International Women's Day

Waris Dirie should be a spokesperson for feminism. She was born in Somalia, suffered FGM as a child, and ran away at 13 from marriage to a much older man.

But Waris Dirie takes issue with something that most feminists probably celebrate, International Women's Day. Not because she is opposed to standing up for women, she dedicates her time to fighting FGM around the world, but because she sees this as a denigration of women.

Dirie said to Reuters "Every day, women move mountains. It is an insult to have an international women's day,".

One can only imagine what she might think about quotas, feminist affirmative action, and other icons of those "standing up" for the rights of "oppressed" women.

Like this one in India, which puts asside 1/3 of the seats in Parliament for women. What happens if a constituency wants to elect a man instead? Either the country actually wants that kind of thing, in which case they will probably start to elect women as good ones decide to run, or they won't in which case will they have to have a lottery for which constituency has to get a woman?

Nor is India alone in having/wanting quotas in various things. They exist all over, Canada included.

If there could be something more crude than "I am woman, hear me roar" it would have to be "I am woman, see my government-mandated hit, uh, persons".

What was feminism up to anyway?

Wilders next Dutch Prime Minister?

I don't know what I think about this. On the one hand you've got to appreciate those who fight against censors. On the other hand, would I vote for Geert Wilders? Not in a hurry.

There is a problem in that Wilders isn't a very convincing champion for freedom of religion and freedom of speech. He wants the right to say what he wants to say but he wants to ban the Koran. Not such a good idea. For one thing if you want to ban everything that could be interpreted as supporting religious violence the Torah and Bible hit the chopping block as well. Sure Christians and Jews do not typically interpret them that way (as, practically speaking, few Muslims do with the Koran) but you can find it if you want it.

Then of course there is the head covering issue. A rather personal one for me as I wear a headcovering (as most Christian women did, at least in worship, until not that many decades ago). I know burkas are perhaps a slightly different issue (maybe, I can't say I'd support banning them either) but hijabs are surely not that different than a cross, tzit-tzit, nun's habit, turban, or any other religious article of dress.

And add to that the fact that he is hardly right wing in a traditional Judeo-Christian way. He supports homosexuality for one thing.

I mean, is the man anything except anti-Islam? Perhaps. He has a few other objectives listed, more along the traditional right-wing lines. Lower taxes and so forth.

But I sure get why Muslim's don't like him. And I'm not sure that Christians should either.

Don't kick me out of the free speech club here, but is anti-Muslim hype sometimes getting in the way of clear vision?

Airline Food

Just to make you laugh.

On the left we have a piece of broccoli and some peppers in a brown glue-like oil and on the right the chef had prepared some mashed potato. The potato masher had obviously broken and so it was decided the next best thing would be to pass the potatoes through the digestive tract of a bird.....

By now I was actually starting to feel a little hypoglycaemic. I needed a sugar hit. Luckily there was a small cookie provided. It had caught my eye earlier due to it’s baffling presentation: [see image 4, above].

It appears to be in an evidence bag from the scene of a crime. A CRIME AGAINST BLOODY COOKING. Either that or some sort of back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac high on his own supply of yeast. You certainly wouldn’t want to be caught carrying one of these through customs. Imagine biting into a piece of brass Richard. That would be softer on the teeth than the specimen above.

More here...

Status of Women by 2020

MercatorNet is running a series on "12 Ways to Improve the Status of Women by 2020". 12 women, including yours truly, were invited to contribute ideas. Here is my submission in 200 words or less.

We need a new age of chivalry

“That is true culture which helps us to work for the social betterment of all.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

How is our culture treating women? Some like to go on about "equality" and "the wage gap", but are we forgetting one of the simplest, and yet most effective ways to improve the everyday lives of women?

Good manners.

Really? Manners? Isn't that a little, I don't know, simplistic? Trivial? Juvenile? Old-fashioned?

Maybe. But let's think about it.

Women are suffering because they decided that chivalry was oppressive and degrading, that they could be, wanted to be, "one of the guys". They made it clear that they want to pay their own way, carve their own path.

And men took them at their word.

So we have dirty language in public, pornography at the supermarket, a growing coarseness in entertainment and public discourse... and nobody holds doors open anymore...

Manners were put in place to protect women, to help them, to make them feel comfortable, to provide a road map for relationships, and to encourage men to treat women properly.

Remind me what was wrong with that again?

Rebekah is a homeschool graduate, 20 years old, blogger at missmarprelate.blogspot.com, and does event blogs for conservative events. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

Parts One and Two including articles from Carolyn Moynihan, Jennifer Roback Morse, Caterina F. Lorenzo-Molo, Melinda Tankard Reist and others.

Olympic Record

Three cheers for the Canadian Olympic Team and their record haul of gold medals. You did great.

I actually got to see some of the events as I was in a place with a TV (we don't have one at home) so that was pretty cool.

And we Own the Podium, at least the top step.

Go Canada!

