A Swiss man has become the first person to fly solo across the English Channel using a single jet-propelled wing.

Yves Rossy landed safely after the 22-mile (35.4 km) flight from Calais to Dover, which had been twice postponed this week because of bad weather.

The former military pilot took less than 10 minutes to complete the crossing and parachute to the ground.

The 49-year-old flew on a plane to more than 8,200ft (2,500m), ignited jets on a wing on his back, and jumped out.
[...]
In Dover, Mr Rossy flew past South Foreland lighthouse - which the building's manager Simon Ovenden said Blériot used as a target during his pioneering flight - and looped onlookers before landing in a field.

"It's a remarkable achievement, we saw the climax of his attempt as he came down to earth with his parachute. It's been an exciting afternoon," said Geoff Clark, a 54-year-old spectator from Chatham, in Kent.
[...]
The wing had no rudder or tail fin, so Mr Rossy had to steer it using his head and back.

As well as a helmet and parachute, he wore a special suit to protect him from the four kerosene-burning turbines mounted just centimetres from him on the wing.

*

This is Chris Reid:

He's the kind of guy that conservatives like me prefer to have running as conservative candidates.  Here are some of his views:

* "A man with a knife was able to go on a murderous rampage decapitating a fellow human being. The rest of the bus was unarmed and helpless. What was the generous Canadian thing to do? Help a fellow human being? No. Flee in terror. Passengers and the bus driver stood by and watched another person being butchered, and couldn't muster up any courage or self sacrifice to intervene. This is where socialism as gotten us folks, a castrated effeminate population. This is a perfect example of why we need concealed-carry handgun legislation in this country, so we can defend one another and deter horrible events such as this. But what are our politicians talking about? More government regulation and security."

* "I do know the one main issue that stands in the way of a consumer driven health care system is the Canada Health Act. However, courts in Quebec have concluded that people cannot be barred from purchasing their own health care. I wonder if a similar challenge in Ontario would yield a similar result?"

* "What bothers me about these perpetually aggrieved people is their obsession with wanting to stay victims so they can tell other people to fix their problems."

* "A flat income tax, or better yet, eliminate personal and business income taxes all together, and just have a consumption tax to promote investing which would raise people's living standards."

* "Allow law abiding citizens who are qualified and trained to carry concealed handguns for personal protection. It's the only proven way to reduce violent crime and murder. If women and gays really wanted to stop being victims of hate crimes, they'd be in support of this, but judging from discussions, they'd rather be helpless and rely on government."

* "The reality is that McQuaig wants Canada to do badly, because the worse Canada does, the more books she will sell. Despite her emotional rhetorical skills, she is getting rich by exploiting the deaths of our soldiers."

* "What I found [my fellow gays] to tolerate is promoting promiscuity, drug usage, and prostitution."

Sounds good yes?  Lower taxes.  Individual freedom.  Individual responsibility.  Chris sounds like he'd fit right in with a Conservative Party yes?  Guess again.  Chris had to step down as the Conservative candidate in the riding of Toronto central.  Why?  Because he holds conservative views.  From the Toronto Star:

In the latest embarrassment for the Conservative campaign, a candidate who blogged after the July beheading on a Winnipeg-bound bus that Canadians should be allowed to carry concealed handguns for protection has resigned from the Toronto Centre race.

Chris Reid, a 28-year-old civil engineer, said he "voluntarily" resigned Saturday from the race against high-profile Liberal incumbent Bob Rae after the contents of his personal blog were dug up, sparking controversy over the weekend.
[...]
Yesterday, Reid, who lives near Church St. and Wellesley St. E., said he resigned "to pursue different interests." He said he stands behind the statements on his blog and is looking forward to resuming it. "I stand by my beliefs and I will happily debate anyone on them."

When asked, Reid conceded his political views were not entirely in keeping with the Conservative party's, but said he was happy to promote the party's platform.

The Tories quickly distanced themselves from Reid yesterday.

"He is not a candidate for this party any longer," said Kory Teneycke, spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"Those comments that he's made on a personal blog represent his personal opinions on a wide range of issues, and you can go to him for an explanation of what exactly he means.

"If you're a Conservative candidate you're expected to ... be consistent with the platform that we're running on."

That's right folks.  The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) won't back a candidate who holds conservative views.

That's bad.

Wanna see it get worse?

No?

Sucks to be you because it gets worse.

This is Sharon Smith.  She used to be the mayor of a town called Huston in British Columbia.

(The black boxes you see in the pic above were added by me.  I'd have posted the original but I just ate dinner and didn't want a  50 year old vigina staring me in the face while I type)

Now, it seems that while in her position as Mayor, she decided to get nekked in her office, wearing nothing but her mayoral chain, and pose for some pics that her husband was taking with the digi-cam.  Only problem is that she left the pics on a computer that others had access to. The pics were copied and subsequently distributed via the internet.  Fair enough.  People are allowed to show extremely poor judgment if they so choose. But this is where things go off the rails;  Sharon Smith is the CPC candidate for Skeena-Bulkley Valley.  Remember Conservative spokesperson Kory Teneycke from the TorStar article above?  Well, here he is commenting on Sharon's nudie pics:

OTTAWA - Nude photos of a central B.C. mayor have resurfaced years after they were taken, but it will not affect her candidacy for the Conservative party.

"We obviously knew about them before," Kory Teneycke, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Saturday after media reported on the old photos.

"She's a very good candidate."

In 2003, naked photos of Houston, B.C., Mayor Sharon Smith were published by a popular British tabloid and the local newspaper.

The photos, showed Smith posing nude in a black office chair, smiling broadly and wearing nothing but her mayor's chain of office.

Smith said the were taken by her husband after she won the 2002 mayoral election in the town of 4,300. She has since been reelected.

Smith apologized for the photos earlier and claimed that they had been stolen from her personal computer during a house party.

She is now running as a Conservative candidate in B.C.'s Skeena-Bulkley Valley.

Right.  Well, now we know.  People who hold conservative values get turffed from the "Conservative" Party while nekked mayors, who show extremely poor judgement, are welcomed with open arms.

This a bad sign for the Conservative Party of Canada.  They've got a bunch of drunken frat boys running their war room, morons running their web sites and now, retards, making decisions on candidates.

I'll be voting independent this year.

h/t