Blogging (mostly) about theology and popular culture, media, film, television, music, politics and current events. With some stuff about whatever I want thrown in for good measure.
Walking down Yonge Street today, I walked by a woman panning for money. Now, that isn’t altogether strange, as, there are many many people who do this on a daily basis. What made this different, for me anyway, was her approach.
As I walked by, she sat against a wall. She wasn’t that old, and she wasn’t torn up - not your typical woman panning on Yonge. She was either strung out, or, developmentally disabled. She was taking off her sweatshirt, and then fiddling with the straps of her tank-top. Pulling the straps off of her shoulders, she looks at me and says:
Do you want to see my tits?
I was surprised, and said, “Um, no…sorry.”
What makes me sad is that, even if I would have stopped to give her money (without viewing aforementioned chest), it probably wouldn’t have changed anything for her. I think she was strung out, and, when you are hooked, I have little hope that giving some change, or even stopping to talk, or buying a person lunch, will do all that much.
I guess what I am struggling to say is that I felt helpless to help this young woman who was in a place where she was willing to sell a glimpse of her body (and probably more) for pennies.
McKrek over at Occidentality made me face up to a harsh Reality.
As sad as it makes me, I might have to just admit it. As of today, they are 7.5 games out of first, behind the Yankees. They have lost 11 out of the last 13, beginning that record with 6 losses in a row (5 to the Yanks), and lost the last 6. They were just swpet in Oakland. And, overall, they are just sucking. At the moment, they are tied at 3 a piece in the 3rd against Toronto. NY already won today.
Additionally, they are 7 games out of the Wild Card. As McKrek points out, they have been plagued by injury. But, while that is true, they were up by half a game at the All Star break, and have done nothing but slip lower in the standings ever since. It has been a bad ride, even if they have had injuries.
I’ll enjoy watching the rest of their games, as much as I can, and hoping for a miraculous turnaround. But, I have to say, getting pounded again by the Yankees makes me sick. I hate the Yankees. Hate them.
Which happens to be a blatant violation of the recent Cease Fire:
Hizbullah representative in Iran Muhammad Abdullah Sif al-Din, said Wednesday that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has a new strategic plan to rearm ahead of the next round against Israel .
I’m think that my amazement at such things is wearing off, and I just sort of expect it from those on the Left (or, maybe extreme left?). I have said it previously, and will probably say it again, when those on the Left become stumped, and cannot respond intelligently to an argument, many of them (though not all) fall into this strategy I like to “villification,” or, maybe more appropriate “hitlerization.” It involves, instead of furthering the debate, giving up in defeat by insulting your opponent personally, usually based on weight/size, looks, intelligence, insulting one’s mother and/or wife, or, calling them Hitler.
This tactic is very well documented on the internet. I came back from California to find about 800 blog articles in my RSS reader, and a number of them had this theme. I thought I would consolidate some of them for posterity:
1) “I hope your wife gets raped and can’t get an abortion.”
This comes from the self-proclaimed “neutral” Rock-The-Vote crowd at MTV networks. At a protest in the 2004 elections against Rock-The-Vote’s blatent liberal bias, an MTV network employee shouted this at the person from the Young Republicans. I could tell you all about it, but it is so much more fun to watch:
Video at the Hot Air Link. And, the video pretty much says it all. Oh, and by the way, Senor’s mother is a Holocaust survivor - so, two birds with one stone: Call Hitler - check. Insult mother - check.
3) Killing the President
Again, Michelle Malkin with a story she calls “Assissination Chic.” It has to do with the Left’s murderous fantasies about killing Bush. At the link you will see all sorts of art propoganda that has to do with the actual murder of a human being.
Set around October 2007, President Bush is assassinated as he leaves the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago.
Death of a President, shot in the style of a retrospective documentary, looks at the effect the assassination of Bush has on America in light of its ‘War on Terror’.
The 90 minutes feature explores who could have planned the murder, with a Syrian-born man wrongly put in the frame.
Peter Dale, head of More4, which is due to air the film on October 9, said the drama was a “thought-provoking critique” of contemporary US society.
He said: “It’s an extraordinarily gripping and powerful piece of work, a drama constructed like a documentary that looks back at the assassination of George Bush as the starting point for a very gripping detective story.
