Late Show: Killer Shrews

They had to eat 3 times their body weight each day... OR STARVE!

No, it’s not a film about cruising the downtown Eastside of Toronto with Kathy Shaidle and Wendy Sullivan, it’s the ultra-low-budget 1959 B-movie cult classic about a genetic science experiment gone horribly wrong.

Attempts by a doctor on a remote island to make humans half-size (so as to reduce world hunger as smaller humans would presumably eat less) inexplicably creates giant, venomous shrews…

The film stars James Best, who went on the greater fame as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in The Dukes of Hazzard and Ken Curtis, better known as “Festus” on Gunsmoke. This release of the movie also features nostalgic drive-in snack bar promos.

TVO Agenda: Mark Steyn v. Muslim Critics

I just watched this program last night (it originally aired on May 6, but of course we don’t get TVO here in B.C.). It’s not altogether edifying and does at points degenerate into a shouting match, but host Steve Paikin does an admirable job of attempting to create some semblance of a “debate” between Mark Steyn and three of critics — Naseem Mithoowani, Khurrum Awan and Muneeza Sheikh, the three Osgoode Hall Law School graduates that filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission against Macleans Magazine. Steyn, by the way, doesn’t even have the common decency to refer to them by name on his blog, but simply dismisses them as “The Sock Puppet Three” or scoffs at them as being “Sock Puppet Nellies.”

Some things to bear in mind when listening to Steyn’s by now familiar Islamophobic polemic can be found in a pretty good critique of it by John Gordon Miller. For example: “The article quotes demographic studies showing that 16 European countries, with a total population of 234 million, now have fertility rates of 1.8 or more. Half are above 2.0. Despite near-panic about “inevitably” declining population, then, some European countries are growing quite strongly. They tend to be in northern Europe, from Sweden to France.” Oops. That doesn’t quite mesh with Steyn’s essential premise, now does it? Nor does the fact that, as Miller points out, “Many of these, of course, are social democratic countries with child-care supports (France, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, contrary to Steyn’s assertion that such states discourage “the survival instinct”).

Another problem arises with Steyn’s assertion that “the successor population is already in place” because, as Miller notes, “Aside from France (10%) and the Netherlands (5.4%), the Muslim populations of the rest of the countries of Europe are all under 4 percent, and countries like Italy and Britain have Muslim populations roughly equal to Canada’s 2.5 percent. The idea that Muslims in Europe will be in a position to demand special concessions like Sharia law in the near future is unlikely.” There are many more gaping holes such as this in his argument to be found, so go read the whole thing (I’d suggest sticking to the contradictory facts however as the journalistic prescriptions are questionable at best).

Update: I wasn’t going to bother with the first part of the show because I felt Steyn’s views had already had a pretty good airing here over the last few days, but here it is now for full context.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Stupid Design

I was actually pursuing a different line of inquiry altogether when I ran across this video from a presentation called “Stupid Design” by Neil deGrasse Tyson at the 2006 Beyond Belief conference. I’ll get to the other thing in due course. Meanwhile, here’s Tyson (who’s director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History) pointing out some of the glaring evidence for a universe without a designer.

Kooky Like You

It’s not difficult to grasp the depth of the mental dysfunction amongst The Blogging Tories but some days it’s easier than usual. To wit, this morning we have the sorry spectacle of “Joanne” (aka “Blue Like You”) — a morally sanctimonious and deeply dishonest woman of breathtaking inanity — scurrilously suggesting that disgraced MP Maxime Bernier’s former girlfriend stole the infamous NATO briefing documents that were left at Julie Couillard’s house for several weeks, apparently as an act of “revenge” because “she felt the relationship was threatened.” This crackpot notion is based on nothing more than her own vague suspicion of nefarious doings afoot and the equally baseless speculation of an anonymous “source” cited in the Globe & Mail who claims that Bernier “doesn’t know if he forgot them or if it’s her who would have taken them.” Apparently, it never occurs to any of these reckless dimwits and malicious character assassins that, aside from being a completely ridiculous hypothesis, it’s wholly irrelevant.

Nevertheless, let’s momentarily entertain this silly notion for the sake of argument. Even supposing that the files were stolen by Couillard — which would be a criminal offense — how would this mitigate in any way Bernier’s irresponsible behaviour in allowing the NATO briefing papers to be so easily pilfered from his care by his former girlfriend in the first instance and then, to make matters worse, to have subsequently neglected their whereabouts for several weeks owing to a complete loss of memory and/or total lack of administrative oversight?

