Un Jour Superbe

The sun is out.

The weather is warm.

Barbecue season extends its sauce-drenched arm to its hungry minions.

Yep, it's all good.

It's also Saint Joan of Arc's feast day.

And take the time to figure out what your Smurf name is.

Mid-Week Post

China's meeeeeaaannnn:

China is considering its first immigration law following a surge in the number of foreigners seeking to take advantage of the booming economy in the world's most populous nation, state press said Saturday. Preparations are underway for a first draft of the law which would likely divide potential immigrants into categories such as skilled or unskilled workers and job and investor immigration, Xinhua news agency said.

Given the absurdity of certain immigration arguments as of late, I thought I would throw this in here. China is a hot spot for anyone willing to make a quick buck off of cheap labour (slave labour, really). Migrants from outside of major city centres face all manner of discrimination and it remains to be seen how foreigners will be treated under this proposed system.

The lot of the migrant worker's life in China:

The household registration system was set up in 1958 to serve three purposes: government welfare and resource distribution, migration control and criminal surveillance. Chinese citizens were assigned either a rural or an urban household (hukou) based on their place of residence. Local governments were responsible for providing everyone whose hukou was in its jurisdiction with daily needs and services, such as education, housing and medical care. Urban residents were also entitled to food rations, grain subsidies and job allocation. To prohibit internal migration, residents were not allowed to work or live outside the administrative boundaries of their household registration without approval of the authorities. Once they left their place of registration, they would also leave behind all of their rights and benefits. For the purpose of surveillance, everyone, including temporary residents in transit, was required to register with the police of their place of residence and their temporary residence. By the 1970s, the system became so rigid that "peasants could be arrested just for entering cities."

In their hometowns, Chinese citizens with a rural household registration are entitled to basic rights and social services. However, once they leave their registered place of residence, they lose these basic benefits and become second class citizens, with no access to urban social services. With a lower social status than that of urban residents, migrant workers are subject to daily exploitation and discrimination.

Imagine for a moment a plant shutting down in Ontario (not too difficult to imagine, actually). The workers, still with enough pluck to carry on, decide to move to Saskatchewan where there are jobs waiting for them. However, the government forbids them. They have neither the papers to move nor the security of being fed or the access of legal counsel should they need it.

That's China in a nutshell.

For one's information:

There are restrictions on certain religious activities, such as preaching, distributing literature, and associating with unapproved religious groups, including some Christian, Buddhist, and Muslim organizations. The Falun Gong movement has been banned in China. Participants in Falun Gong activities or Falun Gong-related demonstrations are subject to legal action that may include detention, deportation, arrest, and imprisonment.

The welcome mat for Chinese students:

There are more than 150,000 international students who go to Canada every year to study, and more than 9000 are from China. In addition, many more come to Canada to learn English or French. International students bring a rich culture to our classrooms. Your knowledge and skills are welcome in our schools.

• Canadian universities are among the best in the world
• Tuition fees for international students in Canada, and the cost of living, are among the lowest in the world
• Eligible students can gain valuable Canadian work experience through off campus employment
• Canada is a multicultural country. Regardless of your ethnic origin, you will feel at home in Canada
• According to the United Nations, Canada offers one of the highest standards for quality of life in the world

But I digress...

From the first article:

"But to have a stronger appeal and competitiveness in the global arena, a nation must properly resolve social and economic issues arising from immigration."

There's the rub.

There are fifty-six different ethnic groups in China, the predominant being the Han. Because there are so many ethnic, linguistic and cultural minorities, the need to solidify China under the Hans became an urgent one for the communists:

The Communists' 1934-35 Long March, a 6,000-mile trek across China from southwest to northwest to escape the threat of annihilation by Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang (KMT) forces, took the Communists through some of the most heavily populated minority areas. Harried on one side by the KMT and on the other by fierce "barbarian" tribesmen, the Communists were faced with a choice between extermination and promising special treatment to minorities--especially the Miao, Yi (Lolo), Tibetans, Mongols, and Hui--should the party ever win national power. The Communists even offered the possibility of true independence for minorities. Chairman Mao frequently referred to Article 14 of the 1931 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) constitution, which "recognizes the right of self- determination" of the national minorities in China, their right to complete separation from China, and to the formation of an independent state for each minority. This commitment was not kept after the founding of the People's Republic (Gladney 1996: 60-75). Instead, the party stressed maintaining the unity of the new nation at all costs. The recognition of minorities, however, also helped the Communists' long-term goal of forging a united Chinese nation by solidifying the recognition of the Han as a unified "majority." Emphasizing the difference between Han and minorities helped to de-emphasize the differences within the Han community. The Communists incorporated the idea of Han unity into a Marxist ideology of progress with the Han in the forefront of development and civilization, the vanguard of the people's revolution (Gladney 1994a: 97). The more "backward" or "primitive" the minorities were, the more "advanced" and "civilized" the so-called Han seemed and the greater the need for a unified national identity.