“It’s a pointed political examination of what the War on Terror did to the American body politic.
“I’m sure that there will be people who will be upset by it but when you watch it you realise what a sophisticated piece of work it is.
“It’s not sensationalist, or simplistic but a very thought-provoking, powerful drama. I hope people will see that the intention behind it is good.”
The film will premier at the Toronto Film Festival in September and was written and directed by Gabriel Range.
I suppose the new mantra is: If you can’t beat ‘em, kill ‘em.
4) Canadian University uses Bush Smear to Recruit Students
Reported everywhere, saw it at relapsed catholichere and here first (I think). It also appears at Hot Air, among others.
Here’s the ad, as originally appearing on Lakehead’s Website (screenshot from Hot Air):
“It was literally a tongue-in-cheek way of getting attention,” Frederick Gilbert, president and vice-chancellor of Lakehead University, said on Monday.
“The young people picked it up that way,” he added. “I must say that older generations, well even some of our students, have looked at it as not appropriate.”
…
Isabelle Poniatowski, president of the Lakehead University Student Union, called the marketing campaign low-brow and lacking in class.
“It still strikes me as being very repugnant,” Poniatowski said. “Lakehead has so many positive attributes that you could really sell to people that live down south.”
In a weekend editorial called “Jughead University,” the right-wing National Post newspaper wrote: “It is aserious mistake for Lakehead to try to inflate its own appeal by attacking other, far more prestigious institutions.”
…
Gilbert said Lakehead plans to ride out the public relations storm without removing the posters or taking down the Web site.
Really? You won’t be removing the posters or website? Well, check it out now: yaleshmale.com
Inflating one’s own image at the expense of another’s? Seems par for the course on this topic.
5) Again On President Bush Bashing
Another ad campaign that I have noticed around Toronto for the past couple of weeks, but haven’t gotten around to blogging about. This picture is taken across the street from my apartment in downtown Toronto (sorry for the glare):
The company’s website has this as well, adding President Clinton to the mix:
So, at least this company is an equal opportunity lampooner, with Clinton’s book in the screenshot reading, as best as I can tell: Conduct with Interns.
I wonder though if this last one is more about the need inherent in many Canadians to make fun of the United States, and their presidents, than it is about insulting Bush’s intellignece or Clinton’s promiscuity. (I’m not trying to be insulting to Canadians here, but, this is something I have experienced since living here - not with all, or even most, mind you, but with many).
This theme is so ridiculous that I think it should become a regular feature here, and I will try to keep track of this weird form of rhetoric.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have yet to show their baby daughter off in public, but eager fans were given an unusual preview with the chance to see a bronze cast depicting her first solid stool.
The scatological sculpture — more doodoo than Dada — is purportedly cast from 19-week old Suri’s first bowel movement and will be shown at the Capla Kesting gallery in Brooklyn, New York, before being auctioned off for charity.
The artist behind the work, Daniel Edwards, previously courted controversy with a life-size nude sculpture of pop star Britney Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug. That work was shown at the same gallery in April.
“A bronzed cast of baby’s first poop can be a meaningful memento for the family,” gallery director David Kesting said, adding that he hoped the work would attract bids of up to 25 or 30,000 dollars.
The sculpture, which sits on a wooden mounting with a glass casing, is to be sold on eBay next month with proceeds from the sale going to infant health charity March Of Dimes.
As of Wednesday it had attracted a top bid of 41 dollars.
I just want to add a couple of thing here:
1) Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are nuts psycho. Plain and simple, nuts psycho.
2) Why would anyone buy this?
3) What kind of culture have we bred where something like this is, a) seen as “normal” and b) news ?
4) Why are we calling the guy who made this an “artist”? It is a piece of baby poop.
We found out about 3 weeks ago, and I have been dying keeping a secret. As you might have noticed, I added the countdown on the left after we finally told our families this past weekend.
She is about 8 weeks along, and doing fine. The process has been smooth so far, aside from yesterday’s doctor’s appointment (for which we have had an appointment for 6 weeks, and came home from California early to attend, and we get there and they say: Sorry, the doctor is not here today, and, we just didn’t call and tell you. You have to wait 3 more weeks). We are looking at a due date on or around April 17.