Events Coming Up in Ottawa

The Manning Networking Conference Agenda: March 11-13


Institute of Marriage and Family Canada



Ann Coulter in Canada with Ezra Levant: March 23, 2010

University of the People

An interesting looking project. A tuition-free online university.

www.uopeople.org

Marty Stuart and the Dragon: Part 1

Marty Stuart slumped into his swivel chair, shoving a lattee towards the IN tray with rather more force than was quite wise. This was not going to be his morning. This was the latest in several mornings that had not been his mornings. This was going to be.... Marty mentally broke off his train of thought as horror superseded fog. Not Jen this morning. Not Dr. Jennifer Smath MA, PhD, Director of this that or the other. Marty got a stab of pain through his head just thinking about her. She had been primarily responsible for most of his troubles in the office he was sure of it. Probably most of his troubles in life too.

Dr. Smath as she was known to her subordinates (to her face), or Her Reigning Majesty Queen Jen of Perfection (behind her back), knew this was going to be her morning. Not only had the Panroy contract been dealt with yesterday (to the immense satisfaction of the Minister who was able to put out a smug press release on the subject of environmental responsibility) but she had finally found a way to get rid of her number one problem.

Marty just rubbed her the wrong way.

“He's irresponsible.” she complained to her administrative assistant.

“He's a bum,” she said to her domestic partner, “Or rather he would be if that wasn't disrespectful to homeless persons.”

“There's this guy at the office, I've sent him for three rounds of diversity training and it hasn't changed anything.” she breathed deeply as she tried to relax in her therapist's office. Marty was almost singlehandedly responsible for her being in the therapist's office in the first place. “And two rounds of sensitivity training.” she added later.

The topic of Marty's diversity training was a sore one for Jen. The last one in particular had been the hardest. It might have been easier if Jen's domestic partner (she would never use the patriarcal and oppressive term husband) Hal didn't run the program and Jen didn't sit in on it to monitor her employees' progress. That was mistake number one, and two, three, six, and 359. Maybe if she hadn't seen it all it wouldn't have galled her so much.

Marty just couldn't seem to get it.

It started with the Icebreaker, when everyone had to say their name and preform a gesture. Like hopping around or waving. Marty didn't help the atmosphere at all when he burst out laughing and said, “Man, are you serious? Is this lame or what?” It went downhill when he was asked to make his gesture and he mimed shooting a gun. A few hysterical woman started shrieking at that point.

“Why can't I tell the chick who answers the phones that she looks cute in her new dress?” The entire room went into a collective shudder. Hal pursed his lips in a way that made Marty shudder.

“It is harassment.” Hal intoned with the air of a harassed robot. Marty found himself inexorably reminded of C3PO. A joke about the subject rose in his mind but he didn't have time to make it. Hal continued, trying to explain why this was harassment, that it was inappropriate, that it was objectifying and demeaning to the woman.

“But,” countered Marty with an air of finality, “They like it.”

“It wasn't supposed to be like this.” Jennifer had said that to herself a thousand times if she had said it once. Standing in front of the full length mirror in her room, aggressively brushing her shoulder-length hair, putting on the perfectly tailored suit, adding the conservative watch. She had cultivated the business woman ideal for so long that she never felt dressed on the weekends. Somehow it seemed an indecency to wear casual clothing, worse in it's own way than going naked. At least that could have some redeeming “liberation” attached to it. It was one of the reasons she had insisted they give up the idea of a cottage.

Dr. Smath spent long periods of time at her desk dreaming about firing Marty. She had always been a union girl. Many late nights in college had been spent studying the works of great union activists and apologists. Had even helped out in a few union strikes. Now, inexplicably she was entering a mid-life crisis, wondering whether she had perhaps been wrong all along, wondering if perhaps employers should have the right to fire employees just because they didn't like them. Wondering if there were any conceivable grounds in the civil service rule book for firing Marty. There weren't, she knew. She had gone over it several dozen times before.

The fact that he was shaking her long and devoutly held beliefs didn't improve her attitude.

Jennifer Smath, was in a good mood this morning though. If she wasn't a highly successful career woman she would have skipped across the room towards her nemesis. As it was she just threw a little more self confidence and purposful pep into her stride. Marty shrank internally, trouble was coming down the line and it was almost certainly going to land smack on his desk. As usual he decided to brazen it out. As usual, he made the wrong decision.

“Good morning Mr. Stuart.” The smile on her face might have looked professionally detached to an innocent and casual observer. Marty being neither and having a well developed psychosis about Dr. Smath in a good mood, something along the beware of Greeks bearing gifts thing, immediately jumped to the conclusion that she could only be that jocular if she was about to fire him. He jumped to his feet, got tangled in the legs of his swivel chair and lurched toward her is a manner that led Jen (who also had a well developed psychosis, about Marty) to assume that he was either going to attack or kiss her. She jumped back with unusual dexterity and Marty caught himself on the edge of the desk, managing to remain in a semi-upright position.

“Um, ah uh”, he garbled for a few moments before regaining what he considered control, “Well, well, well my dear Mistress of the Department what news have we? What hapless bit of paperwork am I to deface today?”

Jen froze, remembering too late that he was still going to be in the building for the next two hours, and dismissed whatever still remained of her breezy attitude.

“Nothing bad I hope,” she said with a smile that even the innocent and casual observer couldn't have mistaken for a friendly one, “You've been reassigned to an amazing new position.”

Marty continued to look like a victim of a particularly sadistic concentration camp where they torture victims until they assume a ghastly facade of cheerfulness. On another morning he might have been able to handle Smath and her “good news” but this wasn't it.

