How the National Socialist Grinches Tried to Steal Christmas

I know it's not even December yet but I found this article and it's just too good to turn up:

How Hitler and the Nazis tried to steal Christmas

From the article:

The Nazi Party tried their best to remove Christ from Christmas by
paganising carols, producing glittering swastika, iron cross and toy grenade
baubles for the fir tree, research for a new exhibition has found.

Many of the changes made under Hitler, put in place to remove the
influence of the Jewish-born baby Jesus, are still in use today, much to the
alarm of modern Germans.


The swastika-shaped baking trays and wrapping paper adorned with
Nazi symbols have long gone, but traces of the Third Reich Christmas can still
be found in the subtly rewritten lyrics of favourite carols.

The discoveries have been highlighted by a new exhibition at the National
Socialism Documentation Centre in Cologne.

The Nazi version, which removed the religious references and replaced
them with images of snowy fields, remains in some song books and is sung in many households. The same goes for carols referring to Virgin Birth and lullabies
that invoke the Baby Jesus.

The Nazis, perpetrators of some of the worst atrocities of the twentieth century and epitomes of evil, tried to secularise a Christian holiday (but, really, isn't Christmas rather universal in some ways?) to make it more palatable for the current political environment.

That sounds familiar.

Homework

For any student, homework is a bane of his or her existence.

One father in Calgary has taken this bane to task and drew up a contract not necessarily to ban homework but to apply it differently and with less amount.

This leads to the question: is homework necessary?

I would argue: yes.

As a kid, I hated homework. I balked at it and waited for the last minute to do it. In retrospect, it wasn't prudent to do so. Not every homework assignment is pointless busy-work. It can also be an opportunity to review and practice the skill learned that day.

As I grew older and started teaching in South Korea, my North American perspective on homework completely changed. In Asia, education is one of the primary points in life. Shaped by Confucian ideals, much of Asia devotes its energies and resources to schooling. Hogwans- or private schools teaching certain subjects- were examples of the length to which parents would go to ensure their children were fully-fledged academics. Such hogwans could mean the difference between ending up at a top university or community college. As a result, children from the time they were seven years old had a fire lit under them. It was not uncommon to have students go to as many as six hogwans a week on top of going to regular school. Even their vacations were "working vacations". Imagine going to zoos or museums and then writing essays on them in the middle of August.

When I taught at these hogwans, I was expected to give my students English-language homework which, in truth, amounted to pointless regurgitation exercises that served only to show the parents that the kids were working. Writing a sentence five times doesn't count as constructive in my opinion. I would try to give my students homework that would require critical thinking rather than simply studying or rote memory work. Granted they had to review the daily lesson but they would also have to write their own sentences with the new words they learned or give me a "recipe" for a peanut butter sandwich. Sometimes they would be required to strike up an English conversation with their mums. For forty minutes a day, twice a week, in an homogeneous country, I did what I could. The homework, I believe, was taxing but not because it of the amount but because it required the kids to think critically about whatever English they learned that day. Anyone can say: "The fire truck is red" but how many can say: "The fire truck is scarlet in colour"? Yes, there are other words for red. I realise this is a simplistic example but when you consider that rote learning is the pillar of many schools here and abroad, a bit of word power and thinking on one's feet goes a long way.

When I returned to Canada and was informed by the students I was tutoring that a staggering twenty minutes cut into their TV-watching or hockey-playing time, I was purposefully indifferent. In South Korea, I saw kids fall asleep or have emotional meltdowns because the weight of their many private schools was bearing down on them. It was no surprise that I would have no pity for soft Canadian kids. Unless it was hockey, there was no real impetus to arrive at results. It is no surprise, therefore, that many students lag behind or become only marginally useful. This isn't everyone but it's enough to be concerned.

