Head Heeb has just the place for those looking for relief on school tax;
After Australia’s conservative government passed the Marriage Amendment Bill which prohibited Gay marriage, a group of Australian gays and lesbians set sail to the Coral Islands (on a ship called, inevitably, the Gayflower), planted the rainbow gay flag, and declared an independent state.
Let the puns begin!
Oh well. It is Groundhog Day. In the time honoured tradition of crawling out of a hole…..
The Canadian Islamic Congress is none too happy with this Report on Global Anti-Semitism released by the US State Department on Jan.5. Some exerpts from the news release;
1. The report is politically motivated, and lacks independently audited and verified statistics. The fact that this report has been issued by a government department and not an NGO; plus the fact that it addresses only one form of hatred against one specific minority (Jews); and that there were no other reports commissioned to address equally serious hate-issues against other worldwide minorities (e.g. Christians, Muslims, Blacks, First Nations, Aboriginals, women, the poor, the disabled, homosexuals, etc.), clearly shows that political motivation is a far higher priority for the U.S. State Department than human rights or social justice.
Translation: “Propoganda from the filthy Zionist Neocon Cabal in the Bush Administration”.
2. The report addresses only anti-Jewish hatred, completely ignoring the equally important issue of Islamophobia (hatred towards Muslims).
A little problem with word definitions, here. “Phobia” means fear of, not “hatred”.
Muslims around the world — especially in areas where they are in the minority — have been, and still are, victims of discrimination, harassment, physical and mental abuse…
They won’t get an argument from me on that.
Deepika Thathaal (search), or Deeyah, was born in Norway of mixed Asian roots. Her father got her into music and has supported her throughout her career. All was going well until she dared to show a little skin – and that’s when the threats started. “I would get very abusive phone calls,” she said. “I would get abused as I walked down the street. I would have people spit at me.”
At a concert in Norway, she was attacked on stage by angry Muslim men who thought she was degrading their culture. But Thathaal doesn’t flaunt her heritage. She’s just a European woman pursuing a pop music career – who also happens to be Muslim.
Canadian Islamic Congress media release contact:
Dr. Mohamed Elmasry
(519) 746-4107 (O)
(519) 577-2267 (Cell)
e-mail: np@canadianislamiccongress.com
COREN: So what are you saying?
ELMASRY: I’m saying that it has to be totally innocent, OK? Totally innocent are the children, obviously, OK? But they are not innocent if the army [inaudible] in civilian clothes, OK?
COREN: What about women?
ELMASRY: The same, if they are women in the army…
COREN: Anyone over the age of 18 in Israel is a valid target.
ELMASRY: Anybody above 18 is a part of the Israeli army…
COREN: So everyone in Israel and anyone and everyone in Israel, irrespective of gender, over the age of 18 is a valid target?
ELMASRY: Yes, I would say.
[…]
COREN: I’ve got to tell you I think you’ve just dug a very large hole for yourself there. I am not unsympathetic, and I do believe that Israelis use way too much force and I believe that Palestinians are blanketed with the term “terrorist,” which is very unfair, but what you’ve said there, I believe, is very dangerous talk. There’s a massive difference.
IRFAN SYED (LAWYER): I wouldn’t be so definitive as saying that everybody over 18 is a legitimate target. I mean obviously that goes too far. I mean even according to our faith belief, you have to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. That includes women, children, the elderly and all that.
ELMASRY: Everybody above 18 is a combatant.
Flashback Sept.8, 2004 – small dead animals prognostication:
Michael, Michael…. The Oscars are in February, darling – well past your “best by” date, if you know what we mean.
And then, there’s that problem of you being an absolute pig. (Get a trainer, would you?)
But be sure to say hello to those quaint little documentary people for us though.
Oscar Nominations: Moore shut out.
Helen Smith-McIntyre, chair of the Saskatoon Police Service Committee on Diversity, has called for the scrapping of a police aptitude test that discriminates against visible minorities, who have higher than usual failure rates. Smith-McIntyre took the test and “passed” – if one discounts that she didn’t complete it within the allowed time.
The half-hour test measures grammar, spelling and reading comprehension.
Garth Pritchard is in Sri Lanka, with the DART team. He writes in the Toronto Sun;
IT WAS a circus when Prime Minister Paul Martin visited the disaster area of Kalumai in Sri Lanka this week for a photo opportunity. His people from Ottawa, including the RCMP, were pushing people out of the way, grabbing at cameras, and trampling over graves on the beach in order to photograph the PM.
An RCMP guy tried to interfere with my camera, but one of our soldiers intervened.
A couple of women from the PM’s office were running around yelling at people.
It got out of hand. It was crazy.
The whole visit was a photo opportunity — with cameras set up for the PM in designated spots: Martin on the beach looking out to sea, Martin amid the wreckage, Martin with a homeless kid, Martin taking a token drink of water produced by the DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team) water purifier.
