John R. Bolton

* The Right Opinion.

- I’m keeping it short to start. I’ll be blogging from a coffee shop in downtown Calgary later this morning.

- One of the good things about provincial and federal budgets that come just before election calls? You feel safe from government intervention for a short period of time. You know the budget will only be enacted if the ruling party wins the election.

- I’m hearing concerns from political pundits that Premier Redford will raise taxes after the election, even though there are none in the budget. Redford denies the allegations. I’m wondering what kind of a-hole would impose taxes after he/she promised they wouldn’t? That would be wrong.

- We’re still safe from provincial sales tax in Alberta. I was worried my move west from tax and spend Ontari-owe was going to infect the province.

- The PC’s will likely be re-elected in Alberta, but many people aren’t too sure of Premier Alison Redford’s conservative cred. Even though she’s trying to change people’s minds I always go with my gut feeling. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… it’s a liberal.

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* Whiny libs.

They’re like cockroaches scurrying for cover when the light goes on. They don’t like their methods exposed and like it less if others use their tactics. When some left wing group or person comes out with a study that supports their point of view, it’s gospel. But woe betide the person who exposes the lefts M O, that person who flips on the light, to speak metaphorically. It’s disgusting to think politicians would disrespect a private citizen to advance their agenda and discredit others.

Blogger’s investigation of anti-pipeline funding draws MPs’ ire – iPolitics

Gravelle later asked her to confirm her training as a nutritionist and then followed that question by asking her why a non-expert like her would be interested in the topic.

“I am doing this because no one else was doing it,” she said, adding that journalists had long covered foreign investment in the energy industry itself.

Gravelle held a picture of Prime Minister Stephen Harper alongside members of the Ethical Oil campaign and pointed to an empty space on the sheet.

“I think your picture should be there,” he said.

Gravelle, obviously a student of Saul Alinsky.

* Getting desperate.

Romney’s tar and feather campaign is now including Rick Santorum and is sounding extremely Democrat. It astounds me to think Romney, the least conservative of the four remaining candidates, is criticizing Gingrich and Santorum for being like Democrats. If I were Newt and Rick I’d start labelling Romney as a cry baby. He’s like the loser kid in the schoolyard who takes his ball home when he doesn’t get his way.

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I also would like to note Romney complains about earmarks in the audio. No one like earmarks, but at least they’re constitutional. Unlike Romney and Obama’s health care plans.

* Praise Obama.

Interesting how Obama learned about charity in church, but knew nothing about Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Even though he sat in his church for 20 years.

The Gospel According to Obama – Charles Krauthammer – National Review Online

But this Gospel according to Obama has a rival — the newly revealed Gospel according to Sebelius, over which has erupted quite a contretemps. By some peculiar logic, it falls to the health-and-human-services secretary to promulgate the definition of “religious” — for the purposes, for example, of exempting religious institutions from certain regulatory dictates.

Related: Praise the Lord… Obama’s will lay his hands upon the heads of all the religious of the United States of America and free them from the bondage of government imposed abortion and birth control. After all, freedom of religion is in the constitution.

White House to Announce Contraception Rule ‘Accommodation’ for Religious Organizations – ABC News

With the White House under fire for its new rule requiring employers including religious organizations to offer health insurance that fully covers birth control coverage, ABC News has learned that later today the White House — possibly President Obama himself — will likely announce an attempt to accommodate these religious groups.

It’s no cave to pressure… it was the plan all along.

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… Another from Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton. Do yourself a favour, buy this album.

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More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- The Republican race in the United States is very interesting. Last week I was on record saying the race was over. Romney was going to win. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions so easily. Remember the way pundits counted Newt Gingrich out last summer? Rick Santorum just won three states. There were no delegates involved, but he trounced Romney where he was supposed to win. So is this a good thing? There’s to school’s of thought here… 1. All of this animosity and mudslinging is bad and making Obama’s second term more likely or 2. get everything out there and by the time the election comes along no one will even care. So keep your eyes open because Romney’s mudslinging machine is going to go into full spin.

Last night Mark Levin discussed Romney’s flying mud.

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- It’s budget day in Alberta. Yesterday a great news program called Alberta Primetime asked what Premier Alison Redford should have in the budget. I responded on Twitter.

Some are expecting tax hikes in the budget, but I wouldn’t count on it unless it’s sin taxes. The Progressive Conservatives aren’t about to give the opposition any major attack points with the election looming.

By the way… cutting spending is easy, but the government isn’t likely to do it.

- This will be my 4th election in 18 months. I don’t expect to get a call to moderate any debates.

- Sheila and I moved out west partially because we wanted a change and partially because finding a job for her that didn’t require bilingualism was almost impossible. Sad that my wife couldn’t find a good paying job in her own language in her own city. That’s why I say a hearty congratulations to South Stormont in Eastern Ontario. They’re withholding payments to The Cornwall Community Hospital over its bilingualism hiring practises. It’s about time. I’m thinking this might be brought up at Cornwall City Council. Watch a number of the politicians line up to pander to the French vote in Cornwall.

Like I always say, “Canada will be bilingual when Quebec is”.

South Stormont withholds money to Cornwall Community Hospital – TheCornwallDaily.com

- Overthrow the government now!!! This is an outrage.

MP says her baby was kicked out of House – CBC News

“It’s important for me to do, but the message that the Conservatives are giving is either you work or you look after your family. It’s too bad because it discourages women, young women, from going into politics if there is nothing planned for that.”

Are the Conservatives really trying to make that point? For God’s sake, please shut up!

- I recently got an iPad 2. It was a gift from the radio station when I left. I have to say it is the handiest device I own. I never thought I would like it so much. Did you just buy a new phone? I have a great little App I use all of the time and it’s available on Apple and Android. It’s called Tunein Radio. It is the best way to enjoy radio on your mobile devices. I would suggest you upgrade to the full version for 99 cents because it has a record feature. So you’ll never miss your favourite program again.

You can get it here: Tunein Radio
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* The spin machine.

Green energy fails. It will happen wherever it’s subsidized and pushed by government. Yes, we subsidize oil companies, but they produce energy and create power. Windmills and solar panels are intermittent at best. Liberals and socialists won’t and don’t listen to the truth about “green” energy… they’re too emotional. It’s always, why can’t we think of the children and save the planet? It’s sickening.

And why are governments pushing wind and solar? Global warming, melting ice caps, dying polar bears. But it’s all a lie.

