Don't Mind the Elephant II

The father and brother of Aqsa Parvez have been charged with first-degree murder, a murder the police suggest was premeditated.

Aqsa Parvez was a sixteen year old girl strangled by her father.

Given that so-called honour killings are common in Islamic societies and the need for some in the West to brush over such incidences, it is not, therefore, surprising that a story like this will be downplayed.

The article at the beggining of this post refers to the motive as "an apparent clash of Muslim and Western cultures". That may be as honour killings in Western societies are practically non-existent. But even the euphemistically put "clash" still doesn't absolve what is inherent in cultures which practice this kind of killing. Honour killings are a part of Muslim culture. Will we who live in a "multicultural mosaic" accept this? What choice do we have? If we don't, we are imposing our values on a culture that deems it acceptable for a male family member to kill a female family member over any slight imaginable. Surely the Crown doesn't want to get involved in how a family disciplines its children, the way someone in Quebec did. Furthermore, our soft-serve racism that is multiculturalism is at stake. We can't call ourselves "multicultural" (all the while being woefully ignorant of other cultures) if we don't pat "lesser" cultures on the head, turn away, shrug our shoulders and mumble: "That's how they do it back home."

The true test of a culture is not on "some foreigner" but on citizens whose moral compass indicates the wrongness of willful murder.

I would comment on a completely unimportant minority in Toronto but I've decided to comment on researchers on the cusp of an enormous discovery. You know- people who truly deserve attention. I say good luck to these people.

Don't Mind the Elephant

Gillary Massa, renowned Israel-hater and free speech trumper, has again proven her ignorance and arrogance in this letter to the editor. Do read the whole thing but here are a few quotes:

The Centre for Bio-Ethical Awareness and its Students for Bioethical
Awareness front group at York University are wrong again. These groups organize
events disguised as debates in their campaign to eliminate women's access to
legal medical abortions in Canada. Student unions have an obligation to uphold
the rights of their members, including access to medical services.

I didn't realise abortions were performed on campus, nor of any underhanded scheme by anyone to not only speak about abortion but to actively ban it. Hhmmm....

At no point has the York Federation of Students tried to stifle free speech
or freedom of association.

But she has, that is why the student group in question can't get funding.

It has made the legitimate decision to take a position that is representative of
the majority of its membership who believes that reproductive freedom is a right
for all women in Canada. This right should not be eliminated based on the moral
opposition of a few.

These statements are presumptious, arrogant and foundless. One would think that she would research things before printing something that would be challenged openly by those on and off campus. Was she aware of the current public opinion on abortion and who holds it? Was she aware that there are those who hold pro-abortion opinions on campus who actually want Students for Bio-ethical Awareness to speak? Did she even ask?

What Miss Massa does not understand is that she and a handful of others are actively preventing a group from speaking, period. By assuming that everyone agrees with her obvious pro-abortion stance, as well as her refusal to accommodate the opposing side, and that there is a minority who feel a particular way, Miss Massa displays her arrogance (and ignorance) for all to see. Miss Massa also has the typical paranoid streak one sees in pro-abortion activists. Some believe that even speaking about abortion will ban it outright. Perhaps, but maybe not. Aren't laws are needed? Maybe if she had listened to an opposing voice she may have picked up that information. Miss Massa and a handful of others don't realise that there is no vast conspiracy, only a student body wishing to present their case to the public. If the media coverage means anything, they have.

On a brighter note, the complaint against Maclean's magazine has been dismissed. I guess fringe groups can't tie people up with frivolous charges.

Back On Its Feet

China, true to form, has found the resources to arrest parents whose children were killed in last month's earthquake. The parents accuse the authorities of corruption.

This story is not dissimilar to any other story on Chinese corruption, shoddy workmanship, arrest, terror, or how little the West will care.

I'm Not Laughing With You

Some brave yet anonymous person has emerged from the shallow end of the blog pool with this piece of insight for the previous post. I've muted out the cuss words but nothing else.

