The Equal Sharing of Misery

Zimbabwe Currency: Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD) Inflation rate: 3,714 percent and rising Exchange rate: Officially, 250 ZWD per US$1; unofficially, as high as 750 ZWD to the U.S. dollar

via Instapundit

Follow the links and check out how North Korea's currency is making out ... and Hogo Chavez is running a great socialist paradise.

CHICKS GET MIDGETS

via Instapundit:

Saudis close Canadian education booths staffed by women A Canadian embassy booth and another for a private Montreal college were shut down at a Saudi Arabia education fair last week because they were being run by women. Organizers for the Canadian contingent say three women staffing the booths were forced to leave the fair by the country's religious police, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, even though they had received permission to be there. George Chrysomilides, president of the Canadian Education Network, said there hasn't been an incident like this in the 10 years Canada has attended the event, and he plans to get to the bottom of it. "From what I hear ... the religious police were very rude. They shouted at them in a way that was disrespectful and they shut down the booth, the Canadian embassy booth as well as the LaSalle College booth," Mr. Chrysomilides said in an interview yesterday.

The issue dominating Canada's Parliament is the naming of the Captain of Team Canada at the hockey world championships? The Bloc are offended. The NDP are offended. The Liberals are offended. The Tories are offended. Why?

The Bloc Québécois is demanding Shane Doan be removed as captain of Canada's world championship hockey team, in light of the disparaging comments he allegedly made about French Canadians in 2005.

Doan's French Canadian buddies think he's a good choice:

"In the heat of the battle things get said sometimes, a lot worse than being called a French frog or whatever," said Alain Vigneault, coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

"[Doan] says he didn't say it. Even if he did, come on. If our politicians, French or English, if that's the only thing right now they have to worry about....

"There's a lot more important things going on right now in society," Vigneault said. "It is utterly, utterly stupid, not to say embarrassing."

New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur had a similar reaction.

"I know Shane really [well] and I don't see him saying that," he said. "All these years in the league I never had a problem with it, so for me to hear that other people had a problem, I have a hard time understanding it."

What were the offending words:

Doan said he was complaining to teammate Curtis Joseph about the officiating, telling the goaltender, "'Four French referees in Montreal, Cuje, figure it out.'

"I would have done the same thing if we were in Los Angeles and it was four officials from California," Doan said Wednesday. "Or if we were in Calgary and it was four westerners."

Oh Dear! Call a Royal Commission:

The Bloc introduced the motion, supported by the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP, demanding that Hockey Canada explain itself to the parliamentary committee.

The NHL cleared Doan of any wrongdoing and the official who made the decision has this to say:

Colin Campbell, the NHL's executive vice-president and director of hockey operations, blasted the politicians for meddling, calling the intrusion "ridiculous.  

"I stand by my original comments after our investigation," Campbell told the Canadian Press. "But I would add to it at this point in time, it's rather embarrassing to all Canadian hockey fans we're rehashing this again, particularly when Hockey Canada and Shane Doan are representing and working hard in Moscow right now, competing for our country. It's ridiculous."

Ridiculous? To call this parliamentary behaviour ridiculous would be an insult to the ridiculous. It reminds me of the uproar over Triumph: The Insult Comic Dog insulting people.

I am offended by Parliament's offence.

(also at The london Fog)

UPDATE: Check out our elected representatives "explaining" their position ... what a pack of clowns. (H/T Small Dead Animals....via Mike at The London Fog)

Via The Toronto Star:

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan – A Taliban video of a 12-year-old boy beheading a man accused of spying has angered many Afghans, drawing condemnation from tribal and religious leaders.

Guys getting killed is the NDP military policy. Layton et al get to make hay when the sun stops shining over some poor kid who was killed in doing his duty. That the Canadian military is stretched to limit in Afghanistan is not a secret. The Government is looking to put in more money to the effort:

The government is seeking Parliament's approval to spend nearly $1 billion to sustain Canada's military through the rest of this fiscal year, including hundreds of millions of dollars to support the mission in Afghanistan and to buy new equipment.

What is the NDP response? To hell with the soldiers:

NDP Treasury Board critic Paul Dewar said one concern is that it's not clear from the estimates how much of the funding for the Afghanistan mission is going toward redevelopment.

