Was interested this Day to read certain Reflections by Andrew Coyne on the Matter of Liberty, wherein he laments the increasing Tendency to defer to the Judgment of the State in determining how our own Welfare might best be advanced. (National Post, June 26, 2012)

He notes the Proposal of mayor Bloomberg to prohibit the Sale of Soft Drinks in Quantities he deems excessive, the Recommendation of the Ontario Coroner to transform Helmetless Bike-Riders into Law-Breakers, and the long existing Government Mandate of Seatbelts in Automobiles.

These Measures may offer Advantages, but, as Mr. Coyne notes, there is a loss of Freedom, which, he argues, should be taken into Account in the Analysis of Benefit.

Further, with each minor successful Assault on Freedom of Choice, the Road of Good Intentions receives another Paving Block which eases the next Incursion and facilitates Progress towards an unfortunate but scarcely anticipated Conclusion.

It is our Observation, however, that in general, Freedom counts but little in the Balance with Security -- Security usually being the Essence of the Benefit envisioned by State Interference. Sometimes that Security is not simply presented as the Thing itself, but comes wrapped in a Tissue of Flattery bound with a Ribbon of Falsehood.

Mr. Coyne admits he does not know where the Line is to be drawn between Freedom and Security, but suggests we should strike a harder Bargain.

We would note two things. The "law of unintended consequences" may lurk, subversively, in that Transaction. Do losses of Freedom also entail loss of Initiative, the Spirit of Self-Reliance, critical Thinking, or Inventiveness itself?

We would also wonder whether the Need for Security has Depths we might be reluctant to plumb. Is not Religion the most powerful Example of this Bargain with the Devil? Humankind is almost always ready to jump through the Hoops of Dogma to achieve the Security conferred by a propitiated Almighty.

While there may be some justifiable Benefits from State Interference "for our own good," we think it unwise to forget the Remark of Edmund Burke:

The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.

We note that the wretched Conditions of Life in Canada have once again come to the Attention of the Fount of all Wisdom, the United Nations.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has suffered a severe Disappointment, because Quebec has passed a Law restricting "freedom of association and of peaceful assembly." We understand that this refers to the Fact that Student Protesters are now required to give notice of their Marches.

Sometimes we wonder why we continue to live in a Society so unsatisfactory, one in which United Nations Food Rapporteurs (See Diary, May 17, 2012) and Rights Commissioners find so much to their Displeasure.

Indeed, we suspect that there many Places in the World far less deplored than the Quagmire of Mismanagement which Canada has become, where we could live free from the oppressive Shadow of United Nations’ Opprobrium.

We are intrigued by the Matter of Alice Walker, who is refusing to authorise a Hebrew Translation of her Work, The Color Purple, on the Grounds that Israel practises Policies of "apartheid." Ms Walker is quoted as saying: "I believe deeply in non-violent methods of social change though they sometimes seem to take forever." (National Post, June 21, 2012)

It is passing strange; we thought that it was the Palestinians who sent Rockets into Israel. We must suppose that Ms. Walker will also be refusing an Arabic Translation, not only on that Account, but for numerous other social Injustices common in the Arab World.

Indeed, we have often noted the peculiar Vision of those who observe with the left Eye only; they see with Clarity the relatively minor Faults in democratic Countries, while suffering from a black Fog of Imperceptiveness in the Matter of Countries with egregiously awful Regimes.

We expect to see Ms. Walker on Limerick Lane in the near Future.

We must also note an Column by Chris Selley (National Post, June 23, 2012) who comments on the "bullying" of Karen Klein, who is a Bus Monitor in New York State. She was insulted by four Children acting with the typical Cruelty of the uncivilized Young. This Cruelty, by the way, is not acknowledged in our advanced Times, since we have dispensed with the depressing Notion of Original Sin, and replaced it with the more flattering Notion of Original Goodness.

Mr. Selley makes the Point that the Ontario has recently introduced comprehensive Legislation against Bullying, but notes that applied rigorously, the Rules could result in many Expulsions-- but these would be of limited value since the Bullies would have to go somewhere else.

Alas, we think this is merely wishful Thinking. The real Solution is suggested by his Remark: "Those kids are a force of nature."

We hesitate to suggest the Truth – since it is – not unusually -- so highly unpopular. Bullying can only be eradicated by Bullying. The cruel Bullying of the uncivilized can only be controlled by the judicious Bullying of the civilized. Without the Bullying of the Law, with its Fines and its Jails, Civilization would fall apart.

Many Years ago, in the bad old Days, when People were unenlightened, and believed in Original Sin – much Care was taken to bully the Students. There was Rigidity at every turn, and Consequence at every Corner. It was a bit like the famous "broken window theory:" take care of the small Misdemeanours, and the serious Ones become a receding Dot on an infinite Plain.

There is, of course, no Possibility of the Recognition of this Reality. There will continue to be much Wringing of Hands, Frank Discussions, Round Tables, Conflict Resolution Programs, Anger Management Seminars, and Passing of Laws. Until the Schools realize they need to be a "confident kid on the bus," the Forces of Nature will have their Way.

Finally, we note a Discussion last Evening on Byline (Sun News Network) on the Possibility of Mr. Trudeau running for, and achieving the Leadership of the Liberal Party. Our Comment may be found on Limerick Lane.

We confess to being in a State of great Distress. Our heart Palpitates and our Palms are moist. Indeed, we fear a Conniption Fit may be bearing down upon us, striking at our central Core of Equanimity.

No, we do not refer to the current Wave of Heat afflicting our fair Province; our Concerns are abroad – in Rio de Janeiro – where, it appears the Rio + 20 Discussions have failed. Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of the Earth has declared:

Politicians are spinning this outrageous deal as a victory but in fact it is nothing less than a disaster for the planet."

Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International Executive Director has stated:

Rio+20 has turned into an epic failure. It has failed on equity, failed on ecology and failed on economy.

And in the Opinion of Jim Leape, international director general of World Wildlife Fund:

Beyond mere Words, some Youth Leaders walked out of the Summit.

We had been looking forward with much Enthusiasm to the Collapse, and were keen to see Mr. Strong at work with judiciously placed Charges of green Dynamite.

Ah well. It’s not over until the emaciated Female, living on Roots and Berries, warbles her Content.

In the Meantime we will carefully follow this clear and unambiguous Simplicity from the concluding Document, The Future we Want:

We call for holistic and integrated approaches to sustainable development which will guide humanity to live in harmony with nature and lead to efforts to restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem.

Such integrated and holistic Approaches are, we understand, available at modest cost at The Home Depot. Sustainable Development and living in Harmony with Nature elude precise Definition, to be sure, but, like the right Piece of Art for the Mantel, and a comfortable Pair of Shoes -- we will know them when we encounter them.

Indeed, quite possibly, if we repeat this Mantra in Sufficiency, Mr. Strong’s explosive Capabilities will not be needed, and Nirvana will be achieved more readily than a reasonable Man might suppose.

We are often amazed at the Persistence of bad Ideas in the Face of contrary Evidence. We happened to hear, recently, on a Segment of CBC’s The Current, an Interview with some anthropogenic Climate Change Enthusiasts – Elizabeth May, not surprisingly was one of them – reliving the fond old Days of the Rio Summit of 1992.

It was as if Nothing had changed. No Hockey Stick Correction, no Climategate, no failed Predictions of sunken Islands, no Recantation by James Lovelock, of Gaia Fame, stating:

the problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing.

The Power of Nostalgia, we must assume, is simply too great. How much better to live in a World in which there is a clear Distinction between Good and Evil – between the noble Purity of the Fight to Save the Planet, and the scurrilous Subversiveness of the Deniers, who wish to sink Islands with a profligate Disregard for Carbon Footprints.

Now, with Doubt cast on every Tenet, with Climate "Science" a tattered and insubstantial Shadow of its former robust fight-ready Self, who can blame the Believers for returning to bask in the golden Glow of that former, blessed Time.

In this Article, Professor McKitrick argues that the computer Models of Climate Change on which Conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are based, are flawed.

They contain the Assumption that Warming is caused by Greenhouse Gasses, and ignore the Effect of "warming over land as a result of urbanization and the varying patters of socioeconomic and industrial development." His Examinations suggest that this Approach is unwise.

Mr. McKitrick concludes that since the Predictions made by current Models do not work,* the underlying Theories should be modified.

There is probably no Point in transmitting this Information to the CBC. Let the romantic Memories of Rio rule, and retain their special, reverenced Place.

*Manhattan Island is not partially submerged; Arctic Ice has not disappeared; there are not 50 million climate Refugees; Temperatures have not risen over the last fifteen Years, etc., etc.

It is Sunday, the Day that we often deal with Matters Sacrilegious.

And indeed, a Matter of egregious Sacrilege has come recently to our Attention. Larry Miller, a Conservative Member of Parliament from Ontario has called for a Review of Canada’s Rôle in the United Nations. Mr. Miller apparently believes that the United Nations is a seriously flawed Institution.

We know not how it is possible for such Thoughts to find Refuge in any honourable and upright human Being, let alone in the magnificent Brain of an elected Member of Parliament.

Surely all must agree that the United Nations represents our best Hope for Salvation.

Recently, we note, the United Nations has criticized Canada for its deplorable Complicity in the Treatment of Omar Khadr, the innocent Child caught up in Matters beyond his Comprehension, and its Refusal to assist him.

They have wisely appointed Mr. Mugabe, noted for his Benevolence and jolly Demeanour, all the while managing with effortless Insouciance his thriving Country of Zimbabwe, as an Ambassador for Tourism.

Kofi Annan, noted for his firm Handling of the Rawanda Genocide, and his deft Management of the Oil-for-Food Program has recently been sent to Syria to put a final End to the childish Self-Indulgence of the revered but occasionally petulant Bashar Assad.

Indeed, it is only with the United Nations that our Hope for benevolent World Government may be achieved. It is only with World Government that Industrialization can be reversed, Gaia can be restored, and the proper Organization of Society can be realised.

 We have only to contemplate the recent calming Visit of Olivier de Schutter, the "food rapporteur" to glimpse the Nirvanic Possibilities. (See Diary, May 17, 2012) In the great Brave New World of United Nations Control, we can look forward to a most precise and exacting Regulation of virtually every Element of our Lives by expert Bureaucrats.

O my Friends! How can we not look forward to that wonderful Day – that Day when Chaos will be tamed, and the proper Order of Things will be established by the most highly qualified Experts that Humankind can produce!

We call on Mr. Miller to repent! His Apostasy is our Shame. His Sacrilege, considered even for a Moment, stands between us and the Big Rock Candy Mountain, the Paradise of bureaucratic Perfection which the United Nations alone bids fair to achieve.

In some Periods, we scan the daily Newspaper in Vain for Items that intrigue or titillate our eccentric Fancy. On other occasions, we are overwhelmed by Matters demanding Comment.

Today is one of those Days of Overwhelment.

We note that Brian Storseth’s Bill to repeal the odious Provision regarding free Speech in the federal Human Rights Legislation has been passed by Parliament. We are much pleased that an Editorial in the National Post which contains the Comment:

Human-rights codes are now a greater affront to liberty than were the harms they were meant to address.

There is no Opinion we value more highly than that which exactly replicates our own.

Then there is an Article by Chris Selley entitled Let sleeping Burka Bans Lie, which directly contradicts our own View, and calls out for a Rebuttal. We do hate to let others labour under their significant Misapprehensions, when a few Words from our own Pen might have the Capacity to set them on the Path to Enlightenment.

Peter Foster has written an Article on the Rio Summit, which we are keeping to savour. And we are tempted to comment on the Remark of a Judge who said to an anti-abortion Activist: "Your God is wrong."

Alas! We have only a limited Time for these Musings!

We have decided to refrain from Comment on all of these Matters in favour of the Topick which occupies a constant Place in our Thoughts, our Dreams, and our Memories: the plastic Bag.

The Toronto City Council, in all its fantastic drastic view of plastic, appears on Limerick Lane.

We see that the United Nations is in the News. It appears from a congressional Hearing in the United States, that there is strong Opposition to placing the Internet under the Jurisdiction of the U.N.

We are greatly troubled by this Development; surely the United Nations has proven itself beyond any Measure of Doubt to be the most consistent, reliable, trustworthy, and wise Institution in the entire Milky Way. It would seem ungrateful and niggardly to do Anything which might slow its Path to complete World Domination and beneficial Control. Perhaps the Occupy Movement can be counted on to Voice its strident Opposition to this short-sighted and retrograde Approach.

Again, perhaps the Montreal student Radicals can be counted on to make Protest of this needlessly draconian Withdrawal.

As a result of yesterday’s Musings on the Position of the Catholic Church with regard to Sex, a Matter of which Church Officials have detailed, comprehensive, and expert Knowledge, we have made a brief Excursion to consider the rôle of convenient Fictions in our Lives. This may be found in the Drivel Section.

We are intrigued by the Foufourah over the Matter of Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs in Ontario High Schools. The Province is determined to allow Clubs to be so named if the Students desire. The Catholic Schools are reluctant to permit such Naming, since their religious Teaching holds that homosexual Acts are sinful. In a wonderful Example of the Contortionist’s Art, the Church claims to be non-discriminatory because Homosexuals deserve "love and respect." (National Post, May 31.)

Essentially, the Position appears to be that a Homosexual deserves Love and Respect, but is so "intrinsically disordered" that he should be denied a Sex Life -- or at least a Sex Life with any Partner to whom he might be attracted. But this, of course, is not discriminatory; it is simply the Life of Tough Apples as determined by those who know best.

We have made the Point earlier, that Societies can and often do discriminate excessively against Individuals in their Midst. In the wonderful Days of Old, Young People were sacrificed to propitiate the Gods, Witches were burned at the Stake, and African Slaves were sold at Public Auction.

Our current secular Society is somewhat less enamoured of such Proceedings; it has also, by and large, decided that Sexual Orientation is not chosen, but varies on a fairly consistent Basis over Time. Hence making Life difficult for those with an Orientation to the same Sex is neither fair nor, ultimately, productive.

The Catholic Church, quite naturally, values Consistency. The Changing of one’s Mind – for a Religion – is likely to raise Doubts – niggling Suspicions likely to be less than smoothly conducive to the holy Enterprise.

Cardinal Michael Collins has recently been seen on Television lamenting the present Conflict, suggesting that both the Province and the Church have the same Aims, but should deal with the Matter of Discrimination in their own different Ways. According to the National Post, Cardinal Collins was asked how he would "defend Church teachings on homophobia. He said it was too complicated an issue to discuss for a news story."

Alas, we are too dull-witted to comprehend the Complexities. It is better that they remain a Part of the Contortionist’s secret and mysterious Art.

It is our Policy not to use, in these Musings, Language which is too arcane and technical for the average Reader. However, this is one of the few Occasions that we feel forced to ignore this self-imposed Restriction. We have only one Term which adequately describes the Church’s Position: the Church is BONKERS on this Matter. Yes, that is correct: B-O-N-K-E-R-S. (We considered "intrinsically disordered," but decided only "bonkers" was sufficiently erudite and precise.)

We have returned from an extended Stay at Wind-in-the-Pines, where we had some exciting Adventures with our Chain Saw.

We consider ourselves to have some Expertise in the Matter of Felling Trees, having downed a considerable Number many years ago at our Property near Port Carling. We naturally assumed that, during the intervening Years, our Skills had been sharpened and upgraded by our Subconscious Mind, in much the same Way it is reputed to work on Problems which the conscious Mind has deliberately put aside for the Nonce.

The Task in Question was a small Pine Tree near the main Steps, which had had the Temerity to grow to a medium Size while we were not looking. It had begun to provide excessive Shade, but, more importantly, had begun to divest itself of Droplets of Sap which landed on our newly stained Deck.

It had to go.

The previous Year, the Chain Saw had refused to start. This Year, we had a quiet Talk with it. We explained the Temerity and Sap-Pooping Habits of the offending Tree. We engaged in magic Rituals. We removed and cleaned the spark Plug. We removed and cleaned the Air Filter. We circled the Saw three Times. We made a Special Incantation to the Great God Murphy.*

The offending Tree did have a rather intimidating Lean towards the Cottage. But we were confident that, properly notched, it would fall to its Reward in the opposite Direction.

Alas! Although it did not fall in the Direction of the Lean, it fell sufficiently wide of our intended Direction that the Top-most Part landed on the Deck Railing. No Damage was done, no doubt owing to the wonderfully sturdy Construction of the Railing, which we ourselves had put in Place just after the Cottage was erected.

However, the damage to our Ego has been considerable. Our subconscious Mind has evidently been less efficient than we had hoped. We have a much diminished Confidence in our Notching Abilities. We may, in the Future, assign the Task of felling Trees leaning towards the Cottage to those claiming professional Qualifications.

In another Matter, we note that The United Nations and Robert Mugabe, the newly minted International Tourism Ambassador, make an Appearance on Limerick Lane.

*We present this Information for the Benefit of those Few who may still doubt the Powers of Murphy.

We are pleased to see that Olivier De Schutter has been sent by the United Nations Human Rights Council to rescue us from the wretched Starvation and poor Choices in Diet which abound in our otherwise favoured Land.

We are especially pleased that Mr. De Schutter has seen fit to visit us with his wonderful Advice, Suggestions, and veiled Threats, rather than concentrating on other Lands no doubt more advanced than our own, such as Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

Mr. De Schutter is to be commended for having a wonderful bureaucratic Perception of our Deficiencies, and some ready Recommendations for Government Interference and beneficial Manipulation of the present free Market System. The Government is so indisputably adept at organizing all Manner of Commerce and entrepreneurial Activities, that it is a Wonder that it has been allowed thus far to stand by, permitting incompetent Citizens to grow, import, process, and market their own Food. It is high Time that this reprehensible Neglect be brought to an End.

We think Mr. De Schutter’s visit has come not a moment too soon; we hope Government Response will be swift. With some Bit of Good Fortune, we may see the Matter of Food Distribution brought to the same high Level of Efficiency as that evidenced by our Health Care System.

(Mr. De Schutter has been observed on Limerick Lane.)

We note with Satisfaction that Norway has decided to stop having an official Religion. The State will permanently separate from the Church. Hmpf. Surely it is about Time. The State has no place in the Bedrooms or the Churches of the Nation.

In a related Matter, we see that a Survey by the University of Chicago has shown that Belief in God is higher among those of advanced Age. We could have predicted this Outcome, since Death is a powerful Motivator for a Belief in an Eleventh Hour Rescue. However, we suppose we should be grateful to the University for confirming our Common Sense Suspicions.

We might add that our recent Creation of the Great God Murphy (See Drivel, March 20, 2011) does not appear related to this Phenomenon; Murphy, for all his Power, Wisdom, and Expertise in Public Relations, has refrained from making rash Promises of any kind. Perhaps we should drop a few Hints.

The most significant News of the Day, however, appears to be the troubling Appearance of a most Distressing Medical Condition: Shaken Teacher Syndrome.

Yves Marcotte, the Director of Communications at the School confirmed that this Enforcement of the Law had put in Jeopardy "a calm climate and a good quality of teaching." Indeed, "the teachers were not really available to offer courses because they said they were shaken."

