La France : le beau et compatissant

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Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

The above is the state motto for France (République française; French Republic). It means "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", all the characeristics the French citizens associated with their country during the French Revolution of 1789.

Wiki: France

France was the original founder of Canada, before it lost it to the English in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, during the 7 Years War. The English took over and created Upper and Lower Canada, which became Canada East and Canada West, before it finally went through its total evolution to become what is present day Canada, with thousands of its citizens stranded in the warzone that is Lebannon.

The Canadian government has been slow to respond and only got one ship in, with a total of 261 Canadians officially evacuated. This figure excluded the initial number of Canadians who held dual citizenships and use them to escape on vessels belonging to other nation.

The slow response from Canada has created chaos. But, in the midst of this chaos, a country has come through for Canada - France. France, under President Jacques Chirac, who has offically extended France's help to Canada in order to evaucate its citizens along with remaining French from Lebannon.

France offers Canada evaucation help

PARIS (AP) - French president Jacques Chirac on Thursday offered a helping hand to Canada - which has up to 50,000 citizens in Lebanon - to evacuate the country under siege.

I thought there was something nice about France when I went to visit the nation about three years ago.

It doesn't matter if people see it as weak because it hasn't won a war, or any of the other negative stereotypes, because it can do something better - it can help its fellow man in a time of crisis. At Dunkirk, there were French vessels in addition to English ones that assisted with the evacuation.

In Lebannon, it is offering its help and ships to Canada to help gets Canadians out of the warzone.

"(Chirac) was very generous and spontaneously expressed the wish that we collaborate and, if the need is there, if possible, he offered French collaboration so that we can move people out," said Quebec Premier Jean Charest, after a meeting with Chirac.

Bumbling Conservatives Leave Thousands of Canucks Stranded in Hell

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[Editorial cartoon by Patrick Corrigan of The Toronto Star]

[Editorial cartoon by Theo Moudakis of The Toronto Star]

Hours of tears and Frustration

Only 261 Canadians able to leave; Hundreds stranded at Beirut port

Oh, such a comforting opening line for a drearily-titled article, highlighting the plight of the thousands upon thousands of Canadians stranded still in Lebannon unable to get out because of the current administration's mind-bloggling blundering incompetance and willingness to sacrifice Canada's conventional neutrality in the Mid East in order to cosy up to the Americans.

BEIRUT - Ottawa says it will take up to two weeks to rescue Canadians trapped in Lebanon after 2,000 citizens had their evacuation hopes dashed by a chaotic and gruelling attempt that left them stranded overnight at Beirut's port.
...
Canada had hoped to evacuate 4,500 citizens a day, and then scaled that down to 2,000. Foreign Affairs officials had initially hoped to complete the rescue in three days.

Just 261 Canadians were evacuated yesterday when only one of seven ships leased by Canada managed to reach Beirut's port to ferry them to Cyprus. The other 2,000 spent the night sleeping on the floor of a cavernous port building with babies crying among piles of suitcases.

It's now Thursday. We barely got any of our fellow Canadians out of hell, forcing those who were lucky enough to hold dual citizenships to flee with other foreign nationals, or even risk their lives by taking a taxi cab to the Syrian border, on the nearly bombed out road to Damascus, and eventually over to Jordan and its capital.

Initially, foreign affairs officials estimated it would take three days to complete the evacuation, but yesterday that was revised to upwards of 10 days to two weeks.

This is precisely why I despise the Conservatives - they don't know shit about efficiancy unless it comes to religion! They should step down, go pray and leave the beureaucratic process to the Liberals who know how to evacuate Canadians effectively and still somehow screw up without endangering lives.

It's not known how many of the estimated 50,000 Canadians in Lebanon - at least 30,000 of whom have registered with the embassy - will want to be evacuated. But what may become the biggest evacuation of stranded Canadians in history began as the most disorganized and stressful.

Will want to be? What kind of asinine bullplop is that question? No, a handful will want to stay because they love the uncertainty of a bloody warzone! Stupid writer...

The first group of frightened Canadians hoping to flee Israel's bombing - which has killed 300 people, mostly civilians — found themselves pushing and shoving for hours under a baking Mediterranean sun, dehydrated and in some cases fainting.

