Cut off from the land of the living

Is kind of like how I feel. We lost internet for three whole days. Entirely. Mr. P. has been troubleshooting since Sunday but didn't entirely kill it. He concluded that our wireless router (which isn't that old, but as luck would have it, now beyond warranty) is shot. He managed to get ONE cable hooked up for us, which is connected to ONE computer. So we have to take turns. At ONE computer. The high school kids scrambling to finish online classes naturally have precedence for computer time. The moms who have deadlines are next in line. Bloggers don't rate. So there you have it. I squeezed this one in, but now it's time to get back to work on a post for MercatorNet.
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Cue "Twilight Zone" music...

Ooooooooo! "Women are Watching!"

It should continue with even finer print: "But NOT the future women who will never come to be because they are being aborted in utero just because and only because they are female. Not those women. We are not watching for them."

Oh, and if this has 'nothing to do with politics' why is it signed "First Lady" instead of just "Michelle Obama, Woman Who Cares."

Update: Welcome, PWPL readers. Thank you for the link, Andrea.
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You have the right to remain silent

Mrs. Beaz just sent me this link. Shocking. And no, we're not talking communist USSR, China or Cuba, but fuzzy old Ottawa. I hope I don't get arrested next time I go visit Mrs. B, and we begin our holiday with the traditional greeting, "Let the fun begin!" The security detail will think it's some kind of code language for nefarious anti-government terrorist activity.

Mrs. B. chimes in by speaking slowly into the microphone hidden in the luggage carousel:

 Indeed, we'll have to watch what we gab about as we wait for your luggage. No more "This holiday's going to be THE BOMB!" or "Our matching 'Viva Steyn' t-shirts are DYNAMITE!" or "Have you heard the EXPLOSIVE headlines about the Stasi-like surveillance practices being implemented in Canadian airports? It makes me want to violently use a pair of TOENAIL CLIPPERS or a SNOW GLOBE CONTAINING MORE THAN 100 MILLILITERS OF LIQUID!!"
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And I love reading about Mark Steyn saying "I told you so."

Except that I rather wish it hadn't been necessary in the first place. Alas, tyranny, like hatred, will be with us for as long as we are human, but it's a very good thing that it can no longer manifest itself through Section 13.
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Deb, call your basement studio

Wow; just too busy to blog, what with finishing off school, meeting other writing deadlines, running kids to swimming lessons, visiting the folks on Father's Day, avoiding tornadoes (eight funnel clouds spotted last Friday in our area!) and making an ice cream cake (pics to follow) for an Important Birthday, there hasn't been much time for fiddling around. So here, just for fun:

Buzzfeed: 12 Ways to Achieve the Very Best Glamour Shots.

See them all here. 

I know, I know. It's just too easy to make fun of the 80s and 90s, but these really are hilarious. And like the gal says who posted this piece, I'm really really glad I didn't have glamour shots done at the mall.


(Rats, this video ends too abruptly, but it's the only one I could find.)


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Worth reading

Because Europe matters. Or at least, it used to. Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal.

One problem with peace, especially in handsome Europe, is the illusion of economic prosperity. Life looks good. The restaurants are open. Nice clothing is available. If amid this seeming plenty, a profligate young man dissipated his life into ruin, all would call him a wastrel. Centuries of European schoolchildren once learned virtue and self-discipline from the fables of Aesop or Fontaine. "The Emperor's New Clothes" comes to mind. Alas, no one writes fables for nations, and so a whole continent can dissipate the productive wealth of its people year after year on wastrel public spending and no one will notice.

[...] One may ask: Would a European electorate, if given an honest chance to choose self-salvation rather than the bleed-to-death choices they've been given the past two years, vote to save themselves?

Mark Steyn might argue that, demographically at least, they made that choice long ago.  Once you've turned your back on fecundity, austerity is all that remains, in every (pardon the term) conceivable sense. 

I don't speak Communist "basic truth" Chinese

But I still think I can translate part of this news story, which is (incredibly) even being reported outside the prolife media.

The Shaanxi provincial government said in a statement that a preliminary probe had confirmed the case was "basically true"
"Crap--we got caught. Some comrade's head is going to roll."

The government did not pinpoint exactly who the perpetrators were,
"Cuz, like, it's us!"

but vowed to avoid a repeat of such a case,
"From now on, we will not get caught when we do forced late-term abortions. There will be no photographs."

