Tuesday, July 31, 2012

English Translation: "I Am Nothing Without Them"

A French swimmer, a member of a gold medal-winning relay team, finds a unique way to thumb his nose as the weasely IOC (via Diana West):



Update: Olympic moment of shame

Why Has Israel Thrived While the Palestinians Haven't?

Max Boot has some thoughts on the subject (hint: it ain't "the Occupation"):
What is more important, I believe, is a factor identified by Francis Fukuyama–the level of “trust” in a society. Israelis have been willing, when push comes to shove, to pull together for the common good in a way that Palestinians, who have always been riven by clan and political rivalries, have not. Israeli political culture has also been resolutely democratic, and this, I believe, is the ultimate secret of its success–it is inconceivable that the egalitarian Israelis would have tolerated the rule of a strutting authoritarian like Arafat. Israeli political culture demanded that “resistance” fighters like Begin and Shamir put down the gun and compete for votes like normal politicians. The Palestinians have never, even now, demanded this of their leaders–or at least not made the demand stick–and they will continue to pay a heavy price for elevating “resistance” over economic opportunity.
Bingo!

Update: Krauthammer blasts the Obama-boosting media for calling truth-telling a gaffe.

Ontario's "Human Rights" Commission Revises Criteria For How to Change the Sex Designation on Your Ontario Birth Certificate

Thereby answering the question: Whatever would we do without a "human rights" commission to offer informed opinions on such pressing matters? My favorite question/response in this doc has to be #4:
4. Should a person be permitted to change the sex designation on their birth registration more than once?
From our experience, such occasions will be rare. However, from a human rights perspective, there should be no prohibition against changing the sex designation on one’s birth registration more than once.
I dunno about the "human rights perspective," but from a medical perspective it sounds kinda nutty.

"I'm Beginning to Warm to Mitt"

Me too.

Update: Mitt pinpoints the big diff between Israel and the Palestinians. While Israel is indeed a "Start-Up Nation," "Palestine" is more into shaking-down than starting up.

Lamestream American Media Ignore Appalling Act of Anti-Zionism at London Olympics

Did you know that Lebanon's judo team refused to practice in the same gym as the team from Israel (Jewish cooties, don'tcha know?), and that officials accommodated their anti-Zionism by erecting a barrier to separate the two teams? If you get your news from, say, CNN, the New York Times or the Washington Post, there's a good chance that you didn't hear about that grievous breach of Olympics etiquette. CAMERA examines the disgusting behaviour (Lebanon's and the media's) here.

Walk Softly and Carry a Big...Baseball Bat?

This one gave me a chuckle--the Photo of the Day on the White House website. The caption reads
President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey in the Oval Office, July 30, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
I'm prepared to overlook the somewhat disturbing image of the leader of the free world using one of those old-fashioned phones with the twisty cords: it doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence in the American economy to know that there isn't enough coin in White House coffers to spring for an updated, cordless model. But what's the deal with the baseball bat?

President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey in the Oval Office, July 30, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Due to a "Loophole" in the Law, Brits Underwrite Sharia-Based Polygamy

I think that should have been part of the Olympics opening ceremony. Mary Poppins; marry four chicks: a marriage of the old and new Britains, no?

What Looks Like a Cross Between a Cyclops and a Bowling Pin?

It's the London Olympics mascot! (An illustration of the sorry fact that in the land of blind genuflection to socialized health care, the one-eyed mascot is king? The mascot had better not get a cataract in that sucker, because it may have a very long wait indeed if it wants an NHS eye doctor to correct it.)

Jane Eyre Gets the Fifty Shades of Grey Treatment

A smutty version of Charlotte Bronte's novel? As my late Bubby might have said, "Feh!"

As War in Syria Drags On, the Jihadis Come to the Fore

More evidence (as if any were needed) that the "Arab Spring" is actually a frigid and rigid Sharia Winter.

Update: The Aleppo Boys sing:

Sha-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah,
Sharia.
Sharia, baby.
Sharia can you triumph today?
Try, try, triumph today.

Sha-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah,
Sharia.
Sharia, baby.
Sharia won't you triumph today?
Try, try, triumph today.

Why don't you come on
And put chicks in their place?
Come on, and end the big disgrace.
Come on, and start to stone some gays.
They're un-Islamic anyway-yays...

No Mention of Khomeini or Iran on "Al Quds Day" Site--Go Figure, Eh?

Well, it's that time of year again. The time of year when the Khomeini zanies rage and seethe about the presence of a Jewish tumor poisoning their pristine Islamic landscape. The time when Iranian Zion-loathers and their fellow travelers get the kid glove treatment from local cops, while "intruders" are encouraged to vacate the public premises because their presence there is seen (by cops and Khomeinists alike) as being too "provocative." (Can't wait to see who'll show up to speak at this year's anti-Zionism bash. Sister Brothers of the United Church of Canada? Zafar Bangash? Local twelver Sayed Muhammad Rivzi?  Guess we'll just have to wait and see.)

Scan the Al Quds Day site and you'll find plenty about the poor, suffering Palestinians and their heinous oppressors, the Zionists, but nothing, nada, squat, about how the whole thing was invented by the Ayatollah as a way of casting aspersions on the iniquitiouus Jewish state.

Funny, that.

Looking for the Khomeini? You won't find eini

Hardly a Shockeroo--Mitt Not a Hit With the Palestinians

He's being warned to temper his comments about Jerusalem being Israel's capital--or else:
The Palestinians want to establish a capital in east Jerusalem, captured and annexed by Israel in 1967. Most of the world, including the U.S., does not recognize the annexation. The U.S. and others keep their embassies in Tel Aviv.