“You have been assigned to field work.” Jen plunged ahead, abandoning cheer for clipped efficiency. “You will report to R-'s office in 15 minutes where you will be issued a vehicle. You are to inspect and monitor our various environmental inspectors as they conduct their work.” Jen turned on her heel and started to stride away briskly leaving Marty in shock. Too soon he recovered and sprinted after her.

“Wait, wait, wait”, he babbled. “You mean go, like where, and do what?”

Jen looked at him the beady eye of irritation not softened by her internal jubilation at having scored a hit.

“You will be going with environmental inspectors as they work to make sure that they are doing a good job.” she explained flatly.

“In the country?” Marty frothed. “As in rural? As in, like, nature?”

“Yes,” said Jen now smiling sweetly. “Yes.”

Huh?

There is, believe it or not, a difference between, say, sensitivity group therapy and the Olympics. For one thing, in the Olympics you aren't supposed to go easy on your opponents to boost their self-esteem. At least I didn't think so.

Learn somethin' new everyday.

And I mean, speaking of arrogance... those in glass houses.

And not everyone seems to agree.

Proof by Statistic

I think this is a very old one but...

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average North American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Most bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

In light of these frightening statistics, we propose the following bread restrictions:

1. No sale of bread to minors
2. A nationwide "Just Say No To Toast" campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of "Bread-free" zones around schools.

Fatwa against Scanners

Muslims are not to go through body scanners because it violates Muslim law.

Remind me why we are installing these things again?

Personally the whole debate has a "Would you rather be shot or drowned?" quality to it, but forced to choose I would rather go through a body scanner than be patted down. At least then you don't have anyone manhandling you. And you don't know who is looking at you.

The fatwa was issued by Fiqh Council and supported by CAIR.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-02-11-airport-scanners-muslims_N.htm

Christmas Christian? Discrimination!

The BC Tribunal - Christianity and Christmas are not connected you bigot! And talking about religion at work (if a Moslem might overhear) may be humiliating and discriminatory.

[61] Ms. Hamedanian alleges that Mr. Gallagher and Ms. Rovner discussed loudly that the Christmas party was a celebration of Christianity. Ms. Hamedanian states that she found this humiliating. Mr. Gallagher and Ms. Rovner deny making such remarks......

[107] Third, with respect to the alleged comment about Christmas being a celebration of Christianity, such a comment may, depending on all of the circumstances of a case, form part of an allegation of discrimination. My determination with respect to the significance of this comment will depend on my more global findings below relating to Ms. Hamedanian’s complaint. In other words, whether this allegation supports a conclusion that there is a reasonable prospect that Ms. Hamedanian’s complaint will succeed depends on the global context, which I discuss in more detail below.

On another note, maybe we should send some Plain English Campaign material to the Tribunal.

Geert Wilders Summons

Geert Wilders is a Dutch MP who is on trial for insulting and inciting hatred and/or discrimination against a group of people (Richard Dawkins do not visit the Netherlands).

His summons can be read here . It helpfully cites the instances of hate speech that he is being prosecuted about.

Whitewashing History

I have noticed before that the people who seem most zealous in the work of removing "hate" from the public square can be sometimes not so squeaky clean themselves.

But then, liberals seem to be a bit tone deaf in the irony department. (and we all know that the term "hypocrite" is synonymous with "evangelical fundamentalist" therefore by definition it cannot apply to a liberal)

So let's spell it out for them shall we?

To set up the scene. (Decision here)

Cheryl Balcilek is a university student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia. During her studies there she took a course called "Psychology of Genocide" taught by Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani. She is of Turkish origin.

Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani is a professor who teaches at Kwantlen, UBC, and Capilano with a specific interest in "The psychology of terrorism, political decision-making, ethnopolitical violence and genocide, human information-processing". I don't know what his background is (Asian?, maybe East Indian??)

Are we all clear now? Good.

So in the course of the "Psychology of Genocide" class they talk about the Armenian massacre. It being, like, you know, something of a genocide and all.

Except Ms. Balcilek is not so happy. In the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal she alleges that she experienced discrimination in grading and so forth because she was Turkish. She also claims that a comment was made and reading material was assigned that was discriminatory. Leaving aside the matter of discriminatory grading/conduct (which the Tribunal dismissed anyway) we move onto the interesting stuff.

Exhibit A - Discriminatory Comment made in Lecture: "“he could not believe that Turkey, as a nation, “would not own up to the Armenian genocide”"

Got it? Criticizing a nation for being a genocide-denier is... hate speech? Moving on.

"Ms. Balcilek refers to reading material assigned later in the semester that made derogatory remarks about Turkish people and Turkey as a nation. In particular, she referred to the articles “Shall Armenia Perish” by Henry Morgenthau (the “Morgenthau Article”) which makes derogatory references to Turks calling them “unspeakable Turks”, “lower class Turks”, and other such references. She also refers to “another biased article by Miller and Miller” that was included in the Course curricula."...On October 24, Ms. Bakilek alleges that during a lecture (the “October 24 Class”), Dr. Jhangiani made eye contact with her and stated that the Morgenthau article “was excellent”....Ms. Balcilek submits that the Morgenthau Article, in particular, and an article by Miller and Miller amounts to discrimination by way of publication under the Code.