This Vulnerability, this Susceptibility of Teachers to Wooziness and Imbalance is a most serious Circumstance. We think it a Matter of the utmost Urgency that they be stabilized without Delay. Powerful Emetics should be administered to expel the Poison of Idiocy; Enemas to flush out the Sludge of Socialist Dreams gone sour. Or perhaps they just need a good Shake.

According to Dr. Steven Kremer, Li "deserves expanded privileges at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, including a reduced level of supervision while on escorted passes within the facility."

While we may express our conventional Wishes for a speedy Recovery for Mr. Li, we also wonder why we are being informed of his Progress.

We have the uneasy Feeling that Mr. Li is being regarded by the medical Profession as a somewhat challenging Problem of Engine Repair, which sees the Correction of faulty Brain Circuitry akin to the Replacement of an erring Microchip.

We fear that it is only natural that one charged with such a Project look forward to some halcyon Day which will produce the following News Item:

Vince Li now Cured.

Dr. Ima Success, of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, announced today that Mr. Vince Li is now cured. "As long as he’s on his meds, Mr. Li is fine," said Dr. Success. "We look forward to the successful Completion of his upcoming Cross-Country Tour, courtesy of Greyhound Bus Lines."

Our Fears may well be unfounded, but we are not sure that Hubris has been yet expelled from the human Psyche.

This Week past, the National Post asked Readers the Question: "Does Quebec have a future in Canada?"– and today published the Results.

We have to confess we have grown weary of the constant Whining and Bullying by the Province that is Special. We think of Quebec as a spoiled Teenager living in the comfortable House of his Parents in a superior Neighbourhood, always complaining about the Food and deploring the Tardiness of the Laundry Service.

The Situation persists because, besides being an accomplished Whiner, the Layabout threatens to leave the House, taking with him the Main Staircase and the two largest Bedrooms.

Throughout the Charade, the wretched Boy insists on Special Status and frequent Genuflections by other Members of the Household. He does not realize that true Respect is gained not by Tantrums, but through Accomplishment and Actions which elicit Admiration – an Admiration not coerced, but freely given.

We might note that this is a Syndrome shared by some Elements of Islam, which seeks Respect not through good Works and lofty Ideals, but through Riots and Intimidation.

The Province is notorious for Union Power and Corruption. The Riots by Students in order to maintain their exceptionally low Fees for Tuition are wonderfully symbolic of the Me First Attitude of the Province as a Whole. (See Diary, April 21, 2012)

In short, we would not be unhappy to see Quebec sail off into its own special Brand of Socialist Sunset, provided that an adequate Transportation Corridor be Provided for Canada, and Provision made for the Secession of those Parts of the New Quebec who grow weary of marinating in the Culture of self-satisfied Self-Absorption, or become alarmed at the Austerity of the new Reality of Life without Handouts.

We note that the Preponderance of Respondents to the Question posed by the National Post think that Quebec should go.

On Memorization

We do not know, but we suspect that in the brave New World of Education there is no Place for the Dreariness of Memorization. We imagine the Argument to be this: wonderful, growing, creative Minds should be employed in thinking wonderful creative and original Thoughts, rather than committing to Memory the Thoughts of Others who had the Misfortune to be born before the Age of the Computer, the Kindle, and the Smart Phone.

As a registered and Card-Carrying Curmudgeon, our Argument would be that the Computer has changed many things, but not the Nature of Human Nature. Indeed, people who lived before the Age of Television, or even of Electricity, have reflected on the Conditions of Human Existence in a Manner which cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the present Age.

We confess to having retained very little of what we once committed to Memory – but are quite grateful for the odd short poem and many fragments which remain. There is something satisfying at having at one’s Finger-tips, an apt or impressive Turn of Phrase. As Alexander Pope said:

True wit is nature to advantage dress’d
What oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d.

Poetry, of course, has a great Advantage when it uses rhyme or other Repetitions of Sound which make it more easily remembered, and sound can be a great persuader: a "rightness" of Sound suggests a Correctness of Sentiment.

We realize we have undertaken too large a Topick for these brief Entries. Indeed, our Purpose is not to write an Essay, but to justify a Passage from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales which we are including as a weekly Quotation. Chaucer lived from 1343 -1400. What a very long Time ago! But is there not a Similarity of Impulse between a Pilgrimage  in the Thirteen Hundreds and opening the Cottage on a Long Weekend in May today?

We include the Middle English Version and a Translation. Drawing upon our Memory of the suggested Pronunciation, we have also included a Reading.

We still live in an "old chaos of the sun,"* and Chaucer’s Description of the Coming of Spring, and the human Response to it, is not out-of-date; it has a Validity, even in the Age of the Computer. We are glad that we still have it – for the most part – in our Memory Bank.

*Wallace Stevens, Sunday Morning

Last Evening, as is our annual Custom, to the Pelham Art Festival in Fonthill. This Exhibit includes Painting, Jewellery, Pottery, and Carving.

On most Visits, we make some small Purchase, arguing that it is a near Necessity in order to validate the hour-long Journey, and the Expense of the inordinate amount of Fuel demanded by the Geezermobile Eight in order to convey us in quaintly old-fashioned Style-- but with undeniable Comfort – to the Festival Arena.

In fact of course, we have suffered, from a very young Age, from the terrible Ravages of Collectivitis, aggravated by an underlying Susceptibility to the debilitating Ka-Ching! Syndrome. This insidious Combination of Maladies leads to Purchasing Abnormalities, Clutter, Poverty, and Depression.

Both the Lumpenbangen Studios and Wind-in-the-Pines have been assessed by competent medical Specialists and pronounced Replete, with Prescriptions for heavy Doses of Dispersal and Disengagement. In Addition, the current State of the Stock Market, which has reduced the Value of our Holdings by Two-thirds, suggests that Purchases of Art could be considered a Symptom of Dementia Incredibilis.

Thus, we embarked on our Journey last Evening with the firm Conviction that it was merely a symbolic Ritual, a final Farewell to Collectivitis.

                                                            ***

Well, it’s really a quite wonderful Bowl, carved from the Wood of the rare and exotic Chatke-Kok Tree which grows only in the virtually impenetrable Rainforests of Borneo. It is transported to Civilization only once every two Years through Piranha-infested Waters by the Ka-Ching! Tribe of pygmy Head-Hunters. It is beautifully inlaid with Yew Wood. It was purchased at a Discount from the Artist’s Regular Price. It has successfully been smuggled into the Lumpenbangen Studios. No one knows of its Existence.

The Problem of Idealism

We feel that it may appear that we show an unhealthy Fascination with the Topick of Religion. Today, for Example we find ourselves tempted to speak of the Reception of Irshad Manji in Indonesia (unfriendly) or the Curriculum at the East End Madrassah in Toronto (bizarre).

But when we decide, instead, to comment on something Else --the Support of President Obama for Gay Marriage, we find that this, too, is a religious Topick.

When the Announcement was made, it was not surprising to see the Program Byline, which often seems to be broadcast directly from the Vatican, clucking furiously over a Retrograde Decision. The Clouds would bellow their Thunder, the Skies would be rent by Lightning. Thank God for the Average American, who, when given the Choice, usually rejects Perversity for the warm Blanket of Tradition.

Mr. Obama, of course, claims to be a Christian, and Christians traditionally oppose Homosexuality, although in later Years there has been an attempt to soften the Position with the Notion that only the "Sin" is opposed, but not the "Sinner."

Once one can clear the Mind of religious Cant, some things become clear:

1. Nothing about human Society is proclaimed by a Giant in the Sky.

3. Since Homosexuality is found in other animal Species, and since Studies of the Brain show Differences according to Sexual Orientation, it must be considered a "natural" variant, not a "chosen" Path.

3.When one considers the Contributions to Society of Homosexuals (see list of some famous ones below), it would appear that equitable Treatment is both practical and reasonable.

The overarching Problem, the Problem of which Religion is a primary Exemplar is that of Idealism. It is a Knife which cuts in Two Directions.

Religions are often based on ideal Notions – Life is perfectible -- if only the perfect God’s perfect Laws are obeyed. In the Afterlife will be found an endless Time of Peace, Milk, and Honey. Homosexuality is seen, not as a natural Variant, but as an obvious Refutation of God’s Perfection; hence it must be rooted out and destroyed. This flawed Idealism is by no means confined to Religion. Those who think that People are inherently equal, and that Equality of Result must be engineered, no Matter what the Cost, are similarly Victims of an Untempered Idealism. Communism has its Roots in Idealism; the Fruit it bears is bitter. A noble Ideal like "free" universal medical Care is paid for in the Coin of Coercion, Inefficiency, and the Deadening of Initiative.

On the other Hand, of Course, Idealism is what leads us to better our Condition. It is the very Force which says that Society can be improved, and made more suitable for human Beings.

How then, to tell the Difference between a beneficial Ideal, and a destructive one? That, of course, is the considerable Question.

The List below (primarily of Males -- we added two famous lesbians) was obtained by googling: Famous Homosexuals

                                               Alexander Pope

We have spent our last two Entries upon the heavy topick of Religion, which would be an entirely risible Matter, did not so many take it so seriously.

Thus, we have turned instead, today, to the composing of three Limericks deriving from an Article by Robert Fulford on Edvard Munch, whose cheerful Painting The Scream sold recently for nearly One Hundred and Twenty Million Dollars.

 Please consult Limerick Lane.

*Hamlet Act I, Scene ii

We are indeed shocked, after expressing our Opinion yesterday that Mr. Swinimer should not wear a Shirt with a religious Message at his High School, to learn that the School, which had banned the Shirt, has backed down. (National Post, May 5, 2012)

This is not, in our View, a Matter of "Freedom of Expression" or "Freedom of Religion" as Mr. Levant proclaimed on his program The Source last Evening. Freedoms can hardly be understood except in the Light of their complementary Limitations. While Mr. Swinimer is free to practice his Religion, and speak in Favour of it, there are Times and Places where his Expression and Practice might be reasonably curtailed.

While Nudity is acceptable in private, it is discouraged and limited by Law in public. Were Mr. Swinimer to break into a rousing Version of "Onward Christian Soldiers" during a Funeral Oration, or even during a public Lecture at the University of Toronto on Quantum Mechanics, it would hardly be considered appropriate, and it would not seem unreasonable should he be removed.

The wearing of proselytizing Shirts, while acceptable in Kensington Market on a Saturday Morning might find little Approval in the Workplace. Indeed, we can scarcely think of an area of Employment where such Attire would be countenanced.

In a Manner, this is a Question of Decorum. A Classroom is not a Free-for-all, a Devil-take-the-Hindmost. Nothing can be accomplished if Everyone speaks at once. Freedom without Decorum is Chaos. When it becomes the Custom in our Society to proclaim our Religious Belief, the Lack thereof, or a hundred other Slogans on our Shirts – at the Workplace, or in any other Arena of serious Endeavour, an Argument in Favour of Mr. Swinimer’s Shirt might be made.

The public Education System has, as its Responsibility, the preparing of Youth for the Society in which they must function and survive. We think the School Board does a grave Disservice to its Students when it suggests that Behaviour which would not be accepted in almost any Area of Employment, or in any sober Endeavour should be countenanced in the Schools,  in the misguided Belief that it is supporting Freedom of Expression.

We see the Pages of this Day’s National Post are replete with Religion. This does gladden our Heart, raise our Spirit, and fill us with irrational Gratitude to the Great God Murphy, to whom we pray each Day for Topicks for Consideration.

Since it is in the Nature of Man to complain no Matter what the Circumstance, we would add only that we would have preferred to have the various Articles spread out over a reasonable time, rather than being thrust upon us all at once. Eventually, it is our Aim to have the great God Murphy align his infinite Powers in greater Accord with our Circumstance.

The Front Page of our Paper depicts a Shirt bearing the Inscription:

                                     LIFE IS
                                  W A S T E D
                                    Without
                                     Jesus

The Shirt is one worn by William Swinimer, in Nova Scotia. The Vice-Principal at his School has suspended him for continuing to wear it despite the Edict that it is offensive. Mr. Swinimer claims Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion.

As a committed Follower of the Mystery, or the Great God Murphy, as we prefer to call him, our first Response is that such a Shirt is entirely acceptable as long as other Shirts are allowed:

                                    LIFE IS
                                S O  F L U I D
                               When You’re a
                                  D R U I D

                          AVOID A DISASTER:
                                      Follow
                            Z O R O A S T E R

                 YOU’LL ESCAPE FROM YOUR FUNK
                                 When you realize
                               RELIGION IS BUNK

In fact, of course, we are doubtful that Shirts with a written Message of any Kind have a place in a High School Classroom. This would include:

                                      GO, LEAFS, GO

                                     I LOVE MY MOM

                                        LIFE IS HARD

                                 DEATH IS INEVITABLE

We admit to a Bias in this Matter: we taught High School for sixteen Years, and believe that there is much to be said for benevolent Dictatorships and the Suppression of divisive Distractions. We might – as that rare Combination of Dictator/Solomon – permit Labels by the Manufacturer. A small "Pierre Cardin" Designation – providing the Size of the Letters did not exceed our rigid Guidelines – might be acceptable.

Our general Proposition is that People should be free to practise the Religion of their Choice, no matter how foolish it may be. Religious proselytizing or religious Symbols have no place in Public Schools, Police Forces, or Government Offices. (We consider Christmas Decoration to be primarily cultural, not religious.)

William Swinimer should expand his wardrobe.

’T is a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend.

Julius Caesar. Act ii. Sc. 1.

We are pleased to see the arrogant Environmentalists in Retreat. Some Concerns are legitimate: no one wishes to breathe Air with Pollutants; however, Predictions of Armageddon based on questionable Facts, faulty Models, and the Ambitions of those whose Habit of Mind is essentially bureaucratic and controlling, rather than creative and entrepreneurial, must be regarded with the deepest Suspicion. Indeed, we think Antipathy is an entirely reasonable Response.

Last Evening a Presentation was played on Byline, entitled If I wanted America to Fail.* This Video dramatically suggests that the Way to ensure the Failure of America is to make people feel guilty about using the Energy that fuels their Way of Life. Abundant forms of Energy should be virtually outlawed in favour of Wind Power and Wishes. School Children should be taught that the Factories and Vehicles of their Society will cause Ages of Ice, or Eras of Heat, depending on the Fashion of the Moment.

Free Markets and Prosperity should be demonized, and viable Industries should be crippled with Regulations.

The Message of the Presentation is that extreme Environmentalism is a perilous Path whose flickering Candles light the way, not to Salvation, but to dusty Death.

We think that Environmentalism is but one Facet of a more profound and widespread Phenomenon. We would like to classify it as the Trap of Mea Culpa, which leads to a regrettable Inability to distinguish Bathwater from Babies.

We are led to wonder whether Success contains within it, the Seeds of Failure. It is as if, once some reasonable Degree of Prosperity and Stability has been achieved, the human Animal, instead of feeling Gratitude and Pride in what has been achieved, instead of focussing on further incremental Improvements, is suddenly overcome with Guilt, and, measuring his State against some impossible Ideal, questions the very Basis of his Prosperity and sees Hope only in destroying the Means and Philosophy of his Ascent.

Yet another Example of self-destructive Behaviour may be seen in the Notion of Multiculturalism, which perversely assumes that all Cultures are equal, despite the clear Evidence that some Cultures have created greater Happiness, more Prosperity, and more Freedom than others. Yet, as in the Sixties, otherwise rational People throw up their Hands and welcome the "Diversity" of primitive Thinking and tribal Practice.

Human Rights Commissions throw out Centuries of Safeguards in order to celebrate Victimhood and banish hurt Feelings.

The other Day, on The Source, Ezra Levant presented the instructive Thoughts of Yuri Bezmenov (1939 -1993), a former KGB Agent who defected to Canada. Mr. Bezmenov noted the Stages in attacking an Enemy, in a Warfare of the Mind.

1. Demoralization. Confuse the Enemy. Change his Perceptions of Reality, so that people are unable to tell truth from falsehood. (This takes from 15-20 years.) In an Interview with Ed Griffin in 1984, Mr. Bezmenov refers to the Sixties when Marxist ideology was inserted without counterbalance into the Educational System. A generation later, the students become Professors whose Biases are irreversible, who are impervious to contradictory Facts, and who represent the accepted Way of Thinking.

2.Destabilization. This takes 2 - 5 years. It is a period of protests and demonstrations.

3. Crisis. Creation of economic, financial, and national security crisis. Also includes social crisis and breakdown of previous self-evident restrictions on moral behaviour.

4. Normalization. An indefinite period during which people are so overwhelmed by change that they accept the new "normal."

5. Centralized control. The original "Dissenters" and Supporters of the new System are disposed of. There is no room for Dissent of any kind.

The Idea of Russia, actively committed to our Decline, may not be foremost in our Minds. But the Perceptions of Mr. Bezmenov about the Path to Collapse may not be irrelevant. We leave it to the Reader to assess the Extent to which the Ideas and Practices which gave us Freedom and Prosperity are now under Attack – not from without, but insidiously, from within. Extreme Environmentalism, Human Rights Commissions, the Protest for new Paradigms, and a Confusion about Values suggest, to us, a considerable Demoralization.

We do enjoy being right, especially when the great Tide of public Opinion seems to be against us, and we are then able to observe the great Tide, little by little, retreating in small Eddies of Dismay and Disarray, leaving us comfortably holding a Position on Firm Ground. It is often the Case that little Wavelets of Folly in the great Tide have dashed themselves on a Breakwater or Bedrock of contradictory Facts, and have found Themselves driven back in a Flurry of well-deserved Confusion.

Well, perhaps it is just a little too early to engage in the Luxury of withering Belittlement, but we are sorely tempted.

It appears that James Lovelock, the Scientist who developed the "Gaia" Theory of the Earth as a single Organism, and Someone who was one of the early Scaremongers in the Matter of Catastrophic Climate Change, has now seen fit to recant. He now admits that his Predictions were "alarmist," and claims that Al Gore, a high Priest in the Church of Climate Armageddon, has "exaggerated" his Arguments. (Mail Online, April 23, 2012)

Mr. Lovelock said the "problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing."

We feel rather foolish mentioning this Development here.

After all, this News has been on the Front Page of every Newspaper in the Land. Mr. Lovelock has been interviewed on all the major Networks, including the CBC, and every Broadcast of Radio and Television News has trumpeted the Matter to the Skies.

David Suzuki has retreated to his underground Bunker at the CBC with a month’s Supply of Freixenet, and his Foundation is exploring the Possibilities of becoming a true Charitable Organization ministering to Recovering Climate Change Alarmists. The IPCC has announced that it will shift its Focus to an Exhaustive Study of the Life Cycle of the Fruit Fly. Al Gore, disguised as a Neanderthal (only a loin cloth was needed), has gone to live in a Cave in the South of France.

We apologize most deeply for this redundant Commentary.

P.S.: For the curious, we reproduce – from the Daily Mail Online – some of Mr. Lovelock’s earlier Statements.

JAMES LOVELOCK 'THE ALARMIST': SCIENTIST'S PREVIOUS CLAIMS

Civilization in its present form hasn't got long.

Before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.

By 2040 every summer in Europe will be... between 110F and 120F. It is not the death of people that is the main problem, it is the fact that the plants can't grow. There will be almost no food grown in Europe.

