Monday is Sunday's Unpleasant Cousin

Unless you like Mondays, in which case it is a very nice day.



Give Rex Murphy a pen and set him loose in public:

The University of Waterloo lost something on the night the anti-racists were allowed to pose, instead of Blatchford getting to speak -- something the university's apology only begins to repair. The preening self-righteousness and the hyper arrogance of the protesters put a blot on the university's reputation, dented the exercise of free speech in Canada and gave the rest of the country one more ugly example of "progressive" intolerance. 

Finally, the most chilling and obnoxious statement of an evening rich in them came from one of the protesters: "Our goal was to not let her speak; we accomplished that." If we were looking for a sequence of words that would ornament the lips of a real fascist, "Our goal was to not let her speak ..." would be as perfect a set as under the visiting moon we are allowed to hope for. 

Absolutely. If you scratch a "progressive"- a terrible euphemism for some dope whose idea of freedom involves someone doing exactly what he or she says- you will find the thing he or she claims to abhor and that is a fascist. Yes, how clever the Waterloo nutjobs are chaining themselves together and preventing a well-known author from speaking about her a book, a book about thugs very much like them. Mirrors can be dreadful things for some people.


Related:

By chaining himself by the neck to two women on a stage at the University of Waterloo, Dan Kellar was doing more than adding journalist Christie Blatchford to the list of controversial speakers barred from Canadian university campuses. 

He denounced her "unacademic" and "racist" writing in Helpless, a new book about the failure of law during native protests in Caledonia, Ont. 

Kellar was also loudly announcing his own return to academia after an eventful absence, during which he allied with the radical Anti-Racist Action, built a website focused on social justice, and was arrested but not charged at Toronto's G20 protests. 

He said he is "actively pursuing" a PhD in geography as an "unpaid student" exploring environmental laws with a "decolonial" and "settler" perspective, and currently "articulating my work with my writings and doing the required readings to gain a better understanding of the issues." 

But he has no supervisor, is not taking classes, and has not been in contact with the department for over a year, since two professors refused to continue supervising him because of a dramatic shift in his interests.
"Up until [the bike lock protest, when he identified himself as a graduate student], no one was aware of his intention to return to active status," said Sue Horton, Associate Provost for Graduate Studies at the University of Waterloo. 

"Anybody can do research," she said. 

"But if you are being supervised, then you would be registered and you'd be interacting regularly with your supervisor." 

Until a few days ago, Mr. Kellar's personal website said he was in the joint Waterloo-Wilfrid Laurier PhD program in geography. 

Mr. Kellar's website also said he was under the "advisement" of Daniel Scott, Canada Research Chair in Global Change and Tourism at the University of Waterloo, and Kevin Hanna, associate professor of geography and en-v ironmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. 

Those names have since been removed from his website. 

Mr. Kellar said he is "in discussion with several professors who are engaged in critical research."
Prof. Scott said he refused to continue as Mr. Kellar's main supervisor over a year ago, when Mr. Kellar's interests diverged from Prof. Scott's own work on the human aspects of climate change. 

"All of a sudden, he wasn't interested in working on the projects [about climate change planning] that were funded, that he originally came in to work on," said Prof. Hanna, a co-supervisor. "It doesn't happen very often." 

Mr. Kellar said he and Prof. Scott "parted ways as I did not wish to work in climate change adaptation or mitigation research as I felt it was not critical of the role of transnational and neoliberal capitalism in the perpetuation of global ecological shifts." 

Maybe all that hot air Kellar was blowing  was causing climate change.



Thank God they weren't making peanut butter sandwiches or saying the Rosary!

Pupils at Islamic schools across the country are being taught to chop off a criminal's hand and that Jews are conspiring to take over the world, a BBC investigation claimed on Monday.

Up to 5,000 pupils aged between six and 18 are being taught Sharia law punishments using "weekend-school" text-books which claim those who do not believe in Islam will be subjected to "hellfire" in death, the Panorama programme said.

A text book for 15-year-olds advises: "For thieves their hands will be cut off for a first offence, and their foot for a subsequent offence."

"The specified punishment of the thief is cutting off his right hand at the wrist. Then it is cauterised to prevent him from bleeding to death," it added.

Young pupils are warned that the punishment for engaging in homosexual acts is death by stoning, burning with fire or throwing off a cliff and that the "main goal" of the Jews is to "have control over the world and its resources."

The schools are part of the "Saudi Students Clubs and Schools in the UK and Ireland" organisation. The BBC investigation claimed that one school in London is owned by the Saudi government.

I'm sure some politically correct moron will warn of the dangers of Catechism class. I mean- how dare Catholics teach children things like transubstantiation or why we pray to Mary? Those things are clearly subtexts for radicalism.


Why are we trading with China?

A Chinese father jailed for "inciting social disorder" after campaigning for victims of melamine-tainted milk may have been forced to sack his lawyers, a rights group said Monday.

Zhao Lianhai, whose child was one of 300,000 sickened in the scandal in 2008, when six died, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison earlier this month.

The China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, a Hong Kong-based organisation, said his two lawyers had tried to visit him at the Daxing detention centre, near Beijing, on Monday, but were not allowed to meet him.

In a statement the CHRLCG said his pair "suddenly received a note, with Zhao's signature and fingerprint, indicating to dismiss them as his lawyers" from the chief of the detention centre.

