The Devil's in the (Silent) Details

David Warren writes that while everyone's eyes are front and centre on the personalites running in the Ontario election and their petty party platforms, the really important stuff--the stuff that's impairing our societal health--is happening behind the scenes:

The legacy issues — the more permanent damage this government has done over two terms in office — are in the regulatory sphere. This work is largely invisible, from day to day, because it consists of innumerable small regulatory revisions done by order-in-council and through departmental fiat, flying almost entirely under the radar of the legislature. The measures are known only to the most assiduously specialized readers of the Ontario Gazette, or finally to the isolated victims.

Almost every item is a small, incremental, bracket-creep of political correctitude — advancing the “human rights” industry, the family law industry, the adjustment of medical priorities, the environmental review industry, the indoctrination of schoolchildren, the destruction of traditional symbols and established ways of doing things. Each little creeping regulation locks in exactly the sort of changes that publicly-funded progressive activists have targeted and lobbied for behind the scenes — without the fondest chance of public oversight and review.

This, to my mind, is the cancer that has been metastasizing through the body politic, for two generations now: the cumulative growth and spread of politically-correct bureaucratic cells, while our attention is given over almost entirely to money considerations, questions of personality and image, and the weather from day to day.

How did Paul Simon put it? Oh, yeah: "Silence like a cancer grows..."

Electrical Warning in Thornhill

From Metro News:

Thornhill

High-voltage first-time Liberal candidate Bernie Farber, former head of the Canadian Jewish Congress, is doing battle with PC incumbent Peter Shurman. Both candidates are Jewish and strongly pro-Israel in a riding where nearly two in five residents are Jewish.

Mr. Farber may be many things. "High voltage" is surely not one of them. But say for the sake of argument that he is: what happens when you touch something that's high voltage? You get a dangerous--perhaps even a life-threatening--jolt of juice.

Just sayin'.

NatPo Readers Condemn the Paper's Groveling Mea Culpa

Reader #1 writes:

I am a white male, senior, retired, heterosexual, married, parent and grandparent, person of faith. I have conservative leanings, live in Quebec as a federalist, and am not particularly environmentally minded.

I hereby give you permission to accept any ads or articles which may hurt my feelings or ruffle my feathers, and I assure you that I will neither demand nor accept an apology. I will, in fact, refuse same and will strenuously object should you decide to assuage my distress by donating your profits to any group espousing any of the above.

I take this very gracious and generous act in the spirit of free speech.

My commitment to this fundamental right is so great that I will willingly suffer the stress of reading personally upsetting articles/ads. I do hope that others who enjoy the freedom of this country could for once think of principle rather than a personal agenda.

Ronald G. Macfarlane, Chateauguay, Que.

Reader #2 writes:

I've read this "apology" several times and have gone back to study the ad from the Institute for Canadian Values - I find there is nothing offensive about it. What I do find offensive is that the National Post has found it necessary to apologize for running the ad, as imposing a curriculum dealing with sexuality and gender role on young students is also offensive. At that age, the curriculum in question is nothing more than pure indoctrination.

The Post's action is both cowardly and insulting to the intelligence of its readers. This error is compounded by the commitment to donate the proceeds from the advertisement to an organization that promotes the rights of those most likely to be offended by the ad.  

Unfortunately, this makes it clear that the Post has abandoned the principle of free speech and given in to the pressures of political correctness. That I find that most disturbing of all.

William G. Hopkins, Granton, Ont.

Me too. At least we know, though, how the Post would behave when faced, say, by a lawfare suit from some Wahhabi moneybags. Unlike Sun TV, it would, obviously and embarrassingly, cave post haste.

A society can enshrine the "right" to not be offended (a fake right, a silly right) or the right to free expression (the most crucial right of all; the right upon which all other rights depend). It cannot have both. And any society (or newspaper) that puts phony rights ahead of pivotal ones is fated--and deserves--to fail.

To Wear--or Not to Wear--the Hijab

A Vancouver woman who made "the painful but liberating decision" to stop wearing the hijab on a regular basis describes her journey in the Toronto Star:

Rahat Kurd, who wrote about removing the head scarf in the summer issue of the Montreal quarterly magazine Maisonneuve, was part of a group of spunky Muslim intellectuals in the ’90s who defended criticisms of Islam. They presented a positive image of Muslim women who could be feminists and stand beside other women in the struggle against male prejudice.

They were poster girls among Muslims, valued for their sharp tongues and knowledge. Listened to because they had chosen to wear hijab.

But their words didn’t carry the same weight in the mosques where they prayed. There, says Kurd, now 41, their criticisms were ignored or glossed over.

“We were covering our heads in the world, but how were we being treated in the mosques? Where was the space for us? Where are the leadership positions? Where was the recognition of our talent and contribution in the wider community?”

Of Kashmiri and Pakistani background, she had started covering her hair when she went to Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton, where she grew up. “Nobody looked at me strangely,” she recalls. “My teachers did not and neither did my friends. I remember one of them saying, ‘Oh, you have such interesting fashions.” I was thinking too much about it and almost no one else seemed to think about it.”

Her reasons for donning the scarf? “A feminism-related defiance about how a woman’s body should be read in public,” she says. “There was also the sense I had that we were invisible when we were growing up. I felt a fierce conviction I wanted to express my Muslim identity. I liken it to the way teenagers want to express who they are through their clothing. When you haven’t had life experience, your clothes matter so much.”

As she approached 30 she was rethinking her position. By then she'd married and moved to Vancouver, where she lives with her seven-year-old son.

She recalls that she and her spouse took a long trip to India, Pakistan — and Iran, where they hiked and backpacked for seven weeks. “I had this odd sensation of my scarf, the thing I’d chosen, my prized symbol of independence becoming inscribed with a totally new meaning — not of my choosing, but the Islamic Republic’s.”

Perspective is key, eh? It's one thing to wear the hijab by choice here in Canada, when no one is pressuring you to do so--and to see that choice as a feminist act. It's quite another to find yourself in Iran, a country where there is no choice--no, none at all--and see it in the same way.

Lacking that perspective, this chick--the pro-hijab to Rahat's no-hijab in the centre spread of the newsprint Sunday Star's first section--says she wears it defiantly (as if to say "in your face, kafir").

Potty-Mouth Rhymes for the Potty Set

It's not that I don't enjoy some good-natured vulgarity: when my son was younger, he--and we--roared at the antics of Walter the Farting Dog. But you'll forgive me if I don't cackle in amusement at this bit of alleged drollery, from critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller Go the F**k to Sleep (reviewed here by Stefan Kanfer):

The tiger reclines in the simmering jungle,

The sparrow has silenced her cheep.
F——your stuffed bear, I’m not getting you s——,
Close your eyes. Cut the crap. Sleep.

Here's my rewrite--which goes out to the "grown-up" who wrote the rhyme:

The culture declines in a festering swamp,

The vulgarians swear and go, "Heh!"
F——your bestseller, I’m not buying your s——,
Shame on you. Cut the crap. Feh!

 

Weird Video of the Day

Oktoberfest in the West Bank:

Update: In a similar vein--there was a "stealth" rock festival in Afghanistan.

You Owe Us, Infidel!

And now, a word from the lovable folks behind Islamic History Month Canada 2011:

While certain Western groups stereotype Muslim culture as universally anti-modern, authoritarian and xenophobic, in fact the historical record shows that Muslim civilization has unique traditions of pluralism, diversity and government by consensus. It also has a strong tradition of enlightened leadership that helped shape the Western concept of the ideal leader.

If that's so (which is isn't, since we don't have a "concept of the ideal leader"; that's a Fascist, non-democratic way of looking at leadership) why hasn't the "strong tradition" help shape the Muslim concept of ideal leader, and why are so many Muslim countries ruled by unenlightened tyrants?

Would You Buy a Used (and Exceptionally Lame) Vacuum Cleaner Analogy From This Woman?

I found the following, a "brilliant" dystopian tale by "brilliant" Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, author of A Handmaid's Tale, a "brilliant" novel about a Christian dystopia, on the Thornhill Liberal site. (Thornhill is the riding where "brilliant" ex-Official Jew-in-Chief Bernie Farber is the official Liberal candidate):

A vacuum cleaner salesman comes to your door. “You must buy this vacuum cleaner,” he says. “Why?” you say. “Because I know what’s good for you,” he says. “I know things you don’t know.” “What are they?” you say. “I can’t tell you,” he says, “because they’re secret. You are required to trust me. The vacuum cleaner will create jobs.”

“Where is the vacuum cleaner made?” you say. “In another country,” he says. “So the jobs will be created in another country? Not here?” you say. You believe it’s your right to query: It’s your money and, come to think of it, you pay this guy’s salary.

“Stop bickering,” he says. “I am competent. That’s my story and I’m sticking it to you.” “I’m not bickering,” you say. “I’m asking relevant questions. How much will the vacuum cleaner cost me?” “I can’t tell you that,” he says. “Why not? Because it’s more than you claimed at first?” you say. “Or because you don’t really know the cost?” “I can’t tell you that, either,” he says. “But you have to pay.”

