Today as we observe the 60 year anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima…
I share with you these photographs of London.
What’s Love Got To Do With It?
A Toronto Sun article highlights one consequence of Canada’s new laws allowing same-sex marriage that should have been obvious.
Bill Dalrymple, 56, and best friend Bryan Pinn, 65, have decided to take the plunge and try out the new same-sex marriage legislation with a twist — they’re straight men.
“I think it’s a hoot,” Pinn said.
The proposal came last Monday on the patio of a Toronto bar amid shock and laughter from their friends. But the two — both of whom were previously married and both of whom are still looking for a good woman to love — insist that after the humour subsided, a real issue lies at the heart of it all.
“There are significant tax implications that we don’t think the government has thought through,” Pinn said.
Dalrymple has been to see a lawyer already and there are no laws in marriage that define sexual preference.
Precisely – there is no sexual orientation means test for marriage. The issue of same sex marriage has never been one of “equal rights”, but of changing a legal definition. Homosexuals have always been allowed to marry members of the opposite sex (and do so successfully enough to raise families) – and conversely, heterosexuals had been prohibited from marrying others of the same sex, for whatever the reason.
Predictably, there’s a “warning” from Toronto lawyer Bruce Walker, a gay rights activist.
“Generally speaking, marriage should be for love,” he said. “People who don’t marry for love will find themselves in trouble.”
Whatever, Bruce.
Having convinced a majority of Canadian MP’s that the “ability to procreate” isn’t a defining characteristic of “marriage”, tell me – -what’s so damned special about “love”?
Update – Blogosphere’s first known use of the term “platonophobe”.
“We need more such consumer advocates out there identifying such opportunities, opportunities that our hate-filled platonophobic society has previously arbitrarily denied to pairs of people who neither love each other nor happen to engage in sexual intercourse.” – Mike, at London Fog
Blogging And Media
Dan Drezner and Henry Farrell have a thoughtful and accurate article on how blogs impact media in Foreign Policy;
Blogs are becoming more influential because they affect the content of international media coverage. Journalism professor Todd Gitlin once noted that media frame reality through “principles of selection, emphasis, and presentation composed of little tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters.” Increasingly, journalists and pundits take their cues about “what matters” in the world from weblogs. For salient topics in global affairs, the blogosphere functions as a rare combination of distributed expertise, real-time collective response to breaking news, and public-opinion barometer. What’s more, a hierarchical structure has taken shape within the primordial chaos of cyberspace.
[…]
[E]ven as the blogosphere continues to expand, only a few blogs are likely to emerge as focal points. These prominent blogs serve as a mechanism for filtering interesting blog posts from mundane ones. When less renowned bloggers write posts with new information or a new slant, they will contact one or more of the large focal point blogs to publicize their posts. In this manner, poor blogs function as fire alarms for rich blogs, alerting them to new information and links. This self-perpetuating, symbiotic relationship allows interesting arguments and information to make their way to the top of the blogosphere.
The skewed network of the blogosphere makes it less time-consuming for outside observers to acquire information. The media only need to look at elite blogs to obtain a summary of the distribution of opinions on a given political issue.
The mainstream political media can therefore act as a conduita between the blogosphere and politically powerful actors. The comparative advantage of blogs in political discourse, as compared to traditional media, is their low cost of real-time publication. Bloggers can post their immediate reactions to important political events before other forms of media can respond. Speed also helps bloggers overcome their own inaccuracies. When confronted with a factual error, they can quickly correct or update their post. Through these interactions, the blogosphere distills complex issues into key themes, providing cues for how the media should frame and report a foreign-policy question.
And from the sublime to the ridiculous – Des Moines Register sports writer Nancy Clark offers several journalistic gems in a rant featured at Captain’s Quarters;
In the new “journalism of assertion,” as the report calls it, information is offered with little time and little attempt to independently verify its voracity.
Voracity. Yes, the Exempt Media gets voracious in its attempts to aggrandize themselves at the expense of their readers, especially those who deign to criticize their work. Unfortunately, I believe Clark meant “veracity”, which means “truth” and “accuracy”.
Great work so far on the part of the layers of fact-checkers and editors.
Heh.
Wishing He Had Them Back
The attention to animal cloning has been focused primarily on wealthy clients attempting to recreate a treasured pet, while overlooking the practical application most likely to attract horse, cattle and to a lesser extent, dog industry attention. From “Oozing With Type;
A project to clone elite showhorses reported its first success with a cloned foal of Pieraz, an Arab endurance champion.
