The view from behind the burqa

Pakistan - Les femmes aveuglées par leur burqa
Uploaded by france24. - News videos from around the world.

Remember, folks, it's your human right to have your vision impaired and maybe even get hit by a car!

(Via this blog.)

Peaceful Gazans hold rally to honour Islamic Jihad

(Photo from this blog.)

They were celebrating the terrorist group Islamic Jihad, not the doctrine. Except the terrorist group follows the doctrine. Oh, well, you get the drift:

"Tens of thousands of Islamic Jihad loyalists held a rally in Gaza on Friday to commemorate the group's slain founder.

"Holding plastic models of rockets and wearing masks and mock suicide bomber's vests, the members chanted 'death to Israel' and 'Muhammad's army will be back to wipe off the Hebrew state.'

"An Islamic Jihad leader, Nafez Azzam, called on the crowd Friday to reject negotiations with Israel and support violent resistance."

Article here.

Lots of interesting photos here.

(Via BabbaZee.)

Nonie Darwish is coming to Toronto

"Silencing dissent in America"

Caroline Glick writes:

"Former ambassador to the UN Dore Gold should probably buy himself a flak jacket. Gold is scheduled to debate Richard Goldstone at Brandeis University next Thursday and the anti-Israel forces are organizing quite a reception for him...

"In an email to a campus list-serve, Brandeis student and anti-Israel activist Jonathan Sussman called on his fellow anti-Zionists to disrupt the event that will pit the 'neutral' Goldstone against Gold with his 'wildly pro-Zionist message.' Sussman invited his list-serve members to join him at a meeting to 'discuss a possible response.'

"As the young community organizer sees it, 'Possibilities include inviting Palestinian speakers to come participate, seeding the audience with people who can disrupt the Zionist narrative, protest and direct action.' He closed his missive with a plaintive call to arms: 'Fk the occupation...'

"While many commentators claim that the situation on college campuses is unique, the fact is that the attempts of leftist activists on campuses to silence non-leftist dissenters regarding Israel and a host of other issues is simply an extreme version of what is increasingly becoming standard operating procedure for leftist activists throughout the US. Rather than participating in a battle of ideas with their ideological opponents on the Right, increasingly, leftist activists, groups and policymakers seek to silence their opponents through slander, intimidation and misrepresentation of their own agenda."

Read it all. This is happening in Canada, too.

Time to get a second job

Some people you've never met need a bigger fridge for their cheese sculpture contest.

Your tax dollars at work, paying the public relations bill for farmers and their friends.

"Cash from Ottawa will help the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair buy a new, larger fridge to accommodate increased entries in their cheese competition, the fair said after a whirlwind visit by Jim Flaherty, the Finance Minister, yesterday.

"Bill Duron, chief executive of the fair, said the new fridge will have a glass front so visitors can see the artisan cheeses entries on display.

“'Tourism is a key driver for the Ontario economy and the Canadian economy overall,' said Mr. Flaherty, standing amid empty livestock stalls and the faint smell of farm. He announced a federal grant of more than $1.4-million to the fair.

"The grant money for this year’s fair goes toward expanding programming and advertising, said Mr. Duron."

More here.

"The faint smell of farm." That's not what a farmer's wife calls it when her husband forgets to take off his overalls and barn boots before he comes into the house.

I like the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair but I already pay a hefty admission price for the privilege of entering the building just so I can spend more money.

Unions gain power and money from a growing nanny state

And the rest of us schmucks? We gain higher taxes and more debt.

John Snobelen writes about all-day kindergarten in today's Toronto Sun:

"McGuinty initiated the Charles Pascal Report, an intensive review of the full-day options. The report made several controversial and important recommendations. It deserved a full public debate.

"But the premier didn't seek broad public comment on the report. Mom and dad didn't have a chance to say what full-day kindergarten meant to them. The qualifications of certified teachers and ECE instructors didn't get a full public airing.

"Instead, McGuinty chose to strike a backroom deal with the teachers' union. It isn't the first time the premier has put the wants of the teachers' union ahead of the needs of parents, students and taxpayers. The result of this most recent surrender will be bigger classes, slower implementation and much greater cost.

"The bottom line is in the absence of a credible deficit elimination strategy, McGuinty's announcement had the hollow ring of an empty promise. I guess we'll just send the bill to the kids."

More here.