Norway Terrorist

 The atrocities that took place on July 22 2011 will be remembered forever by the people of Norway and people all over the world. When things like this happen we must remember that the majority of people in this world want to live free, want secularism, tolerance, and freedom of speech among other things. It’s the few that try to derail us that are heinous and will face the consequences of their actions.

Anders Behring Breivik is the coward who ended up killing 76 innocent civilians out of hatred for Norway’s multiculturalist society and the liberal grass roots organisations who have liberal immigration policies. His xenophobia is directly specific to Muslims and Islam. He is a far right wing Christian terrorist who tried to start a holy war against Islam. It was only a matter of time until people started to criticize the response by the police and emergency services. Media helicopters were at the scene at Utoeya Island an hour before the police arrived. Meanwhile, a government building was under attack by bombs. It had become clear that the police were unprepared for simultaneous attacks. What’s troubling is that Brievik was already known by the police since March 2011, that when authorities discovered he had bought chemicals from Poland online.

Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, Gary LaFree says, “The greatest threat of large-scale attacks come from individuals and small groups of extremists who subscribe to radical Islamic or far right-wing ideologies”. Domestic terrorism such as this has been on the rise. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Right Wing anti-government groups grew by 60% in 2010. Breiviek had such distaste for multi-culturalism that he preached “unity over diversity” claiming diversity was destroying European society.

The killer’s goal was to reverse the immigration of Muslims to Europe and although the killer is a white Christian, there some media coverage reporting that the attacks were from Islamist extremists. The American cable news host Bill orielly was angry behind his desk last week scolding the mainstream media for calling Breiviek a Christian. Going on to say that, “Christians are non-violent”. Yet his network, Fox News, has been equating law abiding Muslims with radical Islam. Yet he and others like him fail to realize that Christian extremism can be just has radical and dangerous as Islamic extremism. During The Crusades in the 15^th century the pope started several campaigns with the goal of capturing the holy land and battling many different religions in holy war. The threats that we face in life are not these specific religions, but instead religion itself.  Not all the names of the victims have been released but the ones that are can be found on this link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14276074

By: Hussein Mohamed

Racist School

This is just absurd. News stories like this make me cringe. Kymberly was excited to be her schools valedictorian. It is an honour to be your graduating class’s valedictorian. Her honour was taken away from her. If you haven’t read this story it is about Kymberly, a graduating student moving on to the next chapter in her life. She was set to be the first African-American to be named valedictorian at her school since 1989, which makes it a huge deal for her and a huge honour. Her school destroyed this honour when it was announced that Kymberly would have a co-valedictorian who was Caucasian and had a lower GPA. According to reports the school’s media specialist (who happens to be Kymberly’s mother) the school’s personnel was afraid the naming Kymberly valedictorian would cause a “big mess”

It is no longer 1950. It is 2011 and the fact that people are still racist angers me. Kymberly deserves this award because of her achievements academically and the fact that she has to share this award because a couple of people thought it would cause a mess is just absurd. She deserves to be the sole winner of this award. You’ll be glad to know that Kymberly and her mother have filed a lawsuit against the school and I hope that Kymberly and her Mother win.

Here is the link to the story

http://thedailywh.at/2011/07/27/this-is-all-kinds-of-wrong-of-the-day-7/

Botox

In the old days if you looked in the mirror and saw wrinkles and aging skin you had no choice but to live with it and be accepting of the fact that you’re getting older. Getting older used to be respectable. Grey hairs and wrinkles were badges to show that you went through life and have experience and wisdom. Things have changed now. A guy with scrubs and a stethoscope will take needles filled with toxins and inject it in your face and one hour later the bones in your face will relax and smooth out those wrinkles. But wait there’s more. Not only can you make your face wrinkle free you can also inject Botox in your lips and get those plump lips much like the ones on Angelina Jolie. There’s no doubt Jolie is beautiful but do you really need to inject your face with Botox, can’t you just adopt a black baby instead? I get it, people want to look better and feel better about the way they look and it’s their right to buy it. Whatever happened to the days of liposuction, laser eye surgery or shaving off your eyebrows and using a cosmetic pencil and drawing a new one free-hand? I certainly don’t have the face of a GQ model but Botox isn’t even an option for me, I’d never touch the stuff. Then there are people who like Heidi Montag admitted to People Magazine in 2010 that she had 10 procedures done in one day that cost roughly $30,000. “I’d been saving for two years after my first surgery. I knew it would be an investment for my career”. Looks like that failed, she is as irrelevant as ever. If you really want to use Botox than go ahead, what do I care, but don’t blame the doctor when you die of the toxins. Thanks but no thanks, I’ll keep my wrinkles and be proud of them. If I ever do want to get rid of them, I’ll use an iron.  

