Kelly: The weaker candidate in 2012 won't be the Republican nominee.

Via Real Clear Politics:

Netanyahu can't run for president of the United States. But he showed those who are running how to get the better of Mr. Obama: Talk straight. Talk substance. Go directly at him.

McKitrick: Ontario's Green Energy Act a failure

via the Financial Post:

The pledge by Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak to roll back key provisions of the Ontario Green Energy Act is a courageous move and deserves to be applauded. It will likely spark intense debates as we head into the upcoming election. It is hard to say whether public opinion will be on his side, but the facts certainly are.

The Green Energy Act (GEA) was proposed as both an environmental policy and a job-creation policy. It is misguided on both scores.

With regards to job creation, there is nothing special about subsidizing electricity generation. It’s just as harmful as subsidizing anything else. We have long and lamentable experience in Canada with failed job creation schemes based on subsidies to money-losing industries. From Sprung cucumbers to Bricklin sports cars, governments have regularly learned and relearned, at taxpayer expense, the immutable rule that if a business plan depends on subsidies, the jobs it creates are not sustainable, and if the business is profitable on its own, it doesn’t need subsidies.

more.

Hot Air: Former “alarmist” scientist says Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) based in false science

Via Bruce McQuain:

David Evans is a scientist. He has also worked in the heart of the AGW machine. He consulted full-time for the Australian Greenhouse Office (now the Department of Climate Change) from 1999 to 2005, and part-time 2008 to 2010, modeling Australia’s carbon in plants, debris, mulch, soils, and forestry and agricultural products. He has six university degrees, including a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. The other day he said:

The debate about global warming has reached ridiculous proportions and is full of micro-thin half-truths and misunderstandings. I am a scientist who was on the carbon gravy train, understands the evidence, was once an alarmist, but am now a skeptic.

And with that he begins a demolition of the theories, premises and methods by which the AGW scare has been foisted on the public.

Fusion energy

An update on an important possible new energy source:

A Navy-funded effort to harness nuclear fusion power reports that its unconventional plasma device is operating as designed and generating "positive results" more than halfway through the project.

The latest quarterly update from EMC2 Fusion Development Corp. comes amid other signs that seemingly oddball approaches to fusion research may not be all that oddball after all. Just last week, General Fusion announced that Amazon.com's billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, was part of a $19.5 million investment round to further the company's plan to take advantage of a technology called magnetized target fusion. Another billionaire, Paul Allen, is an investor in Tri Alpha Energy, which is working on its own hush-hush fusion project (and occasionally publishing its research).

---

EMC2 Fusion doesn't have tens of millions of venture capital to play with — but it does have a $7.9 million Navy contract to test a plasma technology known as inertial electrostatic confinement fusion, also known as Polywell fusion. The idea is to accelerate positively charged ions in an electrical cage to such an extent that they occasionally spark a fusion reaction, releasing energy and neutrons. The concept was pioneered by the late physicist Robert Bussard, and carried forward by the EMC2 Fusion team in Santa Fe, N.M.

h/t

screw Bell TV

I'm watching Sun News Network streaming live.

Sun News will be live-streaming from 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 10 until 9 a.m. ET on Friday, May 13. Tune in at http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/watch-live.html

Dissing Osama

Obama gets Osama. Yet the Obama administration seems intent on not "offending" supporters of the murderous evil Osama bin Laden. Well, we share no such sensitivities here and at the risk joy of offending Al Quaeda supporters, we offer the following for your enjoyment.

A guy walks into a bar and says, "Give me a bin Laden."
The bartender looks up and says "What? A bin Laden?!"
The guy says, "Yeah, a bin Laden. You know... Two shots and a splash of water."

OSAMA HEADSTONE

Osama from Hell: "I blame that damn courier and his flashy tennis shoes".



We all owe a debt to the US Navy Seals, the CIA and the Bush administration who made possible the gathering of the intel via "enhanced interrogation techniques" that eventually led to this historic event. And to President Obama for using that intel (even though he opposed the gathering of it at the time) and making the right call.

The coalition was on...

...right up until election night, the LIB-NDP-BLOC coalition was still on.

Linda Diebel does a post-mortem on the Liberal election campaign and reports on what senior advisors to Liberal leader Count Michael Ignatieff had to say:

The senior adviser says Ignatieff meant he would stay. That coincides with scuttlebutt among Liberals that Ignatieff was still reasonably upbeat because he’d been told they’d win 65 seats and still believed a minority Conservative government and a coalition with the NDP were possible when he hit the stage on election night.

Stephen Harper was right all along. Canadians have been spared a coalition government of opportunists, socialists and separatists.

Ezra interviews Gary McHale re Caledonia

Sun News Network continues to go where other news networks won't. In this clip, Ezra Levant interviews activist Gary McHale who gives you a flavour of what has been happening in Caledonia, Ontario and the utter failure of the Ontario Provincial Police to enforce the law.



Thanks to sdaMatt2 for the video. If you don't get Sun News Network, ask you cable or satellite provider. It's available just about everywhere except on Bell TV.

