OISE Hate Thesis "scholar" Jenny Peto resurfaces to channel Ernst Zundel

OISE Hate Thesis author Jenny Peto resurfaced last night at an anti-Israel event at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Well, not actually at OISE. It was originally scheduled to be there but was relocated at the last minute to a location a block away. One can speculate at the reasons, but the possibility that OISE is not entirely thrilled about the prospect of continued association with Ms Peto does seem a plausible explanation.

I was only able to attend the last hour of the event, but was there in time to hear all of Peto's speech and the question and answer period after, in which she referred to her brother as a "right-wing fanatical, racist, Zionist."

There were two things that Ms Peto's speech made me aware of. One was that I would be a rich man if I had ten dollars for every time she uttered the term "right-wing." The other is that the Hate Thesis polemicist seems to be chanelling another proponent of Jewish conspiracy theories.

Among the most famous uses of Canada's Hate Speech laws was the case of notorious Holocaust denier and Hitler-admirer, Ernst Zundel. A German-born landed immigrant who spent most of his life in Canada, Zundel was prosecuted, convicted and jailed in Canada and later Germany for publishing false claims that the Holocaust was exaggerated and part of a Jewish conspiracy to manipulate the non-Jewish world.

Take away the part about the Holocaust being exaggerated and the Hitler stuff but leave the rest and there is a striking similarity between Zundel and OISE Hate Thesis author Jenny Peto, who alleges a Jewish conspiracy to "obscure Jewish privilege, deny Jewish racism and promote the interests of the Israeli nation-state."

As Zundel faced his legal battles with Canada's judicial system and Human Rights tribunals, he put forward the free speech argument that his ideas were being suppressed because they were unpopular. Despite the falsehood of his allegations against Jews and his despicable motives, he had a point about free speech with which the Supreme Court of Canada eventually agreed.

Throughout the course of his campaign, Zundel astutely tried to frame the argument in terms of the right to free speech. He claimed he was articulating an opinion, and, though controversial, what right did a democratic government have to suppress it and jail him for its public expression?

OISE's Jenny Peto, in her tradition of spreading The Big Lie and twisting data (on those rare occasions she actually uses data) to reach bizarre, illogical conclusions, is now trying to frame criticism of her Hate Thesis in a similar context as Zundel cast his.

The convergence of Peto's and Zundel's respective writings reflects radical leftists' trend over the last dozen years of using language about Israel and Zionism which is virtually indistinguishable from that used by neo-Nazis. But in the matter of free speech, Ms Peto has, not for the first time, failed to piece relevant information together for a coherent argument.

The government of Canada, as well as others within the Jewish community were indeed trying to suppress and prevent the publication of Zundel's paranoid bigotry and made him a criminal in the process.

No one is trying to criminalize Ms Peto for what she said or to suppress her work. The situation is the exact opposite. Those who are concerned about the state of affairs at U of T's OISE are doing their utmost to publicize Ms. Peto's thesis in order to demonstrate the seriousness of the problem. While Ms Peto's hateful thesis, which lacked first-hand sources, showed inept scholarship, had factual errors, and substituted personal angst and opinion for fact was indeed the best example, in fact, the original article used by The National Post did not refer exclusively to Peto's thesis, but also included another to demonstrate the extent of the bias at OISE.

Jenny Peto is now trying to make her case one of Academic Freedom and is narcissistically framing the debate around her. That's bait-and-switch on her part. Peto has said that the controversy "is about who I am as a pro-Palestinian activist and what I have to say."


It isn't. The controversy really isn't about Jenny Peto at all. It's about a University of Toronto program that has become so overtly politicized that it accepts incompetent scholarship as long as it is critical of Israel and Zionism.

As Ms Peto basks in her notoriety and tries to mislead anyone who will listen into thinking criticism of her thesis is an attack on "academic freedom," people should remember what the issue really is about. There are plenty of theses in universities denouncing Israel's treatment of Palestinians. No responsible person is suggesting these papers cannot exist in academia.

The issue at hand, that Ms Peto wants people to forget, is that the controversy is about incompetent scholarship and bias masquerading as social justice and academic achievement at OISE. The principal culprit is not Ms Peto, but the instructors who gave academic imprimatur to her substandard work. The question that remains is, what is the University of Toronto planning to do about it?

Blazing Cat Fur: Unspecified threat closes down showing of ‘Iranium’ at Ottawa’s National Archives Theater

Blazing Cat Fur: Unspecified threat closes down showing of ‘Iranium’ at Ottawa’s National Archives Theater

If Sarah Palin caused the Arizona shootings, then Heavy Metal causes teen suicides.

In the aftermath of crazed killer Jared Loughner's murder of six people and wounding of many others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, there has been a rush to exploit the tragedy for political purposes.

Without any actual evidence that Loughner was influenced by or even listened to any of Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck's "right-wing rhetoric," Democrats leaped upon the opportunity to lay blame on their political and ideological opponents for the act of a mentally disturbed individual.

But the facts that we do know are that Palin, Beck, and Rush Limbaugh never had any direct contact with Loughner. They never told him, or anyone, to go out and commit acts of violence.

This brings to mind the people who try to lay blame for teen suicides on Heavy Metal bands that the perpetrators of their own deaths listen to. In those cases, some conservatives exploited an opportunity to attack something they disliked with absurd allegations. As one empirical study observed to discredit such contentions, " it seems more plausible that those angrier after listening to preferred music were individuals with some combination of personal characteristics and/or life situations that have resulted in a general proneness to feeling angry, and that these characteristics and situations are tied to reduced reasons for living."

Now the tables have turned and the left is engaging in the same absurd, expolitative hysteria. What Jared Loughner did was because of what was going on in the warped mind of Jared Loughner and not because of American political rhetoric.

In a case brought against Judas Priest following the suicide of two young men who listened to their music, the Heavy Metal band's lawyer said, ''the risk that ideas may cause undesirable behavior'' in a small and unstable segment of the population ''is a small price to pay for a free society.''

There is no proof that in the Loughner case it was the ideas espoused by Republicans that inspired his actions, just as there is no proof that music causes suicides. Even if there were, the principles of the First Amendment and that of personal responsibility should matter even more.

Ricky Gervais' Greatest Hits from Last Night's Golden Globes

And do I mean 'hits' 

Was he mean or what?  I guess the "or what" would be funny..because he was really funny!

Here are the "Greatest hits" from the evening:




Here  are the funny bits from last year:

Classic cartoons: The Sweater - A great Canadien story

Iran's Chernobyl on the way

The Stuxnet computer worm that attacked computer systems in Iranian nuclear facilities last November has destroyed about 20% of Iran's nuclear centrifuges, according to The New York Times.

The Times speculates that the worm was devised by a joint US-Israeli intelligence program and, if reports are true, was one of the most advanced, ingenious spy devices ever used.

The worm itself now appears to have included two major components. One was designed to send Iran’s nuclear centrifuges spinning wildly out of control. Another seems right out of the movies: The computer program also secretly recorded what normal operations at the nuclear plant looked like, then played those readings back to plant operators, like a pre-recorded security tape in a bank heist, so that it would appear that everything was operating normally while the centrifuges were actually tearing themselves apart.

In addition to delaying Iran's nuclear program, the worm may have created the seeds of a disaster that could devestate Iran if its mullah-controlled government continues to ferverently persue nuclear technology as a point of hubris.

Britain's The Telegraph reports that Russian scientists working in Iran's nuclear program have alerted the Kremlin that, in the wake of the damage, an "Iranian Chernobyl" will happen if they are forced to comply with Iran's deadline for completing the project.

The Telegraph's story stated:

Russian scientists working at the plant have become so concerned by Iran's apparent disregard for nuclear safety issues that they have lobbied the Kremlin directly to postpone activation until at least the end of the year, so that a proper assessment can be made of the damage caused to its computer operations by Stuxnet.

The Iranian government is bitterly opposed to any further delay, which it would regard as another blow to national pride on a project that is more than a decade behind schedule. While Western intelligence officials believe Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, Iran insists the project's goals are peaceful.

The Russian scientists' report to the Kremlin, a copy of which has been seen by The Daily Telegraph, concludes that, despite "performing simple, basic tests" on the Bushehr reactor, the Russian team "cannot guarantee safe activation of the reactor".

It also accuses the Iranian management team, which is under intense political pressure to stick to the deadline, of "not exhibiting the professional and moral responsibility" that is normally required. They accuse the Iranians of having "disregard for human life" and warn that Russia could find itself blamed for "another Chernobyl" if it allows Bushehr to go ahead.

"The worm itself now appears to have included two major components. One was designed to send Iran’s nuclear centrifuges spinning wildly out of control. Another seems right out of the movies: The computer program also secretly recorded what normal operations at the nuclear plant looked like, then played those readings back to plant operators, like a pre-recorded security tape in a bank heist, so that it would appear that everything was operating normally while the centrifuges were actually tearing themselves apart."

Canada's Bad Citizens are having a conference next month

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is a Canadian government agency.

Its job, in their words, is:

to investigate threats, analyze information and produce intelligence; it then reports to, and advises, the Government of Canada, so as to protect the country and its citizens. Key threats include terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, espionage, foreign interference and cyber-tampering affecting critical infrastructure. 

Through its Security Screening Program, CSIS prevents non-Canadians who pose security concerns from entering Canada or receiving permanent resident status or citizenship; the Service also safeguards the confidential information of the Government of Canada from foreign governments and other entities that may present a risk. 

However, countering terrorist violence is the top priority for CSIS. Terrorism, which has become a global phenomenon, is a very real threat to our national security. Terrorists and their supporters span countries, cultures, political systems and socio-economic backgrounds. They include both highly educated elites and more humble "foot soldiers." Followers are recruited from around the world, including our own country. CSIS strives to prevent terrorist acts from being planned in Canada, from occurring on Canadian territory and from affecting Canadian citizens and assets abroad.

The rights and freedoms we enjoy are far too often taken for granted in this country. There are those within Canada's borders who have very little respect for them and are working to undermine those rights.

There are very real threats to Canada posed by terrorists, and it would seem only reasonable and sane for any citizen who isn't a terror-supporter to want to help CSIS do their job.

Some people overestimate the government's ability to protect us. They can't be everywhere and know everything. For a democratic society to function effectively, citizens have to be engaged in government. Sometimes that means criticizing the government when they make mistakes and other times it means helping them to make informed decisions. The only way anyone can make an informed decision is if they have access to relevant information.

Because we live in a liberal democracy, with rule of law and respect for individual liberties, an agency like CSIS can only ask for citizens' cooperation. Canadians are within their rights to refuse to speak to them. But who would counsel against helping a government agency devoted to protecting the safety of this country's citizens?

Oh..of course.. The People's Commission Network!

The People's Commission Network, who possess a name that sounds borrowed from Pol Pot's Cambodia, is a working group of the Concordia University student-funded Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia. The same people who are celebrating dead German terrorist Ulrike Meinhof.

The People's Commission Network is having a conference of bad citizenry in February, where they will aim "to throw into question the very existence of national security agencies like CSIS" to be followed by a "solidarity dinner" for Mohamed Harkat, whom Federal Court Judge Simon Noel found to be duplicitous and a member of the bin Laden terror network.

Not only that, but The People's Commission Network has produced a video to provide you with everything Canadians need to know about non-cooperation with their government's Security Intelligence Service.

Doesn't this make you feel all warm and glowing about Concordia U?

One of Jared Loughner's shooting victims arrested for death threat against Tea Party spokesman

From MSNBC:

TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson mass shooting victim was taken into custody Saturday after yelling "you're dead" at a Tea Party spokesman during the taping of an ABC-TV town hall event hosted by Christianne Amanpour. 

The Pima County Sheriff's Office said J. Eric Fuller, 63, was involuntarily committed to an undisclosed medical facility, NBC News reported. The Associated Press said he was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. ...  

KGUN reported that Fuller took exception to comments by Republican state Rep. Terri Proud and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries.

Fuller was in the front row and apparently became upset when Humphries suggested that any conversations about gun control should be delayed until all the dead were buried, KGUN reported. 

Fuller took a picture of Humphries and shouted, “You’re dead.”

Sand Art to Vivaldi's Winter

Don't try to make sense of this - it's just a turtle and a dog re-enacting Star Wars

Abu Dhabi's high court rules it's ok to beat your wife as long as you don't leave marks

I don't get why the middle east is so worked up about waterboarding. Evidently it's a perfectly acceptable means of settling domestic disputes in Abu Dhabi.

ABU DHABI // A man has the right to discipline his wife and children provided he does not leave physical marks, the Federal Supreme Court has ruled.

The judgment was made in the case of a man who slapped and kicked his daughter and slapped his wife. 

The wife suffered injuries to her lower lip and teeth, and the daughter had bruises on her right hand and right knee. The court ruled that the bruises were evidence that the father had abused his Sharia right.

According to Islamic law, a man has the "right to discipline" his wife and children, which can include beating them after he has exhausted two other options: admonition and then abstaining from sleeping with his wife.