Sounds similar to a Russification project to me. For as diverse as China is, it is the Hans who are "advanced".


Speaking of ethnic and linguistic nightmares:

If Quebec were independent there would be no discussion about a bilingual Supreme Court, that’s one of the new arguments from the Bloc Quebecois. The fight for a bilingual high court went to a new level Tuesday as Heritage Minister James Moore was grilled before the Commons Official Languages Committee on why the government opposes the private members bill that would make bilingualism a prerequisite for an appointment.


Moore was before the committee to talk about the government’s road map for bilingualism in the public service but most MPs, especially from the opposition side wanted to focus on the court. Jean Dorion, a Bloc MP from Longueuil, asked Moore, “In an independent Quebec, can you imagine the judges not speaking French?”


The bill may be about requiring judges to speak and understand both official languages but opposition to the bill is being portrayed as tantamount to opposing French. Question after question was put to Moore on why the government would not support French. Liberal MP Denis Codderre was one of several MPs to declare that by not making bilingualism a prerequisite for the court that the government was in effect treating Francophones as second class citizens.

Placing power in the hands of less than ten percent of the entire population is outrageous. I have been to Quebec and I loved it. It is a beautiful province rich in culture and history. It's Gilles Duceppe who ruins it:

For the past few months any insult real or perceived, in the Bloc’s eyes, is further proof that the motion declaring the Quebecois a nation within a united Canada was a farce and the remedy is, you guessed it, an independent Quebec. The claim that Canada is not respecting the Quebec nation has been used so many times by the Bloc in recent months that I asked Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe whether this was a new tactic. His answer, yes.


Duceppe was seen as being on the losing end of the battle when the tactician Stephen Harper was able to convince Parliament to adopt the Quebec is a nation motion. Duceppe may have lost the battle but he’s planning on using that motion to help him win the longer war which includes the Supreme Court bilingualism skirmish being fought not only by Bloc troops by also his allies in the Liberals and NDP. Anyone doubting that Duceppe’s strategy is helping his party need only look at poll after poll showing the Bloc with a commanding lead in Quebec polls.

If there must be a separation, it is Duceppe who should separate himself from Canada.

I didn't want to touch on this but I will. A reasonable person can decide that when writing a book about another person, an interview with the subject or her familiars might be in order, not moving right next door to her.

Just saying.

The Night Was Dark and Sultry

Really.


Forget the cliched beginning. It's thirty degrees Celsius with the Humidex.


There are many things we shouldn't forget and one of them is that Chretien is, was and always shall be a filthy liar and a self-serving thief, just like Trudeau before him:

The 76-year-old retiree now enjoying a lucrative law career returned to Parliament Hill yesterday for his final parliamentary function — to unveil his Centre Block portrait and bask in salutes from dignitaries...

No, I haven't forgotten Ad-Scam or the snarling way in which he would bark at people.


As I was saying...

The United States will conduct anti-submarine and other naval exercises with Seoul in the "near future," it announced yesterday, as South Korea halted trade with the North in retaliation for the sinking of one of its warships.

The announcements came after an international investigation last week concluded that a North Korean submarine fired a heavy torpedo at the Cheonan on March 26, sinking the South Korean vessel and killing 46 sailors.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak also banned the North's merchant ships from South Korean waters and said Seoul would refer the attack to the United Nations Security Council for punishment.

In a nationally televised address, Mr. Lee vowed an immediate military response to any future aggression, saying South Korea had in the past repeatedly tolerated the North's "brutality."

In Tokyo, Japan said it supported Seoul's push for Security Council punishment and was also studying more sanctions of its own against Pyongyang.

France said it would work at the UN Security Council to ensure that North Korea "doesn't go unpunished" for the sinking, characterising it as "criminal aggression."

In short, nothing. North Korea still gets to make a good won out of South Korea:

North Korea allowed South Korean workers on Wednesday to enter a joint industrial park that is a lucrative source of income for the Pyongyang government, despite having said a day earlier it was cutting all ties with the South.

The move to let in workers suggested that behind its latest furious rhetoric, which follows the South accusing it of sinking one of its warships, the isolated North is being careful not to take steps that will cause it real material damage.

Seoul's financial markets, battered the previous day partly on rising tensions on the divided peninsula, looked stable in early trading, although both shares and the won were down a little after initial gains.

Analysts say both Koreas, who have never repeated the open conflict of the 1950-53 Korean War, were unlikely to let their current hostility turn to war.

Tiger, my @$$.


Just so we remember, BP gave Obama a significant contribution. Sarah Palin pointed it out (hat tip: ABC). Where is the ravenous popular press? I realise it isn't Mrs. Palin mowing her lawn or talking about Alaska but surely the connection of a president to Big Oil is news. Right?



Oooh, scorch!

Questions

So- the flash sideways were really heaven?

Where can Jack Bauer go where the Russians can't find him?