He met with the Canadian commander, Lt. Col. Mike Voith, and a small medical team but didn’t visit the camp of the 200 Canadian military people here for tsunami victims.
Martin’s handlers wanted no one but their people taking photos. The padre was even shoved out of the way.
90 minutes later, he was gone.
I can’t be the only person who thinks that this precocious little darling should be punted back to his room to learn a few manners.
Kennedy also mangled the name of the Democrats’ new star, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, calling him “Osama bin – Osama – Obama.”
small dead animals language advisory:
To any and all who may have been offended by the appearance of the “f” word in a recent post, may we direct you to sod off somewhere else to a more cerebral and dignified choice of entertainment.
For instance, there’s always opera on the BBC.
Thankyou. Back to regular programming.
Tom “Life Is A Highway” Cochrane, at a press conference yesterday to announce two Canadian fundraising concerts for tsunami relief;
“It’s a natural disaster, but if one person dies because of disease or because of malnutrition because of this, then [the] shame [is] on us.”
Tom, go fuck yourself.
If one person “dies because of disease or malnutrition”, Mr. Cochrane, it’s because they were unfortunate enough to be living in countries ruled by corrupt dictatorships, burdened with socialism, civil war and/or religious anachronism that have so crippled their economies that they remain too poor to have resources at the ready to respond to disaster.
And you – you sanctimonious twit – have no business parcelling out “shame” vouchers. Indeed, if I were you, I’d be turning a few shades of red – capitalizing on the losses of those less fortunate to reap a little energy boost for your own flagging career. Going to prance around on a stage for us, screaming “ring those phones”, are we? Be sure to shower us with praise, tell us how very remarkable we Canadians are. We can already picture Margaret Atwood looking on from the sidelines, swooning in self-congratulation.
Oh, and the charities you’ve chosen! Ms. Atwood’s political hand has been at work here, surely – Oxfam, Care Canada, Doctors Without Borders (who already announced they’ve got enough) and War Child. War Child? – why yes! The kindergarten version of Amnesty International. (How did those little Dutch and German children manage without psychiatric centers, music and dance therapy, as they recovered in the wake of WWII…? )
I have a different deal for you Tom. Instead of another self-serving charity concert, with sky-high production costs and celebrities flying in on private jets, how about something truly groundbreaking – just cut a goddamn check. Pass the hat around. Celine? She’s got to be good for 5 or 10 million. Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan – two more ladies who could save everyone a lot of trouble and just pick up a pen. David Foster is out there somewhere. (I know it’s harder to capture their interest without a tv camera pointed their way, but still…) Print up one of those nifty 6 foot long “checks” for the cameras, if you wish. Have your news conference and tell everyone the total you’ve raised directly from the Canadian music industry and then just … go … away.
Save the jet fuel, the stadium bookings, the long vans carrying CBC equipment and personnel to record and broadcast the events. Save the speeches, and the heart-rending personal stories, and the mismatched duets. Just save it.
We’ll contribute by going out and picking up a CD or two, OK?
Win, win – and nobody has to endure the day-long spectacle of 25 millionaire musicians on stage doing the group hug singalong.
Intrepid citizen journalist “Huck” is hot on the trail of members of F.A.G.*, otherwise known as the Waterkeeper Alliance*.
This is the weekend where Calgarians get to listen to such notable ecological researchers as actor Alec Baldwin and, um, socialite Marla Maples tell us how our river is dying and that our lifestyle is killing it. This, apparently, is a good thing because residents living in the Bow valley are complete idiots and wouldn’t know how to properly maintain our environmental standards unless Hollywood (and Martha’s Vineyard) educates us on our behalf.
[…]
I’ll be sure to keep you all up to date on the progress these wonderful philathropists will have accomplished this weekend, from the all-important snowshoe races to the Kenny Loggins concert.
Yes, do.
Update … oh, the hyperbole…
Norm Spector has been challenging the Toronto Star to produce a list of the 45 countries military psuedo-expert Gwynne Dyer claims to be published in.
Today, they quietly changed the tagline. Countries…. papers… what’s the difference, really?
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Dyer’s Dec.30 column advises that baboons hold the secret to world peace. It’s really very simple, actually. First – kill half of the male population. Be sure it’s the more aggressive half. Since the window of opportunity has long closed for death by food borne tuberculosis, that leaves the less aggressive half to do the killing, one presumes.
Second, let foreigners make decisions for you, you arrogant self-interested Americans warmongers. The ideal foreigners would be those victorious, passive baboons at the United Nations. There will be lots of noise and bickering, but eventually, we’ll be all one happy troup, with no need for independant states at all! As we all know, World War II was started by the League of Nations, and since the UN and their Peacekeepers arrived on the scene, there really hasn’t been a war of any great importance that lasted longer than 30 days.