Obama's Amazing Energy Spin Machine – The American Spectator

Cuisinart of the sky. Spin machine.

Obama has already been burned by his poor energy investments, but that hasn’t stopped him from promoting them in every speech. “In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries,” he said in reference to stimulus grants to an electric car battery manufacturer. That manufacturer was Ener1. Two days later, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

From Bourque Newswatch.

All Related:

Blizzards push Europe energy grids to their limits – Reuters

Earth's Polar Ice Melting Less Than Thought – US News

The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows – The Guardian

Freeze forces Germany to restart nuclear reactors: Report – Times of India

* Someone please make them stop.

Fear is an excellent motivator. That’s why the environmental movement uses it so much. They even continue to use fear in the face of evidence that refutes their claims. For instance.

Be afraid and be skeptical.

Yesterday: Little green lies: Prime Minister Harper and Canada’s environment – iPolitics

As of 2012, there is still no Clean Air Act, no new air quality regulations, and no progress in reducing air pollution. Harper’s broken promise leads to thousands of premature deaths annually, exacerbates the illnesses of millions, and costs billions of dollars in preventable health care expenses.

January 31st, 2012:

“The state of air quality in Canada has improved significantly since the 1970s, in most regions, with respect to all major pollutant types,” said Joel Wood, Fraser Institute senior research economist and author of Canadian Environmental Indicators – Air Quality.

“Yet environmental and health care organizations continue to scare people into thinking that air pollution is increasing and that this presents a serious health risk in Canada. These claims are exaggerated or outright wrong.”

As an example, the study highlights a pair of recent reports from the Canadian Medical Association and Suzuki Foundation which argued for stricter air-pollution regulations in Canada, based on assumptions that air pollution was increasing or remaining constant. Both studies received extensive media coverage despite the fact they provided no historical context and arrived at their conclusions based on false assumptions.

Related: Air pollution not correlated with asthma hospitalizations – Canada Free Press

* A picture is worth a thousand words.

* Ontari ari ari owe.

Ontario needs to take its medicine – Globe & Mail

The Conference Board’s report starts from a devastating premise: Ontario’s real economic growth will be 1.9 per cent, almost a full point below the government’s projections. As a result, the McGuinty government’s plan to wipe out the $16-billion deficit by 2017-2018 is already junk bond stuff.

* California keeps digging itself into a hole…

But children can’t on the beach. Is there anything you can do in California. Oh, that’s right, move away.

A County OKs $1,000 Fine For Throwing Football, Frisbee On Beaches – CBS Los Angeles

The updated rules now prohibit “any person to cast, toss, throw, kick or roll” any object other than a beach ball or volleyball “upon or over any beach” between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

[...]

Your kids could also end up costing you big bucks: the ordinance also prohibits digging any hole deeper than 18 inches into the sand except where permission is granted for film and TV production services only.

* Not a sports guy, but…

Go Buds.

Winter Classic: NHL gets Michigan Stadium for cool $3 million – Detroit Free Press

The NHL will stage its annual Winter Classic at the Big House on Jan. 1 with an alternate date set for Jan. 2, in case of rain, too much snow or global warming. Athletic director Dave Brandon said face-off for the game between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs would be at noon.

Why the Big House?

Brandon said the NHL was “hell-bent” to break the world record for hockey attendance set there in 2010.

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… Solo Daltrey.

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More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- Yesterday I posted a story about how the government has refused to limit trans fats in food despite reports from Health Canada that the fat is bad for you. Just look for ‘Keep your social engineering out of my mouth’. The story has popped up again today featuring potty mouthed NDP MP Pat Martin. In an article titled 'Ottawa 'poisoning' kids: MP' in the Winnipeg Free Press, Martin says of Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, “She is undermining the will of Parliament and poisoning another generation of children,” and adds ” I am terribly disappointed”. To the disappointment comment I Say “Good!”. To the government I say “Good!”. Now tell people why you don’t want to limit trans fats. Minister Aglukkaq was asked about this yesterday in question period and said, “I have instructed my department to continue its engagement with stakeholders to identify the challenges and how best to overcome them without adding a regulatory burden,”. Not bad, but the government heeds to go further and add the words ‘we think what people eat is a personal responsibility and we believe business owners can make decisions on their own behalf without the interference of the federal government’. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what this is about. The government getting into your lives and you allowing them to make decisions on your behalf. Let them regulate trans fats and then they’ll go after sugar, next it will be corn syrup, chocolate, potato chips, cheese doodles, ice cream, DQ Blizzards, fast food hamburgers, pizza, fried chicken and anything the government deems dangerous to your health. They’ve already got salt by the cojones. This is the danger we get into when we start legislating behaviour. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go down that road.

- I like donuts, but I don’t eat them very often. They’re bad for me so I made a personal decision not to eat them.

- It’s interesting how in Canada talking about personal liberties is a strange occurrence for our politicians, but it’s talked about all the time in the United States. That’s because their constitution limits the power of government. That’s why Obama wants to see it torn up. It’s his only way to fundamentally transforming America. *

- When we moved out to Alberta we were instantly struck by how much more we have to spend. The 10% flat tax rate on income is the lowest in the country and there is no provincial sales tax. Nice. I’m hoping the tax freedom doesn’t come to an end because Alberta, despite rolling in oil money, runs big deficits (big by Alberta standards, small if you’ve lived in Ontari-owe). The Alberta throne speech was yesterday and the government has promised savings and fiscal accountability… blah blah blah. Where have we heard that before? Danielle Smith, Leader of The Wildrose Party, says Premier Redford is going to raise income taxes and there is indication it may be coming. Redford has been called a lot of things since taking over as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party six months ago. The worst of which has been, liberal. I wouldn’t put it past any politician to look to raising cash to balance the books, instead of trying to find savings. Alberta has been on a spending spree for a long time. Once you start spending it’s awful hard to stop.

- Congratulations to me. It’s my 400th post today.
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* Your choice… lethal injection, electrocution, firing squad…

Start with Paul Bernardo and work over to Russell Williams and then Clifford Olson. What’s that you say? Olson’s dead? Oh right. Well let’s dig him up and execute him anyway.

Canada News: Majority of Canadians support return of death penalty, poll finds – Toronto Star

The survey conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion in partnership with the Toronto Star found that 63 per cent of the 1,002 Canadians surveyed across the country believe the death penalty is sometimes appropriate. Sixty-one per cent said capital punishment, which was abolished in Canada in 1976, is warranted for murder.