Emotional Blackmail

...thy name is Michelle Obama:

First Lady Michelle Obama fielded an unexpected question on US immigration policy during a visit to an elementary school Wednesday, when a little girl asked what was in store for her mother as an illegal immigrant.

The awkward moment came as presidents Barack Obama and Felipe Calderon of Mexico were meeting at the White House and first ladies Michelle Obama and Margarita Zavala were visiting an elementary school in Silver Spring, a Washington suburb in Maryland.

During a question-and-answer meeting with students, a shy little girl raised her hand and said: "My mom says that Barack Obama is taking every body away that doesn't have papers."

"That's something that we have to work on to make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers," answered the US first lady.

"But my mom doesn't have any papers," the girl added.

"But we have to work on that, we have to fix that, in that everybody's got to work together in Congress to make sure that happens," Michelle Obama said reassuringly.

Five will get you ten this cherry-picked tear-jerking article will be splayed all over the media and cries of "Think of the children!" will be heard from the least-informed liberal.


When will we hear from the child of a legal immigrant or the exploited or abused worker (and the exploited foreign worker in Mexico)? How about the legal immigrant himself?


Interesting:

What is common to all these disillusionments — the intolerance and dishonesty of environmental extremism, the European Union crackup, and Barack Obama’s renewal of Jimmy Carter’s failed foreign policy? They all can be traced to a global Western elite that in its intellectual arrogance confused late-20th-century technological progress with a supposed evolution in human nature itself. Heaven on earth was to be ushered in by those who deemed themselves so wise and so moral that they could remake civilization in their own image — even if that sometimes meant the end of disinterested research, basic arithmetic, and simple common sense.

Read the whole thing.

Thursday in the Month of Smarch

Though it is not Smarch.


Canada plans on taking North Korea to task over the sinking of the Cheonan:

Canada says it will use its G8 presidency to take North Korea to task for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

But Canada still sees the United Nations Security Council as the main forum for dealing with the Pyongyang regime as tensions escalate on the Korean Peninsula, a senior government official said Thursday.

An international civilian-military investigation concluded that a North Korean torpedo sank the Cheonan, a South Korean navy ship, on March 26. The blast killed 46 sailors and forced the rescue of another 58 at sea in the region's worst military disaster since the Korean War.

In a speech Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon reiterated that Canada fully supports its democratic ally South Korea.

Cannon said Canadian military experts contributed to an international investigation that concluded there was no other "plausible explanation" for the sinking.

You'll forgive me if I think is wishful thinking. It's more than likely that Canada is happy to take the reins on the international stage. More power to us but unless Harper wants to put the pressure on North Korea's backers- China and Russia (both of whom have permanent seats on the security council)- this will go nowhere. Not even the United States will shake North Korea's proverbial peaches.


North Korea threatens war if punished over the sinking of the Cheonan:

North Korea, accused of waging the deadliest attack on the South Korean military since the Korean War, flatly denied sinking a warship Thursday and warned that retaliation would mean "all-out war."

They've all but admitted to this act. I suspect North Korea will rattle its rusty saber until the sanctions or whatever toothless punitive measure is called off. Then it's back to square one.


Speaking of terrorism and huffy bullies, an anarchist group claims responsibility for a brazen attack on a bank:

The videotaped firebombing of a Royal Bank of Canada branch in Ottawa on Tuesday morning could be a sign of things to come.

Anarchist websites are threatening "militant and confrontational" action during the summits of G8 and G20 world leaders in Huntsville, Ont., and Toronto, respectively, next month.

And the group claiming responsibility for the bank attack vows that its members will "be there" to protest "exploitation of people and the environment."

No doubt these brats will be hiding in plain sight in balaclavas and speaking to the terrible capitalist ways of the West before cooling down with an iced mocha at Starbucks. Canada has screwed up on Air India 182 and just got lucky with the Toronto 18. We cannot let this pass. Don't let the criminals have a press conference when caught. Why offer them a platform? Do we really need to hear selfish white bourgeois brats blathering to everyone that anarchy means subsidised healthcare? People can learn about their exploits from the popular press and the more gutsy blogs.


The NDP demand a cap on CEO's salaries. Alright, when they hand over their receipts.


Now for the lighter side....


Ninjas DO help:

Three muggers got much more than they bargained for in Sydney, Australia when a group of ninjas spotted the robbery and rushed to the aid of the victim.....

Class was in session and a student noticed what was going on outside. He alerted the school’s sensei, black belt Kaylan Soto...

“He’s called out to me, ‘Sensei, someone’s getting mugged on the road outside!’” said Mr Soto.”We looked around to see what was happening and there were three blokes on this guy just kicking him and punching him in the head.

“We started running at them, yelling and everything. These guys have turned around and seen five ninjas in black ninja uniforms running towards them. They just bolted,” he said.

“You should have seen their faces when they saw us in ninja gear coming towards them. I’ve never seen guys running that fast. They should have been in the Olympics – they would have won gold,” he added.

