Find me a find, catch me a catch.
HUBBA HUBBA!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Ann Coulter's "Retard" Tweet
So far, I haven't been terribly impressed by Ann Coulter's critics.
That's mostly because I don't think most of her current critics-on this particular issue-had the same vociferous reaction when Trig Palin was being mocked.
I believe this is a language policing issue. Ann Coulter is right not to apologize.
CNN actually said that President Obama was given more time because he "speaks lower". In other words, that his speech was retarded, slowed down. But nobody seems to be having a hissy fit that CNN called the President retarded.
I have a mentally handicapped child. A retarded child. One of his issues is mental retardation. That means he intellectually slow, slower than other children his age. I don't really care what anyone calls him.
I've written about this before.
I care about how he is treated, I care if he has a meaningful life. I care about his life being the best it can be. I object to "retard" being used as an insult, it's what some people are, but it is a colloquialism that a lot of people still use, and SO WHAT?
The words that are used to describe mentally disabled people are not the issue. The issue is how they are treated and how much respect their is for their lives. Do all the holier than thous respect these individual lives, or are they just putting on a show.
It's sort of like empathy kabuki theatre.
What it really is, is a token platitude covering up a general discomfort with disability.
The other thing is, I wonder how most of these people, who are so exquisitely offended by the term "retard"-when used by Ann Coulter, feel about mentally retarded people in general. Have they ever met any?
I think a large number of them take the position that individuals with disabilities are better off not born. I think the majority of them find retarded people repellant and disgusting. And that is what troubles me much more than the word "retarded".
The left loathes disabled people. Read up on Margaret Sanger and Peter Singer-just to name a few. Read what the National SOCIALISTS did to their own disabled flesh and blood. They perfected their murder techniques on their own disabled children, before refining mechanized murder against the Jews.
Are these same individuals in favour of "allowing" Down Syndrome individuals the privilege of being born?
That's mostly because I don't think most of her current critics-on this particular issue-had the same vociferous reaction when Trig Palin was being mocked.
I believe this is a language policing issue. Ann Coulter is right not to apologize.
CNN actually said that President Obama was given more time because he "speaks lower". In other words, that his speech was retarded, slowed down. But nobody seems to be having a hissy fit that CNN called the President retarded.
I have a mentally handicapped child. A retarded child. One of his issues is mental retardation. That means he intellectually slow, slower than other children his age. I don't really care what anyone calls him.
I've written about this before.
I care about how he is treated, I care if he has a meaningful life. I care about his life being the best it can be. I object to "retard" being used as an insult, it's what some people are, but it is a colloquialism that a lot of people still use, and SO WHAT?
The words that are used to describe mentally disabled people are not the issue. The issue is how they are treated and how much respect their is for their lives. Do all the holier than thous respect these individual lives, or are they just putting on a show.
It's sort of like empathy kabuki theatre.
What it really is, is a token platitude covering up a general discomfort with disability.
The other thing is, I wonder how most of these people, who are so exquisitely offended by the term "retard"-when used by Ann Coulter, feel about mentally retarded people in general. Have they ever met any?
I think a large number of them take the position that individuals with disabilities are better off not born. I think the majority of them find retarded people repellant and disgusting. And that is what troubles me much more than the word "retarded".
The left loathes disabled people. Read up on Margaret Sanger and Peter Singer-just to name a few. Read what the National SOCIALISTS did to their own disabled flesh and blood. They perfected their murder techniques on their own disabled children, before refining mechanized murder against the Jews.
Are these same individuals in favour of "allowing" Down Syndrome individuals the privilege of being born?
The Benghazi Fiasco
Utterly reprehensible.
"The father of Tyrone Woods, the ex-Navy SEAL who died while trying to defend Ambassador Chris Stevens in the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, made the rounds of some radio shows yesterday, and the tale he told of his meetings with top administration officials doesn’t put any of them in a flattering light."
So, not only does it appear that an American ambassador was essentially sent on a suicide mission into Libya, we now, as each day passes, learn more and more about the despicable behaviour of senior administration officials in their limited and perversely inappropriate dealings with bereaved parents.
