I’m going to sit in the front row with my best friend (who will fly here for the event!).  The rest of the tickets will be distributed for free with the majority going to students.

Hecklers will be ousted.

It’s my event and I’m the boss.

DON’T eat corn dogs in public.  Or hot dogs or Twinkies or Popsicles or you get the idea.

via State 29

A lone Norwegian “counter-jihad” right-winger decides to slaughter left-wingers, in the worst terrorist attack in the West since Madrid.All of the counter-jihad figures he cites as influences disown and despise him. None of them ever supported anything like this. In no sane world does opposing terror attacks on the West logically lead to carrying out terror attacks on the West.

The killer is no different to an Islamist jihad terrorist. He bombs the elected democratic Norwegian government and Oslo civilians. Targeting the centre-left government is incredibly extreme – they support the Afghan War and the Libya War. He then carries out the most sadistic, barbaric attack against children at a mainstream, centre-left, politicial summer camp. His attack targeted children who had nothing to do with policy, and was incredibly sadistic, hunting them down and executing them close up.

(h/t Kathy Shaidle)

In response to this event, WHY, WHY, WHY is Ahmed Shoker worried about the Muslim community being “re-victimized”?!  He’s concerned about “violent retaliation”?  From whom?  Towards whom?

The Muslim community wasn’t even a victim in the first place so they can’t be re-victimized!

And why did CKOM even feel the need to get a response to the tragedy from the local Muslim media spokesman?  Did he call them?

Update:  CTV Saskatoon is doing it, too!  After seeking comments from Muslims in Saskatoon, Calvin To says “In the wake of these events, this seeming lack of hostilities here at home is a relief to many.”   To narrates that “Racial tensions are unlikely to happen here as a backlash.”   Major Gen. Lewis McKenzie (ret) asks “What are we going to do?  Run around and attack blond-haired, blue-eyed Norwegians.  That would be pretty stupid as they are some of our best friends.  To attack the Muslim population or point fingers would be even more unfair because they are the victims in this.”  Seriously.

Muslims are NOT the victims in this.

What do you think many Muslims first thought when they heard about the car bombing and the attack on the camp in Oslo?  I’ll bet that they thought “Oh crap.  Another Muslim terrorist attack.”  I’ll bet that they were quite relieved that it was a crazy white guy.

Another update:  And it looks like the answer is “yes … he did contact the media”.  Dr. Shoker has now written a letter to the editor of the Star Phoenix:

Our grief overrides the concern for any future negative acts against Muslims in the wake of this heinous act. This is a time for all Muslims to think of themselves as proud Canadians with unwavering support for multiculturalism, and not as a fearful minority seeking protection.

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Muslims+grieving/5170787/story.html#ixzz1TPiot9XO

Muslims were not the target or the perpetrators of the attack in Oslo.  They are not the victims!

And Another update:  The victimhood spreads across Canada.

The US government should be less concerned with reassuring Muslims that we like them and more focused on educating Muslim immigrants on life in America.  Freedom of speech.  Freedom of religion.  Rights AND responsibilities.  Rather than reassuring Muslims that we like them and that they are free to practice their religion, the government should teach them about the limits that are placed on religious practice.  Basically, religious beliefs are not an excuse to violate the rights of others or to break laws. 

—————————————————————–

While visiting the website of the US Consulate in Calgary for a completely unrelated reason, I found a home page article about the US Ambassador meeting with Muslim youth.

Ambassador David Jacobson participated in a discussion with ten students during an open house at the new Muslim Youth Centre in northwest Calgary. The Ambassador took questions from the students on a range of topics including human rights, U.S. relations with Pakistan and other Muslim nations, the U.S.’s position on political uprisings in the Middle East, coping with Islamaphobia and women’s rights. The youth were very excited to hear the Ambassador’s perspectives and even asked him about his favorite kind of pizza. “Meeting with young people is so great because it gives me hope,” the Ambassador said. “There are so many challenges that every young person has today, and when you overlay on top of that some of the stereotypes that exist about Muslims, and particularly Muslim youths, it makes it that much more difficult for them. I think it’s just very important to make it clear to them that we don’t believe those stereotypes, that we share far more values than we disagree about, and that we care.” Following his discussion, the Ambassador and other guests were introduced to the centre’s Smooth Transitions program by Mahdi Qasqas (pictured above), a certified counsellor and recent alumni of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. The program pairs Muslim students with student mentors to help them successfully transition between school and social situations in a supportive environment. Others who attended the event included Lindsay Blackett, Alberta’s Culture and Community Spirit Minister, Senior Calgary Imam Jamal Hammoud, Dr. David Liepert, official spokesperson for Calgary’s Muslim community, and Calgary MLA Moe Amery.

