Canada disagrees with United Nations "Rights of Indigenous Peoples!"

From BBC World News:

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples after 22 years of debate.

The document proposes protections for the human rights of native peoples, and for their land and resources. There are estimated to be up to 370 million indigenous people in the world. They include the Innu tribe in Canada, the Bushmen of Botswana and Australia's Aborigines.

It passed despite opposition from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. They said it was incompatible with their own laws.

Campaigners say they are under greater pressure than ever, as developers, loggers, farmers and mineral extractors move in on their land.

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples calls on countries to give more control to tribal peoples over the land and resources they traditionally possessed, and to return confiscated territory, or pay compensation.

The General Assembly passed it, with 143 countries voting in favour and 11 abstaining.

Four nations - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States - each with large indigenous populations, voted against. Australia said it could not allow tribes' customary law to be given precedence over national law. "There should only be one law for all Australians and we should not enshrine in law practices that are not acceptable in the modern world," said Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough.

A leader of a group representing Canada's native communities criticised his government's decision to oppose the declaration. "We're very disappointed... It's about the human rights of indigenous peoples throughout the world. It's an important symbol," said Phil Fontaine, leader of the Assembly of First Nations.

Campaign group Survival International says Canada's Innu tribe, who live in the frozen Labrador-Quebec peninsula, are struggling to maintain their traditional lifestyle as the government allows mining concessions, hydro-electric power schemes, and roads on their land.

The Canadian government said it supported the "spirit" of the declaration, but could not support it because it "contains provisions that are fundamentally incompatible with Canada's constitutional framework." "It also does not recognise Canada's need to balance indigenous rights to lands and resources with the rights of others," a joint statement from the Canadian ministries of Indian and Foreign Affairs said.

Canada has 1.5 million indigenous people, among a total population of 35 million.

(A large percentage of the native population lives in Northern Quebec, but that province's draconian "French Only" lanquage laws are not enforced because the Indians have guns!)

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Goodbye Vermont!

Guest Post By John Curran;

Disillusioned by what they call an empire about to fall, a small cadre of writers and academics in Vermont want the state to secede from the United States.

In 2005, about 300 people turned out for a secession convention in the Statehouse and plans for a second one are in the works.

A poll this year by the University of Vermont's Center for Rural Studies found 13 per cent of those surveyed support secession, up from eight per cent a year before.

"The argument for secession is that the U.S. has become an empire that is essentially ungovernable - it's too big, it's too corrupt and it no longer serves the needs of its citizens," said Rob Williams, editor of Vermont Commons, a quarterly newspaper dedicated to secession.

"We have electoral fraud, rampant corporate corruption, a culture of militarism and war," Williams said.

"If you care about democracy and self-governance and any kind of representative system, the only constitutional way to preserve what's left of the Republic is to peaceably take apart the empire."

Vermont, which was historically conservative, has evolved into one of the country's most liberal states since the latter part of the 20th century, a bastion of counter cultural dissent and New England self-reliance, where folks wear their hearts - and their anti-war stickers - on their Subaru station wagon bumpers.

The Vermont movement has been simmering for years but gained new traction because of the Iraq war, rising oil prices and the formation of several pro-secession groups.

For now, the would-be secessionists are hoping to draw enough support to put the question on Town Meeting Day agendas.

"We're normal human beings," said Williams, 39, a history professor at Champlain College.

"But we're serious about this. We want people in Vermont to think about the options going forward."

"Do you want to stay in an empire that's in deep trouble?"

---------------------------------------------------------------
Of course they don't; that is why what I am about to propose makes so much sense.

Instead of just becoming independent and going it alone, do an about face and JOIN CANADA.

After all, Quebec will leave sooner or later (Or kicked out!) and Vermont could just take over where Quebec left off.

It would certainly be advantageous from a monetary standpoint since Vermont would then receive much more than it puts into Confederation. (Just like Quebec!)

On top of that the good citizens of Vermont could extract any other concessions they wanted out of the Federal Government just by threatening to go back to being a State.

In other words, boys and girls, it's a win-win, no lose situation.

Just like the people of Quebec had before they went and got stupid!

Your "makes sense to me" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

On a side note, a plus for Canada would be that the Bob Newhart show, which was set in Vermont, would then classify as "Canadian Content!"

I don't care what religion it is! It's still a dagger!

Quebec can be a little draconian at times with their stupid language laws, distinct society, and separatism, etc. etc.

No one has been able to figure out yet if it is because they are a minority in Canada, or just plain because they are French!