From one bereaved father, we learn that the President could not look him in the eye and that he sensed no sense of remorse or sorrow from the country's leader.
We learn that the Vice President made a joke about his murdered sons' testicles and that Hilary Clinton vowed to jail the person who made the idiotic video that has been the scapegoat for the the second 9/11.
As I have said before, just when you think this administration has shown the most disgusting behaviour, and that it has sent a new moral low, lo and behold-new "accomplishments" are made.
This is a pitiful display once again from an administration that has no shame.
UPDATE:
President Obama should resign, or be impeached.
"Fox News has learned that there were two military surveillance drones redirected to Benghazi shortly after the attack on the consulate began. They were already in the vicinity. The second surveillance craft was sent to relieve the first drone, perhaps due to fuel issues. Both were capable of sending real time visuals back to U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. Any U.S. official or agency with the proper clearance, including the White House Situation Room, State Department, CIA, Pentagon and others, could call up that video in real time on their computers."
This means that drones were sent in, in order to watch everything-but help was not.
I think that the reason why this is really doesn't have the appropriate amount of attention in the American media and in the general American conscioun is because the idea is almost too painful to fathom. That an American administration could watch its people die and not offer help is almost incomprehensible. It's easier to look away than to think about this.
"The father of Tyrone Woods, the ex-Navy SEAL who died while trying to defend Ambassador Chris Stevens in the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, made the rounds of some radio shows yesterday, and the tale he told of his meetings with top administration officials doesn’t put any of them in a flattering light."
So, not only does it appear that an American ambassador was essentially sent on a suicide mission into Libya, we now, as each day passes, learn more and more about the despicable behaviour of senior administration officials in their limited and perversely inappropriate dealings with bereaved parents.
From one bereaved father, we learn that the President could not look him in the eye and that he sensed no sense of remorse or sorrow from the country's leader.
We learn that the Vice President made a joke about his murdered sons' testicles and that Hilary Clinton vowed to jail the person who made the idiotic video that has been the scapegoat for the the second 9/11.
As I have said before, just when you think this administration has shown the most disgusting behaviour, and that it has sent a new moral low, lo and behold-new "accomplishments" are made.
This is a pitiful display once again from an administration that has no shame.
UPDATE:
President Obama should resign, or be impeached.
"Fox News has learned that there were two military surveillance drones redirected to Benghazi shortly after the attack on the consulate began. They were already in the vicinity. The second surveillance craft was sent to relieve the first drone, perhaps due to fuel issues. Both were capable of sending real time visuals back to U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. Any U.S. official or agency with the proper clearance, including the White House Situation Room, State Department, CIA, Pentagon and others, could call up that video in real time on their computers."
This means that drones were sent in, in order to watch everything-but help was not.
I think that the reason why this is really doesn't have the appropriate amount of attention in the American media and in the general American conscioun is because the idea is almost too painful to fathom. That an American administration could watch its people die and not offer help is almost incomprehensible. It's easier to look away than to think about this.
Surveying the Mannscape
Mark Steyn has some "cheap ad hominem cracks" about the upcoming climate change-hockey stick law suit.
I'm rather looking forward to the entire concept of "climate change" being put on trial.
Nothing on the Penn State home page about this.
I thought this was sort of freaky, buried at the bottom of the home page. One third of 119 recommendations implemented, replete with flowcharts, etc...
I really cannot imagine the talk around the faculty loungewater cooler cappuccino maker or the media office.
Penn State is just barely, barely "recovering" from the Sandusky affair.
How delighted do you think the senior administration and governing bodies are at the prospect of another massive headline-grabbing, world-class lawsuit taking place?
I'm thinking: not so much but then again, I'm not terribly bright.
I'm rather looking forward to the entire concept of "climate change" being put on trial.
Nothing on the Penn State home page about this.
I thought this was sort of freaky, buried at the bottom of the home page. One third of 119 recommendations implemented, replete with flowcharts, etc...
I really cannot imagine the talk around the faculty lounge
Penn State is just barely, barely "recovering" from the Sandusky affair.
