A reader has the temerity to suggest that Walt give the results of his prognostications every now and then, and admit his (very occasional) errors and inaccuracies. Very well. Here is the tally from the first round of National Hockey League playoffs.
Walt handicaps the NHL playoffs -- Western Conference
Let's be clear. The point of the exercise was to predict which teams would go through to the second round. The guesses about how many games it would take to settle each series were just for fun. Walt called three out of four correctly, the exception being the LA Kings' Quick win (geddit?) over St. Louis Blues. Pct. right .750.
Walt handicaps the NHL playoffs -- Eastern Conference
Puck pundits saw some surprises in the results here, but the only series that fooled Walt was Montréal vs Ottawa, which the Senators won in just five games. But when a team plays without half a dozen of its key players, including its ace goalie, what can you expect? And incompetent officiating doesn't help either.
The other surprise (to Walt) was Toronto stretching its series against Boston to a 7th game. The choke is on Maple Leafs fans. As in the West, Walt got three right, only one wrong. Pct. .750.
Now let's cut to the chase. Never mind the second and third playoff rounds. What you want to know -- and make money on -- is who's going to win Lord Stanley's silver chalice. Right? You can turn off the TV for a couple of weeks, and when you switch it on again in time for the Stanley Cup finals, you're going to see... Pittsburgh Penguins vs Chicago Blackhawks (formerly the Black Hawks).
Chicago was the class of the NHL Western Conference all of the Bettman-shortened season. They let Minnesota win a game in the first round just for the sport of it, and to finish the series on home ice. Pittsburgh can play much better than they did in a 4-1 win over Ottawa last night. Malkin, Iginla and Sid the Kid -- how ya gonna stop those guys?
Walt's prediction... May I have the envelope, please? ... ... ... Chicago. You read it here first. Lifetime pct .978.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Pigs outside Kenyan parliament protest pigs within
The average annual salary in Kenya is about $1700 in real (green) money. Feeling emboldened by an absence of negative reaction to the latest free and fair parliamentary election, newly-elected members of the Kenyan legislature are demanding a rather hefty increase to their stipends. They think they're worth $10,000... per month!
The 416 MPs – 349 in the National Assembly and 67 in the Senate -- say they deserve a salary 70 times greater than the national average because they work very hard. They also argue that they spend some of the money paying off the constituents who elected them.
In one of the last sessions before March's election, MPs in the previous Parliament gave themselves a $107,000 golden handshake. The package also provided them with an armed guard, a diplomatic passport and access to airport VIP lounges.
Parliament's kleptomania has not gone done well with the public. A number of civil society groups have organized ["Organized"? In Africa? Ed.] protests, including an "Occupy Parliament" demonstration, part of which can be seen in this picture from BBC.
Walt could not confirm the presence in Nairobi of Canadian Senator Mike Puffy, so must assume that the supersized swine is someone or something else.
"We have spilled the blood of the pigs to show that the MPs are greedy like pigs," said Boniface Mwangi, an organizer of the Occupy Parliament demo. Reuters reports that Mwangi and other protesters were promptly arrested by police, shown above anticipating a feast of po'k chops.
Earlier, protesters blocked MPs from entering parliament and demanded that they sign a petition rejecting the proposed salary. A BBC correspondent saw only one MP signing the petition, though she is not sure he knew what he was signing.
The 416 MPs – 349 in the National Assembly and 67 in the Senate -- say they deserve a salary 70 times greater than the national average because they work very hard. They also argue that they spend some of the money paying off the constituents who elected them.
In one of the last sessions before March's election, MPs in the previous Parliament gave themselves a $107,000 golden handshake. The package also provided them with an armed guard, a diplomatic passport and access to airport VIP lounges.
Parliament's kleptomania has not gone done well with the public. A number of civil society groups have organized ["Organized"? In Africa? Ed.] protests, including an "Occupy Parliament" demonstration, part of which can be seen in this picture from BBC.
Walt could not confirm the presence in Nairobi of Canadian Senator Mike Puffy, so must assume that the supersized swine is someone or something else.
"We have spilled the blood of the pigs to show that the MPs are greedy like pigs," said Boniface Mwangi, an organizer of the Occupy Parliament demo. Reuters reports that Mwangi and other protesters were promptly arrested by police, shown above anticipating a feast of po'k chops.
Earlier, protesters blocked MPs from entering parliament and demanded that they sign a petition rejecting the proposed salary. A BBC correspondent saw only one MP signing the petition, though she is not sure he knew what he was signing.
Kermit the Baby-Killer pro-life after all!
Turns out that Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist convicted of murdering three babies by "snipping" their spinal cords, is really pro-life... provided the life in question is his!
