The Cultural Marxists are dressed as vampires this Halloween, baring
their fangs and sucking the fun out of everything again. In their
inimitably dictatorial and humor-free manner, they are sternly lecturing
us as to which sort of costumes are “appropriate,” “acceptable,” and
“cool,” and which ones are not.
Fear not—so long as you don’t don anything that could conceivably
offend a nonwhite, a non-male, or a non-hetero, all is permitted.
There’s nothing offensive if you dress as a war victim with half your
face blown off, a leering pedophile pope in diapers, or a mutilated
corpse with fake bloody intestines hanging out of your belly—but you
will be reprimanded, harassed, and eternally ostracized from polite
society if you dare to wear a poncho and sombrero if you aren’t Mexican....
In every instance, I’d rather hang out with the tasteless douches in
the “racist” getups than the sourpussed killjoys who are play-acting as
if they’ve been stabbed in the heart.
On her blog, 24-year-old STARS president Sarah Williams approvingly
quotes someone who paints “White people” with as broad a brush as Tom
Sawyer was given to paint that fence:
White privilege isn’t like a knapsack…it is like a toy
box. And White people will scream and cry and throw a tantrum if you so
much as threaten to take away one of their toys. Racist and otherwise
offensive Halloween costumes are one of the many toys that White people
are used to playing with.
Williams, a political-science major who describes herself as an
“Obama intern,” is following in the bold, noble, inane tradition of
predecessors such as a watchdog organization that monitors “racist” costumes and a Washington City Paper scribe who in 2009 offered a helpful guide about “How to Inform a Friend Their Halloween Costume Is Racist.”
Perhaps Miss Williams would like to explain the thinking behind the pedophile cleric to a Nigerian Catholic or who even asked her opinion.
But this is Halloween. It's time to have fun, not dwell on the perpetually grieved.
The CBC "misrepresented" calls embattled Mayor Rob Ford made to 911 in which he did not call the operators insulting names, the city's police chief said Friday.
In a statement, Bill Blair said he had listened to the three emergency calls Ford made and felt it necessary "to set the record straight" about the calls.
CBC report had outlined, and said there had been "no complaints" by any members of the police service about the conversations.
"We are reporting what was told to us," spokesman Chris Ball said in an email.
The CBC said late Friday that it had "multiple, credible, well-placed sources" within the police service, including a dispatcher.
"This is a developing story and we're continuing to report on it as it unfolds."
The embattled mayor gave no indication Friday he would release tapes of the calls in which he admitted "saying the F-word" but denied using any slurs.
As the Twitterverse howled in outrage, derision, glee — and occasionally in support — the mayor remained mum on the outburst that followed a confrontation with a comedy troupe in his driveway.
"I have nothing further to add on this matter at this time," Ford spokeswoman Adrienne Batra said Friday.
On Monday, Ford called emergency services after Mary Walsh of the CBC's comedy series "22 Minutes" confronted him in his driveway.
Ford, who has had death threats, said he didn't know who Walsh was and feared for his safety.
On Thursday, the CBC cited unspecified sources as saying Ford called the operators an insulting name, and said: "Don't you (expletive) know? I’m Rob (expletive) Ford, the mayor of this city."
In response, Ford admitted to being frustrated at how long the police took to arrive, but called the allegations he made "foul and derogatory comments" toward 911 staff "absolutely false."
"After being attacked in my driveway, I hope I can be excused for saying the F-word," Ford said in a statement Thursday.
In one unscientific online poll, almost 80 per cent called on Ford, who has a history of public temper tantrums, to release the tapes as "the only way to prove his side of the story."
In an editorial, the Toronto Star sternly urged: "Release the tapes, Mr. Mayor."
The situation prompted some Twitter users to resurrect the term "schadenford" — taking pleasure at the mayor's misfortunes — and a play on the German word schadenfreude.
A few, however, criticized the CBC, which has said it stands by its story, for reporting the contents of the private 911 call on the basis of unnamed sources.
"For its own integrity, the CBC needs to produce a tape," said Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington.
Even though the call was "nobody else's business," Warmington did urge Ford to at least release a transcript.
"There is a true story out there because when you cut through it all, somebody is lying," he wrote.