On Sunday, Romney said flat out that Jerusalem is Israel's capital and strongly suggested he would move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem if he were president, supporting two key Israeli demands.

Saeb Erekat, an Abbas aide, said Romney's comments about Jerusalem were "absolutely unacceptable," adding that "such statements and policy will push the region toward extremists."

Erekat noted that Romney's positions on Jerusalem go against long-standing U.S. policy.
"At the end of the day, the U.S. has interests in this region, it has embassies in 57 Arab and Muslim countries," he said. "I don't think they will sacrifice everything for such statements, mere disturbing statements that will strengthen extremists in the region."
57 Arab and Muslim countries versus one tiny Jewish one. We've seen that story before, I think. It's called Goliath v. David.

Update: The WaPo whines, "But he didn't mention the occcuppayshunnnn."

Sunday, July 29, 2012

"...and most importanty, we're accountable to Allah"

That's a promise made by Islamic Relief Canada, an outfit that has this tres glossy publication. One of the many, many lands that receives funds from the charity is "Palestine," of course. That's because
Decades of political instability have stifled economic development in Palestine. The vast majority of Palestinians, living inside the territories, and living as refugees in neighboring regions, depend on international aid for survival. Foreign investment in the region has dropped, further hindering the ability for Palestinians to move toward a more stable economy.
In Palestine, where a majority of the population relies on foreign assistance for survival, insecurities in food, water and electricity, as well as crippled health care services and educational facilities, make living conditions some of the worst in the world.
Continued violence throughout Palestine has severely affected the most vulnerable section of the population—the children. Many Palestinian children suffer from psychological trauma...
Makes you want to open your pockets and donate to the max, doesn't it?

Another recipient: Somalia. And--oh, lookee here--the Canadian government is in on the act (though not on the accountability to Allah, presumably) since it--that is, we--have ponied up a cool $3 million in relief. Gee, let's all hope that none of it ends up in the hands of a bunch of locals who are also "accountable to Allah," i.e. al-Shabab.

"Maybe democracy, that messy, chaotic, splendid ideal, isn't so much about actually reaching specific goals, but rather the continious acot of attempting to make the world a better place"

Rick Salutin, on the scene in Tunisia on the Toronto Star's dime, thinks some deep thoughts about democracy and the so-called Arab Spring. Unable to detect any discernible progress in the democracy department (democracy as the West understands and practises it, that is) he makes the squishy, bone-headed statement quoted above. (Islamism "attempting to make the world a better place"? Only if you're a fan of sharia, which is decidely non-democratic.)

Friday, July 20, 2012

FYI--I'm Taking a Summer Siesta

See y'all when I'm finished chillaxin'. In the meantime, check out any/all my rowdy friends listed on the right, and enjoy one of my favorite summer tunes.

Two Diametrically Opposed Takes on Obama's Syria Policy

One pro (by the NatPo's J. Kay, who claims "we won in Syria"--we did? when?--because of Obama's hands off approach); one con (by D. Greenfield in FPM, who says Obama is about to rush headlong into Syria, and hand over yet another Arab country to the Islamists).

"Mean Girl" Michele Warns About Hillary Pal's MuBro Ties

That Michele Bachman is such a meanie! She's saying mean, nasty things about Hillary's bestest gal pal (the Gail to her Oprah), who's married to let-me-show-you-my-Anthony-Weiner, and who has ties to that non-threatening, pragmatic, not-at-all-immoderate Muslim Brotherhood.

Why can't she be more like that "nice" Sen. McCain?

Update: Huma gets it from her Mom.

Harper Gov to Obami and Canucki Khadr Nutters: Bite Moi

He isn't "coming home" until he releases his birth certificate.

Er, sorry. Got confused there for a mo (or, in this case, an O). He isn't "coming home" until we can see those video tapes:
TORONTO - Omar Khadr won’t be coming home to Canada any time soon.  
The Canadian government has balked at the return of the convicted war criminal and murderer until U.S. authorities turn over allegedly-damning video footage of psychiatrists’ interviews with the Guantanamo Bay prisoner.  
In a formal letter sent Thursday to both U.S. defence secretary Leon Panetta and Khadr’s Toronto lawyer, John Norris, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews states that in order to have Khadr sent back to serve the remainder of his sentence in Canada, officials north of the boarder must be given access to sealed video footage of separate interviews with Khadr that were carried out by two psychiatrists during the lead-up to Khadr’s trial in 2010.  
Toews also stated complete reports from Dr. Michael Welner and Dr. Alan Hopewell have not been supplied to Correctional Service of Canada and the parole board, and that both are required to administer Khadr’s sentence in Canada, according to sources familiar with the letter. 
Welner — who interviewed Khadr for eight hours in June 2010 and spent “hundreds of hours” researching his history - charges Khadr has become an even more “dangerous” radical while serving time in Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, mainly because of the hard-line jihadist prisoners that are around him, Khadr’s continued connections to terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, his loyalty to his radical-Islamist family and his celebrity among militant, anti-West jihadis.  
“I came to the conclusion that Omar Khadr (is) highly dangerous because of the nature of his role in the community of al-Qaida and other Islamist terrorists,” Welner said, adding the “street smart” Khadr, when he is eventually released from custody, will be “under tremendous pressure” from those around him to be a leader in radical Islam’s war on the West...
What an "Islamophobe." ;)

