NDP Calls For Royal Commission on Violence in Sports

The Dippers want to get their nose in sports again. They are asking for a royal commission on violence in sports. Typical NDP, want to control every facet of our lives. Figures eh?

"OTTAWA – New Democrat Sports Critic Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury) and Deputy Leader Thomas Mulcair (Outremont) called today for a Royal Commission on violence in sports.

New Democrats made this demand on behalf of the millions of people concerned about the increase in disgraceful and violent behaviour in sport, and the inability of professional and amateur leagues to solve the problem.

“It is high time this issue is taken seriously. League authorities need to explain why a savage attack, which would result in charges of aggravated assault anywhere else, warrants nothing but a few game suspensions,” said Thibeault. (h/t) National Post

Somehow, it sounds familiar. Remember this? Parliamentary committee hearing on Shane Doan and Team Canada.

"Time to shed a little light on why Shane Doan is not casting a shadow on Team Canada.

In case you missed it, and we all should have been spared, a parliamentary committee has requested that Hockey Canada explain why Doan was made captain of the team at the world championships in Moscow. It has nothing to do with skills and leadership abilities, of course, but rather it is about 17-month-old allegations that Doan uttered a derogatory comment toward a French-Canadian referee.

Doan denied making the comment, is involved in a lawsuit to prove it further, and a league investigation exonerated him, as well.
Yet the politicians persist. The NDP's Jack Layton went so far as to suggest that making Doan captain "cast a shadow" on the team and by extension the interest in the team. And all parties supported a Bloc Quebecois motion requesting an explanation from Hockey Canada.

A few days after filing your tax returns, aren't you glad to know where the money is going?

It is embarrassing, to say the least, that these people are consumed by this non-issue. It is shameful they are wasting taxpayers' money and official government time, especially when you consider all that is wrong in this country that should be receiving their attention. What it isn't, of course and sadly, is surprising." (h/t) CBC Sports

Dippers, please stay out hockey and all sports! We don't want you controlling sports or any part of our lives! We don't want any more nanny state! Mind your own business not ours!

Foxnews Is Smokin`

Foxnews is crushing their competitors in the US cable news wars. This January was their best January ever and in a recent poll Fox was the most trusted source of news. Makes me pine for own Foxnews Canada. Bet if we had our own, it would demolish both CTV and CBC combined. I hope and pray one day we will get our own Fox. It would be a blessing to the country.

I can't stand our media anymore because of their blatant bias. I have opted for Foxnews. It's refreshing. They strive to give you the facts and they are pretty balanced. Many think they're in the tank for the Republicans but I've noticed them giving it to both sides. Their reporters and anchors are mature and professional where as a majority in our media are childish and amateur in comparison.

Fox News was the number one cable news network in all categories in January, and posted big numbers during coverage of the Massachusetts Senate election, the State of the Union, and the earthquake in Haiti. This was the best January in the network's history and continued the channel's dominance over its competitors.

FNC was up double digits compared to January of '09, the only network to post any year-to-year gains. Here are the averages:

Total day (Mon-Sun): 1.325M total viewers / 367k A25-54
Prime (Mon-Sun): 2.413M total viewers / 637k A25-54

Year-to-year, FNC's total day is up +16% in total viewers (+28% demo) and its primetime is up +22% in total viewers (51% demo).

For primetime, Fox was the #3 network in basic cable (behind USA and ESPN) and bested CNN, MSNBC, and HLN combined in both total viewers and the demo.

"The O'Reilly Factor" continues as the number one cable news program averaging 3.8 million total viewers and 983k in the demo, which are gains of 23% and 58% year-over-year. Sean Hannity had his best month since going solo on his show.

Some of FNC's highest-rated programs saw large growth, especially in the demo, compared to last January. "Hannity" is up +21% in total viewers (+50% demo), "On the Record" is up +40% (+74%) and "Glenn Beck" is up +90% (+121%) compared to last January. "The FOX Report" and "Special Report" marked 100 consecutive months as the top programs in their time slots. "Your World" had its best month since 2005.

FNC programs again filled the top 13 slots among cable news programs in total viewers, but they also swept the top 13 in the demo, the first time that's happened in five years (h/t)mediabistro.com

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Fox News had its best January in the history of the network, and was the only cable news network to grow year-to-year.

FNC also had the top 13 programs on cable news in total viewers for the fifth month in a row, and the top 13 programs in the A25-54 demographic for the first time in more than five years.

• FNC grew in double digits in both total viewers and the A25-54 demographic from January 2009. In prime time, it was up 22% in total viewers and 51% in the demo. CNN was down 34% and 37% and MSNBC down 26% and 38%. In total day, FNC was up 16% and 28%. CNN was down 34% and 41% and MSNBC down 28% and 39%. Last January all networks performed while with the Inauguration coverage. This month, the big political event was Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts, which FNC dominated in the ratings.

• Special Report with Bret Baier/Brit Hume was #1 for the 100th consecutive month.

• Fox Report #1 for 100th consecutive month.