By 2040, parts of the Sahara desert will have moved into middle Europe. We are talking about Paris. As far north as Berlin. In Britain we will escape because of our oceanic position. By 2040, China will be uninhabitable.

Florida will be gone altogether, the whole damned place, in not too long.

We have no option but to take our punishment and be glad that there will be enough of us to survive.

We happened, last Evening, upon a Re-broadcast of an Episode of the Program How the Earth Changed History. This was the Episode concerning Fire.

It is instructive, when we are immersed in the Events of the Day, and in the Minutiae of Existence, to see Matters as if from a great Height, through the long Telescope of Geologic Time. How helpful to be reminded that, before the Existence of Vegetation, there could be neither Fire, nor Creatures, since there was insufficient atmospheric Oxygen to support either. Indeed, without the Burning of Wood, Charcoal, and Coal – which is simply Trees buried and compressed -- the Working of Metals and the Industrial Revolution would not have been possible.

It almost inspires us to hug a Tree in Gratitude.

And how odd to think that untold Numbers of Sea Creatures, having lived out their sentient Span, were crushed in such a Manner as to allow us to drive in powerful Machines to the Supermarket. Did they dream, as Rupert Brooke suggests, with reverent eye, of that Good and Purpose which might be found in Liquidity?*

Did the Dinosaurs imagine, their Species extinguished, that their great Bones would be reassembled for the Delight of Children in Museum Displays of Superseded Might?

How attractive Hamlet’s reflection:

What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel..

And yet there are Parasites, Bacteria, and Viruses, whose Survival seems just as favoured. We seldom stop to reflect that there are ten times as many Microbes as human Cells in our Bodies, or that our Mitochondria were once free-living Bacteria.

Yet we gaze at the Stars, and aspire to an ultimate Meaning, an eternal Life consistent with our special Place in the Universe. Such Aspirations may be comforting, and indeed helpful in the Manufacture of Equanimity.

We feel somewhat traitorous to conclude that the System seems remarkably indifferent. It has an Agenda only tangential to our own. Perhaps our own crushed Bones will fuel some other Species as it drives powerful Machines to the Supermarket, or reassembled, provide Delight for the Children of some other Race which believes it has some special Destiny in the Stars.

*See Weekly Quotation, December 21, 2011

Last Sunday, we engaged the Serviceable Six to transport some Lumber to the local Waste Facility near Wind-in-the-Pines. The Lumber represented, essentially, the unusable Portions of Decking associated with a Boathouse, the Cribbing for which had deteriorated over Time, leading to a persistent sinking of the Structure into the Lake. Eventually, complete Demolition was required.

These periodic Trips are of great Benefit, since they give us the Illusion of Progress; Accumulations of the Unwanted, which threaten to overwhelm our Vision of Perfection, are removed, and we can convince ourselves that Nirvana, if not actually within our Grasp, has moved closer to attainable Status.

The Radio of the Serviceable Six remains tuned to the CBC. Despite our Lamentations about the exclusively Leftward Perspective of the Broadcaster, we must admit that the Programs are often informative and entertaining.

On this particular Journey, we were most surprised to hear Something quite unfamiliar; at first it seemed like a comic Presentation, but eventually we realized that no Irony was intended: it was a perfectly straight- forward Reading from the Gospel of Mark, by Kenneth Welsh, before a Church Audience.

We suspect this is mere Rationalization. In olden Days, when so little was known of the Truth of how the Universe works, we think that the Comic Book Version presented in such Gospels was widely and literally believed.

We did not, of course, hear the entire Reading. We were too busy with ridding ourselves of the unwanted and oppressive Accumulations, the Lumber of old and outmoded Structures, Constructions built on vulnerable Foundations, Edifices which sank, inexorably into the Waters of final Judgment.

Our Conclusion was that those of a religious Turn of Mind might well profit from Reading such Old Books from an Era of extraordinary and primitive Understanding. The Perspective could be illuminating.

It is a Truth universally acknowledged, that when human Beings are gathered together, Somebody has to run Things. This Circumstance may be considered unfortunate, but the Alternative, in which Nobody runs Things, is not in accord with the Hierarchical Reality of the Animal World. Indeed, this is why the Occupy Movement, in a Manifestation which puts much Store in arriving at Consensus without Leaders, is either delusional, doomed, or both.

If it is a Given that Somebody must run Things, the Question becomes one of how to restrict the oppressive Tendencies of the Powers that Be, so that they don’t get all the Gold, and so that those relatively powerless are not crushed into Slavery and Despair.

We note in this Day’s National Post an Article on China which notes the widespread Corruption among Officials, a Circumstance called hei shehui, or "black society." Officials in that Country have developed an uncanny Knack for amassing Fortunes, and then fleeing with or exporting their Gains.

We think that the general Proposition put forth by Caixin, a Business Journal in China is correct:

As a rule, corruption thrives in an authoritarian regime.

This, we contend, is a matter of human Nature: where Officials are cosily and permanently established, and Money is seen to flow in large Quantities, there is a not uncommon Tendency to try to scoop it up.

Of course, there is a considerable Advantage to the "democratic" System. It does not change Human Nature, but it does provide the Opportunity of throwing the Rascals out, in the Hope that the new Lot will take some Time to develop their own Rascality to its Level of Unacceptability.

The Students Protesting in Montreal over an Increase in their very modest Fees for Tuition have been heard to complain that the Measure illustrates a Failure of Democracy. The Matter is being imposed, not arrived at by Consent. In the Minds of the Students, grand Battles are being fought. What is involved is a "revolution" – not merely a Battle over Fees -- but a Protest over the "greedy elites," or the "capitalist context." (National Post, April 28, 2012)

After much Thought and Puzzlement over the Matter of dealing with oppressive Governments, two opposed Notions have come to Mind:

             Some Things are worth fighting for.

             You can’t always get what you want.

We think in this Case, the second Notion applies. Short of a wholesale Replacement of human Beings with Creatures from the planet Krypton, the "greedy elites" and "capitalists" are a permanent Condition. In certain Circumstances, Fees might be changed.

The Students should work towards throwing the Rascals out, rather than smashing Windows.

We are intrigued to see further Developments in the Saga of Bev Oda, whose Addiction to fancy Hotels and Limousine Rides is becoming the Talk of the Town.

Recently, she announced that she had repaid the extra Costs of her Stay at the Savoy Hotel, it being more suitable to her Taste than the more modest Establishment where her Conference was being held. The cost of the Room was $665 per Night.

We feel compelled to indicate our complete Lack of Qualification to comment impartially on this Matter: our last Stay at a Motel was in Tillsonburg about eight years ago. (We thought the $70 Charge to be quite aggressive.)

Ms. Oda appears once again on Limerick Lane.

We are intrigued to see, in the Hamilton Spectator, a Picture of the Concept Style Coupe shown by Mercedes Benz at Auto China in Beijing. The Picture is remarkable because it refutes – at last – the Sloping Line which is the current Fashion in Automobile Design.

Most modern Automobiles, to a greater or lesser extent, appear to be bent on a suicidal Mission to embed their Noses in the Pavement. Viewed from the Side, they seem to have an unhappy Relationship with the Horizontal, and convey the Impression, not of calm Stability, but of hunched Furtiveness.

We note that the smaller and cheaper the Vehicle, the more pronounced is the suicidal Line, and the more ugly, awkward, and unstable is the general Appearance. We cannot conceive of the Reason for this odd Lapse in Design. It is as if, of a sudden, Builders had decided to build Houses in Emulation of the Leaning Tower, with an angled Suggestion of imminent Collapse.

Indeed, in the Mercedes Concept Car, the slightly tapered Nose levels off in the Middle, and then seems to curve down slightly at the Rear. We admit that there is sloping Line in the Metalwork just above the Rocker Panel. It is as if, even in Heresy, some Obeisance must be paid to the Religion being refuted. Fortunately, the line at the Windows is significantly dominant.

We hope that this is a Signal that Designers of the Automobile are returning, level-headed, to their Senses. If this indeed be the Case, we wonder what Analysis, what Exploration of the Unconscious, what Speculations may be put forth to account for the Decades during which Automobile Design became unbalanced and deranged, lost Touch with the Reality of the Ground, and, with manic Enthusiasm, produced such ugly Vehicles.

It has oft been noted that the Cynic is nothing but an Idealist disappointed in his Illusions.

We suppose, therefore, that those Matters which we find most hopeless are those in which our Illusions have been most shattered. At the Moment – although we suspect the List is capable of considerable Expansion – we find three Elements of Canadian Society to be most disappointing.

The first is the Existence of Human Rights Commissions, created in a Fit of Folly, in a frenetic Flight of frenzied Egalitarianism, which do yet abridge more Rights than they uphold. But once Cows are deemed sacred, clothed in the Blanket of Rights, and milked for fine Pretensions, they will continue to impede the Path of Justice.

The Second is the outrageous Failure of Police in Ontario to treat Natives and non-Natives with some measure of Equality - all because of the Pusillanimity of our pussy-footed Premier, whose pallid Pug pales at the Thought of Discord -- who will purchase Peace at any Price – whether it be of Principle or Probity.

And finally, we continue to rail against the callous Coercion of our System of Health Care, which contrives our Consent to be treated as cowering, compliant Creatures of the Nanny State.

A prominent hospital chief says it is time Canadians stop treating medicare as a religion and gained the right to buy private insurance.

The Hospital Chief is Michel Bilodeau, who has recently retired from his Position as President of Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. He points to Countries such as France, Germany, and Sweden, which have Systems which blend public and private Elements and give Consumers more Choice.

We have advocated the Option for the Purchase of Private Insurance for some Time. We suspect that the Idea is far too sensible to be adopted by the High Priests of our Medicare System. The holy Water of Equality, despite it being obviously contaminated in a dozen Ways by Preferences of Prominence and Place, is yet to be worshipped as a Purity undefiled. The Truth is glossed over; the Deception is proclaimed in public Protestation and pious Prayer. Religion, as always, is impervious to common Sense.

In another matter, we note the triple Appearance of Bev Oda on Limerick Lane.

We remember, many Years ago, our local Bank was attacked by those seeking to make Withdrawals of Cash without filling out the required Forms, and, even more shockingly, without having sufficient Funds on Deposit. As a result of this breach of normal Procedure, the Branch was closed for some Period of Time while the Police investigated.

In a later Discussion with one of the Tellers, we were surprised to learn that under the Circumstance of a Robbery, Bank Employees are instructed to comply without defensive Action. Perhaps our Surprise was based on the false Information provided by Television Dramas, in which Alarm Buttons are regularly pushed, and the Robbers are occasionally greeted by the Police on their hurried Exit from the Bank.

In the real World, a certain cool Rationality prevails: Confrontation with armed Robbers might lead to Injury, or Loss of Life, which, weighed on the Scale with mere Cash, decidedly tips the Balance in Favour of giving Robbers what they want. The cool Rationality does not, apparently extend to the Notion that Robbers, given Assurance of Non-Intervention, may cross one potential negative Consequence from their List, add the Positive of a guaranteed Head-start, and decide to expand their Operations.

The Principle of not Rocking the Boat, the Principle of Acquiescence, seems, since then, to have taken considerable Hold. On the Assumption that Tidiness trumps all, and Tidiness is best maintained by sincere, caring, dedicated and competent Professionals, it would appear that the Police would prefer Citizens not resist Attack. An injured Citizen is small Price to pay for the greater Harmony; a dead One is even less Trouble than One left alive to complain. Indeed, Resistance on the Part of Citizens now carries with it the gravest of Consequences.

The latest Case to come to our Attention is that of Naveen Polapody, the "Spiceman" who attacked a Robber at his Restaurant last August with a Broom and some Spices thrown into the Face; he is accused of Assault and Administering a noxious Substance. The Police warn darkly that there is more to the Case than meets the Eye.

We suspect that their Vision is clouded with a Seasoning of accustomed and traditional Use: under Threat and Attack, Citizens are expected to acquiesce.

Amid the encircling Gloom – the Decline in the Stock Market, the Sinking of Standards among Writers of the English Language, the continuing Deference to Religion, we try to find little Spots of Brightness wherever we can.

Yesterday, it was the News that Baboons can recognize the difference between Words and Non-words – surely a hopeful Sign that human Beings may one day realize that "like" is not a Conjunction.

Today, there are two bright Spots: the North Korean Rocket, "Bright Shining Star" exploded ignominiously soon after its Launch, and secondly, David Suzuki, the bright shining Star of the Canadian Climate Change Boondoggle has stepped down from the Board of his Foundation.

Much Credit in this Matter, we believe, is due to Ezra Levant, who has delineated the Scamatological Landscape of Organizations which pose as Charities in order to promote political Postures. The Government has taken note, and is requiring Charities to make full Disclosure of their political Activities.

It appears that Dr. Suzuki hopes his Resignation will avoid the Revocation of the charitable Status of the Suzuki Foundation. We suspect that the Firing of its Fifteen paid Lobbyists, and perhaps much else besides, will be found to be necessary.

Dr. Suzuki made his first Appearance on Limerick Lane on March 8, 2010; he makes a Return –  with a triple Performance -- today.

We confess to being in a Quandary. We know not whether to comment on the News that Baboons have been shown to be able to distinguish between real words such as "done" and "vast" as opposed to non-words such as "dran" and "lons" (National Post, April 13, 2012) -- or to record our Dismay that the Language is changing too rapidly for us to cope.

When we were in School, we were taught many universal and unalterable Truths, Truths which have sustained and comforted us through Struggle and Hardship over the Years. One of these Truths was that the Word "like" must never be used as a Conjunction, such as in the Sentence:

He was spending money like it was going out of style.

Beyond that, we long ago concluded that the most egregious Use of "like" as a Conjunction is in the vile, the unutterably vile Phrase:

Alas, we must report this Day that an esteemed Columnist with the National Post, who shall be nameless, has used "like" as a Conjunction twice in the same Article. One of those Usages is the Phrase, like I said.

Laugh as you may, this Circumstance is no Trifle. What is the Point of universal and unalterable Truths when they can retain neither their Universality nor their Steadfastness? All we can say is that the World, before our very Eyes, is going to the Dogs. We had never thought to see such a lons, lons Decline into such a dreadful and hopeless Drans.

P.S. The nameless Columnist has been spotted on Limerick Lane.

Give us that old Time Religion

We speculate on the religious Impulse. Primitive Man, seeing the Power of the Winds, the Sky in Paroxysm of Lightning and Thunder, assumes the Intent and Desire of the unknowable, capricious Gods. Man, less powerful, ignorant of their Motivations, assumes he must appease them with Sacrifice of Things he holds dear – perhaps a sheep, or possibly a few young Men and Maidens will do. Let us make it bloody; surely the Gods are not immune to the Drama of Death.

Religion becomes the Code, the Rule for dealing with the Gods, the Means of ensuring the Sunrise, the Harvest, the Victory, the Safety from all Harm. Some Priests may themselves believe; others, more crafty, their Eyes shining with the Lust for Power, know the Footholds of Security, the Handholds of political Ascendancy.

A few Setbacks along the Way. The Earth goes around the Sun. Who could have guessed? Creation, not instant and complete, six Thousand Years past, but a tangled, twisted Tale of Advance and Extinction, a Process of Millions of Years.

The new Priests warn of Unworthiness; our Sin will destroy the Goddess Earth. Armageddon is nigh: only Sacrifice will avert the Vengeance of the capricious Powers. Some Priests may themselves believe; others, more crafty, their Eyes shining with the Lust for Power, know the Footholds of Security, the Handholds of political Ascendancy.

A few Setbacks along the Way. The Boiling of the Oceans not yet proven. In the News today:

A coalition of 49 former NASA employees, including seven Apollo astronauts, has accused the U.S. space agency of sullying its reputation by making unsubstantiated claims about climate change. (National Post)

Do not fear. The religious Impulse is bred in the Bone.

We have been intrigued by an Article by Bill Keller, published originally in the New York Times, and appearing yesterday in the National Post.

Citing the Cases of Tyler Clementi, who committed Suicide after his Roommate, Dharun Ravi, exposed a gay Relationship, and Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black Teenager who was shot by George Zimmerman, Mr. Keller expresses a certain Unease with the Principle of deeming some Acts as "Hate Crimes."

The Argument is that, while the Law may take into Account some States of Mind in the Commission of a Crime – a premeditated Murder is more heinous than one committed in a Moment of Emotion – Penalties are determined based on the Decisions made by the Perpetrator. In the Case of "A," he made a deliberate Choice to murder his aunt Esmeralda with Arsenic taken from her Potting Shed in order to inherit her considerable Fortune. "B," on the other Hand, made a less calculated Choice when he picked up a Bronze Statuette and killed Bully Moran in a Drinking Establishment Brawl. Both made Choices.

However, a State of Mind representing Prejudice or Hatred is not actually a Choice, but more like a "pre-existing Condition." The extra Penalty may be assessed, essentially, for the View of the World held by the Malefactor.

We recognize two opposing Opinions on this Matter. On one Hand, we might see the Designation of "Hate Crime" as an attempt to express Revulsion at certain Views of the World, and, in the long Term, to reduce the Holding of certain Views.

A further Consideration is this: because of the Difficulty of knowing the Prejudices of the Perpetrator, Hate Crime Laws tend to create different Classes of Victims. The Penalty for the same Crime is altered on the Basis of the perceived Status of the Victim.

Indeed, this is Part of a Larger Difficulty in Society, which is much taken up with the wonderful Notion of Equality of Result. In order to achieve Equality of Result, all Kinds of Inequality of Treatment is justified and encouraged. Accordingly, the Aim of every Citizen tends to be directed to the Acquisition of the Status of Victim, and hence the Benefit of special Treatment. The aboriginal gay or transgendered female (possibly with a learning Disability) easily trumps all other Applicants for a Government Position. Discrimination becomes entrenched and systemic.

On the Whole, we think it best to reverse the Attitude and Practise of Discrimination, no matter how noble the Perceived End. Let us stop declaring some Victims to be more important than Others.

Earth Hour

Doctor: You see, her eyes are open.
Gentlewoman: Aye, but their sense is shut. (Shakespeare, Macbeth)

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. (Dylan Thomas 1914-1953. Do not go gentle into that good night.)

We have been made aware that today is the Occasion for those needing Expiation for their Crimes against the Planet, to achieve it by turning off their Lights. In this Way, they may experience an Hour of Darkness.

The idea was conceived in 2007, and is meant to represent a symbolic Gesture of Desire to protect the Earth from the pitiless Ravages of Climate Change, which the Earth had never experienced until the Advent of Mankind.

Indeed, there is much Symbolism in turning off the Lights, for it is then that Darkness comes into its own, and in our Literature, and in our Imaginations, there is little Good to be found therein.

In the Beginning, we are told, " the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." The Bible also speaks of being cast into "outer darkness," where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth." In the Book of Prayer, the Lord is asked to "Lighten our darkness," and defend us from all perils and dangers of this night."

The Lights that we have created to ward off the Dark, to mimic the Day so that good Things need not "droop and drowse" have been the Result of Man’s Ingenuity, a significant Part of his Struggle to insulate himself from the chaotic Indifference of the vast Forces which shape a tiny Shard of Matter spinning in a grainy Beach of Stars.