Update: For more info on the situtaion in Caledonia see CaledoniaWakeUpCall and VoiceofCanada.ca

Murphy: Harper's Majority is Preston Manning’s great achievement

Rex Murphy reflects on the Canadian election, Stephen Harper's majority win and the foresight of Preston Manning who "had the courage and foresight to start a political movement that in 20 years (with some changes) has displaced the natural governing party, and forged new realities for Canadian politics".

Full story at the National Post.

Sun News launches fairness fight vs. Bell

Straight from the horse's mouth:

OTTAWA - The operators of Sun News Network filed a complaint Friday with Canada's broadcast regulator against Bell Canada.

The complaint alleges Bell gave the all-news networks it owns - CTV News Channel, CP24, and Business News Network - "undue preference" and put the fledgling SUN News Network at "undue disadvantage" in their carriage fee disagreement.

Luc Lavoie, head of development for Sun News, says Bell has refused to treat SUN News Network the same way it and other television distributors treat all news channels.

"Could it be because we're competition?" asked Lavoie.

"Are they afraid of us? And is it acceptable in Canada that they give themselves preferential treatment? It goes against all the concepts of regulatory affairs in Canada."

The complaint filed with the CRTC says even though Sun News asked to be paid a carriage fee that is less than what Bell's all-news outlets charge, Bell still considered the fee excessive.

"I don't know how one can come up and say that what we're asking for is excessive if it is below, for instance, CP24," says Lavoie. "I am not criticizing the work that CP24 is doing, but it doesn't have a fraction of the infrastructure that we have in place. It's not at all the same level of services that are offered."

Satellite TV operator Shaw accepted the same fee agreement Bell found excessive.

Earlier this week, Quebecor, which owns SUN News Network, asked Bell to stop broadcasting SUN News because there was no carriage fee agreement in place.

Since then, Quebecor has been asking SUN News fans to call Bell at 1-888-759-3474 or e-mail the company at executive.office@bell.ca to demand a deal be signed with SUN News.

It seems like Bell will only be happy if they can get Sun News for free. A strategy designed to either rob the network of revenues or shut them out of the market.

The fact the Bell TV owns competing news channels like CTV Newsnet, CP-24 and BNN is a clear conflict of interest. If Bell cannot deal fairly with a competitor, then it should not be allowed to have a broadcast carrier's license. Or it should not be allowed to own competing channels. Period.

Dissatisfied with Bell?

Many of us are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with Bell TV over the Sun News controversy and with Bell services in general. I for one, got rid of most of my services from Bell years ago. Cell phone service - gone! Internet service - gone! I still have telephone and satellite TV with Bell, but that may not be for much longer. I'm looking into service from Shaw and if everything works out, I will be a former Bell TV customer very soon.

I found this Bell horror story over at Kathy Shaidle's blog. Not surprisingly, the author - an AFGHANISTAN veteran- calls it, "Screw You Bell"

Back in December, the Mother in Law gives the wife a cell phone. It’s pink and doesn’t have a plan, ‘cause it’s bought free and clear.

So the wife gets home, and since our internet is with Bell, she goes ahead and gets a minimal plan with them. ‘So many minutes/month, and what you don’t use carries over.’ No texting or any other bells and whistles. The cost as promised, $35.

And since the land line phone was originally in my name, and I’m in Afghanistan at the time, they make an exception, not to worry, it’ll be added to the bell bill “…so you know what to pay.”

First bill gets in, its $180, give or take.

WTF!

It gets worse. Please read it all and be sure to share your Bell horror stories in the comments.

Bell TV vs Sun News: the petition

Want Sun News Network back on Bell TV? Sign the on-line petition here.

Goldstein: Stephen Harper treats us like children

Via Lorrie Goldstein:

Now that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has his coveted majority government, it’s time he stopped treating Canadians like children on climate change.

Is it time for some honesty amongst politicians regarding climate change? Somehow, I doubt it.

UN Report blames the UN for cholera outbreak in Haiti

The United Nations in action:

A United Nations-sponsored report into the causes of a deadly cholera outbreak that ravaged Haiti in the wake of its disastrous 2010 earthquake has discovered a culprit -- the U.N. itself.

The UN's ineptitude would be comical if it wasn't so tragic...

The cholera epidemic, which is still ongoing, has killed some 4,500 Haitians through severe diarrhea and dehydration since its outbreak in October 2010. There had been no previous cholera outbreak in Haiti for nearly a century. The report confirms that the specific cholera bacteria involved in the Haitian epidemic are a variant first detected in Bangladesh in 2002, which is even more toxic than other cholera strains found in South Asia.

As the report also notes, military contingents from Bangladesh and Nepal were among members of the United Nations Stabilization Force in Haiti (known by its French-language acronym of MINUSTAH) stationed at U.N. peacekeeping camp Mirebalais, close to the initial outbreak.

Bell's Blatant Bias

against Sun News Network, explained by Ezra Levant.
with a few good suggestions on how to voice your displeasure with Bell's actions. Can you say "Shaw"?

Sun News Network update

The Globe and Mail has posted this re the Bell TV - Sun News Network battle:

Quebecor Inc., (QBR.B-T32.70-0.69-2.07%) which owns the channel, sent a letter to BCE Inc. (BCE-T35.57-0.18-0.50%) roughly two weeks ago demanding that the channel be removed from Bell’s satellite TV service if an agreement was not reached by May 3. Like most specialty networks, Sun News must negotiate with cable and satellite providers to determine the subscriber fee they will pay in order to carry the channel.