Most were tourists with limited links to Lebanon. They jammed the gates of the port where foreign affairs officials had told them to gather at 8 a.m., only to feel sweat drench their backs while Canadian embassy workers read off names on a list in alphabetical order, letting only those called out into the port.

Mothers feared for the lives of their babies as the crush of bodies squeezed out the air. Several pleaded for help until men picked up their baby carriages, raised them over the crowd, and walked them away to safety.

Is this "Standing Up for Canada", Conservatives? Is this how you live up to your flimsey election promises? You're just lying down and playing dead as the Americans hold a little treat above your head and have you parade around, humiliating the nation and selling out our interests. This is not standing up for Canada, this is leaving Canadians to suffer.

How long before more Canadians are killed unnecessarily by Israeli fire?

As night fell on the lucky few who were set to leave, passports went missing, there were rumours the ship couldn't hold all of them, and then the ground started shaking as Israeli jets bombed Beirut's southern suburbs again. Panic spread back at the port as the Blue Dawn tried to dock.

"Will they kill us on the boat?" asked Christine Dasher, a Toronto physician. "What if they have a bomb, what are we going to do?"

Oh, right, nice going Israel. That's real smart. Bombing the city the foreign nationals are trying to evacuate from... That's not going to earn you any friends. Then again, who needs friends when you've got the US watchin' your ass...

Initially, embassy officials couldn't produce the official manifest the Lebanese immigration authorities needed to allow the ship to start boarding. When they finally eased restrictions, several passports were temporarily misplaced as officials tried to hand them out in the dark.

That just seemed to create more confusion and the officials decided not to bother with passports at all, telling people just to get on the ship and that they would deal with passports later.

Did they ask the evacuees from Dunkirk during World War II for their passports as they pulled them away from the onslaught of Nazi fire? No, they got both the French and the English out of there, and it didn't matter what the nationality was.

"It's quite irresponsible of Canada," said Montreal student Mark Chebla. "We're the last country to leave so you'd think they had enough time to work things out."

Yes it is...

Escape from Beirut

One Canadian's story about travelling by car to Syria then Jordan. Like some others, she was forced to find her own way out. Others weren't as lucky due to certain reasons beyond their control.

A mother's hope turns to anguish

Kohar Tcholakian has only one question for Prime Minister Stephen Harper while she waits for word from her daughter, Lara, who is stranded in Beirut.

"If it was your children what would you do?" she asks. "Would you act so slow?"

Of course, really, would one expect the Prime Minister to do such a thing? No, he'd act quickly. But, then again, it isn't his kin who's stranded in the cross-fire hurricane.

Born and raised in Toronto, Lara holds a Canadian passport. She has felt like anything but Canadian after the Canadian Embassy turned her away at the evacuation port yesterday morning.

"She called crying on my cell at 5 a.m.," said Lara's younger sister, Garine. "`I want Canada to know how the embassy here is treating me,` she cried out. She was frantic."

Nice to know that the Canadian Embassy is giving priority to those who need it. Pregnant women, elderly and those with children have been left out in the sweltering sun and heat as they wait to leave. And, in some cases, they're all-out rejected and forced to come back later.

"She registered one week prior to going and she was called the night before," says Garine. "Even if she was not on the list, how can you turn away a pregnant woman?"

Do you think the English merchantships turned away French soldiers during the evacuation of Dunkirk? No, they banded together as allies and just took everyone they could. They all lent a hand to the British navy to help protect those who were fleeing from Nazi fire.

Swedes show the way

The Europeans have a class act.

Canada is being thoroughly embarassed by the Conservatives' overall lack of experience and intelligence in handling anything beyond a legislation that wants to raise the age of consent.

While Canada left about 2,000 of its stressed-out citizens behind yesterday to sleep on the floor of a port building, Sweden evacuated the same number of its citizens on the same day.

The 261 sweat-drenched Canadians lucky enough to be evacuated after a draining 13-hour process watched at the Beirut port as the Swedes put their last batch of the day on a ship for Cyprus.