I don't know exactly what the Miller and Miller article was but I did find through Google search that there is a book called "Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide" by a Miller and Miller. Editorial review here.

The article by Henry Morgenthau "Former Ambassador to Turkey, and National Vice-Chairman of Near East Relief " is available here (it's short don't worry)

By the way, context for the "derogatory references to Turks calling them...“lower class Turks”".

"Next the women would be sorted out. Agents of the Turk officers picked the youngest and fairest for their masters' harems. Next the civil officials had their pick, and then the remainder either were sold for one medjidi-a silver coin valued at about 80 cents-or were driven forth to be seized by the lower class Turks and Kurds."

Somehow it seems much less... hateful when you realize that Morgenthau was using the phrase to contrast them with upper class Turks.

Then on to Dr. Jhangiani for an explanation.

Dr. Jhangiani provides an explanation for the educative role served by the Morgenthau Article first published in 1920. He admits that he may have made a comment that the Morgenthau Article was a good representation of attitudes held by a segment of the population at that time. He denies making any negative comments about Turkish people or Turkey as a nation. Dr. Jhangiani deposes that the Course and its reading list was modelled after a very similar course he took at the University of British Columbia called the Psychological Aspects of Genocide;

So hate speech aside maybe it didn't all happen anyway.

To their credit the Tribunal dismissed the application saying that,

"The articles complained of, the Morgenthau Article published in 1920, and the reference to the Miller and Miller article were included in a course that sought to understand human psychology in circumstances of genocide. In the context of a Course which critically analyses historical events of genocide, the use of historical articles to demonstrate principles or concepts would not constitute a violation of s. 7 of the Code. Considering all of the material filed, I conclude that Ms. Balcilek’s complaint under s. 7(1)(a) or (b) has no reasonable prospect of success. Her complaint under s. 7(1) of the Code is dismissed."

Whew.

Leaving aside the fact that Dr. Jhangiani had to deal with allegations of discrimination, unfair grading, and insinuations that he might physically attack Ms. Balcilek.

Ms. Balcilek alleges that upon notification of Dr. Jhangiani’s complaint, she was hesitant to attend the Course because she feared for her physical safety.

We can only hope she didn't text too much of that stuff around to her friends at the university.

But I have tried your patience long enough after giving you that hook about irony at the beginning. The irony may be found in one of Ms. Balcilek's allegations against Dr. Jhangiani.

She alleges that he made inconsistent comments about her writing and reacted “offensively” when she asked him is he was having trouble following her writing because her English was too sophisticated. (bolds mine)

All right, so without making any unfounded judgments about motive here can anyone think of a reason why a student might ask a professor if their "English was too sophisticated" for them? Anyone? Anyone?

Cause and Effect?

Pro-life = more female genital mutilation?

Well I guess if you don't have babies you can't do that to them but...

While we're on the subject a few thousand planes equipped with cluster bombs would be a great way to deal with overpopulation and thus reduce poverty in Africa. I mean if we are going to keep ideology out of it and everything...

The Bloggers are Coming!

"It takes philosophers and businessmen to create something like the Internet; it takes social engineers and commissars to wreck it. They're trying, too, from Ottawa to Beijing. Sensible chaps often yield to them. Only feral bloggers, muckrakers, limelight-hogs, centre-stage addicts, one-man content providers and similar unicorns stand in the way. Without hyperactive, self-promoting mavericks, the Internet, the printed page, every damn thing would go down the commissars' drain. We'd be in the outer darkness, gnashing our teeth (or dentures, as the case may be.)" George Jonas

Awan Letters

Letter from Khurrum Awan to Jason Kenney. "our complaints were launched after a meeting with Maclean's senior editors, in which we proposed that they publish a counterview to this article from a mutually acceptable author."

Letter from Jason Kenney to Khurrum Awan, full of rich impudence.

Jason Kenney for Prime Minister!

Reinforcing Negative Muslim Stereotypes

Extreme Irony Alert

"Hassan, 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 12 beheading of his wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37. The Pakistani-born couple were best known for Bridges TV, the station they formed in 2004 to counter negative Muslim stereotypes... "

Apparently she was divorcing him.

To which all really moderate Muslims in North America go "Thanks a lot fella!"

Ezra Levant and the Sock's Suit

So..... Ezra Levant is getting sued for libel. By Khurrum Awan the, according to Ezra, sock puppet and liar.

The case goes like this. Mark Steyn wrote a book. An excerpt from this book was published in Macleans magazine. The original article called "The Future Belongs to Islam" is available here. Some people including Mohammed Elmassry and Kharrum Awan considered the article to be hate speech against Muslims and, after trying mediation with Macleans which did not work, brought a complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

The Tribunal heard the case and decided that the article was not illegal hate speech. The ruling can be found here http://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bchrt/doc/2008/2008bchrt378/2008bchrt378.html

This trial was also liveblogged by Ezra Levant (scroll to the 2nd and 3rd of June) and Andrew Coyne http://www2.macleans.ca/2008/06/02/liveblogging-the-bc-human-rights-tribunal—part-i/

Awan kept telling the press that they wanted a rebuttal to the piece written by a mutually acceptable author and published by Macleans.