This recent Custom of turning off the Lights is merely Part of a great Campaign of Deception, based on Theories not now proven, and not likely to be. It represents a mea culpa for human Existence, a perverse Desire to return to the Darkness of a primitive Age, or a primitive Void. It is a Shutting of the Sight of Sense, a kind of wilful Blindness.

Do not go gentle into that false good Night.

Turn on the Lights!

(Earth Hour makes a quadruple Appearance on Limerick Lane.)

We lament the Passing of our precocious and presumptuous Spring; while our Common Sense told us it was false, yet our fanciful Self thought so fair a Prognosticator incapable of Deception: if March be Spring, then surely April will bring us near the Summer’s Height.

In that Brief time of Fantasy, the Geezermobile requested -- and received – a Laving off of accumulated Winter Grime. And then, in Twistian Mode, requested an unaccustomed Polish. With the Weather so fair, with Life so irrefutably benign, we could scarce resist, and so now the Geezermobile sits in strutting Stance, gleaming in the Drive, pretending that its Years of twenty-four are little more than Three.

The Garden too, irked with Leaves not raked in Fall, called out to be unburdened, and delivered forth great Mounds now piled, awaiting the Unlimited Garden Waste Pick-Up promised by the City’s Men.

Men believe not what is reasonable, but what is agreeable, and what is desired. By this great Flaw are they led into many a pretty Pickle: Religion, Human Rights Commissions, Multiculturalism, and Universal Health Care.

 In this small Instance, however, we see no great Downfall but the Disappointment which we half-expected, but Thoughts of which we kept resolutely at Bay.

Barbarians at the Gate

In the National Post of last Saturday, Peter Goodspeed reminds us of the Dangers of a Bomb made from a "single, 12 inch-long piece of radioactive cobalt taken from a food irradiation plant," if it were to be exploded in the lower tip of Manhattan Island.

According to Henry Kelly, former President of the Federation of American Scientists, speaking in 2002:

An area of approximately one thousand square kilometres, extending over three states, would be contaminated.

When one considers the Existence of such States as Pakistan, a State armed with Nuclear Weapons, where there is a 57% rate of Illiteracy (Robert Fulford, National Post, March 24) and a more than passing Acquaintance with radical Islamist Elements, and Iran, a State obviously intent on attaining Nuclear Weapons, and committed, in public Statements, to the Destruction of Israel, a certain Degree of Caution with respect to the Future does not seem unjustified.

Indeed, viewing Matters as if at a great Height, we wonder whether the Pace of Civilization has been too uneven to be sustainable.

On one Hand, we have western Nations with great technological Sophistication, and material Wealth, essentially dedicated to the Provision and Maintenance of the Good Life. There is relatively little Concern for Barbarians at the Gate; rather – as suggested by Obamacare and our own Universal Health Care System – there is an increasing Emphasis on cosy internal Security at the Expense of Freedom and Initiative.

On the other Hand, there are Nations relatively poor, illiterate, and ignorant, driven by the Pulse of Passions irrational, religious, tribal, and primitive, for some of  whom – forget about Universal Health Care --Death is less a Deterrent than a Reward. Western Nations have a profound Ignorance of such alternative Psychology, preferring to believe that a brief Exposure to the Ways of Democracy and "Enlightenment" can alter the Patterns of Living and Thinking bred, through the Centuries, in the Bone, the Marrow, and the Heart.

We will not be surprised to see the Arab Spring turn out to be a Winter of Fundamentalism. We once argued that to take a primitive, Warlord Society like that in Afghanistan from the fourteenth Century into the modern Era would take Fifty Years of Occupation. But every Chapter and every Verse of the Bible of Correctness would be transgressed.

There is a Desire to bring Enlightenment and a better Way of Life to the oppressed Millions. But it is not as easy as we would like to think. And there is always the Question of how many of them will detonate a 12 inch Pipe Bomb first.

True wit is nature to advantage dress'd,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.
(Alexander Pope, 1688-1744)

It seems that it was but Yesterday that Dr. Philip Baker, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Alberta tripped over a velluvial Matrix and tumbled head first into a plagiaristic Vortex from which he was never able to extricate himself. Unlike the Frog in the Puzzle, he was never able to reach the Top of the Well sooner than expected, and resigned his Position as Dean. (See Limerick Lane, June 15& 19 2011)

And now, this very Day, we learn that Steve Jeffrey, of the Anchor Weekly in Chestermere, Alberta, has resigned over Allegations that he used Material from other Writers for his Column of Humour, Sittin’ in the Lighthouse. (National Post March 28)

Mr. Archer said that he used Articles written by others as "inspiration," but thought he had made Changes which were sufficient to avoid the Charge of Plagiarism.

All the clever and memorable Phrases, all the ingenious Comparisons, all the striking Flashes of Illumination -- all these are exclusively generated using Proprietary Formulas and original In-Brain Dreimer Equipment and Technology.

We might say that we do have some Sympathy with Mr. Archer in that he was attempting to write Humour, which is exceedingly difficult. We can well understand that the private Well for that sort of Material can easily run dry, and a modestly gifted Writer might be tempted by the Siren Presence of a Google Tap.

We consider ourselves fortunate and wise to have, as Matter of Policy, the Practice of dealing only with Matters of serious Import, and of doing so with all the Gravitas we can muster.

Context is all.

In a recent Article in the National Post (March 24), Afsun Qureshi argues that Gunman Mohammed Merah, who claimed to be on a Mission from al-Qaeda, is not a "jihadist" but merely a "mass-murdering nut."

"Devout Muslims, " she says, "don’t kill children or off-duty soldiers."

In an Attempt to put Distance between "devout Muslims," and "mass-murdering nuts," Ms. Qureshi suggests there is no Sanction to be found in Islam for murderous Missions such as that which Merah Claimed to have.

Ms. Qureshi says she is often asked about a Part of the Koran which instructs Muslims to "kill the idolaters," and explains that this must be read in Context of the Text, which is describing a state of "ongoing conflict."

Alas! It is precisely because of the Context of Mr. Merah’s Actions that we are inclined to see them as an Expression – if not of Islam generally – then of a powerful Element of the Religion.

If Mr. Merah had claimed to be on a Mission to restore Zoroastrianism to its rightful Pride of Place among the World’s Religions, we might tend to agree with the Argument that he did not actually represent the true Zoroastrian Spirit. Frankly, Zoroastrianism is not often on the Front Pages of most Newspapers.

But Islam is.

Let us look briefly at the Context, which Ms. Qureshi claims is so important.

Islam is a Religion which proclaims Death for Apostates:

It is a Religion which inspired the Destruction of the Towers in the City of New York.

It is a Religion under which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared a fatwa against Salman Rushdie for writing a Book.

It is a Religion which inspires Mobs, Rioting and Death when irreverent Cartoons are published.

It is the Religion of Sharia Law which is associated with flogging, amputation, and the custom of Honour Killings.

Although the Koran does not mention Stoning for Adultery:

Adultery is one of three justifications for killing a person, according to Muhammad. (Bukhari 83:37)

It is a Religion which separates Women and sees them as inferior. Just last Evening, Ezra Levant called attention to an Islamic Bookstore in Toronto which has sold out of a Book called "Gift for Muslim Couple." It is meant to be a Wedding Gift.

The Book suggests that the Husband "should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid or slow sometimes," and recommends that he "beat [her] by hand or stick," but not "excessively."

Obviously, not all Muslims are driven by the more egregious Elements of their Faith. But those Elements are there, and it is a Pity that Muslims like Afsun Qureshi try to pretend they are not.

When we actually look at the Context – the kinds of Ideas, Attitudes, and Actions clearly associated with Islam, it is not difficult to see Mohammed Merah – as he claimed – drawing his Inspiration from it. He may have been a "murderous nut" – but the Nut came from a Tree, which has Roots in a Soil -- and that Soil is quite foreign to the Concepts of a free and civil Society as we understand it.

We see that Mr. Mulcair has won the Leadership of the New Democratic Party, and has Intentions to move the Party from its Socialist Left to the Electable Middle.

In the National Post today, John Ivison suggests that Mr. Mulcair, Author of an Article entitled: Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of the Country, may have some Difficulty in wooing the West. It appears that Mr. Mulcair would favour restraining Development of the Oil Sands, and exporting Oil only after Refinement. This Stance should prove popular with the West -- which currently sends bailout Payments to the East -- and endearing to Realists who observe there is already an Excess of refining Capacity in North America.

We have always found the New Democratic Party amusing because of its Socialism, which, narrowed down to its Essentials, involves Belief in the Perfectibility of Humankind, and the central Rôle of Government in creating the Nirvana into which perfected human Beings might comfortably fit. The Cost, of course, is Freedom.

Mr. Mulcair wishes to move the Party to a more Liberal Centre, but this is a change in Degree, not in Kind. The Centre in Canada is more than willing to make the necessary Trade: More Security for less Freedom.

We speculate that, perhaps, Climate has something to do with our Preference for Security over Freedom. Here we are, huddled along a narrow, unpleasantly cold Strip of arable Land between the Border and Vast Amounts of forbiddingly desolate Rock and Ice. We’re cold. We need all the Help we can get.

Is it simply Chance that Socialism started in Russia, and is most successful in the Scandinavian Countries?

In the End, Mr. Mulcair’s Move to the Centre may make his Party somewhat less risible, but it will still be a Party of Big Brother.

For ourselves, we welcome the Influence of the Sun News Network, which attacks the compulsory Correctness and coercive Collectivism of our present Condition. We have some small Hope that the malign Effects of our Climate may still be overcome.

We are intrigued to see that the Supreme Court has upheld the Principle of "differential sentencing" where Aboriginal People are concerned. (Joseph Brean, National Post March 24)

As George Jonas pointed out recently (See Diary March 21, 2012), Racism is considered abhorrent and beyond the Pale in our Civilized Society, except when it is practised or compelled by Government.

Even so, we were surprised to learn that the Criminal Code of Canada requires Judges to consider Alternatives to Imprisonment "with particular attention to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders." The 6-1 Supreme Court Ruling last Friday makes it clear that even in the Matter of Violation of long-term supervision Orders, Consideration must be given to such Matters as Colonialism, and Residential Schools – and their Effects on Education, Unemployment, Substance Abuse, Suicide, and levels of Incarceration.

We confess there is a superficial Attractiveness to the Notion that all should be Judged in the light of their particular Circumstances; we are not so sure that all should be judged on the Basis of the Group to which they belong, which is clearly, in this Case, based on Race, and makes Assumptions about the Influence of Historical Events on Present Times.

The Ideal -- unachievable, of course -- is to combine Mercy with Justice. But it would seem a significant Error to put Mercy on a Pedestal in the Living Room, and consign Justice to the Scullery off the Kitchen. The dissenting Judge, Marshall Rothstein, noted that long-term Supervision Orders are intended for the Protection of the Public, and "Aboriginal communities are not a separate category entitled to less protection because the offender is aboriginal."

Our View is that those shown to be a Menace to Society should not be able to plead the extenuating Circumstance of their Background, or their Membership in a Particular group. Their particular Misfortune should not be given greater Weight than the Safety of the Public.

Post Script: We suspect we have a Bias very much at Odds with the Temper of the Times. We find, for Example that we are exceptionally leery of the Notion of Rehabilitation in which Mental Illness, or Loss of Control are Factors. Dr. Guy Turcotte, who murdered his Children, or Vince Weiguang Li, who beheaded a fellow Passenger on a Greyhound Bus may indeed be Victims of their mental Circumstance. But we could never be convinced that they might safely be set free.

After our Commentary Yesterday on the first Stirrings of an Exposé of David Suzuki, the Saint with the Feet of a Lobbyist -- a Lobbyist who habitually walks in Mud -- we can scarcely conceal our Delight at a Letter which appears in this Day’s National Post from W. Mark Erwin, of the University of Toronto.

Dr. Erwin, who categorizes Dr. Suzuki as a "misguided former drosophila investigator," notes that he has consistently demonstrated that he is "incapable of dispassionately addressing such important issues as climate science" a Matter on which he is "uniquely unqualified " to speak. Indeed, Dr. Erwin concludes:

The phrase "there are many of us" recalls a more general Theme which, for us, is a Source of much continuing Fascination: why do some People see Nonsense, in precisely those Matters where others see only Reason? Put another Way: how can we account for the extraordinary Failure of the average human Bullshit Detector?

We have written at Length on this Matter in What the World Needs Now (Drivel, May 7, 2011) and Why do people believe in Nonsense? (Drivel, June 17, 2010)

We suspect the Matter is essentially irremediable, and Extraordinary Popular Delusions* will continue to be a noteworthy Feature of the human Landscape.

*Charles Mackay: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, 1841.

We always look forward to the News of the Day with the comfortable Assurance that it will be gloomy.

This Day, for Example, we see that China is slowing down and Europe is "wilting." There is Speculation that Interest Rates in Canada could rise, which might presage a Bursting of the Housing Bubble. In Ontario the ineffable McGuinty has decided to "charge" ahead with his green Energy Shenanigans, at the same time maintaining his Affinity with the concerned Ostriches of Legend and Fable.

The United Nations has decided to investigate Israel for Violations of Human Rights, there being a Paucity of Violations in other Middle East Countries, and, indeed, throughout the World. In the Meantime, Abdulaziz ibn Abdullah Al Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has declared that it is "necessary to destroy all the churches in the Arabian Peninsula."

Indeed, the only good News we can see is that the eco-fascist David Suzuki (See David Bullzuki and the Apocalyptic Wizards, Drivel, December 3, 2011) is finally coming under some Scrutiny.

It turns out that Mr. Suzuki’s Foundation, with Fifteen Lobbyists, has been shown to have taken Money from a foreign Government, the United Kingdom, in order to pursue the Climate Change Agenda of that Country. Mr. Suzuki has also been heard to support Mr. McGuinty as a Proponent of Green Energy Initiatives.

Recently the Senate has had the Temerity to launch an Inquiry into the Matter of Foreign Funding of Canadian Political Activism. Mr. Suzuki, taking Umbrage at this Threat to his Status of Saint, has caused Members of his Flock to complain in Writing to the Senate of this Attempt to "silence and demonize those who don’t share their positions." (Peter Foster, National Post, March 23)

Mr. Suzuki, who once called for the Imprisonment of Politicians who disagreed with him, reflects the unfortunate Circumstance of those whose intensive Training as a Fruit-fly Geneticists is all-consuming: Irony has no Place in the Curriculum.

We look forward to a re-classification of Mr. Suzuki’s Lobbying Organization; we can only hope that a public De-frocking, and the Initiation the unique Process of De-canonization will follow.

We are always pleased when we encounter positive News.

The first of two comforting Bits of Information is to be found in a Report by Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter, who describes the Province’s Arrangement with Ornge, a Provider of Air Ambulance Services as:

so powerfully unsound that $700 million in public funds flowed through the service with essentially no oversight...The ministry didn’t do its job in making sure that taxpayer interests were protected. (National Post, March 22)

The second soothing bit of News comes from a Fraser Institute report on our esteemed System of Health Care. An Article in this Day’s Post notes:

We note that Progress lurches forward like an ungainly Stool of three Legs. One Leg is the Discovery of new Facts; another is the Development of Theories based on the new Facts. The third Leg, which is so often the laggard, is the Conclusion that the old Theories – the ones we thought were true -- are, in fact, false.

That is why we find these two Items of News perversely comforting. Surely, as the Evidence mounts that Government is hopelessly inefficient at providing Goods and Services, we will return to a System which, in some Measure, reintroduces Market Forces – those Forces which provide the vast Majority of Consumers with adequate supplies of Hotcakes, Houses, and Hondas.

Governments are needed to provide Structure and Regulation; they are useful in setting the "Rules of the Game." As Players, they are dithering, uncoordinated Klutzes, more likely to score against the Team they purport to represent than to gain the Adulation of the Crowd with the Achievement of meaningful Goals.

(We do not plan to hold our Breath; old Illusions, like old Superstitions and old Religions are Roadrunners passing the Edge of a Cliff: unsupported, ungrounded in Reality, they continue in untroubled Ignorance for an Period of Time which inspires both Wonder and Consternation in the Mind of the Beholder.)

To this list we would add that there is no Recourse for Reimbursement on the part of the wrongfully accused. Once again, the Doublethink is in Evidence: Commissions set up to protect Human Rights end by eroding them.

The Difficulty, of course, is the Wonderful Concept of Equality. Everywhere, we must suppose there are idealistic Groups of Idiots sitting around, planning the perfect World, a World where Merit and the natural Variabilities in the Human Circumstance are banished, and a perfect Uniformity of Representation for every Group is achieved. For good Measure, they also decree that no one should suffer hurt Feelings -- no – wait – let’s add Unhappiness to that.

But the Messiness Principle will not be contradicted: such grand Schemes, after wreaking their necessary Havoc, are doomed to Failure. No one should be surprised that, Day by Day, we are going from "bad to worse."

The Age of the Participants is hardly subject to Remediation, but Intolerance for public Intoxication on such Days as St. Patrick’s might introduce a note of Caution. The Broken Window Theory represents a profound Observation about human Nature.

While we are generally in Favour of Freedom, some Degree of Regulation with Respect to the Location of Student Housing might interfere with The Herd Mentality.

Youth is idealistic, and people are often remarkably susceptible to Propaganda. Observe our Devotion to and Worship of the Recycling Box. Surely Fanshawe College could make frequent and persistent Appeal to Students based on the Reputation of the Institution of which they are a Part.

Finally, as the Editorial in the National Post points out, previous Response to other Riots has not been Draconian. Regardless of the Thickness of the Veneer of Civilization, we still think it true that Those who get their Fingers burnt on a Hot Stove, are likely to acquire a Degree of Caution, and those who observe the unhappy Consequences might take mental Notes which could be of future Benefit.

We are intrigued to see the daring Plan and bold Initiative of former Aboriginal Chief Terry Nelson, who plans to visit Iran. (CTV News March 18) It is said that he seeks Iranian Support in his Crusade for Aboriginal Human Rights and a greater Share of Oil and Mining Revenues.

In Return, Iran could be supplied with Food grown on aboriginal Land.

In View of the world-wide Reputation of Iran for its Leadership in the Field of Human Rights, and its possible need for Food because of Sanctions designed to discourage it from obtaining Nuclear Weapons, this would seem to be a brilliant Plan with every Chance of Success.

Any Interaction between Mr. Nelson and his Band of Followers and some of the more misunderstood Regimes of the World would seem to be of great Benefit. We think our Government should intervene in this Matter in order to allow Mr. Nelson’s Delegation to spend a Period of Years in both Countries in order that their Causes may be effectively presented and promoted.

We are pleased to see Mr. Nelson make an Appearance on Limerick Lane.

We observe a Truth expressed on Byline by John Robson this Friday last – namely that Policing has been overtaken by Politics: the Political Calculus of Cautious Politics informed by Political Correctness.

The World, we understand, has become so complex, so riddled with unexpected Cautions and Considerations, that Policing is no longer a simple Matter of enforcing the Law and apprehending Malefactors.

