...but didn't know actually exists!
Of course you may have to go to Australia to take delivery.
Walt doesn't get a cent for posting this. [Do they have cents in Australia? Or is it "pence"? Ed.] I just think it's awesome. But if you do happen to visit the manufacturer's website and maybe buy one of their fine products, be sure to them Walt sent you.
Thanks to Agent 6 for the lead.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
The kidnapping of the Nigerian schoolgirls and the Mirror Image Fallacy
BREAKING NEWS: "8 more Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by suspected Boko Haram gunmen"
In case you've been on another planet, the last three weeks have seen a horror story emerge from Africa -- where else -- that has provoked more than the usual amount of international interest and indignation. Some 230 girls in their mid-teens were kidnapped from their school in the state of Borno, in northern Nigeria. This happened on April 14th and none of the girls has been seen since.
Reports last week said that some of the girls were taken across borders into Cameroon and Chad. Others are said to have been forced to "marry" their abductors, who paid a nominal bride price of $12. Paying a bride price is still customary in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, although the girl's worth is nowadays calculated in cash rather than cattle.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has said everything was being done to find the girls. Walt wishes him good luck [Geddit? Ed.] and will help by explaining who took the girls and why. Here's a CNN video that makes things pretty clear. [No. Clear, but not pretty. Ed.]
CNN and the rest of the lamestream media make it clear enough that the schoolgirls were taken by Boko Haram. The CNN reporter describes them as "jihadists". What that means -- and what the politically correct western media almost never spell out -- is that Boko Haram are Islamic extremists. Fanatically militant Muslims!
Walt has written about Boko Haram before. See "Nigerian archbishop says Boko Haram fanaticism increasing" and "Islamic extremists don't discriminate; they kill anyone and everyone".
Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden", has attacked schools, churches, bus stations, anything and everything, all over the predominantly Muslim northern part of Nigeria. In a video circulating on the Net today, one of their leaders, Abubakar Shekau, said the girls should not have been in school in the first place, but rather should get married. "God instructed me to sell them," he said. "They are his properties and I will carry out his instructions!"
The other reason the lamestream media are downplaying the Islamic extremist angle is that these fanatics happen to be, errr, African -- as black as the ace of spades. So when attention is called to their race and their religion, it agitates the liberal one-worlders who believe that we are really all the same inside. To do so offends their naive notions about the Brotherhood of Man [and Woman? Ed.]
To aver that people are people, undifferentiated by race, religion, language and culture, is absurd. It is the Mirror Image Fallacy, writ large. The mirror image fallacy is the wrongly assumed belief that others share our thoughts, responses, and perspectives. That is just not so. The Islamic fundamentalists are nothing like us.
So when America and Britain offer to "help", to "facilitate" or "mediate" or somehow make a connection between Boko Haram and civilized people, they are committing what Charles Krauthammer called a "plural solipsism". In "The Mirror-Image Fallacy", penned for Time way back in 1983, Mr. Krauthammer concluded "To gloss over contradictory interests, incompatible ideologies and opposing cultures as sources of conflict is more than anti-political. It is dangerous."
Further reading: "The Mirror-Image Fallacy" is included in Charles Krauthammer's new book, Things That Matter (Crown Forum 2013),a collection of 88 of his columns spanning three decades. You'll find a review and some excerpts in "The Insights of Charles Krauthammer", by Lauri B. Regan on The American Thinker website.
In case you've been on another planet, the last three weeks have seen a horror story emerge from Africa -- where else -- that has provoked more than the usual amount of international interest and indignation. Some 230 girls in their mid-teens were kidnapped from their school in the state of Borno, in northern Nigeria. This happened on April 14th and none of the girls has been seen since.
Reports last week said that some of the girls were taken across borders into Cameroon and Chad. Others are said to have been forced to "marry" their abductors, who paid a nominal bride price of $12. Paying a bride price is still customary in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, although the girl's worth is nowadays calculated in cash rather than cattle.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has said everything was being done to find the girls. Walt wishes him good luck [Geddit? Ed.] and will help by explaining who took the girls and why. Here's a CNN video that makes things pretty clear. [No. Clear, but not pretty. Ed.]
CNN and the rest of the lamestream media make it clear enough that the schoolgirls were taken by Boko Haram. The CNN reporter describes them as "jihadists". What that means -- and what the politically correct western media almost never spell out -- is that Boko Haram are Islamic extremists. Fanatically militant Muslims!