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Sorry, Bernie. In This Instance, Hitler Wins

Bernie Farber knows all about the 97-year-old Hungarian Nazi who was arrested yesterday, and sees his age as being no impediment to his prosecution:
That yesterday’s war criminals are elderly can be no reason to shirk our duty to their victims. We ought not see them as they are today, but should remember them for the thugs and murderers they were so many years ago. To allow their crimes to go unpunished would indeed give Nazism a posthumous victory. It is time for Ladislaus Csizsik-Csatary to finally face justice.
This fellow lied about who he was, entered Canada illegally post-WW2, and lived here until 1997, when he was given the choice of leaving for Hungary or of being deported. Sad to sad, the fact that he has been able to live all these years in freedom, and that it is only now that he has been arrested for his crimes--and there's no assurance that he'll ever go on trial for them--means that, in this instance at least, the Nazis have been handed a posthumous victory. And there's nothing we can do to change it.

Me? I'm not as concerned about punishing decrepit Nazis as I am in ensuring that the Nazis du jour, Iran (said to be behind yesterday's terrorist attack in Bulgaria), doesn't get to blow the Jewish state to Kingdom Come. That's the kind of posthumous victory for Hitler that no Jew who cares about Israel and the future of Jewry can live with.

Someone Has to Say It, So I Will

Everyone seems to think that a woman who is preggers becoming the new Yahoo! CEO is a wonderful thing--a great blow to that proverbial glass ceiling ambitious working women are said to have had such a hard time shattering. Wonderful it may be--for the Yahoo!, for the woman, and for unshattered glass ceilings everywhere. But is it going to be a good thing for the other human being involved here, the tiny one who can't speak up about how wonderful it all is, and who, even if he/she could, might not be fully on board since his Mama's being CEO of a flailing company means he/she won't exactly have her undivided attention when it's most needed?

Maple Lodge Farms--Folksy, Canadian, and Blessed by Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti

Maple Lodge Farms is a company that uses its "humble beginnings" as a selling point in folksy commercials marketing its all-Canadian chicken products. For some time, though, it has had an entire halal division that's more Wahhabi than Canucki:
Our Halal Operation
Maple Lodge Farms was the first company in Canada to offer Halal products, on a large scale, for Canadian Muslim consumers. We have been Halal certified by ISNA Canada (Islamic Society of North America) since 1990. The Halal Protocol System, implemented by ISNA for Maple Lodge Farms, took several months of collaboration between ISNA and Dar-ul-Ifta, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Scholars like Sheikh Abdulla Idris from ISNA, along with other Muslim experts, including Muslim veterinary doctors, visited Maple Lodge Farms on many occasions. They performed various tests during their visits and provided their observations to Darul Ifta, in Saudi Arabia for their consideration. This entire process was reviewed thoroughly and approved by Dar-ul-Ifta, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1990. Since then, Maple Lodge Farms has been serving trusted Halal products with the full endorsement of the certifying organizations.
We have a team of several Muslim Blessers and a dedicated Muslim Product Manager to serve the Halal market. All of the Blessers are under oath to perform the duties assigned to them with honesty and integrity. ISNA’s Halal auditor visits our plant on daily basis to ensure the Halal process is followed with consistency. 
Maple Lodge Farms Zabiha Halal products are available at most major grocery retailers across Canada. Look for them in the fresh poultry counter, the deli counter and frozen food section in store. Within addition to the Canadian domestic market, Zabiha Halal product are also exported to several other countries across the world.
ISNA, FYI, has "ties to jihadists" and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land terrorism conspiracy trial; Dar-ul-Ifta is the fatwa-issuing "affiliate of the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars headed by Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Alu Al Sheikh." My question: isn't there someone who can bless the chicken who isn't affiliated with the MuBros and Wahhabis, or is that way too much to ask?

Kinder Eggs as Dangerous as Heroin?

Are you jonesing for a delicious chocolate egg containing a prize? Fine. Just don't try bringing your filthy habit across the border:
The popular German chocolate eggs are not sold in the U.S. because they are considered a choking hazard. They are also banned because the treats are considered adulterated food by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Sweeney said a border guard told him and his husband that they could be fined $2,500 per egg, and then ordered them to head to the port of entry, where they waited for more than two hours.

“We really didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “I didn’t know if maybe this was some really important thing that I just wasn’t aware of and they were going to actually give us the fine of $15,000.”

But once inside, Sweeney said border staff later brushed off the offence and merely told them never to bring the Kinder Surprise eggs across the border again.

Mike Milne with U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the movement of Kinder eggs across the border into the United States has been “an ongoing problem for years,” particularly during the Easter holidays.

Milne said officers do not usually fine travellers for carrying the chocolates, but they do normally confiscate them. Roughly 60,000 Kinder eggs were seized last year.

“Kinder eggs are prohibited just like narcotics are prohibited,” he said. “Our officers, if they encounter prohibited stuff, they’re subject to seizure.”
Americans should sleep soundly at night knowing that stalwart men and women are determined to keep illicit treats from defiling their Kinder egg-free land.

Brits Rewrite, Revise, Ignore History So as to Not "Offend" Muslim Students

The Holocaust's out; so are the Crusades.

Update: Further down in the article, you can read that it was a close call, but for now there can still be "an oink oink here and an oink oink there" on Old Macdonald's farm--but only for local moppets:
Meanwhile, the politically correct ban on pigs in Britain also extends to toys for children. A toy farm set called HappyLand Goosefeather Farm recently removed pigs in order to avoid offending Muslims.
The pig removal came to public attention after a British mother bought the toy as a present for her daughter's first birthday. Although the set contained a model of a cow, sheep, chicken, horse and dog, there was no pig, despite there being a sty and a button which generated an "oink" sound.
After the mother complained, the Early Learning Centre (ELC), which manufactures the toy, responded: "Previously the pig was part of the Goosefeather Farm. However due to customer feedback and religious reasons this is no longer part of the farm."
After a public outcry, however, ELC later reversed its decision: "We recognize that pigs are familiar farm animals, especially for our UK customers. We have taken the decision to reinstate the pig and to no longer sell the set in international markets where it might create an issue."
Time to write a new version of Orwell's Animal Farm in which, after much consideration, the pigs are "reinstated" to the farm, but are banned from traveling abroad "where it might create an issue."

No "oink" on this farm. Must be one of those "international" sets

Sage Advice From a Bostonian: Don't Take Your Cues About Politics From Hollywood Celebs

Joe Fitzgerald writes that, Ronald Reagan aside, stars aren't exactly repositories of political acumen:
Because of the stars’ high visibility, the spread easily caught our attention. But once we stopped gawking, even before we turned the page, star-gazing was pushed aside by common sense, as if our intelligence had just been insulted.

Matt Damon? He was fabulous as Will Hunting, but what’s that got to do with our economy?

Reese Witherspoon? She was great as June Carter Cash, but what’s that got to do with protecting our borders?

Ben Affleck? He was simply terrific as Townie Doug MacRay, but what’s that got to do with foreign policy?

Charlize Theron? She was mesmerizing as the monstrous Aileen Wuornos, but what’s that got to do with our national security?

Indeed, what has Hollywood glamour got to do with the important decision we’re going to make in November? Those dots do not connect.
Actually, Joe, some dots do connect--but those are a whole 'nother kind of star.

Alawite Now? Not So Much

According to Jonathan Kay in the NatPo, there are "striking similarities" between the history of Syria's Alawis and Israel's Jews. So striking, in fact, that the headline of Kay's piece calls Syria "the other promised land." (It has a different headline here, but the content is the same.)

Anyone else have a problem with that?

Now, I'm no expert, but since "Israel" is central to Jewry and Jewish theology ("next year in Jerusalem," the Promised Land, the Land of Milk and Honey, and all that), and since "Syria" is a made-up country that dates all the way back to post-WWI, and does not have the same historical and religious significance for the ruling Alawites, to try to tie the two together is more than a stretch. It is a colossal misread of history and Judaism.

A piece in the New York Review of Books sheds light on the tribe (who were originally called Nusayris):
Nusayrism could be described as a folk religion that absorbed many of the spiritual and intellectual currents of late antiquity and early Islam, packaged into a body of teachings that placed its followers beyond the boundaries of orthodoxy. Mainstream Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, regarded them as ghulta, “exaggerators.” Like other sectarian groups they protected their tradition by a strategy known as taqiyya—the right to hide one’s true beliefs from outsiders in order to avoid persecution. Taqiyya makes a perfect qualification for membership in the mukhabarat—the ubiquitous intelligence/security apparatus that has dominated Syria’s government for more than four decades.

Secrecy was also observed by means of a complex system of initiation, in which insiders recognized each other by using special phrases or passwords and neophytes underwent a form of spiritual marriage with the naqibs, or spiritual guides. At this ceremony three superior dignitaries represent a kind of holy trinity of the figures who feature in other Nusayri rituals, namely Ali, Muhammad, and Salman al-Farisi (the Persian companion of Muhammad who in several Islamic traditions forms a link between the Arabs and the wisdom of ancient Persia). Nusayri rituals, performed in private homes or out-of-the-way places, include a ceremony known as Qurban—almost identical to the mass—where wine is consecrated and imbibed in the Christian manner. As Matti Moosa, a leading scholar of the Nusayris, states in his seminal study Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects (1988):
The Christian elements in the Nusayri religion are unmistakable. They include the concept of trinity; the celebration of Christmas, the consecration of the Qurban, that is, the sacrament of the flesh and blood which Christ offered to His disciples, and, most important, the celebration of the Quddas [a lengthy prayer proclaiming the divine attributes of Ali and the personification of all the biblical patriarchs from Adam to Simon Peter, founder of the Church, who is seen, paradoxically, as the embodiment of true Islam].
Yup. Those Alawites are dead ringers for the Jews. ;)

Update: Everybody sing, "Alawite now, baby, it's Alawite now...":

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Wahhabi "Justice": Tattoo Artist/Hairdresser Gets Year in Jail, 200 Lashes

Gotta love that sharia:
BEIRUT: A court in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah sentenced an unidentified Lebanese man to one year in prison and 200 lashes after he was convicted of drawing tattoos on the bodies of Saudi women and being a women’s hairdresser, a Saudi newspaper said Tuesday.

Al-Madina newspaper reported that the district court also fined the man.

The article said the Lebanese man, known as "The King of Tattoos" was arrested when a member of the Squad for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice pretended to be a driver for one of his female clients.

The squad confiscated a bag in his possession which contained several lotions, some for weight loss, others for eliminating skin discoloration from the knees, and yet others for breast lifting, massage and enhancement. They also confiscated artificial eye lashes and products for hair coloring...

