Dummies for Global Warming

Note: This one has been photoshopped!

Elizabeth May Embarrasses Herself on CKNW

For someone supposedly so well educated, the Green Party's Elizabeth May truly seems to enjoy making a complete fool of herself on a regular basis. Today she appeared on CKNW, renewing her standing as Canadian Federal Political Village Idiot. At the risk of temporarily lowering your IQ, you can listen to her by clicking here (7:30).

One caller pointed out how May has had to alter her language, now being forced to use the term "Climate Change" rather than "Global Warming" - because of the extreme cold being experienced by people the world over. In response to this, May said that she has always used "Climate Change". Sure Lizzie, sure.

Note: This image has NOT been photoshopped. Please click here to further investigate this clearly wasteful, environmentally unsound use of trees.

Rachel: Yet Another Permanent Victim

Last night, on Big George's show on BBC London, a young woman named Rachel called up. She's an aspiring Jazz singer but is also clinically depressed and uses illegal drugs to self-medicate. She calls him up on a regular basis and moans about the same things over & over. While many instantly feel sorry for people like her, I've learned that doing so actually accomplishes more harm than good. Herein is the letter I sent to George.

I've known people like Rachel all my life. They spend most of their time each day erecting obstacles in their minds. Rather than thinking about what they "can" or "must" do today, instead they repeatedly focus on these words: "I can't because ...."

While some proponents of positive thinking perhaps take things a bit too far at times, let's look at the opposite, what we can call the "Rachel track". If someone is repeatedly running a negative loop in their head, I can absolutely guarantee you that their success rate - in anything - will be near zero. In her case, she claims that she wants to be a Jazz singer. She doesn't really want this though, does she? Instead she prefers dwelling in self-pity and having people feel sorry for her. It's comfortable and familiar.

Everyone feels sorry for themselves at times. It's natural. The key is to not get sucked into the pattern of becoming a permanent victim or what some call an "energy vampire". I strongly recommend that Rachel get a copy of the Celestine Prophecy, a 1993 novel by James Redfield. I read it 15 years ago and it changed my life. There's one chapter in particular where he compares "aggressors" and "victims". While at first glance they appear to be at opposite ends of the personality spectrum, in fact they're fairly closely connected. For both steal energy from others; the first through anger and sometimes violence and the second through guilt and pity. But the end result is the same: they coerce others to do what they want through negative manipulation.

I wish the very best for Rachel. Maybe one day she'll realize that she is much better off than 80% of the population of the earth. Maybe one day she'll realize that rather than constantly focusing on her own problems, she could be volunteering her time to help others less fortunate than her. Ultimately it's her choice and her responsibility. I, for one, won't be feeling sorry for her whichever path she chooses. Why? Because offering her pity simply helps her extend her current life of misery.

The Editors of Maclean's Finally Speak Up

The editors at Maclean's have just published an extremely important editorial entitled "Human rights commissions are undermining the fundamental Charter rights of all Canadians. Protest while you still can." You can read it in full here.

6 months after Mark Steyn's America Alone excerpt was published, a group of Osgoode Hall law students demanded a meeting with Maclean's, which they granted. The students threatened to launch a human rights complaint against the magazine and possibly a criminal action lawsuit as well unless the following demands were met (direct quotes) :

1. The right to respond with an article of equivalent length, by a writer of their choosing and with a cover of their own design. The editors of this magazine would have no opportunity to edit the article except for spelling and punctuation. According to their terms, they would be free to write anything they wanted, however inaccurate or unreasonable or offensive or libelous or criminal or otherwise unsuited for our publication.
   

2. They also wanted a substantial sum of money donated to a charity of their choice.

Maclean's refused, of course. Blackmail & bribes may be common in the countries where some of these students come from, but in Canada it is simply unacceptable. To think that these students will become Canadian lawyers and possibly judges one day scares the living daylights out of me, but that's a separate issue.

Here's the letter I just sent to Maclean's:

Thomas Sowell, the African-American academic & columnist, recently wrote the following: "Among the many wise things said by the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was that you are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. Yet an incredible number of people make up whatever 'facts' are needed to support whatever they choose to believe."

Bravo to all of you at Maclean's for taking a stand and not caving into the politically correct blackmail that seems de rigueur today. I pray that your actions will be remembered by historians as a significant course correction in our country.

Funniest Thing I've Read in Some Time

I've spent countless enjoyable hours the past few days finishing the fascinating book, The Devil In the White City. It was written by Seattle author, Erik Larson. It's a non-fiction book that reads like a fiction thriller, telling two intertwined tales. The first is about the legendary architect, Daniel Burnham, and his colleagues who went through great strife to build the amazing 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The second is about a despicable serial killer who carried out unspeakable acts very close to where the fair was held.

It was recommended by my friend, Kristi, and is one of the best books I've read in some time. I actually left the copy I bought on a plane coming back from Hawaii! But the Vancouver Public Library quickly helped me out!!

So what does all of this have to do with humour? Well, let me quote you something from Page 284:

With so many people packed among steam engines, giant rotating wheels, horse-drawn fire trucks, and rocketing bobsleds, the fair's ambulances superintended by a doctor named Gentles were constantly delivering bruised, bloody, and overheated visitors to the exposition hospital. Over the life of the fair the hospital treated 11,602 patients, sixty-four a day, for injuries and ailments that suggest that the mundane sufferings of people have not changed very much over the ages. The list included:

• 820 cases of diarrhea;
• 154, constipation;
• 21, hemorrhoids;
• 434, indigestion;
• 365, foreign bodies in the eyes;
• 364, severe headaches;
• 594 episodes of fainting, syncope, and exhaustion;
• 1 case of extreme flatulence;
• and 169 involving teeth that hurt like hell.

That 2nd to last line had me burst out with laughter, first wondering what on earth would cause a person to be overcome with "extreme flatulence" and then wondering whether they were admitted themselves or were forcibly removed from the fair grounds! The last line extended my joviality a bit longer.

Funny Finnish Pursuits

I just received this amazing book from two Finnish schoolteacher friends of mine who live in Helsinki. The book is actually written by the husband of one of them. His name is Risto Etelämäki. The book is illustrated by a talented artist named Bruno Maximus. Do click on his name to see the various paintings on his website. Very cool!

I haven't yet read the book but plan to soon!