Walt has written about Boko Haram before. See "Nigerian archbishop says Boko Haram fanaticism increasing" and "Islamic extremists don't discriminate; they kill anyone and everyone".
Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden", has attacked schools, churches, bus stations, anything and everything, all over the predominantly Muslim northern part of Nigeria. In a video circulating on the Net today, one of their leaders, Abubakar Shekau, said the girls should not have been in school in the first place, but rather should get married. "God instructed me to sell them," he said. "They are his properties and I will carry out his instructions!"
The other reason the lamestream media are downplaying the Islamic extremist angle is that these fanatics happen to be, errr, African -- as black as the ace of spades. So when attention is called to their race and their religion, it agitates the liberal one-worlders who believe that we are really all the same inside. To do so offends their naive notions about the Brotherhood of Man [and Woman? Ed.]
To aver that people are people, undifferentiated by race, religion, language and culture, is absurd. It is the Mirror Image Fallacy, writ large. The mirror image fallacy is the wrongly assumed belief that others share our thoughts, responses, and perspectives. That is just not so. The Islamic fundamentalists are nothing like us.
So when America and Britain offer to "help", to "facilitate" or "mediate" or somehow make a connection between Boko Haram and civilized people, they are committing what Charles Krauthammer called a "plural solipsism". In "The Mirror-Image Fallacy", penned for Time way back in 1983, Mr. Krauthammer concluded "To gloss over contradictory interests, incompatible ideologies and opposing cultures as sources of conflict is more than anti-political. It is dangerous."
Further reading: "The Mirror-Image Fallacy" is included in Charles Krauthammer's new book, Things That Matter (Crown Forum 2013),a collection of 88 of his columns spanning three decades. You'll find a review and some excerpts in "The Insights of Charles Krauthammer", by Lauri B. Regan on The American Thinker website.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
What's wrong with the canonization of John Paul II: Michael Matt
I am really sorry that I didn't post this before the Big Event. It only came to my attention this weekend. Michael Matt, the editor of The Remnant, calls on his neo-Catholic brothers to drop the narrative and come to the aid of the Church as the secular press turns on the Vatican's decision to fast-track the canonization of Pope John Paul II.
He quotes some interesting statements by the Vatican's chief media spokesthingy, Father Federico Lombardi, who tells us that a person doesn't necessarily have to lead a saintly life or do saintly things to be declared a saint. Incredible!
Note from Ed.: I've had to "disimbed" the video because the video player associated with it caused the video to start running the minute you hit our home page, which interfered with other posts and videos. Click here to view the Michael Matt video. It's well worth watching!
At about the 10 minute mark (total running time 14:51), Mr. Matt comments on the disaster that is the "New Mass" -- the Novus Ordo mass foisted on us by the Protestants and Masons who were "advisors" to Vatican II. I was reminded of just how bad the New Mass can be -- aesthetically if not theologically -- when I chanced on a televised "Mass for Shut-ins" earlier today.
The "music" was provided by two size-XL ladies accompanied by their husbands -- I'm guessing -- on the inevitable guitars. Oh Lord -- this is a prayer -- spare me from ever again having to hear 60s-style folk music in a Catholic church! Anyway, I knew the mass was over when the fat ladies sang.
He quotes some interesting statements by the Vatican's chief media spokesthingy, Father Federico Lombardi, who tells us that a person doesn't necessarily have to lead a saintly life or do saintly things to be declared a saint. Incredible!
Note from Ed.: I've had to "disimbed" the video because the video player associated with it caused the video to start running the minute you hit our home page, which interfered with other posts and videos. Click here to view the Michael Matt video. It's well worth watching!
At about the 10 minute mark (total running time 14:51), Mr. Matt comments on the disaster that is the "New Mass" -- the Novus Ordo mass foisted on us by the Protestants and Masons who were "advisors" to Vatican II. I was reminded of just how bad the New Mass can be -- aesthetically if not theologically -- when I chanced on a televised "Mass for Shut-ins" earlier today.
The "music" was provided by two size-XL ladies accompanied by their husbands -- I'm guessing -- on the inevitable guitars. Oh Lord -- this is a prayer -- spare me from ever again having to hear 60s-style folk music in a Catholic church! Anyway, I knew the mass was over when the fat ladies sang.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Religious persecution rampant in 15 countries. Guess which ones...