Those negotiations have so far been successful with western cable giant Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR.B-T19.98-0.20-0.99%) and, of course, with the cable service Quebecor owns, Vidéotron Ltée. But Bell has so far not paid the subscriber fee Sun News was requesting, said Luc Lavoie, senior adviser to Quebecor chief executive officer Pierre-Karl Péladeau.

“They’re saying that the conditions we’re asking for are not fair and not reasonable,” Mr. Lavoie said in an interview. “We’re not asking [as much as] CTV News Channel is getting, we’re not asking what Business News Network is getting. We’re not asking what CP24 is getting. And oh, what a coincidence, those three are owned by Bell.”

There's more at the link.

Keep the pressure on Bell to negotiate a fair deal with Sun News Network. You can contact Bell at 310-BELL (2355) or visit www.bell.ca

Bell TV removes Sun News Network

Bell TV has removed Sun News Network, channel 213, this morning and is airing the following message

Sun News was removed from your satellite service on May 3 at the request of the owners of Sun News.

I contacted Bell and had an on-line chat with a customer service person:

Me: I have lost channel 213 message says the channel has been removed. Why?

BELL: I apologize for that inconvenience. Effective April 18, 2011, Sun TV SD and Sun TV HD are no longer available because the content provider has stopped broadcasting this channel. Bell Satellite TV will broadcast Sun News Network SD and Sun News Network HD in its place until May 3, 2011. After May 3, 2011 Sun News will be removed at the broadcasters request.

Me: Are there any plans to bring the channel back?

BELL: At the moment we haven't received any feedback from the broadcaster if the channel will still be aired. However we assure you that bell TV's programming management is doing everything in their power to provide the content of this channel.

Me: Thank you.

Update: This post has been generating some traffic here. Please let Bell know that you want your Sun News Channel back. You can contact them at http://support.bell.ca/ or by calling 310-BELL (2355)

Update 2: Sun News has posted the following on their Facebook page:

Sun News Network's Facebook notes

URGENT MESSAGE FOR BELL TV CUSTOMERS
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 1:45 PM

Since launching on April 18, Quebecor Media Inc. has concluded agreements with a number of cable and satellite providers to offer Sun News to millions of Canadians. We have tried, unsuccessfully, to reach an agreement with Bell TV -- the owners and operators of CTV News Channel, the Business News Network and CP24.

As it would be unfair to our paying customers for Bell to continue to offer the station without a fair agreement between our two companies, we have asked them to suspend broadcasting the signal. It should be noted that Sun News is seeking lower subscription fees than CTV News Channel, the Business News Network and CP24. As Bell owns these channels, it obviously gives themselves an undue advantage.

If you want Sun News, and we hope that you do, please contact Bell immediately to demand they offer the station. Bell TV customers can contact Bell at 310-BELL (2355) or visit www.bell.ca

We are hopeful that if enough Canadians speak out, Bell will again bring Canada's new home for Hard News and Straight Talk to your living rooms.

As a free and democratic country we are strengthened by more news media voices, not less.

Bell isn't the only game in town. You can get Sun News from the following:

Shaw Digital - Channel 177
Shaw Direct - Channels 149 and 517
Rogers in Toronto - Channel 15
Rogers in Ottawa - Channels 66 or 142
Shaw Cable Hamilton - Channel 21
Cogeco Cable Hamilton - Channel 16
Videotron - Channels 79 and 679

UBL

So Usama bin Laden is confirmed dead after a US raid into Pakistan. Good riddance. But one has to question how UBL managed to avoid justice for the past 10 years.

Via Mark Stein:

The most significant fact to emerge from bin Laden’s death so far is that he was not living in a smelly cave in the tribal badlands but in a mansion in the heart of the Pakistani establishment round the corner from the Military Academy on the Kakul Road.

Layton’s hidden agenda

Terence Corcoran: Jack Layton’s hidden agenda

NDP’s hidden constitution opposes profits, backs ‘social ownership’

Be careful who you vote for.

The Globe’s election endorsement

This comes as a bit of a surprise:

Only Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party have shown the leadership, the bullheadedness (let's call it what it is) and the discipline this country needs. He has built the Conservatives into arguably the only truly national party, and during his five years in office has demonstrated strength of character, resolve and a desire to reform. Canadians take Mr. Harper's successful stewardship of the economy for granted, which is high praise. He has not been the scary character portrayed by the opposition; with some exceptions, his government has been moderate and pragmatic.

For hapless Libs, this election may be already over.

By most accounts, Count Iggy's Liberals are tanking just as the election enters its final week and the advance polls are taking place.


The Twitterverse is reporting that Ignatieff received a resounding boo from 4,000 in attendance at a junior hockey game in Mississauga last night.

Coalition conspiracy continues to dog Iggy as Burpn Run reports: The Real Co-Conspirators Behind The 2011 Coup

The common cry from vested interests in this 2011 election is that "It's all about Democracy!". That may be true, but what they aren't telling you is that it isn't about YOUR democracy, or MY democracy. Rather, it's all about THEIR democracy. Specifically, the entitlement of the unions, special interest groups, and piglet-interests at the public teat. Protecting that teat for themselves. At all costs. Including subverting real democracy.