Clones are banned from thoroughbred racing, but a French scientist has stored tissue from champion showhorse geldings (castrated horses) for the creation of breeding stock. Pieraz 2 is the second horse clone and the first produced for the creation of a breeding animal from a sterile one.
The first cloned horse, Prometea was announced in August, 2003, by Professor Cesare Galli, of the Laboratory of Reproductive Technologies in Cremona, Italy, who also works with a French company, Cryozootech.
”This new approach opens the possibility of preserving the genetic heritage of many exceptional horses whose genes are presently lost because of the castration,” said Dr. Galli. ”Prometea was just a scientific experiment and, scientifically, there’s not much new about the new clone.
”But from an industry viewpoint, the new horse is the real thing.”
Pieraz, an Arab horse, was the world champion of endurance races in 1994 and 1996 and is now retired in the United States in the stables of its owner, trainer and rider, Valerie Kanavy.
Endurance horse racing involves races of 50 miles or more across open country, with horses making regular ”pit stops” for food, water and veterinary inspection.
Pieraz’s foal — formally known as Pieraz-Cryozootech- Stallion — was born on Feb 25. It weighed 92 lb. and is in good health, like Prometea.
”Repeatability of the technique is now proven,” said Dr. Galli.
The cells of Pieraz used for the cloning work were provided by Cryozootech, a company founded in 2001 by Dr. Eric Palmer, a horse IVF pioneer. Dr. Palmer had been approached in 2002 by Ms. Kanavy, who was impressed by the idea that, in spite of having been castrated, her champion could transmit his qualities to future generations.
Cool.
Jean Lapierre Moves His Lips
CBC;
Ottawa has announced plans for new security upgrades, including barring some people from flying on commercial flights. Under the program, the government will identify people who pose “an immediate threat to aviation security” and will work with airlines to stop those people from flying, said Transport Minister Jean Lapierre.
So, if I am reading this correctly, either Transport Canada doesn’t currently work with airlines to identify (much less arrest and detain) people who pose an immediate threat to aviation security ….
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[ ] cleared for flight [ ] please report to security [ x] Sir, you’ll have to remove your balaclava |
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– or, with the London bombings showing up in Liberal internal polling, Jean Lapierre was pushed out in front of the cameras and told to “say something”.
More skepticism at Newsbeat1.
Legacy Watch
A Clandestine Tour
Proverbs Come To Life Department
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix lays out the bottom line on the continuing meltdown at the First Nation’s University of Canada in an editorial that might as easily been titled “Too Many Chiefs, Not Enough Academia”;
Having created a segregationist institution to bring “Indian control to Indian education,” the least that can be done is to ensure that FNUC can provide young aboriginal people with a high-quality education that transcends the undercurrent of parochialism and xenophobia that have been exposed within FNUC and FSIN in recent months. Unless there are strong indications within weeks that changes are forthcoming to make FNUC truly independent and worthy of being called a university, the U of S should withdraw its representation on FNUC’s board and the U of R should move to end the affiliation that grants degrees to FNUC’s graduates.
CBC Meat Puppet Appointed To GG
Ignore that.
I was just having a Bourque moment.
Canadian Aerospace: Killing It Softly
Richard Aboulafia is the head of the Teal Group;
This delightful image of a bygone world was stunningly re-created in May when Bombardier received promises of $700 million in launch aid for its CSeries of 110/135-seat jetliners. Ottawa kicked in $320 million, Quebec $280 million, while the UK, hoping to replicate the DeLorean car experience in Northern Ireland, committed $100 million. I was disappointed to read this on the wires; I was hoping to see this nostalgic moment in a theater on a grainy black and white newsreel, with smiling, trench-coated ministers standing in front of DC-2s and De Havilland Dragon Rapides.
[…]
The 110/135-seat CSeries market is better than the 100-seat BRJ-X market, in the same way that death by hanging is way better than death by disembowelment. A revolutionary 110/135-seat design might just be competitive here. But the CSeries is stunningly non-revolutionary. So, this project would never happen without John Q. Mountie.
Even with this help, it still probably won’t happen. Government aid can help a marginal business case go ahead, as with the A380 or Japan’s aerostructure work. But no amount of sweetening — and the Canadian/UK offering is so sweet it’s saccharine — can make the CSeries go. The two major engine players in this class (CFM and IAE) responded to this sweet, yummy maple-flavored aid by just walking away.