A Sick Chick With Unresolved Holocaust and Identity Issues

That's how I would characterize one Anna Breslaw, who thought it would be "fun" to dress up like "Anne Frankenstein" for Halloween, and about whom John Podhoretz writes:
the contemptible author of this article denounces her Holocaust-survivor grandparents for fulfilling the Nazi perception of Jews, libels Elie Wiesel, and likens the survival of Jews in the camps to the behavior of a fictional gangster meth dealer. 

Iran Blames the West for Causing "Abnormal" Drought

Damn, those kafirs are powerful:
TEHRAN: The drought in southern Iran is part of a "soft war" launched against the Islamic republic by the West, the Fars news agency quoted an Iranian vice president as saying Monday.

"I am suspicious about the drought in the southern part of the country," Hassan Mousavi, who also heads Iran's cultural heritage and tourism organisation, said at a ceremony to introdue the nation's new chief of meteorological department.

"The world arrogance and colonist (term used by Iranian authorities to label the West) are influencing Iran's climate conditions using technology... The drought is an acute issue and soft war is completely evident... This level of drought is not normal."...
Neither's your Grand Ayatollah, dude.

A Morally Indefensible Defence of Bethune

From the National Post's "Letter of the Day," penned by Dr. Edward M. Conway, Director, Centre for Blood Research; professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver:
...Rising awareness of social disparities in access to health care prompted Bethune to join the Communist Party and to advocate major changes in healthcare delivery. Needless to say, his ideas were not well-received in Canada. In 1936, he was invited to lead a surgical team in Spain to care for casualties in the Spanish Civil War. There, Bethune organized a centralized service for collecting blood and for delivering it to the front. Within five months, the organization was supplying a 1,000-km long war front with up to 100 transfusions per day, using a staff of over 100, about 4,000 blood donors and five custom-built blood delivery trucks.
In 1938, Bethune went to China where he joined the Communist forces of Mao Zedong. His role was not to espouse communism. Rather, he established training programs for nurses and doctors, invented new surgical instruments and helped to set up mobile medical teams. He frequently performed battlefield surgical operations, on occasion transfusing his own blood. He died in November 1939 of an infection.
Upon his death, a notable politician of the time wrote: “We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man’s ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity. a man who is of value to the people.”
There's no doubt that Bethune was an early proponent of socialized medicine and that his innovations in the area of blood transfusions have saved lives. There is also no doubt that he served the cause of evil, and that the number of lives saved by his medical innovations amount to a hill of beans compared to the number of human beings murdered by Mao and his minions. Furthermore, Bethune would be a mere footnote in history but for the fact that Mao used his death for propaganda purposes, and turned him into a Chinese Communist hero.

That's the reality. Deal with it, Dr. Conway.

Is the TDSB Dumbing Down the High School Curriculum for Black Kids?

Dare one call it the soft bigotry of low expectations? Because, despite all the crunchy delicious educational mumbo-jumbo about "pathways" and "layers," that's what it sounds like:
The Leonard Braithwaite program is being introduced for the first time at the secondary school level in Canada because there is an overwhelming opportunity gap in education for black students. This is not an africentric school or even a school within a school, it is a program that will provide students an alternative way of learning while still being a part of the Winston Churchill community.

The program will offer grade 9 students the opportunity to learn through an africentric lens for 6 out of their 8 courses. The courses will be a part of a de-streamed model which means that the learning and teaching has been reconfigured to meet the needs of all students in the classroom. The courses will be designated as academic in order to provide students with the most choice for future pathways; however, through the use of layered curriculum, students will reach the required expectations in their own way even if they are currently not at the academic level. [Layered curriculum means that students move towards the same expectations taking different paths. One student may only need to complete one assignment to reach a particular expectation where as another may student need to do 4 assignments that build on one another to reach that same expectation].

We as a school feel that this program will help address some of the issues surrounding the opportunity gap facing our black students...
A gap that can be bridged via lower expectations, obviously--but what good does that do the kid later on in the real world?

Don't miss the course abstracts, wherein you'll learn that in geography
A particular focus will be on the role and location of the African Diaspora within these systems. Students will evaluate the dominant narratives currently accepted about geographic systems to explore their impact on the identity and self-image of African Canadians and other members of the African diaspora. Using this knowledge, students will use a variety of geotechnologies and inquiry and communication methods to explore and present their findings of the impact geographical systems have had on the African Diaspora in Canada and in a global context.
Whatever the heck that means. (When you're dumbing things down, it's often quite useful to use the most high-faluting, impenetrable language possible). Meanwhile, in math class
For the purpose of meaningful learning of the subject, students will have the opportunity to incorporate the language, culture and history of African peoples and the African Diaspora for understanding math problems, investigation, and effective use of technology, abstract reasoning and critical thinking
Well, that will no doubt make geometry etc. seem a whole lot more meaningful. As for science
Through partnering with researchers, scientists in the field that represent diverse cultures, genders and backgrounds student will have the opportunity to challenge the dominant narrative about science education. There will be a focus on environmental sustainable projects through global connections with partners and schools from the African continent where students will examine environmental issues from various African regions and critical analyse Canada’s role in contributing to the issue.
As I've often said: there's nothing like challenging the dominant narrative about science education to spark a young'un's interest in scientific inquiry. (Actually, that's the first time I've ever said it--and I will never say it again because it's a bunch of hooey.)

But this line, about the music course, is my absolute favourite:
Students will develop the skills to locate their lived experience within the learning environment.
I think I'd better take that course, because that's a skill I sorely lack.