The NDP has made much-touted gains recently, particularly in Quebec, but seem to have levelled off or even slipped a little. The Liberals continue their slide.

Stephen Harper and the Conservatives retain a solid lead. The question is, will it be enough to form a majority government?

Redistribution

A friend sent me this.

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very Liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favour of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harboured an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends, because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked , ‘How is your friend Audrey doing?’ She replied, ‘ Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She Is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.’

Her wise father asked his daughter, ‘Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA, and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.’ The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, ‘That’s a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I’ve worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!’

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, ‘Welcome to The conservative party.’

Here's a video that puts the question to some students, who don't like the idea of redistributing their GPA's

Who is the real Iggy?

How well do Canadians really know Count Michael Ignatieff, the man who would like to be our next Prime Minister? Is he the Mao quoting politician who pushes progressive programs like publicly funded day-care for all and a "cap and trade" carbon tax? Or is he something else?

As a politician in Canada, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has said that he was on the sidelines of the Iraq war, but new information reveals he was on the front lines of pre-invasion planning when he worked in the U.S.

Ignatieff - long known to be a supporter of the decision to invade - was part of an academic advisory team that helped U.S. state department and American military officials conduct strategy sessions.

Who are you Iggy? Canadians need to know.

Coalition

I've said it before here. I will say it again. The coalition is on.

FREE KITTENS

A pretty little girl named Suzy was standing on the sidewalk in front of her home. Next to her was a basket containing a number of tiny creatures; in her hand was a sign announcing FREE KITTENS.

Suddenly a line of big black cars pulled up beside her. Out of the lead car stepped a tall, grinning man.

"Hi there little girl, I'm Mr. Ignatieff. What do you have in the basket?" he asked.

"Kittens," little Suzy said.

"How old are they?" asked Ignatieff
Suzy replied, "They're so young, their eyes aren't even open yet."

"And what kind of kittens are they?"

"Liberals," answered Suzy with a smile.

Ignatieff was delighted. As soon as he returned to his car, he called his PR chief and told him about the little girl and the kittens.

Recognizing the perfect photo op, the two men agreed that Mr Ignatieff should return the next day; and in front of the assembled media, have the girl talk about her discerning kittens.

So the next day, Suzy was again standing on the sidewalk with her basket of "FREE KITTENS," when another motorcade pulled up, this time followed by vans from CBC, CTV, and CNN.

Cameras and audio equipment were quickly set up, then Ignatieff got out of his limo and walked over to little Suzy.

"Hello, again," he said, "I'd love it if you would tell all my friends out there what kind of kittens you're giving away."

"Yes sir," Suzy said. "They're CONSERVATIVES."

Taken by surprise, Mr. Ignatieff stammered, "But... but... yesterday, you told me they were LIBERALS."

Little Suzy smiled and said, "I know. But today, they have their eyes open".

Who is John Galt? part 1

coming soon to a theater near you...

Goldstein:Ignatieff’s dangerous emissions

Lorrie Goldstein: Do the Liberals know what they’re promising on climate change? Do they care they’re being reckless?

Murphy: paganism in the age of bluetooth and Twitter

Rex Murphy: Excuse me sir, that cockroach has rights

Is Iggy anti-Israel?

You have to wonder after a close examination of statements that Count Iggy made during the English language debates. An analysis by David Frum:

Past Liberal governments have played a double game in the Middle East. Prime ministers and foreign ministers have declared friendship to Israel. Yet those same prime ministers and foreign ministers allowed their bureaucracies to pursue very different policies. And they funded NGOs that veered in even more strongly anti-Israel directions.

The Harper government ended these practices. There is not a big difference between what the Harper government and the previous Martin and Chrétien governments said about the Middle East. But there is a big difference between what those governments have done. The Harper government’s actions have been consistent with its words. The Chrétien and Martin governments’ actions were not.

Ignatieff took time in the leaders’ debate to signal that if he should become prime minister, the old ways on the Middle East would return.

Stand with Israel

Glenn Beck's show from Friday in it's entirety, courtesy of YouTube and The Daily Beck.

Since it's inception Israel, the only true democracy in the middle east, has always been in a precarious position, literally surrounded by enemies.

In the video, Beck and his guests Pastor John Hagee, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Dore Gold discuss the changing situation and the implications that it will have on not only Israel but the rest of the world.

UN's bogus climate refugee claims

UN: 50 million "climate refugees" by 2010... oops, better make that 2020.

Just another example of what the warmists will do when the facts don't fit the theory: just change the theory and hope nobody notices. And surprisingly, it's not so hard to do with a media that's lazy, compliant, in on the deception or all of the above.

See The UN “disappears” 50 million climate refugees, then botches the disappearing attempt at WUWT.

The cost of green

From Australia:

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell is demanding the Gillard government compensate families for the cost of its renewable energy schemes.

Mr O'Farrell's call came as the state's Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended increases in electricity bills for some NSW families of up to 18 per cent from July, with a proportion of the rises blamed on the federal government's renewable energy target.

And that's just the beginning. Wait until they pile on the costs of the proposed carbon tax.

The federal government had announced it would compensate families for its carbon tax, Mr O'Farrell said.