I don't live in a McMansion

But this is the view out my kitchen window (circa the Ghost of July Past, of course. My current year's blooms and veggies aren't yet at this stage):

Our vegetable garden:

...which would hardly be complete without a garden path leading to it:

How to find a good man

Even feminist-types are talking about it. Are fish learning to ride bicycles, by any chance? My latest post on MercatorNet. (Heh--check out the Made-in-a-non-English-speaking-Country T-shirt: it uses the plural for "woman")
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Hey, how about just taking the time to get to know someone?

We live in a culture of shallow values and instant gratification: fast food, easy money, on-the-spot analysis, quick fixes, instant results. Had to chuckle at this Yahoo article on judging people by their footwear. I'm sure this topic takes Mrs. Beazly back to this little gem, which gives us the inside scoop on how to "discern a man's soul by his appearance" (you know, just in case you felt an overwhelming urge to pretend to be God or anything).

Pop quiz: which of the pics below shows footwear being worn by a middle aged, Catholic homeschooling mom?

He makes me laugh, Part XIV

"Intellectual diversity on the left is increasingly indistinguishable from Tupperware night with the Stepford Wives."
The Steyn
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Canadian tax dollars at work...with bias

The CBC has a poll that asks a leading (and non-defined) question: "Should the human rights act forbid online hate speech?" Without, of course, defining what 'hate speech' actually is. (Hint: the Bible qualifies)

You're a villain no matter how you vote. Who could be in favour of "hate speech" after all?

Why doesn't it ask: "Should we have free speech online?" or better yet: "Should Canada scrap every last one of its national and provincial Human Rights Commissions?"

Goofballs. Mr. Harper, save us some cash. DEFUND the CBC.
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I'm sorry but

This just had to be included in our Killer Headlines file:

Bathtub photo lands coal activist in child-porn hot water

Who even knew there was such a thing as a "coal activist"? Anyway, the guy who wrote the article ended it with an unintentionally hilarious bit of irony (considering it's an Eco-website).

"Intimidation should not be a part of democracy." Cuz, like, environmental activists don't know anything about intimidation or anything like that.
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Hey, you can send one to me.

I've got a triple wide lot, and the kids to fill it.

"America has 40 million McMansions that no one wants"

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"English bells on English air"

"Something quite different now bears the name of 'Britain'”

Joanna Bogle at MercatorNet weighs in on British history and the Jubilee. Most sadly ironic quotation: 

We look back down the centuries and wonder how anybody could possibly have imagined that watching a man being hanged or beheaded could constitute an afternoon’s enjoyment.

Um, not exaclty difficult to imagine, cuz the UK is filling up with just such people.

Here's the part I enjoyed the most: 

The pageant was magnificent – British seamanship, which many might think had disappeared as a skill along with most of our Navy, still seems to be thriving. There were superb oarsmen, beautiful crafts of different sorts and sizes, lots of energetic young people. The Royal Barge was splendid. All along the river, church bells pealed – that most glorious, most beautiful of sounds, English bells on English air, and this time mingling with the shouts and cheers of a great many happy people.

It makes cultural restoration worth working for. 

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Sunday "Bingo" Singalong

Some citizens, they had a state,
And 'Nanny' was its name-o!
N-A-N-N-Y....
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Crazy man, crazy!

Public service union chooses grey squares to represent their laid-off brethren.

I dig it, Daddy-O! If there's anything that makes me think of public service unions, it's a bunch of grey squares.
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"Norma Rae nostalgia is not enough"

More on Walker's win in Wisconsin from Charles Krauthammer

The unions’ defeat marks a historical inflection point. They set out to make an example of Walker. He succeeded in making an example of them as a classic case of reactionary liberalism. An institution founded to protect its members grew in size, wealth, power and arrogance, thanks to decades of symbiotic deals with bought politicians, to the point where it grossly overreached. A half-century later these unions were exercising essential control of everything from wages to work rules in the running of government — something that, in a system of republican governance, is properly the sovereign province of the citizenry.
Why did the unions lose? Because Norma Rae nostalgia is not enough, and it hardly applied to government workers living better than the average taxpayer who supports them.

Even more from Patrick Archbold at Creative Minority Report:

Governors across the country quake in their boots when it comes to direct confrontation with the unions. You don't mess with them because they have gobs of money, incredible organizing skills, and very low moral standards. If you are dumb enough to directly confront the unions, You. Will. Lose.
Scott Walker just proved that wrong.

