kimmy

Info Wars? An anti-racism activist getting their information from Alex Jones is kind of like a human rights activist getting their information from Stalin. -k

What a dumb-ass, that's all I can say. I am not one who believes in harsh sentences for drug users, but I expect someone who has a high profile to behave more responsibly. Jaffer can kiss his political future (whatever that might have been) goodbye. I don't know if he was slated to run again in Edmonton Strathcona, or if they'd have picked a fresh face, but as a former Conservative MP I could have certainly imagined Jaffer winding up in some sort of bogus patronage role; that's likely gone forever. Not sure if you've heard, but the judiciary is independent of elected officials. Whether the Conservatives hope he gets off with a warning and an educational video, or whether they hope he rots in jail forever, it's out of their hands. People who hope to see Jaffer do hard time are probably SOL. If you wanted harsher sentences for drug users, you should have sent more Conservative MPs to Ottawa. Marijuana is for hippies. Cocaine's a professional person's drug. -k

Why do people call you a racist? -k

I think Michael was getting at the idea that we erect monuments to specific events, not to general ideas. (how about a monument to remember the victims of meanness?) Edmonton has a memorial to the millions who starved to death in Ukraine because of Stalin. -k

Ok ... so, factory workers have experienced lung problems after working in an environment full of nanoparticles (defined as any particles .1 to 2.5 micron particles) in the air. And because vaccines will also contain nanoparticles, this is cause for PANIC! So, uh, did anybody tell the writer of your article that the vaccines will not be inhaled? -k

Although TV sit-coms would have you believe black women will be wandering around waving their fingers in peoples faces, snapping their fingers and shouting "oh no you di-int!" and "oh snap!" and "uh-uh, girlfriend!" and inane crap like that, that doesn't actually make it real. That is a stereotype, one that a few black comediennes have made a pile of money from promoting. (much the same way more than a few blondes have made a pile of money playing dumb.) And, even if rude and obnoxious behavior from black women were one of those stereotypes that might have a kernel of truth behind it ... it doesn't have any bearing on Beyonce Knowles. This is a woman who has been on stage since she was a child, raised in a well-off family who had her in singing and dancing and pageants as soon as she was old enough to walk. She absolutely knows how to conduct herself with people watching, because she has been doing it her whole life. She was quite clearly stunned at what West did. I see no reason to doubt the sincerity of her gesture towards Swift. And as a general comment, I think it is very sad that losers (Serena Williams, Kanye West) have received so much more attention than winners (Knowles and Clijsters) this past week. -k

One of the all time meltdowns, from earlier this year. "American Psycho" Christian Bale goes ballistic after the cinematographer wanders through the set while Bale is filming a scene for "Terminator: Salvation". (warning, continuous swearing.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrvMTv_r8sA (and, the dance remix! continuous, rhythmic swearing.) -k

Based on his track record, I wouldn't be surprised if West's opinion is that Beyonce was robbed of the award because of racism. I also won't be surprised if he at some point plays the race card in an attempt to excuse his behavior. But at heart this is just the case of an asshole acting like an asshole. -k

While West is a true asshole, I thought what Beyonce did later in the show was splendid. Beyonce Knowles, who has a whole shed full of those awards, won another later in the show, and rather than make an acceptance speech of her own, remarked that winning her first at age 17 was very special for her, and invited Swift on stage so that she could have her moment. While some celebrities are selfish idiots, there are some who aren't. One does not make it to the top of the heap in athletics without an intense drive to win, and more often than not a healthy dose of ego to go along with it. Williams' got the better of her. What Clijsters accomplished bears special mention, however: she quits tennis for 2 years, has a baby, and in her first tournament back after her hiatus, she beats both Williams sisters, plus knocks off a top-ranked opponent in the final, on the way to winning the US Open. If you wrote a script like that for a movie, they'd reject it as being unrealistic. As well, Kim Clijsters becomes the first mom since Yvonne Goolagong (in 1980) to win one of the major tennis events. -k

In the thread you are referencing, I never responded to any information from the New York State police (and in fact, I never saw that information.) Nor did I respond to information from "several universities". I did, however, respond to one piece of information from a university, which you presented yourself. My response was to point out that what you presented was not a "study" or "research" or a "paper", it was an uncited claim in a brochure from the Campus Life office at that college. If there is anything from the other thread you wish for me to address, please feel free to go to the other thread, quote the message you wish me to respond to. Dishonestly presenting my statements out of context was actually a brilliant stratagem on your part? ha ha, ok then. This person has taken a bigoted assumption and turned it into a reason not to hire someone. The double standard is this: in any other situation people would recognize it as discrimination, while in this situation it's apparently justifiable, at least in his mind. I don't know what you might have learned in school, but I was taught that the way to test a hypothesis is to alter one variable while holding all other variables the same. If the results change, then the variable you've altered is significant. One might wonder whether this experiment conducted in England would be equally applicable in the United States, and one might wonder if there's something peculiar to the mental workings of MBA students that might not translate to the general populace, but the result itself is significant. (and we haven't even got to Diane Kyle yet.) Object to a blonde-joke, and you get a response like "Oh, come ONNN! People don't actually think that. It's just a joke. Everybody knows it's not real." But it turns out that it actually is real. I never spoke in absolutes about anything. And I believe my statement about "experience" that you're referring to is that in my experience-- 8 years of waitressing in clubs and bars-- I see men approach women far more often than the reverse. And I believe you responded that women from your social circle do approach men, so I'm skeptical that you're so off-put by people referencing personal experience. I never suggested that the results of that survey could be used to make judgments about whole races. So, I did look up Dr Kagan, and he's about as legitimate as it gets in his field. He's spent a whole lifetime looking at nature-vs-nurture questions, and when he says that blond blue-eyed children have on average a higher anxiety response, I'm inclined to believe him. I read an interesting interview in which he mentions it in reference to his broader work. It's not the only example of a correlation between a physiological trait and a mental one. He compares the correlation between blond and anxiety to the correlation between intelligence and myopia. It's statistically observable, but the correlation is too weak to be of any use in looking at specific individuals. And it's not even his intent to do so. His intent is to research the role of genetics in development with the goal of improving diagnosis and treatment... that one child who has unusual anxiety may have simply inherited this disposition while another with unusual anxiety may be in an extremely stressful environment, and that these two children may need different sorts of help, and that understanding the origin of their anxiety is important in deciding what sort of help they need. Dr Kagan is not out claiming that one group has characteristics of this and this and this, and that another group has characteristics of that and that and that. However, he's advocating the idea that there's a genetic component to psychology, and that these genetic factors in psychology don't exist in isolation and can correlate with other genes. And he mentions the slight positive correlation between blonde and anxiety because it's a controversy-free way to make his point. The blondes are not going to throw rocks at your car or demand that Harvard terminate your tenure. But it doesn't take a Harvard professor to recognize that Kagan's work has implications that go far beyond blondes and anxiety, and that this line of research has the potential to produce results that make people very very uncomfortable. Yeah, I'd find it pretty offensive. But I doubt the speaker would draw howls of outrage as Argus did. I've heard this one, or variations on it, many times. Coming from the mouths of nice normal people who'd probably be shocked to hear someone make the same remark about members of a racial group. I made that comment about *non-Caucasian* blondes. I can't speak to what proportion of North American non-Caucasian women as a whole might opt to go blonde; I believe it to be extremely small. (yes, I base that on personal observation.) Most of the examples I do know of are involved in adult entertainment or in prostitution. Women who opt to go blonde often do so because they are looking for a particular type of attention... and when non-Caucasian women opt to go blonde, it is particularly attention-grabbing because it is so unusual. And yes, women in the sex trade do reach for the peroxide in vastly disproportionate numbers, and that in itself is a statement about how society sees blondes. -k

Nonetheless, Canadians got to vote for, or against, a politician who was campaigning with the promise of implementing something big if he won. That the groundwork was laid during the first term doesn't alter the fact that the voter had the opportunity to vote for or against a big, ambitious policy. You sort of approached this from a different side earlier today when you wrote about how elections are being fought on personality these days because nobody seems to have any *ideas* worth fighting an election over. Still, that was 20 plus years ago. Is there nothing new or bold for today's leaders to offer the electorate? Or is new and bold just too scary for voters who really just wish they lived in simpler times? -k

Conservative anti-Ignatieff ad features... Justin Trudeau Wellll, it was no secret that the more left-leaning side of the party was less than excited about Ignatieff as leader. If the Conservatives can remind left-leaning Liberals of that, it might hurt the Liberals, even as the Liberals regain support from center-right voters. -k

He talked "making trade work for America" (or some such) during the election campaign, and people voted for him. If people weren't comfortable with tariffs on imports, they should have voted for the other guy. -k

Bach family outings must be a whole lot of fun! -k

That is truly astonishing. Thanks for the information. I might find this book for myself. -k

-k

Is giving up on the wood thievin' and startin' up a big ole copper still an option? Obviously ratting on your buddy isn't an appealing option. However, it doesn't seem fair that you've been subjected to this increased cost of production while he continues to scoff-law scot-free. Maybe there's an alternative. Partner up. You and he team up... share the expenses (you presumably wouldn't have to buy extra fire insurance, etc, right?) so that your buddy can enjoy the benefits of being clear and legal too. Then the both of yez sell 98% of your wood under the table. Everybody wins! -k