The Toronto Star Shills for Omar Khadr's Return--In Song

He was only 15,
Only 15,
What on earth could he know?
He was too young to shoot a gun
And have to go to Gitmo.

They'd laugh and they'd plan
In Afghanistan.
An Al Qaeda fam'ly, we know.
But he was too young to shoot a gun
And have to go to Gitmo.

So why won't they bring him home at last?
He never will murder again.
He was a mere child of 15.
He's aged a ton since then.

He was only 15,
Only 15,
With eyes all aglow.
It was sheer chance and circumstance
He ended up at Gitmo...

Women Who Owns a Fleet of Hot Dog Carts Cited for a Whole Host of Gross Health Violations Gets a "Second Chance"

A "second chance" for her crew to serve you mouse droppings and other dead varmint cilia along with her dee-licious street meat.

How come people who run afoul of "human rights" tribunals never get a "second chance," but people whose lax cleanliness just might kill ya does?

The Drive for Sharia (Arf, Arf)

Sue-Ann Levy and her little dog, Kishka, were snubbed upon their late night return from Florida by drivers who balked at transporting a pooch. Ms. Levy, a Toronto Sun columnist, did a little digging and discovered the following:
What I realized is that this occurs quite often not only at the airport but in Toronto proper and is happening due to religious reasons — that is, because dogs are considered unclean in certain religions.

In fact, Gail Beck-Souter, general manager of Beck Taxi that operates about 900 cars in Toronto, confirms that if certain Muslims take a dog in their vehicle, they are required to go home and shower afterwards (before they pray).

It would seem that the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) which licenses limos that pick up at Pearson airport and the companies that operate out of the airport have bent over backwards to accommodate the religious demands of their drivers — who clearly have strength in numbers.

McIntosh Limousine manager Anne Ruddy claimed the driver who turned me down, a gentleman from India, did so because he “doesn’t have to” take dogs.

But the driver would have to take Kishka if he was a service dog — that’s the “law,” she said.

She denied Muslim drivers in their fleet would ever turn down dogs for religious reasons contending it has more to do with “them being scared” of dogs.

Asked how she felt about a woman being denied a ride at 1:30 a.m., Ruddy said she “hates the idea” but they have to “abide by the GTAA rules” — they “don’t have a choice.”

I had to laugh when I read the description of their drivers on the McIntosh website, most particularly this gem: “Our drivers have taken sensitivity training...”
Sensitivity, schmensitivy. Doggies are haram, and that's that. I'm waiting for someone with a service dog to be turned down for a ride, and see whether the driver will actually face any penalty. Given how "sensitive" the police are these days, I tend to doubt it.

Beware of Polls (and People Unpacking Poll Results) Claiming that Muslims Want Democracy, Too

Why the warning? Because when they say they want democracy, that doesn't necessarily mean they want Western-style liberty/freedom/rule of law:
Recent statistics show Muslims in the Middle East believe democracy is the best form of government, but would like Islam to play a part in government as well, a recent Pew poll shows.

The study was conducted more than a year after the Arab Spring by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, March 19 through April 20 of 2012, in Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, and Pakistan.

It confirmed of the majority of those polled (and a plurality of Pakistanis) most would prefer typical democratic practices such as multiparty elections and freedom of speech, but also voiced support for a substantial role for Islam in politics...
See what I mean?

Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" the Anti-"God Bless America"

Bet you didn't know (I sure didn't) that Woody Guthrie, the centenary of whose birth is currently being celebrated with much fanfare, wrote his song because he thought Irving Berlin's song was too jingoistic, too overtly pro-American. Well, he did. In fact, Lee Hadeeb tells us, Woody's song includes this verse, which is a new one on me:
There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me,
A great big sign there said, “private property”;
But on the back side, it didn’t say nothin’;
That side was made for you and me.
Unlike Berlin (ne Israel Isidore Baline), a Jewish Russian immigrant who was eternally grateful to the land with the great big sign that took him in, and where he left an indelible mark, Guthrie, who was Born in the USA, looked to Russia--specifically to Stalinist Russia--as his GPS:
He wanted America to follow the Soviet model of government ownership of the means of production, wherein central planners and bureaucrats distribute the wealth for all workers to enjoy.
 In the Guthrie v. Berlin song battle, Berlin wins.

Hamas Seeks New Gaza Policy From Egypt

Of course it does. Hamas is MuBro; Egypt's new prez is MuBro. Stands to reason that they'd want to partner up and do the Islamist fandango. Which would leave Abu Mazen over in the West Bank the cheese, who stands alone.

Canada's Official "Human Rights" Busybodies Shill for UN's "Indigenous Peoples" Declaration

CASHRA, the outfit representing Canada's federal, provincial and territorial "human rights" bodies, wants us to "implement" the UN's Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
The Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies (CASHRA) is calling on all levels of government across Canada to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Declaration is a positive document that maps out a path for Indigenous peoples to be free from discrimination and secure in their identities and life choices. It recognizes the fundamental rights of Indigenous peoples around the world, and outlines minimum standards for their survival, dignity and wellbeing.