In Montreal, a cosmopolitan sort of town, a dispute erupted after a gym's windows were obscured to block the view of exercising women from the Hasidic Jewish synagogue across the street and pools have been asked for gender-specific swim times to accommodate religious groups.

Men were banned from prenatal classes at a Montreal community centre to accommodate Muslim, Sikh and Hindu women, and a city police publication came under fire for suggesting female officers should defer to male colleagues when dealing with men from certain religions.

However, one little town in Quebec seems to have all its marbles as this piece sent by Dene Moore of Canada Press shows!

HEROUXVILLE, QUE. -- A sign at the entrance of this rural Quebec town says: Herouxville welcomes you.

Unless, that is, you plan on stoning a woman to death, sending your kids to school with a kirpan or covering your face other than on Halloween.

The town council of Herouxville, a sleepy town dominated by a towering Roman Catholic church, has adopted a declaration of "norms" that it says would-be immigrants should be aware of before they settle in this town. Among them, it is forbidden to stone women or burn them with acid.

Children cannot carry weapons to school. That includes ceremonial religious daggers such as kirpans, even though the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Sikhs can carry kirpans in schools.

However, children can swim in a pool with other children -- boys and girls alike -- because they can't be segregated.

And for the record, female police officers in Herouxville, 165 kilometres northwest of Montreal, can arrest male suspects. Also part of the declaration is that women can drive, dance and make decisions on their own.

"We're telling people who we are," said Andre Drouin, one of six town councillors and the driving force behind the declaration passed this month.

The small town has only one immigrant family and wants more!

But Drouin said the declaration, which was posted on the town's website and sent to the provincial and federal immigration ministers, is the result of a number of recent culture clashes across the country.

I would love to live in a progressive little town like Herouxville except for one thing! They would probably want me to learn French!

Your "Damn the P.C." scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Scotland - Great Britain's Quebec!

France lost the battle for North America hundreds of years ago but Quebec refuses to lay down and die! Much the same can be said for Scotland since this is the 300th anniversary of an increasingly dis-united union with England.

(The fact that my wife is a Scottish lass from Glasgow, and would be happy with this article has nothing to do with it folks!)

Back in 1707 the Scottish Parliament voted to accept the "Treaty of Union" with England which gave the world Great Britain, heralded the blossoming of the "Industrial Age," and made Britain a world power.

This in spite of the fact that during the Wars of Scottish Independence, (approximately 1290 - 1363) invasions led to periods of temporary English occupation of parts of Scotland, but Scottish independence was retained.

(Robert the Bruce,
King of Scotland,
after the uprising by
William Wallace - "Braveheart!")


In 1603 James VI of Scotland also became James I of England, but the Union of the Crowns still left the parliaments separate. Scotland retained its government but the struggle between the countries now became economic.

The Scottish and English Parliaments signed the Act of Union of 1707, both the English and the Scottish Parliaments were dissolved, and all their powers were transferred to a new Parliament in London which then became the Parliament of Great Britain.

Certain significant matters including Law and education remained separate from the English system, and the Scottish culture and languages retained some strength.

Although there was a new British identity taken up with varying degrees of enthusiasm, (an attempted re-branding of Scotland as 'North Britain' never caught on) the Scottish national identity remained strong.

Some of England's 50 million people grumble that Scotland effectively rules the United Kingdom and bemoan the abundance of Scottish lawmakers in high-ranking positions.

(Plus the fact that Scottish polling districts play in determining national elections, and the "Royal Family's favourite retreat" is still Balmoral, Scotland!)

Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is the purpose of the whole article!

Just as most Scots care little for concerns over liberty, democracy or nationalism, and claim the debate is really about taxation and the standard of living, so too should the people of Quebec be more concerned with the economic consequences of separation than the cultural implications. You can't have it both ways!!!

Your "political' scribe;
Allan W Janssen

"Good Night"

It was one of those late night conversations that makes you wonder?

After reading for about an hour the "missus herself" and I turned out the lights and were preparing for sleep when her voice came out of the dark! "Do you remember a long time ago when toilet paper came in all sorts of pastel shades"

"Yea, sort of." I replied.

"Well how come now, the only kind you can get is white? Does it have something to do with the fact that the dye causes cancer" she asked?

With no obvious answer, and not wanting to get into a long discussion on cancer of the ass, I tried to change the subject.

"That's nothing, remember about thirty years ago when margarine had to be that sickly shade of white because the dairy industry didn't want it confused with butter!" I replied.

"Yea, sort of." She said.

"Well they are so far behind the times in Quebec that they still have that awful shade of white margarine and the dairy industry there just defeated another attempt to have margarine colored yellow like butter." I pronounced!