* The battle continues.

Rick Santorum wins Republican votes in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado – Los Angeles Times

I get tired when our election campaigns stretch past a month. The Republican race is going to put me in my grave.

The former Pennsylvania senator’s wins in the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and Missouri primary were setbacks for Romney, the national front-runner, who had been expected to cruise easily through a series of relatively minor February voter tests. He must now wait three weeks to regroup, when Arizona and Michigan hold what suddenly are shaping up as unexpectedly important primaries.

Romney’s Super Pacs immediately started buying up tar and feathers for Santorum.

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… One of my all time favourite late night albums is ‘In the Court Of the Crimson King’ by King Crimson. It starts off with the absolutely manic ’21st Century Schizoid Man’, followed by the mellow flute piece called ‘I Talk To the Wind’ and segues into the haunting ‘Epitaph’. Epitaph is my favourite. It’s another long one, so you get a video today. WordPress, please increase my upload size.

More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- I am not a religious man. I am an atheist. I have also been described as a Humanist. While I do not believe in God, I do respect people who do. The main story below about Obama’s war on the Catholic Church brings out the ugly in people. Fundamentalist Atheists (is that even a proper label) are fanatical about striking out against religion. In many cases it’s not even anger as much as it is disrespect. The very people who believe in tolerance for gays and lesbians and other minority groups, strike out against people of faith (a majority group). In most cases it’s disrespect for Christians. The atheists of the world would never say a thing about Islam… we need to be tolerant. The other disconcerting thing about this issue is how religion has become politicized. While it has always been an issue in the past (Harper is religious, Kennedy was a Catholic, Romney’s a Mormon) it is now seen by some as a character flaw. Something to be ridiculed. Many conservatives are religious and so are some liberals so their religion becomes a reason for attack. When a conservative politician slips up (Newt Gingrich) the attack is relentless. I don’t know why I’m surprised by all of this, the tactics are similar when it comes to most issues with the left. If a speaker appears the left disagrees with (Ann Coulter, Benjamin Netanyahu, Chistie Blatchford) they are shouted down, refused the opportunity to voice their opinion, vilified. The left doesn’t want discussion or debate, they only want you to agree with them… if you don’t shut the hell up. It’s the same thing with atheists and religion.

To sum things up. I hope the Catholics in The United States get their way. They have a right to their beliefs and people who don’t like it can always get their health care somewhere else. I only hope they have a few options in their community because the Catholic Church provides a third of the care in the United States. I also hope the “tolerant” left can find a little tolerance for the religious in our society. They need to… because they’re vastly outnumbered. I have a feeling Obama will cave. After all it is an election year and he’s awakened a sleeping elephant. More importantly he needs their votes.

- Should Canada be spending $7.5 on celebrations for the Queen’s 60th anniversary? It has caused a stir with politicians in Ottawa who can’t resist making a political issue of everything. I think we should celebrate our past, but I think the money could be spent more wisely in other places. Like buying out the contracts of employees in our bloated public service. If Canadians really want to be part of the celebrations, let them foot the bill and buy tickets to 60th anniversary events and if the royal family wants to come to Canada have them pay their way.
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* The war is on.

The Catholic Church vows to fight the Obama administration over the new health care law that would require all employers, including religious institutions, to pay for birth control. 70 million Americans call themselves Catholics. While many of them don’t object to the use of birth control (I wonder why they call themselves Catholics), they represent a large number of voters and could swing the election. I predict an all out war on religion over this issue (just look at what happened with Komen). Being an atheist, in many cases, has turned into hatred of religion. You only have to visit a few websites over this issue to see the disdain people have for religion. This is going to be a bloodbath.

Catholic League Poised To Go To War With Obama Over Mandatory Birth Control Payments – CBS New York

Related: Remember this?

Obama Upholds Religious Freedom in Muslim Speech – Christian Post

The U.S. president, while being careful in his highly anticipated speech to show respect to Islam, made his case that Islam has a tradition of tolerance that he witnessed first-hand growing up in Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim country.

“People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind and the heart and the soul,” Obama said at Cairo University. “The richness of religious diversity must be upheld – whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt.”

I guess you’re free to choose and live your faith in America if you’re not a Christian.

* Politics and pipelines.

Interesting how the shoe is on the other foot. While we still rely on the US as our biggest trading partner, Canada is more important to the Unites States these days.

Poisoned Politics of Keystone XL – New York Times

Surely, though, what the Keystone decision really represents is the way our poisoned politics damages the country. Environmental concerns notwithstanding, America will be using oil — and lots of it — for the foreseeable future. It is the fundamental means by which we transport ourselves, whether by air, car or truck. Where do we get that oil? Mostly from countries that don’t like us, like Venezuela, which has the world’s second-largest oil reserves.

[...]

As it turns out, the environmental movement doesn’t just want to shut down Keystone. Its real goal, as I discovered when I spoke recently to Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club, is much bigger. “The effort to stop Keystone is part of a broader effort to stop the expansion of the tar sands,” Brune said. “It is based on choking off the ability to find markets for tar sands oil.”

* Keep your social engineering out of my mouth.

Health Minister… evil, evil woman. Education, not legislation.

Health minister nixed plan to limit trans fats in food, records show – Ottawa Citizen

To the nanny staters who are reading this who use the argument that people who eat food with trans fats end up costing us more money for health care… chew on this. So do people who get into accidents on bicycles and rollerblades. So do skiers and snow boarders. So do people who play hockey and baseball. So do people who cross the street. So do people who slip on ice. So do people who drive cars. In fact, if you nanny staters were around at the beginning of the industrial revolution when cars were becoming popular, you would have banned them too. Should we ban them now?

From 2000 through 2004, there were 44,192 accidental deaths in Canada; 32% of them (14,082) were the result of motor vehicle accidents (MVAs). In the 15 to 24 age group, MVA deaths (3,417) accounted for 70% of all accidental deaths (4,895).

Source: Statistics Canada

If you don’t want trans fats, don’t eat at restaurants that serve it.

* Urine trouble.

Students step over 'rivers of urine' after green bathrooms plan for waterless urinals turns a high school yellow… and it will cost $500,000 to fix – Daily Mail

School officials at Spanish River High School thought they had found an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving solution for their bathrooms when they installed Falcon Waterfree urinals in their boys bathrooms.