Beirut Arab news agency al Nashra reported on Saturday November 22, that [White House Muslim envoy] Dalia Mogahed has succeeded in canceling a meeting between the Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon and President Barack Obama. Writing in al Nashra, the reporter said “an unnamed US source told the news agency, that those who sought canceling a visit of (the spiritual head of the Maronite Church) Patriarch Beshara Rahi to the White House are Dalia Mujahid (Mogahed), the highest adviser on Arab and Islamic Affairs in the State Department, who is from Egyptian origins. And that,” according to al Nashra, “heeding a request by the higher leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who consider that US Administration must support the Islamist Sunni current facing the Iranian current in the region.”
Darth Vader has been forced out. Thor has fallen under the hammer of political correctness.
Any sign of blood, gore or death is likely to be met with a groan at the school doors, where costumes deemed violent are headed for the crypt.
At least that's the fear of some kids and parents at two southeast elementary schools, as yet another fun childhood holiday is sent through the wringer of social sanitation, to emerge flat and boring.
"I don't want to pull Halloween away from the kids -- they are losing too many celebrations already," said Jackie Ford, mother to two children attending Ramsay elementary.
"I think this is a valid holiday and we need to celebrate it. It's a Canadian classic, scary and all."
And she's right, with Christmas now a non-religious winter break, Valentine's Day robbed of choice with cards shared out equally, and Easter's meaning eradicated altogether.
Occasions that once defined the Canadian experience have been watered down to the point of being sanitized, safe-for-all celebrations of not much at all.
The obscenity of obscuring or completely removing a holiday or custom by the ham-fisted left is met with the squishiness of the perpetually timid. Black and Orange Day is a farce spawned by the milquetoasts who fear those who cannot pick a real religion. Now we have the hovercraft of cultural events.
The guise of protection against the potentially harmful is as deceptive as any mask. It sounds, on its face, as reasonable but it is not. It's a polite paranoia, something unacceptable in the face of reason. At what point are those of age expected to grow up? Hand over expensive cell phones that are no more than toys but refrain from wearing a Frankenstein costume?
Halloween is a day set aside for the freaky and strange, for the chilling of the blood, and for the fun of children, whose years of innocence are short and subject to the encroachment of the whims of the impatient. Where is the amusement in whimpering and cowering away from rubber masks, props and fun-sized confections? It's bad enough that Baby Jesus no longer merits a day of His own but now Halloween, too, must join Him in the dustbin of wrongfully discarded holidays and customs.
Without running water or working toilets, the crowded anti-Wall
Street encampments across the country are not the most pleasant-smelling
places to live. Nor are they quiet, with drumming and chanting echoing
through the air at all hours of the night.
That's why police and
neighbours in some cities are starting to lose patience with the
protesters, who are preparing to settle in for the winter months.
In Oakland, California,
police in riot gear fired tear gas and bean bags before daybreak
Tuesday to disperse about 170 protesters who had been camping in front
of City Hall for the past two weeks, and 75 people were arrested.
The mayor of Providence, Rhodes Island, is threatening to go to court within days to evict demonstrators from a park.
And businesses and residents near New York's
Zuccotti Park, the unofficial headquarters of the movement that began
in mid-September, are demanding something be done to discourage the
hundreds of protesters from urinating in the street and making noise at
all hours.
"A lot of tourists coming down from hotels are so
disgusted and disappointed when they see this," said Stacey Tzortzatos,
manager of a sandwich shop near Zuccotti Park. "I hope for the sake of
the city the mayor does close this down."
She complained that the
protesters who come in by the dozen to use her bathroom dislodged a sink
and caused a flood, and that police barricades are preventing her
normal lunch crowd from stopping by.
In Philadelphia, city
officials have been waiting almost two weeks for Occupy Philly to
respond to a letter containing a list of health and safety concerns. City Managing Director Richard Negrin
said officials can't wait much longer to address hazards such as
smoking in tightly packed tents, camp layouts that hinder emergency
access, and exposure to human waste.
"They just can't ignore us
indefinitely," Negrin said Tuesday. "Every day that they haven't
addressed these public safety concerns simply increases the risk."
Stephen Campbell, a protester in Boston, said the troublemakers are the minority.
"We
have a policy here: no drugs, no alcohol," he said. "Us occupiers
really try to stick true to that. Other people who move in, who maybe
have an alcohol problem or a drug problem, you know, we're not fully
equipped to handle things like that."
