The Rocket Scientists at Berkeley! LOL

The Less Than Subtle Prejudices of the Left

Today, Charles Adler featured a long segment on some recent whiny callers from Alberta who shared the common distinction of hating everything and everyone in Alberta. You can listen to it here (7:00). Such snobs who look down upon people who [apparently] have less education than them annoy & anger me to no end. After listening to the show, I felt compelled to send Adler this letter:

Charles,

Thank you for following up on the calls from the two Albertans who hate everything about Alberta. Listening to them again I was reminded of numerous conversations I've had over the years with such left of centre folks. Such discussions always start out pleasant enough but eventually arrive at some point of contention. Rather than just agreeing to disagree, quite often the Academic Card is pulled out by these individuals, citing what degrees they have, what schools they went to, and thus making it "so obvious" that they know more than I do.

Such people frequently have an undergraduate degree in History or English or Philosophy and are lawyers or teachers or baristas. Yet miraculously their education and "high intelligence" has made them experts at:

• Economics (ex. Obama's stimulus bill is brilliant)
  
• Environmental Modeling (ex. Al Gore knows more about the environment than even God)
  
• Structural Engineering Design (ex. 9/11 was 'obviously' carried out by Bush & Cheney)
  
• Carbon Sequestration (ex. It's so easy to do but those damn oil companies are too greedy)
• Canadian Constitutional Law (ex. It's 'so obvious' that The Coalition is a normal part of our country's electoral history)
  
• The Middle East (ex. Israel is no different than Nazi Germany and Canadian & American soldiers in Afghanistan are no different than Al Qaeda)
  
• Demographics (ex. Canada is so overcrowded that anyone having a baby is damaging Mother Earth)
  

And on & on it goes.

They have convinced themselves that all academics (only of the left-leaning kind, of course) are the most brilliant citizens of the world who we must listen to or face certain peril within just a few years. In their minds, Barack Obama must be a genius because he went to Harvard, Stephane Dion is brilliant but just misunderstood, and Michael Ignatieff represents intelligentsia without compare. When asked how Stephen Harper ranks amongst this crowd, they sidestep it by referring to him as an "Evil Genius".

In their everyday lives they treat anyone without a post-secondary education with disdain. This includes waitresses, shop clerks, cleaning staff, farmers, construction workers, plumbers, etc. In the old days they'd refer to such people as being from the wrong side of the tracks. Nowadays the PC terms include "The NASCAR Crowd" and "Monster Truck Fans". It's the same prejudice though, just disguised in a less forthright package.

They have rebuilt a Class System alright. But what these faux academic snobs don't realize is that they belong to a Class System of the Clueless.

Prime Example of CBC Trying to Reshape the News

Remember Eric Millett, the Radical Leftie elementary school principal who decided to silence the daily singing of Canada's national anthem at his school? He claims that one parent told him that she didn't want her child singing Canada's national anthem "for religious reasons". Whether or not this is true has yet to be determined.

Parents at the school and many Canadians in general are outraged at this for a simple reason: Assuming Mr. Millett is being truthful about what one parent said to him, it is yet another example of special accommodations being made for one child in the entire school, at the expense of ALL the other children. And in this case these accommodations mean silencing our country's national anthem. Who could possibly defend that?

But of course, the age old crusader of oppressed minorities, the high & mighty CBC!!! Watch this video.

Mr. Millett makes some pretty serious claims:

• Parents have threatened to beat him up.
• Anonymous death threats have been received via e-mail.
• Threats against him have been made via his home phone.

Let me say unequivocally that if anyone has threatened him then they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Interesting that the RCMP has been investigating Millett's claims and heretofore have not laid a single charge.

What's more interesting is how the CBC, both in their on-camera interview and on their website, never use the word "allegedly". In fact, the headline on their website reads, "N.B. school principal received death threats in anthem dispute". That's a pretty bold claim. Do they have corrobating evidence to support this statement? If so, it's certainly not cited in the news story.

This is yet another example of the shoddy journalistic practices of Canada's public broadcaster. As I explained recently, I've given up on complaining to them because their entire complaint process is phoney, fake, a sham. But if a future federal government ever pulls all of their funding, I will not be shedding a tear.

Charles Adler has much more on this story here (7:00). It's well worth a listen to learn of a prime example of how your tax dollars are being wasted by Susan Ormiston & co.

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Update: Adler featured another hour of the CBC hit piece against rural and conservative Canadians, which you can listen to here (7:00).

Coming to a Canadian School Near You

Here is the face of the New Radical Left in Canada:

His name is Erik Millett, he is a principal at an elementary school in Belleisle, New Brunswick, and he is an absolute moron. He has banned the singing of O Canada allegedly because some parents didn't want their children singing the anthem daily: "We try to balance the needs of every student, and we want every student to feel welcome in our school."

