Saturday, April 25, 2009
An hour on a roof with socialist usurpers
I spent some time on a roof yesterday. The roof of a London primary school, to be exact. This is not normal. So I should explain. See, this school is under threat of being demolished. I've passed by a few times and seen posters and things on the fence saying "Hands off our school!" and such. I thought it was neat that the kids wanted to save their school. They've even managed to get it listed as a historic building, which doesn't prevent the demolition but makes it more difficult. Anyway, some teachers, parents, and local residents are now camping on the roof, which is sort of like laying in front of the bulldozers, but cooler.
When I passed by the school yesterday, I went up the ladder to sign the anti-demolition petition (nice rhyme, that) and talk to some people. And, well...disappointment and disillusionment followed. I asked one woman what it was about this school that was special enough to warrant doing all this to keep it going. I was expecting to hear something to do with students. 'Cause that's what a school's about, you know. I was expecting to hear that it had a great teaching staff, or a unique method, or a great community of students, or a record of achievement, or something. That the students coming out of the school were better for having been there, and really cared about keeping their school. But of course, what she said was nothing of the sort.
Instead, she went off on a lecture about class conflict and multicultural communities and inclusivity, and compared the situation to laid-off factory workers, and basically spewed a whole lot of Marxist mumbo-jumbo that had about as much to do with children as a geriatric healthcare plan. She accused the government of tearing down the school to try and get rid of working-class and special needs students, and of planning to build a new secondary school in its place in order to line the pockets of the big businesses that sell school uniforms and IT systems. I felt like I was on Greenham Common.
The school was just a symbol for the real issues, see. We might as well have been on the roof of a church, or a hospital, or a sprocket plant. I don't even know what a sprocket IS, but there you go. Because, as always, this wasn't about the kids. It was about adults using children to fight for their own issues, not the children's. I hate these people. They call themselves parents and teachers, but I wouldn't let them near my kid if they were bound and gagged.
I wish I could be a kid again. You get to be friends with much more intelligent and morally superior people.
PS: I know it's been a long, long time since my last post, and it may be a while before my next one. Don't know why, I just haven't been in a bloggy sort of mood recently. But quick update: I left Alaska, I live in England (again), and I'm really hoping I get to vote in the election that finally ousts Labour.
When I passed by the school yesterday, I went up the ladder to sign the anti-demolition petition (nice rhyme, that) and talk to some people. And, well...disappointment and disillusionment followed. I asked one woman what it was about this school that was special enough to warrant doing all this to keep it going. I was expecting to hear something to do with students. 'Cause that's what a school's about, you know. I was expecting to hear that it had a great teaching staff, or a unique method, or a great community of students, or a record of achievement, or something. That the students coming out of the school were better for having been there, and really cared about keeping their school. But of course, what she said was nothing of the sort.
Instead, she went off on a lecture about class conflict and multicultural communities and inclusivity, and compared the situation to laid-off factory workers, and basically spewed a whole lot of Marxist mumbo-jumbo that had about as much to do with children as a geriatric healthcare plan. She accused the government of tearing down the school to try and get rid of working-class and special needs students, and of planning to build a new secondary school in its place in order to line the pockets of the big businesses that sell school uniforms and IT systems. I felt like I was on Greenham Common.
The school was just a symbol for the real issues, see. We might as well have been on the roof of a church, or a hospital, or a sprocket plant. I don't even know what a sprocket IS, but there you go. Because, as always, this wasn't about the kids. It was about adults using children to fight for their own issues, not the children's. I hate these people. They call themselves parents and teachers, but I wouldn't let them near my kid if they were bound and gagged.
I wish I could be a kid again. You get to be friends with much more intelligent and morally superior people.
PS: I know it's been a long, long time since my last post, and it may be a while before my next one. Don't know why, I just haven't been in a bloggy sort of mood recently. But quick update: I left Alaska, I live in England (again), and I'm really hoping I get to vote in the election that finally ousts Labour.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Questions for Obama supporters
Not arguments. Not attacks. Just questions.
1) Has Obama ever actually defined "change"? What is it, exactly, that he intends to change? How? Into what?
2) Why is change automatically a good thing? How is it that Obama has convinced the American public that "change" is an intrinsically positive word?
3) Isn't saying "this election result shows progress against bias in our nation" (or somesuch) incongruous? Doesn't this statement itself make a racial judgement and imply that race is important in politics?
4) How are we going to regain the world's respect by withdrawing troops from Iraq and leaving an unstable ally to its fate?
Just some questions.
1) Has Obama ever actually defined "change"? What is it, exactly, that he intends to change? How? Into what?