So you don't think the Canadian radical left is violent and anti-democratic?

They are celebrating Ulrike Meinhof, of the notorious terror and murder organization, the Baader Meinhof Gang, at a special event sponsored by Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia.

The Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia was discussed in a post here a few months ago. It's funded, unwittingly, by students at Concordia University in Montreal.

The bad guys really have insinuated themselves all over. No wonder they don't like it when anyone talks to CSIS.

Why I love the anti-Israel movement

Canada's Marxists and radical socialists represent a threat to liberal democracy.

Or at least they would if they weren't incompetent buffoons.

Still, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that many of them have insinuated themselves into our educational system at the university level, and even in some high schools and use their position to influence impressionable, weak minds. Generally dishonest about their political goals and motives, they get most upset when they are exposed.

Marxism has always led to totalitarianism in governmental practice and some of Canada's radicals have made no secret of their anti-democratic, violent intentions.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, with China's Communist party committed to that country's traditional local interest, and with Cuba's Castro ailing and nearing death, Communism just doesn't get people concerned anymore. And while for the most part it shouldn't, that doesn't mean that it can be completely dismissed.

As far as threats to western civilization go these days, extremist Islam, which combines irrational fanaticism with bloodthirstiness, presents the greatest danger.

But fanaticism of all kinds that oppose liberal democracies represent a danger to the freedoms we enjoy.

And that's one of the reasons Israel does such a service to the civilized world.  What cause unites moonbat socialists with hateful theocrats who want to kill apostates? There may be a passing issue, in that any time the west acts in the interests of itself and against totalitarianism in the middle east or third world, these two seemingly opposite ideologies converge.

But it's the matter of Israel where these ridiculous fanatics reveal their true nature. Unable to stomach the idea that a liberal democracy with a Jewish majority should be allowed to exist and defend itself from anti-democratic, violent, totalitarian enemies, they beclown themselves in their hysteria.

Sometimes it takes a bit of work to find ways of revealing how these radicals are indeed preposterous (ok, not so much work in the case of the 9-11 conspiracy nuts), but no one does all the work for you like the Israel-hating crazies. They make themselves look so utterly demented that it surpasses any possible parody.

These are people who have religious zealots who think homosexuals should be killed marching arm-in-arm with a group that calls itself "Queers against Israeli apartheid." How is it possible to make that look any more idiotic than it actually is?

Today's installment of our ongoing comedic adventure is provided by nutbar website rabble.ca, the neo-Marxist, union-financed mouthpiece for Canadian radicalism.

Rabble.ca has provided countless laughs to readers of this blog, so I am eternally grateful to Judy Rebick for having founded it.

Two Israel-haters, University of Western Ontario French Professor David Heap and Wendy Goldsmith, collaborated on a little paean to The Sea Hitler, the Canadian attempt to get a boat to break Israel's Gaza blockade.

I don't know if there's anything funny about Heap that I could write that isn't done better by his official University of Western Ontario faculty picture.

But it's Wendy Goldsmith, a London, Ontario social worker, who provides the clearest example of how it's really impossible to make these people look more foolish than they do on their own.

And she does it with a poem about her hatred for Israel that she wrote for rabble, an excerpt of which follows.

The poem is titled "in memory of the nine brave, courageous peace activists whose lives were stolen by murderous war criminals who spin lies, black out independent media, violate international law repeatedly! repeatedly! yes, this is for them...in memory of the nine brave, courageous peace activists who were murdered by Israeli soldiers, in the name of TRUTH."

No. That's not the excerpt. It's not the dedication. It's the title.

No, I'm not kidding. I only wish I could create parody that inventive.

This is the excerpt:

as long as the israeli lunatics

float down to deck

guns blazing like a bad scene in a low budget spaghetti western

or a disney kids' movie 

as long as conventions and international laws

mean no more than the toilet paper i use every morning

for as long as democracy rhymes with hypocracy

Really - how is it possible to expose the ridiculousness of fanaticism any better than something like this? It does all my work for me.

And that's why I love the anti-Israel fanatics!

There is not and was not a boycott of Israeli products at The Bay.. or was there? No..just a badly timed product rebranding

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies just sent out the following:

TORONTO – January 13, 2011: TORONTO – January 13, 2011: After careful investigation into rumours of a boycott of Israeli-based Ahava beauty products by the Hudson’s Bay Company, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) has discovered there is no boycott of Ahava or any other Israel-based products. This has been confirmed by both Ahava’s Israel office and its head office for North America in New York. It has further been directly confirmed by HBC’s President and CEO, Bonnie Brooks. 

“We are very pleased to note that the Bay has come out strongly against the pressure to join an antisemitic boycott by a radical organization in Canada,” said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of FSWC. “It is very important for community leaders to investigate matters of this nature diligently, rather than empower and give prominence to the Israel boycotters,” he explained.

The following statement on behalf of Bonnie Brooks, expected to be honoured by the Israel Cancer Research Fund later this year, was released today:

“The brand in question, Ahava, has been discontinued globally by the brand owner, not by The Bay. One of our largest shareholders of the Hudson's Bay Trading Company is one of North America's most significant Israel supporters, and our Governor along with our Chief Beauty Merchant responsible for this product range, are both Jewish. We do not discontinue products due to pressure from any source other than our own decision based on either sales performance or product quality,” Ms. Brooks said. “We are very concerned that we have received hundreds of emails and negative customer reaction inside our stores, all due to the spreading of incorrect information, which has upset our many customers, employees, their families and the fashion industry who are supportive of Israel. We would appreciate the parties involved in the protest, being set straight as soon as possible,” she added.

UPDATE FROM BNAI BRITH:

JEWISH CANADA UPDATE ON AHAVA AND THE BAY

Further to the Community Alert B'nai Brith Canada issued earlier this
week, and the contradictory explanations that have been given by
representatives of the Bay on the Ahava issue, B'nai Brith has followed
up with another letter which includes the following offer to the
company:   

The Bay, which is among the retail outlets being targeted by a
coordinated anti-Israel campaign, appears to have underestimated the
sensitivity of the situation and the need for the corporation to express
one clearly enunciated position, with one consistent message, to its
customers and to the public. After receiving concerned calls from
individuals who witnessed products being removed while protests were
taking place, we took the precaution of checking with The Bay for an
explanation. A person who identified herself as a spokesperson insisted
that it was a "business decision" made by The Bay. The explanation you
have since circulated, which insists it was a decision by the
manufacturer/distributer, contradicts the explanation you are now
offering the public.  