City officials
in Oakland had initially been supportive of the protesters, with Mayor
Jean Quan saying that sometimes "democracy is messy." But tensions
reached a boiling point after a sexual assault, a severe beating and a
fire were reported and paramedics were denied access to the camp,
according to city officials. They also cited complaints about
threatening behaviour and concerns about rats, fire hazards and public
urination.
When police moved in, they were pelted with rocks,
bottles and utensils from people in the camp's kitchen area, but no
injuries were reported. Protesters were taken away in plastic handcuffs,
most of them arrested on suspicion of illegal lodging.
Here's a clue: don't entertain this crap for one minute to begin with. Someone with a trust fund is not the same as an immigrant working to feed his family.
St. Paul's Cathedral has welcomed visitors for 300 years, but for
almost a week its heavy oak doors have been shut, locked because of an
anti-capitalist protest camp outside the landmark building.
Church
officials say the campsite is a health hazard, and on Wednesday
London's Anglican bishop asked the demonstrators to leave. But hours
later, the church appeared to acknowledge that the protesters are
settling in for a long stay.
The protesters accuse the church of
choosing the wrong side in the standoff between capitalism and idealism
that has spawned sit-ins from New York to Sydney.
"We want this
church to open," said a 50-year-old protest spokesman who gave his name
as Akira. "We were shocked that they closed it."
The Dean of St.
Paul's, Rev. Graeme Knowles, said Wednesday evening he was optimistic
that the cathedral would reopen Friday following changes to the layout
of tents used by the protesters.
The cathedral is considering all
its options in response to the protest — including legal action —
Knowles said, adding that a final decision would be made Thursday on
whether St. Paul's could open in time for a midday service Friday.
Business
owners, residents and officials in cities where encampments have
sprouted up are increasingly complaining about sanitation problems,
disruptions to business, and crime.
In Glasgow, Scottish police
said Wednesday they were investigating reports a woman was raped in a
tent in the city's George's Square, where protesters have set up camp.
Why wouldn't people want a bunch of sad sacks raping women, disrupting business and pooping everywhere? Why?
Hundreds of Yemeni women on Wednesday set fire to traditional female
veils to protest the government's brutal crackdown against the country's
popular uprising, as overnight clashes in the capital and another city
killed 25 people, officials said.
In the capital Sanaa, the women
spread a black cloth across a main street and threw their full-body
veils, known as makrama, onto a pile, sprayed it with oil and set it
ablaze. As the flames rose, they chanted: "Who protects Yemeni women
from the crimes of the thugs?"
Where are the apologists for Islamic oppression of women, particularly in regard to these absurd head and body coverings? Defend these horrid pieces of cloth where it counts, you cowards (RE: Sid Ryan)!
The couple was sitting outside the restaurant along with some family members in September.
Duckworth said she and Pattenden were holding each other and exchanging short kisses but not doing anything "too out there."
She
said she noticed a man staring at them and a few minutes later the
assistant manager came out and told them they were making another patron
uncomfortable.
"She said we either had to go somewhere where
people couldn't see us or leave within five minutes or they would call
the police," Duckworth told The Star.
She said they decided to leave rather than cause a scene.
Eric
Revie, an assistant pastor at the Glad Tidings Community Church in
Blenheim, was the one who expressed discomfort to the assistant manager
at the Tim Hortons that day.
In a statement emailed to The Star,
Revie said he did not ask the manager to tell the couple to leave, but
rather did not want his two sons, aged nine and three, to witness what
he called a "visibly lewd" public display of affection.
Revie added that his request had nothing to do with the fact that the couple was gay.
"At the time I thought it was a guy-girl couple. I was unaware it was two girls," Revie said.
Revie
said the Facebook page was circulating "lies" and that he does not
"preach hatred" nor does he "hate those with alternative lifestyles."
The official allegations claim that CUA, “does
not provide space – as other universities do – for the many daily
prayers Muslim students must make, forcing them instead to find
temporarily empty classrooms where they are often surrounded by Catholic
symbols which are incongruous to their religion,” according to a press release on PRLOG.com.
They might lead to dancing.
Perhaps they would like to go to more WASP-ish or Muslim-friendly institutions with equally "incongruous" theologies and no symbols (save the "gay-positive" dance posters)?
It's been established that the "Occupy....." people are not NASA material. This video is just another example why that is.
Watch the video and pay attention to the fifty second mark.
Jump to the one minute-fifteen second mark.
Did you hear that?
