It's funny, they look so enthusiastic in the pornography

Japanese companies are trying to convince workers to go forth and multiply in a country where by 2050 a third of the population will have died out:

A recent survey of married couples under 50 found that more than a third had not had sex in the previous month.

Many couples said they didn't have the energy for sex, while others said they found it boring.

Japan's birth rate, at 1.34 - the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime - is among the lowest in the world and falls well short of the 2.07 children needed to keep the population stable.

If the rate persists, demographers warn that Japan's overall population will drop to 95 million by 2050 from its 2006 peak of 127.7 million.

They don't find sex interesting? As Mark Steyn notes, "its no karaoke night"...

At the bottom of the story is a link to a now-defunct video about something called the

Naked festival

Feb 14 2008: Dozens of men wrestle half-naked in the snow, part of Japan's raciest festival, the Somin Sai

And yet they can't be bothered to have sex with their wives. So in the interests of the future of the Japanese race, I present "sexy Asian porn kiss"

Black Friday 2008:Credit limits lowered

I have it on good authority that over this past week a large number of U.S. banks have been quietly lowering the credit limit on people's cards. While its true that there are other reasons banks do this, its pretty obvious that McCain's $700 billion stimulus didn't work. Of course, Obama said it wouldn't, not until it was bolstered by his $800 billion stimulus in January. Palin may have stopped the Bridge to Nowhere, but Obama is still trying to sell it to you.

What it is, however, is another sign of the upcoming global market disaster. So far no word about Canadian credit card holders having their limits suddenly dropped, but don't be surprised.

On a side note, this is not the best time to buy an HDTV. Wait a couple months, people!

Cause and Effect

Is there at all a connection to this story...

A group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the attacks but little is known of it.

The men were of South Asian appearance and reportedly spoke Hindi, indicating they originated in India.

Attacks over recent years have seen a variety of different groups named, particularly the Indian Mujahideen who had apparently threatened to attack Mumbai in September, claiming that Muslims had been harassed.

And this story?

For the second time in a week, an Indian navy frigate assigned to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden has clashed with pirates operating out of Somalia.

Reports from New Delhi say the frigate Tabar -- a modern semi-stealth warship -- which is serving with a nine-country international naval task force, destroyed a heavily armed pirate mothership with its machineguns after coming under fire from it on Tuesday evening. It is believed the pirate crew escaped in two speedboats.

(I say this even with the recent news that one of the attacked motherships claims to be a fishing trawler, though no way to say for sure if it wasn't in fact both)

After all, this story turned out to have a lot to do with this story (which happened to feature the same region).

Self-pithy stuff from the CBC?

This afternoon on CBC Radioactive they were discussing the hockey team that the station is trying to field. They mentioned their goaltender and a couple guys who were playing left-wing, and then actually said

Since this is the CBC we're having trouble finding any right-wingers

Actually made me chuckle.

Reflections on the intersections of history

Remember the year 2001? I have been thinking about it a lot the last hour or so: it was the year that a horrible act of barbarism celebrated in the culturally backward parts of the world took place that upset the balance of our lives and proved that evil still existed in the world.

And if Calgary winning a Grey Cup wasn't bad enough, a couple months earlier 9/11 happened too!

On the bright side, Montreal lost. At our Grey Cup party today (I had 15 kinds of beer and homemade nachos: which is 11 more kinds of beer than you could get if you were at Boston Pizza) I spent a lot of time screaming at the T.V.

What's with the big ugly white "Queerbec" sign?

Somebody stop him! Christ, I haven't seen anybody have that much trouble defeating a Frenchman on the field of battle since...well, ever!

You're right: Ben Cahoon does look disturbingly similar to Markus Naslund

Didn't the Prime Minister used to do the coin toss?

Didn't the Governor General used to give out the Grey Cup?

I still wish Edmonton had won last week: a Battle of Alberta would not only have been cool to see in the Grey Cup, but it would have been a chance for Alberta taxpayers to get back some of our money from that stupid fucking Olympic Stadium that we're still paying for.

A Battle of Alberta one year after the Battle of the Prairies would have really been cool.