Regardless of the explanation behind The Bay's actions, The Bay has
failed to deal with the concerns of its customers in so far as it has
not issued a clear statement as any effective public relations strategy
would dictate. By offering contradictory explanations, the company has
to take responsibility for the confusion that has ensued. Regardless of
explanations offered, the fact that the removal of the Israeli-made
products coincides with the bigoted anti-Israel campaign has left
boycott propagandists with the public perception of a victory. For
example, Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, the
instigators of the boycott, and the Palestine Solidarity Network are now
publicly thanking The Bay for dropping Ahava products and removing the
products from its shelves. The Bay is already being held up by
anti-Israel agitators as an example of what a boycott campaign can
achieve.  

As a way of helping you to clarify and rectify the situation, we are
prepared to offer you advertising space free of charge in the largest
Anglo-Jewish publication in Canada, the Jewish Tribune, so that you can
promote the Israeli-made products you carry. This will indicate that The
Bay firmly resists attempts to accede to the demands of boycott
campaigners.

IT IS NOW UP TO THE BAY

UPDATE 2: From The Canada Israel Committee and The Bay

The Bay and AHAVA: A Marketing Decision


January 13, 2011 – 4:37 pm Toronto, January 13, 2011


Last week, after a regularly-scheduled review of the products it offers, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) discontinued sales of AHAVA beauty products, primarily because of sales results which had been declining for several years.

Although this decision was made by HBC solely for commercial reasons, it occurred at the same time as an aggressive campaign by several groups advocating a boycott of AHAVA products. At no point did political considerations enter into the exercise of HBC's business judgment. HBC has made it clear that it has not "bowed to political pressure" in the past, has not done so now and will not do so in the future. HBC neither subscribes to nor endorses politically-motivated boycotts of merchandise from countries with whom Canada has open and established trading relationships, including Israel.

AHAVA products will soon be reformulated and redesigned as a totally changed brand. The new AHAVA products will be ready by mid-spring and is planned to be re-launched at HBC stores across Canada. We encourage consumers across Canada to purchase those products as soon as they are available.

Bonnie Brooks

Chief Adventurer and CEO, The Bay


Moshe Ronen

National Chair, Canada-Israel Committee

Why the Left lost it - from The Wall Street Journal

Dan Henninger wrote an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal explaining the left's particular reaction to the Arizona mass murder by Jared Loughner. It's a very insightful perspective.

Hillbuzz summarizes it as follows:

Henniger says two things:

 (1) Leftist writers like Paul Krugman, Ezra Klein, Jonathan Alter, and the rest who have been shamelessly using this tragedy to score political points for Democrats do so because they don’t know how to write any other way: they are just programmed to turn anything that happens into something that they think will help Democrats and hurt Republicans. They are purely agenda driven in all their content.

(2) The Leftist writers, and the Left in general, genuinely believe the lies they tell. And they are terrified of the Left being banished to the political wilderness for another three decades or so, the way it was after Carter’s disastrous presidency. They must, thus, stop at nothing to destroy the things they know will bring the Left down…and that is personified in Governor Palin and the Tea Party movement.

The Jared Loughner of nations is among us

A crazy, belligerent exhibits warning signs for years.

Violent rhetoric and threats are a routine characteristic. There are clear signs of mental instability marked by incoherence with desultory and delusional outbursts. There have even been actual incidents of violence perpetrated from this source.

When a vicious, pernicious maelstrom of death inevitably occurs, there is outrage directed towards those who seemingly should have recognized the dangers and yet did nothing.

No, this isn’t just a description of Arizona mass murderer Jared Loughner. It’s also a description of something far more dangerous: the leadership of The Islamic Republic of Iran.

Amazingly, some of the people who are so upset at the supposed instigation of Loughner by right wing vitriol are among those who are acting as apologists for, if not proxies of the murderous Iranian regime.

The leadership of Iran are Holocaust-deniers who have repeatedly threatened violence. They are responsible for international terrorism. They deny their people the right to free speech and political dissent. They actively persecute religious minorities, like the Bahia's whose only crime is to believe that a prophet lived after Mohammad. Iran's religious police imprison women for immodesty and then rape them in jail.

If the Iranian leadership were a single person living in the US, it would have been given a death sentence a long time ago.

Iran's theocracy is far more dangerous than a crazed lone gunman with a pistol. It's a crazed ideological movement that is about to acquire a nuclear weapon.

The opportunity to prevent that still exists, but will pass soon.

President Obama attended a memorial service Wednesday for the victims of a single madman. People look at this tragedy and say, "If only we would have acted when we had the chance."

Unless Obama finds the courage and determination to effectively confront Iran, there may be thousands upon thousands of memorial services for Americans and others as a result of his inaction.

Pakistan becomes beacon of religious tolerance!

A Pakistani court only gave life sentences, instead of the usual death sentence, to two men convicted of blasphemy.

That makes them practically a liberal democracy (for an Islamic republic).

Let Toronto Police know you appreciate them!

The last 24 hours have been bad ones for Toronto Police officers and for the city.

Toronto Police Sergeant Ryan Russell was killed and another constable injured when trying to stop a manic who stole a snowplough and took it on a rampage through a number of downtown neighbourhoods.

The night before, a Toronto police officer was injured by a radical leftist thug at a protest against the Jewish Defence League.

Toronto police officers are good men and women doing a difficult job. They spend their days and nights working to help the citizens of  this city and often risk their lives to do so.

It's a hard job because a huge percentage of the people they deal with are distressed by crimes perpetrated against them, or are aggravated and in many cases are violent. Think about how often you have to deal with something like that at your workplace. If you're the average person, the answer will be rarely or never.

Having to deal with that kind of pressure and responsibility is a difficult burden, and Toronto's cops overwhelmingly bear it with courage and grace.

As a young child, I grew up with cops around. My father had many friends on the force in 51 Division and they were friendly, wickedly funny men who were uniformly (no pun) decent, honorable Canadians. One of my favorite childhood memories is when my dad's friend, Officer John Little, a large man known by the moniker of his reverse namesake from Sherwood Forest, much to my shock, actually let me hold his service revolver when I asked him.

I used to ask him just about every time I saw him and the refusal was so consistent that the whole question of, "Can I hold your gun?" was more of a ritual than a genuine inquiry. But for some reason, on this occasion, he decided I was ready.

For a five year-old, it was an ebullient thrill to watch him remove the bullets and then pass the revolver to my anxiously waiting hands. In my mind, I was going to be Steve McGarrett and wield the gun like an expert TV show cop. What happened was that  as soon I took hold of the gun, both my hands dropped to an immediate 180 degrees. The real thing was a heck of a lot heavier than the gun from my Lone Ranger cap gun set.