Who the f*** are you to judge anyone? Everyone is entitled to their own
oppinion, you f****** c***.

Was I judging anyone? Perhaps I was. I mean, surely the person who lacks the intestinal fortitude to actually face someone and tell them why they are withholding privileges they would give to anyone else simply because they can't face a seasoned debate deserves a smattering of indignation.

Is everyone entitled to their own opinions? Yeah, I guess so. I haven't withheld others' "oppinions".

Fair play is fair play.

The Case of the Purloined Backbone

The York University student union, among others, has proven that it lacks the personal, as well as intellectual courage to face a group opposing abortion. A meeting all but secret held after the majority of the student body left for the summer, the failure to secure the opinion of the student politick at large and the utterly infantile reasons for disallowing pro-life groups advantages the student union affords other groups points to a clear and undeserved bias.

Personally, I don’t think any special-interest group has a place on campus. A post-secondary institution is a place, ostensibly, for higher-learning, not for youthful malcontents alienating the rest of the student body over white males using whales to cut down trees, or whatever the hell it is people are mad at these days. That being said, free debate does have a place on campus and should not be stifled by special-interest groups or a radical professor, a throwback from the ‘60’s (and what a grand failure that era was).

To decipher the reasons for York University’s student union’s decision is to wade through tired old mantras (apparently, the student union also voted out originality). If their contention that the abortion debate was long resolved and pointless and that they were doing the student body a favour by shutting out one of the groups involved, their words gave them away.
The word “anti-choice” has been used deliberately, as if being opposed to abortion for any reason is somehow impinging on the rights of women. The word “sexist” is thrown into the mix in order to cement the belief that opposition to abortion equals misogyny. People holding a pro-abortion opinion (this word I use deliberately for people do support it) use certain words (as those who hold pro-life opinions do) in order to shade how pro-lifers are seen. If pro-lifers are radicals who have no place in modern society then it is easy to discount their views. If a pro-lifer is an Everyman, then his opinions hold more sway. How can you disbelieve the guy next door whose lawn-mower you’ve borrowed, or the woman whose son goes to school with your son, or a vegan whose eco-friendly word-view can be wedged into a pro-life ethic that is both biodegradable and not tested on animals? If the issue itself isn’t meat enough (no offence to vegetarians wherever they may be), then the debater must be impeachable. York University has done quite the job to not only brush this issue under the rug but forget who populates pro-life groups (i.e.- Margaret Fung) or the current opinion of abortion in the country, and who holds those opinions. Hardly sexist.

On top of this, the student union waited until everyone had left for the summer to make its irrational decision. It did not gauge- or care- that others, regardless of their opinions on the issue, may support free debate on any topic, including the one Miss Gilary Massa (she also thinks Israel is an apartheid state) thinks is closed to all future discussion- discussion which can only concern women. See here.

"I think it's outrageous that they do this when students are away for the
summer and when they can't really do anything about it," said Michael Payton, a
York student who argued the pro-choice side of the March debate. "This isn't the
right of the student government to be deciding what students are allowed to
hear."

Though Miss Massa claims support, it is clear from this quote that she does not have it. Yes, she doesn't want a well-rounded debate on the abortion issue, as free speech does not apply there. She is shocked, however, that referring to Israel as an apartheid state would be verboten:

In a letter to McMaster's provost and the Students Union Executive, Ms. Massa
said she was shocked and dismayed to hear that the administration and McMaster
Students Union had banned the use of the phrase "Israeli Apartheid" on
campus.
The letter called for the ban on the phrase to be rescinded "in
accordance with a basic commitment to freedom of expression and organization in
the democratic context of the public university."
The letter added, "This strange and unprecedented ban is a blatant violation of democratic freedoms of speech and dissent, and an attack on students' right to organize. It is the position of the YFS and GSA [Graduate Students] that universities are sites where discussions and debates about difficult geopolitical questions should be promoted, not stifled. International controversy about use of the phrase
'Israeli Apartheid' cannot be resolved through repression, but through ongoing
intellectual exchange."