The specifications of the plane are so ridiculous, it's like something from out of a comic-book. It's incredible that they actually made it happen, at a time when engineering was done with pencils, paper, and slide-rules. Just imagine it. Picture the Valkyrie sharing a runway with other planes... it would be like a '68 Dodge Charger in a parking lot full of Toyota Yarises. Or a Lamborghini Murcielago in a showroom full of Hyundai Accents. Or a Suzuki Hayabusa parked amongst a bunch of old-people mall-scooters. Or, something along those lines. OMG, that's so adorable! -k

Thanks for making me look that up. Now that I've heard it for myself, I think I might have to go out and kill something. A while back I think I challenged people to find me any current-day music as stupid as Disco Duck. Congratulations, you have succeeded. Valuable kimmy-points will be credited to your account. -k

I don't see any philosophical reason why right wing ideology should be connected to puritan sexual morals and other "family values" positions that we often see from American conservative politicians. In the United States, however, it seems as if organized evangelicals have considerable influence in the Republican party, and a politician who has them on his side has a considerable advantage over a rival. I think that for a Republican, the calculus goes like this: if you go out and talk about God and family, you can get the religious lobby on your side, or at least avoid making enemies of them. A voter who finds such talk so annoying that you lose their support... probably isn't voting Republican anyway. I suspect similar arguments might be made in regards to right-wing politics in Canada and maybe even the UK and Australia. I simply don't follow UK and Australian politics enough to even speculate. In Canada, the Red Deer bible-thumpers were supposedly at one point disproportionately influential within the Reform party, and some people would argue that this remains the case. I believe that as Reform spread and merged with the PC party, that influence has been watered down enormously, but it might still exist at the riding-association level. -k

"Rhiannon" makes me want to jab sticks into my eardrums. "Don't Stop" and "Go Your Own Way" are catchy pop-songs. I much prefer "Tusk" or "The Chain" to either of them... "Green Manalishi" is the only Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac with which I am familiar, and I'd thought it was a Judas Priest song. While doing some research to find out what a "Manalishi" is, I read about Peter Green and the story behind the song. When I heard the Fleetwood Mac version, I thought it was entrancing, haunting, amazing. -k {same day, I found out that isn't a Judas Priest song either.}

Great minds. -k

Well, it's better than "Choose your Canada." I think, as Nicky suggests, it may be a clumsy attempt to reference the "Yes We Can" slogan. "We" is perhaps intended to create the feeling of a team or common purpose, as the Democrats seemed to have created among their supporters. But when I hear it, I hear "We Liberals can do better than those Conservatives." (If "We" is intended to include we the voters, then yes, I guess the implication is that we collectively are underachieving. I don't particularly care for the implication. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm pretty much on a roll. ) "Yes We Can" was a wonderful slogan, but not because of any specific meaning or promise. Precisely the opposite, in fact. "Yes We Can" works because of a feeling it invokes. It is unabashedly positive, it is a defiant answer to any of a million admonishments that start with "You can't..." It's a phrase that asks to be shouted, or at least delivered with confidence. It invites the hearer and the speaker to wonder at the possibilities of all the things "we can" do. Its simplicity both conceals and creates its power. "We can do better" doesn't invoke a feeling. It's rather inelegant. It only invites the hearer and the speaker to wonder "better than what?" It doesn't lend itself to being shouted, or stated with cocky confidence... I personally picture some guy who's just been dumped dismissing his former girlfriend with "meh, I could do better." If the intent is to say "we Liberals can do better than those Conservatives," then it's ... well, mediocre. If it's an attempt to create a feeling of unity and purpose and positive feeling and so-on that "Yes We Can" somehow condensed, well, it misses that target completely. -k

Racist! Racist! Black people in America live in houses, not caves, Sir, and in the Obama's case, they live in a pretty white house that you may have seen on TV! Invoking the image of a cave-dwelling savage is just typical of the kind of racially divisive language that Barack Obama's enemies are using to inflame tensions and undermine this Presidency! So, why don't you go back to the Bandelot caves, you knuckle-dragging neanderthal, and don't come out until you've learned to paint with all the colors of the wind, and-- I'm sorry, I apologize. I couldn't resist. Right after the election, I had suggested that since turning the economy around and getting out of Iraq were promises that would take a long time to deliver on, Healthcare was something he could work on as a nearer-term goal as an achievement he could point to. Boy, did I screw up that one! At present, it looks like turning around the economy is the closest, getting out of Iraq could happen eventually, and healthcare could happen when hell freezes over. A nearer-term goal as an achievement he could point to? uh, I dunno... he did a really great job throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of the baseball season, right? I mean, that's something, right? -k

(does the same apply to Britney Spears? ) I bet Wild Bill would tell you that Fleetwood Mac was WAY cooler before the chicks showed up. -k