As IF Times

link  Right-wing Sun News Network set to launch with promise of ‘straight talk’ – News1130.

If they had tried to stage this type of publicity, it would have cost them millions.  Instead, the new Sun News Network has already stirred the leftist elements in Canadian society to rise up in angst over what they view as inappropriate news content for the innocent public.   By virture of all this protest, the new Sun  network is guaranteed some big viewership numbers out of the gate.   Literary moguls, at least by Canadian standards, such as Margaret Atwood have spoken out against the impending launch of the network…. and they have yet to even hit the air.  Does she know what the content will be in advance of everyone else?  Even if she did, I don’t recall an election whereby she won the right to censor media content on behalf of 30 million Canadians. 

Pit bulls are a breed of dog that appeal to a certain type of owner.  The shih-tzu and cat set probably wouldn’t go for them, but imagine if someone opposed the ability for anyone to own a pit bull.  Imagine if someone tried to block the sale of rap music or Yanni’s latest offering.  While arguably admirable pursuits, the fact is, people are free NOT to consume such cultural treasures.   Margaret Atwood has taken umbrage with the idea of  Sun News and wants it banned before it even begins.   It’s as if she became the  Appointee Responsible for Media, Public Information and Television, or ARMPIT.  How did Atwood appoint herself Canada’s ARMPIT?  Ex-CBC newsman Don Newman groused about ‘the end of Canadian journalism”, whatever that means. 

While intriguing as a concept, we won’t know until we see the content of the new Sun News Network to determine if they are any good or if they will add anything to the news menu.   At the very least, it promises to offer relief from generations of delusional and inane broadcasting offered in Canada.  South of the border in the U.S., they also have delusional programming with laughable pretensions to objectivity, but at least they are not supported by the taxpayer as is our own CBC.  In fact, it can be argued that the whole notion  of ” Canadian-ness” has been shaped by the CBC for generations rather than being a media outlet that reflects Canadian society.  The relevance of the Toronto-centric media to the rest of Canada is comparable to the New York-centric media to the rest of the U.S.  Canada has grown sufficiently as a nation that it  needs dissenting voices from the homogeneous lump of national media as it exists today.  There should not be a ‘national news voice’ for our country any more than there should be a national news voice for the U.S.

With Sun’s launching, it’s hopeful  the new network does actually give voice to Canadians not in the circle of media acolytes centered in Toronto.  I suspect many Canadians are tired of the Global Warming charade being debated by David Suzuki vs someone from the left.  It’s doubtful the rest of Canada thinks Murray Mclauchlan is representative of Canada’s music genius.  And come on,  as iconic as he is, Lloyd Robertson is 77! Why is he still reading the news? He is like the Yoda of Canadian broadcasting.    Couldn’t they find someone in their ’60’s?  At the very least, Sun will provide jobs for some younger broadcasters.  Maybe it’ll be an impetus for some of the other news dinosaurs to retire.

link  Holly Thompson Cant Shut Her Mouth After Yawning in Class.

When we were kids, all of us were warned by our parents that if we persisted in making  silly contorted facial expressions that it would stay that way permanently.  Well whaddya know?  Some real life evidence of this!   This may put a scare into some kids that if they keep on doing a certain something to themselves, they will in fact go blind.  The person who proves that will really be embarrassed.

But there must be something to this theory.  Kids should also be warned against saying stupid things as well, or else there’s a good chance they’ll wind up carrying that habit into adulthood.  We can offer up endless streams of stupidness  from many of the people who are quoted in the public space.  Politicians to be sure, as we can cite thousands of examples of obtuse hyperbole that is offered to the public as logical rhetoric.   There is no way they can actually believe what they say.  It must be because they can’t help it.   In fact, our images of many of these people are when they are captured in mid rant.  We’d be hard pressed to recognize them in a photograph with their mouths closed.

Most recently, the heated battle for budget cuts and fiscal responsibility in the U.S. have produced such treasures as,  “they are here to kill women”, oddly enough from a Democrat named Slaughter.   Chris Matthews of MSNBC employ and another who has his mouth regularly in the wind tunnel position,  has expressed that budget cuts will kill half his audience.   Ex-speaker Pelosi expressed that “elections shouldn’t matter as much as they do”.  In San Diego, budget cuts apparently will hurt students’ education according to teachers who are vastly overpaid.  That chestnut has been around for a while, but it’s worth trotting out as a standard complaint.   Apparently, budget cuts will close libraries which will contribute to illiteracy.  That’s debatable.  I can more willingly believe that closing libraries will affect the ability of the homeless to find a place to sleep.

Old people, students, immigrants, minorities, artists, gays, women, religious sects and workers seem to fight a never ending battle against their existence regardless of who is in office.   Logically, it’s best to avoid being part of that group of people if you can help it.  Of course recently, being a bug, a fish or a tree is not so benign either as that group is also apparently under attack.

Much of the wrangling that’s going on now is the usual posturing by both sides, but the arguments from the Republicans at least make some logical sense.   The retort to the GOP budget proposals by the Democrats on the other hand are full of the ‘open mouthed’ inanities that are taken directly from the progressive manual of rhetoric.    The president described the Republican plan for reducing the nation’s debt as one that would ” let roads crumble, accept mediocrity in education, stop caring for seniors and lead to as many as 50 million fewer people covered by health insurance” .  He derided the Republican approach as one that would not invest in “education or clean energy” while giving away tax breaks to wealthy people.  This is the same stuff we’ve been hearing for decades.

At an early age, kids should be warned against making contorted faces or expressing stupid things.  It can only lead to a career in politics.