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Proud to be from Saskatchewan

Where, having lived under socialism for so many years, I never imagined I would read words such as the following:

Saskatchewan is shaking one of the pillars of union power in Canada.

I've been asking myself why Scott Walker's win in Wisconsin makes me slightly giddy and hopeful (besides the fact that it made delusional Big Labour wingnuts cry on TV).

National Post's Terence Corcoran:

Canada’s notorious Rand formula, which forces deduction of union dues by employers even for workers who decline union membership, could be vulnerable.

Woohoo! Could there be anything more ludicrous than having to fund a union you refuse to join? Yes--being forced to join a union in the first place. Oh, and then there's that tiny matter of watching, helplessly, as union thugs bosses, having stolen YOUR money, fund causes you despise and political parties you don't support and seek to influence the outcome of elections in ways you disagree with.

I'm glad our own premier Brad Wall is taking tentative steps in the direction of union reform. 

Mr. Corcoran concludes: 

Canada remains a jurisdiction that grants unions great power and limits individual freedom to refuse to join unions or to decline to pay dues to unions. [...] Canada could use a little Saskawisconsin.

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Or was that just a dream I had?

Surely one for the "Killer Headlines" file. So funny, you almost don't have to read the story:

"Corrupt Puppeteers Spell End to U.S. Funding for Pakistan's Sesame Street" 

And no, that's not some kind of code message regarding Obama's re-election campaign and his Chicago thug masters.
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A “culture of renewable bag usage”

...is what you get when you turn your back on Western Civ. and 'real' culture. Just like tree-worship is one of the things you get when you turn your back on God.

City of Toronto bans "single use" plastic bags--for use by retail stores, but they can still sell garbage bags (er... which aren't single-use? or am I just not getting this?) Common sense, adieu. Mayor calls it like he sees it: "the dumbest thing" council has ever done.

Which begs the question: will shoppers on the street get busted by the Polypropylene Cops if they are seen carrying plastic bags in public? Even if they brought them from home?
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Why I will probably never finish writing my 'Catholic' novel

Even though I've already spent untold months and 50,000 words of my life on it. But I don't want to fall into the misfortune of writing anti-Christian anti-art that will never get past the Catholic ghetto.

 Kevin O'Brien, in his new, souped-up blog: "Waiting for Godot to Leave".


Maybe I should just stick with writing non-fiction... and enjoying the odd parody.

I love him because he's eloquent

And because he defends free speech. How does the Steyn respond to NDP "public safety critic" Randall Garrison wetting his pants over the abolition of Section 13? As only Steyn can:

Clear off, you twerp.  I don’t want the state to have a “mandate” to “educate” the citizenry about their thought-crimes. NRO

Oh, and Mr. Garrison: there is a way for ordinary people, all on their own, without any help from the gubmint, the HRCs, or the CHRC, to avoid reading ungoodthink online: on PCs, it's a little X up in the corner of the webpage; on Macs, it's a little red dot. You just click it and the ungoodthink disappears.
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Hey, comrade, can I take my vote back?

In the country that used to be Greece: socialist and fascist MPs getting into slap-fights on live TV. 


NatPo: 


“We are urging citizens who voted for [fascist] Golden Dawn to reconsider,” says socialist spokeswoman.


Um... sure, good luck with that. 
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Cherokees for Choice

Elizabeth Warren should start such a support/lobby group, if she hasn't already. Maybe their motto could be: "My Cheekbones, my Choice," or "My Imagination; my Heritage."

As one YouTube video (not embedded here) asks at the end: "If it was offensive for Hollywood to exploit Native Americans decades ago... Isn't it more offensive for a candidate for U.S. senate to do it today?"

American Cherokees have requested that Ms. Warren cease and desist in her ridiculous claims. Unfortunately, Ms. Warren seems reluctant to acknowledge their existence, calling it a "non-issue" and basically refusing to meet with them.

Heh. One of the Misses P. happened by when I was working on this post. Seeing an image of the blonde, blue-eyed Warren,  Miss P. says, "Is that the lady who thinks she's a Native?" and I responded in the affirmative. Miss P, tentatively (and with no irony, I assure you): "Is there something wrong with her brain, or...?"