Only thing is, they never told Macleans the mutually acceptable bit.

This, according to Levant, is a lie. So he said so. Numerous times.

Awan took issue with this. So he brought a libel lawsuit because Levant called, or was said to have insinuated by implication that Awan was a liar, fool, stupid, serial malicious money-grubbing liar, anti-semite, purjurer, unethical, con artist, in a conflict of interests, unfit to be a lawyer, etc.

Here is his original libel notice and his statement of claim

Ezra Levant's blog response is here. http://ezralevant.com/2010/01/mark-steyns-wouldbe-censor-sue.html He is asking for donations to help cover his costs.

More commentary here:

Covenant Zone

Blazing Cat Fur

National Post (old commentary)

They Call Us Crazy

When we say that human rights laws could be used to protect pedophiles. While it was not so used in this case I think there is some interesting food for thought in the excerpt below. The applicant is a teacher by the way.

"[38] The essence of this aspect of the claim of the applicant is that he was labelled as a pedophile by school administration, and that this is a disability under the Code. The applicant further states that in repeatedly raising these issues with him the respondents violated the Code. The applicant states that if the employer was concerned that the applicant was a pedophile they should have offered him counselling or sent him for an assessment.
[39] I do not accept the applicant’s analysis. The concerns of the respondent were legitimate and they raised them with the respondent in the appropriate way. The seriousness of the concern was clearly raised and the reasons for it articulated. Their concerns were reduced to writing. Moreover the respondents asked the applicant on at least one occasion if there were any underlying issues that they should be aware of, that might explain why the applicant appeared unable to modify his behaviour.
[40] There is no indication that the applicant is a pedophile and absolutely no suggestion that anyone involved thought that the applicant was a pedophile or that he was likely to engage, or ever had engaged, in any inappropriate sexual behaviour with any of the children with whom he had contact. The personal respondent was quite clear that he did not believe that the applicant was a pedophile or was involved in any inappropriate relationships with the children. He testified that if he had any such concerns he would have acted quite differently. He would, he stated, have called the children’s aid society and the police, and he would have removed the applicant from the school pending the investigation. There is no basis for concluding that the respondents perceived that the applicant was a person with pedophilia, whether or not that constitutes a disability within the meaning of the Code."

Whether or not it constitutes a disability? Surely it could not have been that hard to say it does not constitute a disability. I'm not saying the tribunal believes it is a disability but they are spending quite a bit of time discussing whether the respondents perceived him as being a pedophile. (language that relates to disability)

After all everything else, even drug addictions, is a disability, why not pedophilia?

Techie Help?

Can anyone explain to me why hyperlinking sometimes works and sometimes doesn't? Anyone? Anyone?

Unbanned

"The State Department has cleared the way for the return to the United States of two prominent Muslim scholars once accused of having ties to terrorism, a spokesman said Wednesday....

Mrs. Clinton "has chosen to exercise her exemption authority for the benefit of Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib," Mr. Holladay said. "We'll let that action speak for itself."

In a prepared statement, Mr. Holladay noted the change in U.S. posture since both professors, who are frequently invited to the United States to lecture, were denied admittance after making statements counter to U.S. foreign policy.

"Both the president and the secretary of state have made it clear that the U.S. government is pursuing a new relationship with Muslim communities based on mutual interest and mutual respect," Mr. Holladay said"

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/21/clinton-clears-2-muslims-for-entry/

Roundup: Shriveling Weeds and Catching Horses

Parents fighting to keep their baby on a ventilator win a 90-day injunction.

Poverty is worse than critical injuries? B.C. childrens' aid not what it should be.

The Index on Censorship refuses to publish the Motoons saying that “The trustees took the view unanimously… that publishing the cartoons might endanger the security of not just the staff, publishers, printers and others directly associated with Index, but it might also endanger the other seven organisations that are housed in the same building, the Free Word Centre. To have done so wittingly would have put Index in considerable difficulty with them and with others.”
Yes I know I'm being a bit hypocritical here since I haven't published them either, but whatever.
Index on Censorship has a few bad moments in their past as well, when they laughed at Van Gogh's death and insulted Ayaan Hirsi Ali. From a Guardian article; "He (Rohan Jayasekera the associate editor) told me that, like many other readers, I shouldn't have made the mistake of believing that Index on Censorship was against censorship, even murderous censorship, on principle - in the same way as Amnesty International is opposed to torture, including murderous torture, on principle. It may have been so its radical youth, but was now as concerned with fighting 'hate speech' as protecting free speech."

Avatar kills. Cue the music.

Some artifacts from the past, 2006 to be exact. A Telegraph article with extensive quotes from Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, a Muslim turned Anglican priest. It was taken down for "legal reasons".
"Dr Sookhdeo adds that he believes that "in a decade, you will see parts of English cities which are controlled by Muslim clerics and which follow, not the common law, but aspects of Muslim sharia law.....

Several years ago, Dr Sookhdeo insisted that the next wave of radical Islam in Britain would involve suicide bombings in this country. His prediction was depressingly confirmed on 7/7 last year.....