The "good doctor" cut a deal with Pennsylvania prosecutors yesterday to avoid a possible death sentence. In exchange for waiving his right to appeal, he accepts a sentence of life without parole. Since Gosnell is 72 years old -- and jailhouse justice being what it is -- he may not be behind bars for much longer.
The state had been seeking the death penalty because Gosnell killed more than one person -- and "person" is the right word! -- and his victims were especially vulnerable given their "age". But Gosnell’s own advanced age had made it unlikely he would ever be judicially executed before his appeals ran out.
The sentencing deal spares Gosnell’s family the humiliating task of pleading for his wretched life in court. Seems Dr. G. is no believer in abortion when it comes to his own. He has six children, the youngest of them a teenager born to his third wife, who also pled guilty in the case.
See also: "Unborn children treated like 'trash' in America" -- a sad commentary on the "values" which the Obama government tries to impose on not just American citizens but the entire world.
The "good doctor" cut a deal with Pennsylvania prosecutors yesterday to avoid a possible death sentence. In exchange for waiving his right to appeal, he accepts a sentence of life without parole. Since Gosnell is 72 years old -- and jailhouse justice being what it is -- he may not be behind bars for much longer.
The state had been seeking the death penalty because Gosnell killed more than one person -- and "person" is the right word! -- and his victims were especially vulnerable given their "age". But Gosnell’s own advanced age had made it unlikely he would ever be judicially executed before his appeals ran out.
The sentencing deal spares Gosnell’s family the humiliating task of pleading for his wretched life in court. Seems Dr. G. is no believer in abortion when it comes to his own. He has six children, the youngest of them a teenager born to his third wife, who also pled guilty in the case.
See also: "Unborn children treated like 'trash' in America" -- a sad commentary on the "values" which the Obama government tries to impose on not just American citizens but the entire world.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
A long time ago in a land far away
Walt has a not inconsiderable collection of old editorial cartoons. Here's one drawn some time ago by Geoff Olson, for the old Vancouver Courier. It shows an American president getting all palsy-walsy with the president of Syria.
Of course that was a very long time ago. [1991, actually. Ed.] And it has nothing to do with the situation which obtains in Syria today. Nothing whatever.
Monday, May 13, 2013
"Kermit the Baby Killer" found GUILTY as charged
There is some justice in this world after all. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist who wilfully cut the spinal cords of babies born alive in botched late-term abortions, was found guilty today on three counts of murder.
To appreciate the diabolical evil of what the abortionist did, one has only to read these excerpts from the latest Associated Press report.
Former clinic employees testified that Gosnell routinely performed illegal late-term abortions past Pennsylvania’s 24-week limit, that he delivered babies who were still moving, whimpering or breathing, and that he and his assistants “snipped” [Gosnell's word] the newborns’ spines.
“Are you human?” prosecutor Ed Cameron snarled during closing arguments as Gosnell sat calmly at the defense table. “To med these women up and stick knives in the backs of babies?”
The grisly details came out more than two years ago during an investigation of prescription drug trafficking at Gosnell’s clinic in an impoverished section of West Philadelphia.
Authorities said the clinic was a foul-smelling “house of horrors” with bags and bottles of stored fetuses, including jars of severed feet, along with bloodstained furniture, dirty medical instruments, and cats roaming the premises.
Under the law of Pennsylvania, the "good doctor" now faces the possibility of the death penalty, although Walt doubts that the punishment would be administered in quite the same inhumane way.
We'll revisit this story when the inevitable appeal is filed. After all, the lamestream media are saying already, Gosnell was "targetted" because he's black and was just providing a service to poor disadvantaged women who were themselves victims of a white, elitist medical system. Hell, say the pro-abortion gang, they're all victims!
Gosnell did not testify, and his lawyer called no witnesses in his defence. But he argued that the doctor provided desperate young woman with “a solution to their problems,” and he branded prosecutors “elitist” and “racist” for pursuing his client, who is black and whose patients were mostly poor minorities. “We know why he was targeted,” [said the babykiller's defender].
See also: "Unborn children treated 'like trash' in America: Archbishop of Philadelphia"
To appreciate the diabolical evil of what the abortionist did, one has only to read these excerpts from the latest Associated Press report.
Former clinic employees testified that Gosnell routinely performed illegal late-term abortions past Pennsylvania’s 24-week limit, that he delivered babies who were still moving, whimpering or breathing, and that he and his assistants “snipped” [Gosnell's word] the newborns’ spines.
“Are you human?” prosecutor Ed Cameron snarled during closing arguments as Gosnell sat calmly at the defense table. “To med these women up and stick knives in the backs of babies?”
The grisly details came out more than two years ago during an investigation of prescription drug trafficking at Gosnell’s clinic in an impoverished section of West Philadelphia.
