The National Post is being generous today, with a number of fine columnists being available outside their subscribers' firewall.
Andrew Coyne writes about propensity of the Quebec chattering classes to erupt in regular bouts of collective nuttiness when criticized by ethnic minorities here.
Robert Fulford writes an interesting column about Wolf Lepenies' book The Seduction of Culture in German History.
George Jonas writes about how the Liberals are no longer liberal, Classical, small-l liberals, that is.
And Peter Foster asks what's so bad about being rich?, and denounces the larcenous envy of the rich.
Update: And one more bonus item from the Arab News.
An Imam issues Fatwa over cell phone interruption during prayers:
An imam at a local mosque lost his cool when, once again, some idiot in the congregation forgot to (or didn’t care to) switch off his mobile phone, the daily Al-Watan reported yesterday. Just as the man began the taraweeh prayer (the nightly recitation of the Qur’an done during Ramadan) the sound of cheesy Arabic pop music began playing from the audience. The imam turned to the crowd and issued his own little “fatwa”: the next time somebody allows their phone to go off in the congregation, the imam threatened to defenestrate the guilty person right out of the mosque. After a bout of shouting at the audience, the imam regained his composure, turned around, and continued with the taraweeh.Finally a Fatwa I agree with.
There of course nothing bad about being rich, though I must admit, past some point it does seem to me to be a matter of diminishing marginal returns. For as an astute German nobleman once noted, "No matter how rich you are, you can still only drink 16 or 17 liters of beer a day."
Lepenies blames the catastrophes of 20th-century German politics on a tendency to overrate culture at the expense of politics.
The same applies to French dhimmitude now. Their arrogant assumption that haute couture, their food, purity of language and socialist academics will make proper Frenchmen out of their Muslim immigrants, that if you are exposed to French culture it will transform you, fits with the demise of the always clueless French too. The Muslims despise their culture. No reason to act politically on that huge glaring fact, fools that they are.
The real truth is that Europe was never and isn't a democracy as Americans and Canadians understand it. The Ruling Class of academic effetes and vacuous literati have created and protected the Marxist labor union's iron grip. Individualism isn't respected.
I read the Brussels Journal blog fairly regularly for insights into the EU. It's pretty hopeless. Old Europe never was our friend.
Okay, I'm officially saying it, Small Dead Animals is lame now.
I hope Kate is just on vacation or something and this isn't the new reality.
All of your individual blogs are good because they each have a theme, pulse, and soul.
This one used to (it was fantastic and I hope it will be again), but is not a hodge podge.
It's like mediaright.ca — but without the unifying theme.
*now a hodge podge
Kate is on vacation and I understand will be back on the 11th.
I think you can expect things to be a little quiet over the Thanksgiving weekend anyway, though. Feel free to check out the blogroll for other fine blogs.
Coyne is right that immigrants do not deserve an appology nor do ethnics but then he drops the ball and rolls over it as usual.
What happened in Montreal is this: Quebec imports French speaking immigrants because Quebec can do what it wants to always preserve itself.
Thus French speaking immigrants do come to Quebec. But when landing in Quebec the immigrant always hungry for money soon learns that the language of money in Canada and especially the USA is English.
So what does shrewd immigrant to Quebec do in such a situation? Well they pay lip service to French and meanwhile learn English.
Thus at the end of the day we have two weasels staring each other down here: Quebec with its hands in your backpockets always looking out for number one and the immigrant lying about his intentions to integrate into Quebec's economy in order to get into the country and then embracing English.
See I should have Coyne's job and maybe even write this blog and have all these adoring fans but then again Canada would work if that was the case and we can't have the truth, can we?
Hey, Kevin Jaeger, you're doing fine. Enjoyed the national post tips.
Coyne is a great independent thinker and an incisive voice in Canadian journalism. He's right on target again. Jan Wong is easy to dislike, but the reaction to her column is very strange. Increasingly we see in this country a sort of ovine unanimity that "you can't say" this or that, particularly when it pertains to self-described "minorities", including Quebecers.
If Quebec were a sovereign nation, members of groups who aren't "pur laine" would be considered minorities; as it stands, Quebecers define themselves as a minority within Canada who are struggling to preserve their uniqueness. So actual minorities within Quebec (Jewish, Anglophone, Lebanese) are seen as part of some larger majority of non-Quebecois who collectively threaten Quebec's distinct culture; ironically, the pur laine's minority claims are officially sanctioned there because they are the ruling majority.