But with no water moving through the school’s copper pipes to flush the urine into the sewer system, the waste produced noxious gases that ate through the metal, leaving leaky pipes that allowed urine to drip into walls and flow onto floors.

* Sign of the times.

I suppose it’s just the natural progression of government. We once complained about $500 hammers, now it’s $650,000 Apps.

Stoopiditee.

OSHA Heat Risk App Stimulus Money – The Daily Caller

According to OSHA’s website, the “Heat Safety Tool” — available for Android, Blackberry and iPhone – “allows workers and supervisors to calculate the heat index for their work site and, based on the heat index, displays a risk level to outdoor workers.”

A recent Freedom of Information Act request by the free-market oriented Americans for Limited Government revealed that the Labor Department contracts for the development of the “Heat Safety Tool” and related Web 2.0 technologies cost the taxpayer $643,997.60. The contracts were awarded under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus package.

I suppose the earlier Apps called thermometers and humidex advisories haven’t had recent updates. The is is part of Obama’s job creation program.

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… This song was used recently on a Joe Fresh commercial. From Hunky Dory.

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The commercial:

More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- A story about a story.

I’m on record criticizing Sun News over their fake immigration ceremony last year. You can read about it here. I have to wonder if the following story is typical or just a chance for The Hill to pile on the Conservative government and Sun News. The damn thing goes on for 3 page clicks.

CP reporter who broke ‘fake’ new Canadians oath story saw Sun TV ceremony – The Hill Times

… The story subsequently took political Ottawa by storm and was talked about in the House, on the Hill, on political talks shows, in cabs, and on Twitter.

The Huffington Post posted the story at 4 a.m. the same day, setting the Twitterverse on fire with the news that a Sun News representative told a CIC bureaucrat: “Let’s do it. We can fake the Oath.”

A different perspective:

But there is a redeeming factor to this story. Redeeming in an eye opening way. Apparently the fake immigration ceremony was hastily prepared, but when I read the above article there is a paragraph that stuns me. Here it is:

Ms. Ditchburn received her access to information package file—a 157-page document of emails between Citizenship and Immigration Canada bureaucrats, staffers in the minister’s office and Sun News employees about organizing an event in the Sun studios during citizenship week Oct. 17-23—at the end of January. It took her three days to go through the documents, call people and write the story.

157 page document? Three days to study it? Is this an indication of how bloated government has become? How many public servants did we pay to prepare this pile of paper? I’m amazed and sickened.

- What a day in entertainment. Did you see all the amazing commercials on the television? I also tuned in and saw an old pop star named Madonna lip synched her way through some 30 year old songs as well. The Fugitive was on television along with a lot of other first rate movies too. Pawn Stars had a marathon and so did The Andy Griffith Show. In other news… there was a football game.

Giants top Pats for 2nd Super Bowl in 4 years – Associated Press

Pardon me for not really caring, but I just don’t like football all that much and why would I spend a whole day tuning in to a game I haven’t watched for a single minute the rest of the year. For some, The Superbowl is a chance to watch the sport they love, for most of the others it’s a day to get drunk. By the way the Pawn Stars marathon was great and I got in some good reading time.

Censored.

- Someone named MIA flipped the bird during the halftime show at The Superbowl yesterday. I watched the linked video and I had to look very closely to see it even happen. All of the “responsible” groups are in full apology mode now and MIA (whoever the hell that is) now gets international publicity… which is why she did it in the first place. Is this such a big deal? Did your kids see it? Oh the horror, the horror… your kids may never recover. I fail to see why we even care anymore.

Seinfeld on the finger.

- I still can’t understand how people accept lip synching as legitimate in a “live” performance”.

- For the record, The Rolling Stones sucked at the Super Bowl too.
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* Maybe the Superbowl is a good idea.

It would take my mind off stories like this.

Ayatollah: Kill all Jews, annihilate Israel – World Net Daily

On Friday, in a major speech at prayers, Khamenei announced that Iran will support any nation or group that attacks the “cancerous tumor” of Israel. Though his statement was seen by some in the West as fluff, there is substance behind it.

* Commercials.

If you missed the commercials yesterday The Washington Post has a good post on most of them here.

Super Bowl ads 2012: The game’s best commercials – Washington Post

The greatest Superbowl ad ever:

Remade?:

* The big sports news today for me?

Andy Schleck, who also came 2nd last year, gets the title.

L to R: Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador and Denis Menchov. 2010 TdF podium.

Alberto Contador handed two-year ban for doping offence – BBC

He has been stripped of his 2010 Tour de France victory and, with his suspension running until 6 August this year, will miss the 2012 Tour.

The Spaniard, 29, was found guilty of doping after testing positive for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour.

He has maintained that the failed test resulted from eating contaminated meat.

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, who finished second to Contador in the 2010 Tour de France, is set to be elevated to champion.

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… It’s interesting where these songs pop up. Rush Limbaugh uses this as a bumper on his program. I’ll bet you never knew what it was. This is a great song I heard on WCSX Radio out of Detroit about 30 years ago.

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More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- I’m going to keep it short today. Lots to do and the weather is going to be terrific. Going bike riding in Calgary this morning.

- It seems a certain blogger in Cornwall is suggesting a lot of good people are corrupt in an online poll. The poll even got the interest of Standard Freeholder columnist Claude McIntosh. My advice to Claude and people who live in Cornwall? Don’t ever mention this guys name or his website. That’s what he craves. As I always say, “don’t feed the trolls”.

- I know this area in Alberta gets some harsh weather, but I also know from talking to our new friends here the weather isn’t near as nasty as Eastern Ontario. 7 or 8cm of snow is a heavy dumping and although we get stretches of cold weather like in January, the Chinooks easily wipe out the cold days. I was watching video from Ontario the other day and it was typical weather. Snow and cold and ice.

Here’s a photo from Stewart Street in Calgary yesterday at 1pm. The Weather Network said the high yesterday was 6, but it got much warmer. I would think upwards of 10-15 degrees.

A view from the top of The Calgary Tower. It’s hazy because of a prairie fire in the area. You could even smell the burning wood at the top of the tower.

Looking south you couldn’t see beyond Calgary city limits because of the smoke. That’s the Saddledome.