These people are too arrogant to listen to someone who actually lived under communism. What is the point of logical discourse after seeing them roll their eyes and make the most absurd statements that only expose their incredible ignorance? Someone has to air-lift their greasy bottoms to Pyongyang today. Leave them there with a video camera stapled to their heads (we can call it idiot-cam). Watch as they shout at people who can't speak English that they don't belong there and they need their Cheez-its badly.
Perhaps those brain-trusts can explain to the blissfully ignorant masses how much the North Koreans are getting paid by Eermel, a Mongolian company that paid their wages to the Kim dynasty, or what they are paid in labour camps, or what they are paid in Russian logging camps. Maybe they would like to explain how I could dwell in South Korea for so long because I could live so well. Imagine being paid a proper wage and being able to buy food and go to Mass and form friendships with the native population. Because of the damn imperialist capitalism that I could have a job, eat and make friends!
Damn your capitalism, South Korea! Damn it all to hell!
Police in riot gear cleared anti-Wall Street protesters on Tuesday
morning from the plaza in front of Oakland's City Hall where they had
been camping for about two weeks, prompting health and safety concerns
among city officials.
Seventy-five people were arrested, mostly on
suspicion of misdemeanour illegal lodging, as hundreds of officers and
sheriff's deputies from more than a dozen agencies went into the
encampment with tear gas and beanbag rounds around 5 a.m., police said.
About 170 protesters were at the site, but no one was injured, according to police.
Television news footage showed protesters being taken away in plastic handcuffs without incident.
One
of those arrested, Aiyahnna Johnson, 30, of Oakland, had been living at
the camp with her 2-year-old daughter. "We want the best for you guys,
that's all," she was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle telling two
officers who were leading her away....
(Sidebar: Shove it. That's not even an arrogant statement at this point but a stupid one. What kind of "mother" brings a two-year old to a rat-infested squatters' village, anyway?)
Witnesses reported seeing smoke rising from the area. The plaza was
"contained" around 5:30 a.m., according to city officials, although
tents and trash remained strewn there.
Police maintained a heavy
presence around downtown Oakland into the morning. Streets were closed
off by police barricades, and at least two helicopters were in the air
shining lights down. Dozens of officers were on the streets, and police
in riot gear were seen facing off with shouting protesters, who briefly
blocked traffic on a busy thoroughfare.
City officials advised downtown businesses to delay opening and city employees to come in late.
Police also cleared a smaller encampment from a park near the plaza on Tuesday morning.
City
officials had originally been supportive of the protesters, with
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan saying that sometimes "democracy is messy."
But the city later warned the protesters that they were breaking the law and could not stay in the encampment overnight.
They
cited concerns about rats, fire hazards, public urination and acts of
violence at the site, which had grown to more than 150 tents and
included health, child-care and kitchen areas.
There were reports
of a sex assault and a severe beating and fire and paramedics were
denied access to the camp, according to city officials, who said they
had also received numerous complaints of intimidating and threatening
behaviour.
Just after half his family was either allegedly murdered or at the
least tragically dead in a bizarre accident, Mohammad Shafia was still
looking for a deal.
“He was asking could he get a discount,” Robert Miller, the manager
of the Kingston East Motel where some of the Shafia clan – those who
weren’t dead, that is — were then staying.
“’Can’t you give me a better price?’” Mr. Miller remembered him saying, and his own reply: “No.”
Yeah, we have a problemwith that, too. It's nothing independent schools or home-schooling can't solve in the interim, though.
In the United States, 59,355,000 people out of 211,832,000 wage earners (or 28.01984591563125 %) earn $25,000 to $49,999 (consider that these statistics include 15 year old wage earners). 38,909,000 people out of 211,832,000 of the same wage earners (or 18.36785754749046 %) earn $50,000 to $99,999. 1,321,500 people out of 211,832,000 (or 6.23843423089996 %) earn $100,000 or more.
This must be a mistake. As we all know, Vietnam is a hotbed of rampant capitalism, not a Third World country with humanrightsabuses. For this immigrant to be "inconvenienced" by these "occupiers" must be some sort of terrible mistake.
It isn't. If you are a self-righteous, empty-headed white liberal so possessed by the sense of his or her own arrogance, this guy doesn't even enter into the picture. He is nothing to the "occupiers" but, in truth, is the face of this absurd "occupation". He is the victim of it. This man works to feed his family. He left a communist hell-hole and is building a new life with his own two hands. He is doing something these privileged know-nothings cannot imagine doing themselves. It takes hard work to adapt to a new country and live your life in freedom but not a lot to be selfish.
