How Duck Dynasty became a television and cultural sensation After years of celebrating little-watched cable television shows like The Sopranos (about the mafia and laced with profanity) and Breaking Bad (about a drug dealer and laced with profanity), the North American entertainment media took notice of the ratings success of Duck Dynasty, which attracts millions more viewers. In the February 2013 season [...]
A school board in Windsor has laid off 90 teachers due to declining enrolment and financial difficulties. Faced with an almost $18-million deficit, the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board will be welcoming only 1,000 junior kindergarten students after 2,400 graduated from high school last June. Board supervisor Norbert Hartmann noted in an April report that half of the board’s 38 schools were [...]
In the eighth Psalm, David considers the majesty of creation: “I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded” (Ps 8:4). But the poet suddenly turns away from his wonder at the star-strewn heavens towards an even greater mystery: that the Lord and Maker of these heavens should bend over the earth-bound [...]
David Suzuki, the Canadian environmentalist often touted as having all the answers to halt (alleged) global warming, and even to push back (allegedly) rising sea levels, has been caught telling a whopper of a fish story. On Canada Day, during an interview with a Quebec reporter, he claimed that “Canada is full,” explaining that we have no room for immigrants in [...]
Tracy Latimer, who had cerebral palsy, was murdered by her father Robert in a case that garnered extensive media coverage. An article on feminist website XOJane summarizes a disturbing phenomenon, which is not the modern trend it appears to be: young people with disabilities being killed by members of their own families. Robert Latimer’s inhumane “solution” to the struggles of [...]
On August 19, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced he would prorogue Parliament, thus delaying its return until at least October, effectively killing government legislation currently being considered in both the House of Commons and the Senate. But Harper’s bringing to a formal end the last session of Parliament, may not much affect private member’s bills such as C-279, which would add “gender [...]
Justice Antonin Scalia dissented from the decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, saying that the courts should not be deciding social policy. On June 26, the Supreme Court of the United States issued two rulings related to same-sex “marriage” in what critics are suggesting could be the Roe v. Wade of marriage. In a 5-4 decision (United [...]
Rita and Milana are both safe after the mother's friend Alex got her in touch with a guest speaker from Silent No More Awareness who happened to be at his school the day his friend had an appointment scheduled at Morgentaler's. Students at a Toronto-area high school experienced a pro-life “miracle,” that they helped make possible, on the day of [...]
Wesley Smith questions the claim that cloning technology will not be used for reproduction. For the first time, American scientists successfully cloned humans. Four embryo clones were permitted to develop into blastocysts before being harvested for their stem cells. The findings of the scientists led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a reproductive biology specialist at the Oregon Health and Science University in [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada asked government lawyers tough questions as they heard arguments for and against the law on prostitution. The federal Criminal Code provisions criminalizing brothels, pimping or “living off the avails” of prostitution, and communication to buy sex was struck down in 2010 by the Ontario Superior Court. In 2012, a 3-2 ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal [...]
At least 23 Canadians have died since 2007 as a result of using drug company Bayer’s Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills. Most of the women, according to Health Canada documents, died suddenly due to blood clots, the youngest being 14 years old. More than half of the 23 fatalities were women under 26 years old. One of the victims, 18-year-old Miranda [...]
For nine years now, March 21 has been designated World Down Syndrome Day, as it signifies the triplication of the twenty-first chromosome. And October’s Down Syndrome Awareness Month will be the thirtieth since the event was recognized by former American president Ronald Reagan. Leticia Velasquez For pro-lifers, these occasions are tinged with sadness, especially given the new availability of non-invasive [...]
Jason Collins Last year, center Jason Collins was by, some basketball metrics, one of the worst players in the National Basketball Association. He was benched for 24 of the final 29 games of the season after the Washington Wizards acquired him. A free agent, he was not expected to find a new employer and would probably retire. Then he came [...]
Toronto police released photos of a man and a woman wanted for assault and criminal mischief against pro-life demonstrators who were holding signs on March 18 at a demonstration at Harbord Collegiate Institute in Toronto. The demonstrators were holding signs depicting first-trimester aborted babies with the word “choice” printed above them, and distributing leaflets to high school students when a man wearing [...]
Arün Smith favours diversity, just not diversity of opinion. So in early February he removed the free-speech wall at Carleton University – stole the paper and destroyed the frame – then, on Facebook, rationalized his violent direct action. In his incoherent philosophy, “liberty requires liberation, and this liberation is prevented by providing space for either more platitudes, or for the expression of [...]