This is not unique; no need to refer to the Weimar republic, there are other examples: In the US, when Korean grocers -- a tiny minority in predominantly black areas -- are attacked and persecuted by blacks, the blacks present themselves as victims (of price-gouging and so on), and they manage to sew up minority (victim) status in the whole exchange by the sheer weight of their numbers relative to the Koreans.
Any time the majority defines themselves as a minority, i.e. victims, all bets are off: they can no longer be addressed as persecutors of minorities. Parizeau's referendum-night pout that the Quebecois had been victimized by "Money" (read: Jews) and the "ethnic vote" demonstrated the cognitive dissonance of someone clearly hoping that the big white horse of a vast majority would gallop off with him on it; when the majority didn't side with him, he seamlessly reverted to minority (victim) status.
One can agree or disagree with Jan Wong's assertions, but there's no doubt that the hysteria surrounding her column should make everyone question why the nerve she hit is so, er, raw, and why topics which could be -- and are -- readily addressed elsewhere are so unanimously off-limits when they are directed, on the exact same terms, at La Belle Provence. It's certainly no insult to Quebecers or anyone else to wonder why that's the case.
Christoph,
Diplomacy please. A little change of flavour is not a disaster. All will be well with this blogsite.
I wish that were true where our collective future relations with the Muslim world are concearned. = TG
Christoph:
You can't expext 24/7 blogging all the time unless you want burnout. For the readers and commenters here, perhaps to put into perspective Christoph's complaint could view his blog. Please be respectful.
http://lovingjacqui.net/
Most of you guys filling in here I read anyway. Keep up the good work!
We do miss you though Kate!
Right you are, Fergy.
Obviously SDA is not the same when Kate takes a break - I miss reading her daily take on things, too.
But if she didn't occasionally take a break she would surely suffer blogger burnout as so many others have, so we'll just have to be patient until she gets back.
As for Christoph's point - well, obviously SDA's not the same without Kate.
Brilliantly argued, EBD! The "you can't say that" mob are an abomination. Shall I say: One can't say that UFOs aren't alien ships? Nonsense! I shall say: if one believes that, one should be patted on the head, ushered to an asylum, and otherwise ignored.
Of course, that's the problem these days, we have now no asylums, no poor-houses. Charles Dickens is rolling in his grave. And Quebec is trying to pull the pur laine over our eyes. I have sent over three hundred thousand dollars in taxes to Quebec in my life, just because I'm an Albertan. Why? Are they lazy, or incompetent?
Nonsense, I say! Here in Alberta we, of every gender, colour, religion, and sexuality, are busting our butts to bring to all Canadians and people of earth the energy that brings good things to life.
Cast out in the intemperate frozen wastes of the cruel Canadian winter, where a dropped wrench can shatter from the cold, and we keep our trucks running 24/7 else we won't be able to start them again until spring, we mine the very resources your quality of life depends on.
We have no Toronto Symphony. We have no Montreal Bistro. And yet selflessly we toil away in order to improve your quality of life. And what do we get for it? Belittled.
Look, it's not like we're such bad shots that while out in the back forty we miss the varmint we're aimin' at and out from the ground comes a bubblin' crude. Alberta has one of the top collections of professional energy systems engineers in the world.
You people could at least show a little respect, and then we would probably be much less likely to be pissed off with you.
Wait'll they get a load of me.
Some heavy [Blogger developer*s ] problems. . .
Don*t laugh, this is serious.
Hi, I am making tests with Google Data API to publish my posts.
The problem is ... my posts are being published into "the Honourable Dr
Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang South Africa's Minister of Health" blog
(I don't have to say I am not the minister of health of South Africa).
Any help before Honourable Minister of Health of South Africa would
speak with Interpol would be apreciated. [Anon]
=========
= TG
I have to disagree with Coyne when he says: "Had the same atrocity occurred in Manitoba, and the same explanation been advanced, it would have been discussed, and dismissed, as the baseless theorizing that it is."
Baseless theorizing my bollocks. Jan Wong was right, and I'll up the ante by asking why Quebec has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
Just for a laugh, the Democratic Party in the US was looking for a photo of a disgruntled soldier to use in their ad claiming the Republicans 'don't care about the soldiers'.
Michelle Malkin and LGF have the news; the photo the Democrats took for their ad, was of a Canadian soldier!!! It had been altered to remove the badge from his beret; it simply showed a 'straight' face; another picture, not used by the Democrats, was of him smiling.
But- the fun of it is, that their soldier was Canadian!! Perhaps the Republicans should do an ad about the Democratis not knowing the uniform of their own military.