The Prime Minister's ignorance of Islam, Dr Sookhdeo contends, is of a piece with his unsuccessful attempts to conciliate it. And it does indeed seem as if the Government's policy towards radical Islam is based on the hope that if it makes concessions to its leaders, they will reciprocate and relations between fundamentalist Muslims and Tony Blair's Government will then turn into something resembling an ecumenical prayer meeting.

Dr Sookhdeo nods in vigorous agreement with that. "Yes - and it is a very big mistake. Look at what happened in the 1990s. The security services knew about Abu Hamza and the preachers like him. They knew that London was becoming the centre for Islamic terrorists. The police knew. The Government knew. Yet nothing was done.

"The whole approach towards Muslim militants was based on appeasement. 7/7 proved that that approach does not work - yet it is still being followed. For example, there is a book, The Noble Koran: a New Rendering of its Meaning in English, which is openly available in Muslim bookshops.

"It calls for the killing of Jews and Christians, and it sets out a strategy for killing the infidels and for warfare against them. The Government has done nothing whatever to interfere with the sale of that book."

Canada has decided not to seize the Dead Sea Scrolls. Wonder of wonders.

In 2100....."The Intergovernmental Cultural Climate Change Panel (ICCCP) declared its support for the recent UN announcement that all cultures are equally valid. Expanding on the resolution the group declared the rights of people are now culturally defined, rather than being based on any universal notion or concept. They suggest the term "human rights" is therefore both outmoded and racist as it would impose value for human life which some cultures don't accept. They recommended the term "multi-cultural peoples' rights" be used instead."

Climate of Censorship

Kurt Westergaard can't even donate a non-controversial cartoon to a charity auction because of possible reprisals.

The Prime Minister of Denmark has criticized the move because "the people should not live their lives ‘in the shadow of fear’." story

It is very tempting to think that the free speechers are exaggerating when they talk about censorship chill and a climate of fear, but they are increasingly being proved right. Even on this blog I am more careful than I want to be and I am a free speecher myself.

So here is a question, in Canada would the Muslim woman who refused to cut Westergaard's hair because she was afraid of reprisals be illegally discriminating? The answer is probably no but it is food for thought.

Google Will Stop Co-operating WIth Chinese Censorship

Google is "no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine - google.cn." since it discovered that someone was hacking the gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8455712.stm

"This is a high stakes game for Google which has said that over the next few weeks it hopes to sit down with the Chinese government to work out a deal that would let it operate an unfiltered search engine.

In its blogpost, Google said it may well shut down its operation and close its office in China unless that happens......

Some industry experts worry that it could complicate matters for other tech companies sensitive to being seen as accomplices of the Chinese government."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/maggieshiels/2010/01/the_google_v_china_face_off.html

Times Like These

It is forced upon one that there is a beautiful trade going the way of the buggy makers. The honourable art and science of being a satirist.

A satirist (for those Liberals who don't get it) is someone who exaggerates reality. Today, you cannot exaggerate reality.

A while ago I could have probably gotten some few chuckles if I had suggested that someone who publicly calls for the random (or not) murder of (Jewish) civilians could get the government to take seriously his hate speech complaint against someone who (accurately) quoted a couple of imams.

Then again I might not have. Some people like wild exaggerations about the culture of politically correctness and the tone deafness of certain types of activists. Others don't like satire that they feel is just so inaccurate it's tasteless. I wouldn't have blamed anyone for thinking that joke fell into the second catagory.

Until it happened of course.

So now what do we satirize? Do we make silly jokes about women having the right to be forced to wear sleeves? Oh yeah. Not so much.

However I'll bet I can come up with something funny given enough time. What if I said this;

"Who cares what you observe. Just because something's true doesn't make it legal to talk about it. Idiot."

Then again why would I make that up when I could just quote this.

"“It is irrelevant whether Wilder’s witnesses might prove Wilders’ observations to be correct”, the ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ stated, “what’s relevant is that his observations are illegal”."

I tell you, it's a dying trade.

But although some people like to compare satirists to rats (and they don't think about rats the way the Vinyl Cafe's Rat-a-Tat-Tat does, or even Ratatouille) they are slower to abandon a sinking ship. Some might even say they swim out to sinking ships so that they can go down with them in style but those people have agendas (cue creepy music). Usually trying to advance their career in liberal satire (I'm told it exists but is indistinguishable from liberal serious debate).

So here are some satirical predictions for 2010. And if anyone brings a hate speech charge against me for them, well, I may just have to mail them an English Writing Dictionary 101 (35.99 + tax and you can pay Liberal 7% tax)

The Imam who called for the murder of homosexuals will lodge a HR complaint against the blogger who complained about him on the grounds that that complaint was discriminatory. It was discriminatory because the only reason the blogger brought the case was that the Imam was Muslim. The Tribunal will find him (Imam) a credible witness.

Richard Warman will win the Order of Canada for anti-racism activism. This will mark the first time in Canadian history that someone simultaneously wins a national anti-racism award and is under investigation for racist hate speech.

Jennifer Lynch will lose it in public and will scream at a panel of MPs to get the * out of her Dominion. Said committee will vote to expand the CHRC budget and powers.

