Halloween Week: The Final Halloweening

Why so curiousssss?

Or something like that.



Oh my God! She's coming towards us!







See.  That's what intentionally funny looks like, CBC.  (with thanks)



Professional crybabies don't like Halloween much... because it's oppressive:

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.



Enjoy some brain cake.



What could be more frightening than cat movie posters?!



Exercise your zombie food brain with some scary poetry.


Happy Halloween, everybody!

Halloween Week: Saturday Night Special

Need a costume idea? Try this.




Behold the gore and foul horror of "Occupy" Ottawa...in all its bodily fluid infamy.



Look on the violence of "Occupy" Oakland and wonder how brainless the left can be.






After scarring our retinas with the sight of a flabby walrus in a red outfit, the CBC takes the terror further by trying to swallow its own tongue:

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.

Oops.








Why address the concerns of an oppressed group when you can just ignore it?

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.”

(round of applause)








Destroying fun one cultural pillar at a time:

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.




And now, things you never want to find on your property.  

Halloween Week: John Keats

(born on Halloween, no less)


Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.

I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful - a faery's child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery's song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said -
'I love thee true'.

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.

And there she lulled me asleep
And there I dreamed - Ah! woe betide! -
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.

I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried - 'La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!'

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.

And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing. 



(La Belle Dame Sans Merci) 

 

Halloween Week: The Mid-Week Posting

It's frightening...and cute at the same time.

People are tired of smelly hippies stinking up the place? Really? But why?

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."

(Sidebar: yes, you also have a rape policy, too.)

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.




One group of Nazis failed in trying to shut it down and another succeeds:

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?



Yemeni women burn head coverings in protest:

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)!




For the record, these rotters weren't banished from Tim Horton's but were asked to leave because of their incredibly inappropriate behaviour. Stop pretending that homosexuals are an endangered species in need of constant protection and validation.

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."

Muslims are total Protestants about Catholic symbols:

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)?



(Thumbs up)




And now, a Halloween light show.

Halloween Week: The Dreadening

Meowloween: Halloween but with cats.

Really, sit down for this one.


I'm serious.


Alright.


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!

(Muchas gracias)



"All your Tim Horton's are belong to us!"



No doubt tired of the stench and the rats, the police start clearing out the smelly hippies from "Occupy" Oakland:

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.

"All we are saaaaaaaaayiiiiiingggg......"




They aren't just (alleged) murderers but they're cheap, as well:

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 problem with that, too. It's nothing independent schools or home-schooling can't solve in the interim, though.



Smelly hippies hate Jews and that is a news item. People who vote and have normal lives want abortion de-funded and... nothing. Who is the jack-wagon who decides what is news-worthy, anyway?




And now, corgis in costumes.  Enjoy.

Mid-Week Post

The non-cliff hanger of the week.


The people have spoken. The next "Occupy..." event will be where the participants can get high.


Thanks for voting.


Is there a method behind the madness of the "occupiers".


Exhibit one:







Exhibit two:






But seriously, other than their propensity for leaving waste of all kinds in the parks, parroting leftist memes they heard just the other day and rabid anti-Semitism, there is no way these people can be taken seriously, if that, indeed, was their intent. Serious people with a cause don't just show up, blame the boogey-man-of-the-month or engage in melodramatic yet unoriginal street theatre (Zombies? Please...). What we have seen is the motley group of leftists- largely white, moneyed, presumably university educated- with the audacity to claim they speak for ninety-nine percent of the population when they shout out that the same capitalism that allowed them to have things is at fault- unless it lines or affects their wallets in anyway (it's called "redistribution" and you should be cool with it).



Here are the percentages:



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.



(Sidebar: excellent leg work, El Barto.)



In Canada, the median after-tax income for a family of two or more was $63,800 in 2009 with 9.6% considered as low-income and as of the middle of this year wages increased.


Did I miss something? Where does the 99 % come in?



What of this Vietnamese immigrant?