Thanks for the National Post tips. The George Jonas article eloquently frames a concept that most of us are already familiar with. I do believe though, that Jonas lets the big-L Liberals off the hook a bit by saying that they didn’t or don’t see their actions as being based on “illiberal” notions. They see it perfectly clearly; they just don’t care as long as it keeps them in power. They don’t care a whit about liberalism or the gullible voters they appeal to; they only care about power.
N. Korea: China on alert over a nuclear neighbour(PLA pouring into the border)
Sunday Times ^ | 10/08/06 | Michael Sheridan
The Sunday Times October 08, 2006
China on alert over a nuclear neighbour
Michael Sheridan, North Korean/Chinese border
THE North Korean refugee had one request for her captors before the young Chinese soldiers led her back across the steel-girdered bridge on the Yalu River that divides two “socialist allies”.
“She asked for a comb and some water because she said that if she was going to die she could not face going to heaven looking as dirty and dishevelled as this,” recounted a relative of one soldier who was there.
What happened next is testimony to the rising disgust in Chinese military ranks as Beijing posts more troops to the border amid a crisis with North Korea over its regime’s plan to stage a nuclear test.
The soldiers, who later told family members of the incident, marched the woman, who was about 30, to the mid-point of the bridge. North Korean guards were waiting. They signed papers for receipt of the woman, who kept her dignity until that moment. Then, in front of the Chinese troops, one seized her and another speared her hand — the soft part between thumb and forefinger — with the point of a sharpened steel cable, which he twisted into a leash.
“She screamed just like a pig when we kill it at home in the village,” the soldier later told his relative. “Then they dragged her away. ...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1715844/posts
As a musician, I can empathize with the imam. My goodness I hate intolerable audience members. :-)
LSD:
"A study conducted by Canadian psychiatrists four decades ago indicated that a single doze of LSD could effectively treat alcoholism." ...-
Spotlightingnews
LSD To Cure Alcoholism?
A study conducted by Canadian psychiatrists four decades ago indicated that a single doze of LSD could effectively treat alcoholism.
A study conducted by Canadian psychiatrists four decades ago indicated that a single doze of LSD could effectively treat alcoholism.
The findings were recently revealed by Dr Erika Dyck, History of medicine professor at the University of Alberta. Professor Erika Dyck carefully studied a research conducted during the 50's and the 60's by experts in Saskatchewan, Canada. ...-
http://www.spotlightingnews.com/article.php?news=2906
CBC Fifth Estate: LSD:
MKULTRA'S "Dr." Ewen Cameron
Psychiatrist and Torturer
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Documentary
on "Fifth Estate", January 6, 1998
Excerpt:
Linden MacIntyre:
Robert Loguey [spelling?] was little more than a child himself when he was referred to Dr. Cameron. He was 18, he had a sore leg. His doctor thought it was all in his head, and sent him to the Allen. Like Linda McDonald, he went through a nightmare of shock therapy and drugs, including LSD.
Robert Loguey:
Well, I was given LSD about every second day and -- uh -- injected, and -- uh -- sometimes it was mixed with sodium amethal and other drugs....-
"In the 1960s, Dr Cameron, a Montreal, Que, psychiatrist, experimented with drug-induced sleep and electroconvulsive therapy for psychiatric patients,"
Report: Russians Aided Hezbollah Against Israel
On Oct. 3, more than 500 Russian military engineers arrived in Lebanon — the first time that Russian forces have openly deployed in the Middle East.
The Russian forces are ostensibly tasked with rebuilding bridges destroyed by Israel during the recent hostilities with Hezbollah.
But they will be protected by commando platoons from two battalions led by Muslim officers — one of whom has been identified by a Russian news service as a * former rebel commander * in Chechnya — and they include a number of other former Chechen rebels.
Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick sees the move as part of Russia’s increasingly anti-Israel policy, and has ominous forebodings about Russian plans in the Middle East.
“The Russian bear has awakened after 15 years of hibernation,” she writes. “The clouds of the coming war are converging upon Israel. But our political and military leaders refuse to look up at the darkening sky.”
Glick cited a new report exposing Russia’s intelligence support for Hezbollah during its war with Israel.
According to Jane’s Defense Weekly, a Russian listening post on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights gave Hezbollah a continuous supply of intelligence — and that intelligence caused significant damage to Israeli operations, according to Glick.
“It appears that Russia’s support for Hezbollah may well have been as significant as Syria’s support for the terror organization,” she writes. “And now we have Chechens in Lebanon.”
