When the land of Kamasutra gives you this bullshit then you know that the country had no moral standing in the world.
What a pathetic display by the country’s highest legal authority which in the past has passed surprisingly progressive laws.
Stupidity
Dumb And Stupid
Holy cow!!!
I have no idea where to go with this….
Creation, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival last week, might be winning favourable early reviews, but its still-controversial protagonist — naturalist Charles Darwin — has prevented the film from snagging U.S. distribution, according to one of its producers.
The Jon Amiel biographical drama stars real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as the evolution theorist and his devout wife, during the period when Darwin struggled with his faith, the loss of a beloved daughter and with the decision to publish his seminal On The Origin of Species.
Though Creation has scored deals to screen in movie theatres around the globe, U.S. distributors have been reluctant.
I guess progressives and liberals are really not controlling Hollywood? So, a graphically violent movie like The Passion Of The Christ based on a fairy tale is ok with the distributors but a biopic on one of the greatest scientist in the history of the world, is a big NO.
Absolutely pathetic.
Christie Blatchford : Dumb Fucking Stupid
Update (1MAy2013) : Man I seem to sound like one of those hyperventilating fear mongers from FOX or SUN news. Apologies to Ms. Blatchford. I must have been really upset to write trash talk like this.
How many times are we going to have to point to globeandmail the obvious? On a personal level I have no idea what kind of person she is but on a professional level, Christie Blatchford is dumb fucking stupid.
Here is her latest shit regarding the controversy surrounding taped conversations of Lisa Raitt (the minister for Natural Resources) :
On the tape, Ms. MacDonnell said the isotope issue is confusing to a lot of people. “But it’s sexy,” Ms. Raitt replied. “Radioactive leaks. Cancer.” It was clear as a bell she wasn’t talking about cancer being sexy. About Ms. Aglukkaq, Ms. Raitt said, “Oh. Leona. I’m so disappointed.” Ms. MacDonnell said, “I wonder if it’s her staff trying to shield her from it or whether she is just terrified.”
Ms. Raitt replied: “I think her staff is trying to shield her. Oh God. She’s such a capable woman, but it’s hard for her to come out of a co-operative government into this rough-and-tumble. She had a question in the House yesterday, or two days ago, that planked. I really hope she never gets anything hot.”
This is irresponsible? Disparaging? Disgusting? This is what prompted Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe to yesterday invoke the spectre of breast-cancer patients needing tests being told that a cabinet minister called their disease sexy; now, that’s disgusting.
Irresponsible – errrrr, yes.
Disparaging – errrrr, of course.
Disgusting – errrr, yeah.
I don’t think Christie has a clue what the fuck she is talking about. And hearing her use that screeching voice on The Bill Carroll show (another apologist for Lisa Raitt and the conservatives in general) this morning to say over and over again “she did nothing wrong” is moronic on many levels.
The minister WAS referring to cancer as being a sexy ISSUE for her which, in political jargon means, “lots of public attention for me”. How the hell can anyone be idiotic enough to talk about an issue of life and death for the advancement of her political career in such a cavalier way in front of her aides, driver, etc.? I have listened to the conversations and it was fairly obvious she is trying to say – this is a great issue as it will get a me a lot of publicity as soon as I fix it.
The problem is, a few months later from that conversation, she is nowhere near fixing it. In fact, Canada is ready to bring in private parties and transfer the knowledge of isotopes production to them!! Instead of fixing the problem, she has ended up mucking it further and that’s why we on the progressive side are having this fit of outrage.
And, Christie, please don’t throw her brother’s death by cancer in our face. We are not exactly stupid to immediately say “oooooh her brother died of cancer so she is never going to use any issue with cancer to advance her career”.
From what I understand from your nonsensical piece on the globeandmail.com today, you are saying “oh what the hell. She was just being herself. We are all like that so leave her alone”. And if that really is your defense, then you are more idiotic than I thought.
Because all said and done, there is nothing on that tape that can’t be put to rest with the correct apology. All the minister had to say was, it was a private conversation and she is sorry if some people got hurt because of it. That’s all. But conservatives being blockheads, they had to put on a display of sheer arogance. They went to the court to try and stop the release of the tape!!! Why? Because the public might hear a private conversation??? BTW, it’s not private when you are talking in front of a driver as the judge has confirmed.