Pointing out that Zhao had stated his intention to appeal and Monday was the last day for him to do so, the CHRLCG said it was "strange" for him to sack the lawyers at that point and the note "might not represent Zhao's own wish".

"It was suspected that the Chinese government has been aggressively applying every measure to stop Zhao from lodging an appeal," the group said, adding that the move was "seriously violating the two lawyers' right to represent their client.

"We are very concerned whether Zhao has been coerced and faced any torture in the detention centre," it said, adding that Zhao's wife had given them a similar note.

The development came as state media said that authorities in central China were searching for a batch of dairy products containing high levels of melamine, the chemical involved in the scandal.

The government in Hubei province's Xiangfan city has asked all local businesses to look for 50 packages of a corn-flavoured dairy drink, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

Tests showed the melamine levels in the drinks were high, suggesting that the chemical -- which is normally used in making plastics -- was deliberately added during the production process, the report said.

When one purchases toys or candy for one's children this Christmas, just make sure those things don't come from China. Not even the Chinese children or their parents are safe.


What's wrong with this picture?

A 13-year-old American boy campaigning to turn the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea into a peace park has been taken away by Chinese police after staging a brief protest near Tiananmen Square.

Jonathan Lee unfurled a sign saying "peace treaty" and "nuclear free DMZ children's peace forest" as he stood outside the Forbidden City on Monday.

A man presumed to be a plainclothes officer grabbed Lee's sign less than a minute later and waved away journalists who had been contacted by Lee's family ahead of time.

Lee and his mother were escorted away by police.

Lee made a rare visit to Pyongyang in August to propose his idea of a "children's peace forest" in the demilitarized zone.

Lee is from Ridgeland, Mississippi.

One would think this would be a sobering lesson for young Mr. Lee. The North Korean government is not interested in peace and, assuming South and North Korea were to ever reunite, there would be nothing as  banal as a "peace park". This story is why we should never let leftists fill children's heads with stuff and nonsense.  Getting children to take part in these empty, superficial crusades does nothing to address the tyranny and various logistical issues concerning North and South Korea. Why not tell children that a bad, fat man is oppressing and starving children just like them? How is a ridiculous little peace park going to fix their starvation and boatload of  emotional issues, not to mention their futures (if they have them)? How is it going to erase the propaganda fed into them since birth? Not only are ideas like "peace parks" silly but they don't even remotely address what is really wrong. Empty, useless, counter-productive gestures don't feed the poor. Faith without works, as they say.



Related: North Korea has a "stunning" new nuclear plant.



Nothing short of terrible:

A stampede on a bridge in Cambodia’s capital killed at least 339 people and injured nearly as many after thousands panicked on the last day of a water festival, authorities and state media said on Tuesday.

Witnesses said the stampede began after several people were electrocuted late on Monday on a small bridge lined with lights connecting Phnom Penh to nearby Diamond Island. Most drowned, suffocated or were trampled to death trying to flee.

State television said at least 240 of the dead were women, citing reports from two city hospitals.

“People were carrying bodies of relatives, including children and women,” said Vann Thon, 25. “Everyone was looking scared.”


Prime Minister Hun Sen apologized for the disaster in which 329 people were hurt and ordered an investigation, as television footage showed relatives crying over the bodies of the dead piled up on each other.

“This is the biggest tragedy in more than 31 years after the Pol Pot regime,” he said, referring to the murderous Khmer Rouge, whose agrarian revolution from 1975-1979 killed an estimated 1.7 million people in Cambodia under the command of Pol Pot.

Too much dough:

 

 

Scores of First Nations chiefs and council members earn more than the Prime Minister of Canada, according to newly released data obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation — a revelation that is prompting calls for greater financial transparency on native reserves.

The figures, obtained through access to information requests, reveal that in 2008-09, over 80 reserve politicians earned more than the after-tax income of $184,000 made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the same period. The data also shows that 222 reserve politicians were paid more in tax-free income in 2008-09 than their respective provincial premiers, who averaged an after-tax income of $109,893. 

One reserve politician in Atlantic Canada was found to have been paid a combined tax-free salary and honorarium totaling an astounding $978,468.

“This shocking information confirms what we’ve been saying all along: there are a lot of reserve politicians that are blatantly abusing their powers to set their own pay levels and hide it from the public,” said Colin Craig, prairie director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “It’s absolutely disgusting and band members should be outraged about this.”

Even while thousands of First Nations members continue to live in abject poverty, more than 700 reserve politicians earned an income equivalent to over $100,000 off reserve, according to the data
While the names of individual chiefs and councillors of the more than 570 reserves have been blacked out, the released records disclose salaries, honorariums and travel expenses, painting the most complete picture to date of the remuneration — and bizarre accounting practices — of First Nations leadership across the country. 

Perhaps some of the chiefs' salaries could be used to tackle those momentous social problems?



I wonder why:

If an election were held tomorrow, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberals would be voted out of office, says a new poll. The poll, done by Ipsos Reid exclusively for Postmedia News and Global News, found that 41% of respondents who were decided voters said they would elect the provincial Progressive Conservatives, under leader Tim Hudak, if the election took place now. 

The Liberals trailed behind with 32% support; the NDP with 20%; and the Green party with 7%.

And now for something completely enlightening.