He refused to say who these parents were so for all we know he may very well be lying and these parents may simply exist only in his own warped mind.

Make no mistake, this is but one little example of where the Radical Left - including but not limited to militant teachers unions across our nation - want to take our society. One day I do wonder if such mindsets will be diagnosed as an official psychological disorder.

Ezra Levant has much more on what makes this jerk tick.

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Update: Charles Adler has an in-depth interview (@ 33:30) with one of the key parents in the matter.

Different Forms of Government

If you'd like to watch a short but informative video on various forms of government, click on the image below.

Carleton University: White Males Not Wanted

Who says the Radical Left doesn't have its favourites when it comes to hate?!? In the case of the Carleton University Students Association they have now officially voted it perfectly fine for white males to suffer much and die young.

"Whereas Cystic fibrosis has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men.... Be it resolved that: CUSA discontinue its support of this campaign." [Source]

Of course that's not the way they're trying to spin it, but that's precisely what happened at a recent vote, where it was decided that annual fundraising for Cystic Fibrosis Research was to be discontinued on a regular basis. One of the reasons cited was that this terrible disease “has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men" — and therefore is insufficiently “inclusive.”

If you don't immediately grasp the audacity of this, what would your reaction be to these hypothetical quotes:

• "We're going to discontinue annual fundraising for breast cancer research because it's a disease that mostly affects women and is therefore insufficiently inclusive."
• "We're going to discontinue annual fundraising for AIDS research because it's a disease that mostly affects gay men and is therefore insufficiently inclusive."
  

There must be a power shortage in Ottawa because there are some really dim bulbs on the Carleton student council. So much so that there's a delicious irony to this story. An irony so deep that it could swallow the entire Carleton campus. As Jonathan Kay points out, the research used by these students prior to their vote was completely flawed:

Approximately 1 in 25 people of European descent … is a carrier of a cystic fibrosis mutation. Although CF is less common in these groups, approximately 1 in 46 Hispanics, 1 in 65 Africans and 1 in 90 Asians carry at least one abnormal CFTR gene. Cystic fibrosis is diagnosed in males and females equally.

Does Carleton represent our best & brightest minds in the under-25 set, our smartest lads and lasses from across the nation?!? I think not. But who knows, fueled by such venomous political correctness and a disinterest in facts & truth, they'd be absolutely perfect for employment at the various "Human Rights" Commissions across the country. There's a rumour going around that there'll be lots of people fired there soon. Someone should suggest to the "geniuses" at Carleton to start applying soon!

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Update
Jonathan Kay was forwarded this letter from a hospital worker, who sent it to each fo the Student Council Executive members:

To whom it may concern:

I am astounded at the pathetic display of ignorance and the lack of basic humanity that is illustrated in your recent decision to remove Student Council support for the cause of Cystic Fibrosis. You may try to couch this decision in terms of just trying to spread the charitable dollars around, but it's obvious to even to most casual observer that this is simply damage control, from a Council that did not do their homework thoroughly in the first place.

I work at a major Children's Hospital, directly with the young sufferers of this terrible disease. Over the past 15 years, I have seen them and their families struggle against huge odds to survive, even to their 20th birthday. They are in hospital every 6 weeks for their entire lives, undergoing almost constant respiratory therapy. They are courageous, wise and wonderful children.

They come from many walks of life, are equally male and female, and sometimes there are multiple children in the household who have the condition. I have had families who lost both children before the age of 18. This is a tragic illness that does not deserve to be treated as a political-correctness pawn.

Last week, one of my favourite patients, whom I have been seeing for over 8 years, died just short of her 15th birthday, through massive hemorrhaging in the lungs. Two weeks before, she had been a lively, if unbelievably thin teenager, dressing up for Halloween, and helping other, smaller kids get their costumes ready. I went to her memorial, which was attended by over 250 adults and children of all races, and we mourned the passing of such a wonderful soul.

I left the service, heard the news of your decision on the radio, and was sickened by it. How closed-minded can our supposedly educated student bodies be? This girl was looking forward to attending a University, just as you are able to do, in your arrogant self-righteousness and good health. Do you refuse support for Ovarian Cancer, because it only afflicts women? Do you do the same for Alzheimer's, because it affects primarily the elderly? You have to give your heads a shake, apologize, and be better informed in the future.

This decision is a disgrace.

Paul Hooson

Is Amerika Following the Path of the Soviet Union?

Here's a fascinating and possibly very prescient interview of Yuri Bezmenov from 1985. Listen to the end. It's important.


Yuri Bezmenov
Uploaded by onmyway02

Asians vs. Latinos: An Academic Comparison

Here's an interesting article comparing Asian students and Latino students in Los Angeles. I learned of it from one of Amy Alkon's blog postings. Anyone who says that parents have little influence on a child's success is in deep denial. Furthermore, anyone who says that "all Asians are smarter than the rest of us" is beyond ignorant. Trust me when I say that I know some really, really dumb Asian people ... along with some really, really dumb people of every other race too!

