Canadian Blood Services has announced that they’re lifting their lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with men, provided they’ve been abstinent from homosexual relations for five years.

Their reasoning is thus:

The change announced Wednesday will open the door to men who may have had an experimental sexual encounter with another male when they were young, as well as men who were raped when they were boys, Devine said. The lifetime ban applied to any man who had had a sexual encounter with another man, encompassing as a result some men who did not live as gay men, she noted.

But that major concession isn’t good enough for Canada’s gay activists.

A gay-rights lobbyist:

“But it certainly doesn’t go far enough. It should still be behaviour based,” said Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada.

And a similar note from a gay activist in Canada’s socialist party:

NDP health critic Libby Davies called the policy change a step in the right direction.

“I think they should have gone that little bit further and really based their policy on behaviour rather than sexual orientation,” Davies said.

Ah, actually, Ms. Kennedy and Ms. Davies, the new policy IS ‘behaviour-based’; what else would you call a requirement that requires them to be abstinent for a lengthy period of time? (Not long enough, IMO; I think the lifetime ban was sound, and in the public interest, and that only social pressures have forced CBS to cave in this matter, unfortunately. I couldn’t care less about queers’ feelings; I want to know, if I have to receive blood, that it’s going to be safe; I don’t trust even a five-years abstinent gay man, or even a man who was raped, to be necessarily safe. But PC trumps all, today…)

Of course, what Kennedy and Davies really mean, is that they object to ANY restrictions based on behaviour, whatsoever…

The various articles on this news story all quote various supposed ‘experts’ who think Canada should follow the route of some other countries and reduce the required abstinence period to only one year, saying that there’s no justification for making it five instead of one.

They’re no doubt right, but not in the sense they intend; a lifetime ban was, and remains, a sensible idea; unfortunately one which is too unPC to stand, in our ever-more ‘progressive’ times, alas…

Public transit city buses today don’t have doors that can be forced open easily from inside. In olden days, i.e. not that long ago, buses had doors that could be forced open mechanically from inside, even if with some difficulty; if you had to get out in a hurry, it could be done without enlisting the bus driver’s help – which could be useful if something had happened to the bus driver.

Now, though, in fairly modern buses I’ve been travelling on, they appear to not be able to be easily opened, if at all, until or unless unlocked by the driver, at each stop. This of course will prevent people fleeing from the bus without paying their fare (though they’re supposed to do that as they board, anyway, or show their pass, etc.) – or, if the bus is not moving for some reason, e.g. stuck behind a malfunctioning boom barrier at a train crossing, which is in the down position, even though no train is coming; the bus driver is held liable for the safety of his passengers, and could lose his job if they were to exit and come to harm, etc.

But what if something happens to the driver, and he’s dead or unable to communicate or move, and no-one knows how to open the bus doors? Sure, in an emergency, presumably, glass windows can be shattered, and people can escape. But that’s still quite a feat to accomplish, and I’d feel much safer knowing that a door can easily be forced open and people can stampede out of a burning bus, say, rather than have to break the damn glass.

Our rulers never think of all the possibilities, then they later may wonder why accidents happen in which scores of preventable deaths happen. When you remove the ability of people to save themselves, out of a paternalistic attitude of “Don’t worry; we’ll take care of you; we know what’s good for you, so shut up and listen to us, and do as you’re told, and all will be well!”, don’t be surprised if you end up with blood on your hands and conscience.

Oh, wait; progressives already have plenty of blood on their hands, though not on their seared consciences, to the extent they even possess any.

We are most certainly NOT amused!

So, today is Victoria Day here in Canada. (It used to be called Empire Day, actually…)

Naturally, just as THEY (the usual suspects, i.e. progressives) have gone after other holidays, now they’ve come after this one; they want to rename it ‘Victoria and First Peoples Day’, as a sop to Canada’s aboriginal peoples (never mind there already exists such an occasion, albeit not widely known, National Aboriginal Day, observed every June 21, though it is not a holiday).

The good news, at least, is, judging from the comments there, and the follow-up story here, the idea isn’t that popular, and more importantly and more happily, it will never happen under Stephen Harper’s Tories.