As the Security Committee of Occupy Baltimore, we release
this statement to ensure the safety of our newly forming, delicate yet
strong community. Sexual abuse and assault are dehumanizing acts for the survivor as
well as the abuser. It strips people of their right to safety, dignity,
and respect, basic values which embody many of the intentions behind
Occupy Baltimore. As a vibrant community, we recognize and give power to
these values and the rights of survivors.
Sexual abuse or assault at Occupy Baltimore is in violation of our
values, and will not be tolerated. It is an explicit policy of Occupy
Baltimore to prohibit abuse by any members of the community upon another
person. Violation of this policy will result in the abuser no longer
being welcome at the occupation.
Though we do not encourage the involvement of the police in our
community, the survivor has every right, and the support of Occupy
Baltimore, to report the abuse to the appropriate law enforcement.
Any member of the Occupy Baltimore community who believes
he/she/they have been a victim of, are aware of, or suspect a
commission of sexual abuse, are encouraged to immediately report the
incident to the Security Committee. T (sic) The point person for dealing with these situations will be Koala! (sic) Largess, (443) 642-XXXX. Survivors of Sexual Abuse will be given the support, resources, and assistance needed for their emotional and physical health.
"This is a very complicated case," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said late Tuesday.
"This is a very sad story. It makes no sense. When you look at the
kids, the psychological trauma is pretty apparent. It's some of the
worst things I've ever experienced."
Ramsey told CNN Wednesday that 10 children aged from two to 19 had
now also been taken into care, including the niece of the prime suspect
Linda Weston, who was reported missing in 2009.
A sumo coach was warned Wednesday by the Japan Sumo Association for beating three of his wrestlers with a golf club.
Sumo
coach Kasugano visited the JSA after it was revealed he hit three of
his wrestlers for ignoring his instructions to wear kimonos when going
out in public.
The wrestlers were reportedly beaten in the abdomen
and the back last Friday, Kyodo news agency reported. A golf iron with a
broken grip was found at Kasugano's training facility.
Before surrendering to police, the first driver complained to the media,
"If she is dead, I may pay only about 20,000 yuan ($3,213). But if she
is injured, it may cost me hundreds of thousands yuan."
Three people were charged on Sunday with holding four mentally
handicapped adults captive in a filthy Philadelphia basement, and two of
the victims may have been held for as long as 11 years, authorities
said.
The three men and one woman were likely victims of Social Security fraud, Philadelphia Police Sergeant Joseph Green said.
"They were abused physically and emotionally," he said. "This is just a horror story."
Arrested in the case was Linda Westen, 50, a convicted murderer, who
allegedly held them captive while posing as their caregiver and cashing
their disability checks, police said.
Westen and two alleged accomplices, a homeless man named Eddie
Wright, 51, and Philadelphia resident Gregory Thomas, 48, were charged
with kidnapping, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and other
charges.
The four people were found confined in a small, dirty basement boiler
room that contained a mattress with some bedding and a flat board with a
pillow.
"There were a couple water bottles but no food or anything," Green said. "There was a bucket they used to urinate in."
Two of the captives were held for 11 years and referred to Westen as "Mom," police said.
Andrew Bieszad, who graduated with a master’s degree from Hartford
Seminary’s Islamic Studies, the oldest such program in America, wrote a
disturbing account of his 2007-2010 sojourn there for the National
Association of Scholars blog. He described many episodes in which Islam
and other faiths were held to very different standards in classroom
discussions.
In one “interfaith dialogue” class, for example, Bieszad said, “I am
Catholic and I do not believe in Islam.” Following this, according to
Bieszad’s account, “one of the Muslim students spoke. She said that she
was Muslim, and then she addressed me directly. In a soft, Arabic
accented voice, she told me, ‘You are an infidel because you do not
accept Islam’ and that ‘according to Islam you do not deserve to live.’ A
second Muslim student heartily agreed.’ ”
Bieszad reports that when he brought such incidents to the attention
of the administration, he was told that he was “intolerant of Muslims,”
and that the best solution was a better “understanding of Islam.”
“Not a single classmate, Muslim or non-Muslim, ever spoke up in
support of my opinion, even on the principle that different views should
be respected,” Bieszad writes.