This is what is wrong with this whole issue. The conservative government is not trying to govern Canada. Rather they are trying to RULE Canada. They want their agenda, their policies, their opinions thrust on everyone even though 65% of the Canadian population opposes them.
And that’s what you fail to understand, Ms Blatchford. And that’s why you are dumb fucking stupid.
Update : She finally apologised. I think we can now put the matter to rest.
Flip Flop : Your Conservatives At Work (for the month of May 2009)
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was facing a deficit of $5.9-billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, according to the fiscal update he released last fall. To achieve a surplus, Mr. Flaherty pledged to reduce government spending by $4.3-billion and predicted the government would earn $1.6-billion from changes to public sector compensation and the gains on purchases of insured mortgages from banks.
Jim Flaherty Now :
Mr. Flaherty revised his projection again this week, citing a deeper-than-expected recession, higher-than-anticipated employment insurance payments and the rescues of Chrysler and General Motors.
Lisa Riatt Then (UPDATE : here she is trying to sound the alarm bells about how the isotopes shortfall is a “really, really” bad thing)
“Ensuring that the Canadian medical community receives a consistent and reliable supply of medical isotopes has been of critical importance to me,” (Lisa) Raitt said
Lisa Raitt Now (UPDATE : Here she is saying, a few months later, “not to worry. There is no shortage of isotopes in the world”)
During this extended outage at Chalk River, other isotope-producing countries have the capacity to assist in minimizing production shortfall.
These countries all have different sets of constraints and capacity, and we will need to work through those. There is good will amongst all and a willingness to be helpful. They also fully recognize that Canada stepped up to the plate and provided a significant amount of additional isotope capacity when the Petten reactor in the Netherlands was down.
I know it’s very easy to beat up conservatives because they waffle sooooooooooooo much but I think Flaherty got a raw deal. The poor guy probably made inane statements about how everything was a-ok after being asked to by the big guy PM Harper and now he is paying for it. It’s not Flaherty’s fault that we have a deficit of $50 billion, but he is at fault for saying Canada is at a better state than it really was.
It’s not Lisa Raitt’s fault that she inherited a leaky and crumbling nuclear reactor but then to go claim that the safety would be reviewed and a plan would be put into action which is TO SELL THE NUCLEAR PLANT TO A PRIVATE PARTY!!!! That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard. So much for ensuring a ensuring safety and a steady supply of isotopes. Let’s shut down the reactor and find some buyer who would restart the reactor as it is now.
Just go through the interview (Liveblogging Lisa Raitt on the sale of AECL’s reactor building division) and get ready to swear over Lisa’s incompetent handling of the crisis.
And when the National Post is making fun of the conservatives, then you KNOW there is trouble brewing.
Superstition = Idioticy
<Link>
NEW DELHI: For those suffering from aviophobia, the fear of flying, divine help will be at hand soon with a grand temple with south Indian architecture coming up just outside the airport here.
“We started constructing this temple in August last year. It will be open for public in two-three months,” said Arun Arora, spokesperson for Delhi’s airport development firm, which has been promoted by GMR, a Hyderabad-based infrastructure company.
“But the temple is not being built inside the airport. It is a part of the commercial area in the airport’s vicinity. It will be accessible to anyone,” Arora said.
Well, it’s true. Whenever I fly, I look for the nearest deity and bow my head and hope I get to where I want safely and not trust the experts like : the pilot, the engineer, the stewards, the air traffic controller, the ground staff etc.
This mindless superstition is so pathetic that it boggles my mind.
I remember the time when outright stupidity broke out in 1995/1996 when statues of the lord Ganesha started “drinking milk” around India and the world. I remember how excited all my batch mates were, in the MBA college I was attending (you heard right, MBA graduates became sniveling pathetic morons). Of course, the hysteria died down a bit once it was discovered that this “miracle” was the result of surface tension and capillary action but more so because the statues were clogged with the 1000s of liters of milk. But that did not dissuade the believers who still think stone statues drink milk.
And my friends call me stupid for not believing.
Canada’s Bestest Blogger
Thousands of Tamil protesters have left Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway, after surging onto the highway to call attention to the escalating civilian death toll in Sri Lanka.
Around midnight, protesters began making their way down an on-ramp as police monitored the situation. Some told ctvtoronto.ca they planned to take their demonstration to Queen’s Park.
Reporters and witnesses at the scene said the demonstration was largely peaceful. However, police arrested at least one person and video taken from a nearby highrise showed a bicycle being thrown at officers.
