Month: February 2006

Where are the socialists?? They used to have basketball sized cajones when it came to defending free speech. The Brooklyn Museum, in 1999, had an exhibit entitled Sensation. This exhibit had on display a picture of a black Virgin Mary, partial created with elephant dung. The picture was then surrounded by pictures of female genitalia. (Note: I had thought this was male genitalia, originally, but was wrong and stand corrected.). But in light of the recent Muslim caricatures, the biggest defenders of free speech have gone silent. They have traded in their basket’balls’ for ping pong ‘balls’.

Where is the National Coalition Against Censorship? There is NOTHING on their website about this whole cartoon affair. This is a site that prides itself on defending free speech. Their Executive Director, Joan Bertin, clearly felt a news release defending this “art” at the Brooklyn Museum was warranted. What sucks is that author Judy Blume sits on their Board. I think I am going upstairs and take the Judy Blume books off my kids bookshelves and toss em in the recycle bin. Maybe they will come out the other end of a recycling plant as toilet paper I happen to buy. Wouldn’t that be a stroke of luck.

“The entire arts community should be grateful to Director Arnold Lehman and the BMA’s Board of Directors for standing firm on the right of artists and museum-goers to make their own decisions without interference from the government,” said Joan Bertin, Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Censorship. “If the city chooses to fund the arts, it simply cannot pick and choose what art is ‘offensive’ and what is not.” “That judgment varies so widely and is so subjective that, if it were the test, publicly funded art institutions would likely have little of interest to offer beyond the most inoffensive and conventional art,” according to Michelle Coffey, Program Director of the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression. “Every major art collection contains something that someone will find offensive.” In this case, the Mayor and other critics may simply be revealing their own misinterpretation of the varied cultural and artistic traditions on which artists draw

Where are you now Joan? Or how about you Michelle? Not only did you defend the rights of this artist, but you defended the right for tax payers who were offended to continue to pay for displaying this art.

Then we have the World Socialist Web Site. This group also defended the Brooklyn Museum exhibit here, and then turnaround and blast the newspapers who showed the cartoon caricatures of Mohammad.

The World Socialist Web Site unequivocally condemns the publication by a series of European newspapers of defamatory cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist and killer. These crude caricatures, intended to insult and incite Muslim sensibilities, are a political provocation. Their publication, initially by a right-wing Danish newspaper with historical ties to German and Italian fascism, was calculated to fuel anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment.

This site lists 12 members on their Editorial Board.

I am sure there are dozens and dozens of other socialist oriented sites that would defend free speech one way but not the other. I urge commenters to point out these sights in the comments section.

I also encourage you to contact both these organizations and straighten them out. The WSWS can be contacted via their website Feedback Form here, and the NCAC can be reached by emailing them.

Hey Libs and Dippers, there is NO WAY you can defend this. Even trying would be ludicrous.

It was a beautiful winter day to spend outdoors for the children at Le Petit Bourg daycare centre. For most of them, it probably felt a lot warmer than the -2 recorded that day in Quebec City, even with the slight breeze that grazed their faces. But the decision to leave 13-month-old Ludovick outdoors to nap for almost four hours has called into question the judgment of the daycare workers who thought it best to let the boy sleep, cuddled in a plastic car seat, rather than awaken him to take him indoors.

Bullet facts

-It was January 20th
-It was negative 2 Celsius outside
-Le Petit Bourg, left a 13 month old outside to nap for 4 hours

It seems the public childcare system is treating our children as well as our healthcare system treats our sick.

Why am I not surprised.

(h/t to Spiderman’s Web.)

Today, in Canada, terrorism has reared its’ ugly head. St. Mary’s University professor Peter March was one who was standing up for the freedom of speech and intended to discuss the Mohammad depicting cartoons with his students. But he is now rethinking his decision after his home was visited by five men.

The indication on CTV Newsnet is that he was threatened.

This is truly a sad day in our country. At this time, I would like to post a poem. It is by Maurice Ogden, and it is entitled Hangman. I urge you to read it through to the end. This poem was studied in one of my grade school classes. It carries a very strong message.

1. Into our town the Hangman came. Smelling of gold and blood and flame and he paced our bricks with a diffident air and built his frame on the courthouse square The scaffold stood by the courthouse side, Only as wide as the door was wide; A frame as tall, or little more, Than the capping sill of the courthouse door And we wondered, whenever we had the time. Who the criminal, what the crime. That Hangman judged with the yellow twist of knotted hemp in his busy fist. And innocent though we were, with dread, We passed those eyes of buckshot lead: Till one cried: “Hangman, who is he For whom you raise the gallows-tree?” Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye, And he gave us a riddle instead of reply: “He who serves me best,” said he, “Shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree.” And he stepped down. and laid his hand On a man who came from another land And we breathed again, for another’s grief At the Hangman’s hand was our relief And the gallows-frame on the courthouse lawn By tomorrow’s sun would be struck and gone. So we gave him way, and no one spoke. Out of respect for his Hangman’s cloak. 2. The next day’s sun looked mildly down On roof and street in our quiet town And stark and black in the morning air, The gallows-tree on the courthouse square. And the Hangman stood at his usual stand With the yellow hemp in his busy hand; With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike And his air so knowing and business like. And we cried, “Hangman, have you not done Yesterday. with the alien one?” Then we fell silent, and stood amazed, “Oh, not for him was the gallows raised.” He laughed a laugh as he looked at us: “…Did you think I’d gone to all this fuss To hang one man? That’s a thing I do To stretch a rope when the rope is new.” Then one cried “Murder!” One cried “Shame!” And into our midst the Hangman came To that man’s place. “Do you hold,” said he, “with him that was meant for the gallows-tree?” And he laid his hand on that one’s arm. And we shrank back in quick alarm, And we gave him way, and no one spoke Out of fear of his Hangman’s cloak. That night we saw with dread surprise The Hangman’s scaffold had grown in size. Fed by the blood beneath the chute The gallows-tree had taken root; Now as wide, or a little more, Than the steps that led to the courthouse door, As tall as the writing, or nearly as tall, Halfway up on the courthouse wall.