All of Lost's secrets are on Star Trek? Of course! I'm Earl Chowders. That's all I can say.

Fight Night, Part Two

This time it's for money!

A 60-year-old French woman is under arrest after starting a fight with a woman, 26, over her burka.

The incident, which the media is calling France’s first burka rage incident, happened at a clothing store in western France.

Cette une guerre!


Who would have thought that the French would blow a fuse?




Vive le resistance de la burqa!

(Insert Marseillaise here)

Fight Night

Oh yes, it's fight night (hat tip- ABC):

It was a scene Saudi women’s rights activists have dreamt of for years.

When a Saudi religious policeman sauntered about an amusement park in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Al-Mubarraz looking for unmarried couples illegally socializing, he probably wasn’t expecting much opposition.

But when he approached a young, 20-something couple meandering through the park together, he received an unprecedented whooping.

A member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Saudi religious police known locally as the Hai’a, asked the couple to confirm their identities and relationship to one another, as it is a crime in Saudi Arabia for unmarried men and women to mix.

For unknown reasons, the young man collapsed upon being questioned by the cop.

According to the Saudi daily Okaz, the woman then allegedly laid into the religious policeman, punching him repeatedly, and leaving him to be taken to the hospital with bruises across his body and face.

ka-POW!



Further:

Neither the religious police nor the Eastern Province police has made a statement on the incident, and both the names of the couple and the date of the incident have not been made public, but on Monday the incident was all over the Saudi media.

I'll bet they haven't.


It's refreshing to hear of these things, it really is. Covering people because of some sort of emotional frustration just isn't normal, no matter what Islamic fundamentalists and their lackeys think. It is a grave injustice to treat a woman like livestock. I take that back. Women in Islamic countries aren't treated like livestock. They're treated worse.


One can only treat someone like crap for so long before the last straw.


Now, for your viewing pleasure, an Iranian woman cleaning the clock of the morality police.


Enjoy.

Monday Post

Oh really? I wonder why:

An ambitious proposal to build a large Islamic centre and mosque blocks from Ground Zero has made some New York citizens angry.

The site of the devastating al-Qaeda attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 that killed almost 3,000 people is still a gaping hole in New York’s lower Manhattan, with a lot of construction put on hold because of the economic downturn. Supporters of the 15-storey cultural centre project say it will be open to all visitors including non-Muslims, it will encourage positive discourse between people of all faiths, and will house a day care, a theater, a gym and sports facilities. But groups against the proposal compare it to opening a German cultural centre around the corner from Auschwitz, the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph reports.

This isn't a testament to cultural openness or even bad taste. It's kow-towing.


Speaking of kow-towing, Comedy Central desperately tries to "un-wuss" itself from the "South Park" fiasco by insulting Jews and Christians and- for some reason- the US feels it should explain itself and even apologise to communist China (the same communist China that kills its infant girls and sells North Korean women into sexual slavery. That China.). That's Obama's America for you.


Not "emotionally an American":

Barbara Kay makes an important point: One is not necessarily paranoid if one distrusts Barack Obama. I would add the following reasons why he instills a sense of foreboding.

The man has enthusiastically lied and shifted his positions on key issues continuously since the 2008 campaign, and he appears to be totally devoid of any knowledge of history of social policy, either that of North America or the United Kingdom and Europe. His dismal ranking in the latter category appears to aid and abet his determination to repeat the lessons of the failure of socialist policies as they continue to play out in Europe.

While Mr. Obama may be legally a U.S. citizen, he is not emotionally an American, has no empathy at all for the historical essence of the American way of life or the principles and aims of its Constitution. No wonder the polls reflect a rising sense of alarm and a growing spirit of rejection for Obama's agenda among the American people.

This, tangentially, applies to Michael Ignatieff. For all his clamoring of loving the Great White North, he's been completely separate from it for years. His recent entry in Canadian politics (and how disastrous that has been!) has been met with distrust for good reason. If you truly love and understand something, you would have always been there and even declare your dedication in everything you say or do. Not so for Obama or Ignatieff.


Why not just get North Korean fans (not labourers) to cheer instead?

FEW North Koreans will be able to cheer their team at the World Cup in South Africa. So the country is recruiting 1,000 Chinese fans.

The Beijing office of the North Korean Sports Committee is giving out tickets to the tournament, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Chinese fans will attend North Korea's games against Brazil and Portugal, Xinhua said. This is just the second time North Korea has qualified for the World Cup. It shocked the world with its first appearance in 1966 when it beat Italy and reached the quarterfinals.

The Chinese fans who will support North Korea this time include celebrities who have led similar groups to cheer for Chinese teams in the past. The Beijing office of the North Korean Sports Committee could not be reached on Friday. North Korea is the great unknown in the World Cup. News in the communist regime is strictly controlled.

Elephants and other animals trump North Koreans. The EU is silent because it has nothing to do with Canada or the seal hunt.