Glick says recent bellicose speeches by Syrian President Bashar Assad indicate that Damascus feels Russia will support Syria if it goes to war against Israel.
The columnist also points to Russia’s continuing support for Iran’s nuclear weapons program, highlighted by statements from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a recent visit to Tehran, that Russia opposes all international sanctions against Iran.
Glick concludes: “Any objective observer of the developments in our region understands that the storm of war is rapidly approaching us. With Moscow’s blessing, the Palestinians, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran are steadfastly preparing for battle.”
=== From NewsMax ===== TG
How Al Qaeda views a long Iraq war
A letter from Al Qaeda leaders found in Iraq shows that the group sees the war as a boon for its cause.
By Dan Murphy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
CAIRO – In appearances across the US, President Bush has been campaigning against withdrawing troops from Iraq, arguing that to leave now would hand a historic victory to Al Qaeda and inspire new generations of jihadists to attack the US.
But a letter that has been translated and released by the US military indicates that Al Qaeda itself sees the continued American presence in Iraq as a boon for the terror network, which has recently shown signs of expanding into the Palestinian territories and North Africa.
AL QAEDA IN IRAQ: Leader Abu Hamza al-Muhajir is cultivating Sunni leaders.
US MILITARY/AP/FILE
The most important thing is that the jihad continues with steadfastness ... indeed, prolonging the war is in our interest," says the writer, who goes by the name Atiyah.
The letter, released last week, was recovered in the rubble of the Iraqi house where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, former leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by a US bomb in June. [Much more. . . ]
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1006/p01s04-woiq.html
==== Christian Science Monitor = TG
MSM Fails To Notice Section Of Bob Woodward Book Causing Angry Rift Among Democrats
NewsBusters ^ | October 9, 2006 | P.J. Gladnick
In all the many media interviews with Bob Woodward about his book, State of Denial, they were almost exclusively focused on the supposed mistakes of the Bush administration. The pundits almost unanimously concluded that Woodward's book would therefore be harmful to the Republicans going into this November's elections. However, overlooked by them is a section of the Woodward book that is now causing a firestorm in the Leftwing blogosphere against perhaps the most important Democrat political operative of them all, James Carville. M.J. Rosenberg in "The Coffeehouse" blog asks, "Did Carville Tip Bush Off to Kerry Strategy (Woodward)"?
I just came across a troubling incident that Bob Woodward reports in his new book. Very troubling.
On page 344, Woodward describes the doings at the White House in the early morning hours of Wednesday, the day after the '04 election.
Apparently, Kerry had decided not to concede. There were 250,000 outstanding ballots in Ohio.
So Kerry decides to fight. In fact, he considers going to Ohio to camp out with his voters until there is a recount. This is the last thing the White House needs, especially after Florida 2000.
So what happened?
James Carville gets on the phone with his wife, Mary Matalin, who is at the White House with Bush.
"Carville told her he had some inside news. The Kerry campaign was going to challenge the provisional ballots in Ohio -- perhaps up to 250,000 of them. 'I don't agree with it, Carville said. I'm just telling you that's what they're talking about.'
"Matalin went to Cheney to report...You better tell the President Cheney told her."
Matalin does, advising Bush that "somebody in authority needed to get in touch with J. Kenneth Blackwell, the Republican Secretary of State in Ohio who would be in charge of any challenge to the provisional votes." An SOS goes out to Blackwell.
The rest is history.
Does something about this story stink to high heaven!
Although none in the media seems to have asked Woodward about this so far, the Leftwing blogosphere in now in frenzy over the possibilty in their minds that Carville cost them the 2004 election. This does not bode well for Hillary Clinton since Carville is closely associated with her and might even manage her 2008 presidential campaign.
So did Carville betray Kerry in 2004 or is perhaps the Bob Woodward book (gasp) inaccurate? So far the MSM is too interested in Woodward's criticisms of the Bush administration to bother asking about the section of State of Denial that now has the far Left in an uproar. Will they also question James Carville or John Kerry to confirm the accuracy of the Woodward allegation? Don't hold your breath waiting.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1716210/posts
You know, cell phones go off in people's coats at the back of my church all the time, and people just leave them to ring. Right in the Middle of the homily.
My parish priest doesn't go running off on a tangent though. He ignores it and nobly goes ahead.
Dante,
Heh, that was "moderate Islam" at work. The imam merely threatened to pitch the miscreant cell phone jerk out a window. No specific threats to behead anyone or at least cut the offender's cell-phone hand off.