Our family was really excited when we told them this past weekend. They already are buying the baby presents.
I got an email from Chrissy yesterday after she saw the countdown, asking if we were pregnant. So, at least someone reads this blog!
Back from California yesterday afternoon. I would have written something yesterday, but, I was asleep most of the day. Spent all day on Saturday jack-hammering through about 6-8 inches of concrete that I poured about 6 years ago in my in-laws’ back yard for a pond/waterfall. Now that my father-in-law isn’t around to take care of it, mom-in-law needed it gone. Never thought it would be that much work! Way too much concrete. But, it is done, and she is happy. So, that’s good.
Sunday saw Linda’s 50th birthday party as well. So that was cool. About 80 people showed up, and Sarah and I made our big announcement…well, Linda made the announcement, since it was her party, and will be her grandkid (see next post).
Monday was, well, boring.
Tuesday was, I can’t even remember. But we took the red-eye out of SF on Tuesday night, back in Toronto yesterday about noon. So - I’m catching up on everything.
We are off this morning to California for my mother-in-law’s 50th birthday. Traveling all day is never my favorite thing - but I do love going home. So, that’s the trade-off.
In related news, EU Referendum has completed the missive confronting the MSM’s manipulation of news, photos, and information at Qana: The Corruption of the Media
Alright, I was a bit quick to post the below vid as the one of the week. Today, over at My Pet Jawa, Rusty has the greatest video…ever. A musical expose of the fake photo scandal(s). Brilliant!
Via Hot Air, via NY Post page six, as Allah says, the greatest gossip item ever.
Boof says bin Laden couldnt stop talking about his favorite singer and had lofty plans for her. He said he wanted to give [her] a mansion that he owned in a suburb of Khartoum. He explained to me that to possess Whitney, he would be willing to break his color rule and make her one of his wives.
But bin Ladens murderous side also emerged in his fantasies about the pop superstar. [He would say] how beautiful she is, Boof claims, what a nice smile she has, how truly Islamic she is but is just brainwashed by American culture and by her husband - Bobby Brown, whom Osama talked about having killed, as if it were normal to have womens husbands killed.
Douglas Farah, of Pajamas Media, has some interesting observations on Europe as the focus of Islamization. He states that:
Perhaps the most interesting move, and one with long-term implications, is the (largely successful) efforts by these groups to buy large amounts of real estate, territory that effectively becomes Muslim land once it is in the hands of Islamist groups. Some groups are signing agreements to guarantee that they will only sell the land to other Muslims.
The Brotherhood, particularly, is active in investments in properties and businesses across Europe, laying the groundwork for the future network that will be able to react rapidly and with great flexibility in case of another attempted crackdown on the groups financial structure.
But my question - Why is it alright for Arab Muslims to do this in Europe, establishing what amounts to a “state” within European nations, but, simultaneously, it was a wrong thing for Jews to do, just over 100 years ago? In essence: for Muslims, (and certain “peace” protestors) why was “Zionism” evil, and “Islamization” necessary?
Then again, logic has never really been the prevailing attitude in this dispute.
Also - if you think this is just a European problem, further in Farah’s article he states:
The purchase of property is a strategy the Ikwan are replicating in the United States, where Brotherhood-affiliated groups have recently bought up tens of millions of dollars of U.S. real estate, often with offshore companies acting as fronts and creating layers of holding groups and shell entities that filter the money through multiple layers that make it almost impossible to trace.
The Christian population in Lebanon is shrinking, now estimated at 40% of the population, or less. The Christians, especially in the South, are being forced out by job shortages, and lack of social aid. It looks like, living in the shadow of Hezbollah, Christians are overlooked in the need for aid.
The Christian villages, some less than a mile from the Israeli border, are often recognizable by statues of the Virgin Mary in town squares or the crosses atop churches. Just down the road from St. George’s in El Qlaiaa, there are billboards of a smiling Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader. Other Hezbollah billboards feature bearded Iranian ayatollahs or the faces of slain Shiite militia fighters.
Christians in southern Lebanon confront a job shortage. The Maronite Church can’t compete with the vast social welfare net that Hezbollah has built for Shiites clinics, schools and other facilities said Daniel Nicholas, 26, an unemployed El Qlaiaa native.