So, let me get this straight, Sweden got the LAST of its citizens out of Lebannon while Canada was JUST evacuating the first 261?

Something isn't right. Something's horribly amiss.

On display was a bureaucratically inflexible, poorly organized process that kept people baking in the sun for hours at the port gates with no water being distributed.

They couldn't even provide water?

So, my fellow Canadians are left stranded in the cross fire hurricane, being turned back and forced to go back into the hell that they're trying to escape because of utter incompetance and those who are allowed through are being deprived of water and subject to a "list", which isn't even allowing for families to stay together?

If the Liberals were in power, they've have just taken all Canadians out and then made them wait in an airport in a true Canadian fashion, or better yet, somewherw where its nice and frigid...

Harper's flight into the unknown

Harper makes a straightforward case. As he explained his abrupt change of plans here, timing and geography put him in a position to help Canadians needing help.

"It's more than a symbolic trip," he said. "There is real need for air support in Cyprus."

So why, then, are Harper, his wife, a skeleton staff including a photographer, as well as his public relations team and RCMP bodyguards, taking up needed seats?

Why aren't they maximizing the assistance by sending an empty aircraft across the Mediterranean to the island nearest Lebanon?

The official answer is that it is too dangerous for the Prime Minister to fly on commercial aircraft. He has no choice but to stay with the plane, detour to Cyprus and bring home to Canada about 120 of the thousands fleeing Beirut by ship.

That strains credibility. It's hard to believe that taking a scheduled flight - or waiting for a government plane to arrive here - would expose Harper to more danger than flying into a chaotic region and then out again with 120 very upset people escaping a war.

It's "dangerous" for the Prime Minister to fly in a commercial airliner, but, it's not unsafe to send him closer to a warzone?

If the PM's safety was really a concern, they could've very well left them back in Paris. It would've left room for more Canadians on the craft. There was no need for him to fly out to Cyprus. They should've only taken the pilots and the cabin crew, leaving everyone else who normally uses that craft in Paris.

Last I checked, Paris isn't Toronto, is it? It's a pretty classy city and it's got nice people and safe areas for a leader to stay in.

This is precisely why I hate the Conservatives - they don't stand up for Canada!

Reports from Beirut suggest Canada's late-starting evacuation was snarled and confused. Instead of greeting Canadians relieved to see their prime minister, Harper was likely to be meeting furious citizens asking embarrassing questions.

It would be surprising if they didn't want to know why Canada, with the largest number of citizens in Lebanon, trailed others in launching its rescue effort. Even stranger if they didn't have strong opinions on Harper's seemingly cavalier acceptance of the civilian dangers inherent in Israel's "measured" response to Hezbollah kidnappings.

Asking embarassing questions? I didn't realise that they would be so diplomatic. Most would probably just fire off the usual placate Canadian obscenities, followed by a vote threat and leave the embarassing questions to the media, who will be locked out...

Rot in Hell! - Israel is a Terrorist like Hezbollah

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On July 17th, the day before the mass exodus had truly begun, Israel displayed its standard disregard for human life when it launched an air strike on Lebannon killing a family of seven.

Seven Canadians, all members of the same Montreal family, were killed in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon yesterday.

Canadian family dies in attack


Members of Montreal's Lebanese community, attending a peace rally in Montreal July 18, gather around mock coffins representing Canadians killed in Lebanon.

How is killing Canadians putting pressure on Hezbollah?

The bombing of the Canadian family came hours after a salvo of some 20 long-range Hezbollah rockets descended upon the Israeli port city of Haifa, killing eight Israelis in the deadliest attack of its kind since hostilities flared on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed "far-reaching consequences" for the Haifa attack, Hezbollah's deadliest strike ever on Israel. The morning barrage of rockets came after Israeli warplanes unleashed their heaviest strikes yet on Beirut, flattening apartment buildings and blowing up a power station to cut electricity to swaths of the capital.

"Far-reaching"? So, this means you're killing EVERYONE in the way and only issuing a warnin for civilians to leave after you've killed them with your rockets. Disgusting, just disgusting.

Oh and how is the killing of Canadians revenge for the killing of Israelis from a Hebollah rocket attack? It's not! It's pure disregard.

