28 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  2. Peter J. Wallison, Let’s Declare a Truce in the Culture War
    I went to a debate recently in New York, between a rabbi and the famous polemicist Christopher Hitchens, on the question “Does God exist?” Hitchens was called on to speak first, and he won the debate with his first two sentences: “I don’t know why I have to speak first. He has the burden of proof.” The mostly secular New York audience heartily applauded this sally, which was based on the premise—never challenged by the rabbi—that science provides an explanation of everything and any need there might be for a Supreme Being is more an artifact of human psychology than anything else.
    But it turns out that this premise is false; science has no explanation for any of the major questions about our existence, the existence of the universe, or even the nature of reality. What’s more, by the standards of science itself—the view that if something can’t be falsified it cannot be the subject of scientific inquiry—science will never be able to provide an answer to these questions.

  3. Perhaps most interesting for the critique of the infamous Lancet studies:
    Katharine Hall and Dale Stahl, An Argument for Documenting Casualties: Violence Against Iraqi Civilians 2006
    Protecting the civilian population is one of the central tenets of U.S. counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine. Until very recently, however, the U.S. military has not had a formal system for documenting the level of violence directed against Iraqi civilians. Therefore, other groups (such as nongovernmental organizations, the United Nations, and Iraqi ministries) have filled the vacuum in reporting, relying on media accounts, surveys, death certificates, and other open-source information to generate datasets of varying transparency and quality…
    [Summary and full report available in PDF only]

  6. Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Exploiting Anne Frank
    In January, a stenciled image of a smiling Anne Frank wearing a red and white kaffiyeh appeared on the walls of buildings in Amsterdam. Soon after, an enterprising Dutch business firm called Boomerang transferred this image to designer T-shirts and postcards. The cards were distributed free throughout the Netherlands, no doubt to boost sales for Boomerang’s politically chic new line of shirts. But it was a risky marketing move to promote a product featuring the face of Amsterdam’s most famous martyr made over to look like Yasser Arafat’s daughter.
    The Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands expressed outrage. So did Dutch Jewish organizations. But that response was not universal…

  7. Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Exploiting Anne Frank
    In January, a stenciled image of a smiling Anne Frank wearing a red and white kaffiyeh appeared on the walls of buildings in Amsterdam. Soon after, an enterprising Dutch business firm called Boomerang transferred this image to designer T-shirts and postcards. The cards were distributed free throughout the Netherlands, no doubt to boost sales for Boomerang’s politically chic new line of shirts. But it was a risky marketing move to promote a product featuring the face of Amsterdam’s most famous martyr made over to look like Yasser Arafat’s daughter.
    The Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands expressed outrage. So did Dutch Jewish organizations. But that response was not universal…

  9. Michael J. Totten, No More Gazas
    …Even if Iraq never becomes a model democratic state in the Arab world–which would benefit Americans and Arabs alike–far worse outcomes are possible than a limited victory, a stalemate, or even several more years of relative dysfunction and chaos. The worst case scenario would be… the transformation of Iraq into a California-sized oil-rich Gaza.

  10. This morning CBC radio had a piece on the impending release and re-integration of Omar Kadr into society. They said that Omar would be placed in a mental health “half-way” house and would be kept away from his “radical” mother and sister. They did briefly mention a poll that found most Canadians were “distrustful” but kept any real data to themselves.
    My questions are these: Did Omar Kadr kill an American serviceman? Did Omar Kadr fight for an enemy of Canada that we are still at war with? Are not Canada and the United States common allies still fighting those same enemies? Therefore, would not killing an American serviceman be considered the same as killing a Canadian soldier? Is it treason if a Canadian citizen supports an enemy that we are at war with and kills someone serving with an allied country? What is generally the wartime penalty for treason in Canada? Does age matter if the person was knowingly willful in his actions causing harm? Why is the CBC so casual about discussing releasing someone who may very well be a treasoness killer who has membership with an enemy that we are still at war with? Does the CBC support Omar’s actions abroad? Will the Harper government allow Omar Kadr to walk free in Canada? What does that mean to the families of Canadian soldiers who gave their lives in Afghanistan?