How delighted do you think the senior administration and governing bodies are at the prospect of another massive headline-grabbing, world-class lawsuit taking place?
I'm thinking: not so much but then again, I'm not terribly bright.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Wow-Just Wow
I hope Bernie Farber is happy now.
Toronto Police are investigating Ezra Levant on "hate speech" issues.
We really do not have free speech in Canada.
This is pathetic and disturbing.
Gina Csányi-Robah is no friend of Jews, not here and not in Israel.
Here is the cached page of a recent speaking tour she did.
Does this look like a friend of the Jewish community?
These are her friends.
Toronto Police are investigating Ezra Levant on "hate speech" issues.
We really do not have free speech in Canada.
This is pathetic and disturbing.
Gina Csányi-Robah is no friend of Jews, not here and not in Israel.
Here is the cached page of a recent speaking tour she did.
Does this look like a friend of the Jewish community?
These are her friends.
More Americans Murdered By Afghan Jihadists
But the politically correct will continue to sanitize these terrorist episodes as 'green on blue' attacks or some such nonesense.
This is horrendous, and will continue until such time as we all collectively admit, that Afghanistan is a crap hole that has no redeeming features.
"It was the latest in a string of attacks from inside the Afghan Army and police force that are threatening to undermine both the partnership with international troops -- which have been the target of many attacks -- and the morale of Afghan forces, who have suffered equally heavy casualties from such strikes."
What a load of dog squeeze.
This is horrendous, and will continue until such time as we all collectively admit, that Afghanistan is a crap hole that has no redeeming features.
"It was the latest in a string of attacks from inside the Afghan Army and police force that are threatening to undermine both the partnership with international troops -- which have been the target of many attacks -- and the morale of Afghan forces, who have suffered equally heavy casualties from such strikes."
What a load of dog squeeze.
Italian Courts-Chock Full of Morons
If you haven't read about this, you really should.
The Italian judiciary is crucifying scientists for not having sufficiently calibrated crystal balls.
The Italian judiciary is crucifying scientists for not having sufficiently calibrated crystal balls.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Mazel Tov! Holocaust Survivors Celebrate Belated Bar Mitzvahs
This is the Jewish spirit. This is the spirit of survival, of gratitude, of the Jewish reverence for life.
Mazel tov to these amazing survivors. What a beautiful story.
"Twenty Holocaust survivors belatedly celebrated their coming-of-age Monday in a moving Bar Mitzvah ceremony at the Western Wall (Kotel). The men had all turned 13 during the genocide of Europe’s Jews and were hard-pressed to survive, let alone celebrate."
(Photo credit-Western Wall Heritage Foundation.)
"Many of the elderly survivors were brought to tears by the event. They all agreed that they felt that the celebration was not for them alone, but also for the one and a half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis."
Mazel tov to these amazing survivors. What a beautiful story.
"Twenty Holocaust survivors belatedly celebrated their coming-of-age Monday in a moving Bar Mitzvah ceremony at the Western Wall (Kotel). The men had all turned 13 during the genocide of Europe’s Jews and were hard-pressed to survive, let alone celebrate."
(Photo credit-Western Wall Heritage Foundation.)
"Many of the elderly survivors were brought to tears by the event. They all agreed that they felt that the celebration was not for them alone, but also for the one and a half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis."
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Adoration Bubble
From Rich Lowry at NRO, a piece that pretty much BBQs Obama and the cult of admirers surrounding him.
Fun stuff:
"The laughter is testament less to Obama’s actual wit than the overriding belief among his listeners that he is witty. When his supporters arrive at an event, they expect to be entertained and dazzled. For them, he is the most interesting president in the world. He exists in a bubble of adoration almost as impenetrable as the security bubble created by the Secret Service.|
"This is why he can show up for the most important event of his reelection campaign, the first debate, and expect his usual talking points to be considered devastatingly dispositive."
"The absence of cries of “We love you!” must have been disorienting."