As much as I despise terrorists groups, at least they haven't targetted foreigners as of yet, and Israeli who's supposed to be "compassionate" and the like has shunned the shackles of common sense and allowed for their bellicose policies.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered his condolences to the families of the victims but he refused to criticise Israel or question its use of force.

And, Canada's leading asshole of a Prime Minister won't even condemn the attacks or criticise them! He doesn't give a damn about Canadians who probably didn't vote for him...

Canada's shock at Lebanon deaths

But friends and relatives of the Canadians killed in the Israeli air strike have accused the Conservative prime minister of not doing enough to protect Canadians in Lebanon.

They also accused Mr Harper of not caring about civilian lives.

Who can blame them? Harper isn't worthy of the position of Prime Minister.

So, the lives of everyone else is worthless because two damn soldiers were kidnapped?

Yesterday's most destructive attack came in the southern port city of Tyre, where Israeli warplanes struck a Lebanese civil defence building with rockets, tearing off the top three storeys, killing at least nine civilians and wounding 42, security officials said.

Now, tell me that Israel is attempting to minimise collateral damage. They aren't! They're deliberately targetting civilians.

I'd expect it from a terrorists group, not from a "democracy"... So, I guess this makes Israel's army a state-sanctioned terrorist group like Hamas, Hezbollah and many others.

Ottawa prepares exodus

Prepares?? This is precisely why I voted for the NDP, or would even accept the Liberals being in power - the Conservatives are immature and have no idea what to do in a time of crisis! Bring back the Liberals and Dan Teague who did something right the last time we had to get Canadians home!

The damn government waited too long! It waited until seven fellow Canadians suffered at the hands of Israel's warplanes.

Oust the minority government!

As of 7AM local time: Canada has 16 (citizens) aboard Italian warship to Cyprus; Canada is chartering 6 ships to begin 4,500 evacuations tomorrow. At least 50,000 Canadians are in Lebanon.

Banned and Challenge Books: Best Excuses Known to Man

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Throughout time, various people in numerous societies have decided that certain pieces of literature should be banned or otherwise in some shape or form, censored so that it comforms to their perceived societal values. It continues even now, and there is no real end to it, since there are people who cannot tolerate the existance of literature that challenges their narrow perspective on the world.

Now, I present to you, a cross-selection of the best excuses for banning or censoring certain pieces of literature.

I'm taking the information directly from the site and bolding the parts I find amusing.

Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings D.T. Suzuki. Doubleday. Challenged at the Plymouth-Canton school system in Canton, Mich. (1987) because "this book details the teachings of the religion of Buddhism in such a way that the reader could very likely embrace its teachings and choose this as his religion." The last thing we need are a bunch of peaceful Buddhists running around. The horror.

Uh... huh...right... So, what were they smoking and where can I get some?

Where's Waldo? Martin Handford. Little. Challenged at the Public Libraries of Saginaw, Mich. (1989), Removed from the Springs Public School library in East Hampton, N.Y. (1993) because there is a tiny drawing of a woman lying on the beach wearing a bikini bottom but no top. Yes, but did they find Waldo?

Really. I mean, if they can find the woman, surely they can find Waldo... Or were the people banning it perverted old men who wanted to horde the books for themselves so they could masterbate to the cartoon drawing of this topless chick?

Twelfth Night William Shakespeare. Airmont; Cambridge Univ. Pr.; Methuen; NAL; Penguin; Pocket Bks.; Washington Square. Removed from a Merrimack, N.H. high school English class (1996) because of a policy that bans instruction which has "the effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative."

There were homosexual references in it? I didn't realise that when Malvolio wore yellow cross-garters that it made him a homosexual... or that there were homosexual nuances to Viola's choice to cross-dress.

The Stand Stephen King. Doubleday; NAL. Restricted at the Whitford Intermediate School in Beaverton, Oreg. (1989) because of "sexual language, casual sex, and violence."

Uhm... but it's Stephan King. He's not exactly know for his upstanding, morally righteous fairy tales. What do you expect?