Miss Massa can have it both ways. I'm surprised she wouldn't support the banning of any words. That's what she has done in York University.

This ignorance and arrogance will not appear only once. It stands to reason that if one group can be banned, so too can any group. Will Miss Massa and the rest of the student union tire of a Jewish group, or an environmental group? Maybe not- at least not publicly.

It would be bad relations if they did.

And What A Day!

Did you know that today is National Potato Day in Peru? Enjoy a potato, or creamy, cheesy mashed potatoes.

It is also the feast day of Saint Joan of Arc, Mel Blanc's birthday, the anniversay of when the "Goddess of Democracy" statue was erected in Tiananmen Square, Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago and Canary Islands' Day in Canary Islands (where else?).

The Hardest-Working People On the Planet

The hardest-working people are...the Koreans. I could have told you that. These people need a month-long vacation. I doubt the fairly recent five-day work-week is sufficient. It has been my experience that people would take an hour to two hour long trip home after putting twelve to sixteen hours of work in. Leaving when the boss leaves is unheard of. The titles still confound me. While in Canada, many take liberties and refer to someone they've just met or an older person by a familiar name. Not so in Korea. There are titles for the home and workplace. They exist everywhere.

I respected (and still respect) the South Koreans for their work ethic. However, rest is just as therapeutic as earning a day's wage.

A Rare Glimpse of Humanity

Despite being a totalitarian state with an enforced one-child policy (a policy many say is useless as well as draconian), repression of its citizens, a government that aids rogue states in warfare against its people, crooked consumer practices, the Chinese have decided to forego their traditional stances on adoption and reach out to earthquake orphans.

Let's hope this sticks.

An Empty Wagon

The Koreans have a saying: Bin suraega yoranhada. It translates into: an empty wagon is noisy. Basically, stupid people make alot of noise. Judge if you will these examples.



Though I haven't seen Bella (a remarkable movie, so I'm told), I have been made to understand it is a film with a pro-life message. Not according to one viewer:

Correct me if I'm mistaken-- the woman entered an abortion clinic and chose not
to abort the child, therefore the movie wasn't Pro-Life, but Pro-Choice.
Pro-Choice is about having the means necessary to have an abortion and chosing
whether or not to take advantage of it. She chose to deny those services, so she
in fact-- made a choice. The term "Pro-Life" orginated before the opposition had
their title of "Pro-Choice". "Pro-life" was coined in such wording to make it
appear as if pro-choice = pro-death, when in fact pro-choice is about supplying
safe means for women to choose to keep the child or not, without having to worry
about the dangers of back-room abortions which have led to disease and very
often death through out various cultures of the world, inbedded in those
socities for many years before us, and I'm sure many years to come. Bella was a
beautiful portrayal of how women come to terms with unexpected pregnancy, and
I've seen people turned away from it due to its supposedly pro-life message, and
that is being close-minded in my opinion. Just as it was close-minded for people
to grasp onto such a label without really thinking it through.

I believe the terms need some clarification. The so-called pro-choice faction hate the word "abortion" with a passion because it is an ugly word with an ugly meaning. I have yet to hear so-called pro-choice believers openly and unreservedly advocate adoption over abortion. As for me, I personally refuse to coax anybody's ego. If you support abortion, you are pro-abortion because that is what you believe in. If there is nothing wrong with it, don't shy away from the word.

If the hijab is nothing more than "a flimsy piece of cloth", as this writer suggests, then would he kindly explain this, this and this. And really, isn't Islamophobia nothing more than certain parties worried that the rest of the world might not approve of wife-beating, effigy-burning and wilful murder?

Is it Myanmar, or Burma? How about Burma seeing as the military government prefers Myanmar?

Just some thoughts.

Milestones

May 8th marks the end of the European conflict of the Second World War and the birth of modern Israel.

