On the Right path

I could get used to this guy!!!!

2006-04-07T17:17:00.000-05:00

"To put this in context, the Prime Minister stood accused of seducing former Liberal minister David Emerson to cross the floor and join his Cabinet. "Mr. Speaker," he responded, "I do not think I have ever been accused of seducing anyone, even my wife."

He paused to see if he was in trouble before his spouse nodded. "And I see there's some agreement in the gallery."

Hmmmm. Smart, conservative, good sense of humor! Sounds like someone else I know!!!

Read the entire editorial.

The "GOSPEL" of Judas? Puhlease!!!!!

2006-04-07T16:57:00.000-05:00

Is this the best National Geographic can come up with? Like the upcoming movie, "The Davinci Code", the underlying theory here is that Jesus essentially conducted secret meetings with individuals like Judas, revealing things to them privately, away from other witnesses. See this expose/documentary disected here.

The "money" quote:

But of course, while Jesus did sometimes teach only three or twelve of His disciples, that teaching was always an explication either of long-known Old Testament truth or of teachings which in some form, He shared with large numbers of people. This is the point behind Jesus' remark to His accusers, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret." (John 18:20)

So close

2006-03-12T09:11:00.000-05:00

They almost got the headline right. Who will be Milosevic's judge?

Shouldn't this be front and centre news?

2006-03-11T05:11:00.000-05:00

I think it's important to ask, why isn't this type of news making it in the MSM? Is it because it's "good" news? Does it run contrary to the bias and slant they've put on Iraq?

Consider the following:

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful

To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.

To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.

To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.

Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young. This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.

I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.

The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era. The mission they have accomplished, by means of a unique military operation, stands among the finest military feats to date in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and truly deserves to be studied in military science. This military operation was clean, with little collateral damage, despite the ferocity of the enemy. With the skill and precision of surgeons they dealt with the terrorist cancers in the city without causing unnecessary damage.

God bless this brave Regiment; God bless the families who dedicated these brave men and women. From the bottom of our hearts we thank the families. They have given us something we will never forget. To the families of those who have given their holy blood for our land, we all bow to you in reverence and to the souls of your loved ones. Their sacrifice was not in vain. They are not dead, but alive, and their souls hovering around us every second of every minute. They will never be forgotten for giving their precious lives. They have sacrificed that which is most valuable. We see them in the smile of every child, and in every flower growing in this land. Let America, their families, and the world be proud of their sacrifice for humanity and life.

Finally, no matter how much I write or speak about this brave Regiment, I haven’t the words to describe the courage of its officers and soldiers. I pray to God to grant happiness and health to these legendary heroes and their brave families.

NAJIM ABDULLAH ABID AL-JIBOURI
Mayor of Tall ‘Afar, Ninewa, Iraq

Yeah, Baby!

2006-03-09T17:55:00.000-05:00

Now this makes sense!!!!

Wafa Sultan, an Arab-American psychologist, giving 'em hell on al Jazeera.

"The Jews have come from the tragedy [of the Holocaust], and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. Fifteen million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them."

You go, girl!

The entire b-tch slapping interview can be seen here.

The cartoons

2006-02-12T15:07:00.000-05:00

And no, this isn't about Disney. Much has been said about the violence and freedom of speech. By and large, North American MSM has refused to show the cartoons - they claim that they don't want to fan the flames further. Here's what the original blogger, Glenn Reynolds of Instipundit said today on CNN:

"You guys have blown it," he said, by avoiding publication of the cartoons. Most of the studio audience thought the cartoons shouldn't have been published. Glenn's best moment came at the end:

"My beliefs are offended when gangs of ignorant thugs burn embassies, and where is the respect for my beliefs? Do I need to burn embassies to get respect for my beliefs? Because that's the message CNN sends. The message they send is, We will reward violence. And you're going to get more of what you reward, that's how it works."

We could cut through all this crap relatively quickly: I understand Muslims are upset about the fact that Mohammed was depicted at all, let alone in a negative light as it runs contrary to their religion to personify him (lest people create icons or idols of him). But here's the problem: we're not all Muslims. I'm sure many Hindus are apalled that we eat cattle - does this give them license to burn embassies? Threaten to kill the carnivores? I didn't think so. Back to my solution. Western muslims should be told, in no uncertain terms, that we don't plan on living under sharia law. Full stop. You can observe it if you wish - that's part of the beauty of a democracy. But the rest of us infidels don't have to.

Not only is multculturalism bad for you...

2006-02-12T06:58:00.000-05:00

According to Mark Steyn, it may actually kill us. Or, more accurately, lead to our ultimate demise.