“I think NSW families should be compensated for the cost of a federal green renewable scheme that's pushing up power prices by another 50 per cent in NSW.”

The government drives up energy costs. The government compensates citizens for the increases. The government taxes the citizens to pay for the subsidies. Or they borrow the money from their grandchildren. Just great.

The Ministry of Mother Earth

This is what happens when enviro-Marxists have power:

UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.

The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to “dominate and exploit” — to the point that the “wellbeing and existence of many beings” is now threatened.

Implementation of a policy like this could set human progress back centuries. All in the name of socialism.

Bolivia is a country with a large indigenous population, whose traditional belief systems took on greater resonance following the election of Mr. Morales, Latin America’s first indigenous president.

In a 2008 pamphlet his entourage distributed at the UN as he attended a summit there, ten “commandments” are set out as Bolivia’s plan to “save the planet” — beginning with the need “to end with capitalism.”

And there is the bottom line. It's not about the environment at all.

The Coalition is not dead

Steve Janke offers this:

Alfred Apps, president of the Liberal Party has let slip a critical Liberal Party secret.

That "secret" is that "the Liberal Party of Canada is postponing the 2011 Biennial Convention, which had been scheduled for June 17-18 in Ottawa".

The Liberal Party constitution requires a leadership review following a loss in a general election. It's pretty clear that Count Iggy won't win the election and a leadership review will be mandatory come June.

But what if Harper's Conservatives fail to win a majority and form another minority government? What if the government introduces a new budget and the opposition parties combine forces to defeat it? Then the Coalition Accord - which is legally binding until June 30, 2011 - comes into play.

Count Iggy must ensure that he is not ousted by a pesky mandatory leadership review before the budget can be defeated and he has the opportunity to put the coalition into effect. So the convention must be delayed. Mid-June is just way too close for comfort.

Wind Power: sky-high costs and no reduction in emissions

Denmark has seen Ontario's future: Lorrie Goldstein

If you want to see the future of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s push for wind power in Ontario, look at Denmark today.

It has more than doubled its wind power production over the past decade or so and today produces almost 20% of its electricity from wind.

Silencing the skeptics - an update

I reported last month that renowned Canadian climatologist Dr. Tim Ball was facing a lawsuit from Prof. Michael Mann, Director of Earth System Science Center at Penn State. Mann is the author of the now discredited "hockey stick" graph that the UN relied upon to promote the global warming / climate change hysteria.

Mann has enlisted a Canadian legal firm and there are indications that the David Suzuki Foundation may be of funding the legal action.

Dr. Ball is appealing for help. Here's an update from John O. Sullivan.

Esteemed climate scientist, Tim Ball faces two costly courtroom libel battles. Here he reveals his concerns and appeals for help with his legal fees.

Dr. Tim Ball is widely recognized as one of Canada’s first qualified climate scientists and has long taken a brave stand in speaking out on corruption and unethical practices. Two global warming doomsayers Ball has targeted, professors Michael Mann and Andrew Weaver are now suing Tim for libel with the backing of Big Green donors.

Many suspect the deep-pocketed David Suzuki Foundation is bankrolling Weaver and Mann. Suzuki is reported as wanting skeptics like Ball “put in prison.” Vancouver libel lawyer, Roger D. McConchie is the well-paid legal attack dog.

Critics suspect that the Suzuki Foundation is throwing money at the case in the hope that his target, who has no big corporate backers, will quit as his legal fees spiral. But Ball is determined he won’t be bounced out of this contest.

Below is this author’s (JOS) forthright interview with Dr. Ball (TB).

You should go to Sullivan's website and read the full interview. Then go to drtimball.com and make a donation to support Dr. Ball. I already did.

And do not support the David Suzuki Foundation.

h/t: WUWT

Solomon: Climategate U loses bid to stifle critic

James Delingpole has won a battle with the University of East Anglia, home of the Climate Research Unit that was the center of the "Climategate" controversy. The U of EA had filed a complaint against Delingpole with the Press Complaints Commission in the UK.

The University of East Anglia of Climategate fame – scene of the embarrassing emails that disgraced the global warming cause – has once again been embarrassed, this time through a failed attempt to silence one of the UK’s most brilliant – and biting – global warming sceptics.

Read the full article by Lawrence Solomon here.

Ending America As We Know It

Mark Steyn:

America, 2011: A man gets driven in a motorcade to sneer at a man who has to drive himself to work.

FOX News and Glenn Beck announce new agreement

Is Glenn Beck leaving Fox News? Well, sort of. This via GlennBeck.com:

NEW YORK— FOX News and Mercury Radio Arts, Glenn Beck’s production company, are proud to announce that they will work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the FOX News Channel (FNC) as well as content for other platforms including FOX News’ digital properties. Glenn intends to transition off of his daily program, the third highest rated in all of cable news, later this year.

There's more at the link.

Why Obama is awesome to liberals

Election Sign

Thanks to Kate at sda. You can make your own sign here.

Sun News news

Another new promo video from Sun News channel. They are set to launch April 18th. Canada really needs a news network that reports the news without bias.



If you currently receive Sun TV, you’ll be able to watch Sun News Network on that channel until August 31. For example, Channel 213 on Bell TV or Channel 15 if you’re on Rogers in Toronto. You can go to sunnewsnetwork.ca and follow the link to request Sun News on your satellite or cable carrier.