It really isn’t any harder than that – and to think the secret to world peace was there all the time, right under our puffy red asses.
Reuters on the news conference by Bill Graham that already has our local radio news people crowing that Canada has pledged “more than the US” to tsunami relief:
Defence Minister Bill Graham, explaining why the ministers had not come home more quickly, told a news conference: “The scope of the tragedy, the scope of the damage that was done, took some time for us to absorb.”
Not to anyone who knows how to spell “Drudge Report”, Bill. Try it, sometime.
The government has faced repeated questions as to why it was not sending its Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), a 200- member military unit created precisely for this kind of emergency. Graham said it would cost C$15 million to C$20 million just to get it there and said it would not be able to arrive before next week even if required. He said the reconnaissance team leaving on Thursday for the region would determine if parts or all of the rapid response team were needed.
Graham: “This is an issue we look at in terms of whether it’s appropriate, whether countries need it and whether or not it’s worth moving it.”
The Diplomad is is at the scene. Mercifully, Canada stayed outside his line of fire today. He begins by quoting a UN statement;
As the United Nations system moves into high gear to identify the immediate needs of the countries devastated by the South Asian tsunami that has reportedly claimed nearly 70,000 lives and affected millions more, initial actions have been tailored to help each of the worst-hit nations.
He goes on to say,
The UN site then goes on to list all the “donations” that the World Food Program and other UN agencies are making to alleviate the suffering.
OK. We’ll make this short.
Let’s start with the last citation, the one from the UN. I can tell you, dear readers, that I am temporarily working in one of the countries that got slammed hard by the tsunami and while the UN effort might be in high gear, it must have its parking brake on. No sign of that effort here! Lots of bureaucrats flying in and out, but that’s about it.
And now to that Egeland character and the UN official site’s claims. Notice to the UN: The USA is BY FAR the biggest donor to the UN system. We pay for about 25% of the whole operation, BUT when you look at operations like WFP or UNHCR, we cough up about 40%. That wheat and rice that the WFP is bragging about? It is almost all from the USA. Notice to Mr. Egeland: if taxpayers want to give more they can do so without having the government reach into their wallets. Ever hear of charities? The American people are BY FAR the biggest donors to private charities — many of which are doing very fine work here in alleviating the suffering. Please note, they are actually on the ground, delivering goods and services, not flying about on first class tickets and holding press conferences in New York.
Now to that weird Post newspaper. Whom have you heard saying Bush is insensitive to the plight of the victims of this natural disaster? I haven’t heard that here in ground zero. I doubt you’ve heard it anywhere but in the MSM.
Well, whaddaya know? The German Chancellor has cut short his vacation! Now that’s gotta hurt a EUroweenie, huh? Giving up a day or two of the four or five or six months annual vacation EUrocrats get –boy that feeds and shelters a lot of people out here! They really appreciate it, Mr Chancellor! And those $4 million the ENTIRE EU has pledged, yeah, that’ll do it! I’m sure it will be a big help when some of it gets here in about six months.
One more note about the USA. The amounts listed in the newspapers as donated by the USA greatly underestimate the true size of the donation we make. We are moving huge numbers of aircraft, ships, and personnel to help out. We have carriers and even a MEU on the move. And guess what? We don’t charge the UN for that, and we don’t include those enormous costs in any “pledging conferences.” The only countries I see delivering goods and services where I am are the Aussies (who are terrific!) and us. The EU is only to be seen in press releases.
These lib-left people and their posturing make me sick . . . real folks are dying and the comfortable chattering lefties want little lip-biting gestures. I’ll take a C-130 any day.
Laurence Simon has a devastatingly cruel – and apt – obituary for an outspoken apologist of terrorism.
The breast cancer cells that killed Susan Sontag were not cowards or an “evil” disease attacking an individual human being. No, they were the bravest of cells, attacking Susan from within at high risk to their own existence, uprising and resisting the constant bombardment from the so-called “brave” medical practicioners bathing her in radiation and chemotherapy. These so-called curatives were nothing more than genocidal technological campaigns waged against the livelihood of these innocent cancer cells, and these treatments slaughtered these cancer cells that had just as much a right to live and go about their business as any other of the cells in Susan’s body.
Ouch.
(hat tip – OTB
Oliver Stone has regrets about Midnight Express.
Visiting Turkey for the first time since the movie was released in 1978, Stone admitted “over-dramatising” the screenplay, which he wrote. It was one of his early forays into cinematography for a film that was directed by Alan Parker.
Stone overdramatize? Say it isn’t so.
The script, which won Stone an Oscar in 1979, was based exclusively on interviews with Billy Hayes, the American sentenced to 30 years in prison for smuggling drugs into Turkey.