Yet while Islamism is the enemy, it's not what this thing's about. Radical Islam is an opportunistic infection, like AIDS: It's not the HIV that kills you, it's the pneumonia you get when your body's too weak to fight it off. When the jihadists engage with the U.S. military, they lose--as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. If this were like World War I with those fellows in one trench and us in ours facing them over some boggy piece of terrain, it would be over very quickly. Which the smarter Islamists have figured out. They know they can never win on the battlefield, but they figure there's an excellent chance they can drag things out until Western civilization collapses in on itself and Islam inherits by default.

That's what the war's about: our lack of civilizational confidence. As a famous Arnold Toynbee quote puts it: "Civilizations die from suicide, not murder"--as can be seen throughout much of "the Western world" right now. The progressive agenda--lavish social welfare, abortion, secularism, multiculturalism--is collectively the real suicide bomb. Take multiculturalism. The great thing about multiculturalism is that it doesn't involve knowing anything about other cultures--the capital of Bhutan, the principal exports of Malawi, who cares? All it requires is feeling good about other cultures. It's fundamentally a fraud, and I would argue was subliminally accepted on that basis.

Read the whole thing. It'll sober you up.

Iraq and the MSM

2006-02-11T19:03:00.000-05:00

Anyone who knows me, or has read this blog, will know of my contempt for the MSM (mainstream media). Particularly when it comes to the war in Iraq. One, great source that I've stumbled on is a blog by an American "reporter" embedded in an American unit in Iraq. Want unfiltered first hand accounts of what's really going on? Go here. There's a bunch of really good military blogs which I'll get around to adding over in the links section. For now, here's some of the best from Yon.

"Major Mark Bieger found this little girl after the car bomb that attacked our guys while kids were crowding around. The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers. Major Bieger, I had seen him help rescue some of our guys a week earlier during another big attack, took some of our soldiers and rushed this little girl to our hospital. He wanted her to have American surgeons and not to go to the Iraqi hospital. She didn’t make it. I snapped this picture when Major Bieger ran to take her away. He kept stopping to talk with her and hug her."

Damn Americans, eh?

This account may have won Yon a Pulitzer (his stuff has been submitted for consideration):

"Then Prosser’s M4 went “black” (no more bullets). A shooter inside was also having problems with his pistol, but there was no time to reload. Prosser threw down his empty M4, ran into the shop and tackled the man.

Though I have the photo, I do not remember the moment that Prosser went “black” and ran into the shop. Apparently I turned my head, but kept my finger on the shutter button. When I looked back again, I saw the very bloody leg of CSM Prosser inside the shop. It was not moving. He appeared to be shot down and dead.

I looked back at the two soldiers who were with me outside, and screamed what amounted to “Attack Attack Attack!” I stood up and was yelling at them. Actually, what I shouted was an unprintable string of curses, while Kurilla was also yelling at them to get in there, his M4 trained on the entrance. But the guys were not attacking.

I saw Prosser’s M4 on the ground, Where did that come from?

I picked up Prosser’s M4. It was empty. I saw only Prosser’s bloody leg lying still, just inside the darkened doorway, because most of his body was hidden behind a stack of sheet metal.

“Give me some ammo! Give me a magazine!” I yelled, and the young 2nd lieutenant handed over a full 30-round magazine. I jacked it in, released the bolt and hit the forward assist. I had only one magazine, so checked that the selector was on semi-automatic.

I ran back to the corner of the shop and looked at LTC Kurilla who was bleeding, and saw CSM Prosser’s extremely bloody leg inside the shop, the rest of him was still obscured from view. I was going to run into the shop and shoot every man with a gun. And I was scared to death...."

The entire account can be found here. Remember, this guy's a journalist!!!!

Back to the Blog!

2006-02-11T18:53:00.000-05:00

Got to get back to my blog. It's been an interesting 11 months since I last picked up. Last March through the summer was a pretty depressing time for conservatives in Canada. Lieberals esconced in Parliament, Terry Schiavo died, gay marriage bill passes.

But, onwards and upward from there. Thankfully, unbelievably, Canadians turfed the Fiberals and Paul Martin from power. Hopefully the Conservatives will last long enough to win over more voters and return as a majority. I did a little bit of work for my now local MP, John Baird, contributing $ and volunteering time on election night. Disney World in the fall was great - it was nice for us to spend time away with the kids.

I'll continue to use the blog, more as a news type aggregator, but still with lots of commentary and opinion - isn't that the raison d'etre for a blog?