• Sean Hannity had his best month ever (since it launched as Hannity). (h/t) mediaite.com

Bring on our own Foxnews or something similiar. We are greatly lacking and I believe there's a market for something like it. I would support it.
We're a country that supports choice right? Well, then, why not choice in the type of news services? Fair and balanced? or blatant bias, your choice.

Update: (h/t) Jen

Glenn Beck points out how his program out rates his competitors on the cable news networks and how others can skew things. Watch.

Will Farmers Now Finally Get Choice?

I grew up on a farm so I am familiar with how the Canadian Wheat Board works. I remember my Dad had to have permit book in order to sell his wheat and barley. The permit book recorded how many bushels you brought in, the grade, the date.

The CWB issued quotas in which they dictated when, how much, and for what price you could sell your grain for. You could not sell anymore than the quota stated. Our elevator manager would call every time the CWB put a quota on. My dad would complain about the commie outfit that virtually controlled the producer. He would have loved to have the choice of when, to whom, how much, and at what price to sell his grain. I'm sure if he would have had choice, he actually would have made a profit. Some years he operated at loss, some years a profit but most years he was fortunate to break even. (He farmed for over 40 yrs.) I don't know how farmers actually make it anymore with the expenses and all.

To have a successful farming business you need to have a free market just like any other business. So are producers finally going to have choice? I sure hope so. It would be long over due.

Stephen Harper has managed to silence one of the most vocal and activist groups battling against his plan to give prairie farmers the right to opt out of selling their wheat and barley through the wheat board. Namely, the Canadian Wheat Board itself.

The board’s directors had, since the Tories’ election, been running a relentless campaign to protect their “single-desk” marketing monopoly. They regularly funded studies and surveys that invariably concluded the CWB’s model was the most profitable, most popular manner for grain marketing; when Ottawa held a plebiscite in 2007 that resulted in a majority of barley farmers voting for marketing choice, the directors launched a publicity campaign undermining it as rigged and irrelevant; they urged farmers to write the agriculture minister in protest.

That may have all stopped, permanently, after the Supreme Court on Jan. 22 declined to hear an appeal from the board that challenged an order from the government requiring it to stop using members’ money to fight political battles. The board’s directors had initially succeeded in getting a federal judge to find what it called a “gag order” to be illegal and unconstitutional. An appeals court later ruled that to be a mistake. With the directors’ last resort, the Supreme Court, declining to intervene, the appeals ruling stands.
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Whatever deregulatory levers are available to them, expect the Tories to use them to the maximum extent: Mr. Harper first came to Ottawa promising an end to the Wheat Board’s monopoly and has only vowed steadfastness in that mission following a number of subsequent setbacks. This, his first tangible victory on the file, can only re-energize the Tories’ resolve.

They will still need it: with the Wheat Board’s opposition dispatched, the Tories must now find support from Parliament to proceed with any changes to the way the board operates. The Prime Minister will likely find no support from the NDP or the Bloc, who were convinced to see any deregulation as a threat to their own supply-managed agricultural industries.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has made conciliatory sounds toward Westerners since becoming leader; farmers will be watching to see whether he, now, will choose to make himself the last real hurdle to ending the Wheat Board’s monopoly. (h/t) Kevin Libin

The question is now, will Mr. Iffy support it? It would be nice to finally see the end of a single desk marketing entity. So Mr. Iffy where do you stand? Do you support the farmers right to choose?

Women get the right to choose. Why not the farmer? I urge everyone support a Farmer's Right To Choose! Support choice! Call your MP and demand they support choice for farmers when it comes up in parliament.

Relax, PM Harper Has Cimate Change Fiasco Under Control

I know there have been conservative supporters out there that has had knots in their knickers, afraid PM Harper and Minister Prentice is going to get us into the man made global warming fraud scheme, killing our economy. I have to admit at first I was a little nervous myself. I have never once believed that we are killing the planet.

I got to thinking, PM Harper has done as little as possible to appease the loony Marxist global warming alarmists. He never implemented Pablo's Kyoto bill, has declared very limited emissions targets, and he and Jim Prentice has stated time after time we are going to follow what the USA is doing primarily because we are so closely tied. Basically we have to. If we don't, they could impose tariffs on us particularly on our oil and gas industry as the Americans see it as dirty. Looks like it will be awhile, if at all that the Americans will ever have a bill in place. In the mean time the IPCC fraud is imploding.

I don't think we will have to much worry about. Peter Foster from the NP doesn't either.

"But if President Obama really wants to imitate such craziness, does that make the Harper government even wackier for committing to follow in U.S. policy footsteps, a plan outlined again yesterday by Environment Minister Jim Prentice?

No. The Conservatives have committed to do whatever the U.S. does when it comes to cutting carbon dioxide emissions, but their main priority is to avoid destructive trade sanctions. They are also aware that President Obama has a major fight on his hands in pursuing what increasingly appears to be an expensive and pointless policy. Copenhagen was a flop. Climategate still hovers. The IPCC is increasingly becoming a laughing stock, and the science of man-made climate change is disintegrating. While political inertia continues to edge policy towards the economic precipice, the Harper government is hoping it will grind to a halt before taking Western nations over."
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The Harper government has so far done a good job of negotiating its way round this all too “religious” issue.