Category Archives: Canada

Cane-Fu: the revenge of Oak Bay

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Oak Bay Cane Fu

Everybody was Cane-Fu fighting…or they will be, if this man has his way. Gordon Muir is a martial arts teacher in God’s Waiting Room, and he’s a very clever marketer.

Rather than bemoan the shortage of poorly-behaved adolescent boys whose parents are looking for a quickie external application of discipline, he’s come up with a new martial art that he is confident will appeal to the local market.

Cane-Fu.

from the Victoria Times-Colonist, via Fark.

Muir calls the cane “an interesting weapon” especially since it is “completely legal.”

He’s offering his course at Oak Bay’s Monterey Centre for anyone who doesn’t feel confident about walking down the street.

But he cautions that he is not recommending people go around whacking people indiscriminately. “Definitely not. It could be a hapless panhandler just wanting a quarter.”

I dunno; I’ve dealt with a few cranky seniors in my time, and I wouldn’t want to be some clueless Montreal punk, vision impaired by hoodie and hangover, just lying outside McDonalds, minding my own business, when something in Grandma Moses snaps.

Seventy-year-old Jerome Pauls has signed up for the October course…

“I’m not taking it so I can go out and be aggressive,” said Pauls.

“But if I can’t have a gun, then let’s go with a cane.”

Thorazine, fun for the whole family!

didja hear the one about the Jew on the plane?

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TerrorcatWell, he got booted off pretty quickly. Looks like Canada is all over that TWAT thing.

In good Canadian fashion, they are completely equal-opportunity and utterly non-discriminatory about it.

Everyone freaks them out.

Jewish man removed from airplane for praying
Tuesday, September 5, 2006 | 11:12 PM ET
CBC News

Some fellow passengers are questioning why an Happy HasidOrthodox Jewish man was removed from an Air Canada Jazz flight in Montreal last week for praying.

The man was a passenger on a Sept. 1 flight from Montreal to New York City when the incident happened.

The airplane was heading toward the runway at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when eyewitnesses said the Orthodox man began to pray.

“He was clearly a Hasidic Jew,” said Yves Faguy, a passenger seated nearby. “He had some sort of cover over his head. He was reading from a book.

“He wasn’t exactly praying out loud but he was lurching back and forth,” Faguy added.

The action didn’t seem to bother anyone, Faguy said, but a flight attendant approached the man and told him his praying was making other passengers nervous.

“The attendant actually recognized out loud that he wasn’t a Muslim and that she was sorry for the situation but they had to ask him to leave,” Faguy said.

The man, who spoke neither English nor French, was escorted off the airplane.

Air Canada Jazz termed the situation “delicate,” but says it received more than one complaint about the man’s behaviour.

The crew had to act in the interest of the majority of passengers, said Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stewart.

“The passenger did not speak English or French, so we really had no choice but to return to the gate to secure a translator,” she said.

The airline is not saying if the man was told he was not allowed to pray, but a spokesperson said the man was back on board the next flight to New York.

Jewish leaders in Montreal criticized the move as insensitive, saying the flight attendants should have explained to the other passengers that the man was simply praying and doing no harm.

Hasidic Rabbi Ronny Fine said he often prays on airplanes, but typically only gets curious stares.

“If it’s something that you’re praying in your own seat and not taking over the whole plane, I don’t think it should be a problem,” said Fine.

The Jewish group B’nai Brith Canada has offered to help give Air Canada crews sensitivity training.

Yep, better keep an eye on them for sure!

Arar report is in

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Maher Ararand Metafilter‘s got it. And, of course, I’m so out of touch I only found out because somebody linked to my blog in a post on Metafilter and I had to go see.

Note to ECNPA members; if you find the photographers responsible, I’m perfectly happy to credit them if that’s what they wish, or reduce them to thumbnail size in accordance with Fair Use legislation. I got these from Google Image Search, FYI.

