Mid-Week Post

Lots to talk about...


It's time to build the Keystone Pipeline over Obama's golf course:

Defying the Republican-run Congress, President Barack Obama rejected a bill Tuesday to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, wielding his veto power for only the third time in his presidency.

One thing he wants failed; the other he wants to succeed:

Islamic State militants have abducted as many as 90 Assyrian Christians, including women and children, after overrunning several small villages in northeast Syria, an activist group and relatives said Tuesday.

Around dawn Monday, the extremist fighters swept through the Assyrian villages nestled along the banks of the Khabur River near the town of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh province.

Not "degraded" enough, apparently.


It is claimed, according the Red Toronto Star, that Rick Nicholls, MPP for Chatham-Kent-Essex,  does not believe in the Theory of Evolution:

When Progressive Conservative MPP Rick Nicholls shouted in the legislature that it’s “not a bad idea” to stop teaching evolution in schools, he wasn’t kidding.

The off-the-cuff remark during a heated debate over the new sex education curriculum landed Nicholls (Chatham-Kent-Essex) in hot water with Conservative colleagues and left him ridiculed by others.

“It obviously didn’t help our position,” said Interim Conservative Leader Jim Wilson, who has frequently blamed his party for poor decisions that led to four successive election defeats by the scandal-plagued Liberals.

But Nicholls stood by his line when asked about it Wednesday. 

“For myself, I don’t believe in evolution,” Nicholls told reporters.

The controversial quip came after Education Minister Liz Sandals — reacting to criticisms Tuesday from Conservative MPP Monte McNaughton about modernizing sex ed — scolded that a Tory government “could opt out of teaching about evolution, too.”

That’s when Nicholls retorted “that’s not a bad idea” as catcalls died down. 

“She was very flippant in her response to my colleague and I gave a flippant response back to her,” he explained.

... and I don't care.

Why?

Because unlike wind turbines, solar panels, cancelled gas plants, controversial grooming sex education programs partially devised by a soon-to-be convicted child pornographer and carbon taxes (read: war on the poor), the Theory of Evolution - based on Charles Darwin's observations and theories on how species survive and has been challenged by Mendelian genetics- isn't part of public policy. This little non-story was just thrown out to distract the electorate from Premier Kathleen Wynne's thin skin and penchant for low blows:

Ontario Tory leadership candidate Monte McNaughton is defending himself from allegations he was being homophobic when asserting it was the role of parents and not that of the premier -- "especially Kathleen Wynne" -- to decide what children are taught about sex in school.

Wynne, the province's first openly gay premier, demanded McNaughton explain why she was unqualified.

"What is it that especially disqualifies me for the job that I'm doing? Is it that I'm a woman? Is it that I'm a mother? Is it that I have a master's of education? Is it that I was a school council chair? Is it that I was the minister of education? What is it exactly that the member opposite thinks disqualifies me from doing the job?" Wynne said Tuesday.
Education Minister Liz Sandals later insisted McNaughton made comments that were homophobic.

"That's ridiculous," McNaughton said. "For any premier, for any fellow legislator to accuse another legislator of that is an absolute disgrace." 

By saying "especially Kathleen Wynne," McNaughton said he meant a premier who is embroiled in scandal and one who failed to consult widely with parents on the new sex-ed curriculum -- as promised.

Kathleen Wynne: nobody's victim.


Sharbat Gula, the pictorial subject of National Geographic's June 1985 issue, now finds herself in the centre of an identification scandal:

On Tuesday the national media published the photograph from Gula’s computerised national identity card (CNIC), a vital document that she should not have been able to acquire as a foreign national.

That one of the most famous of the nearly 3 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan should have been able to get the card underlined for many the corruption that riddles much of government.

Afghans can only buy property, open a bank account and be confident they will be able to remain indefinitely in a country that wants rid of its refugee population by having a CNIC, usually acquired with fake documents and bribes.

Faik Ali Chachar, a spokesman for the national database and registration authority (NADRA), said Gula’s card had been detected and blocked in August and that four officials had been suspended for their suspected involvement.

He said the agency has so far found more than 22,000 cards illegally held by Afghans. ...

Millions of Afghans have returned to their homeland since the international community uprooted the Taliban regime in 2001, but more than 2.5 million are thought to remain – the second largest refugee population in the world.

They have long been unpopular, with many Pakistanis blaming them for crime and terrorism.

“We need them to leave Pakistan because we are badly suffering,” said Hamid-ul-Haq, an MP who represents Peshawar, the north-western city where many Afghans are settled. “All our streets, mosques, schools are overloaded because of them. It is time for them to leave Pakistan honourably.

There have been several half-hearted attempts to force more of them to quit the country, including a threat to cancel their refugee status, but official deadlines have repeatedly been ignored or allowed to slip.

The government has also attempted to clear slums in Islamabad that are populated by Afghans. 

Action against Afghan refugees has intensified following last December’s attack by the Pakistani Taliban on the army public school in Peshawar, in which more than 130 schoolboys were killed.

Why is it Mrs. Gula's fault that the corrupt Pakistani government which gave her the card in the first place now wants her out? Coming from a country where its own citizens and Taliban murder people for the fun of it, it's quite a stretch of the imagination to think that Afghans alone are the source of tumult.


I don't remember Hindu nationalists helping their poor:

Mohan Bhagwat, head of the Hindu nationalist RSS organization, said on Monday that Mother Teresa’s prime motive in serving the poor was converting them to Christianity.

Speaking at a function for an NGO in the village of Bharatpur, Bhagwat said, ”It’s good to work for a cause with selfless intentions. But Mother Teresa’s work had ulterior motive, which was to convert the person who was being served to Christianity.” He added, “In the name of service, religious conversions were made. This was followed by other institutes, too.”

Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic sister, was the founder of the  Missionaries of Charity, a religious and charitable organization that provides home, food, medical and hospice care for the poorest of the poor in India and 132 other countries around the world.

At the same event, former director general of Border Security Force Prakash Singh also complained about Mother Teresa.

“There are many other organizations that have done far more good work than her. But Christians, with the help of media were able to publicize their work,” said Singh.

What? Did the caste system just become passe? I know that without it children of all castes can get an education and Indians of all faiths can come together without resorting to bloodshed and admire one who gave great service to them.



This is a baby wombat:

And this is a campaign to crowd-fund "The Rebel".

Thank you.

And now, a wombat charge. Enjoy: