Hugh Hewitt; Even as work accelerates along the Gulf, the dangers from terrorism remain, and a new threat continues to approach: avian bird flu. Given that everyone who follows the subject sees the threat of an epidemic as a real possibility, the Adminsitration simply has to have a plan and it has to work. Today’s [...]

The one time would-be Prime Minister of Australia. h/t Damian Penny

But are they testing the stuff for lead content? h/t Lost Budgie.

Michael Yon’s latest dispatch from Iraq carries an update on LTC Erik Kurilla’s recovery and the progress his team made in Mosul. As the Deuce Four heads home this week, they leave behind a Mosul that, while not yet in the clear, is much closer to security and prosperity than anyone would have considered possible [...]

Paul Tuns; In March 2004, in the wake of the Adscam scandal, Auditor General Sheila Fraser released another damning report, this one on Ottawa’s inaction on addressing national security concerns. She highlighted the vulnerability of Canada’s ports and airports to terrorist attacks, especially with regard to those who work there. She found that 5.5 percent [...]

Epoch Times On September the 8th, the same day as Chinese president Hu Jintao arrived in Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Canada confirmed that a Chinese official stationed in Canada defected. Canadian Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Pamela Greenwell told The Epoch Times: “In mid-August, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China formally advised Foreign Affairs Canada of [...]

In a parking lot, in New Orleans. Via Drudge who seems to be the first one asking how many of the poor, the very young and disabled, could have been moved out of New Orleans with that fleet, while the highways were still open and the streets dry and unobstructed? I’ve been listening to Canadian [...]

With Katrina expected to hit New Orleans as a Cat 4 or 5 hurricane, The Truth Laid Bear has set up a Katrina blogging ecosystem for those who want to follow the latest developments. Though, I doubt there’ll be much from anyone directly in her path. H/T Instapundit.

Imbedded with “Deuce Four” in Iraq, Michael Yon has new material up. Opels may be faster than Kiowas on straight-a-ways, but when the car made turns, the helicopter quickly caught up. Kurilla ordered the Kiowa to fire a warning shot, then quickly authorized the Kiowa to disable the vehicle. Kiowas are small, carrying just two [...]

Guest “citizen journalist” Ben Laible, reporting from his hometown of Nampa, Idaho; Today was a big day in Nampa [Pop. 60,000 or so], Idaho. President Bush was here and gave a speech this morning in Nampa’s Idaho Center. He has been in Idaho vacationing at a mountain resort about 100 miles north of the Boise [...]

BBC: A conservation institute in the United States has produced wildcat kittens by cross-breeding cloned adults. The Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species says this is the first time that clones of a wild species have bred. Eight kittens have been born in two litters over the last month, and all are apparently doing [...]

A press release I’m more than happy to pass along; PITTSBURGH, PA, Aug. 18 – LBF Books to publish* Soldier Life: A Day in the Life of an American Soldier (ISBN 1-885093-44-6). The book details the author’s experiences while deployed and back home, weaving a gut-wrenching, heartfelt tapestry of experiences and emotions unique to soldiers’ [...]

A Canadian reservist (just home) from Afghanistan. I guess there will always be those who don’t really want to see what is really going on around them. When I went to the orphanage this morning and dropped off $600 US for the director to purchase a washing machine, some carpets, a couple of fans and [...]

The Samand Options: Air, Cruise, Semtex*.

China E-Lobby “Pig fever” hits the Pacific coast as Communist coverup continues: According to Boxun, the disease the Communists continue to insist is streptococcosis suis (“pig fever”) has hit Guangdong and Liaoning Provinces (Shenyang is the capital of the latter). The Communists have also been hiding the actual number of deaths from this disease, which [...]

The Art of Telling Parties Apart. (WaPo) But for Helprin, the divide remains. “The arts community is generally dominated by liberals because if you are concerned mainly with painting or sculpture, you don’t have time to study how the world works. And if you have no understanding of economics, strategy, history and politics, then naturally [...]

For those who caught John Hockenberry on the Daily Show yesterday, his Wired article on military bloggers is online here. The story began last November when an email he sent to a Black Hawk Pilot who called himself “2Slick” backfired. Badly. When the blog storm erupted and the emails began to pour in, Hockenberry confessed [...]