The logic of this is ...well....illogical:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani helicopter gunships yesterday destroyed a religious school that the military said was fronting as an al Qaeda training camp, killing 80 persons in the country's deadliest military operation targeting terrorism suspects.
    Islamic leaders and al Qaeda-linked militants blamed the United States for the air strike and called for nationwide demonstrations to condemn the attack that flattened the school -- known as a madrassa -- and ripped apart those inside. Furious villagers and religious leaders said the pre-dawn missile barrage killed innocent students and teachers.
    U.S. and Pakistani military officials denied American involvement.

Pakistani helicopters... admission by Pakistan military officials ... USA to blame. It appears that there is no difference between Islamic leaders and the US left.

A court in Denmark has dismissed a defamation suit against the publishers of the cartoons of Mohammed. A victory for free speech on a continent where such speech is under threat.

Mark Steyn rightly calls Canada a "superwimp pussy -nation", while singing the praises of the Canadian troops:

And that, Mr. Binn, is why Canadian soldiers don't get the credit they deserve. Not because they're nancy boys but because the Canadian state is deeply invested in the idea of Canada as the nancy-boy nation. That's why in April 2002 the politicians, media and large swathes of the public preferred their Princess Pats as victims rather than as killers. Look at the words of almost every prominent "official" Canadian--Chr‚tien, Martin, Axworthy, Ralston Saul--in the first four-and-a-half years after 9/11. The underlying message is: this isn't our fight. Canada, in the peerless formulation of the great Christie Blatchford, mistook the sidelines for the moral high ground, and, in a great civilizational struggle being waged in a media age, it's not enough to have great fighting men when every other force in your society is communicating 24/7 that you're the superwimp pussy-nation.

Chapters not carrying Mark Steyn's new book. Decisions like this really help the bottom line.

AMERICA ALONE NOTE TO CANADIAN READERS

We have had hundreds of complaints today from would-be customers unable to find copies of the book in Chapters, Indigo, Coles, SmithBooks or any of the other aliases of Canada's multi-appellated monopoly bookstore chain. It's not our fault and I'm afraid there's nothing we or the publishers can do about it. Heather Reisman doesn't want to sell it and that's that. And that's what happens in as coercively regulated a cultural environment as the decayed Dominion's. Try Amazon Canada, where it's been Number Two on the bestsellers all weekend, even though, as one Calgary Chapters clerk told a thwarted customer, nobody wants it. If you're weary of listening to excuses from Canada's monopoly retailer as to why they didn't order a book that hit the Top Ten 24 hours after publication, try the SteynOnline store's premium fast-track UPS shipping option for Canadian customers who'd like the book within a few days.

Victor Davis Hanson is writing on historical islamic imperialism. It is well worth the read. Here is an excerpt:

But unlike the West, where Christianity began as the persecuted victim of the Roman Empire and conceived of its own empire as a spiritual one apart from the political realm, Islam “was inextricably lined with the creation of a world empire and its universalism was inherently imperialist. It did not distinguish between temporal and religious powers.” Muhammad could thus “cloak his political ambitions with a religious aura,” a rationalization of domination that drives the contemporary jihadists like Osama bin-Laden and Ayatollah Khomeini, who just like centuries of warriors before them justify their aggression by quoting Muhammad’s farewell address, in which the Prophet laid down the injunction “to fight all men until they say ‘There is no god but Allah.’”

I read this in the print version and intended to post on it. Then I see Tim Blair in Australia has beaten me to the punch. The circular logic of this letter is the stuff of the dark ages:

The fact that someone could call the Koran a "book of inherent violence" tells us how ignorant and uninformed that person is about our religion. Secondly, what I found interesting was Prof. Redeker's comment, "We must distinguish between Islamists and those responsible Muslims out there who should without a doubt support me." I find it hard to understand what he is looking for. Does he want moderate Muslims to support him when he is insulting the basis of our religion without putting in the time and effort to understand it completely? Even though he will not face a violent backlash from moderate Muslims, Prof. Redeker will not gain any kind of support or encouragement either.
Muslim "reactions" and "retaliations" against supposed "free speech" are not coming out of thin air. In fact, authors such as Prof. Redeker are adding fuel to the fire and expecting it to extinguish itself. There is a simple solution to these "violent" retaliations. Let's keep practising free speech, but eliminate the ignorant insulting of Muslim beliefs. The retaliations will stop. It is pretty hard to clap with just one hand.
Hamid Rizvi, Toronto.

What the???? We are vicious and violent only when you point out that we are vicious and viloent? It really isn't ours to wonder why.