In the film, Mr Hayes, who was played by the actor Brad Davis, eventually escapes.
“It’s true I over-dramatised the script,” Stone told reporters in Istanbul before holding talks with Turkey’s culture and tourism minister, Erkan Mumcu. “But the reality of Turkish prisons at the time was also referred to … by various human rights associations.”
Stone said he had been fearful of visiting Turkey for a long time because of the effect the hard-hitting movie had had on the country. “For years, I heard that Turkish people were angry with me and I didn’t feel safe there,” he told the mass selling Millyet daily.
“The culture ministry gave me a guarantee that I would be safe, so I feel comfortable now,” said the American, who went on to direct Born on the 4th of July, Platoon, Evita and, most recently, Alexander.
Echoing the view of diplomats who said that, if anything, foreigners were often treated better than locals in Turkish jails, Stone said that the country had improved greatly since 1974, when a brief visit to Istanbul had given him the impression of being in a “very Ottoman” place.
No word yet on when he’s extending his “mea culpa” to the CIA and family of the late Lyndon Johnson.
I sent a strongly worded email to CBC last week, after making the unfortunate decision to turn the dial from CKOM infomercial to their “pop culture” program Definitely Not The Opera.
On good days, DNTO is insipid, snickering and self-absorbed, but last week’s interview with octogenarian Labrador trapper Horace Goudie went far beyond that to offensive – even by CBC standards. Part of the piece involved a telephone coversation in which Goudy was introduced to one Grant Lawrence (in Toronto?), who proceeded to openly ridicule the elderly trapper, at one point asking if he’d ever “eaten beaver”.
It looks like I wasn’t alone.
From: cbcinput1@toronto.cbc.ca
Dear Kate McMillan:
Thank you very much for your email regarding the recent Definitely Not The Opera broadcast from Goose Bay, Labrador. We have been in contact with the producer, who has asked us to share this
message with you.
We received a lot of feedback on the special show from Goose Bay in general, and on Grant Lawrence’s conversation with Horace Goudie in particular.
Grant Lawrence is a regular contributor to the show, and he sometimes exaggerates his inner ignorant urbanite for satirical effect. In this case, his comments were intended to satirize urban dwellers who fail to appreciate and respect the rich culture of Goose Bay Labrador; we certainly had no desire to insult Mr. Goudie, who is of course an institution in the community and a lovely gentle man, and in hindsight, made the wrong decision by putting those comments to air.
I want to assure you that we have nothing but respect for Mr. Goudie, and we’ll apologize for the conversation on next week’s show.
Thanks again for your email. We are always happy to hear from passionate Canadians!
Regards,
Iris Yudai
Producer / Definitely Not The Opera
That’s it?
If the show had been on a private network, and featured a “satirical” Baptist minister from Calgary sneeringly asking a gay couple if they’d served “raw ham” at their wedding, there would have been warnings from the Heritage Minister and broadcast license suspensions.
In recognition of the rabid determination of the Liberals, NDP and Bloc to burn another $96.5M at the feet of the Gun Registry God[tm], I present this glimpse of the future, as it exists today in Britian.
Pencil sharpeners have been banned from a primary school after a pupil dismantled one and used the blade to slash another child’s neck. … The attacker was suspended for two days and is now back in school. … Headteacher David Willis has now banned all pencil sharpeners. But the decision to allow the boy to return to school has angered parents. Some have signed a petition calling on the school to permanently expel the youngster.
The school management argued that while pencil sharpeners could be proscribed the attacker could not be prevented from returning. Tracy Buckley, the school’s head of governors, has written to all parents, saying the school understood the gravity of the incident and acted accordingly. The letter states: “The school, like every other school, has a duty to promote ‘inclusion’ of all pupils. The emphasis of the (DfES) guidance is that a permanent exclusion is discouraged and to be considered as a last resort in very extreme circumstances. A fixed period exclusion was entirely appropriate for the circumstances.”� … Yesterday, the Manchester Evening News reported how teachers at Priestnall High School in Stockport started acting as bodyguards, patrolling streets round their school, following attacks on five pupils.
Via Belmont Club. Go read the rest.
Help Michael “relive the moment”.
Vote “Incredibles”.
Apparently, there’s nowhere to go but down. From the gossp column of the NY Post.
OLIVER Stone plans to explore the possibility of an affair between former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan in his next movie. Stone has apparently always been enamored of Baroness Thatcher, now 79, and wants to cast Meryl Streep (above) in the role in an upcoming biopic, reports the London Sun. An insider told the paper Stone decided to turn his lens on a famous woman after his string of movies about famous men, including Richard Nixon, JFK, Jim Morrison and Fidel Castro. His latest, “Alexander,” has been panned by critics and is doing poorly at the box office.
Oh Oh Oh! Like Gigli with naked old people!
Via linkmeister Inoperable Terran