Why the power of teachers' unions must be crushed

Yes, it's for the children--and possibly for the future of civilization. This story comes from the U.S. but we have the same problems here. There is only one solution: vouchers.

The lovely, intelligent Michelle Malkin:

Silly parents. Remember: “A” isn’t for academics. It’s for “agitation” and “advocacy.” We must never forget the words of former National Education Association official John Lloyd: “You cannot possibly understand NEA without understanding Saul Alinsky. If you want to understand NEA, go to the library and get Rules for Radicals.” 

[...]

Educators must be “teachers of unionism,” Peterson preaches. “We need to create a generation of students who support teachers and the movement for workers rights, oppressed peoples’ rights.” Because, you know, asking teachers to contribute more to their pension plans is just like crushing freedom fighters in Iran, Egypt, and China.

[...]

Uncertainty reigned over Wisconsin as both sides braced for a possible recount on Tuesday night. But from their first unhinged salvos 16 months ago in the state capitol right up until Election Day, the union bosses have made one thing clear as a playground whistle: It’s not about the children. It’s never about the children. It’s about protecting the power, perks, and profligacy of public-employee union monopolies.

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It's about time.

MPs vote to repeal hate speech sections of human rights act.

Perhaps now, as one bureaucrat famously (and seemingly without any awareness of the grim irony) said, "You're entitled to your opinions, that's for sure."



And for everyone who thinks this is a bad idea: Who gets to define what 'hate speech' is?

More: Jonathan Kay at National Post: Good riddance to Section 13
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"I've gone nuts."

As you will for this small gem.



 h/t SDA .

Ray Bradbury died yesterday at the age of 91. God rest his soul.

The first spring day that's warm and dry enough for the wearing of sneakers still makes me think of Douglas Spaulding in Dandelion Wine. Streamlined silver cars remind me of the beetles in Fahrenheit 451. Stories about advancing automation call to mind the house in "There Will Come Soft Rains". I regularly check for unexpected changes in my bank balance  - and  Mr. B.'s heartbeat - because of "Marionettes, Inc."

And I still judge all science fiction and fantasy by whether it
energizes my imagination the way The Martian Chronicles did when I was twelve. Thank you, Mr. Bradbury, for the worlds you created for us.

Hope you enjoyed it, Britain

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Cuz I imagine that, too soon, it'll be right back to this: 

How do you take a wildly successful franchise and make it fail?

Let the government run it.

Hospital-based Tim Hortons coffee shop in Newfoundland makes half a million less per year than a privately owned store. Reportedly most franchises post profits of $250,000 (wow!); this shop lost $260K last year, thanks to (unionized) "health care" employees getting paid $28 an hour to pour coffee. You just can't make this up.

Kathryn Blaze Carlson, National Post.

 Newfoundland taxpayer dollars hard at work!

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D-Day for Section 13?

Waiting the results on this vote.
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Three R's and a D.

Defund, that is.

Let us keep our money so we can make our own choices about how our kids are educated.
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What is Stephen Harper afraid of?

 Despicable.
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What's in a name?

Ask the parents from New Zealand who named their baby Bus Stop (hey, maybe that's where he/she was conceived or something). Baby names, always a fascinating topic. My latest post on Mercator's "Family Edge". And it deals only with western names, so you won't find, say, the three most popular boys' names for Muslims: 1) Mohammed 2) Muhammed and 3) Muhammad.
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It's the Feast of St. Boniface

And how desperately we need the witness and guidance of bishop-martyrs...

From our Killer Headlines files

Vatican criticizes US nun's book on sexuality

the author, Sr. Margaret Farley

Heaven help us, you can't make this stuff up.

Farley said Monday she never intended the book to reflect current official Catholic teaching. Rather, she said, she wrote it to explore sexuality via various religious traditions, theological resources and human experience.

Because if there's anything you expect Catholic nuns to be doing on any given day, it's:

a) exploring sexuality "via... human experience" (whose?)
b) trying NOT to reflect Church teaching

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Great image

Several parishes in our region gathered for an outdoor Mass on Trinity Sunday at a local shrine to St. Joseph, in part to commemorate the founding of the German Catholic colony where my husband's forebears settled early in the last century. This is a photo of my littlest gal receiving Communion. (We were given the option of receiving in any posture we chose, and as she had sat with other family members during Mass, I did not see this image until I went to look at the pics on the parish website.) Priceless.