The problems in education in Canada, I feel, are threefold- the students, the parents and the teachers. Is the student motivated by the will to learn? Does he have a good attitude and work habits? Do the parents read to him? Do they encourage him to learn or take up a skill (Guitar Hero is a pretty strong argument against the perception that parents do encourage skills or hobbies. Why not actually learn to play the guitar instead of pressing a few buttons?)? Are the parents aware of what is being taught in the schools right now? Are the teachers motivated by benefits or desire to see a student excel? Is a curriculum properly balanced or watered-down so that student get little information and insight and topics therein can be completed by the end of the month? Are we all too pre-occupied (not necessarily busy) to care?

Homework does help the student practice and reinforce skills. Homework also teaches a student tolerance of unpleasant yet necessary tasks. Homework also gets the students to independently complete an assignment correctly and in a timely fashion. It isn't always pointless busy-work, as was previously stated. Some teachers do hand out homework for the sake it. This is wrong. Are the teachers expected by the powers-that-be to do so or are they inexperienced or even (hopefully not) indifferent to a student's skill level or time constraints? If a student does not know how to complete an assignment, is it because the teacher did not provide the students with the skills to finish the work or has the student been drifting off during a crucial instruction period? How much homework is too much? Twenty minutes every few nights can't be overwhelming. Are the parents expecting too little or too much? So a child doesn't want to do homework. That's not new. A review of the expected assignment is in order. Is the assignment something that can be done independently and with a little elbow grease? Some parents indulge their kids' whims and offer them a way out from a tedious yet important task. It might be cute when an eight year old pouts at math but not when he's eighteen. If the assignment is too difficult or overwhelming, why not discuss things with the teacher? I've found that unless a parent is unhappy with a test result and would rather have the teacher change it in an A, parents are very much absent from the academic scene.

I've posed these questions and observations because I think we are headed into a direction of softness and mediocrity instead of examining any underlying issues and dealing with them. Homework may not be fun but it is essential. Frowning at it won't make it disappear.

Just my thoughts.

Mid-week Mellow

(sigh)

It's Tuesday

Yep.



Michael Moore emerges from irrelevance to tell Canadians what to do:



He says Canadians seem to be on a misguided quest to become more like Americans when it comes to health care. As a result, he tells a conference in Toronto, Canadians are straying from one of their core principles of looking out for one another.



Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up.



First of all, Canadians do not want to be Americans; they want to be Canadians. What ignorance and arrogance to even suggest that! Way to display your stupidity, fool!



Secondly, would Moore like qualify his statement of Canadians "looking out for one another"? Is it based on his years of living in Canada? Oh, that's right! Michael Moore doesn't live in Canada and he never has. He has just has a romanticised view of Canada as a socialist utopia. Big clue, dingus: utopia means "no place". Were he to take up residence in Canada, it would be far removed from the "dregs" of Canadian suburbia. He certainly wouldn't find he has celebrity status here. We don't care about celebrities. So you've made a few movies. Big deal. Want a medal for that? Well, you're not getting one.



Thirdly, has this porcine blowhard ever been left on a gurney in a cold hospital hallway for three days, or waited in an emergency room for thirty-four hours, or had a cancer test botched? Nope.

Canada doesn't want your advice, Moore, you capitalist liar! Stuff it!

Moving on...

An excerpt from Mrs. Palin's new and wildly popular book:

From what I could see from my position in the center of the state, the
capital of Juneau seemed stocked mainly with "good ol' boys" who lunched with
oil company executives and cut fat-cat deals behind closed doors. Like most
Alaskans, I could see that the votes of many lawmakers lined up conveniently
with what was best for Big Oil, sometimes to the detriment of their own
constituents.

Whoa! From that passage, I can totally tell she cares about no one else but herself!

(WARNING: the above quote was sarcastic and not to be take seriously. Do not take internally.)