Sun News Network

Things are looking good for the new Sun News channel.

Is a Lib-NDP-Bloc coalition out of the question?

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff would have us believe so. Charles Adler disagrees: Coalition of the losers:

The Tories fail to get a majority in May and when Parliament reconvenes they fail to win a vote of confidence following another attempt at a budget.

Michael Ignatieff reaches for his posterior and pulls out a piece of paper with a lot of signatures on it. They all have one thing in common. None of them are members of the Conservative party. All of them are members of parties that lost.

Some could call it a coalition of losers. But it would be a coalition that could easily win the day with the Governor General.

At smalldeadanimals, Kate illustrates why Ignatieff can claim that he won't form a coalition: he already has one!

"This Accord will expire on June 30, 2011 unless renewed."

Yes, it's true. Thanks to some diligent work by Stephen Taylor, we know that the coalition agreement (Accord) signed by the Libs, NDP and Bloc on December 1, 2008 is still in effect!

Kate has acquired some legal insight on the Lib-NDP-Bloc "Accord":

1. It is a "Live " document and is binding on the parties.
2. Termination - No termination by any party-- Termination only occurs on June 30th 2011
3. Document BINDS the NDP and Liberals ( the Liberals cannot unilaterally back out of deal)-- the NDP can force compliance.
4. Given that Michael Ignatieff signed the document-- he can not argue bad faith, or had no knowledge and as such is bound to the Agreement

Watch the Libs and the NDP bring forward the argument that coalition governments are not unusual, even common in Europe. That may be true, but the makeup of such coalitions usually centers on the party that won the election, not those that lost.

Michael Ignatieff has the coalition Accord in his back pocket and he will not hesitate to use it should the Conservatives win anything short of a majority on May 2nd.

Be sure to listen to the audio at the top link to Charles Adler.

Earth Hour: Let there be Light!

I almost missed it but tonight is Earth Hour. The usual media hype doesn't seem to be there like it has been in previous years. Is Earth Hour losing it's trendiness? Anyway across the land tonight, many well meaning but misinformed individuals will be taking symbolic action in order to fight what they refer to as "climate change":

"When I get up in the morning, I'll turn off the furnace unless there's danger the pipes will freeze," Rezansoff says. "I'll turn off all appliances except the fridge, and we'll eat fruit, vegetables and sandwiches. In the evening, we'll play board games by candlelight."

While these folks will be briefly experiencing what life would be like without all the modern conveniences that that science, technology and free enterprise have brought us I will be celebrating the Earth and the many wonderful resources she provides us with by TURNING ON every (incandescent) light in my house. I will be watching FOX News Channel on my big screen TV and cranking up the furnace to make sure I'm nice and comfy while I eat my roast beef.

Earth Hour: Let there be light!

It's on!

The conservative government of Stephen Harper has been defeated on a confidence vote 156-145. PM Harper is expected to visit the Governor-general tomorrow and ask him to dissolve Parliament. Then we will be off to the polls, likely on May 2nd.

The opposition parties have been beating the drum for some time now concerning ethics violations and "contempt of Parliament" by the government. They may, however, be the victims of their own rhetoric as the voters just don't seem to care or simply aren't listening. Stephen Harper's Conservatives are at an all time high in the polls and if they stay there, we could see a Conservative majority government come May 2nd.

The question is: can the Liberals under Michael Ignatieff convince Canadians that the government is indeed behaving unethically and contemptibly? And so much so that it needs to be replaced? Not such an easy task for a party that itself in 2006 went down to defeat over some of the most egregious ethics issues ever seen in Canadian politics. On an ethical basis, how do you trump the passing of taxpayer money under the table in brown bags to political operatives and Liberal Party cronies?

The other thing working against the Liberals and the NDP is the economy and you can be sure the Conservatives will do everything in their power to make this the focus of the election. Canada has weathered the world-wide recession well and this is largely attributed to the good fiscal management of the government.

With the Conservatives leading in key provinces like Ontario and BC, and improving in Quebec, one has to wonder about the logic of the Liberals to force an election at this time. Is Iggy so absorbed in his own BS that he is blind to the mood of Canadians? Or has he had enough of Canadian politics and wants to go back to his cushy job at Harvard?

Update: via the Globe:

It was also a motion that declared the government to be in contempt of Parliament for its refusal to share information that opposition members said they needed to properly assess legislation put before them.

Hmmm... you would think the government said something like "We will have to pass the bill for you to find out what's in it"? Oh, the arrogance!

Health care

In today's National Post, Shaun Francis examines the case of a Toronto woman who was denied a life saving drug by Ontario's Ministry of Health - until enough public pressure was brought to bear on the Minister. Francis points out how government health-care bureaucrats decide what treatments will be allowed and when they will be permitted. These bureaucrats must, after all, control costs within our health care monopoly. From today's National Post:

During last year’s debate over Obamacare in the United States, right-wing critics accused reformers of promoting “death panels” that would make life-or-death decisions about citizens’ health care. Obamacare defenders insisted that such a notion was ridiculous.

Yet here in Canada, “death panels” dictate our health care every day — even if that is not the name they go by.

Francis goes on to explain that our health care system is not "free" as many like to think. In fact, he shows how high the costs are, and that they're increasing all the time, while service continues to degrade.