Earlier today I wrote about the increasing persecution of Christians -- and Muslims and Buddhists -- in Communist China. See "Religious freedom guaranteed by Communist China's constitution? LMAO!" But China is not the only country whose government is out to get believers.
In its newly released annual report for 1914, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urges the State Department to designate (or redesignate) 15 nations as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) because they are places “where particularly severe violations of religious freedom are tolerated or perpetrated.”
Here's the USCIRF list, in alphabetical order, with notes from Walt on who's persecuting whom.
CPCs -- Countries of Particular Concern
Burma - Buddhist majority would like to drive Muslim and Hindu minorities out of the country entirely.
China - No discrimination, persecutes all religions. Follow the link above.
Egypt - Cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood at the moment, but Coptic Christians are a much persecuted minority.
Eritrea - The Eritrean government tolerates Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherans and Muslims, but has cracked down in the last decade on evangelical Protestants. "In Eritrea, 'Persecution greater than ever and getting worse'"
Iran - The Ayatollahs are still in charge. No infidels allowed.
Iraq - Like Iran except that the Muslims are killing each other, with Christians caught in the middle. See "'We are a ruined church': Patriarch Sako talks about Christianity in Iraq"
Nigeria - "Boko haram". Virtual civil war between the militant Islamists in the north and the somewhat Christian south.
North Korea - Worse than China.
Pakistan - Kill anyone who dares to blaspheme against the Prophet.
Saudi Arabia - Worse than Iran.
Sudan - Another Islamic state. Christians should refugee to strife-torn South Sudan PDQ.
Syria - Worse than Iraq, even without the "help" of America.
Tajikistan - No. 44 (only) on the OpenDoors watch list of countries that persecute Christians.
Turkmenistan - See Tajikistan (above) or Uzbekistan (below). All the "Stans" are the same -- no place for infidels.
Uzbekistan - Human Rights Watch said in its 2013 World Report authorities "persecute religious believers who worship outside strict state controls". Yes, even Muslims.
Vietnam - Like China, only smaller, and with no to worry about. Like Cuba in struggling to suppress the Catholic Church.
"Governments that engage in or tolerate violations that are serious, but which are not CPC-level violators"
Afghanistan - No comment necessary.
Azerbaijan - Another state where all citizens are theoretically free to choose their religion. In practice the government -- like those of China and Eritrea -- maintains many Soviet-era controls over religion. 90% of the people are non-observant Muslims.
Cuba - Communist government hasn't been able to extinguish the deep Catholic Faith of the people, but the Church is far from free.
India - Supposedly a secular state, but violence by Hindu extremists against Muslims and (especially) Christians goes unpunished.
Indonesia - World's biggest Muslim nation (by population), with Sharia law being promoted in some places (like Aceh province) and ongoing violence against Christians.
Kazakhstan - Another "Stan"; see Pakistan, Tajikistan, etc.
Laos - Majority Buddhist population. Government doesn't mind Catholics, but seeks to control incursions by Protestant missionaries. Malaysia - Very Muslim, but Christians aren't killed so much as locked up if they don't follow Islamic laws and customs. For instance, a Christian who dares to say "Allah" could do some jail time.
Russia - Probably on the list because the USA doesn't like the Putin government. Orthodox Christianity is the established religion -- antagonism to Catholicism lurks below the surface -- but it's really the Protestants who are targeted.
Turkey - Officially a secular state, becoming more and more Islamic in practice.
Countries which persecute religious minorities but somehow got left off the USCIRF list
Israel - Even John Kerry knows it's a de facto "apartheid state".
United States of America - Where the secular humanists who run the media and the so-called administration of President Hussein Obama are trying harder than ever to restrict or eliminate entirely the freedom of Christians -- especially Catholics and evangelical Protestants -- to live their lives in accordance with their religious convictions. Or, we might say, to obey God rather than the godless.
Freedom of religion is enshrined in the United States constitution. Just like that of Communist China.
In its newly released annual report for 1914, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urges the State Department to designate (or redesignate) 15 nations as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) because they are places “where particularly severe violations of religious freedom are tolerated or perpetrated.”
Here's the USCIRF list, in alphabetical order, with notes from Walt on who's persecuting whom.