In the last election I took part in, the race was essentially down to two candidates: one representing a socialist party and the other was a self-made individual whose hard work helped define him. His working the land, however, sent most voters into a tizzy so they aligned themselves with the candidate most likely to bark for welfare cheques. The day after the election, members of a certain school board, whose ascendancy into well-paid, heavily unionised, plum positions did not depend on any real merit, were aghast- aghast!- that a farmer could have represented them in their riding.

It's this kind of toffy-nosed snobbery and uselessness that still mars civilised politics today. Obama-good/Palin-bad.

Oh really?

From her Facebook page:

I commend the president for acknowledging today that “there are limits to
what government can and should do” to ease our 10.2% unemployment rate – the
highest it’s been since 1983. I also applaud his call for suggestions and
expression of openness to considering “any demonstrably good idea.” Taking him
at his word, I’d like to suggest this one: let’s learn from history and follow
the example of the man who occupied the White House in 1983 and was able to
transform an even worse recession than the one we’re currently experiencing into
the largest peacetime economic expansion in American history.

Are those the words of an ungrateful, ill-educated bumpkin? This sounds like a sensible reminder of what worked historically and economically for America. It was even pernicious. Had Mrs. Palin been a columnist rather than a governor, would her words be dismissed as easily as they are now? Obviously not. Mrs. Palin- whatever her ambitions- reminds the lazy voter (the one who forgot Obama has zero experience doing anything) that their vote was wasted. The current administration doesn't have the grip previous administrations had. To paraphrase a clueless yet photogenic character: he was elected to read, not to lead. Well, that's dandy but what about this unemployment and despotic environment polluters?

This article says it.

Louis Riel 'murdered by the Crown,' MP says

Louis Riel, a Metis rebel, was hanged on November 16th, 1885. His role in the Red River Rebellion and his subsequent capture, trial and execution have long been celebrated and reviled in western Canada. His demand for rights for the truly downtrodden in an era of loyalty to an absent and indifferent Crown paint him as heroic. The move to overturn his conviction would, ostensibly, remove the stain of villainy set up on him.

Unbowed

Ha! See what I did there?!

Sorry.

Obama's bow to the Emperor of Japan has ruffled various and numerous feathers.

(oh dear...)

The event:

News photos of President Barack Obama bowing to Japan's emperor have
incensed critics here, who said the US leader should stand tall when representing America overseas.

The criticism:

"We don't defer to emperors. We don't defer to kings or emperors. The
president of the United States -- this coupled with so many apologies from the
United States -- is just another thing," said Bennett.

The defense:

"I think it's a gesture of kindness," she told CNN, adding that the bow
appeared intended to show "goodwill between two nations that respect each
other."

The bowing etiquette in Japan:

When bowing to someone of higher social status, a deeper, longer bow indicates respect. Conversely, a small head nod is casual and informal. However, most Japanese do not expect foreigners to know proper bowing rules and so a nod of the head is usually sufficient.

The saikeirei explained (boy, are the Japanese stickers for this stuff!):

When bowing while standing, their is the “highest respectful bow”
(saikeirei), which is executed from a position of standing straight upward, and
then bending 45-degrees or more. “Respectful bow” is at 30-to-40 degrees, and
everyday “eshaku” around 15-degrees.

“Saikeirei” is not seen on a regular basis, but is used in order to
offer an apology, or when one is extremely grateful for something received, as
well as performed before the altar of Shinto shrines and Bhuddist temples.

The etiquette for foreign diplomats in Japan:

A handshake is appropriate upon meeting. The Japanese handshake is limp
and with little or no eye contact.

Some Japanese bow and shake hands. The bow is a highly regarded
greeting to show respect and is appreciated by the Japanese. A slight bow to
show courtesy is acceptable.

How the Japanese see the emperor:

The Emperor (天皇, tennō, literally "heavenly emperor," formerly referred to
as the Mikado) of Japan is the symbol of the state and of the unity of the
Japanese people. He is the head of the Japanese Imperial Family. He is also the
highest authority of the Shinto religion. Under Japan's present constitution,
the Emperor is the "symbol of the state and the unity of the people," and is a
ceremonial figurehead in a constitutional monarchy.