Okay seriously these uniforms look too much alike. I thought for sure that was a touchdown, not an interception.

How in the name of retarded shit was that not an illegal takedown?

For the last time Calgary, finish your goddamned tackles!

If Calgary wins this game, I'm doing shots.

No no, I said if Montreal wins I'll do shots. I don't need to drink until I forget about this game anymore!

96th Grey Cup

Well, we didn't get the Battle of Alberta that had been hoped for. Thanks a fucking lot, you useless dork Macochia.

Anyways, we end up getting the Calgary Stampeders vs. the Montreal Allouettes. Your humble correspondant will be hosting a house party for the big game, which features Alberta (yay!) versus Quebec (boo!).

Or, as I'm calling it:

Steers vs. Queers!

An appeal for assistance

Okay, for the first time in weeks I've checked my blog from somebody else's computer.

So how the %#*%&@$&%@ do I get the #*#%^&$*$@%ing blue line off of the right side of the text frame? That one at about 85% justification. I want it gone.

Any suggestions?

PALIN LIED, TURKEY'S DIED

Feynman and Coulter's Love Child, November 10th:

On the other hand, Sarah Palin is a threat to one-Obama governance. She's her own rising star, and a threat to the Democrats in 2012: if not as a presidential candidate at least another run at Veep. Ergo, she has to be taken down as many pegs as the media can possibly manage.

Mainstream media, November 20th:

The video aired after MSNBC ran a story on Palin's pre-Thanksgiving pardoning of a turkey at a Wasila poultry farm. Shuster, quite serious, set up the segment with this warning:

We've made every effort to sanitize the video of what happens next, but you still might want to consider getting the kids out of the room right now and anyone who's a little squeamish about where Thanksgiving dinner comes from. Are they gone? Okay, here's what happened next: As Governor Palin stepped outside of the hatchery, to give a post-pardon interview, she neglected to notice what was happening directly behind her -- in clear view of the television cameras. We've blurred out the goriest parts, but here's her interview, from start to finish.

Afterward, Shuster asserted:

And you thought her media outings as a vice presidential candidate were as bad as it gets.

Movember

I didn't grow a moustache like I did last year (though since I didn't raise money doing it I don't think it makes much of a difference).

Well anyways, Global Edmonton is running a story about it this morning, so I thought its a good time to post the horribly creepy Movember commercials that were running in doctors offices last fall:


Remember: prostate cancer is a serious issue, and our anti-male culture won't do anything to fund it

Have-not province blows $2 million to cry racism

A $2,000,000 report by the economically-distressed province of Ontario was released last week, and it covers the 2007 stabbing death of black high school student Jordan Manners.

The authors identified racism as a major problem.

"We were taken aback by the extent to which racism is alive and well and wreaking its deeply harmful effects on Ontarians and on the very fabric of this province," wrote McMurtry and Curling.

"This racism affects all racialized groups in Ontario ... in particular blacks (continue to) suffer from a seemingly more entrenched and often more virulent form of racism."

Youth who feel alienated, oppressed -- and who have no sense of hope -- are more likely to engage in violence, they said.

The report -- which made 30 recommendations -- also focused on other issues the authors said the province must address to reduce violence, including an emphasis on providing easier access to and better mental health services.

The authors said the province must invest about $200 million to provide universal mental health services, noting that the money should be spent even as the government runs into deficit budgets.

"Our report is a road map to government and others who must join us on this journey. Now is the time to take the first steps," said McMurtry at a news conference.

The authors also noted the irony of the criminal justice system.

"Paradoxically, a young person's 'last chance for rehabilitation' is often the criminal justice system, which is ill-equipped to deal with the youth's mental health problems," said the report.

Toronto Mayor David Miller added that society must ensure that entire groups of young people feel don't feel excluded.

"You put a gun in the hands of somebody who is angry, who feels alienated, who feels discriminated against, and that is impulsive, you're creating an incredible risk for society," Miller said.

McGuinty said he will consider the report's recommendations "very carefully" and will look at it as a blueprint for an action plan.

"We can't just write off groups of kids just because they are troubled and troublesome," he said.