“Implementing the standards in the Declaration would foster stronger relationships with First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and promote Reconciliation across Canada,” says Barbara Hall, Chairperson of CASHRA. “Together with Indigenous peoples, we need to increase people’s awareness and understanding of the Declaration and to develop an understanding of how the principles of this document can be implemented.”...
Here's why we should not "implement" the Declaration:
The Declaration, which was more than twenty years in the making, is a muddled document that does not even contain a definition of the “indigenous peoples” it is supposed to protect. It is also superfluous. Individual and minority rights are already addressed in existing human rights treaties.
The Declaration’s purpose is to manufacture a synthetic global group identity among distinct, unrelated communities of people living within legally defined national jurisdictions all over the world. The characteristic that all of these folks are supposed to share in common, under the blanket title of “indigenous peoples”, is that they claim to be ‘first’ inhabitants in a given area of land whom ‘colonialist’ outsiders have sought to wipe out or exploit. The Declaration’s proponents believe that today’s globalization is nothing more than a continuation of this exploitation, which they call ‘neo-colonialism’. In their anti-Western, anti-capitalist worldview, which the Declaration embodies, technology, multi-national corporations and global markets are all driving forces in the exploitation of countless indigenous communities which stand in their way.

Although not legally binding as a treaty, the Declaration is intended by its proponents to set forth international norms to govern the collectivist rights of indigenous peoples over ‘their’ lands, resources and ‘traditional knowledge’. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (an advisory group under the UN’s Economic and Social Council), said that the Declaration "sets the minimum international standards for the protection and promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples. Therefore, existing and future laws, policies and programs of indigenous peoples will have to be redesigned and shaped to be consistent with this standard."[1]

Remember that you will not find any definition of “indigenous peoples” in the Declaration. It relies entirely on communities’ own self-identification as indigenous peoples, based on claims asserting historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies, a strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources, and different cultural, linguistic, traditional, and other characteristics to those of the dominant culture of that region or state. That could mean just about any self-declared minority group with alleged ties to an area of land can claim indigenous status, insist on self-determination over control of huge swaths of territory and resources within national borders and demand reparations for perceived wrongs against them and their ancestors.

Not surprisingly, for example, the Palestinians are asserting with a straight face that “Palestinian rights are enshrined in the universally accepted principle that land belongs to its indigenous inhabitants...
A good time to remember, folks, that in our day "human rights" is not necessarily about real human rights. It can also be about a claw back of those rights by those, both domestically and internationally, who disguise their lust for power via the convenient vehicle of "human rights" (which sounds so fluffy and altruistic and benign, but which, more often than not, is anything but).

"A Reminder that Anti-Semitism Has No Place in Debates Over Israel"--That's the Wrong Way to Look at It, Surely

There are people who hate Jews for being Jews, and because of the deranged fantasies, some of them very old, indeed--that have glommed onto Jewry and Judaism. Then there are people who hate the Jewish state because of the deranged fantasy that it, of all polities, is the most odious, pernicious and dangerous in the world. Are those in the latter category (anti-Zionists) any less hateful/threatening to Jewry because they don't necessary hate Jews qua Jews ( as the anti-Semites do) and reserve their loathing for Israel? And are the two categories (anti-Semitsm and anti-Zionism) mutually exclusive? The answer to both questions, alas, is no.

Muslim Cleric Calls for Sharia Dress Codes for All Chicks Here in Canada

It's the best way to prevent rapes, he reasons:
Canadian laws should be changed to require women to "cover themselves" to prevent sexual assaults, says an Islamic street preacher in Toronto.

Al-Haashim Kamena Atangana, a 33-year-old Islamic convert, called for legal change in response to recent sex attacks at York University.

Atangana is connected with a group called Muslim Support Network and is one of a number of street-corner clerics commonly seen at the Yonge and Dundas Sts.
In an e-mail to the Toronto Sun, Atangana said "the reason ... these sex attacks are continuously happening is because (of) Canadian laws, which give too much freedom to women" when it comes to how they dress.

"You should take your example from the way Muslim women dress," he wrote. "Why does (sic) Muslim women who wear long dress and covers her head aren't targeted for sex attacks?"

The clash between western culture and values and the beliefs of some Muslim adherents has been a source of controversy and conflict across North America.

Atangana, who plans to distribute his views on paper in the coming weeks, went on to state that "the reason ... a woman gets raped is because of the way she (dresses)," and suggests that "Toronto (become) the first city in North America to introduce laws that would make it illegal for women to dress provocatively."

If Toronto did this, Atangana said in an interview, other Canadian cities would follow suit...
By which he means other cities would follow burqa (ba dum pum).

Instead of changing Canada to conform to sharia, why doesn't he emigrate to a land where such dress codes are already in effect?

Update: The flipside of burqa guy--Yasmin S. Loubani of Ottawa, who wants to ban the hijab:
Canadian multiculturalism embraces different cultures within its secular, pluralistic Canadian society. It was never designed to preserve inequality, or cultural/religious dissent among communities.

Banning the public wearing of the hijab is an essential part of asserting individual rights, including Muslim women attaining equality. Within Muslim societies, discriminatory cultural constitutions and biased mentalities deny women their individuality, privileges and personal security and make them symbols of honour, leading to domestic abuses, polygamy, marital rape, honour killings, etc., all under the guise of Islam.

Cultural relativists may enjoy that cute nine-year-old Muslims girls are allowed to wear hijabs to play soccer. However, when these young girls reach puberty, will they be equally romanticized as they pray behind men or accept that adult women "live behind" a niqab and are rendered dependent on their men or the state for their livelihood and existence? Just as radical Islamists distort Islam, multiculturalism is being distorted by some Canadians, Muslim and otherwise, to promote ideologies detrimental to all Canadians, especially Muslim women.