Someone will blow up a clogged airport security line while waiting to be frisked. (Okay so everyone's making this prediction)

Warren Kinsella will wake up one morning to find a Maple Leaf painted on his car by a bunch of irate soldiers. Kinsella will then hyperventilate about the possible offense said leaf might cause agoraphobia communist immigrants.

Warren Kinsella will make nasty remarks about my blog as a result of this prediction. (Okay so I hope this one comes true. I could use the traffic of conservatives who visit Kinsella's blog to find out who is really worth reading.)

A Green Party member will blow up an airplane to reduce carbon emissions. The Greens will then throw a street party where they celebrate the end of racial/ethnic/religious profiling in airports and burn Mark Steyn and "those deniers" in effigy (as long as they can't actually get their hands on Steyn and said "deniers"). May will issue a press statement about respecting diversity and the enthusiasm of youth.

All pro-life club members will have to attend mandatory diversity training run by a panel of Elmasry, Morgentaler, and Napolitano (on special loan). "Patients" will not be released until they can read the Toronto Star without screaming. Life sentences will be considered.

Bans on human sacrifice between consenting adults will be ruled unconstitutional by the courts.

Someone will try to shut down the blogosphere but will be deterred when Blazing Cat Fur and his pet competition buddies collect all feral cats in Toronto and dump them in said killjoy's bedroom.

On Canada Day all flags are flown at half mast out of respect for Aboriginals. (Except in Newfoundland where they are already flown at half mast so they take them down the other half and send up the laundry)

Ignatieff will disappear and never be seen again except for randomly released videotapes taunting Canadians who are stupid enough to live through Canadian winters (At which point I may find myself agreeing with him so profoundly I could almost vote Liberal. Only if he promises to bring about massive global warming though)

HRT will decide that homeschooling a child is denying them a service (government education) based on discriminatory grounds (I'm guessing religion here).

Someone will kill a cartoonist or author and then bring charges against the dead man for inciting the hate crime of his own murder. Murderer will win.

Media Vita

Anuna is awesome.

Let's just leave it at that. There's not much more to say. Except totally unique, absolutely beautiful, mind-bogglingly talented, great camera work, an incredible sense of drama, and neat costumes. Convinced you to look them up yet? I should have. They are even good linguistically, their songs are in English, French, Latin, and Irish, and that's just the one's I've listened to so far.

Bringing to you my personal favourite. Media Vita.

Of course at this point I can't get the embed to work. Well here is the link and I dare you not to follow it.

Then there is my brother's favourite. The seemingly faster than the speed of sound Fionnghuala.

These are the Latin and English lyrics for Media Vita. Courtesy of New Liturgical Movement and lyricstime

Media vita in morte sumus
Quem quaerimus ad iutorem nihi site domine
Qui pro peccatis nostris

Chorus:
Sancte Deus, sancte fortis
Sancte misericor salvator
Amare mortis ne tradas nos

In te speraverunt patres nostri
Speraverunt et liberasti eos

(Chorus 2x)

Media vita in morte sumus

Can't they find any other word for it than chorus? Reminds me of Shine Jesus Shine.

"In the midst of life we are in death; of whom may we seek help but you, O Lord, who for our offences are justly displeased?

Yet, O God most holy, O holy and mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, give us not over unto bitter death.

Cast us not away in the time of our old age; forsake us not, O Lord, when our strength fails us.

Yet, O God most holy, O holy and mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, give us not over unto bitter death."

More Tribunal Cases

Woman brings case against "Bell Canada, Rogers Cable, Mississauga Hydro, Toronto Hydro, State Farm Insurance, State Farm Electrical, The Bank of Nova Scotia, aol.ca and aol.com...

The narrative included in the Application also made allegations about the RCMP and the CBC....Her submissions were largely concerned with alleged government corruption and drug trafficking, as well as high frequency noise over her telephone line and interference with her television service. She also indicated that one of the financial institutions broke a contract and was involved in an attempt to kill her." Tribunal dismissed the case. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto64/2009hrto64.html

Female doctor refuses to take on disabled patient because she does not feel comfortable doing house calls (which were requested). Mother of patient shouts and yells at doctor. Tribunal dismisses case although Commission supports it. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto50/2009hrto50.html

Bus Driver Trainee was given accommodation for her learning disability but still failed the test. Tribunal dismisses complaint. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto54/2009hrto54.html

Firefighter claims discrimination due to disability. Tribunal dismisses complaint.

http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto996/2009hrto996.html

Woman with guide dog refused entrance to restaurant. Tribunal awards $2,000. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1032/2009hrto1032.html

Woman, while off work caring for her injured daughter, is rude to her employer and hangs up on her. She is afterwards fired. Tribunal dismisses case. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1023/2009hrto1023.html

Construction worker claims discrimination based on race. Employer argues successfully that he was a poor worker. Based on the Tribunal's decision it is also highly probable (if not absolutely certain) that the employee lied to the Tribunal. Tribunal dismisses case. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1040/2009hrto1040.html

Woman on social assistance claims discrimination on age, disability, etc, etc, etc in the way her social assistance case was handled. Tribunal dismisses case. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1047/2009hrto1047.html