Warning: I changed all their links to open in a new window. Normally I would just do that and not say anything, but there are a bajillion links here because it’s Metafilter after all and I don’t want you blaming me if your monitor suddenly looks like a weird 21st-century mosaic.

Yesterday, the Arar Commission released their report on the handling of the Maher Arar case, previously mentioned here or here. The findings are widely reported; Canada is self-flagellating for being complicit in the United States’ abduction and Arartorture of a Canadian citizen. As President Bush goes to Congress to lobby for the legal authority to abduct and torture anyone without a trial, Arar should consider himself lucky: although Canada didn’t help him out for a year, the Canadian government and news media were aware of and interested in his confinement, which likely saved him from the worst tortures. As a famous legal scholar commented some 240 years ago, “To bereave a man of life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism, as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole nation; but confinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to jail, where his sufferings are unknown or forgotten, is a less public, a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of arbitrary government.”
posted by jellicle at 8:18 AM PST – 93 comments

Photocredits: John Lehmann (Arar alone) and Bill Grimshaw (Arar and family) as far as I can tell from this posting on ECNPA. Updates and corrections welcomed in the Comments section.

Contest: Sunday Serial Thriller

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From Lois Peterson‘s Surreywriters list. Note that this is not paid writing work, which is, of course, how I came to hear about it:

On Sunday the Province will lanch the Sunday Serial Thriller, a 12-part mini-novel set in Vancouver.

The first and last chapters will be written by Daniel Kalla, with the the other chapters contributed by Province readers.  Prizes to be won include a trip to Mexico.

Complete details, and the first instalment, appears in the Sunday Province.

Rick and roll!

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Mercer's not too sure about you, pal.

Mercer‘s back, and raincoaster’s got him (ah, if only)! Actually, he’s been back for ten days but before that he hadn’t updated since April, so serves him right for the fact I didn’t find out till today!

Still, we’re not proud and we will take what we can get.

I see that Jack Layton has distinguished himself on the international front by coming up with a solution for the Afghanistan situation. Jack is calling for peace talks with the Taliban. About time the NDP get back to their more loony roots. For a while there they were coming off all semi-sensible.

Rest assured if there are peace talks with the Taliban and Jack Layton The Mercer Report will be there! I’ve attended a lot of political events over the years and as a location I would suggest holding the talks in one of the ball rooms at the casino in Hull.

I think you might be able to smoke there and I’m guessing the Taliban would appreciate that. All the Taliban really require to have a good time is an ashtray and a few de-peopled women making sure there’s a steady supply of unsafe drinking water.

Agenda for Historic Peace talks between Jack Mercer is shocked, shocked I tell you!Layton and Taliban leader – room 202 Casino Du Lac Leamy, Quebec

8:00 am – Jack Layton opening comments and welcome to assembled media and Taliban representative.

8:05 am – Taliban representative walks to podium, poses for photographs with Mr. Layton.

8:06 am – Taliban representative cleaves Mr. Layton in the forehead with giant axe.

8:08 am – Peace talks end.

8:10 am – Olivia Chow says she is “encouraged by talks” – announces plan to run for leadership of NDP.

What else is going on? On the Liberal front I was encouraged to read that Michael Ignatieff will not accept any questions from the media that are “anticipatory hypotheticals”. I’m glad he made this clear because I hope to interview him on the show this year and I appreciate the heads up. Truth is I like Iggy but honestly sometimes I don’t know what in the hell he’s talking about. I thought all hypotheticals were anticipatory! I am so stupid sometimes. I googled the phrase “anticipatory hypothetical” and there are only seven known uses in the history of the English language. The term pops up on a website called indiansex.com and it’s also used in an essay written by some dude in Iowa who believes that robots have taken over the world.

And finally on a sad note that crocodile hunter guy was killed by a stingray. Laugh and the world laughs with you, get killed by a benign piece of seafood and the world laughs too apparently. Showbiz is brutal that way.

Welcome back.

Anticipatory bestseller?