Authorities said the clinic was a foul-smelling “house of horrors” with bags and bottles of stored fetuses, including jars of severed feet, along with bloodstained furniture, dirty medical instruments, and cats roaming the premises.
Under the law of Pennsylvania, the "good doctor" now faces the possibility of the death penalty, although Walt doubts that the punishment would be administered in quite the same inhumane way.
We'll revisit this story when the inevitable appeal is filed. After all, the lamestream media are saying already, Gosnell was "targetted" because he's black and was just providing a service to poor disadvantaged women who were themselves victims of a white, elitist medical system. Hell, say the pro-abortion gang, they're all victims!
Gosnell did not testify, and his lawyer called no witnesses in his defence. But he argued that the doctor provided desperate young woman with “a solution to their problems,” and he branded prosecutors “elitist” and “racist” for pursuing his client, who is black and whose patients were mostly poor minorities. “We know why he was targeted,” [said the babykiller's defender].
See also: "Unborn children treated 'like trash' in America: Archbishop of Philadelphia"
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Secretive, controlling, manipulative, crude, autocratic, vicious, unprincipled, untrustworthy, paranoid
This he does in "The economy is in good shape, so why is support for the Conservatives slumping?" in today's National Post. I hope Mr. Coyne and his publisher will not mind if Walt reprints a large chunk of his column -- an excellent explanation of why Harper and his party are even more reviled by Canadians than his role model, the execrable Lyin' Brian Mulroney.
Mr. Malarkey at least had a twinkle in his eye and the charm and blarney of a son of the ould sod. Harper has none of this, only the character of a self-righteous, self-satisfied bully. And that is why, unless there is a major distraction or disruption between now and 2015, the Harper-led "Nasty Party" -- Coyne's phrase -- will lose the election due in that year. (Lifetime pct .986.)
Here is Mr. Coyne's view.
If today both Mr. Harper and the party he leads are actively disliked by more than seven voters in 10, it may be because they have gone out of their way to alienate them in every conceivable way — not by their policies, or even their record, but simply by their style of governing, as over-bearing as it is under-handed, and that on a good day.
When they are not refusing to disclose what they are doing, they are giving out false information; when they allow dissenting opinions to be voiced, they smear them as unpatriotic or worse; when they open their own mouths to speak, it is to read the same moronic talking points over and over, however these may conflict with the facts, common courtesy, or their own most solemn promises.
Secretive, controlling, manipulative, crude, autocratic, vicious, unprincipled, untrustworthy, paranoid … Even by the standards of Canadian politics, it’s quite the performance. We’ve had some thuggish or dishonest governments in the past, even some corrupt ones, but never one quite so determined to arouse the public’s hostility, to so little apparent purpose. Their policy legacy may prove short-lived, but it will be hard to erase the stamp of the Nasty Party.
Perhaps, in their self-delusion, the Tories imagine this is all the fault of the Ottawa media, or the unavoidable cost of governing as Conservatives in a Liberal country. I can assure them it is not. The odium in which they are now held is well-earned, and entirely self-inflicted.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Unborn children treated "like trash" in America: Archbishop of Philadelphia
It is not difficult to anticipate or understand the reaction of the Church to the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, aka "Kermit the Babykiller". Now the Archbishop of Philadelphia, site of the atrocities, has spoken out very clearly in an interview with Vatican Radio.
Most Rev. Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said that “after a while we begin to disrespect human life in ways that are just shockingly coarse. And that’s what happened here. They were treating the babies from the womb as though they were pieces of trash.”
The horrific case “is clearly a result of cultural change in the United States, where unborn children are treated carelessly, and cruelly, and in a horribly disrespectful kind of way,” the prelate continued.
“If we can treat unborn children this way, it means we’re capable of treating born children this way, and the elderly this way,” Archbishop Chaput added. “Unless there’s a deep profound respect for human life at all levels, people will see a gradual disintegration of respect for human life at all.”
Further reading: "The Gosnell story and its lessons" on the CatholicPhilly website.
Most Rev. Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said that “after a while we begin to disrespect human life in ways that are just shockingly coarse. And that’s what happened here. They were treating the babies from the womb as though they were pieces of trash.”
The horrific case “is clearly a result of cultural change in the United States, where unborn children are treated carelessly, and cruelly, and in a horribly disrespectful kind of way,” the prelate continued.
“If we can treat unborn children this way, it means we’re capable of treating born children this way, and the elderly this way,” Archbishop Chaput added. “Unless there’s a deep profound respect for human life at all levels, people will see a gradual disintegration of respect for human life at all.”
Further reading: "The Gosnell story and its lessons" on the CatholicPhilly website.
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