What? "Intolerant"? A better understanding is needed? You don't need a PhD to figure out what "you do not deserve to live" means. If some Baptist told this man he would go to hell for any reason, how long would it take the administration to find the backbone necessary to remove the offending party?
Could the "Occupy Anything But An Actual Place in Reality" people stop "The Dark Knight"? If that is their plan, be prepared for an @$$ kicking royale:
Under its code name “Magnus Rex,” the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures
production will arrive in the nation’s biggest city for 14 days starting
Oct. 29, according to a casting notice recently issued by producers.
And, according to a person briefed on actors’ schedules who requested
anonymity because production details were being kept confidential, cast
members have been told the shoot could include scenes shot at the
Occupy Wall Street protests.
Why do these people have to ruin Batman for everyone? They are the reason why we can't have nice things.
Organizers of Occupy Toronto have planned a “general assembly” Sunday
evening in preparation for a planned march through the financial
district on Monday morning.
Thousands of protesters descended Saturday on Toronto’s St. James
Park, with some planning to camp out indefinitely as part of a global
movement to raise awareness about growing income disparity.
I think once the wind picks up and with a good belt of rain, these guys will pack it up and leave.
"When
we were young we might have been able to claim ignorance of the
atrocities that Christopher Columbus committed against the indigenous
peoples," Kennedy School Principal Anne Foley wrote.
"We
can no longer do so. For many of us and our students celebrating this
particular person is an insult and a slight to the people he
annihilated. On the same lines, we need to be careful around the
Thanksgiving Day time as well."
Teachers have already been told not to let students dress up for Halloween.
If this so-called educator bothered to arm children with facts, she would know that the Vikings and Irish monks reached the New World before Columbus and that the "indigenous people" were far more brutal to their own than any European settler (well-established to be "unenlightened", to say the very least). If she had any scruples, she would not be the world's biggest wet noodle about children wearing silly costumes and getting candy. But if public holidays truly bother her, she is welcome to work on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas.
Because I feel like including Star Trek in stuff, this post will poke a hole or two in the underlying vision of its atheist creator, Gene Roddenberry. To be sure, Star Trek is good, campy fun despite its inexact science, strange aliens with even stranger names wearing multi-coloured uni-tards and cloaks and its trite and leaden dialogue. Can one ignore Gene Roddenberry's bitter hatred not only of religion but of spirituality and absolute faith in science and technology?
"I condemn false prophets, I condemn the effort to take away the power of
rational decision, to drain people of their free will - and a hell of a
lot of money in the bargain. Religions vary in their degree of idiocy,
but I reject them all. For most people, religion is nothing more than a
substitute for a malfunctioning brain."
"We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful
God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own
mistakes."
Whoa! Bitter much?
It's all well and good to condemn people who use religion for motives that are less than altruistic or spiritually enlightening but to declare that religion drains people of free will or it is a sign of a malfunctioning brain is hardly the sign of an objective mind but of one who can't live with the fact that, yes, there are functioning human beings in sovereign, democratic regions on the planet who understand the difference between free will and complete license. Did Mr. Roddenberry completely forget the bulk of Western thought and who devised it?
Whoops.
I want to make it clear I do not despise technology or science. I just don't think those two things will elevate man to a state of perfectibility. Look no further than the moron who cut you off and nearly caused an accident on the highway while he was texting or the couple who uses science to create a "designer baby". How has science and technology moved these people into making smart or moral decisions? Science and technology are neutral things which could be used for good or evil. We live in a time of great technological advancements. Are we better off morally?
I think it is better to suggest that man's struggles to overcome his failings are ongoing and will not be resolved by "quick fixes". To extol the virtues of human beings, one must also understand them, not assume the dawn of a more technologically advanced age equals the moral or cultural fortitude needed to live in it.
Don't give me this garbage that these are young, savvy, self-aware individuals with clarity of purpose and a clear plan on how to restructure the world. It should be crystal-clear by just listening to them and seeing their badly written signs and atrocious behaviour that they are fools moved by anything or leftists with the shortestfuse ever. There is nothing sincere about people who have their strings pulled or have just decided that they are angry.
Take, for example, the complaints of the young Americans currently
"occupying" Wall Street. Many protesters have told sympathetic reporters
that "it's our Arab Spring." Put aside the differences between brutal
totalitarian dictatorships and a republic of biennial elections, and
simply consider it in economic terms: At the "Occupy" demonstrations,
not-so-young college students are demanding that their tuition debt be
forgiven. In Egypt, half the population lives in poverty; the country
imports more wheat than any other nation on the planet, and the funds to
do that will dry up in a couple months' time. They're worrying about
starvation, not how to fund half a decade of Whatever Studies at
Complacency U.