A grim Easter

2005-03-26T20:39:00.000-05:00

What the Terri fight is all about

Thomas Sowell
understands why, in Peggy Noonan'shttp://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110006460 phrase, so many people seem to have fallen half in love with death, why so many liberal commentators, politicians and bioethicists seem so eager to see Terri Schindler-Schiavo die:

"Terri Schiavo is being killed because she is inconvenient to her husband and because she is inconvenient to those who do not want the idea of the sanctity of life to be strengthened and become an impediment to abortion. Nor do they want the supremacy of judges to be challenged, when judges are the liberals' last refuge."

Church and state

2005-02-26T05:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry to be away from this so long. I've been busy, but not that busy. Previously I promised a post on The Seperation of Church and State myth. In the American context, the constitutional seperation was made in order that a state church not be imposed upon the population and that people not have freedom from religion but freedom of religion. Here's the link.

The money quote:
"The "wall" was understood as one-directional; its purpose was to protect the church from the state. The world was not to corrupt the church, yet the church was free to teach the people Biblical values."

The rationale was basically the same here in Canada. Go study your history Pierre Pettigrew.

Forgiveness

2005-02-07T19:27:00.000-05:00

Since the Dany Heatley story is back in the news, I thought it was appropriate to post on this topic. The real story here is that the Snyder family was able to reach into the well of forgiveness and see past the death of their son, and brother. Here's the quote from Dan Snyder's funeral, back in 2003:

"I know from talking to my brother that you had become very close and really good friends," Jake Snyder said to Heatley in a poignant address. "And if you're one of Dan's guys then you're one of my guys. Friends look out for each other no matter how tough things are.

"So I'll look out for you as much as I can because I know in my heart that's exactly what my brother would have wanted."

And from Dan Snyder's father:

"The friendship between Dan and Dany Heatley was very special," Graham Snyder said.

"We are all human beings, and we know that humans make mistakes. We want you to know that we do not lay blame on Dany Heatley for the accident that took our son from us. Dany is a good person and no one feels more sorry for what happened than he does. Forgiveness is also a part of being human. We are here to support him through this difficult time and know that he, too, is hurting so much."

"We're going to do everything we can for this boy," Graham Snyder told Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"This has been a tragedy and we've lost our son. But to lose another person would just be senseless. That shouldn't happen. He's already going to have awful memories of this. Dan wouldn't have been with him that night if they weren't friends and he didn't trust him.

"We've all gotten into a car and gone over the speed limit or done things we should not have done. Maybe those people [who have criticized Heatley] have forgotten that."

He said he and his wife talk to Heatley's parents at least twice a day, and were delighted that Heatley, despite two major surgeries since the accident, was able to come.

"We really wanted him to be here. It's important for him to see this, and have closure and say his goodbyes. We're here for Dany Heatley, and we're praying he can get through this. We want him to feel the support from the community. We want him to know he's forgiven".

Impressive stuff. Truly, the peace of God which passes all understanding.

Another story "MIA"

2005-02-07T15:37:00.000-05:00

Remember what I said about distrust of the MSM? Here's a GLARING example. You heard the story about General Mattis though, didn't you? Mattis was the general who commented about soldiers enjoying killing the bad guys. Thought you did. But did you hear about Eason Jordan? See the link. In a speech at Davos, Switzerland, "Eason Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others." Who is Eason Jordan, you ask? Only the Chief News Executive at CNN.

In from the cold

2005-02-02T19:26:00.000-05:00

A critic of the Iraq war, Richard Gwyn of the Toronto Star, has come in from the cold. His piece, titled "Admit it: Bush was right on Iraq" can be found here. (registration required, it's free).
Here's the money quote:

"Here it is time to set down in type the most difficult sentence in the English language. That sentence is short and simple. It is this: Bush was right.
President George W. Bush wasn't right to invade Iraq. His justifications for doing so were (almost all of them) either frivolous, in comparison to the scale of the venture, or were outright fraudulent.
Having conquered Iraq and deposed Saddam Hussein, Bush and his officials and generals then made every blunder that could be imagined by an occupying power, adding several original ones of their own.
But on the defining, fundamental question, Bush was right.
He understood that to defeat an idea, no matter how perverse and brutal it might be, it was necessary to have an opposite and superior idea.
He understood, in other words — instinctively rather than intellectually — that the only way to win a war against terrorism was to turn it into a war for democracy."

Not exactly an unqualified endorsement, but any time someone on the left sees the light, I'll take it.

Statistically "significant"?

2005-02-02T13:42:00.000-05:00

This just in (from the National Post):

"As MPs begin debating the government's same-sex marriage bill, a healthy majority of Canadians would actually prefer to see the contentious issue decided by a country-wide referendum, a new National Post/Global National poll suggests.