If the CSeries was just a bad idea, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Bad ideas happen in this industry. If they didn’t, critics like me would be out of a job. What elevates the CSeries from “bad” to “carnivorously destructive” is what it means for the rest of Canada’s aerospace industry. It will suck up hundreds of millions of dollars, money that will be siphoned off from everything else.
Worse, the Canadian Government wants a vertically Canadian plane. David Emerson, Canada’s Minister of Industry, said “Canadian firms play key roles in many existing global aerospace projects, and the Government of Canada will work with companies across the aerospace industry to promote their capabilities to participate with Bombardier in the CSeries.” This means risk would be kept in country. If the CSeries fails, most of Canada’s aerospace suppliers will be dragged down with it.
Just another day in Paul Martin’s Bananada – where no price is too high when it comes to short term electoral gain in Quebec.
An Interview With A British Jihadist
The interviewer;
As a half-Indian, half-Pakistani with a strong connection to this country, I have observed the gulf between what it means to be British Pakistani and British Indian. To be Indian is to come from a safe, ancient country and, more recently, from an emerging power. In contrast, to be Pakistani is to begin with a depleted idea of nationhood. In the 55 years that Pakistan has been a country, it has been a dangerous, violent place, defined by hatred of the other–India.
For young British Muslims, if Pakistan was not the place to look for an identity, being second-generation British was still less inspiring. While their parents were pioneers, leaving Pakistan in search of economic opportunities, enduring the initial challenges of a strange land, the second generation’s experience has been one of drudgery and confusion. Mohammad, who owns a convenience store on Stratford Street in Beeston and who knew all the local bombers, says, “They were born and raised here, we did the work… and these kids grew up and they haven’t had a day’s worry. They’re bored, they don’t do any work, they have no sense of honour or belonging.”
Britishness is the most nominal aspect of identity to many young British Pakistanis. The thinking in Britain’s political class has at last begun to move on this front, but when our tube bombers were growing up, any notion that an idea of Britishness should be imposed on minorities was seen as offensive. Britons themselves were having a hard time believing in Britishness. If you denigrate your own culture you face the risk of your newer arrivals looking for one elsewhere. So far afield in this case, that for many second-generation British Pakistanis, the desert culture of the Arabs held more appeal than either British or subcontinental culture. Three times removed from a durable sense of identity, the energised extra-national worldview of radical Islam became one available identity for second-generation Pakistanis. The few who took it did so with the convert’s zeal: plus Arabe que les Arabes.
The interviewee;
There is a speech by the Prophet in which he says: Allah gave me five things. One of them was the power to strike fear, to strike terror into the heart of the enemy from a mile’s distance, and this was a reference to a battle he had commenced. The way the warriors had prepared themselves was so terrifying that the enemy didn’t even turn up to the battle. Besides that, in the Koran the word irhab is the root word for terror in Islam, and irhabiyun is the word for terrorist. Allah mentions the word in the Koran many times–the one who strikes terror into their hearts is an irhabiyun. If I could have that title Islamically then I would be more than happy to take it and be proud of it. But unfortunately, I haven’t reached that level yet.
Required reading – in the British magazine, Prospect.
Update – Timely context for Tony Blair’s toughening stance.
A Good Landing
Everything you ever wanted to know about the rough landing of Air France 358 – and then some. Fascinating stuff.
Showdown Over Hans Island
Just When You Think They’ve Hit Bottom…
The TIMES has investigative reporter Glen Justice hot on the case to investigate the status of adoption records of Judge Roberts’ two young children, Josie age 5 and Jack age 4, a top source reveals.
Judge Roberts and his wife Jane adopted the children when they each were infants. Both children were adopted from Latin America.
A TIMES insider claims the look into the adoption papers are part of the paper’s “standard background check.”
Roberts’ young son Jack delighted millions of Americans during his father’s Supreme Court nomination announcement ceremony when he wouldn’t stop dancing while the President and his father spoke to a national television audience.
Previously the WASHINGTON POST Style section had published a story criticizing the outfits Mrs. Roberts had them wear at the announcement ceremony.
One top Washington official with knowledge of the NEW YORK TIMES action declared: “Trying to pry into the lives of the Roberts’ family like this is despicable. Children’s lives should be off limits.
The TIMES is putting politics over fundamental decency.”
Words fail.