And what does Canada’s all time favourite blog have to say?
Hey Sri Lanka, would you just hurry up and finish them off so traffic can get back to normal?
Because it is necessary for Kate to get to work/home therefore, killing a few brown babies is no big issue for her. And the comments left on her post :
As a law abiding citizen, I explicity convey to the government a monopoly on the use of force to use accordingly in the pursuit of peace and justice.
So I’m getting a little tired of groups using force to get their message across: Indians at Caledonia, Tamils in Ottawa and Toronto. Who’s next? A precedent has been set.
Uh huh. I especially like “Indians in Caledonia” comment. Cause it’s not their land to begin with……
I’m having a hard time believing no one could find a big snowplow to clear the road.
Yes, killing a few brown people is no big deal. After all, the roads need to remain open on Sundays evenings.
I don’t really hate anyone but having read Kate’s blog over the last few months and having seen her on TV, I can truly say that I hate Kate and each of her racist followers. And as a Canadian it shames me to call these fuckers my fellow citizens.
As to the genocide going on in Sri Lanka. I don’t care either way. (UPDATE : I meant to say I don’t care which side is right or wrong not that I don’t care about the genocide!!). Both sides have royally fucked and mucked the issue. Tamils in SL have valid concerns and so does the SL government. And the SL problem has, to a large degree, had an adverse affect on India so, in my mind it would be prudent that the problem is solved soon. Since, the government has an upper hand (after many, many years) there is no way they are going to sit for negotiations.
And to the Tamils here in Canada. I think they are looking for some moral support from the government (like Harper gave to the Israelis in the last intifada) which they are definitely not going to get if the Tamil supporters in Canada are going to wave the flag of LTTE, a violent terrorist organisation.
And to Bill Carroll and his cahoots, fuck you and your moralising – “OH MY GOD!!!!!! THERE ARE CHILDREN ON THE GARDINER EXPRESS!!!!!”. Because there have never been crowds with kids on the roads and highways after a rare win by the Maple Leafs.
I Hate Wingnuts
(via CC)
Why I hate wingnuts. This is a comment by one of Canada’s premier wingnuts.
[pre-emptive note… to the usual anonymous trolls]
this is, indisputably… a terrible loss for the family & friends of these brave soldiers… but let’s also try to keep a little perspective.
before you go all “taliban jack” here… try to remember that, statistically, we have lost less than 20 soldiers per year since 2001.
in contrast…
“nineteen snowmobilers have died in avalanches in B.C. and Alberta just this winter.”and if you want a real wakeup call… read a book about world war one… or snakes.
“we have lost less than 20 soldiers per year since 2001.”
Neo. How many of them were your kids/relatives/uncles/aunts/neighbours/people you know?
..dumbest comments EVAH!! Keep digging that hole, Neo, keep digging that hole…….
…..aaaand the response from Neo.
oh, look… agsharma… another empty blogger profile set up exclusively for drive-by trolling.
hey mr troll… let’s go with the complete quote, shall we?
begin quote…
[pre-emptive note… to the usual anonymous trolls]
this is, indisputably… a terrible loss for the family & friends of these brave soldiers… but let’s also try to keep a little perspective.
before you go all “taliban jack” here… try to remember that, statistically, we have lost less than 20 soldiers per year since 2001.
in contrast…
“nineteen snowmobilers have died in avalanches in B.C. and Alberta just this winter.”and if you want a real wakeup call… read a book about world war one… or snakes.end quote…
which of the facts here are you disputing? you’re suggesting i don’t support the troops?
oh, that’s right… you’re not disputing anything factually. you’re just using the infamous, leftbot… “you’re a big poopyhead”… gambit.
you guys are just so pathetic.
It never ceases to amaze me how the right wing thinks.
My point was how could this blogger say “just” 20 deaths per year? It almost seems like this blogger says, because there were a few deaths, we should continue letting soldiers die out there even if it means that the probability of a soldier dying each year is 0.571% ((20/3500)*100). This is precisely why I hate politicians (and idiotic bloggers) who think this probability is low enough to continue a war that has lost it’s meaning. And that’s why I do not support this war. The soldiers, yes. But not the war.
And what the hell is the meaning of comparing deaths on the battlefield with accidental deaths in BC?
I have been warned not to engage the wingnuts because their screams and moans do wake up the dead. I usually do not leave comments on their sites. But I could not resist this time. My excuse is that I had not finished my morning coffee yet!!
