Liberal Anne McLellan Endorses Dinning

Stephen Taylor interviews Anne McLellan in Montreal – fast-forward to the 4:35 mark of this video to get McLellan’s very spirited endorsement of Dinning!
Via: noisefromtheright

UN Peacekeepers accused of raping children

UN “protection” isn’t what it used to be:

Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found. Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money.

Dinning Attack – “Ted Morton’s Alberta is not my Alberta”

Does this not remind you for the Liberal attacks against Stephen Harper in the last two federal elections?

Ted Morton’s Alberta is not my Alberta.”

Apparently Morton isn’t Albertan enough for Jim, I’m surprised he didn’t come right out and mention Morton is originally from the United States – GASP!

Morton’s Alberta is also not Lethbridge West MLA Clint Dunford’s Alberta, or that of Mayor Bob Tarleck, Ald. Ryan Parker, former politicians Jack Ady, Ray Speaker and John Gogo, Little Bow MLA Barry McFarland, former mayor Dave Carpenter, retired RCMP superintendent Lloyd Hickman and others, all who attended Wednesday’s meeting to give Dinning their support.

Remember what I said about Lethbridge’s local elite supporting Dinning? Problem is none of these “elites” will actually deliver any votes for Dinning – they’re there for the food (and what was supposed to be a coronation).

In the Lethbridge region, Dinning garnered only 1,961 votes or 22.9 per cent support. Morton, however, received 4,786 votes, or 55.9 per cent, making him the favourite among regional voters.

Morton’s greatest support is in the Little Bow riding where he received 1,417 votes to Dinning’s 271. Dinning’s best showing is in Livingstone-Macleod where he received 392 votes, still well below Morton’s 827.

Ed Stelmach, who placed third in the first ballot and moves on to Saturday’s vote, received 360 votes from the Lethbridge region.

The Journalist for the Lethbridge Herald, which is known for their “Liberal” tendencies, goes on to say,

Carpenter, who has attended previous campaign functions but has been quiet so far, also said voting for Dinning will be best for the province. He said the issue goes beyond Saturday’s vote or even the next election, because the victor will build a province for future generations.

No surprise there, we already know that Carpenter is going to be onside, Dinning was the one pushing him to replace Dunford in Lethbridge West.

Morton is planning a visit to Lethbridge tomorrow, we’ll see if the Herald gives him a front page headline like the above Dinning story… I won’t hold my breath.

Religious Conservatives Give More to Charity than Secular Liberals

According to a new book by Arthur C. Brooks:

In Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism (Basic Books), Arthur C. Brooks finds that religious conservatives are far more charitable than secular liberals, and that those who support the idea that government should redistribute income are among the least likely to dig into their own wallets to help others.

His initial research for Who Really Cares revealed that religion played a far more significant role in giving than he had previously believed. In 2000, religious people gave about three and a half times as much as secular people — $2,210 versus $642. And even when religious giving is excluded from the numbers, Mr. Brooks found, religious people still give $88 more per year to nonreligious charities.

He writes that religious people are more likely than the nonreligious to volunteer for secular charitable activities, give blood, and return money when they are accidentally given too much change.

“There is not one measurably significant way I have ever found in which religious people are not more charitable than nonreligious people,” Mr. Brooks says. “The fact is, if it weren’t for religious people in your community, the PTA would shut down.”

Ht: Chronicle of Higher Education.

Iran: Canadian Embassy Spying on Us

The Iranian Parliament has asked Pres. Ahmadinejad to investigate the Canadian embassy in Tehran for allegedly spying on the Iranian government. As Global Information Gateway reports:

The move follows a motion condemining Iran for human rights violations presented earlier this month by Canada at the United Nations.

Of course, the Canadian embassy has an honorable history of espionage activities in Tehran. Americans will remember Ambassador Ken Taylor saved several US hostages when the Ayatollah’s henchmen took control of the US embassy. Maybe Pres. Ahmadinejad would recognize Mr. Taylor, since the prez was alleged to be one of the hostage-takers.

Fisking Jim Dithers

Wlliam McBeath (whose blog I discovered via Larry Johnsrude) massacres Jim Dithers’ latest attack on Ted Morton:

I wonder if we’ll start seeing Jim Dinning “Choose Your Alberta” ads being run in the lead-up to Saturday’s vote, with ugly close-ups of Ted Morton in the background as a sinister voice talks about how Ted Morton is a CONSERVATIVE.

Well worth a read.

In the meantime, I am reflecting on the wisdom of unleashing an urban leftist like Gary Mar to attack Morton. I doubt that anyone who would be inclined to support Morton will care about what Mar thinks. But alot of people who will be inclined to support Morton will probably be encouraged to do so by Mar’s unwarranted attacks.

Attacks on Religion: Result of Lost Faith in Enlightenment

So argues Richard A. Shweder of the University of Chicago:

The Enlightenment story has its own version of Genesis, and the themes are well known: The world woke up from the slumber of the “dark ages,” finally got in touch with the truth and became good about 300 years ago in Northern and Western Europe.

As people opened their eyes, religion (equated with ignorance and superstition) gave way to science (equated with fact and reason). Parochialism and tribal allegiances gave way to ecumenism, cosmopolitanism and individualism. Top-down command systems gave way to the separation of church from state, of politics from science. The story provides a blueprint for how to remake and better the world in the image and interests of the West’s secular elites.

Unfortunately, as a theory of history, that story has had a predictive utility of approximately zero. At the turn of the millennium it was pretty hard not to notice that the 20th century was probably the worst one yet, and that the big causes of all the death and destruction had rather little to do with religion. Much to everyone’s surprise, that great dance on the Berlin Wall back in 1989 turned out not to be the apotheosis of the Enlightenment.

The editorial is too simplistic and void of evidence, but an interesting speculation.

Leadership Vote Questions

Commenter TSS:

Only the eliminated candidate’s second choices are counted. Not everyone’s. It doesn’t matter if any of Ted’s or Jim’s voters have Ed as 2nd place if Ed isn’t in the top 2.

Is this right? Or do the second preferences of all candidates get counted in the second round?

Second, are you allowed to “plump” on the ballot or are you required to rank the candidates from 1 to 3?

Not that any of it matters, I hope that people mark 1 for Morton and 2 for Stelmach. But it is important to know how the ballots will work. As we know, the party organization is just looking for excuses to prevent rural Albertans from voting.

Federal MPs for Morton

This is fascinating:

Nonetheless, sources tell the Herald about a dozen federal Conservative MPs will rush back to Alberta in the coming days to help Morton capture Premier Ralph Klein’s crown.
…
Certainly, the battle for the Tory leadership is proving to be not only a struggle of competing conservative visions — but also two different Conservative parties within Alberta.
…
Much like Morton’s supporters, many MPs on his side subscribe to more grassroots, big-C conservative philosophies of libertarianism and traditional social values long championed by the former Reform and Canadian Alliance parties.
…
“It’s a Reform party takeover in provincial politics,” said David Taras, political analyst at the University of Calgary, adding the city could prove to be a battleground of epic proportions between these “two very different” visions for the party.

It’s nice to see more nuanced coverage of Albertan politics, rather than reporting of the silly stereotypes we’ve all come to know and love.

Raymond Gravel: “Hooker of God”

A sarcasm-laced tribute to Raymond Gravel from the gay community:

We think it’s just swell that Gravel turned his life around. From hooker to politician. Quite inspiring…Also, can we just say that we love Canada? Where else can a rent boy become both a priest and a politician? Sodom ain’t got nothing on that shit.

How moving.

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