  12. Thanks, Karl. That’s an excellent column.
    Kerry Howley, Baby Bust
    Books like P.D. James’ 1992 novel The Children of Men (made into a bleak film in 2007) join Mark Steyn’s America Alone in depicting a harsh and violent babyless landscape. Even in the United States, where population growth remains uniquely irrepressible among wealthy nations, ideologically driven concerns about demography have crept into the national conversation…
    The developed world is experiencing a wave of pro-natalist sentiment that threatens to bully the childless, tax the single, and reorient states toward the production rather than the protection of citizens. In most developed nations with below-replacement fertility, governments are attempting to align incentives so that women will use their bodies for the purpose of childbirth…

  13. Thanks, Karl. That’s an excellent column.
    Kerry Howley, Baby Bust
    Books like P.D. James’ 1992 novel The Children of Men (made into a bleak film in 2007) join Mark Steyn’s America Alone in depicting a harsh and violent babyless landscape. Even in the United States, where population growth remains uniquely irrepressible among wealthy nations, ideologically driven concerns about demography have crept into the national conversation…
    The developed world is experiencing a wave of pro-natalist sentiment that threatens to bully the childless, tax the single, and reorient states toward the production rather than the protection of citizens. In most developed nations with below-replacement fertility, governments are attempting to align incentives so that women will use their bodies for the purpose of childbirth…

  14. “First-degree murder charge in Aqsa Parvez death,”
    (Toronto Star)
    The father of a Mississauga teen killed last year has been charged today with first-degree murder in connection with her death.
    Muhammad Parvez, 57, appeared in a Brampton courtroom today where he was officially charged. The charge is an indication investigators believe the girl’s killing was pre-meditated.

  15. Homicide Charges Upgraded for Mississauga Cab Driver
    Toronto/AM 640 Toronto
    6/17/2008
    A 57-year-old Mississauga man had his charges upgraded Tuesday from second to first degree murder in relation to his daughter’s death.
    Muhammed Parvez is accused of choking his 16-year-old daughter, Asqa Parvez, and it has been speculated alledged attack took place over Asqa’s refusal to wear a hijab.
    She was found without vital signs in December of 2007 after police received a 911 call from a man saying he had killed his daughter.

  17. For many years, I’ve campained against the hidden agenda of various newspapers. For example, not publishing letters to the editor when the text contradicts the political views and/or ideology of the writer.
    I’ve got a fax from a Saskatchewan resident who claims to have had several letters refused from the Western Producer, Star Phoenix, Leader-Post and other “leftist” publications.
    My advice to her, hit as many blogs as possible, and tell the truth. Write your text, (what you intended to write in the paper,) and say it loud and clear, and tell the readers and bloggers why you’re writng what you are. .
    Sooner or later, the advertisers pick up on this. Without advertisers, a newspapers is soon kaput!! Another word of advice. Major advertisers such as GM, Ford, Toyota, Wal-Mart, Cargill and Monsanto were founded on the principles of free enterprise. Get in touch with their public relations dept. and explain to them that you’ve been refused your right to freedom of expression. Trust me, the line to the editor’s desk (the one with the attitude,) will be ringing shortly, and hopefully freedom of expression will be restored. I worked for a chemical company for many yars, we kpt a close tab on our public relAtions.

