Canada Day Week: The Search for Spock II

There he is.



Oh stop:

Even after the Stanley Cup rioters gave Vancouver a nasty black eye (and perhaps a few chipped teeth) earlier this month, the B.C. metropolis still easily topped the rankings in a nationwide survey that asked Canadians to name the country’s “nicest” city.

Is Vancouver a five year old child in need of consoling? No. It apparently is a silly, empty-headed adolescent who just loves animals, though!


Self-conscious much?

Look behind....! Oh, never mind.

Just like Toronto:

The rainbow flag marking Pride Week is up at City Hall, but Mayor Rob Ford's conspicuous absence from major events celebrating gay culture continue to overshadow the festival.

Mayor Ford, who is skipping this Sunday's Pride Parade in favour of going to the cottage with his family, sent council speaker Frances Nunziata to represent him at the ceremonial flag-raising at Nathan Phillips Square on Monday, while he toured the Air Canada Centre with Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke....

.... Kristyn Wong-Tam, an openly gay city councillor, tried to calm the crowd down, saying, "We are here today to celebrate the beginning of Pride Week," and eliciting cheers. Richard Warner, another heckler, yelled: "And the Mayor should be part of it! The Mayor should be part of it!"

How it must completely fry the less than one percent of the population that a man would rather spend his Canada Day week-end (the timing of which with the compulsory gay "pride" week is completely coincidental, I'm sure) with his family.


Make no mistake: gay "pride" events are mandatory. If a city or town does not have one, expect the mayor to be brought before a kangaroo court human rights tribunal and fined. We should also not lose perspective. How many homosexuals are publicly hanged in Canada? None, of course, but why let a fact like that get in the way of a good anti-bullying campaign? Marriage has become a three-ring circus for those whose conscious choice of lifestyle initially eschewed such an institution. These things considered, the non-attendance of the mayor for long-standing reasons should be a non-issue. But it is because the issue was never tolerance but acceptance or else.


Why would anyone in his or her right mind spend a week being screamed at and then being forced to watch half-naked people? 


I thought bullying was bad.


Must-reads.


(hat tips all around)


Why did it take so long?

The four most senior surviving members of Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime went on trial for war crimes Monday, three decades after their "year zero" revolution marked one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.

The accused, all now elderly and infirm, were among the inner circle of Pol Pot, the French-educated architect of the Khmer Rouge's ultra-Maoist Killing Fields revolution that killed about 1.7 million people in 1975-79.

Dressed casually, "Brother No. 2" Nuon Chea, former president Khieu Samphan, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, a former social affairs minister, showed no emotion as opening statements to the UN-backed tribunal were read before a packed auditorium in proceedings screened on national television.

Almost 25% of Cambodia's population was wiped out by the Khmer Rouge through torture, execution, starvation and exhaustion. Virtually every Cambodian alive today lost family and many want to know why.

"I lost three children, my father and husband," said Som Hoeun, 66, as she lined up to get into the court.

She said it was worth the wait to see Pol Pot's top cadres brought to book: "No matter what how long it has been, I'm always hopeful there will be justice."

In case we thought communism was a victimless crime.


Somewhat related: footage of the starving masses in North Korea. Even the army is affected. South Korea must step up to the plate.


The masses who are not starving: the Gazans.


They've blacklisted the wrong woman:

Actress Michelle Yeoh, who stars as released political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming film, has been deported from Burma.

The former Bond girl arrived in Yangon on June 22 but was denied entry because she is on a blacklist.

A government official says, "She did not have the chance to enter... She was deported straight away on the first flight after arriving at Yangon (Rangoon) International Airport."

Yeoh previously visited the country in December to shadow democracy campaigner Suu Kyi and research her role in Luc Besson's forthcoming movie The Lady, to be released later this year.

Where is a useless Slut Walker when you need one?

 The officer’s use of words may not be appropriate; however, it is a fact that the dress of early twentieth century’s European sluts is now the fashion of the day of Europe and North America. Society at large accepted this perversion as a norm.

Where is your courage, useless, pudgy girls of the world? Where is your lingerie now?



And now, it's the dog by a nose.