Socialized medicine is a great system if you don't mind the long wait times for treatment, having to go without certain life saving drugs and having little or no choice within the bureaucracy. There has to be a better alternative to the current government run monopoly. It's time to introduce some competition in our health care system.

Forward, Into the Past

Where the left is tasking us, via Ed Driscoll

Obama: Drill, baby, drill... in Brazil

From Investors Business Daily:

Energy Policy: While leaving U.S. oil and jobs in the ground, our itinerant president tells a South American neighbor that we'll help it develop its offshore resources so we can one day import its oil. WHAT?!?

That should be WTF?!

Now, with a seven-year offshore drilling ban in effect off of both coasts, on Alaska's continental shelf and in much of the Gulf of Mexico — and a de facto moratorium covering the rest — Obama tells the Brazilians:

"We want to help you with the technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely. And when you're ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers."

Is this an energy policy designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil? or to increase it?

Michelle Malkin asks, "why don’t we send Ken Salazar over there [Brazil], too?"

Proof that socialism works

via Kelly McParland.

Leadership

The situation in Libya is reaching critical mass. Col. Ghadafi thumbs his nose at the United Nations resolution and continues his assaults on his own civilians while claiming to have imposed a "ceasefire". Clearly, decisive action is required quickly to prevent further atrocities. Some of the western world's leaders, including Canada, are meeting in Paris today to determine how they will deal with the situation.

Mr. Harper had arrived in Paris early Saturday morning for the summit after an overnight transatlantic flight from Ottawa, accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and General Walt Natynczyk, the chief of the defence staff, for the one-day meeting.

The fact that PM Harper has brought with him Foreign Affairs Minister Cannon and Canadian Forces Chief General Natynczyk says that Canada is serious about participating in possible military operations. In fact a number of Canadian CF-18 fighter jets are already in the region, presumably Italy, and reports say they will be ready for action very soon. Reports this morning indicate that France already has fighter jets in the air over Libya.

While military intervention in Libya carries risks, primarily the risk of further escalation, the leaders of Britain, France, Canada and other nations are tackling the problem head-on.

All this begs the question: where is the leader of the free world?

Update: US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, "There are difficulties".

Update 2: Rex Murphy: There’s a great vacancy at the top of the world: A retreat by the American government from its global leadership role.

Detecting the greenhouse effect... or not

IPCC 1990 report Detection of the Greenhouse Effect in the Observations:

"Given our rudimentary understanding of the magnitude and causes of low frequency natural variablity, it is virtually impossible to demonstrate a cause-effect relationship with high confidence from studies of a single variable (However if the global warming becomes sufficiently large, we will eventually be able to claim detection simply because there will be no other explanation)"

Dr. James Hansen in 1988 testimony before the US Senate:

"...the global warming is now large enough that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship to the greenhouse effect."

Anthony Watts has the full story.

Aussie sceptics destroy EU carbon commissioner

In a radio interview (it starts about halfway through the clip) with Andrew Bolt on the Steve Price program. Jill Duggan is an "expert" on carbon markets for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action which plans to reduce Europe’s carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. As James Delingpole says, "In the process she will of course destroy every last vestige of 550 million people’s economic future".

The money line:

“You’re in charge of a massive programme to rejig an economy and you don’t know what it costs and you don’t know what it will achieve,” says Bolt.

h/t

Silencing the skeptics

The impact of climategate on the credibility of some key global warming alarmists was significant. Now comes the backlash. And no, it doesn't involve a scientific argument.

At CO2 Insanity, John O’Sullivan writes:

Beleaguered global warming religionist, Michael Mann has signed up a Canadian libel law firm that has ties to the ultra-green David Suzuki Foundation (DSF). Skeptics fear DSF and other warmist groups are gearing up for reprisals against skeptic scientists who have helped derail the global warming tax raising juggernaut.

Internationally renowned climate scientist, Dr. Tim Ball and prominent U.S. skeptic Chris Horner appear to be the first victims of a coordinated attack by discredited ‘hockey stick’ graph conjurer, Michael Mann.

Read the full article. Please.

Propping up an industry that can't compete in the marketplace

A look at "green energy" by ReasonTV:



via Hotair.

McGuinty's reality

The full article by Lawrence Solomon in today's Financial Post is worth the read. Here's an excerpt:

Here's the reality. Ontario doesn't need Mr. McGuinty's new electricity system, which will be immensely less reliable and immensely more costly than the current system. The only one who needs the system is Mr. McGuinty himself, to make good his boast of being the world's first leader to get his jurisdiction entirely off coal.

Full story here.

Winds of change

The cruel reality of so-called "green" energy may be catching up with the McGuinty Liberals.

After years of touting wind projects as a critical piece of the alternative energy puzzle, the government let slip — very quietly — that offshore wind projects are no longer part of the game plan.

But it's not just offshore wind projects that are proving to be impractical. A legal challenge to the Green Energy Act is being heard by the Ontario Divisional Court:

If the challenge is successful, it will significantly impede wind development in Ontario until the province can provide satisfactory evidence that there is no evidence of negative health impacts associated with wind farms, an issue that has been the subject of much debate.