Toronto Sun article highlights one consequence of Canada’s new laws allowing same-sex marriage that should have been obvious. Bill Dalrymple, 56, and best friend Bryan Pinn, 65, have decided to take the plunge and try out the new same-sex marriage legislation with a twist — they’re straight men. “I think it’s a hoot,” Pinn said. [...]

The Daily Mail has this tidbit… Leaked guidelines from the Bedfordshire force say that when officers raid Muslim homes they should remove their shoes, not use dogs and not mount pre-dawn raids because at that hour people might by ‘spiritually busy’. Via Kathy Shaidle

Those damned Koreans are at it again; Like Dolly and other predecessors, Snuppy was created using a method called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT. Scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus – with its genetic material – has been removed. The reconstructed egg holding [...]

More evidence of a genetic basis for autism; Using DNA samples from 120 families likely to possess a genetic risk factor on chromosome 17, the team found 19 different SERT mutations ( or variants ) in families with multiple affected males, consistent with the well-known sex-bias seen in autism incidence. Four of these variants were [...]

National Post Eight transport trucks were shot up in a Richmond company’s yard just after midnight yesterday morning in an escalation of violence associated with the trucking strike plaguing Greater Vancouver ports. The barrage left bullet shells scattered around the yard of Pro-West Transport and caused an estimated $150,000 damage. One driver sleeping in his [...]

Maybe Americans aren’t as keen about seeing their military portrayed by human exterminating aliens as screenwriter David Koepp thinks they are. FoxNews; The $182 million horror epic, struggling to hold its own among new releases, was beaten at the box office by an indie film about a pimp-turned-rapper. “Hustle and Flow” (search), a Sundance favorite [...]

Mark Steyn’s Letter of the Week I have been enjoying your writings for years. I have been living in Thailand for 3 years and Asia for 5 years. As you have recently noted in Thailand over 800 people have been killed this year in the southern provinces next to Malaysia, where Islamic terrorists want to [...]

The newly crowned Miss Universe has been deemed too tasteless for an official appearance at Toronto City Hall’s Nathan Phillips Square. “Activities which degrade men or women through sexual stereotyping, or exploit the bodies of men, women, boys or girls solely for the purpose of attracting attention, are not permitted on Nathan Phillips Square.” There, [...]

A reader sent this along, suggesting tha someone “send this guy an Immigration card!” A Danish pizzeria owner went to jail Tuesday for refusing to serve French and German tourists in protesting their countries’ opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq. A Danish court found Aage Bjerre guilty of discrimination and sentenced him to pay [...]

In the wake of a Federal Appeals Court ruling of earlier today, US Ag Secretary Mike Johanns has just announced that the US border has been reopened to Canadian cattle.

“Sportswriters are clearly entitled to their opinions. Like the Dixie Chicks. And Sean Penn.” Hugh Hewitt throws fastballs at a little leaguer.

The EU is beginning to act alarmingly like Canada; “Before the French and Dutch referendums, I predicted that, if our neighbours voted “No”, the EU would ignore the result and implement the constitution as though nothing had happened. The Brussels elites have followed the script to the letter [...] Two weeks after the referendums, the [...]

Talking wine label to chat up Italian consumers Who needs a sommelier? A “talking” wine label could soon tell consumers in Italy everything they want to know about a particular bottle — from its production history to the kind of food it should accompany. “The idea is to bring the oenologist to the table so [...]

Brad Farquhar has created a new blog game – GoogleEarthing. After playing around with it for a while, I figured we could have some fun with a scavenger-hunt like contest that’ll be a whole lot more interesting than Google Whacking. I’ll post an anonymous image from Google Earth, and the first person to send me [...]

An interview in Spiegel with Kenyan economist, James Shikwati; SPIEGEL: Even in a country like Kenya, people are starving to death each year. Someone has got to help them. Shikwati: But it has to be the Kenyans themselves who help these people. When there’s a drought in a region of Kenya, our corrupt politicians reflexively [...]

From Hansard (Canadian Parliamentary debate) , June 28. Mr. David Anderson (Cypress Hills—Grasslands, CPC): Mr. Speaker, last week I challenged the government on its plans to close five single-person RCMP detachments along a 100 mile stretch of the Canada-U.S. border. The government said it was a provincial issue. It is not anymore. Last weekend, someone [...]

Maybe Bob Geldof will go down in history as the man who singlehandedly ended poverty in Africa. Or maybe not.

