Dire Warning

The UN always gives me a good laugh. Here comes another one via Reuters. Boldface mine:

The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday authorized countries fighting piracy off the Somali coast to take action also on Somalia's territory and in its airspace, subject to consent by the country's government.

I love these guys. Love. These. Guys. They're the funniest clowns on the planet.

More from the same story, as poor old Condi Rice forgets that the UN is full of wimps and nitwits:

Rice told the council Washington would set up a contact group to promote anti-piracy efforts, including through sharing intelligence.

But, like other speakers, she said the piracy crisis was inseparable from the turmoil in Somalia. The United States "does believe that the time has come for the United Nations to consider and authorize a peacekeeping operation," she said.

"We believe that by the end of the year we should try and have such a Security Council resolution," Rice told reporters later. African countries favor such a force and South African envoy Dumisani Kumalo said, "It's what we've always wanted."

But U.N. officials fear a blue-helmet force would fail unless the situation in Somalia calms down.

Same old story. Put your money on the pirates until the US does something - gasp - unilaterally.

Smackdown, Carleton Style

From the National Post, vis a vis that vote last week where Carleton wanted to stop raising money for cystic fibrosis because it isn't "inclusive" enough:

Public outcry against the decision, both on campus and around the country, pressured the student association to reconsider its previous decision and convene an emergency meeting.

Two of the councillors involved in drawing up and approving the motion resigned their seats at the boisterous meeting Monday.

Petitions calling for the impeachment of council president Brittany Smyth and other council members were tabled.

They ended up rescinding last week's vote. Now that's what I call standing up for your convictions.

Note: how did I know their council president would be named Brittany?

Diversity Can Kill You

I don't put much past college kids. When I was in university, I was an incredibly diligent scholar, caught up with dreams of loosening bra strap, attending free keggers, and toilet papering the quad on Friday nights.

Jimmy Buffett's song Pencil Thin Mustache has a great line:

They send you off to college
To try and gain a little knowledge
When all you want to do
Is learn how to score.

That's about right. So yes, like most students, I was a goof. But at least I knew I was a goof. When railing against oppression and declaring parliament a group of fascists, I knew I wasn't going to do anything more about it other than have a deep heartfelt talk with the blonde at the bar about how Camus could show us the way to enlightenment...through her dorm room.

Even back then, students were always so serious. The end of the world was always nigh, even when people were high. Everything mattered. Everything deserved a champion and a cause label. Everything, that is, except straight white guys.

That line of thinking has now been taken to its logical conclusion by the students of Carlton University in Ottawa. From the National Post:

The Carleton University Students' Association has voted to drop a cystic fibrosis charity as the beneficiary of its annual Shinearama fundraiser, supporting a motion that argued the disease is not "inclusive" enough.

Cystic fibrosis "has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men" said the motion read Monday night to student councillors, who voted almost unanimously in favour of it.

Well. Just how stupid are the students of Carlton University?

Pretty stupid. I'm guessing that some bubble-headed sophomore saw the word "Caucasian" when Googling CF, and decided that white guys didn't deserve to be saved from lung failure. Unfortunately, Caucasian and white are not the same thing. The Post:

[CF] is commonly considered an illness that affects Caucasians, but that includes people from the Middle East, South America, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Shinerama has been going on for decades. I remember it from when I was in school in the mid '90s. I don't remember asking what CF was, I just knew that anything with cystic in it had to be bad. I couldn't have cared less if the disease affected whites, blacks, or people with polka-dots. It was a disease and people needed help. So sure, for a day I could put down the Old Milwaukee and give some time for the cause. This mostly involved hanging out with the girls that were really into it. Then, back to the blessed life I had. Truth be told, I don't remember much about Shinerama except getting a t-shirt with a big footprint symbol on it and being told a couple of weeks later that a bunch of money had been raised. Cool.

I cannot imagine ever saying back then that someone didn't deserve help because of their skin color or their gender. That's genocide in reverse. I can't imagine anyone saying it back when I was in school.

But I can imagine it now. And these agents of diversity frighten me a little bit more every day.

Notice that the Carlton student councillors voted almost unanimously for the motion of stopping aid for people because of their skin colour. "Student councillors." IE, busybodies and politicians in training. Our future leaders. God help us.

The only thing that makes me rest a little easier is that Carlton was never known as a home for MENSA candidates. It was always last on the list for people going to university. Last Chance U. Let's hope it's still got that rep, and it stays that way for a long, long time.