On the advent of barbecue season:

This term "Korean barbecue" is actually a misnomer, as the restaurants advertising this usually ask diners to cook their meat using a cast-iron pot or hot plate built directly into the table. The closest thing to barbecued steak is probably bulgogi (which translates to "fire meat") - thinly sliced beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and chili pepper, cooked at high ­temperature.

Some recettes for the preceding.

Friday, 2010

..AD....

There is an elephant in the room. Really:

Two baby elephants intended as a gift to North Korea are unlikely to survive the journey by air, Zimbabwean conservationists said Thursday.


The independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said the 18-month-old elephants were being held in pens in the western Hwange National Park, along with pairs of most of the park's other animal species bound for North Korea. The country is a longtime ally of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

And:


Animals rights groups are taking the City of Edmonton to court over Lucy, the Asian elephant at the city-run Valley Zoo.


And:

In the last four years the Canadian government has allowed over one and a quarter million baby seals to be brutally slaughtered by clubbing and shooting, with the majority of seals killed aged three months or younger.

This is the largest most brutal slaughter of marine mammals on the planet and brings shame upon Canada. Respect for Animals is committed to ending this brutality.

Opinion polls show that the majority of people in Europe, the US and Canada are opposed to the seal hunt and 73% of British people support a ban on the import of seal products into the UK.

An independent veterinary study concluded that 42% of seals may have been skinned whilst still conscious. The Canadian government not only defends but also promotes this cruelty.

In May 2009 the European Union voted to ban the trade in seal products. This is a very welcome step forward and we hope it sends a clear and loud message to Canada that the brutal act of clubbing and shooting baby seals will no longer be tolerated.

Some care about elephants and seals and some forget that Kim Jong-Il and Robert Mugabe are evil. Discuss.


In today's news:

US President Barack Obama lashed oil companies Friday for trying to divert blame for the Gulf of Mexico slick and vowed to sever the "cozy" ties between the industry and government regulators.

As experts said the amount of oil flowing into the sea from the crippled Deepwater Horizon rig was likely much higher than estimated, Obama vowed he would not rest until the leak was contained and capped.

(Insert eye-roll here)

The rig, leased by BP from Transocean, has been gushing oil since an explosion on April 20 ripped through the drilling platform and caused it to sink two days later. Eleven workers were killed.

Oh hi:

While the BP oil geyser pumps millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama and members of Congress may have to answer for the millions in campaign contributions they’ve taken from the oil and gas giant over the years.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.

Yep, they'll do that:

Members of Parliament are refusing to let Auditor-General Sheila Fraser examine their expenses, saying she has no right to look at their books – and they don’t plan to give her one.

At a time when all federal departments are cutting programs and squeezing budgets to reduce the deficit, MPs officially rejected Ms. Fraser’s suggestion that her office could help find further savings in the way Parliament spends more than $500-million a year.

“Following careful consideration, the Auditor-General will not be invited to conduct a performance audit of the House of Commons,” reads a statement released Thursday afternoon as many MPs and Senators headed for the airport to get a jump start on a one-week recess.

What a damned injustice to make elected officials accountable for someone else's money!

In conclusion, flair!

As I Was Saying...

..not so long ago:

The Senate will begin hearings next week on a new treaty with Russia that would reduce the two countries' arsenals of long-range nuclear weapons by about a third....

Obama and his advisers consider the treaty a major step toward the president's goal of a nuclear-free world. The pact would help reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy.

But critics say the Russians bested the Americans in the negotiations.

Stephen Rademaker, assistant secretary of state for arms control in President George W. Bush's administration, said last week it was likely the treaty would be approved. But he said, he hoped senators would "ask questions" first about Russian development of new weapons.

"Every hard issue in the treaty is favourable to the Russians," he said.

Read the bolded parts again.

A fairly recent court ruling on the death penalty reflects a still-prevalent feeling in South Korea:

The Constitutional Court ruled Thursday in favor of death penalty for the second time in 14 years, judging that it is still too early in this society to abolish the system. However, it shows that the public opinion is changing slowly towards abolition of the penalty.

In its Thursday 5-4 decision, the Constitutional Court ruled the capital punishment constitutional, saying it is a "necessary evil" to safeguard innocent people and deter crime.

I was shocked to hear that one could be hanged for bank fraud in South Korea. One must also remember that North Korea reserves the right to kill on a whim.

North Korea has been caught smuggling weapons yet no one listens:

The North Korean weapons seized in Bangkok in December were destined for the Hamas and Hizbullah militant groups via Syria, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday...

It is the first time that any government officials have publicly talked about the destination of the 35 tons of North Korean arms seized at the Bangkok airport in December, although Dennis Blair, U.S. director of national intelligence, has said the cargo was bound for the Middle East.

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said he did not want to comment on the announcement by Israel.

What the hell?

Is your favorite teddy bear or stuffed animal worn down by the daily grind and desperately in need of a vacation?