2) Why is change automatically a good thing? How is it that Obama has convinced the American public that "change" is an intrinsically positive word?
3) Isn't saying "this election result shows progress against bias in our nation" (or somesuch) incongruous? Doesn't this statement itself make a racial judgement and imply that race is important in politics?
4) How are we going to regain the world's respect by withdrawing troops from Iraq and leaving an unstable ally to its fate?
Just some questions.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Where I have been, am, and will be
I can't believe it's been nearly three months since I've posted anything. I've found a lot of things since then that I've wanted to write about, but simply haven't found the time. Student teaching involves a lot of busywork - more so, I think, than being a regular teacher, since you have to keep up on university paperwork and such on top of teaching duties. Anyway, I'm done now - graduated a month ago! - but though it seems like that would give me a chance to get back into blogging, there are two reasons that this is not the case: first, election season tends to turn me off to politics for some reason, and second, I'm leaving for Russia tomorrow, and I won't be back until July 29. I'll have no internet access for almost all of that time. However, do expect to see me back in August. For now, dosvidaniya!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Connecticut principal saves honor student from food fascists
MSNBC reported this week on what just might be the most ridiculous example of nutritionist zealotry yet. Michael Sheridan, an eighth-grader in New Haven, CT, was recently caught - horror of horrors! - buying a bag of Skittles from another student. He was unfortunately unaware that in 2003, as part of a "wellness policy", the New Haven school system completely banned the sale of candy in its schools, even from one student to another. For his "crime", he was suspended for three days, barred from attending an honors dinner, and stripped of his title as student council vice president. Watch the video below for interviews with the student and his mother, both of whom are understandably confused.
As mentioned in the video, Sheridan's suspension was reduced from three days to one after his mother complained, and this past Thursday, his school's principal agreed to give him his student council post back. That reduces his total punishment for buying a bag of candy to being barred from having his academic achievements recognized at the school's honors dinner and being suspended for one day - one day when the students are, according to the principal, "in the middle of taking the Connecticut mastery test".
Sheridan appears in the video above to be a rather normal-shaped kid, maybe even a bit on the skinny side. But even perfectly healthy Americans have something to fear from the nutritionist mafia now. It's terrifying to think that someone has actually succeeded in turning sugar into contraband in American schools. Isn't is illegal for a public institution to control the purchase - not the sale, the purchase - of something that is not a controlled substance? If it isn't, anyway, it should be. But that wouldn't stop them even if it were the case. Goodbye, free market...it's been nice knowing you.
As mentioned in the video, Sheridan's suspension was reduced from three days to one after his mother complained, and this past Thursday, his school's principal agreed to give him his student council post back. That reduces his total punishment for buying a bag of candy to being barred from having his academic achievements recognized at the school's honors dinner and being suspended for one day - one day when the students are, according to the principal, "in the middle of taking the Connecticut mastery test".
Sheridan appears in the video above to be a rather normal-shaped kid, maybe even a bit on the skinny side. But even perfectly healthy Americans have something to fear from the nutritionist mafia now. It's terrifying to think that someone has actually succeeded in turning sugar into contraband in American schools. Isn't is illegal for a public institution to control the purchase - not the sale, the purchase - of something that is not a controlled substance? If it isn't, anyway, it should be. But that wouldn't stop them even if it were the case. Goodbye, free market...it's been nice knowing you.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
CBC: Only caring about the East for 72 years
According to CBC, you're not Canadian enough if you don't know enough about the East.
Out of a sense of morbid curiosity, I took a Canada Day quiz on the CBC site a while back. I managed to get every question right, by the way, so whoop-de-doo for me; I guess studying the same Canadian history every year from grad 5 through grade 8 finally paid off.
But you know the really interesting thing about this quiz? The nature of its fourteen questions. Here's a brief rundown:
Six questions on national trivia, such as the national anthem and who the Canadian head of state is. Five questions on national history, such as the role of the Hudson's Bay Company and what the first four provinces were Three questions on Eastern Canadian trivia, involving things like Lake Algonquin and Quebec bilingualism No questions at all about the West
Why am I not surprised?
Out of a sense of morbid curiosity, I took a Canada Day quiz on the CBC site a while back. I managed to get every question right, by the way, so whoop-de-doo for me; I guess studying the same Canadian history every year from grad 5 through grade 8 finally paid off.
But you know the really interesting thing about this quiz? The nature of its fourteen questions. Here's a brief rundown:
Why am I not surprised?