Fun stuff:
"The laughter is testament less to Obama’s actual wit than the overriding belief among his listeners that he is witty. When his supporters arrive at an event, they expect to be entertained and dazzled. For them, he is the most interesting president in the world. He exists in a bubble of adoration almost as impenetrable as the security bubble created by the Secret Service.|
"This is why he can show up for the most important event of his reelection campaign, the first debate, and expect his usual talking points to be considered devastatingly dispositive."
"The absence of cries of “We love you!” must have been disorienting."
My Idiot People
Roger Cohen totally digs Obama's BFF-ship with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Really-what could possibly be wrong with that?
Really-what could possibly be wrong with that?
President Obama's Remarkable Holocaust Cheap Shot
WHAT HE SAID:
So, Obama went to Yad Vashem.
Big deal.
"A president who attends a fundraiser in Las Vegas the day after four Americans are killed in Libya probably shouldn’t be throwing elbows on this issue. No, Romney didn’t visit Yad Vashem in 2008, but he did unequivocally call Jerusalem the capital of Israel in 2012. One of these things is deeply meaningful to Barack Obama; the other is meaningful to Israel."
The mandatory wreath-laying visits to Yad Vashem actually make me cringe.
They are terrible, and most Israelis couldn't care less about these meaningless photo-ops. And laying wreaths frankly is not even a Jewish thing to do.
We Jews don't do wreaths. If anything is left at a grave, it is a stone. A simple stone, picked up from the side of the road. Not garish flowers that the dead can't smell. It is a pity that Israel has adapted this distinctly non-Jewish tradition for PR purposes.
Mitt Romney has made public policy commitments to living Jews in Israel. Obama's policies endanger Jews.
No comparison.
So, Obama went to Yad Vashem.
Big deal.
"A president who attends a fundraiser in Las Vegas the day after four Americans are killed in Libya probably shouldn’t be throwing elbows on this issue. No, Romney didn’t visit Yad Vashem in 2008, but he did unequivocally call Jerusalem the capital of Israel in 2012. One of these things is deeply meaningful to Barack Obama; the other is meaningful to Israel."
The mandatory wreath-laying visits to Yad Vashem actually make me cringe.
They are terrible, and most Israelis couldn't care less about these meaningless photo-ops. And laying wreaths frankly is not even a Jewish thing to do.
We Jews don't do wreaths. If anything is left at a grave, it is a stone. A simple stone, picked up from the side of the road. Not garish flowers that the dead can't smell. It is a pity that Israel has adapted this distinctly non-Jewish tradition for PR purposes.
Mitt Romney has made public policy commitments to living Jews in Israel. Obama's policies endanger Jews.
No comparison.
Monday, October 22, 2012
The Nightmare
This is an article that I wrote a few weeks ago and pitched to a couple of Canadian newspapers.
Two major newspapers passed on it, but the beauty of having my own blog is that I can publish it anyway. In the future, I'll publish essays such as this on my blog first and then pitch elsewhere. Blogs are always being mined for ideas, mostly without credit.
It can sometimes be a very short drive from "inspiration" to "plagiarism"-but that's life in the electronic age.
So, here is an essay I wrote about The Nightmare of caring for a disabled or infirm relative in Ontario, with the dates updated to reflect the couple of weeks that have passed since I put it together.
In August this year Sarnia, Ontario mother Colleen Cunningham made a threat that she probably never thought she would ever utter. The double-lung
transplant recipient, who suffers from arthritis threatened not to pick up her
severely disabled 21-year old son Nathan from respite care on August 28, 2012.
In late September, Chris and Wilma Arthurst dropped off theirseverely disabled 21-year old daughter Emila off at a short-term care facilityalong with a note that they would not be back to pick her up. Chris Arthurst
has terminal cancer and can no longer physically care for his daughter.
Also in late September, 84 year old Doris Landry had the fortune, orperhaps gross misfortune to live past the 90 day grace period forgovernment-funded “Home First” palliative care in her home-she just didn’t die
within the allocated time. So Landry is now allowed to keep her medical
equipment, but has outlived her allocation of 8 hours of care from a personal
support worker per day.