"Well that doesn't make any sense to me!" My wife said. "I don't know why butter is yellow to begin with since the milk it is made from is white!"

Now this I really didn't have an answer for and rather than see where the conversation was going next, I pretended I had fallen asleep!

Your humble servant
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) www.God-101.com

If I ruled the world!

The Janssen Manifesto

Part 1:

Here it is a Sunday afternoon and I have not been out all weekend because it is too hot! Instead, I sat in front of this damned computer, wrote in my own blog, and visited all sorts of others from literally around the world.

A realization slowly started to form in my feeble little brain that there are uncountable points of view on any major subject, with a particular emphasis on politics and religion.

Not only that, but the vast majority of people whose thoughts I read about on their “blogs” seemed to be totally out of their minds. (Or at the very least, seriously mis-informed about that of which they were speaking!)

In other words, they were full of shit!

This got me thinking about my dear old Mother who once said to me in a fit of pique and self-righteous indignation; “If I ruled the world, things would be a lot different!”

This sent me into a daydream about how I could go about solving all the big problems in the world and just for the hell of it, here I go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First, we might as well start with politics and close to home, which for me is here in Canada.

There are two big problems here. The first is Quebec and all their whining about how they are distinct and different and this and that.

It never stops - and they keep talking about getting out of Canada for a better cultural and economic life! (This in spite of the fact that someone, [Churchill?] once said; “The French are the greatest second raters in the world!”)

That is an easy problem to solve. We do not let them separate. We kick them out!

Separatists in Quebec keep telling the population how the province could do better on its own both culturally and economically. (Never mind that Quebec receives far more than it gives to the Federal government.)

They also would then be a country with 10 million people in a sea of over 300 million English-speaking people - and without the support of the Canadian Infrastructure.)

Could they pull this off? Of course not.

Just so there are no hard feelings - when they leave we will even give them Labrador so that they might find some more oil and minerals for their economy.

BUT, we need a connection to the Eastern part of Canada so we will take, (remember there are more of us than them) the South Shore to avoid partitioning the country.

For any non-Canadian who does not know, the South Shore is the part of Quebec on the south side of the Saint Lawrence River that extends in a small band from Ontario to New Brunswick.

This, by the way would also automatically solve the problem of bilingualism! There would not be any - so all the cereal boxes would be in English again.

The other problem is multi-culturalism. WE DO AWAY WITH IT!

Where the United States is described as a huge “Melting Pot;” Canada has stressed retention of national characteristics for recently arrived immigrants and this has led to chaos in certain parts of society.

When my relatives came here from Europe in the fifties it was a case of learning the language and fitting in with society.

The big thing was that you did it as a Canadian, and you did it according to the laws of this Country, not the laws of the place you came from!

These days everyone wants to pick and choose what sort of Canadian they want to be.

People from India want to join the Royal Canadian Police but insists on wearing their turban instead of a Mounties hat - on religious grounds. It does not occur to them that if they do not like it they just do not join. NO, instead we have to alter our institutions and customs to suit them instead of the other way.(Plus they would look like real assholes with a hat perched on top of their turban!!!)

Indian Sikh schoolchildren claim that they can take a dagger to school because it is their custom and religion from “Over There,” and why should they have to change just because they are “Over Here!”

Sikh extremists blow up Canadian airliners because ther are pissed about conditions back in India!

Muslims want to be able to impose an Islamic “Sharia Law” on their people instead of abiding by the laws of Canada, and when they are turned down, scream discrimination.

Then young Muslims and their families live here, collect welfare and all the social benefits the country has to offer them, live far better than they ever could have “back home,” and then plot to perform terrorist acts to further their cause of Islamic Fundamentalism. (A couple of dozen of them in Toronto of all places! What the hell do they have to bitch about the Canadian way of life.)

People come here, get their Canadian Citizenship and immediately go back to the country of their birth.

Then twenty or thirty years later, when there is ethnic or religious strife where they are living again, the first thing they do is plead with the Canadian government to bail them out and give them free passage back to Canada.

(As of this writing, it just happened again in Lebanon!)

SO,the solution is the end to Multi-Culturalsim, if you're going to be here, you're going to fit in here! Never mind the baggage from "back home, we don't need that shit"

There, that solved some of the major problems here in Canada. In Part two; we will straighten out the Middle East, and after that the rest of the World. Stay tuned!

Your Faithful Scribe
Allan W Janssen

Quebec makes an ass of itself!

Talk about being a patriot. We Canadians have got it all over the Americans.

I just heard about a guy down the street who had a map of Canada tatoo'd to his ass.

Now, every time he sits down ....... Quebec separates! ;-)