By: Hussein Mohamed

Captain America Review

The story of the first avenger was a movie I couldn’t wait to see as it was the last of the avengers. Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers, a skinny kid from Brooklyn whose dream is to join the army. There’s just one problem, he’s 5 foot nothing and 90 pounds. As many of you know he gets picked to participate in the super soldier program where he is transformed into Captain America. The army sees him as an asset but not in combat. He is sent around the country performing songs to get people to buy bonds and support the war effort. After a trip to Europe to support the troops he hears about his best friend who may have died or been captured. Steve heads out to find him. He finds his friend along with 400 more soldiers that the villain (the red skull) has captured. From there we see Captain America leading his own troop on various missions to destroy hydra. Hydra is what the red skull is working on and it is basically a very powerful weapon that destroys everything. Captain America eventually fights the red skull and defeats him on a plane. The plane is headed to New York and will destroy much of the city so Rogers takes action into his own hands and crash lands the plane in the middle of no where. He wakes up 70 years later in present day New York under the supervision of none other than Nick Fury. The action in this movie was well done although they did use a lot of slow motion, which kind of annoyed me. The most interesting part of this movie was after the credits where we got to see The Avengers trailer. The trailer was very rough but it still looked promising. Overall the movie was a 7/10. 

Chris Brown needs therapy.

By: Hussein Mohamed

Let me tell you something about Chris Brown and guys like him. This guy is completely out of control. Ever since he beat up his girlfriend he’s been behaving recklessly. He went back to work made music and didn’t take responsibility for what he did. While doing a sit down interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, host Cookie Roberts treated Brown with such delicacy that she in a way was scared to even ask Brown the question everyone wants to ask him. Of course he refused to answer her questions and later on while he was in the green room, Brown snapped and trashed the room and broke the large glass windows. BET hosts didn’t even ask about the incident when Chris Brown made an appearance on 106 and park. This guy needs to see a therapist and get help for his problem. He is seriously in danger of ruining his life and career if he doesn’t get professional help. He has anger issues and issues with women. That’s the last thing an R&B singer needs to be identified with. Not to mention everyone loves Rihanna, she was just named Italian Vogue woman of the year. 

Mad Men style shows + Vampires for Tweens

By: Hussein Mohamed
Mad Men is a very popular show that has won numerous Golden Globes and Emmy awards. The show is geared toward a mature older audience much like HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Shows from a different era are very popular and are being produced more for television and movies. It’s as lucrative and entertaining to its fans as the vampire shows are popular towards tweens and young adults. Hollywood as adapted to the interest of the fans and they are raking in millions of dollars. That makes everyone happy. We get the shows that we love to watch; the networks get the return on their investments. What makes it sweeter is when a new show is created. Enter hostess and werewolf. 

Entourage Premiere!!

The boys are back! The eighth season of Entourage kicked off Sunday July 24 and it was a strong start to the season. This is a review so if you haven’t watched this episode this is going to ruin it for you! Season 7 was left at a huge cliffhanger with many unanswered questions. What happened to Vince and his addiction? What will happen to Ari’s marriage? How will Drama’s show do? What will Turtles business ventures turn in to? What will become of E and Sloane and the biggest one Will E be successful in taking down Murray?

You can see with all these question it was no surprise that season 8 was highly anticipated. Episode one provided a start to the answers to these questions. The episode starts with the new partners E and Scott talking to a new client. That’s right, E and Scott took Murray down. The new client is none other than Johnny Galecki from the hit TV show The Big Bang Theory. Bringing Galecki on was a surprise for me because I don’t know if he’ll fit in with the appeal of the show. You’ll know what I mean if you watch The Big Bang Theory. He plays a bit of a tough guy in Entourage but I can’t take him too seriously, however it is still early in the season so let’s see what happens! As for Vince he has checked out of rehab ready to work and he brings a movie idea with him. Drama has started his new cartoon “Johnny Banana’s” along side Andrew Dice-Clay and Turtle is well, Turtle. E’s marriage is now in shambles but it isn’t really clear why. My thought is it’s because Terrence (Sloane’s father) asked him to sign a prenuptial agreement.

In this episode we learn about Ari and his wife’s situation and there is a huge announcement on his wife’s part that destroys Ari. While this is happening we see the gang trying to keep Vince away from any drugs or alcohol and it frustrates Vince, he just wants to get back to being normal and not being treated any different than he used to. I think we’re seeing more of the human side of Ari Gold this season as well as a new and improved Vince. Season 8 is off to a great start and I can’t wait to see next week’s episode!

-Niraj 

How PM Harper wins elections and how we can stop him.

