Monday, May 31, 2010
DELETED - Test your logic and memory - LEAPFROG
Ed. regrets to advise that we have received several reports that the site to which "Frog Leap Test" pointed has been hijacked or otherwise rendered unsafe. We are therefore deleting this post. Sorry.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Rule by man triumphs over rule by God
In my last post, I tried to make the point that the rights and freedoms of individual Americans, Canadians and Britons are now -- more than ever -- under attack by the state. The governments of the free world are just as authoritarian, in their own way, as those of Russia, China or North Korea.
They pay lip service to freedom, but in practice have taken away or seriously circumscribed the rights and freedoms for which so many have died. An example is the right to free speech. Anyone who thinks they can tell the truth, as they see it, without fear has never had to face the wrath of a "human rights commission".
Another example, as any landlord can tell you, is the right to choose who's going to live under your roof. Say that you'd prefer a male tenant for your basement apartment, and expect a charge of "gender discrimination". [Good thing you didn't say "sex"! ed.]
Want more? What kind of person do you want to fill that vacancy in your little company or organization? Looking for a leader for the local boy scout troop? Can you specify a "straight male"? That's two offences in one phrase, you sexist homophobe!
And while we're at it...how come the Boy Scouts felt obliged to change their name to just "Scouts" but the Girl Guides are still the "Girl Guides"? That's not in the USA but in Canada, which has a "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" enshrined in its constitution. It is to laugh. But I digress...
My point is that since the hippy-dippy 60s, we have seen an exponential growth of the all-seeing, all-powerful "nanny state" and the concomitant decline of individual rights. Our governments have weakened or altogether ignored constitutional limits. And woe betide any libertarian who dares question their authority.
Why is this? Because God and His Church have been removed from any meaningful role in our post-secular Western society. It's a wonder that "In God we trust" still appears on US coins!
Instead of God, our society puts its faith in humanism, in the inherent goodness of man. That man is basically evil is one of the chief tenets of Christianity. It's called "original sin". So to trust men [you mean "humans", surely. ed] to do the right thing is rubbish.
Our governors must understand this because their restrictions on our freedom say to us, "You can't be trusted to do the right thing, so WE, your [sic] government, will tell you, and you'd better do what WE say...or else!"
The subordination of the rights of the individual to the rights of the state was foreseen by Father Denis Fahey (1883-1954), an Irish priest whose name will always be associated with the doctrine of the Social Kingship of Christ. Here's a quote from his book, The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganization of Society:
As the revolt against the Divine Plan for order in the world and the denial of God's Rights have spread, respect for man's personal rights has diminished. These rights are being denied and the world is threatened with the return of a slavery worse than that of ancient Rome, in proportion as rulers of states no longer see in their subjects members of Christ.
As the social organization of the world has been increasingly withdrawn from the rule of Christ the King, human beings are being treated more and more as mere individuals completely subject to the State, just as in the days before Christ.
In this magnificent book, Fr. Fahey outlines and explains God's plan for order in the world and how we are to strive for its realization. You can order it online from the Fatima Shoppe. His autobiography A Brief Sketch of My Life Work is available from Catholic Books Online.
They pay lip service to freedom, but in practice have taken away or seriously circumscribed the rights and freedoms for which so many have died. An example is the right to free speech. Anyone who thinks they can tell the truth, as they see it, without fear has never had to face the wrath of a "human rights commission".
Another example, as any landlord can tell you, is the right to choose who's going to live under your roof. Say that you'd prefer a male tenant for your basement apartment, and expect a charge of "gender discrimination". [Good thing you didn't say "sex"! ed.]
Want more? What kind of person do you want to fill that vacancy in your little company or organization? Looking for a leader for the local boy scout troop? Can you specify a "straight male"? That's two offences in one phrase, you sexist homophobe!
And while we're at it...how come the Boy Scouts felt obliged to change their name to just "Scouts" but the Girl Guides are still the "Girl Guides"? That's not in the USA but in Canada, which has a "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" enshrined in its constitution. It is to laugh. But I digress...
My point is that since the hippy-dippy 60s, we have seen an exponential growth of the all-seeing, all-powerful "nanny state" and the concomitant decline of individual rights. Our governments have weakened or altogether ignored constitutional limits. And woe betide any libertarian who dares question their authority.
Why is this? Because God and His Church have been removed from any meaningful role in our post-secular Western society. It's a wonder that "In God we trust" still appears on US coins!