Crusaders Of Patient’s Right – Not Really
Crusader of privatisation of health care : GP Dr Jacques Chaoulli
You went on a four week hunger strike to protest restrictions on private healthcare. What’s the first thing you ate when it was over? Orange juice and tomatoes I think.
You’ve publicly compared yourself to Mahatma Gandhi. Aside from a willingness to starve, what do the two of you have in common? When Gandhi was practising law in South Africa, he noticed the infringement on human rights against blacks. He felt that wasn’t fair and he wanted to defend them. Everyone thought he was crazy but he continued his fight alone. I wanted to fight for the human rights of my patients and, like Gandhi, everybody thought I was crazy and that I could never prevail over the government.
…….and then there is this, the actual cost of going to a Private emergency clinic.
In a scene that combined tragedy with Monty Python farce, a 77-year-old man in acute respiratory failure turned up at a private medical clinic in Montreal only to be told to wait his turn.
Jean-Jacques Sauvageau waited until his heart stopped and his dentures fell out onto the floor. Even then, the famous doctor who came to tend to him did a cursory exam and didn’t try to revive him, leaving him instead before the horrified eyes of fellow patients. The events were depicted in a report issued yesterday by Quebec coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier. And the doctor taken to task for his failure to try to resuscitate the patient is private-care crusader Jacques Chaoulli.
That’s the same Jacques Chaoulli who “fights for human rights”. Here is a comparison of the care that the good doctor was providing against the care that the dreaded “public health system” wanted to provide
He (Jacques Chaoulli) left him sitting in the chair, and told the nurse to phone 911 to report the death. But the 911 operator pleaded with the nurse to try to revive Mr. Sauvageau. Dr. Chaoulli got on the phone and tried to argue the patient was dead; however, the 911 operator insisted. Meanwhile, the other patients grew increasingly alarmed, seeing the apparently dead man, his mouth and eyes wide open. Sarah Twain-Lagarde, in the clinic with her feverish toddler, called 911 herself and tried to resuscitate Mr. Sauvageau, but nurses told her to stop.
And this is the problem I have with the fucking idiots who insist we need more privatisation in the health system because public health system “infringes human rights”. If this fuckers would say right out “we want to make more money which is why we want privatisation”, I would hate them but at least I would respect their honesty. Instead, they cloak there greed in “human rights” and then go about ignoring the very rights that they have been championing.
I know I am making a mountain out of a molehill here. I mean this is just a one of case and it could have happened in a Public Health Care system (come to think of it, it has happened in a public hospital). But this guy is THE CHAMPION OF PRIVATE HEALTH CARE in Canada. He should have known better to act the way he did and yet he did not care about the patient.
Barking Mad
Looks like it’s the season of dumb commentaries.
<Link>
There are two major obstacles to a rich public discussion on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and what it means to all of us.
The most obvious obstacle is religious literalism, which leads to Creationism. It’s the belief the Bible or other ancient sacred texts offer the first and last word on how humans came into existence.
The second major barrier to a rewarding public conversation about the impact of evolution on the way we understand the world is not named nearly as much.
It is “scientism.”
Scientism is the belief that the sciences have no boundaries and will, in the end, be able to explain everything in the universe. Scientism can, like religious literalism, become its own ideology.
The Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics defines scientism as “an exaggerated trust in the efficacy of natural science to be applied to all areas of investigation (as in philosophy, the social sciences and the humanities).”
Okaaaaay, to be honest I have never really come across the term “scientism” but I will grant this guy the argument. But then I would ask the question, so what? Science (and consequently, the scientists) has always tackled whatever issues that come forth. I mean scientists have (kinda) solved the itch issue. So, yes, there are no boundaries for science be it a test space mission to Mars or why we fall in love.
Then this douchbag falls off the rails.
Those who unknowingly fall into the trap of scientism act as if hard science is the only way of knowing reality. If something can’t be “proved” through the scientific method, through observable and measurable evidence, they say it’s irrelevant.
Scientism is terribly limiting of human understanding. It leaves little or no place for the insights of the arts, philosophy, psychology, literature, mythology, dreams, music, the emotions or spirituality.