Like any other kid, I grew up on TV shows and movies where police shootouts were weekly, if not daily occurrences, at least in that fictional world. In the real one, it was surprising to hear that most of the policemen I knew never fired their weapons once in the line of duty. Most had only had to remove their pistols from their holsters only once or twice over lengthy careers.

Toronto was a smaller, safer city back then.

When I was a kid, police I knew used to encourage me to say hi or at least smile at passing cops. They said they appreciated the friendly gesture from the people they were there to protect and serve. It's something I still do and think we all should.

There are some miscreants who view the police only as impediments to their ability to commit crimes. Incredibly, there are still narcissistic, nitwit cultists who think of police as "fascist pigs who are instruments of state oppression."

The policemen and women of Toronto are honourable, brave individuals who are risking their lives for us and who deserve our appreciation. Today's events were a tragic reminder of that.

Lebanese govt falls as Hezbollah's Grand Poobah Nassrallah unhappy about being fingered for Hariri murder

From The Globe and Mail

Hezbollah topples Lebanon’s government over Hariri probe

A Lebanese official says Hezbollah ministers and their allies have resigned from the Cabinet, forcing the government to fall.
 
Energy Minister Jibran Bassil told a news conference Wednesday that 10 ministers are pulling out. Soon after, one more minister resigned in order to force the government to fall.

The ministers are stepping down from the 30-member Cabinet over tensions stemming from a United-Nations-backed tribunal investigating the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

The incredible, non-credible, conspiracy-filled world of Jenny Peto

It all started here. This is the blog that brought national and international attention to Jenny Peto's masterpiece of paranoia, "The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education."

Her work was a Master's thesis for the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto that alleges mainstream Holocaust education programs are part of an evil Zionist conspiracy to, in her words, "obscure Jewish privilege, deny Jewish racism and promote the interests of the Israeli nation-state."

On the surface that sounds pretty idiotic. She doesn't further her credibility with bizarre contentions like:

"Having shown that Ashkenazi Jews are now privileged white people, I will then work to expose some of the tactics that are used to perpetuate the idea that Jews are inherently and forever victimized." (pg.8)

Many people aside from me, including Professor Werner Cohn and Robyn Urback at Maclean's have commented at length about how OISE's acceptance of Ms. Peto's incompetent scholarship, which used no primary sources, was replete with factual errors, absurd speculation and personal reflection unrelated to the subject, made a mockery of of the concept of academic rigour. So much so, that it called the credibility of OISE as a faculty into question.

Ms Peto and Sheryl Nestel, the academic supervisor for her polemic, have kept a relatively low profile since the public exposure of its existence, with the exception of a love note Ms Peto sent to me via the National Post.

Until now. Yesterday, the University of Toronto's student newspaper, The Varsity, published an interview with Ms Peto and Nestel where they are back on the big conspiracy bandwagon.

As Robyn Urback described it today, "her paper was attacked simply because she was purporting unpopular ideas. “I think that this is about who I am as a pro-Palestinian activist and what I have to say,” she said, “which is very critical of Israel, very critical of mainstream pro-Israel institutions in Canada, and critical of what I see as an abuse of Holocaust memory to justify Israeli apartheid.” In other words, all of that talk of misleading claims and spreading hate was really just a guise for mainstream intolerance of pro-Palestinian ideas."

As far as I'm concerned, this all brings together an interesting thread that comes from a variety of media sources. Perhaps it is not so strange that there is such a close link between conspiracy theorists and anti-Semitism. Part of the whole anti-Semitic proposition is a "world-wide conspiracy" of Jews.

Ms. Peto denies she can be an anti-Semite. But how else can one characterize statements from her thesis like, ""Worldwide, the organized Jewish community works tirelessly to support the racist Israeli state and in doing so, aligns itself with oppressive forces in their own countries." and "a mainstream Jewish community that is dominated by racist and Zionist ideologies"

Ms Peto's usual refrain is that she can't possibly be anti-Semitic because she is a Jew and a descendant of a Holocaust survivor. That assertion is, of itself, demonstrative of her lack of insight. Anti-Semitism is an ideology and prejudice, being a Jew is a matter of birth. Being of a particular ethnic group does not preclude the ability to hold any idea. But then, her inability to understand such a basic concept may be reflective of uncritical acceptance of the racialist theories taught amongst the pseudo-academic psychobabble of OISE's Sociology and Equity Studies in Education program.

But there is a common thread between Peto, Nestel, and a world where Egyptians accuse sharks of, and Saudi Arabia arrests a vulture for being an Israeli spy. It's also no coincidence that conspiracy theorists like 9-11 oddballs Joshua Blakeney and Michael Keefer have aligned themselves with Peto's cause.

This all reflects a paranoid, incompetent mindset that seeks to blame their own failings on others. It suggests a lacks of the introspective ability to question themselves and their own failings, and is so obsessed with attributing blame to an enemy that they create it where it doesn't exist.

Of course, it's so much easier to blame the "Zionists" or the "neo-Cons" than to look at yourself.  It wasn't so long ago that it was all "the blacks' fault."

Incompetent scholarship endorsed by a major university that receives public funds is a serious problem. It doesn't require a conspiracy to explain why there is public criticism of something so detrimental to the University of Toronto's reputation. It does require a conspiracy for the people responsible to try to excuse themselves.

Explicit calls for political violence come from the radical left in Canada

Any mass murder in North America has ramifications beyond the transparent tragedy that accompanies the death of innocents in a society that is comparatively among the safest in the world.

In trying to make sense of the incomprehensible, there are some who will try to find a culprit beyond the obvious, sometimes without any rational basis. The atrocity perpetrated by demented killer Jared Loughner over the weekend in which six innocent people were murdered and Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded has, what seems to be, an obvious explanation. The perpetrator, whose public pronouncements suggest an incoherent, unbalanced madman, was mentally ill and acted out out of psychosis.

But one of the tragedies in this case, that compounds the original one, is that there are no shortage of people who are happy to exploit these deaths for political and ideological motives.

Because the central victim in is a Democratic legislator whose district was identified by Sarah Palin as a "target" for  Republicans to take, Democrats and others on the left, both in the US and in Canada, have ebulliently grasped the opportunity to lay blame on the former Republican Vice Presidential candidate,the Republican party and "right wingers" in general for allegedly creating a climate filled with violent rhetoric that supposedly created these events.

Nothing could be more absurd.

