Magic Statistics

Some bozo named Mark McGowan doesn't like the way the British royal family treats their corgis.  Wanting to encourage better treatment of the unfortunate pooches, he racked his brain for a way to set an example of tender loving care of canines.  So, naturally, he ate one.

Mark McGowan set up a table on a London street Tuesday and dined on what he said was the meat from a corgi in hopes of drawing attention to media reports that Prince Philip, the queen's husband, had beaten a fox to death during a hunt.
.  .  .
"We love our animals in Britain," McGowan told AP Television News. "Why is it then that we then allow people - especially people who are supposed to be ambassadors for this country - to treat animals with such disrespect?"

Please treat your animals with respect, as Mr McGowan does.

McGowan said the corgi he consumed had died recently at a breeding farm and had not been killed for the purposes of the protest. He did not say how the dog had died.

That’s almost as revolting as eating the critter.

"I ate three lumps of it. But I spat two of them out, so I really ate one and a half of them," McGowan said.

This guy is completely sicko and arithmetically challenged.  Obviously, a total hoser.

h/t: little green footballs

Hmmm. Where have we heard this sort of thing before?

A Muslim woman on trial in London for failing to disclose information on terrorism allegedly encouraged her husband to martyr himself for the faith.  She wrote him a letter pressuring him to fight infidels and promising that she would raise their baby son to do likewise. The letter was read to the jury yesterday.

Bouchra El Hor allegedly said in her letter: 'I am so proud of my husband. I am happy that Allah has granted you the chance to be a martyr.

'I am writing to let you know that you have my support and to remind you to be strong and do not let Satan influence you… to remind you that jihad is now compulsory and we are now obligated to protect Islam, to help our brothers and sisters to fight the kuffar [non-believer].

'Maybe one day I can follow you. If I can't, I will send our son to you so he can follow his father's footsteps.'

The woman’s husband Yassin Nassari has been charged with having documents and data related to terrorism, including plans for constructing rockets and explosives.  The couple deny all charges.

Similar blood lust among Muslim wives turned up in the investigation of the Toronto-area terrorist suspects.

h/t: Religion News Blog

Previous related post: Behind every failed jihadist stands a nagging wife

Greenpeace simply refuses to talk with anyone who doesn’t already agree with them.

We have a policy at Greenpeace that we no longer debate people who don’t accept the scientific reality of anthropogenic climate change.

That certainly cuts down on Greenpeace’s need for scientific investigation and other intellectually demanding ventures.

h/t: Andrew Bolt

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School graduation season is upon us—a time when weighty questions must be pondered.  Girls worry about which dress to wear, boys about snagging the finest grad date.  And, of course, college administrators lose sleep over causing offence to hyper-sensitive politically favoured minority groups.  (In that respect, graduation time isn't much different from the rest of the school year.)

Which brings us to the annual tradition observed by graduates of the University of Arizona.  Instead of tossing their hats into the air after receiving their diplomas, UA grads have taken to tossing tortillas.  Sound like an innocuous bit of fun?  Don’t be naïve.  Modern academia is haunted by the fear that someone somewhere might take offence at harmless exuberance.

In December 2005, the commencement ceremony was canceled for undergraduate students following a number of complaints about the tradition. Some complaints were made that the tradition is culturally insensitive against Mexican-American and American Indian culture.

The December 2005 event was reinstated following a student-sponsored forum discussion, but with a message from then-President Peter Likins stating that some groups frown upon the tradition.

At this year's graduation, both graduates and their guests will be searched for tortillas upon entering McKale Center, just like at sporting events, [Jim] Drnek [associate dean of students] said.

Policies concerning outside food at sporting events also govern graduation.

"You're not supposed to throw food in McKale Center," Drnek said. "You're not supposed to bring in outside food or beverages."

“Not supposed to throw food”?  Many college students would take that as a challenge.  Dean Drnek should re-consider his hard line, if only because the tortilla toss is much easier to clean up after than a food fight.

h/t: Tongue Tied 3

Manitoba First Nations have served notice to Manitoba Telecom Services that they expect to be paid for cell phone signals that pass through airspace over their territories.

At a recent economic development summit, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs resolved to negotiate revenue sharing with MTS for transmissions signals that cross the land, water and air space of their reserves and traditional territories.

"[The request is] based on the understanding that we do have some fundamental rights as indigenous people to land, water and airspace," said Chief Ovide Mercredi of the Grand Rapids First Nation.

"When it comes to using airspace, it's like using our water and simply because there's no precedent doesn't mean that it's not the right thing to do," he said.

In fact, of course, using airspace to send cell phone signals is very different from using land for food or water for drinking.  If someone occupies your land to grow their crops or hunt their food, you are thereby prevented from using that land.  If someone drinks or pollutes your water, that water is unavailable for your drinking needs.

Using your airspace to send telecommunication signals, however, has no effect on your use of that airspace.  Others can send as many signals as they wish, and the quantity of airspace available to you is undiminished.  In fact, absent high-tech telecommmunication-monitoring equipment, how would the chiefs even know whether someone is sending cell phone signals through their airspace?

If negotiations with Manitoba Telecom Services reach an impasse, I’d like to see the chiefs try a blockade.

h/t: Darcey at Dust My Broom

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A Protestant pastor in south-eastern Turkey says that six people have been arrested for conspiring to attack him.

A church leader in southeast Turkey said on Wednesday police had detained six people for plotting to attack him, just weeks after three people had their throats slit at a Christian publisher in the region.

Ahmet Guvener, the leader of a Protestant Christian church in the province of Diyarbakir, told reporters the six had been detained after he had complained of being threatened, both to his face and by mail.

Local police could not immediately confirm Guvener's statement.

Stratfor reports that some of the six are believed to have had contacts with some of those suspected in the recent gruesome torture and murder of three Christian workers in Malatya.  (The Stratfor article is behind a subscriber wall, but a short excerpt has been posted at Christian Persecution Blog).

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• Christians tortured before being murdered