The type and quality of the Malefactor must be first entered into the Computational matrix; The Direction of the Political Breeze must be noted; the correct Buttons must be pushed -- before the Authorization is received, and the Course of Action may be reliably known.

Consider, for Instance, the Matter of Law-Breaking by Aboriginals in Caledonia. Their Blocking of Roads and Oppression of Citizens must be computed with the Fate of Dudley George, passed through a Filter of McGuinty Timidity, so that it can be determined that they should be allowed free Rein – or free Reign, as some would have it – and the full Force of the Law be directed at those who would impede them.

Similarly, when Tamils take over the public Roadway, or "99%" Protesters occupy Public Spaces, normal Policing Efforts are put on hold. And how are we to explain the original collective Yawn by Police Forces when the Black Bloc Bruisers attacked Police Vehicles at the G20 Protest in Toronto in 2010?

Ah, those Cases are different! Not only do they not involve special Groups of special People –they are easy, individual Prey – they threaten the Jurisdiction, they tread on the jealously guarded Turf of the Experts.

And what can we say of the Case of Tarek Fatah, a Muslim who complained of a Death Threat made by another Muslim? Why such a Case is fed into the System, which, passing the Facts through the special Muslim Filter, determines that a Muslim Officer will be sent to replace a regular Officer, who is insufficiently Muslim for the Circumstances. The Muslim Officer will be able to determine that the Issuer of the Threat "didn’t mean to say it," and the Ship of our State can sail smoothly on.

The Status of the individual Citizen, unconnected* to an officially disadvantaged Group is of a Consequence best described as nanological. The Law is on the side of the officially oppressed, the Claimants of Victimhood, or the menacingly numerous.

In this, our Modern Age, Common Sense must defer to Political Calculus.

*In the Case of Mr. Fatah, it should be noted that he is often critical of the Muslim Majority, and hence may be viewed as "unconnected."

How to Lose an Argument: Keep your Mouth Shut

Last Evening on Byline, an Interview with Pam Geller an American Author and Columnist revealed that the New York Times, which had published an anti-Catholic Advertisement on March 9, refused a similar Advertisement in which the Word "Catholic" had been replaced by "Islam." The Text was an Appeal to moderate Muslims to quit their Religion because of its record of Jihad, Denial of Freedom of Speech, Oppression of Women, and Policy of Death for Apostates.

The New York Times refused to publish the Advertisement because :

the fallout from running this ad now could put U.S. troops and/or civilians in the [Afghan] region in danger.

In other Words the Islamic Policy of Outrage, Riot and Murder as a Response to Criticism is working well. It is a wonderful Method of Censorship by Intimidation.

We think, of course, that we live in an Age of Freedom; but the Freedom is less than it appears.

In an Article in this Day’s National Post, Joseph Brean discusses a Book by Nick Cohen: You Can’t Read this Book: Censorship In An Age Of Freedom.

It is especially interesting that Religion, which is no more than a "set of ideas" has aspired to the Status of Unalterable Characteristic, which puts it in the same Category as Racism. Thus the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2009 "demanded that member states forbid the defamation of religion, just as they forbid racist hate speech."

We can confirm that this Attitude is alive and well in Canada; a recent Exchange with a well known Radio Personality showed that he appeared to equate being Christian with being black, or gay; hence any Criticism of Religion could be labelled as Bigotry or Stupidity.

We think Society would be well-served by a greater Devotion to Honesty, and free Expression of Opinion. Intimidation by Murderers will not be deterred by Silence; nor will the Oppression of Political Correctness – that idealistically inspired Notion which holds that, because None should ever be offended, some Cultures and the Ideas which inform them should be above Criticism.

We are intrigued to learn that Direct Energy, a major Lessor of Hot Water Tanks, has cancelled a nefarious Ploy to ensnare its Customers in an oppressive Contract. The new Contract would have made it very difficult for Lessees to remove their Tanks without Payment for the residual Value of the Tank – possibly as much as $3,000.

In the wonderful Tradition of "negative option billing" Customers were required to inform the Company if they did not wish to engage in the new Contract, and remain with the old One, which made Removal of the Tank a relatively inexpensive Matter.

The Outcry was, according to CTV News, so considerable, that the Company has retreated, no doubt to consider other evil Options.

We have had personal Experience with rented Hot Water Tanks. When the Lumpenbangen Facility was purchased a Decade past, we decided to remove two existing rented Tanks, and purchase one with our own meagre Resources. We had the Tanks disconnected, and employed the Predecessor of Serviceable Six, the Guzzler Eight, to return the Tanks to the Company’s Facility.

The Company wished to charge us Forty Dollars; we declined to pay on the Grounds that the Company’s Contract was with the previous Owners, and we had signed no Agreement with the Company.

We reflect on two Matters. First, it is an extraordinary Tribute to the Force of Custom that Residents of Ontario rent Hot Water Tanks. People who would not dream of renting a Refrigerator, Stove, Furnace, or Air-conditioning Unit, continue to rent Hot Water Tanks. It is simply bizarre. We can only compare it to the unthinking Practice of some traditional religious Ritual, the Origins of which are lost in the Mists of Antiquity. Perhaps a Statue should be raised to the Sales Genius who has raised so obedient a Flock of Sheep as the Residents of Ontario.

The second Matter is the Value of Competition. Direct Energy did not retreat because of a religious Conversion; they did so because they were aware that incensed Customers might easily cancel their old Contracts and purchase their own Tanks at Home Depot. Not so lucky are those Customers of Government Monopolies –like Hydro One – who have no Escape from high Rates and presumptuous, arrogant Treatment.

There may be some few justifiable Government Monopolies;* but Society is always best served by the availability of Choice. In a Word, the benign Face of Freedom is more comely than the contorted Visage of Coercion

*Health Care is NOT one of them.

We are sometimes in Awe of the great Progress being made in our Society.

We did note on October 14 2011, the wonderful Plan to introduce the Wearing of the Hijab by certain Female Police Officers who express a desire to do so. At that Time we expressed our fervent Hope that Religious Symbols of many Faiths might find their Way into the official Uniform, so that Citizens might be aware of just how their Behaviour should be modified to accommodate the religious Biases of the Police.

Thus far, alas, we have heard of no such Proliferation of religious Symbols. But we live in Hope.

The Muslimization of the Force, however, seems to be proceeding apace, and we look forward to the many Benefits which are certain to accrue.

Last Evening, on Byline, David Menzies did interview Tarek Fatah regarding the wonderful Co-operation between the Toronto Police Force and the Muslim religious Community. We learned that Meetings between the Force and religious Leaders take place Monthly, as a Means of ensuring a comfortable Understanding. It will undoubtedly facilitate the Incorporation of many desirable Features into Policing Policy.

One can immediately see the Benefits of Muslim Police Officers investigating Matters concerning Muslims. Such Officers are possessed of a special je ne sais pas quoi which allows them to make Determinations with a wonderful Speed, with the added Benefit of bypassing costly and Time-consuming Police Procedures.

The apparent Policy of employing Muslim Officers to deal with Complaints by Muslims will surely result in Policing more expeditious and comforting. One can well imagine one in the Position of a Shafia Daughter, making Complaint of Family Oppression: how welcome and comforting to see a Female Officer wearing a Hijab; what Sense of Relief to be assured of an unbiased Hearing!

We do hope that these present Measures are but tiny Steps in the Introduction of Religion into Policing. We would urge the Toronto Police Force to make earnest Efforts in the Recruitment of easily identifiable Scientologists, Zoroastrians, and Druids – these Practitioners being significantly under-represented in our present primitive Times.

Having concluded that Monopolist Hydro Utilities, being accountable to no one, represent a significant Threat to Civilization as we would wish to see it, we were intrigued to learn of the Case of Neil Lemon, who has been in the Dark in New Brunswick for thirteen Years. (National Post, March 10)

It appears that Mr. Lemon had been unable to pay his Bill of $746 and was permanently disconnected, after he had reconnected the Power himself several Times in 1999. New Brunswick Power wants $3000 for Re-Connection, which includes the Cost of a Hydro Pole.

We think this Circumstance to be not only an Example of the wonderful Power of Power Monopolies, but of the Need for all Citizens to stay firmly abreast of the Times.

Consider the instructive Case of Pamela Howson, a former Investigator with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, who claims that the Driveway Access to the Garage of her Ottawa House is too narrow for convenient Navigation. She requires a Mazda 5 to make the perilous Trip because she and her Husband have three small Children, and the width of the Vehicle does not allow for an untroubled Navigation of the Space.

City Officials told Ms. Howson to apply to the Committee of Adjustment, since they had no legal Power to grant Exceptions, but, instead, Ms. Howson has sought Remedy with the Human Rights Commission.

Surely Mr. Lemon would be advised to make similar Complaint, on the Grounds that Access to Electricity is a Human Right, or, indeed, any other Reason that he can think of.

Human kind/ cannot bear very much reality. T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965)

Yesterday to the Art Gallery of Hamilton to view The Messenger, an Exhibit of the Works of William Kurelek (1927-1977).

We observed two general Types of Paintings. The First are superficially naive– Works which might be described as "Folk Art," but which yet suggest contrived Meaning through Symbolism. Often the Landscape of Kurelek’s Prairie Youth provides an extending Frame of Vastness to the Figures and human Activities portrayed, and much is seen as if from a great Height. For example, a Series of Six Pictures under the Title The Ukrainian Pioneer illustrate the Move from a crowded dark blue Ukrainian Village through a Voyage by Open Sea to the great Vistas of Snow and Grain in the new Land. In the Last three Images in particular, the human Figures are dwarfed by the Landscape.

Some other Paintings are like those of Hieronymus Bosch, didactic through strange Complexities and dark Symbolism – the Nightmares of the obsessed.

One Painting, Harvest of our Mere Humanism Years (1972), shows an unending Line of Figures bearing Sacks towards Toronto City Hall. They may be rendering the Taxes due to Caesar, but, at the end of their Journey, just past the Hall, they fall from a Cliff. To the Left of the Hall, there are deep Fissures in the Earth containing the outstretched Arms of those buried, perhaps "fallen through the cracks" of the "Humanism Years."

Above the City Hall, a Bomb is suspended by thin Wires: at any Moment the meaningless, unsatisfying Creation may be destroyed.

It should be noted that William Kurelek was diagnosed as Schizophrenic in 1952, and was treated in England. He considered himself  a "romantic, a communist and an atheist,"* but converted to Catholicism in 1957. Although he never completed the Project, he had Plans to build a Bomb Shelter in his Home on Balsam Avenue in Toronto.

Our Suspicion is that he saw – whether from mental Peculiarity or heightened Sensitivity --rather too deeply into the Realities of Existence, which if examined according to human Ideals, are somewhat less than encouraging. We cope with a certain Opacity of Vision, an Obliqueness of Perspective which prevents us from "peeping over the edge" and crying "The Horror! The Horror!"

Kurelek’s Conversion to Catholicism may have provided him with the necessary Counterweight to a Kurtzian Vision.

But it may also simply have provided him with an Alternative but more bearable – because it suggests an ultimate Escape – Lens by which to make the same Measurement of the Follies and Pitfalls of human Existence.

In the Kurelek Barn, there are small Children, happily playing; but the Roof is on Fire, a  flaming Rope is about to fall on a Cart of Hay and they, as we, are threatened with a Collapse of Fire.

Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains. (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778)

Of all the offspring of Time, Error is the most ancient, and is so old and familiar an acquaintance, that Truth, when discovered, comes upon most of us like an intruder, and meets the intruder's welcome. (Charles Mackay 1814 -1889; Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.)

Yesterday we did remark on a Study which, assuming the Primacy of the Sun in affecting the Temperature of the Earth, predicts a Cooling during the present Solar Cycle.

Yet we note Interviews with Gordon Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario on CBC Radio and CTV News that same Day suggest that the Government and the Usual Media are still anticipating a Warmer Climate, based, we assume, on the Activities of Man.

This popular Thinking, is apparently supported by selective Evidence – the Warm Winter experienced in Canada. Those in Europe who have experienced much Snow and unprecedented Ice might be less inclined to agree with popular Thinking.

We are virtually certain that popular Thinking will turn out to be an "extraordinary popular delusion." While we have no Expertise in such Matters, Common Sense makes us suspicious for the Following Reasons.

1. It is well known that radical changes in Climate have occurred – Ages of Ice and Retreat – long before the Appearance of the Cadillac Escalade.

2. There is a human Fascination with Disaster, and a human Tendency for Anthropocentrism.

Thus the Conclusion of Charles Mackay: We go out of our course to make ourselves uncomfortable; the cup of life is not bitter enough to our palate, and we distill superfluous poison to put into it, or conjure up hideous things to frighten ourselves at, which would never exist if we did not make them.

4. Garbage has been found among the Gold: the "Hockey Stick" Graph of Warming has been exposed as erroneous.

5. Predictions of melting Ice Caps, Abandonment of low Islands have been false. Global Warming has been absent in the last fifteen Years. There has been a mild increase of .6 to .8 degrees in the last 100 years, which is not exceptional.

6. Much Skullduggery has been exposed among Climate Alarmists, suggesting that Science has been supplanted by Fervour, Self-Interest, and Self-Aggrandisement.

7. Gradually, Scientists are beginning to speak out against the Popular View. The Wall Street Journal published a recent (January 27) Letter from sixteen Climate Scientists which states:

a large and growing number of distinguished scientists and engineers do not agree that drastic actions on global warming are needed.

Thus, it appears to us that Rousseau was correct: Man is everywhere bound by the Chains -- the Chains of Popular Delusion. And Charles Mackay observers well: Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. Gradually, People are beginning to come to their Senses.

Time will provide the Answers. If there is little Warming, or if Cooling should be in the ascendant, the Popular Delusion of anthropogenic Climate Change will be viewed in the same Light as the "Dot-com Bubble" of the 20^th Century or the Tulip Mania of the 16^th.

Last August (Diary, August 30, 2011) we did note the Mechanism by which the Sun does affect the Temperature of the Earth, based on findings by the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

It appears that the stronger the Magnetic Field of the Sun, the more Cosmic Rays are prevented from reaching the Atmosphere of the Earth.

The more Cosmic Rays prevented, the fewer Molecules are formed which create Clouds, which cool the Earth.

The fewer the Clouds, the warmer does the Earth become.

Thus, the stronger the magnetic Field of the Sun, the warmer the Earth.

In today’s National Post, Lorne Gunter notes the Publication of a paper by Jan-Erik Solheim, Kjell Stordahl and Ole Humlum: The long sunspot cycle 23 predicts a significant temperature decrease in cycle 24,* which predicts an imminent Cooling of the Earth.

Mr. Archibald suggests that a predicted Drop of 5.2 Degrees in the Corn Belt in the current Cycle will take us back to Temperatures of the Period of 1690 -1700, which was marked by significant Deaths in Europe based on Failure of Crops. He says that Canadian Agriculturalists will become Trappers of Beavers.

We wish, now, that a Time Travel Machine could be developed with a Capacity to send a significant Number a Decade or so into the Future. Tickets could be sold to Anthropogenic Climate Change Alarmists, on the Pretext that they are about to attend the Definitive Conference on the Perils of Global Warming. Tropical Wear advised; Beaver Coats confiscated prior to Flight.

* http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.1954v1.pdf

We rarely receive Letters – so we hope to be forgiven for publishing this one, received this very Morning:

Dear Dr. Dreimer:

You are obviously one possessed of vast reservoirs of the milk of human benevolence, and have cornucopian capacities for caring kindness. Is it not difficult, sometimes, to know where, on the landscape of human misery, to direct the largesse of your compassion?

Sincerely,

Court Cappenbells

Dear Mr. Cappenbells:

We appreciate your Perceptiveness, and thank you for writing. Indeed, it is sometimes extremely difficult to know where to extend the cornucopian Capacities to which you refer. This Morning, however we are grateful for an Article by Joseph Brean in the National Post, which delineates the Perils of academic Publishing, and engages all our tender Sympathies for those involved in such Matters.

It appears that the Canadian Centre of Science and Education (CCSE), an Organization which operates 61 Journals from an Office in Toronto, has encountered Outbreaks of Plagiarism in its Pages. One Paper has been retracted, and others are under Investigation. (We hope these isolated Afflictions portend no Epidemic.)

The Task of detecting Plagiarism, of determining which Articles have the Ring of Truth, and which do not, must be Herculean. Mr. Brean quotes an Excerpt from an Article by Sharam Gilaninia, a Professor of Industrial Management at Islamic Azad University in Rasht, Iran, which was published by CCSE:

Tourism for all citizens of the world and the vital is to provide sustainable employment. In this regard, most attention of governments and their management resources to the tourism and pristine natural environment or green has been focused on other aspects of the industry, although also Country managers see gone away, but to protect and maintain environmental capacity most important challenges the countries in this field covers.

On the one hand, there is the Prose, betokening a World of Good Intentions fallen Prey to a Mangle, and Presenting the bedraggled Aspect of Incoherence.

On the other Hand, there are attractive individual Words such as "green," "sustainable," and "pristine." And – lest we forget to mention it – the Cheque for $300 – the Fee charged to Authors for Publication.

We would not wish to be placed in a Situation so delicate, so demanding, so difficult. Thus, one half of this Morning's cornucopian Sympathies must be extended to the Editors of the CCSE.

The other Half of our Sympathies must be extended to Professor Gilaninia and Co- author Seyyed Javad Mousavian in the Matter of a completely different Article from that referred to above – an Article about Logos published in a CCSE Journal which contained long Passages that had previously been published elsewhere, but without Acknowledgement of that troubling Circumstance.

The Explanation was that the Project involved "writing by teamwork," and the offending Work was submitted by a Student whose Name cannot be remembered.

O the Perils of Academic Research! O the intractable Difficulties of Team Writing Enterprises!

O the Failures of Memory when one is Burdened with the nearly impossible Task of churning out Papers, Month after Month, Year after Year! All those faceless, unmemorable Students upon whom one must rely for original, significant Contributions to the Field!

Yes, Mr. Cappenbells, on some Days the Object of our delicate Sympathies and heartfelt Concerns is difficult to determine. But today, we have no Hesitation: The World of Academic Publication deserves the full Cup of our considered and caring Compassion.

Police have investigated 83 "faith-based" Cases of Witchcraft Abuse in the last ten Years, but believe many Cases are not reported.

Lest these Examples be dismissed as found only in primitive African Belief, a googling of Exorcism Death, or What's the harm in exorcisms? will show surprising Results.

We understand that the rational, real World is often unpleasant, and that irrational Belief offers a comforting Respite. But too often, the Certainty of unfounded Belief leads to great Evil. That Evil, founded on Supposition alone, is amenable to neither Caution, Prudence, nor Argument.

Certainty is the Problem. We recall, in Hamlet, the words of Marcellus describing the reputed  Wonders of the Season of "Our Saviour’s Birth:"

The bird of dawning singeth all night long...no spirit stirs abroad...then no planets strike / No fairy takes nor witch hath power to charm.

Horatio's Response seems so eminently sensible:

So have I heard, and do in part believe...

Would Mankind not be in a better State, if this were his Response to Religion?

Until recently we were the Possessor of the World’s oldest Operating Cellular Telephone. It was a small blue Model by Siemens, carried as a magic Talisman against Geezermobile Breakdown, Attacks by Bears,* or Collapse on the Mountain Steps.