This has got to be dumbest thing I have heard. Read the highlighted part again. And mull over what this idiot just said. As far as I can tell, he says that if a scientist says “I can explain, through science, why when you look at the Mona Lisa, you admire the painting”, you will actually STOP admiring the painting. So if a scientist can explain to us why we fall in love, we will actually stop falling in love. The authour is basically saying : leave the “mysteries” alone.
In general, scientism leaves little or no place for the imagination, which Albert Einstein, after all, said is “everything.”
And then of course his creationism comes pouring forth :
While I am not at all persuaded by Creationists who believe the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, I also have trouble with those who claim science can only support the atheistic proposal that evolution is a result of pure chance.
Such people maintain orthodox science cannot contemplate the possibility that the evolutionary process may include elements of purpose. This is an example of scientism.
Holy crap….dude, you ARE A CREATIONIST. Just because you say you don’t agree with die hard creationists does not make you any less of a creationist. “Element of purpose”? What the fuck does that even mean? It really irritates me to hear sanctimonious assholes like this guy to pooh pah the creationists and then say exactly what they are saying.
I think the proposal that humans evolved over billions of years from simpler life forms is a no-brainer.
However, I don’t believe either Darwin or neo-Darwinists have yet devised a complete picture of how evolution happens, or what drives it.
Of course it isn’t, it’s called scientific discovery. And what the scientists have so far is pretty accurate.To argue otherwise is to fly in the face of facts, in the face of reason and in the face of every innocent child looking at you for an honest explaination.
Here is the icing on the cake :
In other words…..(in the)….. viewpoint (that) represents that of many scientists, appears to believe that any discussion of evolution that does not uphold chance as the only driving force is ridiculous.
This is blinkered.
It defaults to atheism. And it assumes incorrectly that what we believe, and the way we live, is always based on provable “facts,” which do not include conjecture, speculation or imagination.
And there you have it. The whole fucking point of this opinion piece was to fault atheism….like I said – Barking Mad. And the rest of the post deginarates into a whiny, crybaby piece about how science is ruining spirituality and philosophy and it is worth reading if only to see how lunatic the authour sounds.
Update (via CanadianCynic): Wow!! Canada’s dumbest blogger likes this column. What a fucking surprise!!
Your Dumb Fucking Commentary Of The Day
<Link>
By RICK BELL
……
According to the Mounties, voices can be heard outside Knights’ house and three males are spotted. Two jump in a truck and take off.
One starts up a quad he finds just outside the house. The farmer gets in his vehicle and chases the man on the quad. About 2 km from the house, the car rams the quad off the road.
The farmer pulls out a shotgun and fires at the individual who is skedaddling away, but it isn’t a case of the buckshot stops here.
The guy is hit but keeps running. The farmer calls friends and relations to help find the man on the run, according to the police.
He is found and is brought back to where the farmer’s wheels met the fleeing quad. Police say the man sits in the passenger side of an idling truck, but when the driver steps out for a minute the guy moves behind the wheel and puts it in drive.
The suspect loses control of the truck a short way down the road, is caught again and is held until police arrive.
Brian Knight now faces a list of beefs, including assault and criminal negligence causing bodily harm and dangerous driving.
The other person is up for allegedly stealing the quad and the truck.
Naturally, to top it all off, the Mounties do the usual finger wagging. Don’t take the law into your own hands. Call us and we’ll handle it.
You have to ask. Do these officers believe any of the bunkum they burp or is it just the drill they repeat because it’s the set script and this is their part to parrot?
What are you supposed to do, far from a cop shop, all alone, call the police and wait until pretty close to when hell freezes over?
Then they come, write a report and what? Do we see an arrest? And, if there is an arrest, do we see a vigorous prosecution or does it become some chickenpoop file to get off someone’s desk?
And, if there is a vigorous prosecution, will we see a conviction? And if there is a conviction, what sentence will the guilty receive? Don’t tell me. We all know the answer.
The criminal justice system is itself an injustice and if you have the intestines to say it publicly you’ll be slimed as a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal by the people who screwed the thing up in the first place.
Well, I will start by saying that Rick Bell is an idiot. No….make that a fucking idiot.
So, if I get this straight, the guy chases the thief, is able to get his property back and instead of being, rightfully, proud that he was able to get his Quad back, FIRES TWICE at the fleeing thief and then, just as a typical vigilante, calls his friends and goes on a hunt.
In what world is this guy justified in shooting a fleeing person AFTER he gains his property back? Hope they convict this guy and take his guns away. And Rick, please stop being a chest beating neanderthal. The guy has a right to defended his property, a right to defend himself. But not a right to attack once he has gained his property back. That is criminal.