CPCs -- Countries of Particular Concern
Burma - Buddhist majority would like to drive Muslim and Hindu minorities out of the country entirely.
China - No discrimination, persecutes all religions. Follow the link above.
Egypt - Cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood at the moment, but Coptic Christians are a much persecuted minority.
Eritrea - The Eritrean government tolerates Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherans and Muslims, but has cracked down in the last decade on evangelical Protestants. "In Eritrea, 'Persecution greater than ever and getting worse'"
Iran - The Ayatollahs are still in charge. No infidels allowed.
Iraq - Like Iran except that the Muslims are killing each other, with Christians caught in the middle. See "'We are a ruined church': Patriarch Sako talks about Christianity in Iraq"
Nigeria - "Boko haram". Virtual civil war between the militant Islamists in the north and the somewhat Christian south.
North Korea - Worse than China.
Pakistan - Kill anyone who dares to blaspheme against the Prophet.
Saudi Arabia - Worse than Iran.
Sudan - Another Islamic state. Christians should refugee to strife-torn South Sudan PDQ.
Syria - Worse than Iraq, even without the "help" of America.
Tajikistan - No. 44 (only) on the OpenDoors watch list of countries that persecute Christians.
Turkmenistan - See Tajikistan (above) or Uzbekistan (below). All the "Stans" are the same -- no place for infidels.
Uzbekistan - Human Rights Watch said in its 2013 World Report authorities "persecute religious believers who worship outside strict state controls". Yes, even Muslims.
Vietnam - Like China, only smaller, and with no to worry about. Like Cuba in struggling to suppress the Catholic Church.
"Governments that engage in or tolerate violations that are serious, but which are not CPC-level violators"
Afghanistan - No comment necessary.
Azerbaijan - Another state where all citizens are theoretically free to choose their religion. In practice the government -- like those of China and Eritrea -- maintains many Soviet-era controls over religion. 90% of the people are non-observant Muslims.
Cuba - Communist government hasn't been able to extinguish the deep Catholic Faith of the people, but the Church is far from free.
India - Supposedly a secular state, but violence by Hindu extremists against Muslims and (especially) Christians goes unpunished.
Indonesia - World's biggest Muslim nation (by population), with Sharia law being promoted in some places (like Aceh province) and ongoing violence against Christians.
Kazakhstan - Another "Stan"; see Pakistan, Tajikistan, etc.
Laos - Majority Buddhist population. Government doesn't mind Catholics, but seeks to control incursions by Protestant missionaries. Malaysia - Very Muslim, but Christians aren't killed so much as locked up if they don't follow Islamic laws and customs. For instance, a Christian who dares to say "Allah" could do some jail time.
Russia - Probably on the list because the USA doesn't like the Putin government. Orthodox Christianity is the established religion -- antagonism to Catholicism lurks below the surface -- but it's really the Protestants who are targeted.
Turkey - Officially a secular state, becoming more and more Islamic in practice.
Countries which persecute religious minorities but somehow got left off the USCIRF list
Israel - Even John Kerry knows it's a de facto "apartheid state".
United States of America - Where the secular humanists who run the media and the so-called administration of President Hussein Obama are trying harder than ever to restrict or eliminate entirely the freedom of Christians -- especially Catholics and evangelical Protestants -- to live their lives in accordance with their religious convictions. Or, we might say, to obey God rather than the godless.
Freedom of religion is enshrined in the United States constitution. Just like that of Communist China.
Religious freedom guaranteed by Communist China's constitution? LMAO!
The constitution of the People's Republic of China -- Communist China, that is -- guarantees "freedom of religion". Yes, if you're a Chinese citizen, you're welcome to worship in any way, in any church, as long as it's "approved" by the Party. Example: the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, a schismatic "church" set up by the comrades after the 1949 revolution.
If, however, you're a Catholic who wants to be in communion with Rome, you risk being arrested, imprisoned, tortured, even executed. See "Cardinal Zen: Vatican appeasement hurts true Church in China" and "Church refuses to see tyranny of Chinese communism: Cardinal Zen".
This week saw yet another example of the "freedom of religion" enjoyed by Catholics in China. Communist officials in Wenzhou -- a city known as "China's Jerusalem" -- have removed some statues and bricked over others at Longgang Hill, a famous Catholic pilgrimage site.