It gets even worse. Kelly McParland on the solar energy front:

On Friday, hundreds more Ontarians were told that installations they’d erected at the behest of the government can’t be connected to the provincial grid because of technical problems. Rural residents, some of whom have invested large amounts in solar generating operations, will be left high and dry.

Instead of trying to please his latte sipping yuppies in the GTA with his "green" policies, McGuinty should have given some thought to thousands of rural residents who will be forced to live in close proximity to his wind machines. They're angry. And those people who have invested tens of thousands of dollars into solar panels only to find they won't be getting the exorbitant rates they were initially promised. Or worse, they can't connect those panels they spent their life savings on. They're way beyond angry.

The way I see it, thre are two problems with investing in solar and wind. First, these energy sources are not economically viable on their own. Massive taxpayer subsidies are required. Which leads to the second problem, reliance on the government as a partner. And this government is looking less and less like a reliable partner.

Rex Murphy: misery loves company

Gore-Olbermann: never so fruitful a partnership since Gilligan and the Skipper.

The Weather Isn't Getting Weirder

I often hear from otherwise normal, rational, intelligent people how the weather is getting more and more extreme. And that this is proof that we humans have somehow messed up the climate with our carbon emissions. I argue that it isn't so, that the floods, hurricanes, hot spells and even the record cold and snowfalls are not signs of extreme weather brought about by anthropogenic global warming, er climate change. After all, most of the "records" we have been experiencing recently impact only the last 40 or 50 years, a relatively short time span in the historical record and the global climate change business.

That's why it was encouraging to see this study:

The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project is the latest attempt to find out, using super-computers to generate a dataset of global atmospheric circulation from 1871 to the present.

As it happens, the project's initial findings, published last month, show no evidence of an intensifying weather trend. "In the climate models, the extremes get more extreme as we move into a doubled CO2 world in 100 years," atmospheric scientist Gilbert Compo, one of the researchers on the project, tells me from his office at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "So we were surprised that none of the three major indices of climate variability that we used show a trend of increased circulation going back to 1871."

It is all too easy for climate alarmists to point to recent extremes of weather and cry "we must do something before it's too late". We need to keep in mind that while the weather around the globe can and has been experiencing extremes, this doesn't signify anything out of the historical norm.

FCIC Reports

Writing in the Financial Post, Janet Whitman asks, "What caused the financial crisis?". The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has issued it's report on the crisis and surprise, surprise the blame falls largely on party lines.

The Dems on the commission blame "reckless" Wall Street Bankers, the Fed and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and "ethics breaches at all levels". The Republicans blame "the U.S. housing bubble, non-traditional mortgages, faulty credit ratings for investments of bundled mortgages, financial firms with too much exposure to high-risk loans, inadequate capital at some big banks, risk of big bank failures, and financial panic amid failures and near failures of Wall Street banks".

Then there's the dissenting report by Peter J. Wallison, an American Enterprise Institute fellow appointed to the FCIC by Republicans. Wallison offers another viewpoint, assigning the blame most closely to where it should be.

Mr. Wallison pins the blame squarely on U.S. government housing policies. By encouraging and supporting high-risk loans to low-income borrowers, the government inflated a massive and unmanageable bubble of bad home loans.

By 2008, fueled by the policies of the Clinton and Bush administrations, the United States had 27-million subprime and Alt-A home mortgages – representing half of all mortgages outstanding and valued at a whopping US$4.5-trillion.

The U.S. government through vehicles like the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie and Freddie actively encouraged (forced) the nations banks to loan money to people who otherwise would never have qualified for a mortgage loan. Did bankers act "recklessly"? Probably. But because of government policies they had a lot of "troubled assets" on their hands that they had to deal with or get burned. It was a game of financial "hot potato" and it eventually collapsed.

Read the Wallison's report: http://c0182732.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/fcic_final_report_wallison_dissent.pdf

CFLs disappoint

"Green" states like California are finding out that compact fluorescent lamps are not all they were cracked up to be.

It was all flowers and roses when the state of California launched its $548M USD program to help promote consumer use of compact fluorescent lamps. Manufacturers and utilities were onboard because they received bonus pay to enact rebate programs. Citizens were happy as they received cheap CFL bulbs, which promised to save them money on power expenses. And the politicians were happy, as they looked sufficiently "green" to satisfy the eco-minded voters.

Now that utopian vision of futuristic lighting has dissolved into rancor and disappointment. A multi-million dollar program by the state designed to evaluate the actual results has concluded that energy savings were not as good as expected and that utilities were being over-rewarded for their performance.

Emphasis added. Unfortunately, Ontario is unwilling to see the failures of other jurisdictions in the so called "green economy". It's full steam ahead here with CFLs, wind and solar power - all unaffordable and unsustainable without heavy subsidies from taxpayers.

Stupid. Reckless. Incompetent.

What word captures the way Dalton McGuinty’s government has blown it when it comes to windmills and green energy?

For the answer just read this post by Christina Blizzard in the Toronto Sun.

Rex Murphy

offers his unique Newfoundlander's insight on the People's Republic:

We are apologizing ourselves into impotence and irrelevancy over many of our greatest successes, while more confident — even ruthless — powers such as China are emerging brisk with the determination to develop as fast and as far as they can.

Maxime Bernier for smaller government