Monday Post

Had Queen Victoria not signed the British North America Act on March 29th, 1867, we would not be a country.


Think about it.

Thanks a bunch, Vicky!

Oh, surprise, surprise! The rioters are at it again in Quebec:

Quebec’s largest student group has vowed to defy the Quebec government’s new emergency law, calling for a summer of protests and acts of civil disobedience.

C.L.A.S.S.E., the more radical of the province’s three main student associations, declared Monday it would continue to encourage protests even if it meant it would lead to harsh financial penalties under the province’s Bill 78.

“The special law won’t kill the student movement,” spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said at a news conference on Monday.

“The fundamental rights under threat today need to be defended.”

In a blatant act of defiance, the group encouraged anyone against the new law to post their photo on a new website, the name of which translates as “Someone arrest me.” The group reported the website was overloaded with submissions Monday afternoon.

Water hoses, anyone?


What if we make it illegal for unions to fund non-union-related things and make joining a union voluntary? Why not expel the "students" who are rioting? It's not like they are adding anything to the economy, except for the overtime the cops are using for standing around idle.



Related: charts detailing the tuition amounts in each province, particularly in Quebec.



Also related: Ontario college students are rotten at math:

Enterprising tutors may want to pack up their calculators and head toward Ontario's post-secondary institutions.

A recent study by York University and Seneca College in Toronto has found that thousands of Ontario's first-year community college students have signed up for basic math courses in order to brush up on skills they should have mastered in junior high.

As Parent Central reports, the study's authors said their findings raise a red flag over the quality of math instruction in the province and could also indicate a growing lack of interest in math that may hurt the economy over time.

"We're expressing concern that 8,300 students are taking preparatory and foundational math in first-year college, but the vast majority cover concepts introduced in Grades 6, 7 and 8," co-author and York University professor emeritus of math Graham Orpwood told Parent Central.

Statistics from the College Mathematics Project revealed that 33 per cent of Ontario college students taking mathematics ran the risk of not completing their programs due to poor performance.

The report also showed that one in four of those students were enrolled in community college preparatory or foundational courses that cover concepts like fractions, decimals, percentages and order of operations.

But when researchers dug through a backlog of school curriculum to see if the order of operations memory trick BEDMAS was conspicuously absent, they discovered these lessons had all been taught in grade school.

Some theories the authors floated around ranged from poor grades (in many schools you only need a 50 per cent mark to earn a course credit) to students having strengths in certain areas, like geometry, but not along a broader range of skills.

They also discovered that many pre-foundational courses in subjects such as business and technology offered general reviews that brushed over these basics and weren't necessarily indicators of poor comprehension.

I'm not at all shocked that there is male hatred at a Canadian university:

The student union at Simon Fraser University in B.C. has made the apparently contentious decision to finance the creation of a Men’s Centre on campus. Motivated, surely, by deep-seated patriarchal values, the union approved a budget of $30,000 to launch the project — the exact same amount conferred on the university’s Women’s Centre, which was established back in 1974. The idea for the Men’s Centre was proposed by fifth-year accounting student Keenan Midgley, who told SFU’s student newspaper that he believes men, too, are entitled to safe space on campus.

Unsurprisingly, however, not everyone at SFU is thrilled with the decision. The Women’s Centre, for one, coolly brushed off the idea of a stand-alone Men’s Centre on its website, simply stating that, “the men’s centre is everywhere else.” They did say they would welcome a men’s centre that focused on “challenging popular conceptions about masculinity, confronting homophobia, sexism, racism, classism, and ability issues.” In contrast, they would oppose a men’s centre that “focussed on maintaining the old boys club … that promotes the status quo, encourages sexual assault, or fosters an atmosphere of competition and violence.” Oh. OK, then. Good to know. 

Did anyone tell these allegedly female brain-trusts that white Christian males are the reason why they are not living in caves eating dung?


They want not only to shove identity politics down the throats of taxpayers but they want it funded, as well.


Someone tell these idiots to get into the kitchen.



No, wait! There's flammable and sharp stuff in there.



Is there a padded room somewhere? It might be safer for us all.



Related:  (from the hostess with the mostest) Western civilisation has never rested in their hands and this is a good thing:

You might be a slut if you believe....

 The war on women is real and must be stopped
That a vote for women's rights is a vote for everyone's rights....

Rock the Slut Vote president: "Math is hard and hair and make-up are pretty!"

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not send troops into Afghanistan after withdrawing in March 2014:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says there will be no Canadian boots on the ground in Afghanistan after 2014.