The New Zealand Herald passes on a report from UCA News that government workers sealed off the holy site, and used bricks to "hide" statues portraying moments from the Passion of Christ, including the Crucifixion. Statues of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, each weighing up to five tons, were "bricked around to hide them from public view" while cranes were used to remove other holy statues and tablets from the park. All other religious decoration was demolished.
But it's not just the Catholics who are being targeted. Officials in Zhejiang province (of which Wenzhou is the capital) have begun a campaign against all Christian institutions and recently demolished Sanjiang church, a large Protestant church that was a member of the Communist association of Protestant churches. The church had recently become a symbol of resistance to the Communist Party's draconian anti-religious policies.
Christians accuse Communist Party leaders of trying to slow the growth of the Faith by destroying churches deemed too "conspicuous". The "anti-church" campaign reflects Beijing's extreme discomfort with the rapid spread of Christianity in China, which one leading academic recently predicted could have the largest Christian congregation in the world by 2030.
But it's not just the Christians who are being targeted. The Communist government also fears the Uighurs, the largest of China's ethnic minorities, who comprise more than half the population of Xinjiang, and significant percentages of the people of neighbouring provinces. The Uighurs are Muslims, which to the Beijing government means "terrorists", actual or potential.
Then there's Tibet, where most ethnic Tibetans have the temerity to cling to their form of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama is their spiritual leader, and they hope and pray for his return and for the independence of their country, which was invaded and annexed by China in 1950. That makes the Tibetans (along with the Uighurs), "splittists", in the eyes of the Communist authorities.
Those ungrateful Buddhists... and Muslims... and Catholics! They don't seem to appreciate the freedoms they enjoy under the constitution of the People's Republic of China. Why must they be so damn inscrutable?! Why do they have to have any religion at all?! Better to believe there is no god but the Party! Will they ever learn?
If, however, you're a Catholic who wants to be in communion with Rome, you risk being arrested, imprisoned, tortured, even executed. See "Cardinal Zen: Vatican appeasement hurts true Church in China" and "Church refuses to see tyranny of Chinese communism: Cardinal Zen".
This week saw yet another example of the "freedom of religion" enjoyed by Catholics in China. Communist officials in Wenzhou -- a city known as "China's Jerusalem" -- have removed some statues and bricked over others at Longgang Hill, a famous Catholic pilgrimage site.
The New Zealand Herald passes on a report from UCA News that government workers sealed off the holy site, and used bricks to "hide" statues portraying moments from the Passion of Christ, including the Crucifixion. Statues of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, each weighing up to five tons, were "bricked around to hide them from public view" while cranes were used to remove other holy statues and tablets from the park. All other religious decoration was demolished.
But it's not just the Catholics who are being targeted. Officials in Zhejiang province (of which Wenzhou is the capital) have begun a campaign against all Christian institutions and recently demolished Sanjiang church, a large Protestant church that was a member of the Communist association of Protestant churches. The church had recently become a symbol of resistance to the Communist Party's draconian anti-religious policies.
Christians accuse Communist Party leaders of trying to slow the growth of the Faith by destroying churches deemed too "conspicuous". The "anti-church" campaign reflects Beijing's extreme discomfort with the rapid spread of Christianity in China, which one leading academic recently predicted could have the largest Christian congregation in the world by 2030.
But it's not just the Christians who are being targeted. The Communist government also fears the Uighurs, the largest of China's ethnic minorities, who comprise more than half the population of Xinjiang, and significant percentages of the people of neighbouring provinces. The Uighurs are Muslims, which to the Beijing government means "terrorists", actual or potential.
Then there's Tibet, where most ethnic Tibetans have the temerity to cling to their form of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama is their spiritual leader, and they hope and pray for his return and for the independence of their country, which was invaded and annexed by China in 1950. That makes the Tibetans (along with the Uighurs), "splittists", in the eyes of the Communist authorities.
Those ungrateful Buddhists... and Muslims... and Catholics! They don't seem to appreciate the freedoms they enjoy under the constitution of the People's Republic of China. Why must they be so damn inscrutable?! Why do they have to have any religion at all?! Better to believe there is no god but the Party! Will they ever learn?
Friday, May 2, 2014
Is P.K. Subban a "nigger"?
Note from Ed.: Today's topics are hockey and a certain Canadian hockey player, so we're turning the blog over to our old and cher ami, Poor Len Canayen.
