You are Entitled to Any Opinion as Long as It's Ours.

It seems that “Reefer Madness” is playing in Wawota, Saskatchewan, and I am not talking about the musical. It all started one find day in May when the school showed a supposedly “educational” video about the evils of the Demon Weed. One of young people who watched this presentation just didn’t buy it. It is not that Kieran King was in anyway advocating the use of marijuana, but rather that the alleged “facts” used in the video were wildly inaccurate. Read the whole story here:

Just the facts, Ma’am, just the facts.

I find it to be extremely disheartening to find that the school system in Saskatchewan has not changed in any remarkable way in the 30 odd years since I last graced their classrooms. My recollection of my high school is that for the most part, it was a hotbed of apathy beginning with the teachers and flowing down to the student the student body. With few exceptions, the teachers often displayed less maturity than the students they were entrusted to teach.

In this one situation we have a remarkably bright young man who did something most of his peers could not be bothered to do - research and think. As a result, he came to some conclusions that the Powers That Be did not want him to know and certainly not share. At that point, the principal of the school, Susan Wilson, crapped her pants in fear of intellectual curiosity and made an Everest out of a proverbial mole hill.

Thank you, Susan Wilson, I am sure that the town of Wawota is utterly thrilled that you have made it a national laughingstock.

Update - Dr. Riyadh Lafta at Simon Fraser

Now the British government won't even give him a transit visa through Heathrow to change planes. Of course, this should not be surprising as the Blair is in bed with Bush and both have a vested interest in keeping the world ignorant of the findings of this report.

We need this data and, as unpopular as it is, we need to complete this work," Dr. Takaro said. "It's extraordinary that the British would have held up something, and it makes me think that they were influenced to do it -- we'd love to know why."

Another thing I have noticed when I have tried to research this story is the way that it has been almost ignored by the media. I found nothing on the CBC website, and this morning, my favourite current events program on CBC ONE "The Current" was supposed to have done a story on Dr Lafta this morning - but didn't. I am really curious to know why and sent an email to that effect. I doubt if I shall receive a response.

Update on the Update: I did get a response from The Current:

I am not sure why this didn't air or if it was a mistake in the promo ... I didn't see it in the line up. We are still intending to do the story though. Stay tuned next week.

Take care,



Lisa Ayuso
The Current

So there you have it.  I, for one, will be waiting.

Another Great Moment in Censorship

All because two paragraphs show depict something that people find "uncomfortable".
This is almost as bad as the time a teacher was fired for showing a puppet version of Faust in a music class.

As poignant as it is painful, "Kaffir Boy" reached the top of the Washington Post best-seller list and No. 3 in the New York Times list. It earned the 1987 Christopher Award for literature, "affirming the highest values of the human spirit." And it was a finalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Award for books representing "concern for the poor and the powerless.

Burlingame Schools pull 8th Grade Book From Class