He also called on parents to become more engaged in their children's lives.

The report also calls for:

* Ontario to press the federal government to impose a handgun ban (about 30 per cent of handguns used in Toronto crimes originated with legitimate owners)
* expand availability of public space and facilities for recreation activities
* improve parenting skills and "community-based" support system for parents
* keep crime statistics based on race

Well for a change of pace I will hold off on criticizing some of the more outlandish charges for now.

A 16-year old boy was killed, and this report makes it clear that racism is the cause. Jordon Manners was stabbed by two individuals, who have been apprehended. So are they neo-Nazi skinheads? Transplanted rednecked Alberta cowboys?

Er, no.

Here are the killers (faces obscured because they are under-age). Well what do you know: they're black too! So when two black kids stab another black kid, its a sign of racism?

Actually this brings up a pretty important point: when whitewashed (pun intended) government reports give politically-correct excuses for violent acts, and when a bunch of expensive and ultimately unproductive government programs are recommended in response, the end result is that more stabbings will take clase. And the Jacey Pinnock case in Edmonton and the Jordan Manners case in Ontario make it clear: the end result of crying "racism" is the death of more black kids. Proof? Jordon Manner's own cousin was arrested for murder less than six months later.

Guns N' Roses new album came out before Duke Nukem Forever

Chinese Democracy, the new album by Guns N' Roses, is being released next week. Back when the album was announced, a new Democratic President gave people around the world hope and excitement that America would slowly descend into mediocrity allowing their own second rate nations to soar, oil prices had been in a steady decline, and ER was the top television show.

Well, okay, something's changed in 14 years. You get the picture though. Fourteen years, $13 million, and about 15 band member changes later, Chinese Democracy is here.

Well, the rock album, I mean. Not actual democracy in China. But for a while it was an open question which would happen first.

Third Edge of the Sword keeps you out of jail

Back in October of 2006, I briefly discussed a point about laws prohibiting internet luring.

if its illegal for a 45-year-old accountant with an internet account to be talking naughty to 13-year-old girls, how on earth can it be legal for a 51-year-old police investigator to be online pretending to be the 13-year-old girl. Entrapment laws aside, in the end aren't you busting him for talking dirty to little kids? If he doesn't know that the "little kid" isn't a little kid, would it not be a fairly reasonable defense that he wasn't talking dirty to little kids, but rather talking dirty to other dirty old men who were impersonating little kids? In other words, that he was assuming that there are no 13-year-old girls asking for more pictures of his testicles, but rather even more perverse 51-year-old accountants [or hell, even perverse police investigators! -ed] with cross-dressing and roleplay fantasies. Typically these dirty old men pretend to be young people themselves not when the digital pictures get taken, [I assume -ed], so I don't think it would be too unreasonable to use the "I knew the person I'm talking to is actually an adult who's pretending" defense. After all, the defendant would have been pretending already!
In reality if any of these child molesters who agree to meet the person they're chatting with, and then get busted in a police sting, the first thing they should blurt out when the SWAT team is tasering him (or, if not in Edmonton, the first thing he says when peacefully cuffed by an officer who isn't jacked up on cocaine) is "when do I get to meet the guy I chatted with? Is he hot?"

Well it took a couple of years, but somebody used basically that defense: and it worked!

Michell Rayal Levigne had been accused of Internet luring following a 2006 undercover police sting operation, however he testified in his own defence that he never actually believed the person he was chatting with was 13.

When asked why not, Levigne related two examples of how things are sometimes not the same as advertised and people are not exactly who and what they say they are.

The thing to note is that Levigne was right! Even if he did believe it was a 13-year-old-boy, it wasn't. It would be awfully hard to make that charge stick: it would be like being tried in court for the murder of Yahoo! founder George Osbourne while Osbourne himself sat in the benches watching the case. Actus reus: the act must be committed. If there was an actual 13 year old boy chatting on the computer under the observation of an EPS officer a case could be made: but as it is, Levigne isn't guilty because the Crown cannot prove that he was talking to a 13-year-old.