My take:

It is said a country is someone's home, hence, when one is in another's home, it pays to be courteous. If that means greet someone with a slight bow, then bow. It's courtesy. Obama has never struck me as courteous, not altruistically. For a man whose apologies for America's "bad behaviour" has caused enormous dissatisfaction among the flag-waving masses, Obama's newest misstep is in a long line of missteps. Is he as "multicultural" as he claims? Apparently not. Was his cartoonish low bow appropriate, a "gesture of kindness"? No. It was Obama being Obama. He tried to show the world how he does things- the demi-god among the lowly American mortals (after all, he does have the blood of Africa running in him, doesn't he?). In the end, he made himself appear the bumpkin, incapable (or unwilling) of accepting cultural direction and incapable of asserting his country's prominence.

When asked about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Obama again bowed, though not at ninety degrees. He didn't need to be sanguine to an audience of Japanese press, just assertive that his country- a victim of an unprovoked attack and whose servicemen were brutalised by a repressive militaristic state that once held the belief that its emperor was a god- acted the way it did to end the war they helped start.

This is why the bow stinks.

***

The secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan Ichiro Ozawa considers Christianity and Islam to be "very exclusive."

What a rich thing to say given that Japan's history is just rife with persecution of its own people and others. When I was in Japan, I saw that Japanese Christians reached out to Korean Christians, inviting them to stay at their centres, to visit their houses of worship and enjoy their food.

That doesn't sound exclusive to me.

Like a Hole in the Head

Canada seeks to not repatriate Omar Khadr, "alleged" terrorist.

I don't want him back. Let the Americans try and convict him. They can take his free-loading family, too.

Many speculate- and I believe correctly- that the recent Fort Hood shootings have become a shame-based exhibition of political correctness. Terrified that Nidal Malik Hasan was in perfect control of his faculties when he shouted "Allah Akhbar" before killing and wounding innocent people, the left were in a rush to hide his apparent motives and veer the discussion away from what the public (at least by now) already knows (that being the danger of Islamism). The mission is in full tilt.

One bit of stupidity:

[T]o ignore the circumstances of this particular shooting would be like saying Oswald was just some random wacko whose actions occurred in a total vacuum, that the Cold War, his Marxist sympathies, the fact that he lived in the Soviet Union for a time, were all basically irrelevant. They weren't. And while the are are many things we don't yet--and may never--know about Nidal Malik Hasan and what drove him to commit such an evil act, we can't ignore the things we do know. If only because, by ignoring them, we allow others, like Malkin and her ilk, to try to define them for us.

I don't like people telling me what conclusions to arrive at either but when a gunman screams "Allah Akhbar" and has a history of very terrorist-oriented feelings and actions, it's pretty obvious what drove him to do what he did. Plunge one's head in the sand if one must but really it's a waste of time. If "Malkin and her ilk" are the only people who know when to duck then so be it.

It gets better:

We have occupied one or more largely Muslim nations for several years, led by the dunderhead who described himself shortly after 9/11 as "on a crusade." And yet Fort Hood stands out precisely because of the rarity of Muslim American attacks on fellow Americans. This matters.

Yes, the "dunderhead" who visited the Fort Hood wounded when the Chosen One did not. The "dunderhead" whose response to the September 11th attacks would never have been mirrored by the more "progressive" likes of Jimmy Carter, Al Gore or Jimmy Carter 2.0. There has to be a point when people stop blaming Bush for things. It's getting old, not to mention just plain stupid. And no, there is no rarity of attacks on American soil, attempted or otherwise.