- It was nice to hear from my friend and colleague Lorne Wiebe. Lorne traced down my e-mail address and sent me a message from Ottawa where he is now living with his wife Karen. As you’ll recall Lorne left the radio station in Cornwall just after me.
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* Election time?

Someone turn off the lights when the last person leaves Ontario.

Kelly McParland: Deficit report reveals decrepit state on Ontario finances – National Post

Don’t expect a show of regret from Mr. McGuinty, though. Even after eight years, and with four more ahead of him, the Premier is not one to accept responsibility for anything negative that’s happened on his watch. This is a government that inherited a deficit of $5 billion, has tripled it in eight years and still insists it’s all the fault of other people and other countries. We’ll get the firm brow, the look of determination, and another display of the McGuinty command of platitudes. Because it’s never too late to make the right decision.

* It’s over.

Romney again turns attention to Obama after Nevada win – CNN

With 43% of the vote in, Romney held about 43% of the vote while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 25% and Rep. Ron Paul had 19%. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who had largely bypassed the state, had 12% of the vote. Those numbers were gathered from vote counters at caucus sites across the state and the state’s Republican Party.

* What happened?

This is puzzling. It looked as if Armstrong was going to be hung out to dry with this case and all of a sudden… dropped. A huge victory for him, but a strange ending to a long drawn out process.

I would tend to believe he was doping, but for one thing. He won 7 Tours and then retired. Only to come back again and get 3rd before blowing up on his final tour. The third place finish was incredible considering he was off for 3 years. Why would he risk everything to come back and ride if he only achieved his success through doping? He knew he’d be scrutinized and tested over and over again. Sounds like he’s either a fool, or a damn good bike rider. Let’s hope this is the end of this.

Cleared.

Prosecutors drop their case against Lance Armstrong – CTV News

Armstrong steadfastly has denied he doped during his unparalleled career, but the possibility of criminal charges threatened to stain not only his accomplishments, but his cancer charity work as well. Instead, another attempt to prove a star athlete used performance-enhancing drugs has fallen short, despite years of evidence gathering across two continents.

“I am gratified to learn that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is closing its investigation,” Armstrong said in a statement. “It is the right decision and I commend them for reaching it. I look forward to continuing my life as a father, a competitor, and an advocate in the fight against cancer without this distraction.”

Still my favourite Armstrong victory. Even Phil Liggett the legendary cycling commentator was fooled. You’ll hear him say “it’s all over”. Well, it’s not.

* The misguided CAW.

Doubling down on dumb.

1.

Coyne: CAW stumbled into Caterpillar shutdown without a plan – Ottawa Citizen

Force may be effective against a handful of frightened replacement workers. It is not so easily deployed against a determined multinational company. As nasty as Caterpillar may be, the reality is that it has something the workers and the community want: investment capital, and the jobs that go with it. It does not, God knows, provide these out of the goodness of its heart. But neither can it be compelled to invest in a location if it does not find it in its interest to do so.

2.

CAW Urges Ontario to Support Maintenance of Gun Registry Data

* Sure could use some global warming in Europe.

Sure warmers, weather is not climate. Remember that when it gets warm this summer.

More than 220 dead as Europe freezes – News.com

People have been found dead on the streets in some countries, while thousands have been trapped in mountain villages in Serbia. In Italy, Venice’s canals started freezing over and even Rome was dusted in snow.

The lowest temperatures recorded in Europe were in the southwest of the Czech Republic, where the mercury dropped as low as -38.1C overnight.

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. This will blow you away. It’s a long one, that’s why it’s on video. It’s well worth it.

More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- I don’t know whether it has been used before, but I have a new term to add to the social media lexicon. Tell me what you think.

Twitter troll: A person who tries to endlessly argue a point in 140 characters or less.

I realize Twitter is used to share ideas, but I can almost predict when some Twitter users who follow me (liberals) will pop up with a comment to one of my tweets. It’s almost like clockwork. They don’t like what you post so they expect an endless stream of tweets, back and forth, back and forth until they can prove their point. It’s the social media equivalent of, liberals believe in freedom of speech as long as you agree with them. If you don’t they try to shut you up. I know they’re a lost cause and can’t accept contrary opinion, so I string them along for awhile and set them adrift. Generally they’re nice people who just don’t understand the right opinion.

- Speaking of freedom of speech. Have you followed the story of the women’s breast cancer organization that dropped funding from Planned Parenthood in the United States? Susan G. Komen for the Cure dropped the funding because it wanted to divert that money to organizations that actually helped women with breast cancer. The pro abortion left went berserk. Politicians and left wing drones have managed to get the decision overturned, which is not unlike giving in to terrorists. Let them claim victory and they’ll only do it again. I have to ask a question about this. Why is it anyone’s business who this charity gives money too? If Susan G. Komen doesn’t want to give them money that’s their decision. That doesn’t make sense to the unhinged left.

The left is ugly: The Komen Conflagration – National Review

More: Steyn: The Liberal Enforcers – National Review

The American Association of University Women announced it would no longer sponsor teams for Komen’s “Race for the Cure.” Sure, Komen has raised $2 billion for the cure, but better we never cure breast cancer than let a single errant Injun wander off the abortion reservation. Terry O’Neill of the National Organization for Women said Komen “is no longer an organization whose mission is to advance women’s health.” You preach it, sister. I mean, doesn’t the very idea of an organization obsessively focused on breasts sound suspiciously patriarchal?

- A few thoughts on Sun-TV. I know this network has become a darling of the right in Canada, but I am just a wee bit concerned that it is starting to look petty, cheap and lacking credibility. It’s also in territory I and other conservatives would never accept from the left. Let me explain using two very recent stories.

1. CBC and porn. I’ve had fun with the #cbcporntitles on Twitter and I think my tax dollars can be spent in better ways than buying soft core french porn to stream on a taxpayer funded website, but Sun News has gone way over the top. This has been the top story for Sun News for days now. Last night Brian Lilley, who I think is an excellent reporter, opened his show and chided the Toronto Sun, National Post and Globe and Mail for not featuring the story prominently in their newspapers. It makes for salacious viewing and stirs up ‘the base’, but Canada has bigger problems than the CBC streaming videos that don’t even show the money shot. I don’t like the CBC and would like to see it de-funded, but Sun News isn’t going to get results if they’re seen as a bunch of carnivals barkers selling conservative elixir. We get it Sun, you don’t like the CBC.