From The Democratic Leadership Council website

Despite preposterous suggestions from people like Paul Krugman in The New York Times, there is no evidence whatsoever establishing that anything Sarah Palin, or Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh said that played any role in Loughner's deranged violence. Sarah Palin may be a bit of a buffoon more famous for celebrity itself than for political adroitness, but her use of political rhetoric never called for violence of any kind and it falls within the scope of discourse that typifies much of American politics.

Responsible conservatives are as opposed to violence as much as responsible liberals. We live in a democratic society where change can be achieved through persuasion and elections.


Sane people are appalled by and reject the idea of initiating transition by terror.

But what may be shocking to some is that in Canada, explicit calls for violence to achieve political ends are coming from none other than the radical left.

Or perhaps not so shocking. The most recent acts of publicized political violence in Canada came from The Black Bloc during Toronto's G20 conference. It was radical leftists who rioted and caused millions of dollars in damage to make a political statement.

But it doesn't end there. Prominent Canadian leftist Judy Rebick founded a Marxist-leaning website called rabble.ca. It's now published by the spouse of the NDP's Deputy Leader, Libby Davies and is mainly funded by Canadian unions like CUPW and CUPE. That site's discussion forum recently hosted a thread entitled, "When is the time for violent revolution?" in which its contributors made comments like:

"I was wondering when it would be ok to overthrow a government, violently if need be."

"Perhaps the reason the ballot box isn't working is because the ballot box isn't the way to the solution."

"I think 9/11 was just a test run. The people failed with flying colours. And I think it's an example of what's in store for the future if fascists back themselves into another corner."

"How many more decades should we wait? It appears that Canadians arent catching on, so should we suffer in silence for 30 more years? maybe a generation or three? Dont the better people of our society have a responsibility to the stupid?"

and worse.

Beyond that,  CUPE, CUPW, Independent Jewish Voices (an anti-Israel group) and the NDP's Socialist Caucus were all endorsers of a recent rally where one of the speakers called for violent revolution in Canada.

At a Toronto rally in support of convicted American cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamar, one of the speakers was an organizer from the Communist newsletter BASICS. Following a rambling speech about conspiracies and praising violent revolutionaries, he said "we haven't had any threat of insurrection or any, you know, revolutionary uprisings in Canada quite for, for quite some time, right? But that that doesn't mean that operation is not still in play."

This suggests that the Canadian radical left is not only advocating violence, but planning it.

This type of organized insurrection against democracy is far more dangerous than a lone madman. Violence for political means is deplorable, and no ideology or political movement has a monopoly on it. But its strongest proponents these days are not the "right-wingers" and "neo-Cons" but their opponents.

Adolescence can be a time of sexual discovery, but this is like discovering a toxic waste dump

From The Toronto Star:

There was a time when Lori Kooger was head over heels in love with Paul Bernardo.  

He was her celebrity idol.  

These days, the now 44-year-old widowed mother of three is herself accused of being a sexual predator and stalker of underage boys.  

From courthouse groupie to jailhouse custody, awaiting trial on charges of sexual interference, sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching involving two youths, one of whom is only 12.

read the rest of the article by Rosie DiManno here

Below are some of Ms Kooger's MySpace picures. Ironically, her MySpace name is Koogerbabe.

I guess she decided the name Kooger was a license to be a "cougar." As to the "babe" part, evidently a great deal of license was taken.







UPDATE: And in the Strange but True department

Arizona Rampage Reaction Round-up

The (alleged) crazed murderer, Jared Loughner, who killed six people over the weekend and shot U.S. House Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona) in the head, leaving her in critical condition has shocked America and much of the world. 

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has called for a thorough review of security measures.  

According to a readout of the conference call, Boehner said he had asked Larson and House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (Texas) to arrange the "in-depth security overview."  

In addition, the sergeant at arms and Capitol Police will conduct a bipartisan security briefing for district directors. "This is a time for the House to lock arms, both in condemnation of this heinous act, and in prayer for those killed and wounded in this attack," Boehner said. "At a time when an individual has shown us humanity at its worst, we must rise to the occasion for our nation and show Congress at its best."

Also on Wednesday, Congress will meet to consider a resolution honoring Giffords and the other victims of the shooting. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced that Congress will only meet pro forma on Tuesday, with no votes scheduled.

Paul Krugman, in a New York Times blog, blamed the shooting on a climate created by the rhetoric of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Ruch Limbaugh. 

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist. (Her father says that “the whole Tea Party” was her enemy.) And yes, she was on Sarah Palin’s infamous “crosshairs” list.  

Just yesterday, Ezra Klein remarked that opposition to health reform was getting scary. Actually, it’s been scary for quite a while, in a way that already reminded many of us of the climate that preceded the Oklahoma City bombing.  

You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.

Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard suggested that comments like Kriugman's amount to "McCarthyism."

He said there is no proof that Jared Loughner, the suspect, was a fan of Palin nor went to her website, which had labeled Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and other Democrats a political target last year; it was illustrated with a graphic of a crosshairs that has triggered a political debate.  

Federal authorities on Sunday filed murder charges against Loughner.  

Kristol said those who are blaming Palin, such as Paul Krugman of The New York Times, are practicing "McCarthyism."  

"The attempt to exploit this tragedy is distasteful," Kristol said.

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey cautioned against jumping to any political links in the shooting and said "the answer will come from psychology, not from sociology or political science."

"The fact of the matter is, we still have extremely important critical issues of public policy that must be sorted out," Armey said on ABC's "This Week." "Now, hopefully this will be done in a more civil way. But this incident is no basis by which anybody who sees their duty to America to stand down from that duty, but to redouble it, perhaps with a greater degree of caution, and hopefully with a greater degree of civility. "We've always wanted that," he said. "But still, nevertheless, we must do our duty and defend our liberties in this great country."

Yippee-Ay-Oh-Kay-Yay!

And for no particular reason ..

An idea isn't a good one unless you share it

From a Scientific American review of Steven Johnson's book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation

Protecting our ideas from others may mean they never see the light, according to Steven Johnson in his new book, Where Good Ideas Come From. By sharing these thoughts, however, we can connect with our peers and contribute to powerful networks that “shape the flow of information and inspiration.” Take the invention of GPS. This handy navigation system was originally invented because scientists were trying to determine the precise location of the Russian satellite Sputnik at any moment as it traveled.  

Johnson argues that although we tend to think that good ideas emerge from our mental prowess, our environment provides an equally crucial influence. If we isolate ourselves from the intellectual influence of others, good ideas rarely develop. Johnson illustrates this point by discussing research by psychologist Kevin Dunbar, who studied how scientists work in the laboratory. Dunbar set up cameras to watch and listen in and found that the most important ideas were not generated by individuals but by groups of scientists who exchanged information in lab meetings. 