School Officials Gone Mad!!!

I hope you don't get as depressed as I was after reading this article by Mark Steyn.

The British Educational System is an Abysmal Failure!

I've previously reported that 91% of British teachers are against helping students develop a better sense of British identity. They cite phrases like "morally ambiguous issues" and "patriotism getting in the way of multi-cultural issues" to defend their views. All of this is ultra left-wing claptrap!

As I've mentioned before, nowadays I spend a lot of time listening to BBC London Radio. It's a superb station, where you hear from a multitude of average Londoners about what is really going on in the UK, not just the fluff their Tourism Department wants you to know about. What's very clear is that there are severe problems there now, much of them centered around misguided youths who know little about their nation's history and who have divided themselves into different groups & even gangs, based on ethnic and religious differences. This is the future that awaits Canada and the U.S. if we continue along the same path.

A new poll has been conducted that provides further proof of the great incompetence of the British school system and the teachers over there. Here are some of the findings:

• 20% of students believe that Winston Churchill was a fictional character.
• 58% believe that Sherlock Holmes was a real person, who lived at 221B Baker Street.
• 47% believe that Eleanor Rigby was a real person rather than a name invented by The Beatles.
• 51% believe that Robin Hood was a real man who lived in Sherwood Forest.

Without further investigation, no one can place the blame on individual teachers, but there clearly must be an abundance of teachers and undoubtedly their union, who must be given an "F" for failure. If they were in jobs where they could readily be fired, then the "F" would take on an even more important meaning!

I have nothing against the British, nor their country. In fact, I have many friends who hail from there. What I am sick and tired of is institutional incompetence that is defended by those who are more interested in keeping their jobs than actually doing their jobs properly.

Idiot of the Day: Kellie Pickler

This video proves that you don't need to be very bright to become rich & famous:

And perhaps that there's something desperately wrong with the American Education System!

The BCTF Is The Most Destructive Force To Children in B.C.

Not teachers, but the BCTF definitely! Education Minister Shirley Bond is asking teachers to have the courage to discuss the policy of holding back children who fail many subjects. The BCTF wants none of it!

Here are some voices from the destructive BCTF:

"There is no research that supports retention. What we end up doing is punishing children." - Janice Neden - Kamloops Thompson district

"We used to call that failing kids and we shouldn't fail kids." - Irene Lanzinger, president of the BCTF

These two women do not know of what they speak. Or perhaps they do and are more interested in protecting the reputations of teachers more than educating children. The fact that people like this are seriously involved in the education of our children should send a chill up the spine of every parent in this province.

I do agree that extra resources should be brought to bear to help kids who are failing but at the end of the year, if they can't pass the tests then it makes absolutely no sense to move them forward with the other kids who can.

I distinctly remember a boy named Ian who was in my class in Grade 5. Our teacher was going around the class, asking everyone to spell different words. Ian was unable to spell the word "blue". I kid you not. Take a moment to put yourself in his shoes. Can you imagine how embarrassed and inadequate he must have felt each and every day. This is what the BCTF wants more of.

Are Canadians Over-Educated?

I ask that question with a slight smile on my face. What I'm really wondering is if the whole employment "system" in Canada diminishes the value of entrepreneurship and overplays the necessity of certification.

A friend of mine back home got me thinking about all of this. She's in her mid 30's, is a single mom with a few young children. She's worked at many jobs in her life and is now considering becoming a teacher. I think she'd be an amazing one. She's bright, quick, patient, loves children, and has tons of life experience. But in order for her to become a traditional teacher she'd have to go through an entire year of the Education program at UBC or SFU (in the Vancouver area). Who even knows what her chances of getting accepted in the program would be.

Is there really that much to learn that she'd couldn't pick it up another way, perhaps as part of an apprentice program at a local school? Furthermore, does a technical or university degree guarantee that the recipient is fully qualified for the job at hand? I think not. In the case of teaching, we've all had to suffer through horrendous teachers who were horrible human beings but were able to pass the tests required to get their degree. Just because someone has high marks in school doesn't guarantee anything more than they know how to pass tests; and often that's only an indication that they have a good memory. This fact is what I call the "Great Lie of the Education System".

Let me be clear: Some jobs definitely require official certification. This would include professions where public safety is directly affected, such as:

• Doctors
• Nurses
• Pharmacists
• Police officers
• [Some] Engineers
• Airline pilots
  

But for most jobs, once a person turns 30, is all of this certification really necessary? Or is it more related to various professional groups protecting their own turf?

Following today's conventional wisdom, Albert Einstein would have never been listened to because he didn't have a Ph.D. in Physics when he came up with his Theory of Relativity.