Why does the US Ambassador need to reassure Canadian Muslims that Americans care about them?  Does this have something to do with Homeland Security?

And what is this International Visitor Leadership Program?  According to the link above, it sends “current or emerging leaders in government, politics, the media, education, the arts, business and other key fields” on short-term trips to the US which “support the foreign policy goals of the United States.”   This program sent Imam Ayman Adel Al-Taher, Dr. Anthony Mansour, Mr. Mahdi J. Qasqas, and Mr. Omar Siddiqui to BYU.  (Is this the same Omar Siddiqui who supports Sharia law including flogging?)

to discuss ways to promote interfaith dialogue and moderate discussion of religious differences; learn how federal, state, and local government agencies counter religious and idealogical extremism and promote diversity; explore best practices in integrating immigrants and Muslim groups into Western society; and meet with government, religious, and non-profit leaders that assist with promoting religious and cultural diversity.

Seriously?  A foreign policy goal of the US is to make nice with specific religious groups in Canada?  We don’t need to promote “religious and cultural diversity”; the US is already diverse.  We need to promote integration and a encourage immigrants to become Americans.

Why was an 11-year-old girl ALONE at an Exhibition and why was this man able to leave with her without anyone noticing?!

What’s happening in your schools?

Our neighborhood school in Saskatoon did have Muslim prayer in the school for a brief time two years ago.  It was initiated by two families.  They requested access to an unused classroom each afternoon.  Prayers were led by the moms (not imams).  They offered to do it during recess but the principal felt that students shouldn’t be socially isolated from other students so they missed class instead.  At the time, I wondered what the teachers thought about it but I didn’t ask since I was already asking a lot of questions.

Basically, the justification for allowing the prayer to happen was that they were just using an available space and that there wasn’t any compulsion.  I pointed out that there was compulsion if teachers were to ever remind students to go to prayers or if the parents were inviting children other than their to go to prayers (even other Muslim children).  By the time I verified that it had been happening, it was over.

These new reports out of Toronto made me wonder why there hasn’t been a request for similar accommodation in our school.  The school district is so rah-rah multiculti that I would expect them to acquiesce, at least initially.  In addition, the student population is at least 25% Muslim and major activities have to be scheduled around Eid because of absent students.   So why no prayers?

I think that I know.

The school has Muslims and Ahmadiyya Muslims.  The former don’t think that the latter are actually Muslims so I am sure that they would not pray together.

Problem avoided?

Who writes newspaper headlines?  Sometimes I think it’s just an intern who got stuck working the late shift and didn’t have time to actually read the article.

The Saskatchewan Party government has been in the lead on the issue nationally, with Premier Brad Wall last year announcing $5 million for clinical trials of the therapy, which involves angioplasty to widen neck veins.

In December, the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) issued a call for proposals and the province said clinical trials should begin later this year.

But on Wednesday both the foundation and the Saskatoon-based research team that had made the single proposal to the SHRF said more scientific research is needed before a broad trial such as the one proposed in Saskatchewan could move ahead.

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/Sask+plan+hits+snag/5027877/story.html#ixzz1QpegAv1l

So, I seem to have neglected the blog for a bit.  I do have good intentions every day of writing but then I spend so much time reading and thinking that there is no time left for writing.  Or perhaps I spend too much time thinking about too many things to focus on any one thing to write about.

Whatever.

Yesterday I watched “Real Genius” with my daughter.  That movie includes one of my most favorite lines: “It’s a moral imperative”.  Do you remember “Real Genius”?  The geniuses in the movie build a very powerful laser without wondering about the end use of the laser.   I think that this happens often with science because pure science is usually independent of the practical applications.  Actually, I discussed this topic with my other daughter recently.  Scientific progress is not right or wrong.  The application of the science could be but the knowledge is just information.

Seeing the movie did make me think about my work.  Do I really want to be a participant in research which I strongly suspect will be used for purposes that I don’t agree with?  I don’t.  So what do I do?  When we complete studies and publish the results, we can’t control how those results are used.  Perhaps the answer is to not publish results which might be “misused”.  Or to focus my efforts on educating the people most likely to affect the real-world application of research.

Ugh.  There are no easy answers.