The hijab is a component of Sharia laws created by Muslim Arab society to protect their familial, tribal powers and hierarchies. The hijab in a multicultural society is not benign. It is a brand for a political system, a live logo for radical Muslims to proclaim their Islamist political system on free and democratic Western countries.

Until Muslim women assert themselves and take responsibility for their individual destiny, they will sadly continue to be symbols to be defined and used by radical Muslims, Islamist regimes and their ideologues to promote a regressive socio-political agenda.
Very well said, Yasmin.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Barack Obama, Failed Statesman? No. Failed "Story-Teller"

The man whose failed economic policies have led directly to a nose-diving economy actually said this:
The mistake of my first term—couple of years—was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that's important. But the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.
No, Barack. The mistake of your first term is not that you failed to tell a story. You told a story--your story--just fine (with a little help from Billy Ayers?). Your mistake is that that you sold the snake oil of hopeychange and your own competence, and far too many people were suckered into buying it.

Egypt's Islamists Kvetching to Hillary About Those Christians? Now, That's Chutzpah!

Barack Obama's moral compass is on the fritz again.

Update: Mrs. C. channels the late Rodney King in Egypt, saying, in effect, please MuBros, military dudes, can't you please just get along?

No, Hillary, they can't, and they won't (as you well know).

Kafirs "Fix" Kandahar? 'Tis to Laugh

The sorry spectacle of crumbling, Canadian-built schools and infrastructure in Afghanistan, the centerpiece of Canada's plan to "fix" the joint via the counter-terrorism strategy of sucking up to the locals, elicits the wrath of the Toronto Star--but for an entirely wrong reason:
A classroom in what was one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s “signature projects” in the Taliban’s birthplace has been turned into a curtained maternity ward.

Across the hall, another classroom is a well-stocked pharmacy where a man in a white lab coat dispenses medicine to women enshrouded in burqas, balancing infants on their laps.

Women sitting on rough-hewn benches in the dark hallway, the hoods of their heavy burqa veils draped over their shoulders, tittered and grumbled at the first glimpse of a foreign male.

“Oh, here comes another infidel taking pictures of our women,” muttered an older matron. “They are after us and our people.”

She turned to the others and scolded: “Please, cover your faces!”

In Kandahar’s badlands, the Taliban don’t have to force people to live under repressive rules with the barrel of a gun.

They comply as a matter of habit, deeply rooted in ancient, often severe, Pashtun culture that thrives in the deprivation of desert villages.

Building schools and training thousands of teachers was one way Harper hoped to help modernize Kandahar province, and wean its people off extremism.

It looks like he lost an enormous bet, perhaps by walking away too soon from the table.
Nuh uh. We could stayed at that table and thrown a gazillion more dollars at the problem, and entremism (a.k.a. by-the-book Islam) would be just as appealing as it was before we squandered all that moolah. And why would that be? It is not, as the Star claims, for lack of money. It's because, in a nutshell, we're infidels, and for that they hate us.

"The NDP Want Us to Live on Unicorn Dust"

Hey, don't knock it 'til you've tried it, says little Tommy Mulcair. And if that doesn't work, the NDP could always try to shake down the leprechaun at the rainbow's end who's holding out on the 99 percenters.

What Would a Muslim Summer Festival in Our Nation's Capital Be Without a Bunch of Dudes Dressed in Robes Chanting "Allahu Akbar"?

Why, it would be no fun whatsoever. You can see scenes from yesterday's Muslim Festival in an Ottawa park--including the above mentioned chanters carrying a UAE flag--here.

Update: Nice of IRFAN-Canada, a MuBro-connected charity that remains up and running despite being stripped of official charitable status by the government, to sponsor the event. Obviously, that had no bearing on the NDP and the Liberal parties decision to co-sponsor the festival. Nor, for that matter, did the fact that their other co-sponsor was Human Concern International. That's the aid racket Papa Khadr, close personal friend of Osama bin Laden, once worked for.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Hillary Croons to Mursi With "Gaye" Abandon

Who ever thought back when Barack gave his Cairo speech that, scant years later, his Sec'y of State would be off to visit a Muslim Brotherhood head of state in Egypt? Surely not Hosni Muburak, the deposed potentate shunted aside when the Sharia Spring busted out all over. Now, it's hard for those who, from the get-go, saw what was coming to read this news without reacting with a hearty...WTF?!?
Ahead of their meeting in Cairo, Mrs Clinton and Mr Mursi exchanged pleasantries in the presence of the media.

Mrs Clinton talked about the speed of change in Egypt.

The president said: "We are very very keen to meet you and happy that you are here."

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Cairo, says that not many years ago, one US secretary of state declared that Washington did not speak with the Muslim Brotherhood, and never would.
But, he says, the administration of Barack Obama has been quick to engage with the new president - a case of accepting the inevitable and trying to make the best of it.
The US government wants to see Egyptian democracy and human rights being protected...
The US government has about as much chance as seeing democracy and human rights being protected in Egypt as Barack Obama has of seeing a third term.

Pleasantries dispatched, Mrs. Clinton, I'm told, treated the Egyptian to a Marvin Gaye song that Bill used to sing to her back in their college days:

Oh, Mursi, Mursi, me.
Oh, things ain't what they used to be.
No, no.
Where did that Mubarak go?
Spring sprang up and struck a blow.
From the north, east, south and sea.
Oh, Mursi, Mursi me
Oh, things ain't what they used to be.
No, no.
Islamists wastin' no time and upon my word.
"Allahu Akbar's" all that's heard...