These are the choiceless choices that families in Ontario
are forced to make as a direct result of gross inefficiencies and waste within
the public health system. It is now time for citizens to demand greater
accountability and more innovative solutions for long-term and palliative care
for able bodied and disabled citizens.
Unless they can privately fund their relative’s care (on top
of paying into the public system), families are forced to use monopolistic
government “solutions”. At the very least, the government might deign to
consider alternative suggestions made by humble citizens who live the daily,
recurrent nightmare of not being physically able to care for their ailing,
dying or disabled relatives.
We are constantly being told that there is not enough money
in the system for long-term care placements in the province of Ontario.
Becky Boersma, a senior director with Community Living, was
quoted recently saying that one-to-one care for someone like Nathan Cunningham
would cost upwards of $250,000. That figure is astonishing. How much of that
money goes to overhead? How much of that money goes to the actual for the
direct, personal care of the disabled?
Figures from the Ontario Ministry of Health indicate that
home care costs $31.87 per hour, that long-term care costs $52,841 per year and
that acute inpatient and newborn care costs an astronomical $363,555 per year.
A chronic inpatient costs $224, 142 per year.
These figures are not fiscally responsible or sustainable.
And it almost goes without saying that institutional care is not always the
best “solution”.
For less than the $250,000 that it allegedly costs to take
care of someone like Nathan Cunningham 24 hours a day, three (or more) teams of
caregivers could be employed in the home. Canada offers a very generous and
attractive live-in caregiver program.
Could the live-in caregiver program not be incentivized, and
perhaps include basic first aid training? Could such a program not be
implemented in homes for average Canadians who would actually prefer to keep
their loved ones at home?
There are large numbers of trained medical and para-medical
professionals around the world who desire to come to Canada. Even those with
strong caregiving skills and no official credentials can be trained to care for
a disabled or terminally ill individual in the home.
A live-in caregiver program designed specifically for home
care could not possibly cost our public system more than the current
behemoth-like structure we have today. The overhead could not possibly exceed
the status quo.
It’s hard to think of anything more painful than parents
wanting their disabled children, but not being able to physically care for
them. It’s hard to imagine how in a country as great and prosperous as Canada,
we tell 84 year old citizens with cancer that that they have lived passed their
90 grace period and are therefore not “entitled” to any more of our help.
It’s
an untenable and un-Canadian.
The money is in the system, but wasted in layer upon layer
of inefficient and indifferent bureaucracy.
If there is political will, there can be a political
solution.
Canadians deserve better value and more humanity from the
system that we are required to use.
"First, Aid the Living"
This is a devastating article by Bing West in NRO on how the Obama administration watched the terrorist attack in Libya in real time without raising a finger to help the living, struggling, dying Americans at the consulate.
"On September 11, at about 10 p.m. Libyan time (4 p.m. in Washington), Ambassador Chris Stevens and a small staff were inside our consulate in Benghazi when terrorists attacked. The consulate staff immediately contacted Washington and our embassy in Tripoli. The White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and numerous military headquarters monitored the entire battle in real time via the phone calls from Benghazi and video from a drone overhead."
"Fighter jets could have been at Benghazi in an hour; the commandos inside three hours."
Mark Steyn weighs in:
He calls it 9/11 Round Two.
"On 9/11/12, America had technological capability and military superiority, but no leadership. Instead, for eight hours, the most powerful men in Washington sat and watched but declined to act. And so in Benghazi as elsewhere in the Obama era, America is a spectator in its own fate."
"The failure of leadership on 9/11 Round Two is pathetic, and the subsequent cover-up contemptible."
Now read this: A Special Forces Family Wants to Know
"Benghazi is a port city. Why did folks not call in the Navy or Air Force for air strikes, or drones, or... I could go on and on. They just sat and watched while brave men died."
"You don't leave brave Americans to die and sit on your hands and do nothing. "
"You just don't."
"Now watching this debacle being covered up, just how safe do you, the average American feel, now that you have seen how this President cares for those he has taken an oath to serve and protect?"