But wait… the plot thickens with even more conceivable perfidy brewing deep within the febrile imagination of “Joanne” who then goes on to wonder: “Or could it have been a plan carried out by Couillard with the aide [sic] of some Liberal-supporting, disenchanted bureaucrats within Foreign Affairs?” Hmmm. Indeed. Why it’s assumed the sinister “bureaucrats within Foreign Affairs” hatching this execrable scheme would necessarily be “Liberal-supporting” is anyone’s guess — it’s certainly unsupported by the slightest bit of evidence whatsoever. But since when are logic, facts, evidence, or credible sources needed to fuel the wild speculations of “Joanne” and her ilk?

Things really hit a nadir of insanity in the comments when inveterate right-wing troll and Canadian Blue Lemons contributor “Mary T” weighs in with her own harebrained theories on the matter. “I think many of us suspected something like this from the beginning, and if the msm hadn’t jumped so fast the truth would probably have come out much sooner,” she states. I dare you to decipher the deeply retarded thought-process that permits such an utterly ludicrous conclusion to be arrived at from the foregoing baseless speculation. How on earth would “the truth” have been revealed had not the incident become subject to intense scrutiny by the press and Opposition critics? By magic? Unfortunately, the dreadful “Mary T” doesn’t really elaborate other than to insist again that “If the msm had done their job instead of gotcha politics, along with the opposition, the truth might have got out.” That’s barely coherent, let alone persuasive. Still, like the other brain-addled harpies that frequent the “Blue Like You” salon, “Mary T” remains hopeful “…just waiting for it to come out that she was involved with some liberal or bloc mp in the past.”

And so it goes with these mentally dysfunctional dissemblers. No facts, no credible sources, and worst of all… no sense of decency whatsoever. Here is “Joanne” who purports to be a “citizen journalist” (and a person of faith) recklessly speculating that Julie Couillard committed a serious crime against the state out of petty revenge and/or that professional civil servants engaged in willful misconduct out of partisan political motivation — all without a single shred of evidence. How can anyone take such people seriously?

Medieval Lives: The Minstrel

There was once a minstrel, a happy-go-lucky fellow, wandering the country to sing at the courts of lords and kings. Everywhere he was welcomed with open arms. Strumming his lute and spinning his tales of romance and derring-do, he’d charm the ladies and then move on. What a life. Yes, nice life. Except, of course, it wasn’t like that at all…

Bill on Bill Action

O’Reilly and Shatner… Geez, how’d they find a room big enough for those two egos?

I love the way Bill O finishes the interview, basically saying he didn’t have time to read the book. What a surprise.

And speaking of Bills, pay close attention to the crawl on this clip (usually I ignore them completely, but this caught my eye for some reason). Note where it says “SEN DEMS BLOCK BILL BY AZ SEN. JOHN MCCAIN THAT WOULD INCREASED COLLEGE AID FOR VETERANS.” Now, if that isn’t the biggest load of baloney, ever. It made me do a double-take considering McCain opposed the G.I. Bill that eventually passed by a landslide despite Bush’s veto. Turns out what that referred to is the alternative bill proposed by McCain, along with Sen. Lindsay Graham and Sen. Richard Burr that offered less generous educational benefits than Sen. Webb’s bill and applied only to those troops who’d served 12 years or more. Hey, it’s not called “Faux News” for nothing, folks.

Meet the Natives (Ep.1 — Part 2)

A while back, I posted the first part of the 2007 Channel 4 documentary “Meet the Natives” in which five tribesmen from the remote South Pacific nation of Vanuatu journey to the strange, exotic land of England. I don’t want to leave it at just that however because it’s really quite a delightful and highly entertaining series, so I’ll be posting the rest over the next several weeks.

You can read more about it here.

Saturday Morning Toon: Atom Ant

Crankenshaft’s Monster

Hilarious bio from Wikipedia:

Atom operated out of an anthill in the countryside, where he possessed such things as a mainframe computer and exercise equipment. His powers mostly consisted of the ability to fly, superspeed, and amazing strength.

He was often contacted by the police, who sent him out on assignment. Some of these missions parodied those of Batman. In one episode, the police force was shown to be underfunded and inept, as they relied on Atom Ant to do all their police work. The only two police officers were the chief and deputy chief. The department only possessed one rusted patrol car.

Comments Fixed Now!

Just a little late-night housekeeping matter... The problem with comments noted earlier has now been resolved. Thanks very much to Michael at Intense Debate for the technical assistance in setting things back to the Haloscan system for inline commenting. (And sorry for being such a prick about it when my initial messages weren’t being responded to.)