I have sort of given up

...waiting for my web page at The Record to be updated. Perhaps it's their policy not to post all the columns from the paper version, for which I write, on the internet (fair enough), or perhaps their web elves may be struggling with issues beyond my comprehension. So for the time being, I will be posting my columns here rather than links. 


Here's one that appeared in the April 18 issue of the paper, originally titled: 

Overcoming the Post-Transfiguration Blues*

NOW they decide 'hands-on' is a good idea.

I've been to science centers in Vancouver, Toronto, Regina, Washington D.C. and Canberra, Australia, and from what I recall they all beat Ottawa hands-down for having the most hands-on displays. In Vancouver, for example, there was a whole gallery dedicated to interactive experimentation with sound, light, and hydrodynamics. In Ottawa you can walk through the Krazy Kitchen. ("And here's another photo of me slanting to the left!") Ottawa's museum is not totally bereft of interactive displays, but there seem to be way too many long descriptions written in small fonts over things in glass cases and not nearly enough displays where you can make neat stuff happen. There used to be a fun green-screen game, which was something like a giant Kinect, but either it broke or museum officials were concerned that children were having too much fun and decided to have it removed. Maybe it's back now; I haven't been there in a while.

As you may have guessed, I also haven't seen the sex exhibit at Ottawa's Sci/Tech museum, but I trust Andrea's description is accurate. Note to whoever thought this was a great idea: groping a dummy is not what most people have in mind for hands-on scientific fun.

P.S. Does the tell-all exhibition include a Petri dish full of the STD's one is likely to contract while living out their "anything goes" approach to sexuality? Now that would be scientific.

P.P.S. This one is dedicated to the man-handled mannequins.

I hope he's happy because he's finally going home.

Godspeed, Eduard Khil.
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That's the sound of the men working on the Choom Gang.

Can we explain everything about Barack Obama by his having been a dope head?

Yes, we can!

He probably didn't want to get into a chat about what each of them got their Nobel Prize for. 
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Reason to homeschool #30293877348594938

Edmonton teacher is fired because he gives zeroes (even if only on a "temporary" basis, ie, as a warning to get the work done PDQ) to students who don't do their work. He's been dubbed Captain Zero but I think it's the public school system who are the real zeroes.

National Post.

Afterthought: we at DOH don't seem to have a problem handling zeroes, do we Mrs. B? (I speak, of course, of the comboxes.)
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A brilliant column by Barbara Kay at NaPo

About the social and financial war between Boomers and Millennials. Interestingly, the piece concludes that the solution lies, not with the nanny state, but "spontaneous kinship altruism". I think that means 'family values'. Go figure.

h/t Deborah Gyapong
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My 10-year-old is smarter than President Obama

But then she hasn't suffered brain damage from dope use. Hearing about this story, she said of Obama, "But he has girls." I wonder if the Big 0 asked Sasha and Malia's opinions regarding sex-selective abortion, just like he did on gay marriage. I wonder if the Misses Obama would think that killing perborn baby girls 'just isn't right.' Oh well, perhaps we can pray that Obama will evolve.
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Today is the Tomorrow you Dreamed about Yesterday...

Never give up on a Dream; follow your dreams; reach for the stars; the future is yours; be all you can be; if you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it; to accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. And listen to your heart...

Yes, it's that time of year again: high school graduation.

I'm so glad I'm not famous and will never have to worry about being asked to give a commencement speech. (As if any high school would ask a homeschooling DOH to come speak at their graduation!)
  The brilliant and funny Pat Archbold at the National Catholic Register presents his own, more truthful version of a commencement speech. This is just the conclusion. Do read it all.

So today, on the day of your commencement, you are presented with certain challenges. We hand you an economy in shambles, mountains of debt which you cannot hope to repay, a massive social safety net into which you will be required to pay more and more but will likely never get to enjoy the benefits, a massive government equally voracious of your money and your liberty, and a culture of death that has already killed half of your generation.

But what is a commencement if not a call to begin. You need to begin to fix these things. You need to establish some fiscal and personal sanity in government and your lives. You need to begin to wrestle back the freedoms we willingly gave up, even at the cost of blood. You need to establish a culture that respects each and every life from conception to natural death. And the only way you can begin to do these things is by putting your faith in a God we never taught you about.

So commence, you have your work cut out for you. Best of luck. We are all rooting for you. If you need us, we will be in Florida.