Nicholas, who holds a master’s degree in physics, said his fiance’s family won’t let him marry her unless he has a job. “There’s no future here. This conflict was enough to make me leave.”
If you ask me, this priest is a hero. Absolutely amazing:
“Wherever you are in Hajji or Tyre or Marjayoun if you’re patient and believe, you’ll make it through this,” Hage told a standing-room congregation at St. George’s Church in this southern Lebanese village. “The most important thing is to stay on this land.”
Since last month, the 63-year-old priest has braved bombs, rockets and ground clashes between Israeli forces and the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah, racing over cratered roads and threading past bombed-out bridges to visit his flock in the few Christian towns and villages that dot predominantly Shiite southern Lebanon. His message to the faithful has been that they must stay, despite the danger.
…
Hage wanted to begin visiting Christian towns immediately after the start of fighting in mid-July, but he found himself stuck in Tyre as his driver, cook and priests fled. He turned to the group going most often into the war zone: journalists.
Hage hitched rides with Dutch television crews, British newspaper reporters, French radio correspondents. Soon, he said, journalists headed into battle zones began dropping by his small stone church in Tyre to ask if he needed a lift.
During a lull in fighting, Hage, dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt rather than his traditional white cassock, reached Ain Ebel, 2 miles from Bint Jbail, site of some of the heaviest fighting of the war.
“It was like someone had been cutting off your air supply and suddenly you get a breath of fresh air,” said Jean Ammar, 42, a civil engineer in Ain Ebel. “We were so surprised to see him. Every move you made out here at that time was a target for military action.”
Days later, as Hage left the Christian enclave of Debel for Tyre, explosives thundered around him. Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah sailed overhead from the right; mortars and rockets whistled past from Israeli positions to his left.
“I felt a sort of peace,” Hage recalled. “I had done my duty. Also, I was with the Western press. So I thought I would be safe.”
Hage also demonstrates a true spirit of Christianity in his words, in addition to his actions:
“The Christian message is the same everywhere: a message of peace, a message of love and a message of tolerance,” he said. “Even if we have different beliefs, it doesn’t mean it should lead to conflict.”
(hat tip: Debbie Schlussel - who has more) See USA Today link for full story.
A senior Israeli source said that UNIFIL and the Lebanese army were not showing any intention to end the re-armament of Hizbullah, since the former were unwilling to confront the terrorist organization, Israel Radio reported.
Police in India say they are investigating allegations that journalists encouraged a man to set himself on fire on Independence Day.
Manoj Mishra’s act of self-immolation in northern Bihar state was captured on film by television news channels.
He died in hospital later on Tuesday, having suffered 60% burns.
Police say Mr Mishra, a transport contractor, set himself on fire in protest at alleged non-payment of wages. His employers deny the charge.
It is not clear whether Mr Mishra committed suicide or whether his protest in the city of Gaya went further than he intended. ‘Ploy to malign’Senior Gaya district police official Amit Kumar Jain said officers were investigating the matter and “action would be taken against those found guilty”.
“A case has been lodged against unknown media persons for abetment in the case as some local television teams present there allegedly coaxed the man to immolate himself,” he told the BBC.Mr Mishra’s son, Prabhakar Kumar, said journalists at the scene had not tried to save his father.”He attempted to set himself on fire in the presence of some media people and security guards and none of them acted to save him,” Mr Kumar said.Journalists belonging to local television news channels who filmed the act denied that they had encouraged the man to set himself on fire.
“It’s a completely false allegation. It is a ploy by the district police to malign and frame us,” said one news television reporter, who preferred to remain unnamed.
Police say Mr Mishra, who was working as a transport contractor for the state-run Sudha Dairy in Bihar, had gone to its offices on Tuesday 15 August - Independence Day - to demand payment which he believed was outstanding.
“Before setting himself on fire he was reportedly complaining about his non-payment of dues from the dairy office,” police official Amit Kumar Jain said.
Graphic
Sudha Dairy is the only profit-making state-run business in impoverished Bihar, with a widespread network for selling its milk and milk products in all 38 of the state’s districts.
Police and a senior dairy official, UC Verma, have denied that the company owed any money to Mr Mishra.
Police said that though Mr Mishra’s vehicle was being used by the dairy for work, the contractor had been “blacklisted recently for misconduct”.