One sympathizes. When college tuition is $50,000 a year, you can't
"work your way through college" – because, after all, an 18-year-old who
can earn 50-grand a year wouldn't need to go to college, would he?
Nevertheless, his situation is not the same as some guy halfway up the
Nile living on $2 a day: One is a crisis of the economy, the other is a
crisis of decadence. And, generally, the former are far easier to solve.
But cultures — by definition, culture represents the shared values,
beliefs and customs of a collective — are not and never have been equal.
The inherent bad faith of multiculturalism’s proponents is in
obscuring the historical reality of cultures being unequal and
frequently engaged in conflict.
It is absurd to argue the culture of the Huns was equal to that of the mighty Roman Empire, even in its decline.
It is equally absurd to state in our time that the culture of the
Saudi Arabs — or the Taliban, or Muslims from Pakistan, Iran, Somalia
etc. — is in any way equal to and deserving of equal respect as the
culture of an advanced liberal democracy, such as Canada, before it was
smitten by the dogma of multiculturalism.
Common sense recoils from such an absurd proposition. It takes
someone with a college degree to accept silliness of this nature as
higher knowledge.
Precisely.
We can grant that people, regardless of gender or race or belief, may be equal but to even suggest that a culture (or cultures) which actively practices and supports bigotry and inequality is the same or similar or worthy of the recognition we afford our own isn't just stupidity but suicide. One can only utter this nonsense in an environment wherein people are free to express whatever beliefs they may have and where they will not face retribution for them. I have yet to see the white liberal elite preach to the unwilling choirs in Tehran.
Last November, Dr. An Jong-hyok, the physician for the North Korean
national soccer team, chastised a South Korean reporter for referring to
Kim Jong-un without the honorific Dear Young General.
“How would you feel if I talked impolitely to your father?” Daily Sports
in South Korea quoted Dr. An as saying. “That’s exactly how I feel now.
We regard Gen. Kim Jong-il and Comrade Kim Jong-un like our father.”
Except that little fattie ISN'T his father but a dictator in the making. Big difference.
Once more, proof that communism kills brain cells.
But nothing had prepared me for meeting this gentleman, who wants his
college paid for because, well . . . that’s what he wants. He has
perfectly articulated a sentiment I have heard repeatedly but was
struggling to distill with anything like the clarity he achieved: That
being that if there is something someone doesn’t like about their life, someone else somewhere should change it. And if they don’t, well then, the American Dream is dead...
Read the whole thing and watch the video. In fact, follow Charles Cook's coverage of this event. We should have learned from the failed experiment that was the Sixties and the logistical, hypocritical mess of Woodstock that these dirty hippies (yes, that's what they are) are looking for a happening and are just generally angry or dissatisfied but aren't sure about what until they get to site of the happening. I will not call it protest unless I am at a lack for a better word or unless I am quoting something simply because that would elevate this event to something substantial and meaningful. The civil rights protests in the American South and at Tienanmen Square meant something. This event is just a bunch of people with no clue and with incoherent signs.
Coptic Christians organised Sunday's demonstration after a church was
set on fire near Aswan last week. Local Muslims insisted it did not
have the proper construction permits.
In the past few months, security services have repeatedly
been accused of failing to intervene to stop sectarian clashes across
the country.
The transitional government is also accused of doing little
to address the long-standing grievances of Christians. These include
complaints about restrictions on building churches and a school
curriculum focused on Islam.
Speaking on al-Arabiya television, Fouad Allam, the former
head of Egypt's security services, gave a stark warning: "There needs to
be serious action from the leaders to resolve the root causes,
otherwise this could lead to civil war."
Allegations that Iran planned to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to
Washington and bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies, using hit men from a
Mexican drug cartel, mark a dramatic escalation in a 30-year-old secret
war.
It may also signal a more aggressive and dangerous Iran, possibly one
that feels its nuclear program is so far advanced it can provoke the
United States and the West with impunity.
At the very least, the alleged assassination plot would be an act of
international terrorism that borders on being an act of war.
Well, that's embarrassing, Ahmadinejad.