Its chief Purpose was magical; the Theoretical underpinning Concept was that Murphy’s Law is most likely to be evidenced when it can be most destructive – when one is in a State of Unreadiness. In a State of Readiness, the Law of probable unfortunate Consequence is of less universal Application.

Alas, the other Day, in the midst of a Bear Attack Preparedness Check, the blue Siemens failed to respond. The Lights had gone out. Connection to the Electrical Defibrillator was of no Assistance. Its Deadness was of Doornailian Proportions.

The Siemens had been resilient and hardy in Life, and its unexpected Survival of numerous Drops and partial Immersions, made it immune to Criticism. In Death, we began to reflect on its major Disadvantage: the raised Buttons on its Face would lead to accidental Activation when pocketed, and a subsequent Draining of its Battery Reserve.

Thus we resolved to seek a Replacement.

This was not as easy as we had hoped.

We can authoritatively Report, after an exhaustive Search of the Internet, that there are no good Cell Phones available. Since it the human Propensity to complain rather than praise, User Reviews are seldom positive: Cell Phones may be classed as poor, really bad, and absolutely awful.

On the other Hand, we require only the most basic of Services: since we only use the Telephone when the Geezermobile breaks down, or when the Wind-in-the-Pines Bears make their infrequent attacks, our Usage is remarkably modest. FIDO has a Plan for a nominal Fifteen Dollars a Month -- which is undoubtedly much more when the Bill is actually presented -- but still likely less than the Thirty actual Dollars charged with our present Arrangement.

In the end, too confused for rational Thought, we settled on a Nokia C1 Telephone; we suspect that it falls into the Category of "really bad" but we reasoned that our Geezermobile Breakdown and Bear Attack Requirements would be so modest, that we would not likely be disappointed.

We were also able to set up a Password and Identification Number to be used in Conversation with the Satanic Henchmen. Thus, while the Security Questions at FIDO may be as offensive as those at Rogers, we will never encounter them. A studied Ignorance can sometimes avoid a disturbing ethical Challenge.

We are not proud of our Concession in this Matter; we console ourselves with the Fact that we have let lapse our Subscription to Maclean’s Magazine, which is also a Part of the Evil Rogers Empire.

*It is our understanding that a Cell Phone, brandished aloft and waved with sufficient Menace -- especially a small blue Siemens -- will send an attacking Bear in the opposite Direction.

We admit to having many sleepless Nights and anguished Days over the Topic of Equality, of which there seems to be very great Need and far too small a Supply.

Matters have not been helped by the News in this Day’s Paper that a Legal Challenge, claiming that a Federal Court Judge was "biased against criminals" (Adrian Humphreys, National Post, March 2) has been rejected.

The Claim was made by Barbara Jackman, whose Client, Al-Muzir Es-Sayyid, is described as having "amassed more than a dozen criminal convictions, including armed robbery, carrying a concealed weapon, and possession of heroin." He arrived in Canada at the age of seven in 1996, but has eschewed Canadian Citizenship. He was declared "a danger to the public of Canada" and ordered deported after Robberies of Workers in the Sex Trade.

Ms. Jackman, relying on an Analysis of Decisions of Immigration Judge Michael Shore made by Osgoode Law Professor Jack Scott, the NDP Candidate for the Riding of Toronto-Danforth, claimed that Mr. Shore showed Bias in Cases "only when criminality is involved."

Although Ms. Jackman’s Claim has been rejected, we remain troubled by the Matter. Where there is Smoke, it has too often been determined that there is Fire. And who better to find the Fire of Inequality than a Professor of Law with a decided Tilt to the Left? It is a Matter of much Worry and Concern that there might be the slightest Hint that Criminality – or Lack thereof – should be a Factor in Judicial Findings.

Have we come so far, and yet managed to overlook this sort of blatant Prejudice? What sort of Egalitarian Society can we Claim to have, when there is the slightest Possibility that Criminals are not regarded with the same Respect as other Citizens?

Criminals, after all, are simply those who have decided to take the Road "less travelled by." Often at Risk of their personal Safety – and that of their loved Ones – they embark on an entrepreneurial Life of Adventure. Eschewing Dependence on the Nanny State, foregoing the stale Notions of RRSPs, and Company or Government Pensions, like powerful turbulent Streams, they cut their own distinctive Courses through the social Landscape.

Surely, as independent, entrepreneurial Self-starters, they deserve to be treated without Prejudice before the Law.

To take Criminal Activity out of the Shadows, and into the Light of Day, Criminality must be celebrated, not condemned. Criminal Organizations should be listed on the Stock Exchanges, and have prominent Suites in downtown Office Towers; annual civic Celebrations of the Contributions of individual Criminals must be instituted. In the End, we cannot see how Equality is to be attained without the Outright Legalization of all Criminal Activity. But we admit to having no Expertise at all in these Matters of grave Social Import.

Professor Scott is no doubt far more qualified than are we to propose the best Means to the most desirable End of Equality.

We take much Comfort from the bold, swift, and apposite Action of Authorities in the Case of Jessie Sansone.

Mr. Sansone’s Daughter, aged Four, had been observed to draw a Representation of the Thing Which Instantly Can Kill* (TWICK) in her Kindergarten Class. When Mr. Sansone arrived to Pick up his Daughter, he was arrested, strip searched and jailed. His Wife was brought to the Police Station, and his Children taken by Child Welfare Authorities. (National Post, March 1.) We understand his House was, quite properly, in View of the TWICK Danger involved, searched without the Delay of a Warrant.

We do admit to being at a Loss to discover the Search was conducted after Mr. Sansone’s Release. Surely Prudence would have dictated that the Search – preferably using Robots – be made at the Instant of Mr. Sansone’s Arrest.

Thankfully, no TWICKS were discovered. We are disappointed to learn, however, that Mr. Sansone is considering a Lawsuit. Surely it would behoove him to write Letters of Commendation to the Teacher, the Police, and the Children’s Authorities, and a more General Expression of Approbation of the Bureaucratic Mind-Set, to be published in the national Newspapers.

Imagine! Had any of the Shafia Daughters, instead of complaining to Police, Child Protection Authorities, and Social Workers, instead of foolishly retreating to a Shelter for Women or absurdly asking to be placed in Foster Care – had they only hit upon the Stratagem of drawing Representations of TWICKS – on the Blackboard, or in their School Notebooks – they might well have avoided their Fate.

Surely it is of great Benefit to all to understand how Matters are perceived and dealt with in Society. We look forward to seeing the Principles in the Sansone Case becoming a significant Factor in the Amelioration of our Way of Life.

*We merely anticipate the Cultural Taboos soon to be placed upon certain Words, in the admirable and continuing Effort to sanitize our Language, and make it safe for the Use of all Citizens.

We are intrigued to see George Jonas, with whom we usually agree, has written this Day in the National Post an Objection to the Decision of the Supreme Court denying the Application of some Parents in Quebec to have their Children exempted from Courses which – as we understand them – attempt to give Information about a Variety of Religions.

The Danger for the Religious is, of course, that such Instruction may weaken Faith, which would be contrary to the Wishes of the Parents. Indeed, we think that Students who learn that there are Varieties of Expression of the religious Impulse might be less likely to believe that any one Religion is likely to be correct.

As the Court points out, Parents still have the Freedom to impart their own religious values in the Home; hence, Freedom of Religion is not impaired. But it is true that the Topick of Religion treated impartially, may still impinge upon the parental Right of exclusive Indoctrination. If that Right be a part of religious Freedom, then Mr. Jonas is correct; the State does somewhat impinge upon religious Freedom.

We understand the general Suspicion under which any System of State Education may fall. Values will be imparted whether explicitly or implicitly. History, for example is likely to be seen through a national Lens. Currently, it would appear that the Notion of anthropogenic Climate Change, and Suzukiism generally are woven in bright Colours through the Fabric of State Learning. We would not be surprised to learn that Political Correctness, and an adulation of Human Rights Commissions form a certain Bedrock of Certainty in State- Run Schools.

A greater Autonomy of Schools might be of Assistance in this regard; but it is also true that Schools are likely to reflect, to some Degree, the Temper of the Times.

Nor is our own Era free from such Example. Consider the impassioned Plea of Richer Dawkins with Respect to the Destructions of the Islamists:

Blessed with Surprise

One of the many Advantages of living in these Times is that we are never left long without Surprise. The Staleness of Custom, and Anaesthetic of predictable Outcomes are thereby banished, and we are left in a Pleasantness of Constant Uncertainty.

Our latest Surprise arises from a Case in Pennsylvania, wherein a Participant in a Halloween Parade, dressed in a Zombie Muhammad costume was attacked and choked by Talaag Elbayomy, who assumed it was illegal to mock Muhammad. (From Atlas Shrugs, the Website of Pamela Geller)

When the Victim, Ernest Perce, went to court, the Judge, Mark Martin, ruled in favour of the Muslim attacker, saying:

Judge Martin also said that he was a Muslim –denying the fact later – and produced a Copy of the Koran at the Hearing.

We find this apparent Primacy of Religion in an American Courtroom to be extraordinary, and a wonderful Testament to the Efficacy of a harsh, bullying, irrational Belief in Contradiction to Established Secular Principles.

Pamela Geller, an American Blogger and Author, in Interview with Ezra Levant last Evening, has vowed to seek Removal the Judge from his Position.

We hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Carnography

We admit to having a certain Weakness for a Sleekness of Curve, and a Sassiness of Chassis.

Our very first Automobile – for the Automobile is our Subject today – was a 1953 Buick Skylark. No, we do not refer to the pedestrian little Skylark of the early Sixties, the Skylark of clipped wings and ungainly flight – but, rather, the magnificent original Convertible, with real Wheels of Wire, Power Steering, Brakes, Seats, and Antenna, which could soar, free, unfettered, and triumphant in the Imagination of any young Man. At the time of our Purchase of this Vessel of Dreams, the Cost was $1,300. Today, a restored Version would probably command a Price in Excess of $120, 000.

We found, alas, that the Skylark was too demanding of our Attention. It would seductively request Plastic Covers for the Seats, special Holders for the License Plates, constant Balancing of its Wheels (for they were the Achilles Heel), and frequent Hand Massages with Beauty Soap and Soft, Sensuous Cloths.

We found ourselves wilting, losing our upright Purpose, our Purity of Intent. Our Standards began to slip. We began to doubt that we would ever be able to break free of the cloying Neediness, the constant Demands, the Sweet Somethings of the Skylark’s Siren Call.

In a desperate Effort of Will, we sold the Machine and purchased a Sedan, a 52 Buick of such determined Ugliness that we knew, instinctively, that we could deny it everything but the Basic Necessities: Gas in the Tank, and the occasional Change of Oil.

We would like to report a contented Satisfaction, a Bliss of familiar Domesticity. But the Truth is, that even at an advanced Age, when bespectacled Eyes might be considered too old for roving, we yearn for a harmless, inexpensive Fling, a little Bit of Exotica on the Side Drive.

The Geezermobile, we reason, need never know. Its own Headlights, dimmed with Age, is unlikely to recognize a Rival in the Driveway, especially if that Rival is always parked behind, and well away from the Geezermobile field of Vision.

And so it is that, late at Night, we have had occasion, of late, surreptitiously to fire up  our Computing Device, and gain Access to certain forbidden, prurient and Carnograpic Sites which abound on the Web.

We hesitate to proclaim the Fact, but carnographic Pictures – Pictures of Automobiles – their Profiles, even the intimate Details of their Trunks, Engine Compartments, and Seats – all these are readily available for unrestricted viewing on the Internet. There are even Instances -- Viewer Discretion is advised -- of shameless, full frontal Nudity.

At the moment, our Fancy is turning to either a 1970's Lincoln Coupe, with the little rear Opera Windows -- or possibly a more elaborate Version of the Geezermobile, with a rare Convertible-like Cloth Top.

We earnestly hope that we are able to resist the Desire for an adventurous but foolish Liaison; if we should fall, the Focus of Blame is clear: the unconscionable Profusion of unregulated, explicit, freely available Carnography.

On this Sunday, it does not seem inappropriate for our Thoughts to turn to Religion. When they turn in that wonderful Direction, we become painfully aware of the Inadequacies of our own recently created Religion of Abracadabra, devoted to the Worship of the Great God Murphy, the most reliable Predictor of human Outcomes.

We see, for example, that the inadvertent Burnings of the Koran have led to Riots in the Streets, and several Deaths. President Obama, known for his deferential Bows to foreign Potentates, has seen fit to send – we hope sufficiently fulsome – Letters of Apology.

The Catholic Church has an Inquisitorial Past, and -- although they are not, apparently, at the Forefront of its Theology at the Moment -- the Fires of Hell, are doubtless waiting, glowing Coals susceptible of renewed Conflagration.

Even Jim Jones was able to invoke the Kool Aid Solution for his Followers.

In other Words, this Religion Business is a serious Matter; any respectable Religion must make serious Demands and proclaim serious Consequences for Apostates, Heretics, and casual Jesters.

We have, so far been utterly remiss in this Matter of Seriousness; it is possibly for this very Reason that we have gained no Adherents.

We are, frankly, somewhat hesitant at this Time to make our required Observances too onerous and strict–since we do no wish to deter potential Followers. Perhaps we should simply express our Preference that the Faithful repeat the Prayer to Murphy (See Drivel March 20, 2011) at least once each Month.

However, with respect to the second Matter – the Creation of Conditions under which Insult, Outrage and Riot may seem perfectly acceptable –we think the Time to act is now.

We have – we believe -- devised just such a Word.

Surely such a Word must include the Accusation of godlessness – of either the agnostic or atheistic Variety: Devil’s spawn would seem to be reasonably suggestive.

Next, the most powerful Term of Opprobrium in the Land today, is niggardly because of its homonymic Relationship to another Word, which, if we were to attempt to spell it, would result in the Self-Destruction of our computing Device.

Then, of course, in the Egalitarian Era, the Term elite, which directly contradicts the Spirit of the Age, must be a powerful Instigator of the Gnashing of Teeth. We recall, with Fondness, the President of a Canadian School of Higher Learning, who expressed his devout Opposition to making it an elite Institution. (We never did hear of his Desire to be paid at the same Rate as the janitorial Staff, but it would not seem to be a material Inconsistency.)

Next, it would seem appropriate to include cretinous nutbar to suggest both stupidity and mental instability.

Finally, the word could easily be preceded by the universal Terms of Disparagement, dirty, and old – although other such universals as filthy, damned, rotten and scumbag might provide some variety.

So there we have it --taking appropriate letters from the above: "filthy old despniggelcnut;" "You unspeakable despniggelcnut;" "Scumbag despniggelcnut!"

Surely this Term, applied to the adherents of Abracadabra will release a Firestorm of Anger and Outrage which will do the Religion proud.

We are painfully aware that much Work lies ahead in our Quest for religious Respectability, but we are assured that, with the benevolent Assistance from the Great God Murphy, all Things will become possible.

We are almost at a Loss for Words in the Matter of Anthony Federico who was fired by ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) for having penned the Headline "Chink in the Armor: Jeremy Lin’s 9 Turnovers cost Knicks in Streak-stopping Loss to Hornets."

The Difficulty arises from the Fact that Mr. Lin is of Chinese descent, and the word Chink is a slang word for "Chinese." Along with other Terms such as "niggardly," "Indian-giver," and "Chairman" the Word has become a Cause for the Public Proclamation of high Dudgeon and the Revelation of advanced Sensitivity.

Mr. Federico claims that he was unaware of the double entendre, and had used the phrase chink in the armor "at least 100 times." (National Post, February 24.)

We have long held that offended Groups would be advised to defuse Terms of Opprobrium by adopting them with an aggressive in-thy-face Cheerfulness, but this seems to run counter to the Spirit of the Times, which seeks ever more obscure Ways in which to become offended.

In the Light of this obviously unstoppable Trend, we have two Suggestions in this Matter.

(b) Secondly, assuming that Mr Federico’s Explanation is indeed valid -- his Usage represents a mental State of complete racial Neutrality and involves no offensive Intent -- a new Word should be coined to describe the Phenomenon: Linsinuation. The Term would have, of course, a limited Currency. As the List recommended in (a) above becomes fully established and universally observed, no Offensive Word could be used without deliberate Intent, and Linsinuation would become a tiny Footnote in the History of Language.

We are confident that the Offensive Words List, carefully observed, and with consistent and widespread Use, will result in an Era of unprecedented Harmony and Goodwill among all the Peoples of the Earth.

Last Evening Ezra Levant on The Source did rant about the Modern Luddites. The original Luddities, of course, the followers of a mythical General Ned Ludd, were those who destroyed the new Cloth-Making Machines of the 19^th Century because they were a Challenge to those whose manual Employment was threatened by Technology.

Mr. Levant sees as modern Luddities those who oppose the Development of the Oil Sands, who fear Climate Change as caused by Mankind, and those who want the Human Endeavour to retrench, rather than Advance. They long for a simpler, more Golden Age.

Such Attitudes may be termed Fearfulness or Pessimism: the World is always going to the Dogs, or, ensconced in a Hand-Basket, descending to a Culmination of Fire. Mr. Levant used, as an Example of Pessimism, Robert Thomas Malthus(1766-1834) who predicted much War and Famine based on the Notion that Population increases in geometrical Fashion, while Food Supply increases in Arithmetical Progression.

The Counter to this Pessimism is the Notion that Moving forward is superior to Retreat: Man’s Ingenuity may be relied on to solve the Problems of Progress. In the Case of Malthus, he did not foresee the Opening of the Lands of America, nor the vast Improvements in the Practice of Agriculture.

We confess to some Degree of Ambivalence. We have ourselves, scathingly accused the Suzukiists of wishing us to return to the very Caves from which we emerged Thousands of Years ago. At the same Time, we suspect that Malthus may, in the End, be proved Correct, and that there is a Limitation to the number of People which the Planet may Support, and that our System of Economics, which is dependent on continual Increase of Population and Production may ultimately falter.

On Reflection, we are inclined to see the Modern Luddite as driven less by Fear, and the Desire to return to a Golden Age, than by the Impulse to control Others. There is, in the Nature of Humankind, an odd Longing for the Hive, the Creation of a Vast System into which all the Bees, in their certain Varieties, may conveniently and submissively fit.

This is the Desire of Religion, of Politics, and of Suzukiists. In the Case of Suzukists, the Threat of Rising Waters and Melting Ice Caps is used to create a Mentality of Halt and a Mind-Set of Huddle. The Development of Oilsands must be stopped regardless of Advantage; Homeowners must reduce their Garbage, spend Time and Water washing their empty Cat Food Tins, and burn Gasoline in returning Bottles to the Beer Store.

We recently read a Letter to the Hamilton Spectator from a righteous Mrs. Grundy calling for more Garbage Bag Inspections and Penalties for the wanton Creators of Excess Rubbish. This Impulse we see in many Areas of our Society: a Coercion justified by the Argument that the Common Good is at Stake.

Separating the reasonable from the unreasonable Coercions is not easy; we plan to deal with this Matter more generally in the Drivel Section. (See: A Reflection on the Hive and the Propensities of Bees. Drivel February 24, 2012)

We anticipate, with a certain Amount of the evil Glee of which we have long been accused, the Response of the Government.