Finnish firm Teddy Tours Lapland Oy (http://www.teddytourslapland.com) has come up with one solution: holidays in northern Finland for that special stuffed friend costing from 110 euros to 170 euros ($140-$216).

It's just too much!

Some Interesting Stuff

Some old Japanese steamship posters.

Kittens on a slide- sad or cute? You decide.



Poor, poor puppy. (WARNING: a little shocking)

That's all I have for now.

Wednesday, 2010 (AD)

We don't really have to say "AD", actually.


Frustration compounded with punk:

A five-year-old Saskatchewan boy who lost a leg in a lawn mower accident is being bullied on the school bus and school officials aren't helping, argues the boy's father.

Robert Coomber says his son, Ryan, got a black eye after being hit by an older student on the bus ride between the school in Assiniboia and the family home in Willow Bunch, about two hours southwest of Regina.

"I asked him why. He said it was because he was singing," said Coomber.

Coomber said he called the older student's parents but they were unwilling to help. The next call was to the RCMP.

"The RCMP came and took photos of Ryan's face and said that we were in full rights to press charges, but we decided not to, that we would let the school handle it instead of putting this kid through the justice system," said Coomber. "Instead of handling it, they removed Ryan from the bus because they said it was unsafe for him."

Coomber said there was no co-operation from staff at Ryan's school or at the older student's school, which he said "refused outright to discipline the child in any way." Ryan's school goes up to Grade 4 and the older student's school covers Grades 5 to 8, but they share a bus.

Coomber said an official with the Prairie South School Division told him that it would be best if he drove Ryan the 50 kilometres each way to kindergarten.

I think I have a better solution. Instead of the disabled five year old child commuting fifty kilometres each way, why not remove the offending punk for trench-digging duty? The school staff and administration can help the previously mentioned brat.


One would think he appeared at the University of Ottawa:

A Swedish artist whose drawing of the Prophet Muhammad offended Muslims said Wednesday he hopes to get another chance to deliver a lecture on free speech that was interrupted by violent protests.

But officials at Uppsala University said they doubted they would invite Lars Vilks again after police used pepper spray and batons to help him escape a furious crowd Tuesday.

Niqabs to be welcomed at a Quebec school:

At a time when niqabs have become a controversial symbol of the debate over accommodation in Quebec, Parkdale Elementary School in St. Laurent is holding its first Multicultural Week next week – and moms wearing niqabs will be warmly welcomed.

“We have several students who wear hijabs and mothers who wear niqabs,” said principal Itrat Ahmad. “The students here accept it as natural. And we want the parents to know they are welcome here and that even if their children are from other countries, they are an important part of the fabric of this school.”

“It’s a great way for the students to learn about each other’s cultures,” said Ahmad. “We want them to know there is more than just food from different countries.”

While many people enjoy the taste of multicultural Kool-Aid, it is best to remember that how women and minorities both ethnic and religious are treated in Islamic countries. If there is any learning to be done, it should be done on their part.

Because he's Ezra Levant.

Rather, it will be a cold day in hell:

Russia said on Wednesday it may lift the veil of secrecy over its nuclear arsenal after a new strategic arms reduction treaty with the United States comes into force.

In an attempt to bolster U.S. President Barack Obama's non-proliferation efforts, the United States on May 3 dispensed with decades of Cold War secrecy and published the size of its U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko praised the U.S. step and said Russia would consider doing the same after the ratification of the nuclear arms deal signed by Obama and Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev last month.

Once again, Obama is a moron.

In conclusion, a very capable dog.

500

The five hundredth post should be about excellence-




whether it's natural excellence (Andong, South Korea)




artistic excellence (Haida sculpture, Ottawa, Ontario)




compassionate excellence (Canadian nurses in Korea, c. 1950)




spiritual excellence (Ste. Marguerite D'Youville)




literary excellence (bust of Charles Dickens)




rescuing animal excellence




or James Kirk excellence.

Monday Post

Kim Jong-Il is tired of America's half-breed interference:

On my first visit to Pyongyang in 1979, handlers and interviewees repeatedly spoke of the North Koreans' constant need to be on guard against "impure elements." The unfamiliar term, puzzling at first, turned out to mean the country's enemies. The implication was that the North Koreans themselves were pure. Indeed, as B.R. Myers argues in his provocative and important new book The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves -- And Why it Matters, a childish fantasy of purity is at the core of the ideology that the North Korean regime has used so effectively to control its people. It is a doctrine that, according to Myers, owes relatively little to Marxism-Leninism, or to Confucianism. It is, rather, "an implacably xenophobic, race-based worldview derived largely from Fascist Japanese myth."

The same country that had once annexed Korea and is now figured in North Korean propaganda as an enemy state is the great influence for the Kim dynasty. Curious.


(Note: the term "half-breed interference" is a reference from the Star Trek episode, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")


Eternal shame:

With Stephen Harper in Europe commemorating the 65th anniversary of V-E Day this week, a poll shows some Canadians have a distorted perception of what they’re celebrating. Five per cent think the day in question marks the anniversary of the October Crisis and 17 per cent believe it’s the 10th anniversary of the death of Pierre Trudeau.

An Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by the Historica-Dominion Institute, marking the anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, shows 50 per cent of Canadians know May 8th is V-E Day; the other half of Canadians, however, appear less knowledgeable.

In addition to being confused as to whether the May 8th anniversary has anything to do with Trudeau, who died in September of 2000, or a crisis that took place in October, 16 per cent of Canadians thought it was the 200th anniversary of Sir John A Macdonald’s birth (January, 1815) and 12 per cent figured it had to be the 20th anniversary of the death of the Meech Lake Accord (June, 1990).

Men risked their lives fighting tyranny and this is how the unschooled think of them. Nice.


If people want something so badly they can pay for it their damn selves!


An argument for the burka (tee!):

These considerations led me to formulate an inverse-burqa law that came to me as an inspiration when, returning briefly to France recently, I saw a report in Le Monde that Belgium has become the first country in Europe to ban the wearing of female attire that covers women up entirely like the plague doctors of the sixteenth century.

Now this is all to the good, but if adopted in Britain would not entirely solve the problem of the female dress code. For we in Britain face not only the problem of the niqab and the burqa, but the opposite problem of young women who uncover themselves far too much.

When I say “too much,” I am speaking from the strictly aesthetic, not the moral, point of view. In every British town and city, fat and lumpen British girls, as often as not tattooed, who represent a constant diet of fast food, soft drinks, and too much beer made pale flesh, come out into the streets on Friday and Saturday scantily clad, to scream and shout like the vulgar drunken slatterns they mostly are. Here, if anywhere, is the place for the niqab and the burqa.

These garments would have several advantages. First, of course, is that they would add (admittedly by subtracting from ugliness) to the aesthetics of our streets. They would also make it more difficult for the women inside them to drink too much, thus serving a public health function; and they would muffle the sound of their loud moronic expostulations, surely an end to be cherished by anyone who values intelligence and culture.

What I would suggest, therefore, is that each town and city set up a committee, along the lines of the Committee of Public Safety in the French Revolution, to determine which young women should be obliged to wear the niqab and the burqa to prevent offenses against public good taste. A first offense would mean the niqab for a determinate period of time; a second, such as exposing a tattoo to public view (two strikes and you’re out), would mean a life sentence of the burqa in public.

It seems so sensible at first glance...

Freaky Friday

A church in Japan has mosaics made from butterfly wings.

Mewy wallpaper.

Not just any action figure- an English literature action figure!



Charles Darwin, evolutionary theorist and inbreeder.

Interesting....

...that the writer of this article should pick Quebec, the province most fervent in protecting its language and dying culture:

Suppose for a moment that 15 million Americans -- the population of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut combined -- sneaked across the border into Quebec. Suppose that these illegal immigrants refused to learn to speak French, that they applied for Canadian welfare, that they reproduced at a rate higher than Quebec's residents, and that they bankrupted Canada's socialized medical system. Suppose that they sent their children to Canadian schools in such large numbers that Quebec's school system had to teach "French as a Second Language" courses.

Read the whole thing.

It's An Assortment of Stuff

Because the news is never static.

Slicker than oil:

While the BP oil geyser pumps millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama and members of Congress may have to answer for the millions in campaign contributions they’ve taken from the oil and gas giant over the years.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.

On top of that, the oil giant has spent millions each year on lobbying — including $15.9 million last year alone — as it has tried to influence energy policy.

During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.

I feel safer already:

After the Christmas Day incident, the participant said, the meetings "became much more focused on the specific details of counterterrorism operations." On Tuesday, the briefing focused largely on a single incident, as officials gave Obama an extended "walk-through" of the events of the previous 48 hours.

The sessions have included some "uncomfortable moments," one person said, "when an individual's unpreparedness or lack of ability to articulate exactly what their agency or department is doing becomes apparent." In those instances, Obama has been "sharp" in ordering changes, the person said.

Denial: the sad realisation that one is incredibly wrong yet won't admit it:

Whenever something goofy happens — bomb in Times Square, mass shootings at a US military base, etc. — there seem to be two kinds of reactions:

a) Some people go, "Hmm. I wonder if this involves some guy with a name like Mohammed who has e-mails from Yemen."

b) Other people go, "Don't worry, there's no connection to terrorism, and anyway, even if there is, it's all very amateurish, and besides he's most likely an isolated extremist or lone wolf."

Unfortunately, everyone in category (b) seems to work for the government.

It turns out that happier marriages and more book-smarts make one less likely to allow one's daughter to get a suspect vaccination (emphasis mine):

A new study suggests parents with more education are less likely to let their daughters get vaccinated against HPV.

Researchers at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control did a large telephone survey in the province to try to find out why parents did or didn't let their daughters get the HPV shot.

They were surprised to find families with both parents still in the marriage and where parents had more education were less likely to accept the shot for their daughters.