Johnson also tells us that eureka moments are rare. The best new ideas develop by gradually adding bits of complexity to older ideas. For instance, the Web has become increasingly complex since it was invented 20 years ago. From just a few thousand Web sites, the network has ballooned to more than 100 million sites with 25 billion pages of information.

Today is the King's Birthday!!

He'd have been 76 today






And look who's 64 today:

Off with their heads! (Pt. 2) Researchers have documented yet another health benefit for circumcision

(Reuters) - Researchers have documented yet another health benefit for circumcision, which can protect men against the AIDS virus, saying it can protect their wives and girlfriends from a virus that causes cervical cancer.  

Wives and girlfriends of circumcised men had a 28 percent lower rate of infection over two years with the human papilloma virus or HPV, which causes warts and cervical cancer, they reported in the Lancet medical journal on Thursday. 

"Our findings indicate that male circumcision should now be accepted as an efficacious intervention for reducing the prevalence and incidence of HPV infections in female partners. However, protection is only partial; the promotion of safe sex practices is also important," Dr. Maria Wawer and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore wrote.

read the whole article at Reuters

The Devil's Rain

I actually saw The Devil's Rain when I was a kid and got to thinking about it when I was reading a post on Blazing Cat Fur about the United Church of Canada, an organization that has elevated itself to "co-creators with God." I don't buy it, but that belief does explain a lot about them.

The blog Things That Don't Suck provides a very funny rundown of this movie (loads of spoilers!)
that involves, well.. an evil cult, the devil and rain. But it's the Devil's Rain!

And if that isn't enticing enough, how about a cast that includes William Shatner, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, John Travolta, Keenan Wynn and Ernest Borgnine as Satan!

And the technical advisor was none other than notorious High Priest of the Church of Satan, George Galloway Anton Lavey!

As a special treat, until YouTube removes it, here's the whole movie!

WARNING! This movie is seriously weird and once you've seen it, you can't unsee it! Enter at your own risk.

Campbell's Soup sponsors website that approves of the murder of blasphemers against Islam

TheMuslim.ca an Islamist website based in Canada, has just posted an editorial that supports the murder of "blasphemers against Islam"

And who is TheMuslim.ca's marquee sponsor?

Campbell's!

mmm..mmm Jihadi good!

I think I'll be switching to Heinz and Knorr's!

h/t Blazing Cat Fur and Scaramouche

I keep stealing Blazing Cat Fur's artwork - I hope he doesn't sue me!

UPDATE Jan 11: This post has been making the rounds and reader Sanwin reports that Campbell's have pulled their ads from TheMurder TheMuslim.ca

The Palestinian Proletariat

British Prime Minister David Cameron recently called Gaza a “prison camp.” Former President Jimmy Carter has called it a “cage.” At first glance, these characterizations of the Hamas-ruled ­province seem like rhetorical excesses designed to cast Israel in the role of the unjust jailer blockading the strip. But Cameron and Carter have got it right, in a way. Gaza is a totalitarian paramilitary camp at war with its neighbors and other Palestinians. It is a paramilitary camp because it is a unique type of refugee camp. The narrow confines of the 139 square miles of the Gaza district—surrounded by Israel to the north and east, Egypt to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west—feature eight separate Palestinian refugee camps, plus dozens of surrounding ghettos. Altogether, they combine the features of a refugee camp and a military camp and, cut off from the world, look to some extent like the cages Carter mentioned. 

These camps were established in 1949 and have been financed ever since by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Yet far from seeking to help residents build a new and better life either in Gaza or elsewhere, UNRWA is paying millions of refugees to perpetuate their refugee status, generation after generation, as they await their forcible return to the land inside the State of Israel.

read the rest of the article by Michael Bernstam at Commentary Magazine

Naomi Wolf wants sexual assualt victims to be named

Feminist author Naomi Wolf is now arguing in Britain's socialist-leaning newspaper, The Guardian, that sex assault victims, whose identities courts have shielded for the last generation, should now be revealed.

And why this sudden turnaround?

Because Wiki-leaks Julian Assange is the subject of sexual assault charges!

Also: On rape, the left still doesn't get it

"It's been known for some time that Assange was accused of using his body weight to force sex on one woman, ignoring her demand that he use a condom, and penetrating the other woman while she slept, also without a condom, despite her wishes; yet writer after writer has treated the whole thing as a big joke. It was "sex by surprise" – some arcane Swedish thing – wrote Dave Lindorff on Truthout. Also, Assange didn't tell the second woman about the first and didn't return her phone call. Hell hath no fury like a groupie scorned.

Appearing on Keith Olbermann's show after he put up $20,000 to help bail Assange out of a British jail, Michael Moore – apparently an expert on Swedish rape law – called the case "a bunch of hooey"

The right to free speech is not the right to force people to listen to you

While claiming to speak "for the people", communists and Marxists uniformly behave as if they are the sole custodians of "the people's will." They think they know better than you what is in your interest, which is why they act as if views they disagree with should be barred while their own should be imposed.

Even when operating in democratic countries, communists never seem quite able to manage a fundamental understanding of democratic principles and only seem to grasp their trappings. In countries where there is a free press and free speech, radical socialists and communists complain that they are unable to get their message out. If that's true, it's not because of any concerted effort to suppress what they are saying. It is, of course, due to their own ineptitude and their lack of having anything to say that people want to hear. There are any number of means of mass communication, via blogs, a competitive mainstream media, social media, publications and so on. The average Canadian has more access to diverse media now than any previous society in world history.

If a message isn't taking hold it isn't because there aren't means of disseminating it. It's because people don't find the message compelling.

But some (e.g. communists and Islamist Human Rights Commission complainants) demand that they should be able to impose their opinions on others while claiming their right to free speech is being denied.

Which is pretty stupid.

Free speech is the right to say or write what you like. It isn't the right to demand that others listen to you or  have to broadcast your opinion.

But Canadian communists are like the ugly, bitter wallflower who handles rejection badly.

A recent outburst involves Canadian communist Kimball Cariou (how's that for an alliteration!).

Offended that colorful Hockey commentator Don Cherry is expressing support for Canadian soldiers fighting against totalitarians in Afghanistan, Cariou, joined by Sea Hitler (Canadian Gaza boat) swabbie Derirck O'Keefe are demanding Cherry change his ways or that they should be able to appear on Hockey Night in Canada to debate him.

They have formed a group, absurdly calling themselves "Hockey Fans for Peace" - a misnomer since there are too many exceptions to their peace activism to mention; Afghan women, Lebanese being persecuted by Hezbollah, religious minorities in Iran, Jews in Israel, Christians in the Muslim world plus plenty more would all seem to be exempt from the peace interests of these people. "Warmongers Against the West" has a better ring to it and is a better description, but I doubt they'd take my suggestion. However, I digress..

