…let’s remember what’s really important.
[via Bruce MacKinnon at the Halifax Chronicle Herald]
Category: News
"You Are In Control — "FULL AUTO ROCK & ROLL"
According to this AP story, a young boy accidentally killed himself yesterday at a gun show in Massachusetts yesterday.
With an instructor watching, an 8-year-old boy at a gun fair aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera.
It was his first time shooting a fully automatic machine gun, and the recoil of the weapon was too much for him. He lost control and fatally shot himself in the head.
So I have a couple of questions:
- What kind of father takes his 8-year-old son to a gun show?
- Retard father aside, what idiot hands a loaded Uzi to an 8-year-old?
- Why do gun shows even exist?
I feel bad for any father who sees his son die like that, and I know this sounds harsh, but deep down he must know that it’s his fault.
The nation of whiners is angry
I don’t want the American economy to get the Asian flu. Really, I don’t. It’s not good for anyone, least of all Canadians.
But at the same time, this $700 billion bailout, should it eventually pass (the US Senate is expected to approve it this evening, after a retooling following the House’s rejection on Monday) will feel like rewarding the greedy. I know it’s not, of course; if banks fail account holders suffer, and that doesn’t help anything. But these bailout packages seem to contain little in the way of punishing the financial system for getting into this mess in the first place, to say nothing of ensuring that it doesn’t happen again. Hopefully the latter would be set out in new legislation, regardless of who becomes president. I dare say that even if Phil “The De-Regulator” Gramm hadn’t already been booted off the McCain campaign, he soon would have.
So Wall Street cries out for the Senate and House to save “Main Street” by handing over $700B, but the mob doesn’t like it. Not because they won’t want to help Main Street…they are Main Street. It’s because there’s no sense of justice here. I wouldn’t recommend something so head-scratching as Michael Moore’s plan (although the idea of sticking it to the nation’s 400 richest people will hold appeal for many) but if Bernanke and Paulson would just include a tax or fine — some kind of slap on the wrist — on Wall Street in their package, they’d have more public support, and a better chance with Congress. But it won’t happen. Bailouts and other socialist ideas only apply when it’s taxpayer money; when profits are at stake everyone miraculously reverts to a laissez-faire idealist.
[tags]bailout[/tags]
Fear. Unbalanced.
As most of you have probably heard by now the CBC has removed from their website an article written three weeks ago by Heather Mallick about Sarah Palin, and apologized for posting it in the first place.
I’m unable to link to the article (obviously) but it was…well, rubbish. There are plenty of things about Sarah Palin with which to take issue without resorting to name-calling and cheap slander. Throwing a “white trash” into your argument will pretty much discount it down to worthless. I’m a little surprised at Mallick, who usually puts a little more thought into her arguments. So yes, the CBC should have caught this one somewhere between “submit” and “approve” and told her to write it like a journalist, not like a street preacher.
I’ll tell you what really bugs me about this whole affair. It isn’t that Mallick lowered herself to the screechy level of Ann Coulter. It isn’t even that the CBC deleted the article from the website. It’s that they deleted the article because of criticism from Fox News and, to a lesser degree, the National Post.
If the CBC was pressured by the Canadian public, who pays their bills, fine; that’s who they answer to. They should have taken down the article because it offends the people’s sense of what journalism should be. But how in the hell can pressure from Fox News carry any weight whatsoever? Who cares what they think when it’s so transparent a partisan reaction? Check out this video clip:
Fox News wasn’t protesting the decay of journalistic integrity; indeed it would be rarefied air for them as they let pass streams of invective — far worse than anything Ms. Mallick wrote — from the likes of the afore-mentioned Ann Coulter. Fox was, contrary to any semblance of impartiality, sticking up for the Republican. Had an actual news organization protested, I could understand that having some sway, but why the CBC would pay any heed to Fox News is beyond me.
[tags]heather mallick, cbc, fox news, sarah palin[/tags]
Miniskirts don't show off legs. People wearing miniskirts show off legs.
Hey, look everybody. Bans!