Lead author Dr. Gina Ogilvie says the finding shows public health needs to do a better job informing those parents and countering anti-vaccination information on the Internet.

But vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit wasn't surprised by the finding, saying research into which parents refuse childhood vaccines for their kids shows the same trend.

Offit suggests what's happening is that people who are used to making their own decisions are finding misinformation about vaccines on the Internet and making choices based on it.

Or perhaps they smell a rat:

Dr. Harper joins a number of consumer watchdogs, vaccine safety advocates, and parents who question the vaccine’s risk-versus-benefit profile. She says data available for Gardasil shows that it lasts five years; there is no data showing that it remains effective beyond five years. This raises questions about the CDC’s recommendation that the series of shots be given to girls as young as 11-years old. “If we vaccinate 11 year olds and the protection doesn’t last... we’ve put them at harm from side effects, small but real, for no benefit,” says Dr. Harper. “The benefit to public health is nothing, there is no reduction in cervical cancers, they are just postponed, unless the protection lasts for at least 15 years, and over 70% of all sexually active females of all ages are vaccinated.” She also says that enough serious side effects have been reported after Gardasil use that the vaccine could prove riskier than the cervical cancer it purports to prevent.

Please don't respond with ridiculous accusations that I am anti-vaccine or that I want people to get sick. Pig crap. I would like proper research done into a vaccine that is effective in only a few instances and even then only some of the time and has yet to be proven effective with the least amount of side-effects. Red flags should have been popping up like crazy when the province of Ontario was offering this vaccine for free in school gymnasiums but at a great cost in the prepared environment of a doctor's office. Perhaps someone ought to have mentioned that (dare I say it?) the notion of abstinence- that quaint "Victorian" attitude- might be a preferable route for people far too young to appreciate the social and physical dangers of polyamorous engagements.

Unbelievable:

A northern Alberta teen, once hailed as a hero, is being sued for $350, 000 for a 2007 fire which destroyed the home in which she was babysitting and damaged the one next door according to the Edmonton Journal.

Aaliyah Braybrook, of Clairmont, Alta., was just 12 years old at the time of the fire, apparently begun when one of her charges was playing with a lighter in the bathroom. Ms. Braybrook had taken a babysitting course and a Red Cross safety course. Local firefighters called her a hero because she got the two boys and the family pet out of the burning home.

Now 14 years old, the babysitter was served with a statement of claim on Sunday in a suit which naming her and Douglas Mills, the father of the two boys she was babysitting and resident of the trailer next door which was destroyed in the fire on July 12, 2007. The lawsuit was filed by Mr. Mills’s parents, who owned both homes.

The babysitter’s father said Wednesday that the claim alleges negligence on his daughter’s part, suggesting she was not trained properly to look after the children, who were three and five at the time.

No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.

Happy Cinco de Children's Day!

What better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with Ricardo Montalban's utterly wicked Khan (God rest his Kirk-hating soul)?


And to put things in perspective.


Because it's pertinent, five facts on the new immigration law in Arizona:

• all state and local agencies must enforce existing laws
• with any lawful stop of a person of interest, his or her immigration status will be determined before being released. This means that the authorities must have a reason to stop someone (something Canadian police do not have to adhere to) and that the person's legal status within the country must be determined by appropriate agencies (something any and every agency in the world does)
• the proper authorities will be notified of any person illegally present in the state who is arrested
• the powers that be may return or transport an arrested person after getting judicial authorisation, meaning after the police get permission from a judge, they can then transport an illegal person to another place
• a legal resident or citizen wrongfully arrested, detained, ect may seek redress in court
  

What is the problem here? In an attempt not to beat a dead horse, any country one goes to, one will be under scrutiny. I've had my fingerprints taken while living abroad. I was told to always have my alien card. That was the law and the condition for my staying in the country. Why should the lawless be rewarded for their flouting of the law? Has anyone asked legal immigrants their feelings on standing in the queue, working hard, learning English and adopting a whole new way of life, only to see amnesty for those who don't care for their new country? And, really, the support for illegal immigration is actually about protecting cheap labour, not about the rights of others. For whatever reason, some deliberately ignore these things.


It is also Children's Day in Japan and South Korea. My experience has been that kids have a day off, go to the movies and enjoy the water slides. Lucky devils.


Children's Day in Japan always takes on special significance.

Week In Preview

Glooooooooorious May!

May 3rd marks Constitution day in Poland.

May 5th is Children's Day in Japan and Korea, Liberation day for Denmark and the Netherlands and Men's Day (yes, Men's Day) in Romania. It is doubtful that Cinco de Mayo will be observed in Arizona because some people object to proper immigration etiquette.

On May 6th, Saint Francis Xavier reached Goa, India.

On May 7th, Saint Joan of Arc pulled an arrow from her shoulder and ended the siege of Orleans.

May 8th marks not only Parents' Day in South Korea but V-E Day.