2. The faked citizenship ceremony. This little incident just shows how Sun News is too cozy with the federal government. Why the hell was a news network showing a ceremony like this in the first place? Now that the cat is out of the bag and the whole thing has turned up to be a big joke, Sun looks damn stupid. I doubt they’ll do anything like this again in the future.

Which brings me to my conclusion. I expect to be enlightened and informed when I watch the news or news programs. I don’t mind getting a conservative perspective when I’m presented a story, but I also want to some balance. Sun News was born because someone saw a liberal bias in the coverage on the CBC and CTV and other networks, now Sun News has done the same thing in the other direction. I don’t think it’s entertaining and being force fed one point of view is also unhealthy. Sure Sun News puts liberal pundits on the air on occasion, even regularly, but it’s done to try to create legitimacy, not debate. Some of the presenters on Sun are starting to look like crazy right wing nuts and I don’t want to be bunched in with them. I’m sure ‘selling the sizzle and not the steak’ brings in the ratings, but even I, a staunch conservative, thinks the sizzle is starting to fizzle.

Related: Maher: Sun TV plays dirty with trumped-up CBC porn scandal – Montreal Gazette
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* Someone please make them stop!

Here’s a follow up to my post from Thursday called ‘Give a study an inch and the nanny staters will take a mile’. It’s about a study by three social engineers who want the government to control sugar. Within 30 seconds of watching this video you’ll want to wrap their heads in duct tape.

(Via: small dead animals)

You can read my thoughts on obesity in my January 11th post.

I actually blame the childhood obesity epidemic of women going to work. One of the best things you can do for your family to keep them healthy is sit down and have dinner with them. That means someone has to have dinner ready when everyone gets home. Traditionally that meant Mom, but we can’t suggest that women stay home to take care of their children, can we? What a radical idea.

* World government.

The European Union has turned out to be a great success so let’s have a government to control the whole world. A… let me see… an environmental government. I repeat. please make them stop!

100 countries back world environment agency: France – Yahoo

It should be part of a rethink of the world’s economy, in which green issues and social questions should be integrated into the search for profit, she said.

“The new capitalism which emerges from the crisis has to be environmental, or it won’t be new,” she said.

“We are looking for a new kind of environmental governance, something more inclusive, in which all parties have a stake and it’s not just governments which have the right to speak.”

* Is this controversial?

The left in the United States likes big government and they don’t like the constitution. The US Constitution limits government and that is contrary to the likes of Barack Obama who sees government as a tool for good. What do you think? I think it’s powerful and on point.

Link: McNaughton Art

Proof the left doesn’t like the US Constitution: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg to Egypt: Look Outside U.S. When Drafting Constitution – Investors Business Times

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… I hope it has already passed.

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More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- I wrote this to the E-mail the Editor page at TheCornwallDaily.com yesterday in response to the hysterics of two former NDP candidates in the riding of Stormont Dundas and South Glengarry.

Stop the fear mongering

The Dippers are out in full force with the latest ramblings from 3rd place finishers Leclerc and MacDonald. It’s the regular natterings… jet fighters… blah blah blah, tax cuts for big corporations… cue the violins. Then they do what they do best and try to scare people. This time it’s seniors. Come on Mario and Elaine you know better. When OAS was created people only lived long enough to collect it for a few years, if ever. Now we live far longer and funding the damn thing needs to be addressed. Stop the fear mongering.

John R. Bolton

Strathmore, Alberta

So far there haven’t been any responses to my letter, but I expect the loonie left to pop up at any time screaming that I’m a neo-con fascist or some other nonsensical name. I hope so. If you want to expose a nutcase… let them rant.

So, today I come across an article that reinforces my short note to my former employers website… and lo and behold it comes from the left wing Huffington Post. Enjoy.

The Left Fully Succumbs to Harper Derangement Syndrome (HDS) – Huffington Post Canada

Cruising the left-wing blogosphere, one finds no shortage of similarly hysterical campaigns to battle non-issues. You can sign a petition to “save the CBC” from a government that has pledged to “maintain or increase” its funding perhaps, or join the vast coalition of pro-choicers working tirelessly to prevent the re-criminalization of abortion under a prime minister who has refused to allow even a symbolic free vote on the matter.

Much as Canadians like to self-righteously assert that our politics are significantly more substantial and mature than those practiced down south, the Canadian left’s persistent inability to bash Harper for anything but the most specious and invented charges is very much the ideological reverse of the fact-free drubbing President Obama routinely suffers at the hands of the GOP.

Finally. It’s important as conservatives to speak out against the nattering of the socialists. They like to make a big noise and like to do it often. We need to be louder expressing our opinions. Because we’re right.

- Groundhog Day has come and gone and once again we’ve proven that the predictions of hole rats are irrelevant. Some rats saw their shadows and some rats didn’t. It’s confusing. Will we have 6 more weeks of winter or not? Inquiring minds need to know. I think the hole creatures need a rat union or something. Maybe they can meet once or twice a year to get together on their predictions. I know meteorologists and weathermen/women meet at conventions on occasion to talk shop. Lord knows they aren’t all reading from the same page, but at least they have an organization. Maybe the hole dwellers can call their union the International Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Groundhogs and Weather Prognosticators, or the IBSGHWP. It’s high time we, as citizens of Canada and the weather watching world demand a little seriousness with this issue. I really don’t think we should be having this discussion again next year on February 3rd. Let’s get it together hogs… this is serious business.

You can check out all of the Groundhog predictions here.

- Ever notice how pleased people are when the temperature rises in the middle of winter? Ever see how disappointed most people are when some groundhog predicts six more weeks of winter? Even the most die hard winter lovers enjoy warm weather. That’s why the whining over global warming puzzles me. Warmer climates thrive, while death is the result of constant cold. 15 times more people die in the cold every year than in the heat. More and more scientists are warning that we’re headed towards a cold spell. It’s part of the natural progression of our climate. When it gets colder… people die. Pray for heat.

Cold weather death toll passes 100 in Ukraine – BBC

- I’m expecting a call for an election at any time in Alberta. Could one be coming to Ontario before too long? My friends in the east could use it.

McGuinty's rich settlements costing Ontario towns – Ottawa Sun

More: The entitlement generation

Matt Gurney: Ontario’s most spoiled university students rally in Toronto – National Post

- There’s a football game this weekend for people who love football. I’ll be watching the Andy Griffith marathon on TBS.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Senators remarks left hanging.