Holy Shmoly, Bill Carroll’s Idioticy Continues
I know, I know, I complain and then go back to listening to his show. In my defense, I put it on between dropping my daughter off at my in-laws in the morning and the GO station to listen for weather report and the news headlines. A total of 10 minutes. And in those 10 minutes BC says something so profoundly idiotic that I have to wonder what a full show must be like.
Recently, he put on his “wall of shame” these people :
TOKYO (AFP) — A Japanese conservation group said Monday it plans to fit prosthetic front limbs to a sea turtle injured in what marine scientists believe was a shark attack.
“She should eventually be able to lay eggs on a beach.”
The injured loggerhead sea turtle, with a 74-centimetre (30-inch) long shell, was named Yu after being rescued off southwestern Japan following a suspected shark attack last summer, Akai said.
BC’s argument was, in this world of people losing their limbs and not being able to access the same medical care that this turtle is receiving, this conservation group needs to go on the wall of shame.
I really don’t understand how BC thinks? I mean, is he trying to be a moron on purpose to boost his listener-ship?I have no clue.
This group is trying to raise money for an issue that they think is important. That’s what they do. They are a conservation group and are trying to conserve another life. Sure, the easiest thing for they to do is to shoot the damn turtle but that’s not conservation. So, if they want to sell the idea to the public about prosthetic limbs for a turtle, let them.
He took calls regarding the issue, unfortunately, I had only enough time to listen to the first two calls only. And that’s when it was amply clear that BC has a bone to pick with the idea that animals have access to better medical facilities than people do in Ontario. A legit claim, no doubt about it (He cited his personal example where his daughter received a CT scan 1 year after it was requested, which I think is stretching the truth a bit but who knows. Maybe he and his wife had a bad experience with the health care system. Parents often have this complain).
So, why in the world did he not ask the legit question : Do pets have better medical facilities in Canada? Why did he go about the round about way by blaming a conservation group trying to help an animal?
Because that’s the way he works. He inflames passions amongst his listeners and then tries to have an argument with them. His second call was by a person who was defending the conservation group and BC’s argument (paraphrasing here) “you are saying that if there was an amputee child and an amputee animal in front of you, you would help the animal“.
And that’s what it comes down to. Framing an illogical, ill conceived idea and then using it to “win” the argument. He did not even give the caller to explain that in such a situation, no one would pay attention to the animal. Nope, BC had an argument to win, damn the logic.
Making A Mountain Out Of A Molehill
<Link>
Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps admitted to “regrettable” behavior Sunday and vowed it wouldn’t happen again after a British newspaper published a photograph of the swimmer smoking from a bong.
Oh dear god!!! Who the fuck cares what this person was doing in his own personal time. I just do not understand this incessant need of the public to be a moral police. It was a bong hit…..something that adults and kids all over the world are doing right now. Something that has been deemed medically safe by numerous doctors and physicians all around the world. Something that is sold legally in quite a few European countries.
And now this poor guy is going to lose lucrative endorsements all because he smoked a joint. What nonsense.
“I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment,” the record-setting American athlete said in a statement issued Sunday.
“I’m 23 years old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me,” Phelps said. “For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public — it will not happen again.”
People often use bongs to smoke marijuana.
And for those who say that he is a role model and should act like it…………..please give me a break. He is a 23 old kid who happens to excel in a sport. He is the one who needs a role model.
Omar Khadr
I have been following the Omar Khadr saga for a while now. I will not bore you with the details of his life which I would rather that you read from the wikipedia entry.
So without much ado, here’s my opinion :
I think that the reaction of the Canadian government (and the public at large ) is one of pathetic, sniveling assholes. Why?
He is a Canadian citizen. We have other countries making successful cases of their citizens (here, here and here) to be moved to their respected countries where they are tried under their laws. So why is this person being ignored by the Canadian government.
If you go through the time line of his life, you cannot but notice that he is nothing but a child soldier. Forced or coerced or just plain brain washed into hating the West by his parents, this person did what any child would do in such a situation, do what his elders/patriarch/matriarch told him to do.
I am quite sure that Canada recoganises this aspect of child soldier…..wait, I will google it for you….yup, found the bit.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy and Minister for International Co-operation and Minister responsible for la Francophonie, Diane Marleau, today announced that Canada will support four projects to protect children in armed conflict…….