Instead of God, our society puts its faith in humanism, in the inherent goodness of man. That man is basically evil is one of the chief tenets of Christianity. It's called "original sin". So to trust men [you mean "humans", surely. ed] to do the right thing is rubbish.
Our governors must understand this because their restrictions on our freedom say to us, "You can't be trusted to do the right thing, so WE, your [sic] government, will tell you, and you'd better do what WE say...or else!"
The subordination of the rights of the individual to the rights of the state was foreseen by Father Denis Fahey (1883-1954), an Irish priest whose name will always be associated with the doctrine of the Social Kingship of Christ. Here's a quote from his book, The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganization of Society:
As the revolt against the Divine Plan for order in the world and the denial of God's Rights have spread, respect for man's personal rights has diminished. These rights are being denied and the world is threatened with the return of a slavery worse than that of ancient Rome, in proportion as rulers of states no longer see in their subjects members of Christ.
As the social organization of the world has been increasingly withdrawn from the rule of Christ the King, human beings are being treated more and more as mere individuals completely subject to the State, just as in the days before Christ.
In this magnificent book, Fr. Fahey outlines and explains God's plan for order in the world and how we are to strive for its realization. You can order it online from the Fatima Shoppe. His autobiography A Brief Sketch of My Life Work is available from Catholic Books Online.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Why we should fear fear
FDR said we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Now it seems we (the USA, Britain and Canada) have succumbed to exactly that, to fear. Fear dominates our daily lives, and, because of the pandemic of paranoia which afflicts us, we have surrendered many of our precious freedoms.
Three things got me thinking about this. The first was the noticeable presence of CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) cameras virtually everywhere one goes in Once-Great Britain. I'm not talking only about airports and train stations, but about malls, streets, even laneways and alleys in small towns in the beautiful English countryside. Believe it, Big Brother really is watching you!
Of course we have CCTV in the USA and Canada too. As I write, the Toronto police are busy installing still more "temporary" cameras in that city's downtown core. This is in advance of the G20 summit that will be held in "Toronto the Good" in a month's time.
The cost of "security" for the 36-hour meeting of world "leaders" (including the presidents of Ethiopia and Malawi!) looks like being more than a billion Canadian dollars. That's almost the same as a billion real dollars. All so Prime Minister Harpoon won't get pied during his photo-op with Bollocks Obama.
Then there's the mystery of the sticky stamps. Agent 3 is a stamp collector. He writes Walt to ask why US stamps, unlike those of other countries, can't be steamed or soaked off envelopes. What kind of adhesive does the USPS use...and why?
Walt is stuck for an answer. [Geddit? ed.] But my theory is they use some kind of super-glue so that Osama Bin Laden can't put some kind of germs -- anthrax spores, maybe -- under the stamps so the poison will be unleashed when Agent 3 or some other crazed collector tries to get the stamp off the paper and into his album. If anyone can give a less silly explanation, please e-mail walt.whiteman@yahoo.com.
Since 2001, we live in constant fear of "terrorism", of Osama Bin Laden, of "them". Especially in the Excited States of America, paranoia trumps reason and freedom. This is hardly a news flash. For a good rant on the subject, read Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country?
Moore has been accused of being anti-American and -- horrors! -- anti-war. But the main point of his book is that the Bush administration used 9/11 as a pretext to strip Americans of many of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
Moore cites the USAPATRIOT Act as the most egregious attack ever on the freedom of the individual. Has this act, which set up an authoritarian system rivalling those of Russia and China, been weakened or repealed by the liberal-minded Mr. Obama? No.
The all-seeing, all-powerful government and social order -- make that ORDER -- described by George Orwell in 1984 is the norm in America and its cowering cousins today. We live in a police state. Do your work, pay your taxes...and keep your mouth shut! Or else!
Three things got me thinking about this. The first was the noticeable presence of CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) cameras virtually everywhere one goes in Once-Great Britain. I'm not talking only about airports and train stations, but about malls, streets, even laneways and alleys in small towns in the beautiful English countryside. Believe it, Big Brother really is watching you!
Of course we have CCTV in the USA and Canada too. As I write, the Toronto police are busy installing still more "temporary" cameras in that city's downtown core. This is in advance of the G20 summit that will be held in "Toronto the Good" in a month's time.
The cost of "security" for the 36-hour meeting of world "leaders" (including the presidents of Ethiopia and Malawi!) looks like being more than a billion Canadian dollars. That's almost the same as a billion real dollars. All so Prime Minister Harpoon won't get pied during his photo-op with Bollocks Obama.