The point is that in democratic Canada, you have every right to say what you want about Cherry and the war. But until the Stalinists run the show here, people like Cariou and O'Keefe don't get to tell anyone what they have to hear.

Helen Thomas is back!

She's back and writing for the Falls Church News Press

The only question is: does she still eat the brains of the living?

Ontario Human Rights Commission investigating whether to make crackheads and alcoholics* a protected category

* I meant "cocaine-challenged and alcohol-deprived citizens"

No, I'm not making this up:

Toronto - The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) launched a survey today to learn more about the human rights issues and barriers people with mental health and addiction disabilities face. The survey kicks off a broader consultation process on human rights and mental health-related issues.  

The questions are aimed at learning how discrimination because of a person’s mental health issue or addiction may affect their ability to find and keep a job, get an apartment or connect with education and health-related services.

You'll never guess who's working for Mossad now!

First it was the Mossad Shark, when paranoid Arab fanatics blamed shark attacks in the Red Sea on Israel..

Now the Mossad Vulture?!? A tagged vulture, part of an avian study at Tel Aviv University, flew into Saudi Arabia and was promptly arrested as a spy. Maybe a prisoner exchange for Joe the Camel can be arranged.

I guess we know who's working for Israel's spy agency now. I should have realized they were part of the Zionist conspiracy!

Bet you never knew Tarzan's last name was Leibowitz

Mossad's top shark handler

Assistant Director and Director of Mossad's Avian Bureau conferring before Parliamentary hearing

Sky News thinks this might be the new head of Mossad

UPDATE: James Bond is part of the Zionist plot too..

h/t Blazing Cat Fur

OISE M Ed. claims she was victim of "sexist oppression" by being ignored in hardware store

It's way past the point of saying Canada's radicals are so ridiculous they have to be seen and heard to be believed.

Now I'm prepared to believe at least the possibility of anything, no matter how preposterous it sounds.

In the video below, an "anti-racism activist and feminist macro-thinker" alleges she is the victim of "sexist oppression" because when she goes to a hardware store on College Street in Toronto, she is ignored.

The "macro-thinker," May Lui, who has an M Ed. from OISE, apparently doesn't have a macro-thought that enables her to conceive of an explanation for being ignored in a hardware store other than "sexist oppression." I can think of quite a few possibilities..

Our "macro-thinker" also doesn't seem to have much experience with the unique species from which hardware store employees are drawn. The whole point of working in a hardware store is to get a feeling of superiority over the hapless and helpless customers who venture in for assistance. I get ignored in hardware stores until I go to the counter and say, "Hey! Got any 3/8" steel-plated acorn nuts?" and then I'm lucky if I get pointed to the right aisle with an index finger instead of a middle one. Maybe I too am the victim of sexist oppression! Perhaps I can get a lifetime supply of WD40 with an HRC complaint.

What is hard to believe is that these perpetually aggrieved people may actually take themselves seriously. One is also left to wonder if they realize how they devalue the meaning of the word "oppression" by using it so frivolously.

Check out the 3:30 point of the video below:

Shakedown Socialism

From the book by Oleg Atbashian:

"If some people had wings and others didn't, and the government wanted to enforce "fairness," soon no one would have wings. Because wings cannot be redistributed, they can only be broken. Likewise, a government edict cannot make people smarter or more capable, but it can impede the growth of those with the potential. Wouldn't it be fair if, in the name of equality, we scar the beautiful, cripple the athletes, lobotomize the scientists, blind the artists, and sever the hands of the musicians? Why not?"

Shakedown Socialism is a unique book in many ways. It is a decisive refutation of the principles of socialism and "progressivism." The author, Oleg Atbashian, draws on his personal experiences growing up in the totalitarian economic system of the old Soviet Union to show why socialism not only has not worked, but cannot work.  

Atbashian's own awakening from an inculcated acceptance of the superiority of communism to an embrace of the free market is the underlying story of the book. Growing up in the Ukraine, Atbashian gradually became aware of the hypocrisy of those who ran the command economy of the Soviet Union. While proclaiming the virtues of forced "economic equality" all of the Soviet officials, the "apparatchiks" who ran the country, instinctively sought every advantage they could not just for themselves, but for their children. Reflecting on this, Atbashian recognized the fatal flaw of socialism - Every parent will seek to secure the best for their children.

Uncle Leo!!

Sea Hitler swabbies say "Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism seek(s) to criminalize support for Palestinian human rights"

David Heap and Derrick O'Keefe are members of "the national steering committee" for what opponents have dubbed The Sea Hitler, a Canadian boat that a Marxist/Socialist/Islamist coalition hopes to use to undermine Israel's Gaza blockade, and they seem to be somewhat detached from reality.

In a column written by the two of them, presumably because it took their collective intelligence to compose something so abstruse, they (and in the case of Heap, not for the first time) have become hysterical and histrionic at criticism of their effort to tacitly enable Iranian arms smuggling to Hamas.

They accuse their critics of trying to "smear" them, although the best they can do for an alleged "smear" is the University of British Columbia's Alma Mater Society's investigation of possible terrorist links in a proposed Canadian aid boat to Gaza.  That was following the publicity of Omar "F*ck Canada Day" Shaban strong-arming approval for $700 of student funds to go to the Sea Hitler.

What Heap and O'Keefe can do, however, is produce some bizarre and unsubstantiated ravings such as "groups like the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism seek to criminalize support for Palestinian human rights, we refuse to be intimidated by the twin hysterical allegations of “terrorism” and “anti-Semitism.”

But even more interesting is the Sea Hitler crew's admission that they don't really expect any "aid" to get to Gaza on the boat. "The significance of the international Freedom Flotilla movement is not in the amounts or types of goods we manage to bring in or out of Gaza, it is in challenging the blockade itself."

This confirms accusations that the purpose of the Sea Hitler and such efforts provide tacit, if, in some cases, unintentional assistance in Iran's efforts to smuggle weapons to Hamas.

6 Supervillains From History That Make The Joker Look Subtle

Funny (and real) from Cracked Magazine

Man almost raped by magic cat in Guantanamo! Love that al-Jazeera!

Al-Jazeera broadcast this interview in which a former Guantanamo prisoner claims that Jews at Guantanamo put magic spells on the prisoners. He knows this from the time an invisible cat tried to rape him.

The interviewer takes him very seriously, because all of this is very credible in that backwards part of the world.