CRAVEN BUS PASSENGERS

“The silence of the Canadian lambs” –Mark Steyn, Maclean’s March 23^rd.

Mark Steyn’s column makes a trenchant and sobering point regarding Canadian “manhood”, and I must rethink my earlier animadversion of his “gunslinger” writing. I have wondered why there were no real criticisms of the passive –dare I say cowardly – behaviour displayed by the passengers; either by the court, the press nor even the victim’s family. There is a rather important difference between this incident and the one depicted in Politechnique. Marc Lepine had a gun –a semi-automatic rifle –rather more lethal than the knife used by Vincent Li. You can fight a knife up close, but not a bullet from a rifle shooter several feet away. Yes, New York City also comes to mind, where a whole neighbourhood ignored the screams of a woman being stabbed to death. Yet, even there, the situation was not as immediate, near or as easily evaluated by the neighbours. The bus passengers knew exactly what was happening, but chose to run away. Unfortunately for Tim McLean, there was no Liviu Librescu or a Lee Gordon Brown to take charge; rather than a “let’s roll!” it was “let’s run!”

I don’t know how many “men” there were out of the three dozen passengers on the bus, and the bus driver, but I find the impuissance of the passengers difficult to comprehend. The sheep mentality of the bus crowd running for the exit while a madman was steadily butchering Tim McLean does not reflect positively on anyone there; and that includes the stalwart RCMP constables who spent 4.5 hours navel-gazing and watching the butchery and cannibalism proceeding inside the bus. It’s hard to square this behaviour with the no-nonsense, proactive action taken by their brothers in arms at the Vancouver airport when a crazed and confused immigrant did nothing worse than swing a stapler over his head.

I sincerely hope that the timidity of the Greyhound passengers is not a reflection of a society where pacifism has gone mad –where “mind your own business” has become a mantra for all –but I am at a loss to understand the craven behaviour of Tim McLean’s fellow passengers on that fateful journey on the Greyhound bus.

PONZI DINNER

The prison cell, apparently, isn't quite what Bernard Madoff is accustomed to: The New York Post reports, with typical élan, that "he will have to tweak his taste for prime rib and cognac amid conditions that are decidedly less refined." The admitted Ponzi schemer spent his first night at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in isolation, after a savoring a meal of frozen chicken patties and canned string beans served on the finest Styrofoam. "Think of the worst school lunch you ever had," said a source. And one veteran defense attorney quipped: "Le Cirque it ain't."

Race and class in primary schools

Link http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/598015

The Battle of The Plains of Abraham --- con't.

‘Facts.’ Such a quaint notion now. Mark Steyn, Maclean’s.

Your literary “gunslinger” Mark Steyn has returned after a much appreciated hiatus –at least, by yours truly. Now it’s Iggy’s turn in the barrel –patches and all. Obviously, he is being led down the garden path by Obama; another left-wing scoundrel. The eye patch analogy is too cute. At least, a patch can be removed; it’s not permanent like Harper’s myopia.

As to his argument against cancelling the battle enactment, I offer this:

The enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham project was a half-baked and stupid idea in the first place, akin to waving a red flag before a bull, with predictable results. We have enough strife between the French and English factions of this country, without actively looking for trouble.

Until the Québécoise “revolution” in the sixties, English-speaking Canadians did, to a degree, “lord” it over the French-Canadians; controlling to a large extent the Quebec economy, and making Quebeckers feel like second-class citizens in their own Province –a conquered people, if you will.

Quebeckers, however, until the battle of Plains of Abraham, were French. They lost to the English, and had no say about becoming British subjects. Fortunately for them, the British, in their wisdom, magnanimously allowed the conquered to keep their language and (Catholic) religion, as well as control over education; thus perpetuating and protecting the separateness inherent in a different language and culture. The tension between two “solitudes” was, for better or for worse, set in motion. However, as they say, that’s history, and we are what we are, and it’s not so bad. As long as we remember to respect our differences and not throw sand in each others eyes.

I have a suggestion for Maclean’s editors: Make Steyn and Amiel a two-some. Put them side by side in you Magazine. You could even bring in Conrad –making it a three-some. He could then expound, pontificate and generally wax eloquently about his days as a budding pianist, lecturer and general good fellow in his little cocoon at the Federal Penitentiary in Florida. Preferably put them on perforated pages, so they can be easily expunged from your otherwise esteemed Magazine. In that way, I won’t run a risk should I forget to take my hypertension pills.