Employee claims discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, ethnic origin, creed and age mostly over a dispute about vacation times. (Who got to be off over Christmas, the Muslim or Sikh employee)

http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1046/2009hrto1046.html

Employee with disability says that her employer shouldn't have relied on a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board ergonomics evaluation when providing her with modified work. She also said she should have been given another position, like cleaner or security guard. Employer points out that they already have a cleaner (with more seniority) and do not have nor need a security guard. Tribunal dismisses case. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1053/2009hrto1053.html

Employee is directed to go for monthly checkups for a set period but does so for much longer (years), to a doctor 200k away (he liked that doctor apparently). Then he tries to claim gas and lunch money for visits from his employer. Tribunal dismisses case.

http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1066/2009hrto1066.html

Prospective student thinks that posting a minimum LSAT score for enrolment is discriminatory. He shouldn't actually have to write the LSAT at all since LSAT requires a certain test in order to asses mental disability for accommodation that costs $5,000. Tribunal dismisses case. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1086/2009hrto1086.html

Employee who was using company credit cards for private purchases injured himself and was fired. Tribunal finds disability was a factor in firing and awards $5,000 but because the employee lied to the tribunal he would only get $3,500. The rest went to a charity. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2009/2009hrto1082/2009hrto1082.html

Comment Moderation Policy

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Watch your language, this is a PG/PG-13 website. No vulgarity, profanity, or just gratuitous filthy language.

No death threats, extreme hate speech (which I define), or other filthy minded comments.

Trolls and spammers who post comments that are not related to the subject matter of my post should not be surprised if they disappear.

Then again, if your comment disappeared I may have accidentally clicked delete when I meant to click publish so don't take it personally.

November OHRT Cases

Selection of Ontario Human Rights Commission cases for November 2009.

Renter alleges that the respondent discriminated against him in accommodation based on creed and origin. The Tribunal found that "There is no credible evidence to support the claim that the respondent colluded with the applicant’s former landlord, works for Canadian and foreign security intelligence agencies, deliberately used sound and psychotronic devices to implant noises in the applicant’s brain, obstructed the applicant’s job search, tried to steal the applicant’s identity, intruded without authorization into the applicant’s apartment and removed personal documents, broke into his rental car or made false allegations against him to the police."

Male alleges that he was discriminated against by police who broke into a party and assaulted and/or arrested some attendees. Tribunal dismissed application because it had not been submitted in a timely manner.

Employee alleges discrimination on the basis of drug addiction. Tribunal dismisses case as having been taken care of in settlements.

Employee alleges harassment and failure to accommodate a disability against Hydro One. Tribunal dismisses failure to accommodate but will allow harassment charge to go forward.

Prospective Employee alleges discrimination by the Director of the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre because he said she discouraged him from seeking employment with the CCSC because he was Chinese. Tribunal dismissed complaint in part because the person eventually hired was Chinese.

Customer alleges discrimination because he is Turkish. Tribunal awards $15,000.

Employee on probation alleges discriminatory comments and behavior at the workplace. Tribunal dismisses case.

Woman who was arrested after not complying with a police officer's orders and who resisted arrest alleges discrimination on the grounds of race and gender. Tribunal awards $5000. This case was the subject of a National Post article for the Tribunal's creative use of racial stereotypes (in other words using stereotypes that no one had ever heard of).

Permit welder who was laid off alleges discrimination on the grounds of race. Tribunal dismisses case.

Male alleges that he was a victim of gender bias in investigation of a domestic assault matter. Tribunal rules that under new Code only Commission may bring public interest cases where there is no affected individual.

Student alleges racial discrimination in handling of a grade challenge at her university. Tribunal dismisses case.

Job candidate for a position involving tech knowledge alleges age discrimination. Tribunal dismisses case.

Restaurant patron alleges racial discrimination when he was barred from a restaurant following an incident where he yelled at a waitress.

Employee who had an illness which was under control but whose underlying cause was not known was told not to return to work until she discovered the reason for her symptoms. Tribunal awarded $81,623 in compensation.

Man arrested by police alleges discrimination. Tribunal dismisses case.

Tenant was not provided with large print copies of all tenant notices. Tribunal awards $3000.

Man "alleges that he was denied a gun license; was not successful in his appeal regarding the denial of a gun license due to false allegations by the police; experienced government harassment, massive criminal collusion concerning religious based hate crimes against him and ongoing public endangerment, death threats, ongoing violence and malicious persecution; was subjected to false and misleading court transcripts in his hearings; was accused of criminal behaviour and a conspiracy to murder for profit; and was accused of being a member of Hell’s Angels and has had to live undercover and under the protection of several churches." Tribunal dismissed case.

Tenant violated apartment rules and was told not to do so. He alleges that this was discrimination because of disability however he neglected to tell the landlord that he required accommodation in the matter because of a disability. Tribunal dismissed the case.

Parents of school child allege failure of school to accommodate the child's disability but refuse to release relevant documentation. Tribunal dismisses case.

Police officer who engaged or was said to engage in drug dealing, drug use, and admitted to possible impairment at work alleges that the police department discriminated on the basis of a drug addiction and race. Tribunal dismissed the case. ( How's this for an interesting phrase: "Rather he voluntarily resigned, fully aware of his right to remain employed and allege that his addiction should be taken into account in assessing his culpability in any potential Police Services Act proceeding.")