Last Evening, on The Agenda, it was the Opinion of Chris Stockwell, a former Conservative MPP, that the Drummonding of Ontario was politically impossible, a stance echoed in some Degree by other panellists. And yet it would appear that the Life-Raft of Growth is unlikely to appear in the tempestuous Seas and shifting Tides of economic Viability.

The Battle between Reality and political Illusions should prove interesting. But we admit that would enjoy it rather more if we lived somewhere else.

We have long railed against Human Rights Commissions, afflicted with a deep Suspicion that they infringe upon more Rights than they uphold.

We are pleased, therefore, to read in this Day’s National Post that the Ontario Divisional Court has overturned a Human Rights Tribunal Ruling which awarded three Plaintiffs $2000 each for "violation of their inherent right to be free from discrimination and for injury to their dignity, feelings, and self-respect." (Joseph Brean Article, National Post, February 15)

The Matter arose when a Librarian asked two black Lawyers, Selwyn Pieters and Brian Noble, and a Student of Law, Paul Waldron, for Identification in a Courthouse Library–on the Basis that only Lawyers and Students of Law, but not Paralegals, are allowed.

The Plaintiffs accused the Librarian of "racial profiling."

To allow the Tribunal of Rights Ruling to stand would suggest that there are special Classes and Categories of People to whom the Rules should not apply, and make even more desirable the Status of Victim, which has become so highly rewarded, and so highly sought in our Society.

Mr. Pieters has been quoted as saying the overturned Ruling "doesn’t change how I felt about what happened"–as if his Feelings should be given Consideration in the Matter. He has also made the extraordinary Statement: "If the judges had a critical race-based lens, they would have seen it from the perspective of an African Canadian."

But is this not the very Approach that should be avoided? Why should a Determination of Fairness and Equity be seen through any particular Lens at all? In this Remark, the Desire for an elusive "Equality" has shown itself to be spurious–and no more than a Scramble for unequal and special Status.

Too often, it would appear, The Human Rights Commissions, are little more than Levers through which personal and particular Agendas may be advanced, to the Detriment of the Common Good.

Words, words, words.

Words of Disagreement do seem often dangerous to those who are most insecure. Thus Zhu Yufu was jailed in China last Friday for "inciting subversion of state power," in a Poem. (National Post, February 11)

 One can readily see what made the State tremble in the Poem called IT’S TIME:

IT’S TIME, PEOPLE OF CHINA! IT’S TIME.
The square belongs to everyone.
WITH YOUR OWN TWO FEET
It’s time to head to the Square and make your choice.

IT’S TIME, PEOPLE OF CHINA! IT’S TIME.
A song belongs to everyone.
FROM YOUR OWN THROAT
It’s time to voice the song in your heart.

IT’S TIME, PEOPLE OF CHINA! IT’S TIME.
China belongs to everyone.
OF YOUR OWN WILL
It’s time to choose what China shall be.

We see also in this Day’s Post, Hamza Kashgari, a Saudi who indiscreetly said he "loved some aspects" of the Prophet Muhammad, but "hated others," is now jailed in Saudi Arabia, his Attempt to flee to New Zealand having been blocked by Authorities in Malaysia.. There are outraged calls for his Punishment and Death.

We do understand the Thinking. If Religion be allowed Scrutiny, or Disagreement, it might wither away entirely, or retain such an insubstantial Shadow of Itself, that the Power of its Clerics would be as Wisps of Smoke in the Air.

We take this to be an Axiom: The Response to Criticism of those in Power is in direct Proportion to their Feelings of Illegitimacy*

*Observation #  172

We note the Appearance of China on Limerick Lane.

We did watch last Evening Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, based on the Book of that very Name by Stephen Leacock.

Now, we should confess that we have long felt a considerable Admiration for Mr. Leacock’s Humour, having received as a gift Literary Lapses at the Age of Twelve, when we were in Hospital recovering from an Appendectomy, and having concluded, with the astute Judgement of a Twelve-Year-Old, that it was a quite wonderful Work.

We found, when we wrote for the College Times, and later The Varsity that our natural Bent was Leacockian in Nature, and we shamelessly copied some of his Tricks. We admit to having used some of his Lines on this very Site. We do not see this as Plagiarism–but merely References which we assume Everyone will recognize.

Thus, we came to last Evening’s Production with a considerable Amount of Leacockian Baggage.

It must be admitted that one of the chief Difficulties in the Adaptation of Leacock’s Work to the Screen is that much of its Charm depends on the narrative Tone–the Voice of the Narrator with its Mixture of "meiosis and hyperbole" which conveys a satiric yet affectionate View of the Town of Mariposa. The Words of the Author are of chief Importance; but Television is a Medium for the Eyes.

True, there is Humour of Circumstance – the Rescuers of the "tragically" stricken Mariposa Belle must themselves be rescued by those they sought to save; the ominous Sinking is a routine and benign Affair: the Lake has a Depth of only six Feet. But when the Lifeboats are lowered, and Cry goes out "Women and Children first!"–we need the Author to add: "For what was the sense, if it should turn out that the boat wouldn't even hold women and children, of trying to jam a lot of heavy men into it?"

Similarly, there is Humour of Character as Leacock describes that same awful Moment: "In the bow of it was the Presbyterian student who was relieving the minister, and he called out that they were in the hands of Providence." But this Calling Out is put in Perspective by the Author thus:   "But he was crouched and ready to spring out of them at the first moment."

Thus much of the Essence of the Sketches must be lost in a Visual Medium.

This is imaginative, but requires much Contortion, and a some few Buckets of Whitewash.

 Leacock actually grew up near the town of Egypt–quite far from the Mariposa/Orillia of his later years -- in a Farmhouse, which, in the 1870's,  had not the Facilities of Electricity, Central Heating, Toilets or running Water. We doubt it was much like the House portrayed in this Production, as outwardly shabby, but inwardly comfortable. Leacock’s Association with Orillia did not occur until he was long past Childhood -- when he was a Professor at McGill and had purchased a Property on Old Brewery Bay.

Again, Leacock’s father, Peter, a Drunkard of little Achievement, did not trundle off to the West in a Glow of genial Stupefaction. Stephen Leacock drove him to the Train Station vowing to kill him if he ever returned.

In the Program, there is a Suggestion that Leacock’s Mother Agnes, who has demonstrated her Ability to speak French might, after the Disappearance of Peter, find companionship with the shrewd but illiterate Hotel Keeper, Josh Smith.

This seems of considerable Likelihood.

We note that there is an Smorgasbord Attempt to make Reference to My Financial Career and Boarding House Geometry – both pieces from Leacock’s earlier Literary Lapses – pleasing to the Cognoscenti, perhaps, but necessarily undeveloped, and hardly organic to the Narrative. There is also a Reference to the autobiographical Work, The Boy I left Behind Me.

For those who know nothing of Leacock, this Presentation may be pleasant enough. Some of the best Jests – the Schoolteacher who rolls the Dice to grade Papers, and the Chef who delights in insulting the Patrons of the Bistro in a Language they do not understand–are not from Leacock’s work at all; indeed they depend on the visual, not the verbal Element of the Production.

All in all, while we appreciate the Difficulties of transforming Mr. Leacock’s humorous Sketches into a Form for Television, we are not sure – in the matter of placing the young Leacock and his Family in the Narrative – that the Literary Licence has not been abused; Revocation of that Licence by The Mariposa Literary Commission would not come as a complete Surprise.

Sometimes we imagine that we must be of an alien Species, cleverly designed to have Appearance of Humanity – so small is our Island of Thought, shared with some few Others – in the wide throbbing Sea of Belief and Delusion which seems to roil in every Direction around us.

We see, according to this Day’s National Post, that 23-year-old Hamza Kashigari, a Resident of Saudi Arabia, has published the following, on the Occasion of the Birth-Date of Muhammad:

Clerics have denounced Mr. Kashigari as an Apostate, the Penalty for which, according to Sharia Law, is Death. A Facebook Page, demanding his Execution, has nearly 10,000 Members.

In Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan has stated that his Government wants to "raise a religious youth," asking , "Do you expect the conservative democrat AK Party to raise an atheist generation?"

Dozens of retired and active army officers, academics, journalists and lawyers have been jailed in probes into alleged plots against Mr. Erdogan’s government. (National Post, February 10)

We must imagine that the Cause of much Folly lies in the Desire for Certainty, not the Certainty of the Operation of the Sun and Moon, or the Certainty of Interactions of Matter, but in the Way in which Lives should be lived.

That Way is uncertain, but there is Comfort in the Pretense that a Creator has decreed absolute Truths, which require absolute Belief, and absolute Obedience.

That Pretense, wedded to the real and capable Destructive Power of Scientific Knowledge is a significant Danger. Will that Portion of Humanity which requires Belief in the Unbelievable be changed, gradually, through the Effects of Reason – or will a nuclear Armageddon render its own powerful Refutation of the Absolutes of Piety?

Today the bright Sun doth contradict the Air, and leads one, falsely, to suspect Spring.

It seemed a propitious Day to attempt to activate our shiny new Mastercard. We had attempted to do so by Telephone some Days ago (Diary, January 28), but, after waiting to speak to a Representative for fifteen Minutes, had found our normally sunny Disposition somewhat clouded by the Delay, and quite soon grew weary of the intensive Interrogation which followed.

We were especially angered by the Request for our Date of Birth, which we consider to be inappropriate, and rude – that Information being kept in a File marked "Top Secret" in a small Box secreted in the Sugar Canister.

In a calmer Mood, we did attend the HSBC Bank this Morning, where the Teller was able to telephone the Mastercard Entity on our Behalf. We know not what Magic Numbers she possessed, or what secret Sesames she conjured into the Telephone, but she announced that our Card had been activated.

We note that the Teller gave neither her Age, nor her E-Mail Address.

Bah! Humbug!

An Egalitarian Proposal

Yesterday, in our Discussion of Health Care, we noted, in passing, the Dearth of earnest Debate over the troubling and vexatious Issue of the Distribution of Food.

We are pleased to announce that last Evening, we were – as is our wont – engaging in our constitutional Peregrination upon Damascus Avenue, when the Lights of an approaching Vehicle momentarily blinded us. In Discombobulation, we fell to the Ground, but soon recovered, and miraculously found ourselves in Possession of an Idea most wonderful and beneficial for our Citizenry.

Consider some of the Difficulties which beset our Society. There is a troubling Rise – some would say an Epidemic – in the Incidence of Obesity; our Health Care System is burdened by the Diseases caused by neglectful or wilful Ingestion of inappropriate Foods. Above all, there is a terrible Inequality in the Matter of Food. The Wealthy are able to buy Blueberries at $2.97 for a tiny plastic Tray, and dine on Lobster and Caviar if it so pleases them. Yet others, with little Income, must make do with Kraft Dinner and remaindered Bread. It is widely reported that some Seniors subsist on Cat Food, having already dined on Puss herself.

Surely a caring and compassionate Society can bear these terrible Circumstance no longer.

The answer is clear: the Government must be put in Charge of Food.

We have no Need of the inefficient Plethora of Supermarkets and Convenience Stores on every other Corner. Relatively few strategically placed Government Depots of standard Construction and Colour–we would suggest concrete Block and Grey as admirable Choices – would be significantly more efficient. The times of Opening would be restricted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Accordance with existing Government Employee Contracts.

In order to preserve the Integrity of the System–and in the interests of Equality – Food would be available only from the Government Depots. The Wealthy would not be able to purchase special "Rich Man" Foods for Money. Importation of Food would be strictly controlled, and Penalties for contravening the Food Laws would be appropriately harsh.

It is true that, in exceptional Circumstances, for particular Conditions of Ill-Health, some Modification of Diet might be obtained. Such Modifications would be determined by a Special Food Appeals Commission, staffed by Government-licensed Physicians, and seasoned (we recommend paprika) Bureaucrats. Such special Foods would be obtainable at Restricted Food Outlets, upon Presentation of the appropriate Documentation, counter-signed by the Food Czar, whose Signature would be available on the second Tuesday of every Month.

The Benefits of these Proposals – both in financial terms and in the Promotion of Equality – seem so manifest and obvious, that we think there should be no Time lost in their Implementation.

As a Side-Benefit, the Subject of Food Distribution – so long neglected – so long left in the Backwater of Public Perception–might soon have its rightful Place among the Topicks of informed Debate in our Society. We suspect it will not be long before impassioned Articles are written, and Programs of earnest Debate are aired – in the Service of the Refinement and Improvement of the System.

We sense a new Day is on the Cusp of Dawning.

We note that this Day's National Post contains Two Articles about our unsustainable Health Care System. Recently, there was an Article (National Post, January 16) by John Haggie, President of the Canadian Medical Association and Judith Shamian, President of the Canadian Nurses Association, entitled The Patient Comes First. And last Week there was a Series of four Programs on Headline on the Business News Network (BNN) dealing with the Direction of Healthcare.

We note an exceptional Dearth of Discussion and Debate about the troubling and vexatious Issue of the Distribution of Food.

It is an extraordinary Puzzlement.

We confess to having discovered – over many years – few Eternal Verities; but here are two of them: Central Planning does not work; He who pays the Piper calls the Tune.

If the Aim is indeed to "put the Patient first," then it is clear that Central Planning – the Attempt to manage, by Government Fiat -- Matters which are almost infinitely variable – can never succeed.

We felt that an Interview on BNN with Sharon Manson Singer of Carleton University was particularly Revealing in this Regard. She admitted that wait Times were important from the Perspective of the individual Patient, but preferred to see the Problem from the View of "30,000 Feet."

From the View of "30,000 Feet" Supplicants are indistinguishable from Blobs.

We have no Objection to the Existence of a Public System–provided that Patients have the Opportunity to buy Private Insurance. Indeed, two competing Systems–Public and Private–would be of Advantage to All.

We have little Hope that Canadians will soon see such beneficial Circumstance. It was Edmund Burke, (1729-1797) who said:

    The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.

It is Myth and Delusion that so often stand between the Swamp of Folly and the level Plain of Sense. The Brains of Canadians have so long been washed in the anodyne Notion of Equality, their Perceptions so weakened and skewed, that they overlook the preferential Treatment of such Groups as the Saskatchewan Rough Riders, prison Inmates, Clients of Workers’ Compensation Boards, "third party payers," Politicians, those within the medical System, and those of Prominence in Society. These people will never die, like Thérèse de Repentigny, neglected in an Emergency Ward. (See Drivel, November 18, 2010.)

As with all socialistic, egalitarian Schemes, the Desire for Equality ends, as in George Orwell's Animal Farm, with the Circumstance that:

    All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

The myth of Equality is the Root Cause of the Inefficiency and Inequality of the present System; it is also the great Barrier to Amelioration.

We must record here the Passing of the Geezermobile Burgundy, the 1987 Predecessor of the 1988 Geezermobile Eight.

The Geezermobile Burgundy had long been a Resident of the Driveway of the Lumpenbangen Studios where it had been kept as a potential Organ Donor in the Case of Failure of certain constituent Parts of the Geezermobile Eight. During the Residency, no Organs were ever found to be suitable.

When the Geezermobile Eight required a new Transmission, it was discovered that the Burgundy Part was Type ‘O’, while the Geezermobile was Type ‘B’. Possibly as a result of this Rejection and a growing Sense of Uselessness, the Geezermobile Burgundy grew morose, losing the accustomed buoyancy of its Tyres, and sinking into self-created Depressions of the asphalt.

The Weather being mild, and the Lumpenbangen Driveway miraculously free of Snow, the Scrapman was called, and the Burgundy removed. A small Honorarium was obtained, which will be used to subsidize a modest Bouquet of Flowers, to be placed at the Site, and a Memorial Service of Prayer and Thanks to the Great God Murphy–who predicted this Outcome many Years before.

We have also this Day made Commentary on an Article in the National Post concerning Alain de Botton’s Book, Religion for Atheists. It may be found in the Drivel Section.

We have been struck of late with the Prevalence of Silly Ideas. There seems to be no Shortage; we suspect the Supply is inexhaustible. We have noted the Social Justice Movement in Schools, the Desire to prevent Citizens from protecting Themselves, and made brief Foray Yesterday into a Consideration of the National Post’s McGuinty Syndrome – which may be considered a Conglomeration of silly Ideas instigated by a silly Idea.

All these Notions seem to be in the ascendant, but we are pleased to report that the Silly Idea of Climate Change Alarmism is under increasing Attack.

The Wall Street Journal published a recent (January 27) Letter from sixteen Climate Scientists which states:

a large and growing number of distinguished scientists and engineers do not agree that drastic actions on global warming are needed.

They note the Inconvenience of the Fact that there has been no Warming for over a Decade, as shown by the 2009 Climategate E-mail from Kevin Trenberth:

The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it’s a travesty that we can’t.

The Letter also refers to the Fact that CO2 is not a pollutant, and that present Concentration of the Gas is one-tenth of that which existed when Plant and Animal Life evolved.

The Writers suggest that the Root and Process of Alarmism is non-scientific. The Motivation is economic: it provides Funding for Research, Justification for Growth in Government Bureaucracy, and is a Boon to charitable Organizations pledging to save the Planet. Young Scientists, fearful of the loss of Promotion and Prestige, are intimidated into suppressing their Doubts.

The Scientific Method was Proposed by Francis Bacon some Four Hundred Years ago:
 

Human Weakness triumphs still. The Fashion of starting with Assumptions–that most natural of human Proclivities–has not been relegated to the Steamer Trunk in the Attic of human Thought, but parades, naked, in confident Stride, still gaining the wrapt Approval of the ignorant and conforming Crowds.

The Letter in the Wall Street Journal is a welcome Counterweight–a small Child’s Voice against "incontrovertible" Opinion.

We confess to little Shivers of guilty Pleasure--travelling from the Omphalos to the easterly Limit of the Aortic Arch--upon reading the Editorial in this Day’s National Post.

Noting that the Conference Board of Canada has suggested that Ontario’s Plans to eliminate the Deficit by 2016-17 are as likely to be as successful as the seamless Reconstruction of Humpty-Dumpty, the Editorial is entitled: The McGuinty Syndrome. What follows is a Reflection on the varying Follies of McGuintyism:

Since [the Mcguinty Government] came to power eight years ago, its modus operandi has been to ignore its promises, backtrack on pledges, cancel ill-advised initiatives and hide the evidence of programs gone wrong. When it’s warned that there’s trouble ahead, it forges on anyway until disaster forces a halt. When proof of its bumbling emerges despite its best efforts, Mr. McGuinty shrugs, offers a few sunny platitudes, and vows that he’s determined to put it right, because it’s never too late to make the right decision.

We confess that we have never understood the evident Appeal of Mr. McGuinty for the Voters. In 2007, it is true that with an insane Plan to fund even more Varieties of Religious Schools–in our View, even one is too many–John Tory made himself the greater of two Evils. In the most recent Election, Mr. Hudak did little to attack Mr. McGuinty on his Policy of Appeasement in Caledonia or his Infatuation with Green-Schemery.