From 1939 to 1945, Canada, among other nations, bravely fought against fascist tyranny. The war scarred men, women, children, nations. Though other Pandora's boxes were opened (the Iron Curtain and the dawn of the nuclear age), other evils were dealt with. Men died for others they had never met.

Israel has transformed itself from a fledgling scrap of desert into a modern state, perhaps the only civilised one in the Middle East.

Here's to you.

Quick Thoughts On Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn is like a train. You can either stand in front of him and get knocked down, or you can get out of the way.

Three law students who appeared with him on tvo's The Agenda should have figured that out by now. Mr. Steyn appeared on the program to justify his position on the Maclean's Muslim article matter.

It is my opinion that Mr. Steyn defended himself in his typical outstanding and out-of-the-way manner and the three law students blathered on how his written words (some of which are statistics and polls- what some may call empirical evidence) and let their insecurities show. The moderator did his job and caught both sides on their comments (basically, he never let anyone get away with rhetoric).

If one had read America Alone, Mr. Steyn, though very pointed in his manner, was clear to distinguish Westernised Muslims from fundamentalists bent on domination.

For more, please go here.

Just my thoughts.

Another Reason Why We Should Stay

Another Canadian soldier is killed.

Corporal Michael Starker, an EMS in civilian life, was killed in an exchange of gunfire in the Pashmul region in Afghanistan. He is described as having had a "heart of gold". He will be sorely missed by all those who knew him.

It's bad enough that certain individuals attack school girls (here and here, if it pleases some), kill Korean missionaries and support the killing of the brave men and women serving in the Canadian Forces, but now they kill those who treat ALL patients, Afghani or otherwise.

Real bravery.

Shoah

...The grave was finished, but the spade

Remained in memory.

(Emily Dickinson, poem 111)

I've Got Mail!

Yeah, I know I said the preceding post would be my last for the month and I also acknowledge I get some pretty interesting feedback from some pretty nice people but this stuff was just too good to pass up. It comes from a brave person calling himself (or is it herself?) "anonymous" because whoever it is far too brave and important to call themselves anything else. There is strong language and bad spelling within. I would apologise for it but these aren't my words.

I think your Blog should be called "Stupid Right Wing Christian Bullshit from an
Idiot with no Relevant or Useful Information WhatSoEver!"

I wasn't commenting on JUST this article, as I mentioned 'the blog' in its
entirity is due for a name change. Although I do beleive she does have insight,
and has done her reasearch (as she quotes - quotes but I don't think
comprehends), I see that its mostly one sided, definatly not an unbias blog. I
believe her views to be typical of a Right Wing'd Christian Radical, which is
fine if you'd like to walk the earth with one eye shut, and an arm and leg tied
behind your back.

Thank you, anonymous. I will continue being relevant, useful and unbiased.

Keep on rocking in the free world, as they say. And thanks a bunch to all posters.

The End of the Month Post

I wonder what the Koreans could be mad at the Chinese for? Could it be their involvement in the Korean War? The forcible return of North Korean refugees? The theft of historical and geographical properties? The ill treatment of Koreans in general? Only the dousing of the Olympic torch will tell.
Raul Castro's reforms appear to be nothing more window dressing, as was thought. A dictator would be loathe to bring on dramatic reforms that would oust him from his undeserved power. It would be best to appear to grant freedoms that were tacitly accepted and show the dim-witted West what a nice totalitarian monster you are.
Some claim the Raoul Wallenberg mystery may be solved but probably not (the press service calls it a Holocaust mystery but in reality Wallenberg was kidnapped toward the end of the war). The fact of the matter is that the Soviets kidnapped Wallenberg and refused to admit one way or another what truly happened to him. Diverting their involvement by spinning (or creating) facts and pointing the finger elsewhere is nothing unusual. They have been doing it for decades.

Happy Earth Day

Here are some tips to make the Earth not only greener, but a more pleasant place to live.