But the contractor’s family insist that he had not been paid his money for a long time.
“He was upset as the dues were pending for more than a year and he was facing a financial crisis,” his son said.
An association of transporters is demanding that compensation be paid to the family.
India’s booming news television industry is no stranger to controversy.
Frequent sting operations and graphic news presentations are seen as having contributed to its success.
But critics say news programmes often degenerate into shocking reality television-type shows.
Recently, a news channel showed the wife of a teacher in Bihar beating up a girl, who the reporter said was having an affair with her husband.
A channel also showed a man being beaten to death by a group for allegedly stealing a buffalo in northern India.
The media present deny encouraging the man. Note, though, that they neither admit to discouraging the man, nor claim to have helped the man. It is bad when the media doctors photos for better news. It is worse when they create it. This is fauxtography at its extreme. And, let me mention, that if we ignore or justify the Media’s manipulation of us through the manipulation of photos, it only stands to reason that what is happening in India will be happening in North America before long…if it isn’t already.technorati tags : fauxtographymedia manipulation
There were a number of comments on my post below about the “Stop the War Rally” that happened last Saturday, August 12, here in Toronto. You can read the comments at that post, if you would like. Most of the comments and trackbacks were supportive. A few were of an opposing opinion.
I’m just one guy here, writing a blog that I figured nobody read, and that was fine with me. And maybe we will go back to nobody reading. But that is just to say that 14 comments on one of my posts, and my hits being about 5x their norm this month already, was a big surprise to me. Thanks to those who linked to me, I think it is important to share those pictures of the so-called “peace rally.”
But, I just wanted to take a little space to respond to the opposing opinions that were left.
First, by Mr. Canada, who commented on two posts:
Well, I agree with the Hezbollah Supports in one way..Isreal, has freaking gone INSANE.
So how are we going bury another one of our great protests of the 21st century?
Took awhile for people to forget the Peace marches,
(By Peace, I mean Burn almost every American Flag on the continent and scream Yankee Go Home and other such chants filled with Anti-Americanism. All in all, great fun.)
and, in response to my comment that 82% of Canadians agree with Israel’s right to defend itself, Mr. Canada responded:
82% of us agree?
82% of us are idiots then.
As I myself am not Canadian, and quite probably do not have the requisite pool of shared knowledge to understand which event in particular Mr. Canada is refering to, I can not comment too much on it. However, I am interested in the fact that he does agree with Hezbollah supporters, at least in one way. He also has not stated how Israel has gone INSANE, or, how he thinks they should have handled the situation. However, he does resort to the tactics of the talking heads who are far Left of Centre - he resorts to calling names, without offering any genuine or thought out criticism, or an alternate solution. Notice, he does this again in the second comment - calling Canadians who support Israel idiots. This tactic can be seen quite blatantly over at this blog, where, instead of addressing Girl on the Right’s comments, they instead resort to calling her “racist skank girl.” Interesting form of argument - but not one that I find very intelligent, or particularly compelling.
Further, as an American, in Canada, as a guest of the country, I would like to say that I love it here. Canada is a great country, and by and large, I have been welcomed. I am, however, tired of the complex that some have in which they find it necessary to insult Americans every chance they get. But whatever.
Secondly, the commentator “Truth,” writes the following:
These people are obviously angry and frustrated, but I find it funny how all of the pictures here focus on the minority of people at the demo who were pro hezbollah. Also although hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization in Canada it doesnt mean that it is a terrorist organization. In fact all it does is protect the intrests of its people and considering that it was Isreal who has launched repeated attacks on lebenon and not lebenon on Isreal it would make sense to fight back, and hezbollah is doing just that. It seems that every other country in the world besides Canada, USA, and Israel can understand that since hezbollah is only considered to be terrorist in those three countries.
Che Guevara a slayer of innocents and a war monger? Is he any worse than president bush? Any worse than PM Olmert? At least he was fighting for the majority of the population and for the people, if you looked at an unbiased Israeli source you would see that there are many Israelis who are sensible and who do not approve of Israels actions.
Yet many of you speak as if your opinions are not media generate and unbiased. Pathetic really.
Now there is an intelligent post. “Truth” finds it funny that the pictures focus on the “minority of people” at the rally in favor of Hezbollah. Well, I was there, and there were a lot of Hezbollah supporters. Further, I find it justified to say that the majority of the crowd was in favor of Hezbollah by the very fact that the vast majority of the crowd cheered and applauded at the mention of the Israeli soldiers’ deaths - at the hands of Hezbollah. I might also add that this announcement was made by the organizer/leader of the rally. Also, I refer you to my recounting below of the woman who was made to put her banner away, simply because it criticized Hezbollah’s terrorism, alongside her condemnation of Israel. That pretty much speaks for itself.
I would differ on the point of Israel launching countless attacks on Lebanon. I am not here to defend all of Israel’s actions, as if the country could do no wrong. I am saying that we should all remember that this current conflict began with Hezbollah crossing the internationally recognized border, and taking two Israeli soldiers from Israel’s sovereign territory. By your same logic, I would say that it only makes sense for Israel to fight back. Also, it is dubious at best to say that Hezbollah protects the people’s interests - Hezbollah protects Hezbollah’s (and quite probably Syria’s and Iran’s) interests. It does good work, but it also does it for self-serving purposes, such as hiding weapons caches among civilian populations, in hospitals, and in schools.
Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by more than the United States, Canada, and Israel. In addition to those three, Hezbollah in full or in part is recognized as a terror organization by the UK, the Netherlands, and Australia. Further, the EU has recognized Hezbollah as using terrorist activities, and the EU Council includes Hezbollah’s senior intelligence officer as a “terrorist.” While the UN does not label Hezbollah a terrorist organization, it has called for the militia’s disarmament, and has criticized it’s targeting of civlilans. For more see the Wikipedia article on Hezbollah.
Is Che Guevera worse than Bush or Olmert? Yes. That’s all I have to say about that.
I will admit that my opinions are formed by the media. At least I am aware of this, and as a result, I try to inform myself through exposure to broad media sources. From the media input I receive I form an (hopefully) intelligent opinion, constructing my view of the world around me. Is my view perfect? No. Is it always correct? Not even close. But I try.
Finally, there is the post from Lee Roy Jackson, who says:
Check the images, do you really think this is posed??
He is, of course, refering to the photos at Qana. The link leads to a photo slideshow with some gruesome images coming from the attack. As I have said before, I think the attack was a tragedy. Do I think that the images were at least managed for greatest effect on public opinion by Hezbollah? - I do. Do I think the images were posed - yep, I do. Tragic - yes. Posed - another yes. Tragic that they were posed, another big yes.
Well, there you go. Just thought I would take the time to answer some of the critics. Thanks for the comments.
The article states that 28 people, mostly women and children, were killed in the bombing on July 30.
Please don’t get me wrong. The Qana bombing was a tragedy. Israel was at fault, and has admitted that they should not have gone through with the attack. That is not my point, and it is a given.
My point has to do with the death toll. For the longest time the numbers taken as accurate were 54, or “over 60.” Very early on, Human Rights Watch stated that the number should be much lower. Now, without retraction of earlier reports (to my knowledge), BBC, and other news agencies, just start using the 28 number, which was proposed by HRW weeks ago. At least it is more accurate - but what does it matter? News agencies, opting for drama over accuracy, reported inaccurate details on an event that arguably changed the course of the war in Lebanon. It is just fascinating to me.
Even if it is just one guy. Via Word Around the Net, who linked to a few of my pictures from the “Stop the War Rally” here in Toronto, a news story from Australia.
Protester leaves anti-Israel rally Robyn Powell Sunday, 13 August 2006
A DISMAYED protester walked away from an anti-Israel rally yesterday in Canberra when supporters applauded the death of an Australian who was killed fighting for Israel a fortnight ago.About 150 people attended the protest in front of the Israeli embassy, against Israel’s bombing of Lebanon.
Chanting anti-Israel slogans and waving placards of protest, they marched to a heavily guarded United States embassy, and then to The Lodge.
At one stage, a protester interrupted a speaker who had applauded the death of Assaf Namer, who moved from Australia to Israel to enlist in the army and died during a Hezbollah ambush two weeks ago.
The man said it was inappropriate to applaud the death of any person during a peace rally, and he walked off.
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