Tory senator: My let-killers-hang idea has lots of support – Winnipeg Free Press

He said it appeared many Canadians agreed with him.

“The comments I got from 500 people, maybe even 600, said the media are exaggerating this,” Boisvenu said.

“Also, these people are saying, ‘What Mr. Boisvenu said, that’s just what people think.’ The people who wrote to me, the majority are victims.”

Related: Here’s why we all hate politics – Toronto Sun

Besides, everyone knows the subtext of what was going on here, including media reports claiming Boisvenu’s remarks had kicked off a “firestorm”, which was in fact almost solely the creation of the media from start to finish.

It’s that the views of the opposition parties and most of the national media on crime and punishment are far to the left of those of ordinary Canadians. That’s why this became a story.

Adler: Give ’em rope and let ’em meet their maker – Toronto Sun

Related again: If you have to use profanity to make a point it’s not worth listening too. Pat Martin… not worth listening too.

Winnipeg MP in hot water again for foul-mouthed tirade – Vancouver Sun

* CBC Porn titles.

The news that the CBC has gotten into the porn business has been all over the news the last few days. It started up an interesting string of tweets yesterday on Twitter. Here’s some of my favourites.

My attempt:

Related: CBC doubles down on pornography – Toronto Sun

Lots more great ones here at #cbcporntitles

Related again: The Sun wants Heritage Minister James Moore’s head.

Time to tune out Minister Moore – Toronto Sun

* Understanding The Donald’s hair.

Check out the hair by numbers photo at the website below. It’s classic.

Comb over comes un-combed.

Hair-The Donald's – Just Mooki

* This explains everything.

Warmers are concerned about melting glaciers. Skeptics say some glaciers are melting, others are growing. So what’s the truth?

Glacier thief arrested in Chile – The Guardian

Police in Chile have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing five tonnes of ice from the Jorge Montt glacier in the Patagonia region to sell as designer ice cubes in bars and restaurants.

Local media reported that last Friday police intercepted a refrigerated truck with an estimated £3,900 worth of illicit ice allegedly bound for whiskies, rums and cocktails in the capital Santiago.

* You might need this.

Toilet texting on the rise – WTOP.com

A new study of mobile phone habits shows 75 percent of people have texted, emailed, used apps or surfed the web while nature calls.

More than 90 percent of people between 28 and 35 will return a call or text while sitting on the toilet.

Ewwww!

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… I was listening to this in the car driving around Calgary yesterday and thought I had to put this on DC & LC. Stevie Ray Vaughan won a Grammy for this instrumental recording. It’s so different for him, but damn it’s good. Listen to this one with headphones late at night. Reese Wynans piano is tremendous as well. Enjoy.

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More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- It’s Groundhog Day! The day where we put all of our hopes and dreams of an early spring on the back of a large rodent. Here’s a little information you need to know. Whether the rat sees his/her shadow or not, there’s still going to be 6 weeks of winter.

Now a report on the hog from The Seaway Valley.

- In my Inbox this morning. Another case of mistaken identity.

I’m sorry but my schedule will not allow me to do interviews regarding the Iranian situation. Thanks for your request.

Click to enlarge.

Romney Zombie?

- I listen to a lot of talk radio. In Alberta you have to listen to Dave Rutherford on QR77. I also listen to Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Laura Ingraham (gotta love streaming) and Mark Levin. Last night Levin ripped a strip off of Ann Coulter. He ripped her a new one over her article Three Cheers For Romneycare. He called Coulter a Romney zombie. It’s a long segment over a number of breaks, but you can hear it at 13:44 of last nights podcast. Check it out.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Justifying the Cuisinarts of the sky.

Think of all the screaming over the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Northern Gateway Pipeline. The enviro-wackos don’t want a pipeline because it will cross through pristine forests that sustain wildlife. Then we get the following story… but we have to save the planet.

Wind farm will seek permit to legally kill eagles – Star Tribune

Build a wind farm and this beautiful bird gets it.

A controversial wind farm proposed near Red Wing plans to ask for federal permission to legally kill eagles, making it one of the first in the nation to participate in a new federal strategy aimed at managing the often-lethal conflict between birds and turbine blades.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials say they urged the developers of AWA Goodhue Wind to seek the new permit because the deaths of an unknown number of eagles and endangered golden eagles will be inevitable once the 50-turbine project is up and running.

The process for such “incidental take” permits was devised in 2009 as a compromise between the demand for clean energy from the growing number of wind farms and the rising concern over the estimated hundreds of thousands of birds and bats that they kill every year.

More from the world of “green”: Volt sales fall in January – The Detroit News

GM sold just 603 Volts – above its sales in January 2011, but far below GM’s best-ever sales month in December, when GM sold 1,529 Volts.

Awwwww!

Cuisinart of the sky.

Everyday I’m grateful for Lorrie Goldstein: Silence of the greens: Media, opposition, too embarrassed to admit they blew it – Toronto Sun

If Canada’s “green” media covered the Costa Concordia disaster in Europe the same way they are Europe’s green energy disaster, we’d never have heard of it.

That’s because they, along with the federal opposition parties, spent so long shilling for green energy without knowing what they were talking about, the reality of what’s happening is just too embarrassing for them to admit.

* Come on down…

If only Bob Barker had as much respect for women as he has for animals.

That was then:

Bob Barker named in sexual harassment lawsuit – OC Register

This is now:

Bob Barker appalled by Price Is Right Calgary Stampede Prize – Calgary Herald

Bob Barker was anything but thrilled by the win.

“I’m concerned about the Calgary Stampede’s history of animals dying and animals being abused on a regular basis, not unlike every rodeo here in the U.S. They’re all cruel,” he said from his home in Los Angeles. “They don’t represent the glory of the Old West, or the glory of the Canadian West, they are just cruel and unsavoury forms of entertainment that should be stopped altogether.”

Barker has never attended the Stampede according to a story on QR77 this morning.

I’m going to the Stampede next summer and will be helping with some tailgate parties. I’ll be sure to invite Bob.

* We must be tolerant.

Unless you’re religious. This sickens me. Hey Occupiers… are you proud now?

Occupy Providence Protesters Dump Condoms OnCatholic Schoolgirls – Globe Tribune.Info

* Give a study an inch and the nanny staters will take a mile.

Oh oh. Some scientist wrote a study. That means some of your personal liberty is under fire. It happens all the time. Smoking, weed killing, salt (Campbell’s low sodium soup sucks), trans fat, cafeteria food… all under assault by the social engineers. Now they want to go after sugar.

