheists as well. For example, “Atheism at its core has a void and a blackness to it that is matched only by their worship of the Void as the ‘first cause’ of both the material universe and of life…” Yikes!

Bouncing Baby — Idiot Teenager

2008-07-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

What teenagers do for “fun” in Lee County, Georgia.

According to the report “the video has been removed from YouTube…” Yeah, but we can watch it courtesy of MSNBC who happily play it over and over and over. Anyway, that just struck me as a little funny in an ironic kind of way. More on the story here.

As for the teenager, well what can you say? Load him up in a trebuchet and fling him into another county… see if he “bounces” on impact.

Steampunk: Computer Workshop

2008-07-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

An online profile from The Wall Street Journal last year: Technophiles are tapping into a movement known as “steampunk,” where computers, keyboards and other gadgets are re-imagined as if built during the Victorian era.

Featured is a hobbyist called “Datamancer” and his “pixelo dynamatronic computational engine.” More at The Steampunk Workshop. I realize this isn’t exactly “new” — many have probably seen this elsewhere before — but it’s soooooo cool.

Riz Khan: Turkey & Islam

2008-07-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

Interesting discussion with British author and newscaster Rizwan Khan and a panel of Turkish experts about the debate over the role of Islam in this secular Muslim country.

More about the “dangerously polarized” situation in Turkey from Eurasianet.org.

McCain: “Double-Talk” on the Economy

2008-07-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Q: “You have admitted that you're not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy and many have said –

McCain: I have not. I have not. Actually I have not.

ABC News, Good Morning America, 7/2/08

As can be clearly seen in the video, Timm-eh! nailed McCain dead to rights on Meet the Press about his self-confessed lack of knowledge and expertise regarding the economy.

The expression “double-talk” seems far too generous in my opinion. How about just calling it what it is: bald-faced lying.

Today Now: Bush Tours America

2008-07-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

Too funny.

h/t: The Wingnuterer

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

2008-07-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

What a sanctimonious phony. And boy, are we ever surprised!

h/t: James Curran

Funny, I didn’t know he had one.

2008-07-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

Ottawa — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has upped the ante in his $2.5-million defamation suit against the Liberals, claiming an additional $1-million for “misappropriation of personality.”

Update: Ah yes, the old double-standard. Ain’t it the truth?

Update2: Zing! And Pow! (Jeff is really on fire today.)

Update 3: I’m sure it must have occurred to some bright sparks amongst “senior Liberals” that in “upping the ante” with this escalation of his ridiculous lawsuit, Harper may have inadvertently provided the Liberals’ with the best fundraising opportunity they’ve had in ages. You just know that if the shoe were on the other foot, the Conservatives would be running to their base, wringing their hands in agony, frantically bleating and whining about how the big, bad Liberals were attempting to drive the helpless widdle Conservatives into the poorhouse with their malicious, vindictive lawsuit. They’d be imploring supporters to urgently give $5, $10, $50 or more in order to help them defend democracy, motherhood, or whatever against the outrageous perfidy of Liberal meanies and their despicable attempt at subverting the justice system to serve their own nefarious purposes, &etc.

Update 4: Mark Francis at Section15 has a brilliant take on this lawsuit. “I would put little stock in the theory that Harper tried to bribe Chuck Cadman if it wasn’t for the mounting evidence that Harper plays so dirty.”

Iraq & Afghanistan Wars – What’s the Reality?

2008-07-03T07:53:00.000-07:00

Rachel Maddow and former Asst. Sec. of Defense Lawrence Korb of the Brookings Institution, discuss the reality on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here’s the story they’re referring to about the American Army spying on their “allies” in Iraq.

Christopher Hitchens Gets Waterboarded

2008-07-03T06:24:00.000-07:00

Believe Me, It’s Torture

What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist—not inflict—it.

You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The “board” is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered. This was very rapidly brought home to me when, on top of the hood, which still admitted a few flashes of random and worrying strobe light to my vision, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited for a while until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose.

Read the complete Vanity Fair article here.

Do “Conservatives” Tacitly Approve of Racism?

2008-07-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

I ask the question because I’m genuinely curious in view of the fact that hardly, if ever, is a word of objection or protest uttered by any of the “Conservative” blogging community (most of whom are part of “The Blogging Tories”) whenever this highly popular right-wing termagant issues another one of her hateful, degrading screeds or smears a whole group of people with some calumnious insult or demeaning racist epithet.