1. Should we cut down trees? Maybe, if they're in a bad mood all the time.

2. Don't hug a tree. That's unwanted physical contact.

3. If God didn't want us to eat animals, He never would have made them out of meat. It's wrong to waste.

4. Don't walk on the grass. You'll give it a complex if you do.

5. Toxic gases make the air unbreathable. Therefore, avoid certain foods.

Any more ideas to make this world of ours more golden?

Pope Benedict vs. the UN: Round One

According to Reuters news service, the Pope is going to "attack" and "assail" the UN with the notion that might is not right. The wordsmiths at this particular news service used the choicest words because, as we all know, Catholics are an insane and irrational people who pray for world peace and brotherly love, promote solidarity with oppressed peoples, help people in the Third World and run soup kitchens.

What a pack of monsters!

Chock Full of Postage

More posts, more fun.

Free China, free the world. Sure, we could free Tibet, but if we free China we can free the following: the Chinese people, victims of a draconian one-child policy, the ethnic and religious minorities within China, North Korea, the Darfurians, the average consumer AND the Tibetans. Kill one bird with several stones.

North Korea has proven- again- how unwilling it is to unlatch itself from Chinese-backed power. Any South Korean president who is unwilling to deal with them on their terms is considered an enemy. North Korea is already impoverished and its people are steps away from starvation. Nevertheless, Kim Jong-Il will instill in them a state of fear and promote war until he gets his sushi. Forget the myth of the American warmonger. The crisis in the Korean peninsula still isn't over.

A distressing letter proves how utterly nasty, immature and brutish multiculturalism is. Where is the tolerance in bullying? Where is the communion in complete difference? Where the basis in the baseless?

Sarah Polley proves why no Canadian taxpayer should ever fund the arts. The baseless claims that Bill C-10 will lead to all-out censorship completely belie the fact that a good chunk of what is paid for not only doesn't represent Canadians or Canadian culture, but that Canadians will not watch anything produced in Canada. Or maybe paying for stuff that has no bearing on the Canadian public good is the Canadian thing to do.

Stephen Harper proves he is a weasel. Remember when South Africa faced boycotts, or when the former Soviet Union threw a diplomatic hissy-fit? Those worked, didn't they?

Kevin Rudd does something right. I realise the Chinese are used to thuggery but at least keep it on their own soil.

Oprah Winfrey is a self-important moron...but you already knew that.

Dis-course

This article proves that the Sauds are the limit.

First of all, was Mohammed a prophet? Of course. Was he a good one? No. He was a war-monger, a pedophile, a rapist and a thief. To ask anyone to accept him or anyone like him as a prophet is intellectually and morally absurd, to say the least.

Secondly, what kind of person would demand that someone else embrace a tenet of their religion in order to be treated justly? You must embrace Christ to be a Christian but nothing should prevent one from treating someone else like a human being. Imagine if a Christian demanded that a Jew or Buddhist accept Christ before getting a drink of water. It would be outrageous. If what is being proposed in the article isn't outrageous, then I must not have a full understanding of the word.

Thirdly, who asks for dialogue and make demands immediately? A selfish, inconsiderate person does. Forever the victim and forever needy. The House of Saud has our oil money. They want out self-respect too.

Lastly, the audacity one must possess to behave the way the Sauds have (indeed, a great bulk of Islamists) is truly astounding. Everything and anything offends them. They have yet to prove that they are a peaceful and rational people awaiting dialogue and peaceful relations with everyone else. They lie when it suits them.

We have bended over for them. When will they reciprocate?

Dith Pran

Dith Pran, on whom the movie, The Killing Fields, was based, has passed away. He was a survivor (so, too, was Dr. Haing S. Ngor who portrayed him in the aforementioned movie) and a tireless reporter on the killing fields of Cambodia where the communist Khmer Rouge murdered an estimated 2 million Cambodians.

That we may not forget what he struggled to tell us.