From the Globe and Mail: [Ontario Premier Dalton] McGuinty calls for outright ban on handguns. The awful part here is the reader comments. The idiocy displayed in the Globe’s comment section, especially for contentious issues like gun control, is really approaching Speak You’re Branes quality. My favourites so far:
Thank the libbies for young offenders,when I was a kid there was the national anthem then the lords prayer,take out the prayer and you have an unconcious society of kids that dont believe they will ever be accountable,,,ya ya I know Im a christian wingnut and the bible is a fantasy,,,,,well snow white,, is a fantasy too and its not condemned in the schools,the best is if you ever read the bible read revelations,it speaks about all this ,not bad for a book that some say was just written by men 2000 years ago,,,,,,,God Bless
and
When I’m in the back woods, I carry my pistol for defence from bears, rabid animals, or anything else.
My god…imagine the fun when this gentleman actually encounters an angry bear in the woods and thinks a handgun is going to stop it. Unless he’s carrying a .50 caliber or he goes for strolls in the Hundred Acre Wood, he’s in trouble.
.:.
From the BBC: Uganda seeking miniskirt ban.
Uganda’s ethics and integrity minister says miniskirts should be banned – because women wearing them distract drivers and cause traffic accidents. Nsaba Buturo told journalists in Kampala that wearing a miniskirt was like to walking naked in the streets.
“What’s wrong with a miniskirt? You can cause an accident because some of our people are weak mentally,” he said.
Mental weakness? Hard to believe when one of your cabinet ministers shows that kind of stunning insight.
[tags]globe and mail, bbc, dalton mcguinty, handgun ban, uganda, miniskirt ban[/tags]
Metrocide
This week Torontoist is running a great series of posts about murder statistics in Toronto. Much needed, in my opinion, given the attention-starved headline on the latest issue of Toronto Life with a cover story light on data. The Torontoist series (researched and written by David Topping) has featured simple but helpful stats, much more helpful in identifying an actual trend than listing victim stories.
On Tuesday the data showed number of homicides, homicide rate and homicides versus traffic fatalities. Side note: what happened after 2002 to cut traffic fatalities nearly in half over five years?
On Wednesday the focus was central Toronto, as well as the downtown core, showing just how few homicides occur here — despite what media reports might suggest — compared to the rest of the city and the GTA.
On Thursday Toronto was lined up against other Canadian cities (Toronto has a lower homicide rate than Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Trois-Rivieres, Regina, Sudbury and Vancouver; its rate is the same rate as Saint John and just higher than Halifax) and North American cities, against which it barely registers:
Toronto’s numbers absolutely pale in comparison to American cities. Its metropolitan homicide rate in 2006 was lower than every American city with a population above 500,000 (charted above). And of the seventy-two American cities with populations over 250,000, Toronto’s 2006 metropolitan homicide rate (1.8 per 100,000) was lower than every other city except for Plano, Texas—the wealthiest city in the United States—which had a homicide rate of 1.6 per 100,000.
There’s far more information, nuance and source reference in the full articles, so I urge you to check them out. The commenters registered the the usual complaints — why all this analysis? more than zero is too many — with which Topping agrees, but data and information like this is crucial in addressing problems accurately in a rational way, rather than emotionally. Don’t get me wrong, emotion has a place in fighting violence, but it has to be tempered with reason. Topping and Torontoist have done a great job of that this week.
[tags]torontoist, david topping, toronto life, gun violence, toronto, homicide rate[/tags]
700 people with one pig? Wonderful, magical animal indeed.
Back in April I blogged about how the federal government is subsidizing a massive cull of swine. The economic wisdom behind this is pretty questionable, but that aside it seemed a huge waste. My articulate plea: “Just give it to some food banks, for chrissakes.”
Well, it turns out that some provinces are. Quebec just announced that they’d donate about 300,000 kg of pork from the cull to food banks. Ditto Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, according to the story; not sure what’s holding up the other provinces.
One of the comments in the CBC story linked above is funny:
Because it makes sense to do this, I am actually surprised it will be done.