"On September 11, at about 10 p.m. Libyan time (4 p.m. in Washington), Ambassador Chris Stevens and a small staff were inside our consulate in Benghazi when terrorists attacked. The consulate staff immediately contacted Washington and our embassy in Tripoli. The White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and numerous military headquarters monitored the entire battle in real time via the phone calls from Benghazi and video from a drone overhead."
"Fighter jets could have been at Benghazi in an hour; the commandos inside three hours."
Mark Steyn weighs in:
He calls it 9/11 Round Two.
"On 9/11/12, America had technological capability and military superiority, but no leadership. Instead, for eight hours, the most powerful men in Washington sat and watched but declined to act. And so in Benghazi as elsewhere in the Obama era, America is a spectator in its own fate."
"The failure of leadership on 9/11 Round Two is pathetic, and the subsequent cover-up contemptible."
Now read this: A Special Forces Family Wants to Know
"Benghazi is a port city. Why did folks not call in the Navy or Air Force for air strikes, or drones, or... I could go on and on. They just sat and watched while brave men died."
"You don't leave brave Americans to die and sit on your hands and do nothing. "
"You just don't."
"Now watching this debacle being covered up, just how safe do you, the average American feel, now that you have seen how this President cares for those he has taken an oath to serve and protect?"
The Usual Suspects Set to Protest Jason Kenney Haifa University Tribute Dinner
So, there is a protest being
organized against Jason Kenney on the afternoon of the Haifa University tribute dinner.
They have set up a Facebook page and it’s the usual crowd of Zion-loathers, commie freaks
and Gays for Jihad Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.
I don't get what the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre has to do with this at all. That's weird stuff!
Here are the beautiful organizations that are going to be protesting:
Afghans
for Peace,
Caregiver's
Action Centre,
Centre
for Social Justice,
Coalition
Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA),
Common
Cause Toronto,
Educators
for Peace and Justice,
Faculty
for Palestine (F4P),
Health
for All,
Independent
Jewish Voices - Canada,
Independent
Jewish Voices – Toronto Chapter,
Indigenous
Sovereignty and Solidarity Network,
International
Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) Canada,
International
Socialists,
Justice
for Mahjoub Network,
Justice
for Migrant Workers,
Maggie's:
The Toronto Sex Workers Action Project,
Mining
Injustice Solidarity Network,
Munk
OUT of UofT,
New
Socialist Group (NSG),
No
One Is Illegal – Toronto,
Not
In Our Name (NION): Jews Opposing Zionism,
Ontario
Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP),
OPIRG
- York,
Protest
Barrick,
The
Public Health Social Justice Collective,
The
Women's Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu,
Queers
Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA),
Queers
for Social Justice (QFSJ),
Social
Justice Committee of the United Jewish People’s Order (SJC-UJPO),
Socialist
Project,
Toronto
Haiti Action Committee,
Toronto
Immigration Legal Committee,
Toronto
Rape Crisis Centre,
Women
in Solidarity with Palestine
Haifa is home to the most ethnically and religiously diverse population in Israel. Israeli Arabs have full rights under Israeli law. That doesn't mean they have a perfect situation, but it's a heck of a lot better for them in Israel than in any other country in the region. And certainly women and minorities (Druze, Bedouin, Circassian, Christian) have much better lives in Israel-and in Haifa in particular-than they would anywhere else in the Middle East.
The fact that a new Holocaust studies program is going to be set up in Haifa is a testament to the intellectual rigor of the university, and is a tribute to the actual diversity of both the university itself and the city of Haifa as well. It shows tolerance and demonstrates that the students of Haifa University are interested in exploring the history of the Jewish people-no matter what their ethnic, religious or national background.
This is unlike-for example-the "PhD" that Mahmoud Abbas has in Holocaust denial.
And, I don't know of any Jewish studies programs in Muslim countries that welcome students with diverse backgrounds. Hey, come to think of it, I don't know many that even want Jews there.
(Hint: that is actual apartheid-like in Saudi Arabia.)
I know this is all irrelevant to the protestors, but it has to be said.
Strangely-I don't see any Roma representation on this list.
I wonder if they got a Speed Dating style PR lesson recently?
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