………….
“The use of children as soldiers has escalated worldwide due to the advent of light weapons technology, the rise of intrastate conflict, and the increase in guerrilla and rebel forces,” said Mr. Axworthy. “However, those forms of exploitation or deplorable situations that deprive children of their right to fully realize their mental and physical potential, and expose them to hazardous and dangerous situations, contravene a basic human right.”
Canada has actively supported working groups established by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to elaborate two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: One on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, and the other on children in situations of armed conflict.
So this begs the question…..why is the government of Canada (both Liberals and the Conservatives) acting against the law of the land? All because the public opinion is against the Khadr family? If this person has killed soldiers, please, by all means throw the book at him. But do it here in Canada under Canadian law with Canadian judges and Canadian lawyers.
Both Are Right And Both Are Wrong
Middle East is a pendulum of “Israel is wrong and Palestine is right” and then it’s the other way around so there is no way of saying (like everyone is) that this time Palestinians were wronged. It’s a case (and always has been a case) of them bombing us first.
But one thing that Israel always has had is an upper hand, militarily. With the strong and unconditional support of the US, Israel has a strong military and a strong counter insurgency and spy program. And they have been a target of a ferocious guerrilla campaign from the Palestinians. So no one in their right mind can say anything against a military campaign that Israel has carried out from time to time.
So why is does it feel so wrong this time?
I would venture to say that unlike the previous times when a car carrying suspect terrorist leader would be bombed or an apartment building housing some Hamas leader would be blown, this time, it’s an all out assault.
And the victims are innocent civilians who are being used as shields by Hamas. But why the world is so taken aback by this scenario is that everyone knows that human shields are being used, including Israel, but it almost seems like they don’t care. They don’t care who is affected by this assault as long as they stop the Hamas missiles. And when you read news like this, you know that this attack is wrong on so many levels.
A similar pause on Wednesday enabled rescue teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross to enter some areas for the first time since Israel’s ground offensive began last weekend after days of air-strikes. In one area, the Committee reported Thursday, its representatives discovered “shocking” scenes including four children next to their mother’s corpses. The children were too weak to stand on their own, the aid organization said.
This just makes me mad. Isn’t this a typical idiotic response from Israelis? Guerrilla attacks answered by ruthless bombardment of civilian areas. I know Israelis fancy themselves to be really smart cookies, so is this the best these guys can come up with? Kill everything in sight and then not even ask questions later. Then they wonder why there is a blowback. They had better make sure they kill everything everyone else those kids mourning their mother will grow up to be the next generation of Palestinian “terrorists”.
And what makes me even more mad is this :
(a protester at an anti-Israel rally says “Hitler Didn’t Do A Good Job”)
(a Muslim woman shouts at the opposing rally “go back to the ovens”)
These are your everyday Americans/Canadians who are essentially saying that what happened in the Third Reich was OK. I do not harbour hate towards people, but this is an act I despise and it makes me want to smack these assholes. I really wish that these people are tracked down by the MSM or by a citizen reporter and confronted when there is no crowd around. This is sheer ugliness and they are winning no friends.
And before you say “see it’s the Muslims who are hateful”, see this :
(a group of Israel supportes shouting at anti-Israel crowd : “terrorists” and “….those virgins are waiting for you” and “…..the one people to die to get laid”
And to all the morons (Ezra Levant et al), critisizing Israel is not being anti semitic. Just like calling GW Bush an A Class Moron is not being anti-US.
Ignorance Vs. Stupidity
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observed one of my students with a group of other children gathered around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was giving a demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks.
After confiscating the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful.
OMFG!! I can understand when ignorant people question a new concept or a new idea and then either see the light or turn a blind eye. But this is sheer stupidity. A teacher, A TEACHER, does not know about Linux!! And she has the temerity to admonish a student, who shows that he is exploring an exciting new world of possibilities.
I hope this is a joke and if not, I hope that this teacher is reprimanded in the strogenst possible way.
Update : This post by Ken explains why it’s not a good idea to jump to conclusions.
my phone buzzed again but it wasn’t with the incoming call ring…it was a text message being received. I cued the caller ID and it returned as “unavailable”.
I pushed “read message” and waited for the text to appear on my screen.
“Can I call you?”
I pulled the truck over into a parking lot and answered:
“I guess. Who r u?”