Still, as a reactionary traditionalist, I’d like to restore Empire Day. And, accordingly, plus in a particular gesture of defiance to these latest anti-traditionalist busybodies, I’d like to wish all my fellow Canadians, including the handful of stupid white and aboriginal progressives promoting this even newer name, a Happy Empire Day! (Albeit rather late, as I have been enjoying this holiday and long weekend, trying to ignore stupid BS politics.)

‘Molière à bicyclette’ est l’histoire de deux acteurs qui decident à faire un production de ‘La Misanthrope’ de Molière, au théâtre. Je n’avais pas lu ‘La Misanthrope’, même que je n’ai pas vu un production de celà, mais je comprends que l’histoire de ‘Molière à bicyclette’ est un miroir de celle de ‘La Misanthrope’. Bien que ma compréhension en français n’est pas parfait, j’ai compris presque tout, et c’etait drole et amusant.

‘Paulette’ est l’histoire d’une vielle veuve française, une ancienne boulangère qui est devenu pauvre, qui decide à devenir une trafiquant de drogue. C’était très drôle, bien que j’ai compris un peu moins de ‘Paulette’ que ‘Molière à bicyclette’, mais tout meme, c’était pas un grand problème.

‘Paulette’ est tellement ‘politiquement incorrect’; le ‘racisme’ est un source des blagues, plutôt qu’une opportunité pour une progressive sermon; j’aimais ça, beaucoup.

Si vous parlez français, et vous aimez le cinéma français, vous aimerez ces deux films.

I did warn that I may not post as regularly as before. So if I pause for a while after writing this sorta ‘meta’ post, you’ve all been forewarned that there may be a bit of a break; just so you know. And posts may be sporadic, rather than bursts of activity followed by long periods of blog silence. There will be no pattern, AFAIK. But rest assured, I’m not planning on quitting again, any time soon, at least.

Now, comes some interesting news from Vancouver Island, B.C.; some farmers there are successfully growing olives and lemons!

So, then… If CAGW is real, what’s the downside for Canada? Milder winters and warmer summers = longer growing seasons + the ability to grow new crops, as it turns out, plus increased length of camping seasons and cottaging = more tourist dollars!

I say, bring it on! Too bad for those of you who live where it’s already too warm, too dry, or too near the coast; better move, suckers! Sucks to be you.

Buds, leaves; Quinte West, Ontario.

Strange Herring: A Strange Review: Iron Man 3; Brother, Can You Spare Two and a Half Mil?; The Lutherans Song (with Apologies to Adam Sandler and to Music)

AfroTraditionalist: The Beauty of Small Churches; A Traditionalists Creed

The Avenging Red Hand: A Drive-by Attack On Cathedral History; Two Christian Archbishops Kidnapped By Syrian Freedom Fighters

The Gods of the Copybook Headings: History Holds Her Breadth; College is Great, Sort of; Coals to Newcastle…; Buggy Whip Manufacturer Seeks Input; Growing Leviathan; À la recherche du Leaside perdu

Julian O’Dea: Cute wives don’t want cute sex

Sis: The Loss Of The Masculine Matrix System

Chris: Why we need the law; Do not ask permission. You won’t get forgiveness.; We do not act on our feelings; Aramoana, the bar

Free Northerner: A Respectful Response: Rights Don’t Exist

Forgetful Muse: On ‘Discussion’ That Leads to Nihilism; The Danger of ‘Testimony’

Radish Magazine: The Way of Men

The Festival of Patience: An island unto islands; Another short interlude of introspection

Fabrizio del Wrongo: Things I Wish They’d Told Me About Women

Paleo Retiree: Cocktail Du Jour

Social Extinction: The Paint-by-Numbers Whites vs. the Paint-by-Impulse Mexicans; We love memories, not people; The snowstorm and white-out conditions at Coachella music festival. Whey dat black man from???

Daniel Deboer: Cast iron cookware is a revelation; The House Is An Unearthly Quiet

Hidden Leaves: Soylent Junior; The Rebirth of Cool

Tall grass, stubble, trees; Quinte West, Ontario.