Trending on Twitter today are the words "P.K. Subban" and "nigger". [Notice he didn't say "N-bomb". We're not afraid to call a spade a spade. Ed.] Seems that following the Montréal Canadiens double overtime victory over the big bad Boston Bruins last night, some Beantowners ranted and roared about the said P.K., a person of colour who scored the game-winning goal for les Glorieux... not to mention the first goal as well.
Remarks were made that were, frankly, racist and offensive. It was suggested, inter alia, that a "nigger" should not be playing a white man's game. Walt and I have been highly critical of Mr. Subban in times past, but wish to make it clear that our expressed wish to have him traded to some other team are not based on his race. Please reread:
"Memo to Marc Bergevin: It's time to trade Subban!"
"P.K. can't be trusted on the P.K.!" and
"M Bergevin, les amateurs du CH vous prient! [Don't worry. It's in English! Ed.]
Our quarrel with P.K. Subban is, first of all, that he's not the great defenceman he's cracked up to be.
But (I hear you say) he won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman, and he was chosen to play on Team Canada in the 2014 Olympics. I have two words for you: political correctness! Yes, he was on Team Canada, and used by coach Mike Babcock for all of 12 minutes in Canada's easiest game (against Austria). Why? Because Babcock -- a pretty savvy hockey guy -- knows that when it comes to defence, P.K. is a liability. Which is what I said.
Look at the picture above. See P.K. skate. See his knuckles drag on the ice when he makes a turn. See him fall down. Why does he keep doing that? I'll tell you why. Because he's top-heavy, that's why! Not unlike a certain African animal whose genus begins with "G". A disproportionate amount of his size and strength is in his upper body.
So what does P.K. do? He tries to make a virtue of it by doing the Savardian spin-o-rama on offence and, on defence, diving to block a shot, sliding across in front of Carey Price or Peter Budaj, playing the hero. Trouble is, the other teams are onto that trick. All a smart opponent has to do is wait until Subban dives, then lift the puck over him. As Don Cherry often says, a defenceman can't do much when he's flat on the ice.
Speaking of which, Donless got called out in at least one Canadian newspaper today for daring to call attention (again) to Subban's several missed attempts to throw a mean hip check. Mr. Cherry says a hip check is great if you connect with the onrushing forward -- the way Alexei Emelin does -- but you're screwed if you miss -- as P.K. Subban often does.
All of which makes him risky on defence, as anyone paying attention could have seen last night. Yes, he scored two goals, and good for him. But he was the goat on Boston's third goal, the one which sent the game into overtime. He got running around in the Canadiens' zone, then stopped and stood like a pylon in front of Carey Price while trying to figure out what to do next.
Our other problem with P.K. Subban is his constant acting like the Big Star he obviously wants to be. Team management put a stop to the high-five-low-five routine he did at the end of games two seasons ago, but he still stands at the gate (after a win) and high-fives the other players as they come off the ice, as if he was the coach and the captain. Nobody else does that, not even the coach or the captain.
It's the show-boating and hot-dogging that makes people call P.K. Subban a "nigger". He acts like a person of colour playing in the NFL or NBA. But this is the NHL -- National HOCKEY League. Hockey players are expected to be modest and sportsmanlike. Yes, even the greatest ones, like Wayne Gretzky and Jean Béliveau. A more courtly and gentlemanly player than Béliveau cannot be imagined. A class act all the way, on and off the ice.
But that kind of modesty doesn't suit P.K. Oh no. Instead, we see the tugging at the "CH" logo on his chest, the alpha male breast-beating, the aforementioned high fives and suchlike showing off. That's nigger behaviour! And before you accuse me of a racist remark, let me point out that not all black people carry on like that. Can you imagine the Prez doing that kind of thing after sinking a 3-pointer on the White House basketball court?
OK, maybe that's stretching it a bit. But closer to home, there's the example of Wayne Simmonds, who's almost as black as Subban. He plays for the Philadelphia Flyers and plays pretty well too -- got a hat trick in their win over the Rangers last week. Yes, he'll pump his fist in the air and do the usual fly-by -- like all the other guys -- but none of this "look how great I am" stuff.
And guess what? You don't hear people booing Wayne Simmonds in every arena he goes to, every time he steps onto the ice. And I would guess that he is called a "nigger" rarely, if ever. Why? Because he doesn't act like one!