We suspect it has something to do with the great Need for Illusion. Despite all Evidence to the Contrary, Mr. McGuinty suggests that the Reconstitution of Humpty-Dumpty–given the enormous Supply of Horses and Men available from the other Side of the Rainbow--will be achieved in a timely Fashion. After that, there will be a Windmill at the Bottom of every Garden, and a thriving Industry will arise from the technological Breakthroughs in the Creation of Electricity from the Dung of Unicorns.

Illusion is so often preferable to Reality.

We are indeed puzzled by another Example of Silliness–the charging of Ian Thomson who fired three Shots to dissuade three masked Men who expressed an active and determined Interest in firebombing his House. (National Post, February 1)

The Charges of dangerous Use and Pointing of a Firearm were dismissed before the Trial. But the Government seems obsessed with the Possibility that Mr. Thomson might be guilty of unsafe Storage of a Firearm. Their Argument is that the Rapidity with which Mr. Thomson defended himself suggests that his Ammunition was "too easily accessible."

As the Editorial in this Day’s Post points out, this is reminiscent of the Mediaeval Concern for an accurate Determination of the Number of Angels that might comfortably dance on the Head of a Pin.

O Brave New World! It would seem to be much preferable that Citizens be passive in encountering those who would do them Harm. In the Interests of Harmony, the greater Good, and the Supremacy of qualified Experts, it is best that Citizens surrender their Possessions or die quietly when threatened.

There is no Fuss, little Muss, and no affront to Jurisdiction. It is a Triumph of Orderliness over the primitive Instinct for self-Preservation. It is the Piano Key Syndrome: the wonderful Achievement of turning a Man into a Piano Key, a wooden Block to be depressed and released according to the Whim of the Nannies who know best.

We note the Coverage of the latest Lumpenbangen Press Conference in the Drivel Section.

We have returned from Wind-in-the-Pines to a Collection of Newspapers delivered to the Lumpenbangen Studio, piled up in the Hall.

It is indeed wonderful to live in such Times when the World is a busy Factory, humming with Activity, and turning out a Tsunami of silly Ideas and Nonsensical Notions.

An Article in the National Post deals with the growing Tendency for Schools to embrace "Social Justice Movements." One Example is a School chosen by Rachael Adelman for her Israeli son, a School "based on the principles of participatory democracy and social equity." (National Post, January 28, 2012) It was discovered that the School encouraged Posters proclaiming Israel to be an Apartheid State.

The Toronto District School Board, we are surprised to hear, has a "Social Justice Action Plan." Social Justice is defined as a "specific habit of justice that is based on the concepts of human rights, equity, fairness and economic egalitarianism."

What a Minefield of Concepts drawn from the great Vision of Leftiness! How selective the Notion of Rights without Responsibilities! How wonderful is Equity in Concept, how fraught with Difficulty in real Life. In the case of economic Egalitarianism–how loonily ludicrous, and unambiguously unattainable.

In the ancient Days, before our current Enlightenment, Schools were content with more modest non-academic Aims: Persistence, Honesty, Punctuality, Respect for Rules. How Quaint!

We suspect that Great Expectations inevitably bring, in their Train, Disappointments of equal Magnitude. (Observation # 171)

*Gut Feeling

We have concluded our Dissertation, which we have entitled The Devil is in the Principle–and are mightily glad of it.

We find Thinking and Writing to be onerous, and unlikely to contribute with positive Effect either to our Digestion or our Happiness.

Nonetheless, it troubles us to leave our Disagreement with much popular Thought in a vague and unrealized State, and there is some Satisfaction in the Attempt to express our Views in a definitive Fashion.

Our Ramblings–which we can hardly recommend, as they suffer from a tedious Length–may be found in the Drivel Section.

 January 25, 2012.

For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. (Alexander Pope, 1688-1744)

We are considering a Resolution to stop thinking, for the more we think, the more gloomy we become. It is entirely possible that a false and illusory Happiness is of greater Value than a true Perception of our Circumstance.

This Morning we have continued our Comments on Abortion, concluding that the Notion that human Life is "sacred" is superficially attractive, occasionally useful, but not justified by the Facts of the human Circumstance.

Our conclusions are in the Drivel Section.

For probably the first Time in recorded History, bureaucratic Stupidity has been seen to make a modest Retreat. Lucy the Goose (see Diary, January 19) has been returned to her Owner, Diane Vander Wiel.

After a Petition to the Ministry of the Environment:

Peter Kent, the Federal Environment Minister has apologized the bird was ever taken in the first place. (Sarah Boesveld, National Post, January 25)

Ms. Vander Wiel reports that:

Lucy has been honking and running around the property, delighted to be back.

We suspect that this is an isolated and non-recurring Incident, and our Faith in the eternal Verities of Existence will soon be restored.

It is the old, old Conflict between Illusion and Reality.

We have dealt with the Matter of Abortion in the Drivel Section. It is our Intention to consider the more general Matter of the Limitations to Principle tomorrow.

We are pleased to see four Letters to the Editor in this Day’s Post, all reinforcing our Opinion of Jonathan Kay’s implied Defence of the Distribution of Bibles in the Schools of Prince Edward Island. Mr. Kay termed certain dinner Party Atheists as "irritating," and upheld a Reading of the Bible–especially for Atheists--for the Insights it gives into our Culture.

While we heartily agree that the Bible is important in the Understanding of our Literature and Culture, we are reluctant to see it given apparent Endorsement as a religious Text by the secular Public School System-- which Circumstance occurs when it is distributed, gratis to all Students. This is rather different from a Study of the Bible in a Course which compares one Religion with Others.

Here are the key comments from the four letters:

The state should never be seen to endorse any religion.

We are surprised that there seems no Contingent of Opinion from those who write Letters of heartfelt Appreciation of the truly awful religious Editorials which the Post is wont to print on the Occasions of Easter and Christmas. Possibly they were all busy with a Perusing of the Bible for religious Purpose. We think, on the Whole, that this is a good Thing; it is edifying for them, and a Relief to Disbelievers.

It would be imprudent to assume that the Writers of these Letters are all Atheists; but we are pleased to see a Rejection of the Notion that Public Schools should be seen to endorse any Religion. And while we have no Objection to private Schools, we are uneasy to think that their avowed Purpose might be to promote Religion. John Tory lost an Ontario Election with a Proposal for public Support of religious Schools; regrettably, the silly Province of Saskatchewan, undeterred, is offering to fund them.

For what a man would like to be true, that he more readily believes. (Francis Bacon 1561-1626)

Perhaps it is but the Extension of Light in the Daytime Hours, but we sense a Seeping of uncharacteristic Optimism into our normally gloomy State, and glimpse little Glowings of Light hovering at the End of the Tunnel of our Discontent.

We have been perusing the Opinion of those who are convinced that the Price of Gold has bounced off the Bedrock of Skepticism–or–as many would have it–has broken free of the Grasp of the Manipulators, and will move higher this Year.

We have also had Occasion to speak with a Representative of Dynacor Mines–the Company in which we are most imprudently over-invested, who–perhaps unsurprisingly--has confirmed our optimistic Hopes for the coming Year.

As a matter of Policy, we eschew Enthusiasm, but Policy was ever a weak Force in the Battle with Hope. Francis Bacon was undoubtedly correct–but we will enjoy our little Moment of Optimism while it doth last.

We did record the Fact yesterday that we sent a Letter to Jonathan Kay of the National Post, with respect to his Column advocating the reading of the Bible by Atheists. He also termed Dinner Party Atheists as "irritating."

We have been fortunate enough to encounter a Speech given recently upon the very Topick–it is entitled: Atheists as a Marginalised and Disadvantaged Group, and appears in the Drivel Section.

Up betimes to read this Day’s Edition of the National Post.

We admit to many Weaknesses–but perhaps the Chief of them–after our Addiction to Chocolate–is our Inability to refrain from Comment on Religion, which seems, at the same Time, to be so foolish and yet so necessary, that the final Word can never be said, and the Topick can never be put aside, at last, to Rest.

In this it is but a Reflection of our constant Battle–between seeing things as they really are–and as we wish them to be.

In this Day’s Post, Jonathan Kay deals with the Matter of Michael Arsenault, who is raising a Stink and a Half over the Fact that Gideon Bibles are, in a Legacy of long Tradition, distributed to Students in Grade Five in Prince Edward Island.

Jonathan Kay, while admitting that he finds those in the religious Extreme to be frightening or offending, has of late been much irritated by militant Atheists at Dinner Parties, and makes a Plea for a Study of the Bible because of its Influence on Culture.

We would prefer that the System of Public Education be religiously neutral, so that Religion might be restrained to its unwonted and undesired Position of being a Comfort, but not a Crusade. We see no bar to a Study of the Bible as a cultural Influence or as a Representative of one Religion among many. But the Assumptions the Bible makes are appropriate to a more Primitive Society; we prefer that Truth–or what Little of it we can apprehend–be approached on the Basis of what can actually be known–rather than through the Prism of what People thought–in the Absence of Facts–so many years ago.

We have written to Mr. Kay, suggesting that Atheists, as irritating as they may be, perform a useful Function in refuting Superstition. Superstition may result in Inquisitions and the Destruction of towered Innocents.

In a Spirit of Kindliness, we have also suggested he might emend his Circle of Acquaintance with the Aim of improving the Conviviality of the Dinner Parties he attends.

We are constantly grateful to live in this modern Age wherein Common Sense and Judicious Action are seen in constant Parade.

The latest Example, as reported in this Day’s National Post, is to be found in the Case of Lucy, the Goose--discovered and rescued three years ago by Diane Vander Wiel, and kept as a Pet.

It is quite understandable that hearing the News of this extraordinary Circumstance, some Conservation Authorities, dropped all their urgent Business of Conservation to pay the Vander Wiels a Visit in order to confiscate the Creature, and take her to a Sanctuary.

There, in Accordance with the Principles of Conservation, it was proposed to kill her.

Were this dreadful Crime to go unpunished, it is clear that the Foundations of our Civil Society would be at Risk: Governments would topple, Religions would crumble, and Common Sense would be washed away in a Sea of Civil Disobedience.

We eagerly await the News of the Conviction and Imprisonment-- possibly for an indeterminate Sentence of hard Labour--of the Vander Wiels.

Lucy the Goose, and John Wong, a Federal Wildlife Official may both be found on Limerick Lane.

We are sometimes made aware of certain gratifying and great Advancements in the Conduct of Society taking Place--often in silence, unheralded, and unremarked; indeed, we have always harboured the Hope that one Day, by such quiet and covert Progress, a new Era will be deemed to have dawned, and Nirvana will be declared to be achieved.

The latest such Advancement to come to our Attention is that revealed in this Day’s National Post–not in the remote back Pages–as might be expected–but on the Centre Stage of the Front Page. Possibly this is a Signal that the Announcement of Nirvana is close at Hand.

It appears that Parole Board Hearings in Winnipeg may be transformed as "aboriginal elder-assisted parole board
hearing[s]." ( Tristin Hopper and Katherine Wilton, National Post. January 18.)

Such Hearings are conducted in a Circle, and enhanced by the Aroma "of burning sweetgrass, cedar or tobacco"–a Ceremony of "Smudging"--and an aboriginal Elder opens and closes the Investigation with a Prayer.

George Bromby, a non-aboriginal Haitian, convicted of the stabbing death (51 Wounds) of his former Girlfriend, has recently requested this Type of Hearing. Craig Munro, a non-aboriginal "career criminal" who shot a police Officer during a Robbery in 1980 registered a sufficient Commitment Score to gain an elder-assisted Hearing in 2009.

It is indeed humbling to contemplate the great Sweep of human Progress, in which Clarity gives way to Smudging, and our Perspective of the Promised Land of Equity and Justice for all is most beneficially enhanced.

We have been intrigued to learn of the enlightened and far-sighted Policy of the Government’s Advanced Leadership Program. (National Post, January 4, 2012).

In this Program, Federal Bureaucrats are sent to Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States in order to "challenge and expand their world view" and allow them to "gain insight into the world and thinking of top leaders," thus preparing them to "achieve results for Canadians."

Some have decried the Ten to more than Twenty thousand Dollar Cost of these Trips, but we have every Confidence in the Wisdom of the Government in this Matter. We must also pay Tribute to the high-minded and selfless Bureaucrats for their Sacrifice in tearing Themselves away from the Wintry Charms of Ottawa to travel to Places of oppressive Heat and Humidity in order to discover the Thinking of Top Leaders. Places like Mexico come to mind. The Nobility of it brings tears to our Eyes.

We do have a modest suggestion. In order to wring the best Results from this Program, it might be found advantageous to have a World Olympics of Administrative Excellence. Participants would be thrust–in some suitably benign Climate, of course--into an "Attawapiskat Challenge Event" to see which Candidate could return a dysfunctional Community to a state of Health in the least Amount of Time. The irrefutable Results of such a Test–showing a clear Advantage to travelling Canadian Administrators-- would surely put "paid" to the Objections of the niggling-minded Nay-sayers.

We were much heartened last Evening to see Jerry Agar on The Source exposing the Folly and Debility of our Healthcare System. We have long railed against the "Outrage of Nanny Care" (Drivel, October 31, 2010) but have seen only Reports of careful, judiciously worded Studies warning of Unsustainability, or the occasional muted Lament that Sacred Cows are exempt from Discussion; the Slaughter that we would propose is a Blasphemy beyond the Pale.

In his concerted, passionate Attack, Mr. Agar noted the two Myths which are integral to the Sanctity of the Cow: that Governments, noted for their inability to manage anything, are seen as competent to run so vast a Complex of Interactions, and, secondly, that Rich and Poor are treated alike.

Perhaps more important than the Inefficiency of Government is the coercive Nature of our System. The Canadian Government has seen fit to cast its ideological Lot with those Bastions of Freedom and Good Sense–and no doubt superior Health Outcomes--Cuba and North Korea–the only other Countries which allow no Purchase of private Insurance.

As Karen Selick, Litigation Director for the Canadian Constitution Foundation, noted recently in the National Post: (see Diary, September 13, 2011)

On the Second Point–that Rich and Poor are treated alike–we have long noted that Canada has fallen Victim to Equality Fascism*. So attractive is the theoretical Notion of Equality–George Jonas has termed it a "convenient fiction"–that we have sacrificed both Freedom and Common Sense at its deceptive Altar.

2.Other "Third Parties" are allowed to pay for private care. The RCMP, prison inmates, Workers Compensation Board clients, private auto and health insurers, law firms, sports clubs and individual employers and corporations." (Diary, November 10, 2010)

3.In an article in the National Post, Kevin Libin revealed that in Alberta, Members of the Legislature were provided with preferential Access to care. (Diary, June 10, 2010)

4. "Who you know" as Dr. Eappen suggests, is important. While we have no Evidence– it seems not unreasonable to suppose that Individuals of some Prominence in Society–particularly Politicians–are unlikely to die neglected in an Emergency Room. This may explain why Politicians, secure in their Prominence, see no sense of Urgency in the Matter of Reform.

5. It is only common Sense to suppose that those within the Medical System have preferential Access.

6. The wealthy–like Danny Williams, former Premier of Newfoundland–have the Means to avoid the System, and seek care outside the Country.

The terrible Irony of our Coercive System is that our Freedom to Choose, and our Access to timely Care is being sacrificed for the Sake of a False God–the False God of Equality. This is not, of course, the only Example of Equality Fascism* in Canada–but it is certainly one of the most Egregious, and deserving of immediate Reform.

We can only Hope that Mr. Agar’s Program marks a significant Step on that beneficial Path.

*Drivel, Feb. 8 & 12, 2011

No Smoke rising in controlled Puffs. No coded Flashes of Light. No Radio Signals in encouraging Patterns.

In an Article entitled Politics must be our Salvation (National Post, December 31) Charles Krauthammer notes the "maddening" Silence from our "living, thinking counterparts in the universe."

It is assumed, of course, that our Counterparts must exist. The History of the Earth suggests that, in the right Conditions, Life, though destroyed, will rise in a Phoenix of organic Affirmation. Thus surely, with the Multiplicity of Planets, there must be some with those favourable Conditions, and Life must inevitably arise.

We have always allowed our Skepticism some Play in this Matter: there is a recent Estimate that there are 8.7 million Species on Earth–yet only one has created radio Signals. Even so, with 600 million Planets in our Galaxy, and 170 billion Galaxies, each with between 10 million and 100 trillion stars–well–let us say the number of eligible Planets should be considerable, the Chances of life high, and the Possibility of Radio Signals not absurd.

According to Mr. Krauthammer, one Explanation of the Silence is that advanced Civilizations have an unfortunate Habit of Destroying Themselves.

We find this an attractive Theory, since the Forms of intelligent Life with which we are familiar seem extraordinarily susceptible to Beliefs of startling Irrationality. The Combination of Intelligence of sufficient Strength to create Nuclear Weaponry, combined with a Belief that an Imaginary Being "A" wishes you to destroy those with Belief in a different Imaginary Being, "B," seems a likely Recipe for a Pie of Disaster.

We are not optimistic in stating this Position; by Definition, irrational Belief is resistant to Reason. Even the Attempt to use Reasonable Argument with those committed to Unreason has a Whiff of the Surreal, an Intimation of the Absurd.

We have, of course, created our own Religion, Abracadabra, devoted to the Great God Murphy, the most reliable Predictor of the Outcomes of all human Enterprise.

But we are not foolish enough to believe that he is anything more than a Construction in our own Image, and not to be taken more seriously than any other Fictional Character. He has, however, told us not to expect Radio Signals anytime soon.

We note the announcement of a new Index Feature in the Drivel Section.

We are pleased to have survived to a new Year; the old one was less than kind. Our Portfolio of Stocks lies in Ruin, since the Fear of the Markets, as is customary, has been directed with greatest Force upon Companies of Junior Status. Since we hold only the despised Junior Gold and Silver Shares, we have suffered far more than the 11% Decline in the General Index.

Our main Holding, Dynacor, despite increasing Production throughout 2011, and having plans to more than double their Output in this coming Year, has fallen from just under $2.00 to Seventy- five Cents, having touched Sixty Cents twice in the Period of Decline. We suspect their Profit for 2011 will be in the Range of Seventeen Cents, and will be surprised if, even without the planned Production Increase for this Year, the Profit were to be less than twenty Cents.

Of course, the Market is merely one of many Spheres in which Facts and reasonable Expectations must bow to pervasive Gloom or foolish Optimism.

Despite our firm Commitment to Skepticism, from our present Position-- piloting the battered Vessel of Hope through the roiling waters and dire Straits of negative Sentiment-- we find ourselves strangely drawn to the Horoscope published in yesterday’s National Post. We can give Predictions of the Future no more Credence than we can Religion, but we can understand the Impulse to clutch at Straws.

It was Macbeth who remarked that the Instruments of Darkness, to "win us to our harm"--

                Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
                 In deepest consequence.

Mindful of Macbeth’s Experience, we have no Plans to make large irrevocable Wagers on the Basis of our Horoscope, but we find it hard to resist the Prediction–in line with our own Hopes-- that "Your earnings will improve from the summer onwards." Indeed, we would not be averse to finding that "By the end of this year you’ll get special recognition or acknowledgment for the work you have done in the past few years."

It’s all bunk, of course, but comforting bunk. (See Observation # 17)