More than two-thirds said they would prefer a direct say on the gay marriage question, rather than a free vote in Parliament that lets politicians act according to their conscience, the survey indicates.

And the poll suggests the same-sex legislation might go down to defeat in a plebiscite, with 66% saying they support keeping the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman."

The other interesting point: Respondents felt that this shouldn't be high on the legislative priority list. What's the rush, Mr. Martin?

And how's this for a kicker: "And a strong majority said government comments suggesting religious groups do not belong in the emotional debate are a threat to freedom of speech." Hallelujah!... Am I still allowed to say "Hallelujah"?

The battle joined

2005-02-01T07:51:00.000-05:00

Well, the same sex marriage bill is finally going to be debated in the legislature. Let the labelling and the name calling of those on the right, and indeed some on the left who are opposed to this bill begin. The Lutheran Church Canada's position can be found here. I'll post later on the "seperation of church and state" argument later today or tomorrow - seems like this tenet is being used by certain cabinet ministers as the rationale to tell the church to "butt out" of the argument. Wrong again, wrong again.

Who's spinning now?

2005-02-01T07:41:00.000-05:00

Let me first say how pleasantly surprised I was by the MSM coverage of the Iraqi elections. There were a few exceptions, Michael Harris of CFRA comes to mind. Harris was taken to the mat by a rather rude caller to his afternoon call-in show, but wouldn't concede anything positive about the election. He focussed on the 44 Iraqis who died - citing it as a failure of the Americans to provide security. I considered the bravery of these 44 and the 8-10 MILLION others who defied the terrorists and voted. He went on to characterize current positive news reports as "spin". But Michael Moore and the "gloom and doom" crowd, they've got the objective truth?!!

Election Day

2005-01-30T13:19:00.000-05:00

Early indications are that 72% of eligible voters have turned out in Iraq. This has to be seen as a success, but keep your eyes on the ball, or in this case, the MSM. My bet is that you'll hear more about the threats and suicide bombers today than you will about the joy of the ordinary Iraqi. Here's an account from over at the IRAQ THE MODEL blog. "We had all kinds of feelings in our minds while we were on our way to the ballot box except one feeling that never came to us, that was fear.
We could smell pride in the atmosphere this morning; everyone we saw was holding up his blue tipped finger with broad smiles on the faces while walking out of the center.
I couldn't think of a scene more beautiful than that.
From the early hours of the morning, People filled the street to the voting center in my neighborhood; youths, elders, women and men. Women's turn out was higher by the way. And by 11 am the boxes where I live were almost full!
Anyone watching that scene cannot but have tears of happiness, hope, pride and triumph." The rest can be found here.

Criticism of the war

2005-01-29T17:33:00.000-05:00

From Powerline (one of the top five blogs, IMO):

"We are not military tacticians, nor are we privy to intelligence beyond what appears in the newspapers and what we can deduce through common sense. But we agree with President Bush's basic judgments and decisions; we respect him and his security team; and we are absolutely confident that he shares our determination to defeat, once and for all, the threat of Islamic terrorism. It is hard to see what purpose would be served by second-guessing the administration over every setback, or wringing our hands over every difficulty. Setbacks and difficulties are endemic to warfare, and God knows there is plenty of second-guessing and hand-wringing going on without our contributing to it.

If we ever become convinced that the administration has made a major misjudgment in its conduct of the war, you can be sure we will express that conviction. In the meantime, the administration has our support and our admiration, and we will not add our voices to the burden of incessant criticism under which the administration labors."

Amen. Wish I could write like that.

Case in point

2005-01-29T08:56:00.000-05:00

Well how timely was Thursday's posting on euthanasia in Holland? A sick, elderly man right here in Ottawa used his planned suicide to publicize his position on legalizing assisted suicide here in Canada. I wonder how long it will be before this Canadian government starts touting Holland's position as "progressive". God save us all.

Promoting a culture of death

2005-01-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

Here's something which has received far too little coverage in Canada, and the West in general. I blame the MSM - this is MAJOR news. Why are they ignoring it?

First post

2005-01-27T20:17:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my small corner of the blogosphere!

It's a tough time to be on the "right" of the political spectrum here in Canada. Our brothers and sisters to the south appear to have it much easier at the moment, having just resoundingly re-elected a conservative, pro-life Christian. We here in Canada struggle with a socially liberal government and Supreme court. The mainstream media, hereafter known as the MSM, leans so far to the left it is ready to topple over. The conservative right, socially and politically, has been marginalized if not altogether dismissed as irrelevant.

No longer.