But he says Canada will continue to financially support the Afghan military with $110-million a year for the next three years.

He says the contribution is generous and designed to set an example for other nations to follow.

It is estimated that it will cost $4.1-billion a year for Afghanistan to run its security forces once the NATO-led coalition pulls out in 2014.

Canada had been asked to consider leaving some soldiers in Afghanistan post-2014 to continue to help with training.

But Harper says the deadline is firm.

It's time to let the "culturally inclined" Taliban take over.



Lockerbie bomber finally dies.



Someone wants us to compensate Khadr the murderer:

Amnesty International and Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) are among 11 groups banding together in hearings by the UN Committee Against Torture this week.

In its submission, LRWC demands Khadr's immediate return to Canada along with compensation from taxpayers for the 'torture' he endured at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(Sidebar: Omar Khadr was never tortured.)



Seriously, go to hell the lot of you.



Gee, why would people have problems with gay activists? Why would they?


(with thanks)



It's time to home-school the kids:

A session designed to help girls at an Ottawa school "recognize their inner voice" drastically went off the rails last week when secrets the girls had written on paper airplanes were read aloud, creating a "domino effect of tears" and prompting Mutchmor Public School to send a letter home to parents to explain the debacle.

As part of Education Week, the elementary school invited a speaker to give an anti-bullying workshop and help students focus "on the tools that they have inside of them."

Almost 60 girls in Grades 4 to 6 were asked during the session to write a secret on a paper airplane and then throw it within the circle of girls. The airplanes were tossed around multiple times to ensure anonymity.

Some of the secrets were then read out, the intent being to "allow girls to recognize that others have similar secrets inside of them."

And that's when things went sideways.

According to the letter sent to parents, several girls shared secrets "of a serious nature" with the understanding it would only be read by one person.

These included revelations of witnessing domestic violence at home, having suicidal thoughts and attending what was described as a "naked party," according to the father of a girl who was present.

Some immediately broke into tears because they chose to share a particular secret, while others cried because they saw a friend in tears. One girl revealed which secret was hers, causing some other girls who feared their identities would be revealed to weep aloud.

"A domino effect of tears occurred in the room" at that point, the letter says.

The activity was stopped and a number of teachers and school staff were called in to calm the girls. Those who had written notes of a more serious nature were identified and the school vowed to follow up with parents accordingly, the letter says.

Later in the day, the school organized an hour-long "restorative circle" with all 57 girls who had participated to acknowledge what had happened and how it left some of the girls feeling. Teachers used that opportunity to talk to the girls about appropriate ways to share secrets, reminded them about the Kids' Help Phone line for troubled teens, and offered an apology.

(Sidebar: it was also called "The Covering Your @$$" portion of the event.)


This "exercise" wasn't just a colossal waste of time, it was irresponsible, unethical and a violation of trust between teachers and students. This is why people lose faith in the education system. This total horse crap  cannot be excused or forgiven. An opportunity to impart knowledge was wasted by people who thought a real education could be supplanted pop psychology.


Unbelievable.


(with thanks)


Something I did not know about the lately-deceased Robin Gibbs:

He also became involved with numerous charities and worked to establish a permanent memorial to the veterans of Britain’s World War II Bomber Command and recorded songs honouring British veterans.

It is said:

If a monkey, a black dog or a woman passes in front of a praying person, his prayer is nullified.

 (Bukhari 8/102; Hanbel 4/86). 

These guys are so screwed:

A packed Saudi mosque plunged into pandemonium after a money found its way inside and attacked worshippers just as they were about to kneel down for their daily prayers, a newspaper in the Gulf Kingdom said on Sunday.

Hundreds of people have converged on the mosque in the western town of Taif for their evening prayers and lined up behind the preacher when the monkey jumped into the lines and attacked them.

"They stopped their prayers to chase the monkey…after a few minutes, they failed to catch it and the monkey succeeded in fleeing outside the mosque,” Sabq daily said without mentioning where the monkey had come from.

Do scientists pray?

Scientists believe that every occurrence, including the affairs of human beings, is due to the laws of nature. Therefore a scientist cannot be inclined to believe that the course of events can be influenced by prayer, that is, by a supernaturally manifested wish.

However, we must concede that our actual knowledge of these forces is imperfect, so that in the end the belief in the existence of a final, ultimate spirit rests on a kind of faith. Such belief remains widespread even with the current achievements in science.

But also, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive. 

Something to think about.