The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie. Viking. Banned in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Malaysia, Qatar, Indonesia, South Africa, and India due to its criticism of Islam. Burned in West Yorkshire, England (1989) and temporarily withdrawn from two bookstores on the advice of police. Five people died in riots against the book in Pakistan. Another man died a day later in Kashmir. Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, stating, "I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses, which is against Islam, the prophet, and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, have been sentenced to death." Challenged at the Wichita, Kans. Public Library (1989) because it is "blasphemous to the prophet Mohammed."

Of course, it also got outrage from the same people whose underwear got in a knot over some drawings of their precious phophet. Get over it! It's just literature... Then again, it does show God having a conversation with Satan... that can't be a good thing. After all, God would NEVER do such a thing and we cannot allow the human mind to think and imagine such things... right.

The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll Jim Miller, ed. Random. Challenged in Jefferson, Ky. (1982) because it "will cause our children to become immoral and indecent." They used to say the very same thing about polyphony.

Oh? So reading a book will but not hearing the music and watching the musicians strut around, caterwauling on stage with strobe lights flashing?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis. Macmillan. Challenged in the Howard County, Md. school system (1990) because it depicts "graphic violence, mysticism, and gore." I'm sure the school system would rather have its children reading something which adheres to "good Christian values." I cannot recommend the works of C.S. Lewis highly enough. The Narnia books, in particular, are great for readers of all ages.

But, ironically, it contains heavily-influence Christian themes within. Its author was a devout Christian and had slipped instances of his faith into his writing.

Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell. Avon; Macmillan. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel was banned from the Anaheim, Calif. Union High School District English classrooms (1978). The novel was challenged in the Waukegan, Ill. School District (1984) because it uses the word "nigger."

Oh, I didn't realise that during the American Civil War, people were politically correct when they referred to their slaves. If you're going to pen a historical novel, accuracies should be taken into consideration, especially in dialogue. If the author uses modern language in the rest of the writing, but time-accurate slang in the dialogue, how is it a problem? People spoke a certain way then, and we speak a certain way now.

Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury. Ballentine. Ironically, students at the Venado Middle School in Irvine, Calif. received copies of the book with scores of words--mostly "hells" and "damns"--blacked out. The novel is about book burning and censorship. Thankfully, after receiving complaints from parents and being contacted by reporters, school officials said the censored copies would no longer be used (1992).

Ironic, isn't it? A book about censorship is censored.

The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies Vito Russo. Harper. Challenged at the Deschutes County Library in Bend, Oreg. (1993) because it "encourages and condones" homosexuality.

Oh, so, it makes it ok to be comfortable with one's sexuality? Gee, isn't that an interesting concept.

For the full list, I highly recommend going to the website. I would've love to put more of them up, but there are far too many amusing ones that I'd be writing my list all day.


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Prayer doesn't work, largest study ever finds

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Prayer doesn't work? Really? Next they'll be saying the sky is blue and the grass is green. Honestly, this is one of the biggest wastes of money put into a study. Ever. Though it should and ought to take the wind out of the Religious Right's sails. They've been getting a little too high and mighty lately. This moral superiority of theirs... Tsk... Something was needed. I guess this study was it.

After all, what has prayer proven anyway? Even if you do pray and it comes to pass, the chances of it being as a result of divine intervention are slim to nil because God just doesn't give a flyin' hoot no more. His inbox is just too full and he can't take all the petty praying. Of course, this is on the condition that God does exist and he isn't a figment of human imagination design to justify age old superstitions and force people into submission through the fear of etermal damnation.

I have always believed in NOT praying for me. Of course, fundie Chrisitian think that everyone wants to be in their goddamn prayers. I had to forecefully request not to be. It's sad, really. I can't stand it, and yet, they think that people want it. Of course, if their prayers aren't working and I'm still a sinnin', Godless liberal hippie, you'd think they'd get the message that God ain't doin' jack about it.

After all, God did give humans freewill, did he not? So, it means that prayers can't change another, lest he taketh freewill. The Lord taketh and the Lord giveth. Of course, this refers to everything but freewill.

Further, if prayer worked, all homosexuals would be straight and all sinners would be smoted. But, that isn't happening and it has yet to happen.

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