Over at Political Pit Bull, the latest South Park is YouTubed (via Damination). Read this comment and quiz that follows the video:

The Brown Hornet said, October 13, 2006 04:16 AM These must be extremely tough times for a liberal to live in. The root of all leftist belief in kRaZy 9-11 theories, is that no matter how off the wall these theories are, no matter how disgusting, no matter how idiotic, all of them are much more believable than 19 radical islamic fundementalist hijacking the planes.

Radical Islamic Fundementalist are never to blame for anything, because they never make mistakes, and never have to appologise for anything (according to the modern liberal)And if a liberal does get caught in a trap where they would have to be intellectually honest and admit it, they then side-step and put the catagory of Radical Islam under the rather large banner of "all religion" (i.e. all religion is dangerous etc,.)

Watch a liberals head explode if they have to answer any of these questions

-1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:

a. Superman

b. Jay Leno

c. Harry Potter

d. Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40

1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:

a. Olga Corbett

b. Sitting Bull

c. Arnold Schwarzenegger

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

2. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:

a. Lost Norwegians

b. Elvis

c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

3. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:

a. John Dillinger

b.The King of Sweden

c. The Boy Scouts

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

4. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:

a. A pizza delivery boy

b. Pee Wee Herman

c. Geraldo Rivera

d. Muslim maleextremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and 70 year old Leon Klinghoffer, an American passenger confined to a wheelchair, was murdered and thrown overboard by:

a. The Smurfs

b. Davy Jones

c. The Little Mermaid

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

6. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and Robert Stidham, a US Navy diver was murdered by:

a. Captain Kidd

b. Charles Lindberg

c. Mother Teresa

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:

a. Scooby Doo

b. The Tooth Fairy

c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

8. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:

a. Richard Simmons

b. Grandma Moses

c. Michael Jordan

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

9. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:

a. Mr. Rogers

b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill' s women problems

c. The World Wrestling Federation

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

10. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:

a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd

b. The Supreme Court of Florida

c. Mr. Bean

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

11. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:

a. Enron

b. The Lutheran Church

c. The NFL

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:

a. Bonnie and Clyde

b. Captain Kangaroo

c. Billy Graham

d . Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

Victor Davis Hanson takes a look at North Korea and China's role. It is well worth the read.

Self-censorship in the face of the islamic ideology in Germany. More tolerating intolerance. So long to Mozart.

The ideology of Islam claims another victim. This time an Islamic woman who dared push for the education of Islamic women.

Damian Penny is again linking to Tim Blair's coverage of the cartoon crisis. This time Blair has a different spin, comparing the Nazi reaction to English cartoonist David Low's depictions of Adolph Hitler and the appeasement attempts of the UK government. It is well worth the read. Here is an excerpt from a speech by Australian treasurer Peter Costello that makes up the bulk of Blair's post:

It wasn"t only Hitler complaining about Low. In 1938 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain singled out Low while appealing to newspapers to temper their critical commentary of Germany. Chamberlain said: "Such criticism might do a great deal to embitter relations when we on our side are trying to improve them. German Nazis have been particularly annoyed by criticisms in the British press, and especially by cartoons. The bitter cartoons of Low of the Evening Standard have been a frequent source of complaint."

Update: The London Fog has the best headline: Cartoon Fuhrer. They also show one of the cartoons

Best quote on the cartoon crisis comes from Tim Blair:

"They won"t publish cartoons, but they will run anything they can get out of Abu Ghraib. Both sets of images provoke Islamic anger; note how the media behaves when that anger is directed at them."

There is a lot of rationalizing going on in the media these days. As commented before, the media are not printing the Mohammed cartoons out of fear and then justifying it as respect. Why, the question is asked, do you need to show the cartoons to report the story? Well, it kinda puts things perspectiveive. The reader/viewer can see what the stink is all about. It seems obvious to me. With that said, opposition to printing pictures from Abu Ghraib will never be found at this site. UPDATE: Damian Penny has more UPDATE II: You will note that I do not have the cartoon posted. Frankly I do not know how to post a cartoon, but here is a link.

Colby Cosh is dead on when he says that it we are not free to say fuck Islam then we are not free. Freedom of speech is not an isue when someone is saying something we want to hear, it is only an issue when the statement is something that we find offensive. Expression is a right, not a privilege,to be allowed or revoked by the state or some dark ages religion.