And the "cry for help/no one's-really-to-blame" excuse:

Ft. Hood’s commander, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, said today that there are
unconfirmed reports that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shouted “God is great” in Arabic
before opening fire yesterday at the Army base. Again: we will soon be able to
hear Hasan’s motivations in his own words. Even if he shouted such a thing, it
would no more reflect on his co-religionists than does the fanatic who murdered
Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller and who happened to consider himself
a devout Christian does on his co-religionists. It’s worth remembering that
nearly all mass shootings in this country are committed by white men. Do we have
a white-man problem on our hands?

Except that it does reflect Hasan and his "co-religionists" who have serious issues with Western culture. They believe they have a directive from Mohammed to destroy what the West stands for. Throw in the completely disingenuous remark about the gunman who killed Tiller and voila! You have a reasoned argument, except that you don't. Tiller got killed and instantly the pro-life movement was tarred once again as a fringe terrorist movement no matter how mainstream pro-life groups swore they had nothing to do with him. After all, the right to life is not a part of the liberal media fabric. To depict (and properly so) Roeder's actions as radical and removed from the mainstream would give voice and credence to the pro-life movement. "Maybe they are peaceful Everymen" . Indeed. No one would dream of applying the same standard to Scott Roeder now being applied to Hasan, the one of complete disbelief and disconnection from the majority. What if someone had said: "Scott Roeder just snapped under pressure" or "Gamil Gharbi was just a victim of cirumstance" (you might know him better as Marc Lepine). I would imagine the torches and pitchforks would be out quickly. Not so. It's better to feign ignorance of true motives or circumstances than it is to embrace facts, those dreadful nuisance things!

Again:

[T]he above would seem to confirm what many on the wingnut right seemed to
positively hope was the case last night—that Hasan's rampage was an act of
Islamist terrorism, as opposed to the result of a breakdown or mental illness or
the garden-variety insane rage and alienation that has inspired what seems like
a mass killing every other month. We all know what first came to mind when
Hasan's name was released yesterday. But we suppose a handy guide for finding
the line that divides the Glenn Becks of the world from the rest of us is
whether you reacted with dread at the idea that it may have been related,
however murkily, to Islamism, or if you were filled with smug delight.

I'm not filled with delight at all. Fourteen people (a pregnant woman was shot) were killed. What is to delight in? The writer of the above quote may be inclined to be contemptuous of others who had valid concerns for Islamic extremism if that's the thing. It's not constructive, just childish and boorish.

***

According to Sarah Palin's new book, Going Rogue (which apparently makes a great Christmas gift), she felt sorry for Katie Couric:

Nicolle went on to explain that Katie really needed a career boost.
“She just has such low self-esteem,” Nicolle said. She added that Katie was
going through a tough time. “She just feels she can’t trust anybody.”

I was thinking, And this has to do with John McCain’s campaign
how?
Nicolle said. “She wants you to like her.”

Hearing all that, I almost started to feel sorry for her. Katie had
tried to make a bold move from lively morning gal to serious anchor, but the new
assignment wasn’t going very well.

If I was Katie Couric, I would thank Sarah Palin for her pity, call it ice cream and ask for seconds. As powered up the light of the yellow sun as she is, Mrs. Palin still finds time to be gracious.

You can see more from this amazing site here.

We Shall Remember Them

I took these photos when in Ottawa this past summer. I apologise if they seem skewed somehow but given that may have been taken in dimly-lit areas, from moving vehicles or in the crooks of tourists' elbows, I tried my best.

The first photo is of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The remaining photos were taken at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa which I strongly recommend you visit if are ever in Ottawa.

From the top:

-a photo of a photo of nurses serving in Korea

-a plaque dedicated to James Doohan (God rest his Enterprise-fixing soul)

-ration cards in an era of "waste not, want not", symbols of a culture geared towards national service

- a war poster

-black servicemen in a foxhole during the First World War

- to Lt. N.H. Pawley

-a memorial stone

-a propaganda poster for the Boer War

-a depiction of a gas attack during the First World War

-marching to war

Mid-week Mellow

A respectful mellow.