Magic Statistics

Dave Warwak, art teacher at a northern Illinois middle school, converted to veganism in January and started haranguing instructing his students about the evils of meat.  School administrators objected to his aggressive in-class proselytizing, whereupon he objected to the sale of milk and meat in the school cafeteria.  Now he has stopped going to class.

Different sources offer different spins. CBS Chicago quotes him claiming that the school kicked him out for "telling students why he’s a vegan".

[H]is beliefs may cost him his job as an art teacher at Fox River Grove Middle School.

The principal ordered him to leave the classroom this morning after he refused to stop teaching students about animal cruelty.

On the other hand, according to the Chicago Tribune, the defiant Mr Warwak says he won’t return until the school stops promoting milk.

The 44-year-old became a vegan in January and believes the school is "feeding poison" to students. He also believes the school's posters featuring milk are wrong.

Warwak says he won't return until the posters are removed. He's looked into filing child-endangerment charges because he claims it's wrong to promote animal products as part of healthy diet.

He is also said to have called the district superintendant and school principal "ardent meat-eaters".  Apparently, that passes for an insult among vegans.

On a related note, the informative and completely sane website Vegetarians Are Evil! reminds us that Cain, the first murderer, was a vegetarian.

h/t: The Chicagoist

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided earlier this month to prorogue Parliament, i.e., to terminate this session of Parliament.  When that happens, all unfinished business is expunged.  One important piece of legislation that will therefore not pass into law this session is Bill C-22, Age of Protection, which would raise the age of consent for sexual activity from 14 to 16.

Bill C-22 passed the House of Commons on 4 May 2007 and was awaiting consideration by a Senate Committee when parliament was prorogued.

The legislation was to have increased the legal age for heterosexual activity from 14, one of the lowest in the developed world, to 16. After much debate, it was also to have carried a so-called "near-in-age exception" that would allow teenagers to engage in 'consensual' sex below the legal age limit with persons within 5 years of their age.

Homosexual activists, including a Parliamentary "youth" committee had complained that the proposal was an "unfair attack on youth rights and sexual freedom". As well, C-22 did not remove the age of consent for anal sex, which is now set at 18 under Canada's Criminal Code.

The fate of the bill if it came to a vote in the Liberal-dominated Senate was uncertain.

When its new session begins on 16 October, Parliament has the opportunity to re-instate Bill C-22.  Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is asking Canadians to contact the Prime Minister and local MPs to encourage them to provide greater protection to our children by giving this important legislation top priority.

Previous related post: Yukon MP does the right thing

Nova Scotia Conservative Premier Rodney MacDonald says he’s determined to introduce legislation prohibiting strikes by the province’s health-care workers.  The proposed (but as yet unwritten) act would impose binding arbitration in the event of an impasse in labour negotiations.  Since he heads a minority government, the bill would need some outside support if it is to have any chance of becoming law.  However, both the opposition NDP and the third-party Liberals say they are against the proposal.

If Premier MacDonald sticks to his guns, his government faces defeat in the Nova Scotia Legislature, potentially triggering a provincial election.

Premier Rodney MacDonald says he’ll forge ahead with a bill covering strikes in the health sector, despite learning this week he doesn’t have the necessary opposition support.

Mr. MacDonald said Thursday that he doesn’t have the details yet, but the legislation this fall would "protect the health and safety of Nova Scotians."

Since the province already has a severe shortage of nurses and other medical professionals, making it more difficult for them to engage in free collective bargaining seems an odd strategy to pursue.  How encouraging nurses to move elsewhere to work will “protect the health and safety of Nova Scotians” is beyond me.

A search of job openings for registered nurses at Nova Scotia hospitals indicates that RNs are paid between $20 and $30 per hour.  That appears to make Nova Scotia nurses among the lowest paid in Canada.

In May 2006, BC nurses received a major pay raise, bringing their minimum earnings to approximately $25.50 per hour, not counting thousands of dollars in signing bonuses for full-time nurses.

In July 2007, Alberta nurses signed a new contract that will make them the highest paid in Canada within three years.  The top rate for senior nurses in Alberta is set to rise from the current $37 per hour to $43 per hour.

Even Yukon nurses earn far more than their counterparts in Nova Scotia.  The current minimum wage for nurses at Whitehorse General Hospital is $27.61 per hour.  That’s for brand-new nurses fresh out of university.  Senior nurses with ten years’ experience earn $40 per hour or more.  I might add that the current contract covering WGH nurses expires at the end of the year.  So, they can expect a round of pay increases soon.

Yet, the province of Nova Scotia pays up to only $30.  No wonder the province doesn’t have enough nurses.  No wonder it has a long history of labour unrest with its nurses.

“This issue is not about money; what this issue is clearly about is public health and safety," MacDonald said.

Spoken like a true tightwad.

Get a clue, Mr Premier.  Your proposal to ban health-sector strikes is just a cover-up for the province’s failure to pay a competitive wage.  If you are really serious about dealing with the nursing issues in your province, give them a big raise.

If the premier does not get his head out of the sand, more Nova Scotia nurses will be heading out west.

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Christians in Pakistan face intense pressure from increasing religious extremism, says the Moderator of the Church of Pakistan.  The Rt Rev Dr Alexander Malik (at right), Anglican Bishop of Lahore, has told a New York audience that Muslims in Islamic countries tend to view all Christians with suspicion and distrust.  For many Pakistani Muslims, Osama bin Laden has become a larger-than-life hero.

"Capturing Osama will not solve the problem. (He) is an ideology now."
. . .
The growing Muslim extremism in Pakistan is leading some Christians to live abroad. "We are losing our intellectuals and professionals at a big rate," Malik said.

Malik receives threatening letters for speaking out in support of Christians in Pakistan. "But I have to defend my community," he said. "I have to give them hope."

The bishop wants to share that hope with others. "We have a message for the world - a message of love, peace and light - which we must spread," he said.

Most of that quoted passage appears near the end of the news story posted at the website of the United Methodist Church (UMC).  The article begins with some remarks about the increasingly perilous situation of Christians in Pakistan, then veers off to discuss the fact that women are “still” not ordained in the Church of Pakistan before finally getting around to mentioning the threats against Bp Malik.

Apparently, the UMC views women’s ordination as an issue of greater interest and import than Muslim extremists threatening a bishop for defending his flock and proclaiming the gospel.

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The Rev Antonio Osorio, Rector of St Saviour’s Anglican Church, Victoria, has abruptly resigned after admitting to sexual misconduct.

A short statement issued by the Anglican Diocese of B.C., said Osorio was suspended from his duties on Sept. 5 pending an investigation into an allegation of sexual misconduct. On Wednesday, Osorio admitted to the allegation and offered his resignation, the statement said. It was accepted.

The statement is apparently not posted at the diocesan website.

A representative of the Diocese of British Columbia refused to release any details of the charge, citing confidentiality considerations.  Fr Osorio is still an Anglican priest, but he is no longer employed by the diocese.  He could not be reached for comment.

The diocese is planning a press conference on this issue for next week.

Rev Osorio sparked a controversy last June when he was quoted shortly after General Synod saying that he planned to bless same-sex unions in his church.  His bishop, James Cowan, investigated the matter and concluded that Rev Osorio’s remarks had been misquoted and sensationalised.

h/t: Virtue Online

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