“I commend the RCMP for their approach.There are people who have been denied opportunities for much too long simply because they don’t show ability in their desired field. Our belated recognition as a society of the emotional wounds caused by overly strict hiring standards is a watershed event. This more enlightened approach to hiring should [...]

Ottawa Citizen; Canada’s first Maple Leaf flag won’t return home to Parliament Hill on Canada Day as expected; the European woman who has the historic banner wants to “clear up” whether she’s owed money from her late husband’s federal pension. “Why should I be in a hurry to hand this flag over to a government [...]

In a story revealing that Canadian physicians are setting aside doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu for family and friends in the event that forecasts of a bird flu pandemic are borne out, the CBC lists the reasons against “stockpiling”: Infectious disease specialist Dr. Allison McGeer of Toronto’s Mount Sinai said she understands why some [...]

A reporter poses as an American tourist in Toronto, and uncovers the “ugly Canadian”. First, I approached John, sitting on a stoop smoking, a Toronto hat on his head. I asked for a lighter, introduced myself and said I’d noticed anti-Americanism in Toronto. He asked if I was a Republican and I said I was. [...]

Alex Alexiev, vice president for research at the Center for Security Policy in Washington D.C.; The resounding rejection of the EU constitutional project in France and the Netherlands has triggered much frenzied hand-wringing and anxious bickering about the future of Europe, though it appears to tell us more about the pervasive angst of the continent’s [...]

Glenda at Just Between Us Girls fills in the gaps re: the taxi drivers who have been protesting at Pearson International in Toronto. CTV; Frustrations ran high Monday afternoon, as approximately 100 drivers staged their first day of pickets on highways around the airport. Some would-be travellers were so frustrated by the 90-minute delays, they [...]

Roanoke – Chowan News Herald; On Wednesday, Andrew Benjamin Cook, 24, of 504 Tree Top Street, Virginia Beach, Va. and Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, of 1602 Claremont Ave., Norfolk, Va. were each charged with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty and eight misdemeanor counts each of illegal disposal of dead animals. Both were transported to [...]

China e-Lobby (See the original post for active links); Canada is beginning to recognize the depth of Communist China’s espionage in the Great White North. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) mostly rehashed the accounts of Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun regarding Communist overseas spy networks, but added that Hao “says Canada has more spies operating [...]

Extreme weather conditions forced two U.S. explorers to abandon what would have been the first summertime crossing of the Arctic Ocean, environmental group Greenpeace said on Friday. A spokeswoman for Greenpeace said Eric Larsen and Lonnie Dupre were tired but in good condition after 23 days of their voyage. The two Minnesota men were evacuated [...]

Canadian Liberal Member of Parliament Don Boudria isn’t content with throwing out faxes from critics – he wants them charged under the Criminal Code. Over the last 29 hours, my office has received no fewer than 828 faxes here on Parliament Hill. I have them here. I am willing to table them for the consideration [...]

CBC; A Kelowna man who transported an unconscious man to hospital Wednesday morning couldn’t believe his ears when he was told to call 911 for help. Ralph Vogel had driven the victim to Kelowna General Hospital only to be greeted by staff that seemed unwilling to help. Vogel says he ran into the hospital and [...]

Available through NealeNews; 1, 2, 3, 4. All I can say is that this is damning stuff for Paul Martin’s government – confirming that explicit offers were made to Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal in exchange for his and his wife’s abstainsion in a critical confidence vote. Early coverage at CTV; SK – Minister (Ujjal Dosanjh) [...]

Complete with carp as fat as birch trees. Though, I must admit to some confusion. Why would those sinister Americans go to all the trouble of invading Iraq to steal their oil, if they could have just sucked it away from underneath with no one but a few villagers the wiser? (More here) via NoSpeedBumps

Hundredpercenter has “The Blogosphere By The Numbers – ” a study analyzing monthly web traffic of 100 websites, big, small, political, non-political, conservative and liberal– from November 2004 to April 2005.”

Anti-Corruption.ca has the most useful chart detailing the Adscam money flow, according to Gomery testimony so far.

Bill Strong has stumbled upon a piece of political dynamite; The registered owner of Sinclair Stevens’ new anti-Harper website bloc-harper.com is The Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto Foundation. The website of The Royal Commonwealth Society of Canada, Toronto Branch lists the Hon. Sinclair M. Stevens, P.C., Q.C. as its Foundation Chairman. They also list the [...]