By: Hussein Mohamed
In January 2006 Canadians elected Stephen Harper Prime Minister, the first conservative prime minister in 13 years. The liberal party lost the confidence of the people due to the sponsorship scandal that would in the later years linger and contribute to the party’s demise. Harper promised to get Canada’s fiscal house in order and create jobs and pass a budget plan that would help our economy. Canadian troops were already in Afghanistan assisting the U.S on the war on terror but, Harper’s intention was to have our troops control and commit to controlling southern Afghanistan mainly Kandahar, one of the most dangerous city in the world. With Canadian troops there all alone to control, our troops fought terrorism with bravery to allow the Afghan people to be free from tyranny and give them freedom and equality. With a great amount of troops on the ground fighting a defiant Al-Qaeda, 157 of our troops were killed including 4 civilians, 1 diplomat, and 1journalist. Their sacrifice will be remembered forever but, what we will also remember is the torture scandal that rocked parliament. Liberal and NDP critics blasted the prime minister claiming that he was hiding Afghan torture memos that gave the green light for Canadian troops to torture detainees in Afghan prisons in Kandahar. The memos, much like the ones George W. Bush destroyed were detailed accounts of soldiers water boarding and using “enhanced interrogation methods”. Torture of course is illegal under Canadian law, international law, and the Geneva conventions act. Harper said the allegations were baseless and partisan and that the memos will be handed to a federal judge who would review whether the defence minister and the prime minster broke laws to get detainees to give up information that could be used to capture terrorist cells. The memos had not been handed to the Judge in full not to mention it was highly redacted. The other parties decided not to pursue because the polls suggested that the Canadian public were not going to vote for the other parities if they focused on the memos instead of fixing the economy at home and lowering unemployment. Harper shut down parliament during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics because of political pressure. Once Ottawa reopened, party leaders focused on getting ready for the 2011 federal election. Harper painted Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff as liar who will raise taxes on people and ruin the country. They painted the Bloc leader as a divider who will only look out for Quebec’s interests. They painted the NDP leader as someone who doesn’t know how to fix the economy and will spend billions of dollars on programs that Canadians can’t afford to pay for. It worked and Harper won a majority government. The conservatives acquired 166 seats, the NDP 103, the liberals a disappointing 34 essentially switching places with the NDP losing the opposition status, and the Bloc gained a total of 4 seats. The new parliament was seated last month and now these new members will run our government with the objectives of balancing the budget and creating jobs. If we as Canadians don’t succumb to the tricks of this conservative government, we have an opportunity to go after the memos and bring this to light because it’s the right thing to do. We can’t ever forget what was done in Kandahar. Canadians don’t want to use our military as a body that tortures people. We spend $7 billion a year in Afghanistan to fight terrorism; the Canadian press must do their jobs as a government watchdog and pursue this until we learn the facts. We must send a message to the world that we are not the United States, we are better than them and that we only use our military for good not evil. More importantly we need to send a message to Harper that we will not stand for cover-ups and corruption and that he and his government will be accountable for their actions. I think the other party leaders understand that now that Harper has a majority government they’re will to pursue this is more important than their political goals to gain more power in Ottawa. If the NDP want Jack Layton or another NDP leader to be elected as PM they must first allow Harper to govern. Let us, the people at the grassroots level tell you when it’s time for an election. Attacking Harper in parliament 3 on 1 is not going to do anything but make Harper look innocent. Instead allow him to lead on all federal matters and work with them to meet their goals. If they fail, which they will, that is when you attack. That is how you win in politics; make Harper take responsibility for a failed economy and high unemployment.  I’m not saying that we can’t get positive bills passed or progress but that it’s highly unlikely to happen. If the conservatives could persuade the country for more power under these circumstances both fiscally and socially. Then we the people must be smarter than our American counterparts and realize what 8 years of conservative rule did for the United States. Things have gotten worse under Harper and we can’t let him destroy our values. If the other parties can’t comprehend how to take him down politically then we can and we will, it’s happened before and it can happen again. We have something the politicians don’t have, the news media. If Canadians paid attention to political news as much as hockey and in turn demanded the press to be better, Harper would have lost the election at best, at worst kept a minority government. Harper knows as long as he can keep it 3 on 1 he will always win in the end. When Harper wins we all lose except the banks, oil companies, billionaires and millionaires. They don’t lose, they win big. I’m not okay with that, I want to see progress for the middle class; I want to see investments in education and infrastructure. We have to tell Harper you may have won the election but we want progress for the middle class, and we demand to see the memos and we aren’t going anywhere. 

WELCOME

Hello blogging world!

This is our new blog where we will be talking/discussing/ranting about everything! We are excited to be doing this and hope you enjoy all of our posts. As a note all the posts will be our opinions about the topics we are blogging about. Freedom of speech is one of the most important ideals people can have. It‘s more than the ability to call someone a hero, or stupid, or guilty, or innocent, or corrupt. It’s your voice and you deserve to be heard. Feel free to comment on our opinions but please be respectful. You can follow our tweets on twitter @nshmblog    http://twitter.com/#!/nshmblog