Exactly. I’m waiting for some governmental agency to step in with a health concern, or some right-wing think tank to complain about how soft we’re being on lazy-ass hungry people.
[tags]pork farmers, pig cull, food banks[/tags]
Michelle Malkin wants to be Ann Coulter 2.0 so bad…it's almost cute
The media hurts my head. First up: a short presentation from the TED conference demonstrating, in graphical form, why the American news media is failing its viewers:
Speaking at the TED Conference, Alisa Miller (CEO of Public Radio International) explains why Americans know less and less about the rest of the world. Along the way, she uses some eye-popping graphs to put things in perspective. Watch the video below or find it on our YouTube playlist.
Next, we have Scott McLellan criticizing the news media for…umm…believing what he told them.
He excludes himself from major involvement in some of what he calls the administration’s biggest blunders, for instance the decision to go to war and the initial campaign to sell that decision to the American people. But he doesn’t spare himself entirely, saying, “I fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be.”
He includes criticism for the reporters whose questions he fielded. The news media, he says, were “complicit enablers” for focusing more on “covering the march to war instead of the necessity of war.”
Kind of reminds me of when I was kid and my older brothers would grab my wrists and beat me in the head with my own hands, asking “Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?” Anyway…
My final example is a bit of a stretch, since Michelle Malkin can hardly be considered “media” but really, any news organization which actually reported on Malkin’s silliness and put pressure on the advertiser deserves ridicule.
Dunkin’ Donuts has pulled an online advertisement featuring celebrity chef Rachael Ray after criticism from conservative U.S. bloggers over her choice of scarf.
Ray, while promoting an iced coffee, was wearing a black-and-white scarf, similar to the kaffiyeh, a scarf commonly worn in the Middle East. Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, argued that Ray should not be wearing such a scarf because, they said, it has come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.
The kaffiyeh “has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,” Malkin said in her blog last week. Malkin welcomed the decision, saying, “it’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists.”
Amahl Bishara, an anthropology lecturer at the University of Chicago who specializes in the Middle East, said complaints about the scarf reflect a misunderstanding of Arab culture. “Kaffiyehs are worn every day on the street by Palestinians and other people in the Middle East — by people going to work, going to school, taking care of their families and just trying to keep warm,” he said.
Malkin really does have a knack for picking the most absurd arguments out of thin air. Hey Michelle, I notice the Klan always carry around crosses (and occasionally burn them, but that’s neither here nor there); has the crucifix come to symbolize Christian extremism and racism? Should advertisers distance themselves from anyone who wears a cross around their neck?
[tags]news media, ted conference, alisa miller, scott mclellan, rachel ray, michelle malkin, dunkin donuts, kaffiyeh[/tags]
Teach your children…well, better than that
Worrisome goings on in classrooms. From the Toronto Star (via Quill & Quire): “[Toronto District School] Board removes book on genocide.”
Barbara Coloroso’s Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide had been selected as a resource for a new Grade 11 history course about genocide and crimes against humanity, but the book and the course came under review after they were challenged by members of the Canadian Turkish community.
And, more worrisome still, from MSNBC: “Creationism edges into U.S. high school classes.”
One in eight U.S. high school biology teachers presents creationism or intelligent design in a positive light in the classroom, a new survey shows, despite a federal court’s recent ban against it.
Apologies to CSN&Y for this post’s title.
[tags]toronto district school board, censorship, msnbc, creationism[/tags]
"Mystified and appalled"
More shocking prison statistics following the Pew Research report I blogged about last week. An article in the New York Times (via Brijit) focuses more on the US incarceration rate compared to the rest of the world.
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.
The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College London.
Earlier this week Thomas Purves pointed to research by Eric Cadora showing, on a map of Broooklyn, how much money is spent to incarcerate residents of particular city blocks. This is mildly interesting from a statistical point of view, but when compared to the same map showing Black population by block it becomes shocking. The intent of the map was to show how certain voting districts lose a great deal of their democratic weight to prison, but the racial implications of those results are shameful.
[tags]united states, imprisonment, incarceration, thomas purves, eric cadora[/tags]
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 