3. The third he took-we had all heard tell Was a user and infidel, and “What,” said the Hangman “have you to do With the gallows-bound, and he a Jew?” And we cried out, “Is this one he Who has served you well and faithfully?” The Hangman smiled: “It’s a clever scheme to try the strength of the gallows-beam.” The fourth man’s dark, accusing song Had scratched out comfort hard and long; And what concern, he gave us back. “Have you for the doomed–the doomed and black?” The fifth. The sixth. And we cried again, “Hangman, Hangman, is this the last?” “It’s a trick,” he said. “that we hangmen know For easing the trap when the trap springs slow.”” And so we ceased, and asked no more, As the Hangman tallied his bloody score: And sun by sun, and night by night, The gallows grew to monstrous height. The wings of the scaffold opened wide Till they covered the square from side to side: And the monster cross-beam, looking down. Cast its shadow across the town. 4. Then through the town the Hangman came And called in the empty streets my name- And I looked at the gallows soaring tall And thought, “There is no one left at all For hanging.” And so he calls to me To help pull down the gallows-tree. And I went out with right good hope To the Hangman’s tree and the Hangman’s rope. He smiled at me as I came down To the courthouse square through the silent town. And supple and stretched in his busy hand Was the yellow twist of the strand. And he whistled his tune as he tried the trap And it sprang down with a ready snap And then with a smile of awful command He laid his hand upon my hand. “You tricked me. Hangman!,” I shouted then. “That your scaffold was built for other men… And I no henchman of yours,” I cried, “You lied to me. Hangman. foully lied!” Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye, “Lied to you? Tricked you?” he said. “Not I. For I answered straight and I told you true” The scaffold was raised for none but you. For who has served me more faithfully Then you with your coward’s hope?” said he, “And where are the others that might have stood Side by your side in the common good?,” “Dead,” I whispered, and sadly “Murdered,” the Hangman corrected me: “First the alien, then the Jew… I did no more than you let me do.” Beneath the beam that blocked the sky. None had stood so alone as I And the Hangman strapped me, and no voice there Cried “Stay!” for me in the empty square.

How does this poem tie in? The terrorists defending their actions in the name of Allah and Mohammad first went after the Jews in Israel, then came the Christian based American Devil Dogs. When will it stop? I say to peaceful Muslims out there, now is the time for you to speak up. It may not happen in your lifetime, but rest assured, they will eventually come for you too.

Yesterday on Mike Duffy’s Countdown, Mike alluded to a big NDP announcement today. I got the impression he was hinting at the Dippers holding a gun to Harper’s head on childcare for their support.

If he’s right, I think it would be less of a gun and more of an opportunistic move on Layton’s part.

Jack knows Quebecers would likely welcome the additional $1200 a year instead of daycare spaces, and this would be a good way for him to head off the Bloc at the pass and reach Harper first. Provided Milliken wins the Speaker of the House, the Emerson defection gives the NDP/Tory voting block a majority to pass motions.

This means the Tories can work with any one party to pass motions and the NDP will want to be that party. It would give them the clout Jack harped on all election campaign. More NDP MP’s means we can get more done was their rallying cry. In reality, he only needed enough to form a majority with the Tories, which he now has.

Keep your eyes on the NDP news releases today and, in particular, Olivia Chow.

When I was 22, I was stuck between two post secondary educations, trying to figure out what to do with my life. Others, have their lives already planned out by their families.

Allegedly, Abdulla Khadr, the 24 yr old member of the infamous Khadr family was formally charged yesterday in a series of charges.

The indictment alleges that Khadr helped his late father, Egyptian-born Canadian Ahmed Said Khadr, by buying weapons during a five-month period in 2003 for planned attacks against U.S. forces in the border area of Afghanistan near Shagai, Pakistan. The grand jury says he bought ammunition for machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades, rockets, mortar rounds and containers of hydrogen peroxide for use in making mines. Khadr distributed the munitions to al-Qaida fighters and continued buying efforts after his father was killed by Pakistani forces in October 2003, says the indictment. It also contends that he tried to purchase missiles from a Pakistani in 2004

All I have to say is it’s about time. If the Americans want him, I say ship him off. The sooner the better.

After hearing about all the negative expense reports out there. Volpe’s pizza, Dingwall’s pack of gum, etc., it is really refreshing to see an expense report like this.

Sheila Fraser and her crew are a responsible bunch when it comes to the way they spend our tax dollars. Here are a few examples.

1) Sheila spent a paltry $818.34 CDN on a 5 night stay in Oslo, Norway. Oslo, in case you did not hear, was crowned the world’s costliest city. $160 CDN a night was a steal.

2) Meals over a 5 day span was a total of $76.90. How refreshing compared to the $138 Volpe spent on a pizza lunch or worse, the $1000 limo ride from Toronto to Buffalo.

I am sure many Canadians may find something in here to nitpick over, but having worked in a travel oriented field (sales), I can assure you, at these prices, they were staying at your average hotel like a Courtyard or a Holiday Inn. These weren’t no Chateau Frontenacs.

A budget increase for the OAG is one expense I can fully support. They will save us far more than would be invested. No ifs, ands, or buts.