Food police.

Sugar should be controlled like alcohol: Report – Ottawa Citizen

“We recognize that societal intervention to reduce the supply and demand for sugar faces an uphill political battle against a powerful sugar lobby,” the researchers say, “and will require active engagement from all stakeholders.”

But such “tectonic shifts” in policy are possible, they say, pointing to bans on public smoking, limits on alcohol sales and condom dispensers in public washrooms. “It’s time to turn our attention to sugar.”

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… I’ll bet you haven’t heard this great lost classic in a long time… if ever.

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More later.

JRB

* The Right Opinion.

- The City of Cornwall has been ordered to pay an employee $20,000 plus other expenses to cover “losses associated with injury to her feelings, dignity, and self-respect”. (more at TheCornwallDaily.com). This is the latest fall-out from a series of screw-ups at city hall. Screw-ups that have cost the city a significant amount of money. What’s the latest figure $300,000? Robert Menagh was recently axed from his job as Human Resources Manager over a case involving another employee. What was his pay-off… $250,000? Taxpayers in Cornwall should be mad as hell with the the city and its administration. Wait until the budget is announced and you have to pay more. By my calculations the imbecility so far has added more than 1% to your tax bill. I’m reminded of two different sayings this morning… The buck stops here and heads will roll. Obviously the buck stops nowhere in Cornwall and other than Menagh’s head, the top dog at city hall will keep his. He shouldn’t. If I still lived in Cornwall I’d be contacting my Councillors. You can get in touch of all of them at once by going here.

- It’s pretty common for Presidents in the United States to have some scandal drag them down in the their second term. It’s looking that way for the Kilger administration in Cornwall.

- Mitt Romney won the Florida primary last night (for more see below). While not surprising, I’m beginning to think the Republican run to the Presidency is doomed. Romney is no conservative and will be trashed by Obama and his machine leading up to the election in November. I have no doubt the digital recorders are capturing every moment of this dirty campaign between Gingrich and Romney. The audio and video will be used to great effect to destroy Romney in the fall. Romney meanwhile will be short on cash (Obama’s expected to raise a billion dollars and is likely buying broadcasting time as we speak) and have to defend Romneycare while saying he’ll repeal Obamacare.

- Breathe, breathe in the air. Isn’t it fresh? I remember seeing Ross McKitrick on Michael Coren’s show a few years ago and he made an amazing statement. He said, if you lived through the 60′s and 70′s, every day of the summer in those two decades would be an air quality advisory day. Did you know we didn’t even have a pollution monitoring system in Canada until 1994? McKitrick has done a number of studies on air quality and claimed the doom and gloom messages of government, environmental groups and non-profit organizations were just wrong. Usually the doom and gloom was followed by some push for economy killing environmental legislation. Today the Fraser Institute released this study.

Air quality improving across Canada since 1970s, risk of pollution-related illness overstated

The next time someone tells you air quality is getting worse… laugh them off and tell them you know better.

Related: This is a fascinating article on the totally bogus air quality claims by environmental groups. McKitrick will have you breathing better about Canadian air after you read this. Especially relevant to people in Ontario.

Ontario’s Power Trip: The failure of the Green Energy Act – National Post

- Good news this morning from the home front. I’ll be sitting in for Rob Breakenridge on The Corus Radio Network from February 21st to 24th and and February 27th to March 2nd. I hope you’ll tune in.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Ugly.

The most negative battle in political history.

Mr. Negative.

92 Percent of Ads in Florida Were Negative – New York Times

The bulk of the ads were run by Mr. Romney and his PAC, Restore Our Future, which spent a combined $15.4 million on television and radio advertising in Florida. That compares with $3.7 million for Mr. Gingrich and his allies, according to an analysis by a Republican media strategist not working for either candidate.

The tone and content of the commercials were almost as lopsided. Of all the spots that ran in Florida for the last week, 68 percent were attacks on Mr. Gingrich, Kantar Media found. Only 9 percent were favorable toward him.

I’ve heard Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin comment over the last few days that they don’t expect Romney to ever attack Obama as viciously when he gets the Republican nomination.

* Ugly again.

Cracker?

Definition: One theory is that slaver foremen in the antebellum South used bullwhips to discipline African slaves, with such use of the whip being described as ‘cracking the whip’. The white foremen who cracked these whips were thus known as ‘crackers’.

Link: Politico's Jonathan Martin Mocks Conservative Florida Voters as the 'Cracker Counties' – Newsbusters

I won’t hold my breath waiting for an apology.

* The end is near.

The end of global warming alarmism that is.

The sky is falling! - Warmers

Global warming nonsense gets a true cold shoulder – Daily Telegraph

The Bureau of Meteorology – which three years ago warned “we are just not going to have that sort of good rain again” – now admits last year was our third wettest on record.

The snowfalls that the University of East Anglia in 2000 said would soon become “a very rare and exciting event” are falling as hard as ever.

The monster hurricanes we were told to expect by Nobel Prize winner Al Gore are coming no more often.

The massive coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef that warmist Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg predicted would occur every second year from 2010 has not been seen in years.

Wherever you look it’s the same wake-up-to-yourself story. Sea levels have recently dipped, the oceans have lately cooled, Arctic ice has not retreated since 2007, polar bears are increasing in numbers, global crop yields keep rising and now some solar scientists warn not of global warming, but cooling — a far deadlier threat.

* The return of the moral majority?

Catholic Church Rejects Surrender Terms from Obama – Canada Free Press

What is happening is extraordinary and unprecedented. The Catholic Church is in open revolt against the Obama Administration, with Fr. Swink noting from the pulpit that priests across the archdiocese were joining the call on Sunday to rally Catholics to resistance against the U.S. Government. He said we are entering a time of religious persecution and that Catholics and others will have to make a final decision about which side they are on.

The issue is what the Catholic Bishops have called a “literally unconscionable” edict by the Obama Administration demanding that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans.

* Harper’s going to gut OAS.

At least that’s what NDP MP Chris Charlton says.

Citing ‘enthusiastic support,’ Tories move to cap pension bill debate – Globe & Mail

“The government has failed Canadian seniors and is now talking about gutting OAS,” she said.

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’… I always loved the way this song was used in the movie Goodfellas.

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Here ya go.

More later.

JRB