CAMPUS RADICALS

“Professors strangely absent when militants stifle debate” –

Gil Troy, Star Mar.5th.

If there is something worse than the “radical right”, it must be the “radical left”. Students, being young and idealistic, tend to raise hell on campuses, and within limits, that’s probably a good thing. However, there is a tendency for students at some universities –especially in the humanities –to become more than protesters; to impose their own extremist views on others, and even intimidate teachers – though in some cases, the teachers themselves set the tone.

As to the students of York University et al, they should be censured for their stupidity. Not that it would do much good. I was a student at York in the early seventies, and remember being chastised by a teaching assistant in Humanities 101 for daring to refer to a Time Magazine article in one of my essays. Time, she said, was a “capitalist rag”! A professor of Political Economy was the leader of the “Waffle Group” that operated on the left fringes of the NDP.

It seems that now York University has succumbed to a group of Palestinian-supporting/Israeli-hating radicals who are using the Middle-East conflict to justify their own bigoted, anti-Semitic agenda. One can hardly blame individual professors for avoiding confrontation. There is little profit in making oneself a target of the righteous vigilantes roaming the campus.The whole university faculty and governors should take responsibility here; ensuring that free speech is truly free and not a tool to with which to beat your adversary.

Kudos to Professor Troy for taking a stand.

Student radicals at York U.

“Fanatical students don’t see racism.” –Rosie Dimanno, The Star, March 2n/09.

You tell them, Rosie!

If Palestinians have achieved one thing in their anti-Israel campaign of murder and mayhem, it is to achieve an acceptance of neo-anti-Semitic vitriol among people so inclined in other parts of the world, including Canada. The fact that Israel now can defend its people is seen as justification for bigoted and anti-Semitic behaviour. Palestinians lobbying rockets into Israeli neighbourhoods are “freedom fighters”; Jews defending themselves are racists and jackbooted Nazis! Anti-Semites and bigots of all sorts can now safely attack “Zionism” without fear of being disparaged or rejected for their extremist views.

I too, must, albeit reluctantly, applaud Prime Minister Harper for taking a stand, ahead of the US, against the travesty called Durban ll. As to the students of York University et al, they should be censured for their stupidity. Not that it would do much good. I was a student of the aforementioned institution in the early seventies, and remember being chastised by a teaching assistant in Humanities 101 for daring to refer to a Time Magazine article in one of my essays. Time, she said, was a “capitalist rag”! And a professor of Political Economy was the leader of the “Waffle Group” that operated on the lunatic fringes of the NDP left.

"WORD-POVERTY" IN TORONTO SCHOOLS

Toronto school survey…

“Race and poverty matter as early as Grade 3” – Sunday Star, Mar.1^st/09.

It is beyond doubt that financially disadvantaged children are also likely to be short changed in educational achievements and thus more likely to perpetuate the vicious circle of poverty –financially, emotionally and intellectually. The Toronto School Survey is only confirming what has been known for a long time: In homes where no books are read, and children not read to; where lack of education and ambition by their parents and their peer group is the norm; the poor children do not have a chance.

The Canadian psychologist Andrew Biemiller has studied vocabulary levels in young children, and found that those who come to kindergarten in the bottom twenty-fifth percentile of vocabulary generally remain behind other children in both vocabulary and reading comprehension, and thus puts them at a huge disadvantage in all areas of learning development right from the beginning.

Maryanne Wolf in her book Proust and the Squid gives an excellent account of this dilemma facing educators everywhere. One Californian study she cites is by Todd Risley and Betty Hart which showed that by “five years of age, some children from impoverished-language environments hear 32 million fewer words spoken to them than the average middle-class child; what she calls “word-poverty”(p.102). It’s a sobering finding. A substantial portion of our citizens are starting out in life with a huge disadvantage – near, or functional illiteracy. This is a problem that transcends money or income: it’s an intellectual and social problem rooted in the family –generally, but not always – financially disadvantaged or “poor”. There were people in the depressed thirties, poor farmers and workers, who barely had enough to feed and clothe themselves, but still found the money to buy books and the time to read to their children. I can personally vouch for the value of being read to: I grew up under rather limited circumstances in Europe, during and after the war, but every night after a Spartan meal, before bed-time, my mother read to us children. That “word-richness” followed me when I learned a new language in a new land –Canada.