“Just a minute!” you say. “You want me to commit to an unknown, very large sum? That’s not fair! And it’s not competent, either.” “More bickering!” he says. “We need stability!” “But I might have to go on paying huge sums for decades!” you say. “We’re already up to our necks in debt! I’ll have to give up other things – I won’t be able to pay for the doctor, or support for special needs, or drinking water, or care for the elderly, or the kids’ education, or … and what happens if there’s a pandemic, or a natural catastrophe such as an earthquake, and you’ve already spent the money that could have helped in a disaster?”

“You are a very negative person,” he says. “You are not welcome here.” “Where is here?” you say. “In my country,” he says. “These are my mountains, this is my hockey, this is my flag. Mine! All mine! And I’m stamping my image on all of it!” “I like those icons, too,” you say, “but I think they should be shared with everyone, don’t you?” “What is this ‘shared’ of which you speak?” he says. “I believe in the individual and nothing but. Talk to the hand! Weak to the wall!”

“I don’t want to pay for the vacuum cleaner,” you say. “You have to pay for it,” he says. “See, it says here on this document. Isn’t this your signature?” “Yes,” you say, “but the document’s been changed to mean the exact opposite of what I signed. If I altered a document like that, I’d end up in jail.” “You are double-plus not welcome,” he says. “I make the rules around here.”

“But –” you say. “Don’t interrupt,” he says. “In addition to the vacuum cleaner, you will have to pay for several very expensive jails, the cost of which is unknown.”

“But the crime rate is falling!” you say. “Not for long,” he says. “I’m planning to have it rise again. Once people have their money vacuumed away, with none left for doctors, or the kids’ education, or making sure you don’t eat poisoned food – all those frills – they’ll get scared and depressed and desperate, the middle class will be toast, and the crime rate will rise. Anyway, I will criminalize lots more things. Because we need to fill up those jails!”

“I get the feeling you don’t like me,” you say. “Is it because I’m a girl? Or because I don’t want you to run up huge debts without telling me what the money is for? What happened to accountability? It used to sound so great!”

“You are beneath my notice,” he says, giving me the Death Glare...

"The Death Glare"--fingers crossed, that's what Bernie gets from Thornhill voters come Thursday.

Also on the Thornhill Liberal site: Canada has "lost its way" under Harper because it has strayed from the UN/Amnesty International agenda, and a Liberal-led land would find it once again. That's the exquisitely relativistic and morally bankrupt Liberal party that ex-O.J. Bernie--who will tell you he's an ardent Zionist--embraces.

Time Is On Israel's Side

Yes it is.

Iran 'Totally Rejects' Abbas's Statehood Bid for Oncological Reasons

From Arab News:

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader rejected the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid on Saturday, saying any deal that accepted the existence of Israel would leave a “cancerous tumor” forever threatening the security of the Middle East.

In that case, one could see Iran's "nuke the Jews" plan as a form of chemotherapy.

A form of evil chemotherapy, that is.

Update: Harpoon Siddiqui, on the other hand, is hot for statehood.

TDSB Protects Creepy "Sexting" Teacher

Nice work if you can get it (and you can get it if you work for the TDSB). From the Toronto Star:

If you are a teacher, you can get away with a lot and keep your job.

Toronto high school drama teacher Richard Burdett wrote more than 1,300 intimate, sexually charged instant messages to a female high school student, including a vivid description of how he had dreamt of performing oral sex on her.

On a Grade 11 and 12 school trip to England, Burdett also brought four pajama-clad female students into his dormitory bedroom and cuddled on his bed with them in an activity he called “spooning.”

Later, telling one of the girls his wife would be away for most of July, the then 40-year-old Burdett messaged, “We can throw a little spoonfest here if you want.”

It is likely that this case lead to the Ontario College of Teachers’ warning earlier this year of the dangers of social media contact between teacher and student.

For Burdett’s breaches of trust, the Toronto District School Board handed him a 30-day unpaid suspension in 2007. Burdett was then transferred out of his high school and sent to a teaching post at Toronto’s Adult Education Centre while his case meandered through the teachers’ watchdog system (the Ontario College of Teachers).

In February of 2011, Burdett was given a 12-month suspension but told that if he completed a “boundary violation” course he could be back in class by September. He is now listed as a member in “good standing” and is cleared to teach again...

Their "watchdog" is obviously toothless, barkless, and sound asleep. Don't worry, though. It appears the spoonfester has given up teaching and is pursuing another line of work. Currently, he's a

model and “boudoir” photography out of a photo studio near King and Bathurst Sts.

Some of the photos the Star has seen on his website suggest some of the females on the site are teenagers.

At least if he "spoons" with them, it's not on our dime.

Update: There's plenty of jail bait on the spoonfester's site, including this chick, who's wearing nothing but a tattoo and an Yasser shmatta.