Then there's the mystery of the sticky stamps. Agent 3 is a stamp collector. He writes Walt to ask why US stamps, unlike those of other countries, can't be steamed or soaked off envelopes. What kind of adhesive does the USPS use...and why?
Walt is stuck for an answer. [Geddit? ed.] But my theory is they use some kind of super-glue so that Osama Bin Laden can't put some kind of germs -- anthrax spores, maybe -- under the stamps so the poison will be unleashed when Agent 3 or some other crazed collector tries to get the stamp off the paper and into his album. If anyone can give a less silly explanation, please e-mail walt.whiteman@yahoo.com.
Since 2001, we live in constant fear of "terrorism", of Osama Bin Laden, of "them". Especially in the Excited States of America, paranoia trumps reason and freedom. This is hardly a news flash. For a good rant on the subject, read Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country?
Moore has been accused of being anti-American and -- horrors! -- anti-war. But the main point of his book is that the Bush administration used 9/11 as a pretext to strip Americans of many of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
Moore cites the USAPATRIOT Act as the most egregious attack ever on the freedom of the individual. Has this act, which set up an authoritarian system rivalling those of Russia and China, been weakened or repealed by the liberal-minded Mr. Obama? No.
The all-seeing, all-powerful government and social order -- make that ORDER -- described by George Orwell in 1984 is the norm in America and its cowering cousins today. We live in a police state. Do your work, pay your taxes...and keep your mouth shut! Or else!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
TMI has made us callous
Picking up where we left off yesterday -- the topic was why nobody cares about Haiti now -- Walt presents the explanation, from Allan Fotheringham's column of 1 August 1994.
"We have more information than we actually want... Whenever there is yet another world crisis the nervous establishment networks dispatch their anchormen immediately to the hotspot. Peter Jennings in a safari suit...
"Constant exposure to the tragedy of others does not make us more stricken, more grieving, more dumbstruck. Thanks to live television, it makes us accept the worst, knowing that next week there will be more...
"Information overload, it is called. A survey taken 20 years back [1974] asked North American television viewers how many TV channels they felt comfortable with, how many they required. The answer came out to seven. [Now] we are in 1994...and a recent survey divined that most viewers feel -- world scoop! -- that about seven channels is all they can, or want to absorb.
"Those of us in the industry of information are killing our consumers with overload. Saturation. Brain dead. What is wanted is quality, not quantity."
Walt adds... My impetus for writing these two posts was an item in the news earlier this week that the human disaster story for next month will be -- wait for it -- Chad. It's another one that most North Americans couldn't find on a map. Hint: try Africa. Apparently millions in that poor country are faced with starvation unless we help. Heard it all before, right?
Then I read Dr. Foth and, just for fun, counted the number of TV channels I watch, out of the hundreds available through the little dish on the roof. The number is -- wait for it -- seven!
"We have more information than we actually want... Whenever there is yet another world crisis the nervous establishment networks dispatch their anchormen immediately to the hotspot. Peter Jennings in a safari suit...
"Constant exposure to the tragedy of others does not make us more stricken, more grieving, more dumbstruck. Thanks to live television, it makes us accept the worst, knowing that next week there will be more...
"Information overload, it is called. A survey taken 20 years back [1974] asked North American television viewers how many TV channels they felt comfortable with, how many they required. The answer came out to seven. [Now] we are in 1994...and a recent survey divined that most viewers feel -- world scoop! -- that about seven channels is all they can, or want to absorb.
"Those of us in the industry of information are killing our consumers with overload. Saturation. Brain dead. What is wanted is quality, not quantity."
Walt adds... My impetus for writing these two posts was an item in the news earlier this week that the human disaster story for next month will be -- wait for it -- Chad. It's another one that most North Americans couldn't find on a map. Hint: try Africa. Apparently millions in that poor country are faced with starvation unless we help. Heard it all before, right?
Then I read Dr. Foth and, just for fun, counted the number of TV channels I watch, out of the hundreds available through the little dish on the roof. The number is -- wait for it -- seven!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
A final (?) word on Haiti
We haven't heard much about Haiti, lately, have we? Her Jeanness, the Governor-General of Canada, finally made a quick trip to the homeland she left behind, and discovered that leaving it behind was the smart thing to do.
Some members of the Haitian diaspora have suggested that it would be a Good Thing if the lovely and fragrant Ms Jean went home when her term as G-G ends in a few weeks. She could be the new president, they said! It'll never happen, Walt says. It would mean the regal [vice-regal? ed.] First Lady would have to mingle with poor black folks. Yeah, right.