Update, July 15 2010: The Supreme Court has inexplicably upheld the conviction. Its interesting to note how many people observe what Third Edge of the Sword told you four years ago: Levigne never chatted with a 13-year old boy. Yet the Supremes, with a clear cut case of being able to strike down a horribly unwieldy Section 172.1, upheld it. Levigne never took the steps a reasonable person would have taken to determine the age of his chat partner: that's the only way that the top court looked at it, ignoring the fact that if Levigne was psychic and could telepathically determine the exact person he was chatting with, he would have found an Edmonton Police Services officer.

My question remains: how big of a pervert is this cop? I know Edmonton Police aren't known for their adherence to the law or their fine moral standing, but what I want to know is how often did this guy masterbate at night thinking of Michell Levigne's sexually explicit photos?

Yet Sophie continues to air on CBC

First Corner Gas, and now this: December finale of Trailer Park Boys to air.

Say it ain't so, Joe!

Fire Joe Morgan has closed down.

On a possibly related matter, Joe Morgan may possibly be getting sort-of fired.

Vous ne obtenir pas la soupe!

So it turns out on the back of various labels on cans of Campbell's soup, there are recipes (a really good idea, incidentally).

In the case of "Homestyle Chicken Noodle", the recipe is for "Happy Face Ham Sandwiches". All fine and good, will probably never make one, etc. etc.

Here's the real beautiful part: it is impossible to tear the label off with your fingers without irrevocably destroying the French-language recipe!

That is the sort of thing that brings a tear to me eye.

What is good voter turnout, anyways?

Early reports indicated the recent U.S. Presidential Election's turnout rate was an astoundingly high 63-64%. That would have put it the highest voter turnout in U.S. history.

However, the United States Elections project yesterday gave an updated estimated turnout of 61.2% As the report notes, this is higher than the 2004 Bush-Kerry election rate of 60.1%, but lower than the 1968 record 62.5% that gave Richard Nixon his first term.

Regardless of the figure, ever since the U.S. election Canadian pundantry has been belly-aching about our recent record low voter turnout, wondering if we could use a dynamic young leader to shake things up. [sorry Justin Trudeau, they also implied he can't be a white guy -ed] So everybody got that? The U.S.'s 61.2% is awesome, and our measely turnout is pathetic.

So what was our turnout, anyways? Answer: 59.1%

Hey, waitaminute here. That's only a 2% difference. Remember that the Bush-Kerry vote was only 60.1%, and that didn't go through any soul-searching with the Yanks about low turnout. (Well, technically yes, several lefties bemoaned that more people didn't go out to vote... for Kerry)

Can we officially ix-nay this whole discussion about voter turnout? Especially since voting in Canada costs you tax money: $1.95 goes to the party that you voted for. If you don't like any of them, voting would benefit a party you don't support.

One-and-a-half McCain/Palin predictions

Well the media, as you might guess, would never settle for merely putting their second rate candidate into the not-so-White-anymore House.

So here's what's going to happen: over the next several months (let the media's trashing of McCain dim in people's eyes) you'll start seeing all of these positive articles about the hardworking dedicated patriot named John McCain who would have made an excellent President. It will start slowly, and built to a virtual train wreck of "what a shame that McCain couldn't have won in 2000 and led America to sixteen glorious years of McCain/Obama enlightened government" op-eds. Why? Because John McCain is harmless now. No worries lifting him up when he's never going to get the nomination ever again.

On the other hand, Sarah Palin is a threat to one-Obama governance. She's her own rising star, and a threat to the Democrats in 2012: if not as a presidential candidate at least another run at Veep. Ergo, she has to be taken down as many pegs as the media can possibly manage.

Which is why I am ashamed to call this my half-prediction: I wasn't quick enough to beat the gush of "Palin ruined it" stories. First apparently anonymous sources reported Palin didn't know Africa was a continent. (Or was that that she didn't know Africa was a country? The story is rather fluid, and probably was just a brief misunderstanding where an African placename was assumed to be a country in southern Africa rather than a region in South Africa, or some such nonsense. Then there was the reports of prima-donna temper tantrums, and now reports of Palin refusing to appear on stage with people whom she... you know, stood on stage with.