Yesterday morning, for example, she started off the day by suggesting that segregation wasn’t so bad — “The back of the bus. Was it really so bad?” she asked. This question was posed in response to a jazz singer in Denver substituting the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which also is known as the “black national anthem,” at the local Mayor’s State of the City address — an act that was highly inappropriate, disrespectful and, quite frankly, dumb, but hardly anything that warrants the notion that the period of American history in which blacks suffered from sanctioned racial discrimination and disenfranchisement perhaps wasn’t “really so bad”…

Moving right along, in connection with the non-existent “outrage” in Scotland about the use of a dog in a public service announcement by the local police that had all the wingnuts up in arms, Shaidle said “Maybe [Muslims] ought to spend a bit of time thinking about how other people view them.” In other words, unnamed “other people” (including Shaidle, presumably) regard Muslims as unclean or even evil; quite literally hardly better than dogs. Or perhaps you can derive some different interpretation from her remarks. Subsequently, she accused moderate Muslims who expressed reasonable opinions about the controversy of “lying like they always do” and of having no balls.

Later in the day, stating more reasons “Why I hate my country (part of a continuing series)” in a post decrying the Court Challenges Program, she referred to homosexuals as “deviants” — an insulting term that most educated people should know hasn’t had any legitimate currency since 1987 — and just to add injury to insult, lumped them together with “criminals.”

Of course this is just scratching the surface, and indeed the examples above are actually fairly tame stuff by Shaidle’s standards. After all, a while back she wistfully pined for “the good old days” when reflecting on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in which over a 1,000 unarmed Indian men, women and children were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded. That was another shocking instance in which there was complete silence from the “Conservative” blogging community.

Now, I realize that “Five Feet of Fury” isn’t officially part of Stephen Taylor’s blogroll, but there’s no denying that she’s an ideological fellow traveler with the Canadian “conservative” movement, so there are definitely some issues of association there. Should the consistent and almost universal silence of the “Conservative” blogging community about Shaidle’s ongoing pattern of hateful racism be taken as perhaps speaking volumes about its own attitudes in this regard? Sad to say, but maybe there really is a widespread, tacit approval of the reprehensible sentiments routinely spewed by this acidulous midget. It’s difficult to arrive at any other conclusion.

From the Dept. of Unintended Consequences…

2008-07-03T01:45:00.000-07:00

Bush Boosts Porn Industry With Economic Stimulus

An unforeseen and surprising beneficiary of the Economic Stimulus Plan, a plan that George Bush contends will “boost our economy and encourage job creation,” has surfaced this week. An independent market-research firm, AIMRCo (Adult Internet Market Research Company), has discovered that many websites focused on adult or erotic material have experienced an upswing in sales in the recent weeks since checks have appeared in millions of Americans’ mailboxes across the country…

Afghanistan: Nothing to See Here…

2008-07-03T00:52:00.000-07:00

Now:

“You can ask yourself the rhetorical question, what if we find 100 fugitives in the fields?” Gen. Thompson said. “What is ISAF’s duty in that circumstance? Is it to go arrest people?”

The commander continued: “We’re not policing this country, right? It’s not our role to police this country. Our role is to stand behind our Afghan partners and assist them.”

But the Afghan forces stationed nearby did not consider themselves capable of standing up to the Taliban that evening, as police in three outposts around the prison hunkered down behind their fortifications and refused to intervene.

Then:

“I don’t see a factual basis for a commentary suggesting that this country is sliding into chaos,” MacKay told reporters during a teleconference call.

He said there is more evidence “capacity-building” is starting to take hold and pointed to the efforts of the Afghan government “to build a more functioning and more dedicated police force.”

MacKay was responding to an article in the widely read U.S. journal Foreign Affairs, which said that with the “Taliban resurgent, reconstruction faltering, and opium poppy cultivation at an all-time high, Afghanistan is at risk of collapsing into chaos.”

MacKay said there was a lot of “tangible proof” of improvements that have been made in Afghanistan, citing new schools, hospitals and roads, along with vocational training and microcredit programs to help develop the Afghan economy.

“All of this shows that the Afghan people and the government have moved ahead considerably,” he said. “And the pace, in my opinion, is only going to increase as we’re able to bring about greater stability — particularly in the southern region.”

British Empire in Colour (Ep.3 - Part 5)

2008-07-03T00:45:00.000-07:00