Afghan Jailbreak: “There is no one left”

CTV News:

The Sarposa Prison was the one at the centre of a scandal early this year, after allegations that prisoners handed over by the Canadian Forces were being tortured.

Canada has since paid for upgrades to the jail and Canadian troops have offered human rights training to the Afghan guards.

Military analyst Mercedes Stephenson said Friday’s attack will be serious hit to Canadian morale, particularly since many of the escapees had been captured by Canadian Forces.

“It’s absolutely a blow to the Canadian mission,” she told CTV Newsnet. “It’s a lot of very hard work that’s been undone.”

Meanwhile:

Lalani, named ambassador in April 2007, said he’s been hearing doom-and-gloom assessments since he arrived in the country.

“Since I arrived in Afghanistan, people have been telling me that the sky is going to fall. It has not fallen.”

Until now.

Late Show: Reefer Madness

SEE youthful marijuana victims — what actually happens!

The infamous 1936 exploitation film revolving around the tragic events that ensue when innocent high school students are lured by a trio of pushers to try reefer cigarettes — wild parties, a hit and run accident, manslaughter, suicide, rape, and descent into madness all ensue!

It was originally financed by a church group and made under the title Tell Your Children. Some contend that the exaggerated fear-mongering about drugs was just a subterfuge that allowed the filmmakers to circumvent the Hays Code and show “racier” material than the Code would otherwise permit.

Lil’ Russ — Dead at 58!

Holy shit. That was a shock. I can’t believe we won’t have Timmeh! to kick around any more.

And on Friday the 13th... Wow, talk about bad luck.

Update: So, any guesses as to who might be his replacement on Meet the Press?

Update2: Fox News president Roger Ailes on Russert’s passing.

TDS: Media Failure — Part LXXXIV

Jon Stewart on the news media's dismal coverage of the latest Senate report confirming that the Bush Administration “lied” about intelligence to promote war with Iraq. Further testimony supporting the accusations made so well in the film Orwell Rolls in His Grave.

Mark Steyn Interview (Part 4)

Okay, here’s the last available part of the interview with Steyn on The Michael Coren Show. Hard to take him all that seriously when he refers to Ezra Levant as “a great man”… (He’s definitely a “great” something.) In this segment he touches on the dispute with the “commissars” of the Human Rights Commission. As stated previously, I happen to agree with him on this subject.

Architectural Moment of Zen

Planetarium of the Museu de les Ciencies Principe Felipe in Valencia, Spain. Another impressive structure by Santiago Calatrava.

Medieval Lives: Damsel

Her parents can’t wait to oblige the bishop with their daughter’s ...well, I would say hand, but that’s not quite what the wicked Ranulf has in mind.

The Medieval damsel is nowadays seen as a beautiful, but helpless woman, forever in need of a knight in shining armor to rescue her. But were damsels really such passive females, or are the stories we think we know about them, simply not true?

Canadian DMCA: Good for Whom?

Creators, distributors or consumers? I’m sure the “Conservatives” would argue all of the foregoing, although critics will undoubtedly beg to differ. Michael Geist, for example, lays out many cogent objections to provisions buried in the “fine print” of the Bill that seem to undermine or directly contradict the benefits to the consumer being touted by Industry Minister Jim Prentice.

“Really what the government is saying through this legislation is that creators or – more accurately, content distributors – can use digital locks ... and through those technologies determine the legal rules and the technological locks trump the exceptions that are in the act for consumers.” — Prof. Jeremy de Beer, University of Ottawa

I don’t pretend to understand all of the implications involved and haven’t a clue whether Bill C-61 is a particularly good or bad piece of legislation, but if, as is claimed by the folks at Digital Copyright Canada “this bill reduces certainty in the marketplace, not increases it” and “it will likely be decades before we fully understand how this bill will be interpreted by the courts,” then it’s somewhat difficult to see how we as consumers (and in some cases creators) are any better served now than was previously the case.

Countdown v. Hannity: Spinning the Election

As my friend “Trusty Tory” is fond of saying: “Blah, blah, blah, blah…”

I have a feeling this campaign is going to get tiresome very quickly — that is, for those who aren’t already profoundly bored by the name-calling and endless game of “Gotcha!”

A Very British Sex Scandal (Part 8)

The final part. And a happy ending too!

Late Show: The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin

First episode of the brilliant BBC sitcom from the 70s.