Anyways, expect more of this in the future. Because if it can be expected to interfere with Obama's second term, expect the media to fight her tooth and nail.

One step ahead of you, Ann

For now, we have a new president-elect. In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, we owe it to the Democrats to show their president the exact same kind of respect and loyalty that they have shown our recent Republican president.

Starting tomorrow, if not sooner.

Änderung können Sie daran glauben

Today was the unveiling of Obama's transitional website. Obama.org? ShareJoesWealth.com? No no, naturally it HAS to be change.gov. But whats this? A section called "America serves"? Is Obama finally showing his support for the military?

No, silly me, that would be wise and forward thinking and therefore totally out of character.

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.

Holy hell!

I literally have trouble deciding where to begin. As others have noted, colleges are about to increase their tuition by $4000 per year: thats how much students will get from the government in return for their 100 hours of community service.

Meanwhile high school students will be...required to perform 50 hours community service? The infamous Camrose cat-killers who sparked massive protests also received community service: 100 hours. So the punishment for having to live under Chairman Barack is only half that of torturing cats? (Well, okay, that seems fair at least). Connie Viveiros, the Edmonton banker who was a gambling addict, also received 100 hours

A Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools... so he promised them more money and is now poised to deliver... some schlub who's only there to fulfill his Obama time?

No no, what really catches my eye with the 50 hours of community service is that it seems the first step to Obama's revitalization of Hitler Youth. Schoolkids being put to work in the name of Obama (should we just start writing it as "President Obama (pbuh)" and get it over with? (There's a reason this blog post title is a messy German translation of "Change you can believe in)

Update, November 7 2008, 12:24am: Darcey at Dust My Broom has noticed the Hitler qualities of our dear Barack as well. Hugely popular leader? Check. Great oratory skills but no leadership experience? Check. Country suffering from recession caused by neo-cons (Jews)? Check. Plans to withdraw country from unpopular agreements? Check.

What makes you believe anything would change?

This afternoon I had an IM exchange with a friend of mine who worked on her local Obama campaign team. She was very happy that her candidate won the election, and really didn't like my response:

FACLC:Yeah thanks a lot to all of you for fucking my country over
Friend: What do u mean?
FACLC: Alberta has lots of lumber and beef and oil that have been to date sold under the wise reign of President Bush and the world's largest trade agreement
Friend: How do you know that will change? Besides, we need to take care of ours first

From this, two overriding facts emerge from the discussion:

1. How do I know that it will change? Because Obama stated numerous times he plans to "tear up NAFTA". Wait, are you saying when he pledged to remove the US from the North American Free Trade Agreement that it was change we shouldn't believe in?
2. Er, wasn't "rampant unilateralism" one of the evils of George W. Bush's administration? Wasn't Obama supposed to be reaching a world consensus and repairing America's relationship with various foreign countries? Isn't Obama his (foreign citizen) brother's keeper? How can any of these promises jive with this Obama staffer's declaration that "America needs to take care of Americans, to hell with the citizens in other parts of the planet?" No, don't tell me, let me guess: more "change we shouldn't believe in".

November 4, 2008: The fall of the American Experiment

Spread the wealth...just not, you know... his wealth.

Change we can believe in...but no actual change to the one topic he was actually clear about.

Deal with the threat of Iran...if they let me!

November 4, 2008 in pictures

is to
as is to

as is to

Vote McCain/Palin!

Maude Barlow and her idiot environmentalists

So Maude Barlow's Council of Canadians marched on the Alberta Legislature on Saturday.

But how on earth did the media swallow hook line and sinker this stinker of a line?

Leo Broderick, from Charlottetown, says it looked like an atomic bomb had wiped out all the vegetation around the oilsands mines and he can't believe that Canadians have allowed this to happen.

First off Leo from Charlottetown, the oilsands don't belong to Canada, they belong to Albertans. Secondly, what vegetation are you talking about? The tarsands in large sections look awfully similar to Saudi Arabia before we pump a single barrel of crude from the ground: the constant slow release of bitumen over the millenia has already left the area a virtual wasteland. What happened to Leo's vegetation? It never existed. Sorry Leo, you haven't scored any points with that one.