  18. “Mississauga [Muslim] dad charged with murdering daughter
    First-degree murder charges laid”
    “TORONTO – Muhammad Parvez, the father of a 16-year-old Mississauga, Ont., girl who was killed last year, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death.”
    “Aqsa’s brother, Waqas Parvez, 26, has also been charged with obstructing police in the matter.”
    “In the wake of the girl’s death, some classmates said Aqsa Parvez’s insistence on not wearing the hijab led to intense family squabbles.”
    http://tinyurl.com/5b7j2w (canwest)

  19. ‘Roos to sweep out their own pouches .
    …-
    “Canadian Human Rights Commission Launches Independent Review On Hate Messaging on the Internet
    (Ottawa, June 17, 2008) –”
    (via jacks)

  20. Yes, I had the same problem with the Western Producer years ago when I tried to advertise the Boyko Appeal court decision which was for the plaintiffs “to start afresh with a new proceeding seeking the proper remedy from the proper authority” and referring to the previous Western Producer article dated January 10, 2002 stating “Andrew Paslawski of FBC’s Regina office said while all legal appeals have been exhausted, he still beieves the rules are unfair.”. This was public domain. Now you find out Madison Venture Corp was taking control of most of the western papers with Glacier Ventures International as a front. This producer article is before the Federal court as well the Boyko Appeal court decision and at http://www.nisaclaim.net. One never knows when they will stumble into a massive conspiracy. It is amazing how many farmers remember that article years after the fact.

  21. Robert Spencer, The Jihad Against Free Speech
    Freedom of speech is in imminent danger. Concerted attacks on it by the jihadist movement are increasing in number here and in countries that share America’s dedication to free speech.
    Mark Steyn, the author of “America Alone,” is on trial in Canada for inciting hatred against Muslims in an article adapted from that book. Pakistan just asked the European Union to restrict freedom of expression so as to curb “offenses to Islam.” Finland recently gave a blogger 2 1/2 years in prison for “insulting Islam.” When Dutch police arrested the cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot, Amsterdam’s public prosecutor explained: “We suspect him of insulting people on the basis of their race or belief, and possibly also of inciting hate.” Against Muslims, of course…

  22. Gored by his own bull.
    …-
    “Energy Guzzled by AlGore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month (up 10%)
    Gore’s personal electricity consumption up 10%, despite “energy-efficient” home renovations
    NASHVILLE – In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.
    “A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.””
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2032470/posts

  24. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2008/06/17/media-snoozing-through-another-haditha-development
    Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani is the latest Marine to turn out not to be a “cold-blooded killer” that the media and Democratic politicians painted Marines charged with the Haditha “massacre” to be. This two weeks after another Marine was acquitted in a Haditha court martial.
    FoxNews.com has the AP story about the dismissal of charges against him here.:
    CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – A military judge dismissed charges Tuesday against a Marine officer accused of failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqis.
    Col. Steven Folsom dismissed charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani after finding that a four-star general overseeing the case was improperly influenced by an investigator probing the November 2005 shootings by a Marine squad in Haditha.
    As you might have guessed, this story is not exactly commanding the airwaves of the cable news networks this afternoon, although the media obsessed about the “massacre” in 2005.
    Cheers
    Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
    Frankenstein Battalion
    2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
    Knecht Rupprecht Division
    Hans Corps
    1st Saint Nicolaas Army
    Army Group “True North”

  25. “Return to Paradise
    The enduring relevance of John Milton.
    by Jonathan Rosen
    Sometime in 1638, John Milton visited Galileo Galilei in Florence. The great astronomer was old and blind and under house arrest, confined by order of the Inquisition, which had forced him to recant his belief that the earth revolves around the sun, as formulated in his “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.” Milton was thirty years old—his own blindness, his own arrest, and his own cosmological epic, “Paradise Lost,” all lay before him. But the encounter left a deep imprint on him. It crept into “Paradise Lost,” where Satan’s shield looks like the moon seen through Galileo’s telescope, and in Milton’s great defense of free speech, “Areopagitica,” Milton recalls his visit to Galileo and warns that England will buckle under inquisitorial forces if it bows to censorship, “an undeserved thraldom upon learning.””
    http://tinyurl.com/5wtcp5 (newyorker)

  27. Is it just me, feeling a little uneasy about the Liberal Party using the good name of this Auditor General, for their scheme on shifting carbon taxes.
    There is a certain aspect of good will that an Auditor General remains politically neutral.
    Something about Dion’s ploy in using her title, sours that conception.

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