Trending on Twitter today are the words "P.K. Subban" and "nigger". [Notice he didn't say "N-bomb". We're not afraid to call a spade a spade. Ed.] Seems that following the Montréal Canadiens double overtime victory over the big bad Boston Bruins last night, some Beantowners ranted and roared about the said P.K., a person of colour who scored the game-winning goal for les Glorieux... not to mention the first goal as well.
Remarks were made that were, frankly, racist and offensive. It was suggested, inter alia, that a "nigger" should not be playing a white man's game. Walt and I have been highly critical of Mr. Subban in times past, but wish to make it clear that our expressed wish to have him traded to some other team are not based on his race. Please reread:
"Memo to Marc Bergevin: It's time to trade Subban!"
"P.K. can't be trusted on the P.K.!" and
"M Bergevin, les amateurs du CH vous prient! [Don't worry. It's in English! Ed.]
Our quarrel with P.K. Subban is, first of all, that he's not the great defenceman he's cracked up to be.
But (I hear you say) he won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman, and he was chosen to play on Team Canada in the 2014 Olympics. I have two words for you: political correctness! Yes, he was on Team Canada, and used by coach Mike Babcock for all of 12 minutes in Canada's easiest game (against Austria). Why? Because Babcock -- a pretty savvy hockey guy -- knows that when it comes to defence, P.K. is a liability. Which is what I said.
Look at the picture above. See P.K. skate. See his knuckles drag on the ice when he makes a turn. See him fall down. Why does he keep doing that? I'll tell you why. Because he's top-heavy, that's why! Not unlike a certain African animal whose genus begins with "G". A disproportionate amount of his size and strength is in his upper body.
So what does P.K. do? He tries to make a virtue of it by doing the Savardian spin-o-rama on offence and, on defence, diving to block a shot, sliding across in front of Carey Price or Peter Budaj, playing the hero. Trouble is, the other teams are onto that trick. All a smart opponent has to do is wait until Subban dives, then lift the puck over him. As Don Cherry often says, a defenceman can't do much when he's flat on the ice.
Speaking of which, Donless got called out in at least one Canadian newspaper today for daring to call attention (again) to Subban's several missed attempts to throw a mean hip check. Mr. Cherry says a hip check is great if you connect with the onrushing forward -- the way Alexei Emelin does -- but you're screwed if you miss -- as P.K. Subban often does.
All of which makes him risky on defence, as anyone paying attention could have seen last night. Yes, he scored two goals, and good for him. But he was the goat on Boston's third goal, the one which sent the game into overtime. He got running around in the Canadiens' zone, then stopped and stood like a pylon in front of Carey Price while trying to figure out what to do next.
Our other problem with P.K. Subban is his constant acting like the Big Star he obviously wants to be. Team management put a stop to the high-five-low-five routine he did at the end of games two seasons ago, but he still stands at the gate (after a win) and high-fives the other players as they come off the ice, as if he was the coach and the captain. Nobody else does that, not even the coach or the captain.
It's the show-boating and hot-dogging that makes people call P.K. Subban a "nigger". He acts like a person of colour playing in the NFL or NBA. But this is the NHL -- National HOCKEY League. Hockey players are expected to be modest and sportsmanlike. Yes, even the greatest ones, like Wayne Gretzky and Jean Béliveau. A more courtly and gentlemanly player than Béliveau cannot be imagined. A class act all the way, on and off the ice.
But that kind of modesty doesn't suit P.K. Oh no. Instead, we see the tugging at the "CH" logo on his chest, the alpha male breast-beating, the aforementioned high fives and suchlike showing off. That's nigger behaviour! And before you accuse me of a racist remark, let me point out that not all black people carry on like that. Can you imagine the Prez doing that kind of thing after sinking a 3-pointer on the White House basketball court?
OK, maybe that's stretching it a bit. But closer to home, there's the example of Wayne Simmonds, who's almost as black as Subban. He plays for the Philadelphia Flyers and plays pretty well too -- got a hat trick in their win over the Rangers last week. Yes, he'll pump his fist in the air and do the usual fly-by -- like all the other guys -- but none of this "look how great I am" stuff.
And guess what? You don't hear people booing Wayne Simmonds in every arena he goes to, every time he steps onto the ice. And I would guess that he is called a "nigger" rarely, if ever. Why? Because he doesn't act like one!