This must be a mistake. As we all know, Vietnam is a hotbed of rampant capitalism, not a Third World country with human rights abuses. 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.



(Thanks a lot)



Somewhat related: the rotters at Occupy Baltimore are douchebags about sexual assault (among other things). Emphasis mine but the sleaze is all theirs, I assure you:

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.

Unbelievable.



As reported yesterday:

US police Wednesday probed a growing kidnapping horror after finding 10 children in the care of a woman accused of locking up four mentally-disabled people in a dank cellar.

"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.

Criminal scum. Just scum.



What the hell?

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.

Now for some cool stuff:



A cat stare-down.


An intact Viking ship burial site found in Scotland.


National Geographic photos taken by readers.

Something For a Tuesday

Why not?




The running over of a two year old Chinese girl is- as hard as it is to believe- not as shocking as the people who walked right by her without helping.



(WARNING: these videos are incredibly shocking.)









It gets worse:

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."

In a way, none of this should be a surprise. What should one expect of a Third World communist dictatorship where sex selection and forced abortions and female infanticide are common, where political prisoners have their organs harvested, where citizens are forced out of their homes and the average wage is anywhere from $63 to $223 CDN a month. Life is as cheap as the crap they export to us.




Other criminal scum:

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.

A math equation: If one Israeli soldier equals 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, what is the likely outcome of terrorist activity?




Sometimes, there are just no words to express the disbelief and even anger at the repugnant cowardice and intellectual dishonesty one sees in ostensibly academic environments:

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.




Somewhat related: Ezra Levant sans Hazmat suit journeys into the heart of stinky and rude darkness.



(Thanks)



Should we even give Susan Sarandon the time of day for her foray into the last acceptable prejudice or should we just ignore her because she is washed up and would do anything for attention?




And now, seasonal zoo animals.

Etc.

A few things as Sunday  winds down.


Smelly hippies insist that nothing will move them from their crusade to bring the financial world to its knees:

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.


(Cheers)



And what is a good "occupation" without anti-Semitism?



These are the 99%? I hope not.


I found this little item here and it is discussed here:

"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.



Oh my God, this looks good!

Sunday Trek

...to go where no believer has gone before...



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.



But that's just what I think.

Saturday Stuff

I didn't realise how many dirty, lazy hippies there are in the world.



Riots (not protests) in Rome, Lisbon, London, Edmonton, New York, and Toronto.



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 shortest fuse ever. There is nothing sincere about people who have their strings pulled or have just decided that they are angry.



(Domo arigato)



Related: Mark Steyn weighs in:

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.

Because he's Salim Mansur:

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.



Get your rage on with this:

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.

(hat tip)



Kind of related: Russian elections for the next fifty years.



And now, the weirdest road.

Mid-Week Post

I am the one percent occupying the middle of the week.



Occupy your brain with this:

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.



Related: the age-old blame game.



Occupy Cairo:

Sunday's protest was sparked by the burning down of a church in the southern Aswan province.


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."

Related: why is the world not championing the Coptic Christians' cause?




Occupy Tehran:

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.)



Occupy Surrey:

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.



Let's face it- if crybabies people had thicker skin and faster thought processes, we wouldn't need laws or human rights commissions to shut down some guy with a bunch of pamphlets.



Occupy Tokyo:

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?



Ladies and gentlemen, Love Psychedelico.




Related: Occupy the White House:

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?



Occupy Bratislava:

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. 

Nobody wants to be on the hook for $10 billion.



Occupy L'Anse aux Meadows:

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 Saint Brendan 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.

Unbelievable

Unbelievable.


Ontario voters re-elected a man who is the reason why Ontario is a have-not province with a high unemployment rate, sky-rocketing energy prices, a wholly impractical and expensive "green" energy plan, failed to act on Caledonia and will gladly allow perverts' special-interest groups'  sexual indoctrination classes into elementary schools over the heads of the students' parents.


Just wow. There are no words.