The UN: if they weren't serious, they'd be hilarious
Wow...been gone a while, haven't I? It's been a busy two months - not bad, mind you, but busy. It's been tough, too, because there's a lot of stuff I would've liked to talk about, but of course I can't remember much of it now. One thing I can remember, though, is this little gem of irony. Apparently the UN considers the Canadian government racist for its use of the term "visible minority", used in all manner of documents and processes in a backwards attempt to reduce discrimination. "Visible minorities" legally refers to "persons, other than aboriginal people, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour" - thereby, strangely enough, singling out whites (though of course the UN was not at all concerned with the well-being of Caucasians). Apparently having this "minorities" tag attached to them could cause problems for people, though what those problems are was never really discussed.
The same report, by the way, called for Canada to provide welfare services to "undocumented immigrants and failed refugee applicants". Yes, that's right, people who are in Canada illegally and people who were actively rejected for entry to the country now apparently deserve services paid for with taxpayer dollars. I'd mock that, but honestly, I can't find anything more stupid to compare it to.
The same report, by the way, called for Canada to provide welfare services to "undocumented immigrants and failed refugee applicants". Yes, that's right, people who are in Canada illegally and people who were actively rejected for entry to the country now apparently deserve services paid for with taxpayer dollars. I'd mock that, but honestly, I can't find anything more stupid to compare it to.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Britain and Europe losing their economic freedom
Guess who's #1 on the Heritage Index of Economic Freedom this year. It's not who you think. Believe it or not, that honor goes to Hong Kong.
Other countries considered "free" are Singapore, Ireland, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and Canada. Yeah, that last one surprised me too, but if you look closely, we made it in by a margin of 0.2 percent, and had an extremely low score on the "government size" indicator.
But I digress. The point is, there's one glaring absence, one country which has been on the "free" list for years but has now taxed itself into the "mostly free" category: the United Kingdom. It's easy to point to the causes of the slip: years of Labour Party government and a certain socialist idiot who recently took power and announced tax raises that would make any Swedish government proud. Government spending equalled nearly forty-five percent of the UK's GDP last year and it's not going anywhere but up.
Other EU countries have also slipped, Italy and Greece being two of the worst examples - they now rank below most of the former Communist bloc, which themselves are eagerly democratizing. It'll be interesting to compare eastern and western Europe in ten years; I suspect the west will be lagging far behind in economic freedom by then.
Other countries considered "free" are Singapore, Ireland, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and Canada. Yeah, that last one surprised me too, but if you look closely, we made it in by a margin of 0.2 percent, and had an extremely low score on the "government size" indicator.
But I digress. The point is, there's one glaring absence, one country which has been on the "free" list for years but has now taxed itself into the "mostly free" category: the United Kingdom. It's easy to point to the causes of the slip: years of Labour Party government and a certain socialist idiot who recently took power and announced tax raises that would make any Swedish government proud. Government spending equalled nearly forty-five percent of the UK's GDP last year and it's not going anywhere but up.
Other EU countries have also slipped, Italy and Greece being two of the worst examples - they now rank below most of the former Communist bloc, which themselves are eagerly democratizing. It'll be interesting to compare eastern and western Europe in ten years; I suspect the west will be lagging far behind in economic freedom by then.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Another reason I'm never moving back to Canada
Remember the Danish cartoons of Muhammad that caused such a big hoo-hah two years ago? Well, Ezra Levant, co-founder of Western Standard, has been ordered to submit to an "investigation" by the Alberta Human Rights Commission for republishing the cartoons in February of 2006. The commission could order a full hearing if it decides one is warranted. But until that decision is made, the commission itself remains a obscure bureaucratic body which spuriously claims the legal and moral right to prosecute and punish Canadian citizens, without regard for due process, for actions which are protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
I must admit to having no idea that Alberta had created this type of thought police organization, and that's the most terrifying thing of all - they're not only the thought police, they're the secret police as well. Mark my words, in fifty years, these people are going to be able to grab you off the street and haul you into a reeducation facility when they pick up anti-diversity brainwaves.
Luckily, people like Levant are willing to stand up to the egregiously badly-named "Human Rights Commission" and other such cryptofascists. Here's the video of his opening statement; I envy his chutzpah and, I must admit, the ability of the Commission investigator to keep from getting the slightest bit angry when confronted with such cutting arguments.
I must admit to having no idea that Alberta had created this type of thought police organization, and that's the most terrifying thing of all - they're not only the thought police, they're the secret police as well. Mark my words, in fifty years, these people are going to be able to grab you off the street and haul you into a reeducation facility when they pick up anti-diversity brainwaves.
Luckily, people like Levant are willing to stand up to the egregiously badly-named "Human Rights Commission" and other such cryptofascists. Here's the video of his opening statement; I envy his chutzpah and, I must admit, the ability of the Commission investigator to keep from getting the slightest bit angry when confronted with such cutting arguments.
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