Monday In Mosul
It’s Monday in Mosul, and Michael Yon is “liveblogging”.
h/t Instapundit
The Politically Correct Police Raid
The Daily Mail has this tidbit…
Leaked guidelines from the Bedfordshire force say that when officers raid Muslim homes they should remove their shoes, not use dogs and not mount pre-dawn raids because at that hour people might by ‘spiritually busy’.
Why Michaelle Jean?
At the Shotgun, commentor “ET” reflects my own reaction to Paul Martin’s appointment of a little known CBC journalist to the post of Governor General, and then fleshes out the political strategy behind it.
The position of G-G is, as head of state, supposed to be held by an individual who has worked towards and achieved, by some measureable criteria, the well-being of the majority of Canadians.
It is a national position, it is an honorary position, it is an awarded position, and should be based, therefore, on accountable merit. By accountable merit, I mean non-political; a government’s patronage appointments must be made with integrity, i.e., by the use of non-partisan standards and for no partisan political agenda.
These non-partisan standards, in the case of the G-G, must be for work done by that individual for ‘national committment’, for ‘national achievements’, whether in politics, law, economics, education, science, medicine etc. There are plenty of Canadian individuals whose lifetime work has been non-partisan, has been national and has indeed showed extraordinary commitment to the well-being of citizens.
Ms Jean fits none of these criteria. It is trivial and irrelevant to divert criticism of this choice to her being ‘ethnic’, ‘non-white’, ‘a woman’, even to her being ‘Quebecois’..blah blah. That’s all trivia and obfuscates and hides what should be the basic criticism of this choice of her as G-G. The criticism? She doesn’t fit what should be a standard for a patronage appointment of this stature; namely, a lifetime work towards the betterment of the well-being of the majority of Canadians. As I said – there are many in Canada who have worked over their lives, in their fields, -whether in medicine, politics, literature, science, law, education etc..whose work has made profound contributions to the well-being of people.
So- what are Ms Jean’s qualifications???? None of the above. She’s a local broadcaster. So what? There are lots of local broadcasters and journalists and sports writers and national news reporters. So what? There’s absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in qualifications between any of them..well, a lot of them are far more knowledgeable than Ms Jean. Far more knowledgeable. And a lot of them speak many languages as well. Hey- there’s Chantal Hebert, there’s Andrew Coyne, there’s Irshad Manji, there’s Don Cherry, there’s Peter Worthington, there…and so on. But – do any of them have that criterion of a lifetime of work resulting in demonstrable improvements in the well-being of many Canadians…such as would be found in a lifetime of work in law, in economics, in science, in medicine, in politics etc. No. So- they can be awarded OTHER acknowledgements of their status. National Newspaper Awards, Order of Canada, etc, etc.
So- what was this position appointment really about? Remember – forget the trivia. Don’t even mention the ‘non-white’, female irrelevancies. The appointment was made, as are ALL LIBERAL actions – for one purpose only. Votes for Power.
The agenda is for the Montreal city votes in the next election. That’s what it’s all about. The Liberals figure they could lose the rural votes, the outside Montreal votes, which will go to the Bloc. But, Montreal has usually been Liberal and the Gomery has badly damaged that Montreal base. This appointment is for both the ethnic votes – which are ALL in Montreal (how’s that for a diverse province…all the ethnics are only found in Montreal; they aren’t welcome elsewhere in the province)…AND – it’s for the Montreal city votes.
It’s all about Liberal Power. Nothing else.
(Not to mention the lingering warm fuzzies that will keep the CBC firmly on side.)
Supreme Court Puts Charter Of Rights On Hold
Via local radio: the Supreme Court of Canada has suspended their decision to strike down the Quebec private health-care ban case for 12 months.
Put your hand up if this surprises you.
update – and that isn’t all. They’re going to revisit the decision;
The Risk Takers
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In this era in which nanny-state politics endeavors to stifle their natural inclinations from the moment they take their first helmeted steps, we should pause a moment and say a prayer of thanks for the gift of the “risk takers”.
They are those children – boys, usually – who jump their bicycles from garage roofs, who taunt large dogs, who ride their motorcycles far too fast, who grow up to risk all and sometimes, to give all and in so doing contribute the tools and the techniques that save lives through innovative materials and technologies.
They become the race car drivers, the astronauts, the stunt pilots and their kind. By pushing the envelope for the envelope’s own sake, the risk takers discover the knowledge that trickles down to protect and improve our everyday lives.
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