"We are a ruined church": Patriarch Sako talks about Christianity in Iraq
Migration of Christians: Percussion of the Alarm Bells is a very sad commentary by Louis Raphaël I Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, on the situation of Christians in Iraq.
Patriarch Sako blames the American invasion of Iraq for the demise of the Church in his country. "We are a ruined church", he said. "1400 years of Islam could not uproot us from our land and our churches, while the policies of the West [have] scattered us and distributed us all around the world."
The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church. Founded in the earliest days of Christianity (1st to 3rd centuries A.D.), it was originally a part of The Assyrian Church of the East, until in the 16th century Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa entered communion with the Roman Catholic Church. It was renamed as the Chaldean Catholic Church by Rome in 1683.
The Chaldean Catholic Church presently comprises an estimated 500,000 believers, mostly ethnic Assyrians indigenous to northern Iraq, and areas bordering it in southeast Turkey, northeast Syria and northwest Iran. This is a troubled area, coinciding geographically with large parts of what is called "Kurdistan", where the Muslim majority are struggling to carve their own state out of parts of Iraq, Turkey and Syria. In central and south Iraq, fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims goes on as usual, in spite of -- or because of -- the failure of the American "intervention".
According to Patriarch Sako, the West would have been better off leaving the local peoples to sort out their differences on their own. "Democracy and change come through upbringing and education rather than through conflict," he said. "Intervention by the West in the region did not solve the problems...but on the contrary, produced more chaos and conflict."
Referring to the régime of Saddam Hussein, the patriarch said that "in the Church of the Ascension, Al-Mashtal, for example, there were about 5000 families and over 240 students preparing for their First Holy Communion before the régime’s fall.... On 25 April 2014, I celebrated in this church the Holy Mass for First Holy Communion of 13 students only."
"[Iraqi] government authorities bear part of the responsibility of this migration for failing to restore security and stability," Patriarch Sako continued. He called upon Muslim clerics to issue "a joint statement denying all forms of violence, mistrust and considering others as 'infidels'" and calling "for peace and brotherhood among the people."
For all the goodwill exhibited by Patriarch Sako, Walt thinks the likelihood of any such statement coming out of Iraq is about the same as that of Pope Francis admitting that "we are a ruined church" applies in the larger sense to the Roman Catholic Church as a whole.
Patriarch Sako blames the American invasion of Iraq for the demise of the Church in his country. "We are a ruined church", he said. "1400 years of Islam could not uproot us from our land and our churches, while the policies of the West [have] scattered us and distributed us all around the world."
The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church. Founded in the earliest days of Christianity (1st to 3rd centuries A.D.), it was originally a part of The Assyrian Church of the East, until in the 16th century Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa entered communion with the Roman Catholic Church. It was renamed as the Chaldean Catholic Church by Rome in 1683.The Chaldean Catholic Church presently comprises an estimated 500,000 believers, mostly ethnic Assyrians indigenous to northern Iraq, and areas bordering it in southeast Turkey, northeast Syria and northwest Iran. This is a troubled area, coinciding geographically with large parts of what is called "Kurdistan", where the Muslim majority are struggling to carve their own state out of parts of Iraq, Turkey and Syria. In central and south Iraq, fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims goes on as usual, in spite of -- or because of -- the failure of the American "intervention".
According to Patriarch Sako, the West would have been better off leaving the local peoples to sort out their differences on their own. "Democracy and change come through upbringing and education rather than through conflict," he said. "Intervention by the West in the region did not solve the problems...but on the contrary, produced more chaos and conflict."
Referring to the régime of Saddam Hussein, the patriarch said that "in the Church of the Ascension, Al-Mashtal, for example, there were about 5000 families and over 240 students preparing for their First Holy Communion before the régime’s fall.... On 25 April 2014, I celebrated in this church the Holy Mass for First Holy Communion of 13 students only."
"[Iraqi] government authorities bear part of the responsibility of this migration for failing to restore security and stability," Patriarch Sako continued. He called upon Muslim clerics to issue "a joint statement denying all forms of violence, mistrust and considering others as 'infidels'" and calling "for peace and brotherhood among the people."
For all the goodwill exhibited by Patriarch Sako, Walt thinks the likelihood of any such statement coming out of Iraq is about the same as that of Pope Francis admitting that "we are a ruined church" applies in the larger sense to the Roman Catholic Church as a whole.
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