The inactivity was so long that I started the truck and began to put it into gear and re-enter traffic when the buzz came again. I pushed the read button.
“Karen”.
It was my turn to hesitate. Finally, I toggled Reply and typed in one character.
“k”
She didn’t call right away. It took her about 15 minutes to finally call me. When she did she didn’t say anything for the first 15 seconds. When she finally did speak, it was obvious she was crying.
“Why did you throw me to the wolves like that?”
I didn’t even have to think of the reply.
“I didn’t throw you to the wolves Karen, I threw ignorance to the wolves. Let me ask you something. If I had not emailed you a link to my blog, would you have even known about this?”
Again she hesitated. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that if you didn’t know I had written that blog, would you have known about all these comments? Has anyone called you or bothered you about this? Have your co-workers mentioned it?”
“Well…no.”
“Then the wolves didn’t touch you Karen. If I had included your last name or email address, then yes, you could ask me that question but as it stands, you are just a nameless school teacher that evoked a public response from me.”
She didn’t say anything for several seconds. When she did, it was a quiet and simple:
“Thank you”.
………….
I want to apologize to all the hard-working and honest NEA members. My statements were based on an isolated but nasty experience two years ago, and, while I developed a nasty dislike for the people in that situation, it was both unfair and short-sighted to say the things I did. The teachers that we entrust our kids with on a daily basis do us a service that is under-appreciated, under-paid and over-criticized. My mini tirade didn’t add anything of value to the situation and only served to inflame an already volatile area of debate. You have my sincere apology for slapping you all with such a wide brush.
Karen isn’t alone in her ignorance. I have sat in a PhD’s office…a PhD that happened to be a principal of a school. She told me that according to her “tech staff”, it was illegal to remove Microsoft Windows from their school computers. So who is ignorant here? The “tech staffer” afraid of losing his MCSE position or the Dr. of Education that didn’t bother to check into such a statement. Ignorance isn’t the sole possession of this particular school teacher.
Karen and I have talked on the phone now for a couple of hours, here and there. We’ve come to understand each other more and had she said some of the things in her email that she said during our phone conversations…this black ink on white digital paper probably wouldn’t exist.
…………
The student did get his Linux disks back after the class. The lad was being disruptive, but that wasn’t mentioned. Neither was the obvious fact that when she saw a gaggle of giggling 8th grade boys gathered around a laptop, the last thing she expected to see on that screen was a spinning cube.
She didn’t know what was on those disks he was handing out. It could have been porn, viral .exe’s…any number of things for all she knew. When she heard that an adult had given him some of the disks to hand out, her spidey-senses started tingling. Coupled with the fact that she truly was ignorant of honest-to-goodness free software, and you have some fairly impressive conclusion-jumping.
In a couple of ways, I am guilty of it too.
Karen seems to be a good teacher, and as she stated to me today, she has learned more about the tech world in a few days than she’s learned in five years.
That’s because she’s trapped in a world of Windows. Most people are.
I am trapped in the world of Windows too. I have Linux (red hat distro) on my PC but I rarely use it cause my PC has become wonky off late and ever since I got a laptop with Vista loaded, I have been stuck with it. I am not totally happy with it as it freezes from time to time and god forbid I run more than two CPU hungry applications on it (never run Apache and MySql at the same time). In fact, I would say Vista is the reason why I really am not dabbling in servers anymore.
Yup, Republicans Are The One For USA
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Worse, Palin’s routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric’s questions for her “less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media.” At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, “Sit down, boy.”
This is probably the reason why the Republican’s campaign is imploding under it’s own stupidity. I hope that they get a good drubbing in this election.
Why Have So Many Kids When You Cannot Manage Them
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Staff at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel have found a four-year-old girl alone in a duty-free shop after her parents accidentally took a plane without her.
The parents boarded the flight to Paris with four of their five children.
The mother and father were sitting in different parts of the aircraft and did not realise their mistake until the captain informed them after take-off.
The girl was put on the next flight to Paris. The parents will be questioned when they return to Israel.
“It is usual that travellers in a rush forget their luggage but not a child. This never happens,” AFP news agency quoted a police official as saying.
I know I am judging based on 8 lines in the article, but good god, how the hell can you not realise that the child is not with you? I mean, they must have been in the boarding area together before boarding the plane, they must have boarded the plane together even if they are sitting in different areas of the plane. Man, some people are dumb.
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