(Sidebar: I'd also like to point out that no one tried to arrest Ahmadinejad when he was in New York.)
Q: Why is Amnesty International calling for the former president’s arrest? And why now? A: The group says Mr. Bush’s visit to Surrey, B.C.,
next Friday to attend an economic summit is the perfect chance to nab
him for events during the CIA’s secret detention program between
2002-2009 which allegedly include “torture and other cruel, inhuman and
degrading-treatment and enforced disappearances.” Canada is “obligated”
to act, said Susan Lee, Amnesty’s Americas Director. “A failure by
Canada to take action during his visit would violate the UN Convention
against torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights.”
Greater urgency comes since the U.S. hasn’t acknowledged the crimes,
added Alex Neve, the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.
This is the first time Amnesty has been so specific in a call for a
Canadian visit, he said. “George Bush is not a sitting president anymore
… He’s also not coming for official UN meetings, he doesn’t have any
kind of diplomatic immunity.” On Sept. 21, Amnesty submitted an
“extensive legal brief” to the government, backed up by “thousands of
pages” of documents.
Q: Does Canada really have the power to arrest him? A:No.The International Criminal Court has no
jurisdiction over Mr. Bush because the U.S. has not ratified it. Canada
is a member, but authorities here can’t legally detain him on the ICC’s
behalf, notes Peter Ferguson, a professor of American politics at the
University of Western Ontario. Waterboarding, the interrogation
technique that gives subjects the sensation of drowning, was not illegal
when Mr. Bush authorized its use on a handful of prisoners, Prof.
Ferguson pointed out. Though President Barack Obama changed the policy,
that doesn’t mean Mr. Bush can be tried today. “In international law,
there’s a difference between being forced to act and able to act,” said
Dan Bousfield, an assistant professor of political science at Western.
“We’re not directly responsible, and as far as I know there’s no
outstanding warrant for his arrest abroad.”
Q: Would Canada actually arrest Mr. Bush, even if it could? A: “Politically it’d be suicide,” said Prof. Ferguson.
“A U.S. president is not going to sit in an [international] prison. It
would be a military action. They’d go for a diplomatic response but only
for so long — 24 hours or less.” There’s no closer friend to the U.S.
than Canada, said Alan Dowd, an Indianapolis-based fellow with the
Fraser Institute who specializes in security issues. “Were it to happen,
it would have a terrible, chilling effect on U.S.-Canada cooperation.” A
fresh Conservative majority government won’t help the cause, added
Prof. Bousfield.
Look, Mum, street theatre.
At some point, Shamnesty International (enormous thumbs-up) will call for the arrest of some actual dictators, right? You know- to appear legitimate and everything? No. Didn't think so.
A heretofore secret cable dated Sept. 3, 2009, was recently released
by WikiLeaks. Sent to Secretary of State Clinton, it reported Japan's
Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka telling U.S. Ambassador John Roos
that "the idea of President Obama visiting Hiroshima to apologize for
the atomic bombing during World War II is a 'nonstarter.'"
The Japanese feared the apology would be exploited by anti-nuclear
groups and those opposed to the defensive alliance between Japan and the
U.S.
Do we really need another reason to get this man out of office?
Watching white MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell chastising
black presidential candidate Herman Cain for not participating in the
1960s civil rights movement infuriated me. O'Donnell accused Cain of
sitting on the sidelines like a coward while blacks and whites marched
and protested for black civil rights. How dare this white guy who does
not have a clue what it was like to be black in America in the 1960s
attack a black person for not responding to racism the way he thinks he
should have responded?
Maybe the US will be in its post-racial stage when they elect a REAL black American, erudite, professional and personable. What is white liberal America afraid of?
With 55 lawmakers voting for the measure, 9 against it and 60
abstaining, the Slovak governing coalition failed to muster the
necessary votes to pass the plan that would have required Slovakia to
contribute roughly $10 billion in debt guarantees.
When
Columbus is viciously condemned, it is the dominant ideas of our
culture that are threatened. Reason, science, individualism, and
progress are morally superior to collectivism and stagnation. The ideas of Western civilization
have led to our survival, well-being, and happiness. Let's not return
to the Sea of Darkness. It is time to stand up and defend Christopher
Columbus.
That's nice but SaintBrendan and the Vikings beat him to it.
And now, watch this. The antelope probably told his antelope-mates that some human cut him off. But seriously, the guy is okay.
