Seeing a parental advisory on a rap CD or an adult website would not seem out of the ordinary, but how about the U.S. Constitution? Wilder Publications — a small company based in Virginia — is taking a lot of heat for putting labels on copies of U.S. historical documents, warning readers that the work is "a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today." Diane Macedo at FoxNews.com has more:
On July 24th, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against some of Alberta's Hutterite communities, ensuring they will no longer be exempt from being required to have photographs on their drivers licenses.
The Hutterites believe that photographs are prohibited by the second commandment. While that belief would seem to fall under their constitutional right to freedom of religion, the ruling states that being exempt from having their photograph taken on religious grounds does not satisfy Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that our rights and freedoms can be overridden if it can be "demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." You can thank Trudeau for that one.
In his latest column written for the Western Standard, Pierre Lemieux examines the ruling and questions the need for photographs on government identification in the first place:
Now that the Ontario PC Leadership Race has ended, I figure we can follow the rest of the media by getting on our knees and paying homage to Michael Jackson.
While the coverage of this event has been a little excessive (CTV News Channel seems to have been all Jackson all the time for the past few days), he was certainly an influential figure who many of us grew up listening to. He also exhibited lots of strange behaviour, including changing his skin colour, dangling his child from a balcony, as well as being accused of reprehensible acts of child abuse. Yet, it is likely that he will be remembered for his glory days when he was on top of the world:
What are your thoughts on the media coverage of Jackson's death and the man himself?
Update: The following video has been brought to my attention. I think it's hilarious and raises some good points, but I'm posting it against my better judgment, as it contains strong language and is not safe for work.
The hot dogs I ate for lunch as part of my campaign to eat more meat
The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has launched a campaign to boycott Canadian maple syrup. The move is in opposition to Governor General Michaëlle Jean, who recently ate a raw seal heart while visiting Inuit people in Canada's north. That's right, Canada's head of state ate a raw seal heart and I fully support her for doing so. PETA's response to the incident was swift. A letter sent to supporters read as follows:
Further to our previous discussion on swine flu, this article explores the history of pandemic influenza.
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A pandemic is a massive viral outbreak, which affects large amounts of people over a wide geographic area. People usually have little or no immunity to pandemic outbreaks, which results in high death rates. Most pandemics have been caused by a new strain of the influenza virus, which is often the result of an animal virus mutating into one that can infect humans. We are exposed to influenza viruses many times throughout our lives and we have built up an immunity to lots of them. We have not built up an immunity, however, to new strains that jump from animals to humans. This type of situation creates the potential for an outbreak that could kill many people. The process of a virus jumping from animals to humans usually occurs when an avian virus infects swine. Since pigs and humans have similar DNA, the virus has the potential to mix with other pig viruses and mutate into something that can infect humans as well. The current swine flu outbreak is an example of this process.
Pandemics have been occurring throughout history. It is generally accepted that pandemics will occur three to four times every century, although scientists don't seem to know why this pattern exists. A brief history of pandemic influenza can be seen in the timeline below.
Life in Mexico City is beginning to return to normal
as the government lifts restrictions and fears over swine flu begin to
subside. We are not out of the woods yet, however, as the virus still
has the potential to become a serious issue, either now or in the fall
when the flu could make a comeback. Talk of potential pandemics has
become increasingly familiar to Canadians after the 2003 SARS crisis
and the 2005 Avian Flu scare. Back in 2005, the Western Standard took an in-depth look at pandemic preparedness
and argued that another pandemic was inevitable and that Canadian
authorities were not doing enough to prepare for the eventuality:
The U.S. already has already ordered a stockpile of two million doses of the H5N1 vaccine, with production beginning once testing of the vaccine is complete. Canada is going a different route. Butler-Jones argues that, under international agreements, any vaccine formula the U.S. might produce would be shared with other countries, and so Canada has currently chosen to focus its efforts on other areas, such as early global detection. "Should Canada do the 'me too,' or should Canada continue to do what we're doing in terms of adding to the body of knowledge?" he asks. "Should we look at finding another piece that isn't being done elsewhere, to ensure that's added to the body of knowledge? Those are the conversations that are going on right now" in Canada. But the reason, says Butler-Jones, that the Canadian government is not stockpiling vaccines is because it chooses not to. "The most efficient way of doing the research is to have different places doing different pieces, and then sharing the information," he says.…
While experts may quibble over the number of fatalities, all agree on one thing: it's not a question of if such a deadly pandemic will strike the world, but when. There is almost universal consensus among influenza experts, says Cheng, that pandemics are cyclical. "Typically, they occur every 30 years," she says. "In the twentieth century, there were three: in 1918 [which killed 40-million people globally and 50,000 in Canada], 1957 and 1968. There is no reason to believe that there will not be another influenza pandemic in this century."
Seeing a parental advisory on a rap CD or an adult website would not seem out of the ordinary, but how about the U.S. Constitution? Wilder Publications — a small company based in Virginia — is taking a lot of heat for putting labels on copies of U.S. historical documents, warning readers that the work is "a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today." Diane Macedo at 
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