Meanwhile, the world's attention has turned elsewhere. The fundraisers and telethons and famous-people-to-the-rescue efforts have pretty much stopped. The flavour of the month has become the flavour of last month, and it seems we (meaning rich whites) are prepared to let Haiti slip back into the backwardness and poverty in which it has been mired for nearly two centuries.
"Most Canadians, not to mention Americans, could not locate Haiti on a map if given a pointer and a large crayon. It contains fewer people than New York City and yet rates huge headlines in all the best newsmagazines and your favorite morning paper.
"In reality, it is a piffle, no threat to world security, of no consequence to the average inhabitant of Omaha or Moose Jaw, and yet it makes it into every morning's 8 a.m. newscast. Why? Because modern technology...makes it possible. Because technology can make it possible, trivial news masquerades as importance.
"Haiti has no relevance to the world order. It is about as important as Yellowknife. But the New York Times -- and therefore the Globe and Mail -- puts Haiti on the front page. It is a joke."
What's that?! A racist rant from Rush Limbaugh? More of Walt's politically incorrect musings? No, dear reader. Those three paragraphs were written by one of Canada's leading journalists of the last century, Allan Fotheringham. The date of the piece? Not this past winter, but August 1, 1994. You could look it up.
Tomorrow... "Dr. Foth" elucidates the fuzzification.
Some members of the Haitian diaspora have suggested that it would be a Good Thing if the lovely and fragrant Ms Jean went home when her term as G-G ends in a few weeks. She could be the new president, they said! It'll never happen, Walt says. It would mean the regal [vice-regal? ed.] First Lady would have to mingle with poor black folks. Yeah, right.
Meanwhile, the world's attention has turned elsewhere. The fundraisers and telethons and famous-people-to-the-rescue efforts have pretty much stopped. The flavour of the month has become the flavour of last month, and it seems we (meaning rich whites) are prepared to let Haiti slip back into the backwardness and poverty in which it has been mired for nearly two centuries.
"Most Canadians, not to mention Americans, could not locate Haiti on a map if given a pointer and a large crayon. It contains fewer people than New York City and yet rates huge headlines in all the best newsmagazines and your favorite morning paper.
"In reality, it is a piffle, no threat to world security, of no consequence to the average inhabitant of Omaha or Moose Jaw, and yet it makes it into every morning's 8 a.m. newscast. Why? Because modern technology...makes it possible. Because technology can make it possible, trivial news masquerades as importance.
"Haiti has no relevance to the world order. It is about as important as Yellowknife. But the New York Times -- and therefore the Globe and Mail -- puts Haiti on the front page. It is a joke."
What's that?! A racist rant from Rush Limbaugh? More of Walt's politically incorrect musings? No, dear reader. Those three paragraphs were written by one of Canada's leading journalists of the last century, Allan Fotheringham. The date of the piece? Not this past winter, but August 1, 1994. You could look it up.
Tomorrow... "Dr. Foth" elucidates the fuzzification.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Should a child witness childbirth?
From the village with the long name, Agent 9 sends this answer.
Only one paramedic responded to the 911 call from a woman who was about to give birth and had no-one to help her. Because of a power outage, the house was very dark, so the paramedic asked Kathleen, aged only 3, to hold a flashlight high over her mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby.
Very diligently, Kathleen did as she was asked. Colleen pushed and pushed and after a little while, wee Connor was born. The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom and Connor began to cry.
The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and asked the wide-eyed 3-year-old what she thought about what she had just witnessed.
Kathleen quickly responded, "Spank his ass again! He shouldn't have crawled in there in the first place!"
Only one paramedic responded to the 911 call from a woman who was about to give birth and had no-one to help her. Because of a power outage, the house was very dark, so the paramedic asked Kathleen, aged only 3, to hold a flashlight high over her mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby.
Very diligently, Kathleen did as she was asked. Colleen pushed and pushed and after a little while, wee Connor was born. The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom and Connor began to cry.
The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and asked the wide-eyed 3-year-old what she thought about what she had just witnessed.
Kathleen quickly responded, "Spank his ass again! He shouldn't have crawled in there in the first place!"
Walt is MIA - ed.
[Walt has been sobbing uncontrolably since about 6:45 p.m. Monday. He keeps mumbling, "Les Glorieux... Les Glorieux..." I think it must have something to do with the Montréal Canadiens having lost the NHL Eastern Conference final.
I am making a good deal of strong coffee and hope to have him back at his keyboard today or tomorrow. ed.]
I am making a good deal of strong coffee and hope to have him back at his keyboard today or tomorrow. ed.]
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