Summer Musings

This is a bit of a grab bag of opinions. I find myself a bit reluctant to post during the dog days of summer when the crickets chirp, the Black Bush (a reference to Irish whiskey, not the President) goes down easy and the province's power corporation (Ontario Power Generation, or OPG) desperately tries to generate enough electricity to keep the beer cool.

I never thought I'd ever find myself defending a pot activist, but I am greatly disturbed by an extradition hearing currently underway in British Columbia. It appears that Canada's "Prince of Pot," a certain Marc Emery, has been selling marijuana seeds to customers (some of whom happen to be Americans)and this has upset the American Drug enforcement authorities. It ought to upset Canada's drug enforcement folks as well, but that is another story. While the sale of these seeds violates the Criminal Code of Canada, it appears that arrests and prosecutions for this crime are known only by their infrequency in the diminished Dominion.

If the Government of Canada believes that Canadian law is being breached it ought to charge and prosecute him under Canadian law in Canadian courts. If it is not willing to do this, then it ought not to allow the Americans to extradite him to the United States engaging in an activity in Canada which the government is unwilling to sanction.

John Ibbitson, of the Globe & Mail, or "Mop & Pail" as I call it at home, has a somewhat different view (registration required), noting that Mr. Emery makes the bulk of his sales by exporting his seeds to the US market and has no complaint now that the drug enforcement treaty between our nations has been invoked by the American government. Ibbitson has a point, but I'm still not comfortable with extradition someone to to a foreign jurisdiction for engaging in activities on Canadian soil for which the government is not willing to prosecute here.

There, I've written it .... and you "progressive" types thought I was completely beyond the pale! Mind you, the above discomfort ought not to be taken as an endorsement of loose drug laws.
..................................................

The Associated Press, via the Washington Post (Hat tip to Matt Drudge) is reporting that:

A Marine amphibious assault vehicle on patrol during combat operations near the Syrian border hit a roadside bomb Wednesday, and 14 Marines were killed in one of the deadliest single attacks in Iraq against American forces. A civilian interpreter also was killed in the bombing, which came two days after seven Marines died in the same area during combat with insurgents.

This is sad news and illustrative of the dangerous nature of the Iraqi deployment. Meanwhile The Canadian Forces continues to beef up our presence in Afghanistan with the further deployment of troops based out of Edmonton, Alberta to the volatile Kandahar region.

Keep them all, Canadian, American, British, Australian and allied forces, in your thoughts and prayers. Their enemy is your enemy. Don't take my word for it. Osama and his immoral thugs have made that point crystal clear.

..................................................

For those who do not read David Warren on a regular basis I highly recommend that you start. He writes from the long view; that is he has a good working knowledge of history. This is a great help when considering why Islamists hate us with such vigour and why they are so willing to blow themselves to smithereens while trying to kill as many of us as they can.

Actually, that is not quite true. The Islamist leaders are not known for detonating their own body packs on crowded buses. They find easily influenced young Muslims, inculcate them with their death cult religious hatred and send them out to blow themselves and others to smithereens. Rank hath its privileges, after all.

...................................................

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia died a couple of days ago and his half brother Abdullah ascends to the throne. I was pondering what to write about this event when I happened on this nugget from The Monarchist.

Non-Muslim worship and proselytizing are strictly prohibited. Christian clerics, if discovered, are arrested, beaten and brutalized, and eventually expelled from the country. "Conversion is apostasy and punishable by death. Although private devotion is theoretically allowed, homes are raided if worshippers gather together. Christians have also been punished for blasphemy", according to a former US State Department official. Oh, and did I mention the whole country is basically one giant incubator for Islamo-fascist terrorism against the infidel West. That's the proud legacy of the House of Saud. It is one monarchy this monarchist would be more than happy to do without.

That is a succinct summation of the ghastly corrupt Islamist kingdom run by the oily house of Saud. I much admire this line.

These are the Taliban in cleaner robes and nicer homes.

So they are. Go read the rest.