Mr. Rentner

Among other things, that's who dear friend, John Booth, and I spoke of as we tripped down memory lane on the phone the other day.  

I have known John for sixty years, ever since he courted and married my late cousin Betty-Anne Brousseau.  Miraculously, we have kept in touch, just as I did with his late Mother, the marvelous and unique Marjorie McKinnon-Booth-Mackay-Smith-Blyberg.  Yes, the beautiful Marjorie made her mark on Ottawa society!

I dated John's brother, Bill, one summer and we spent magical days and weekends at their place at the then-private Seigneury Club in Montebello riding horses -- I was hopeless -- and waterskiing at their cottage in nearby Lac Commandant.

I was also hopeless at waterskiing, but with the patience of Job, John took me up again and again until I was actually able to drop one ski and sail around the lake like a seasoned pro!  John and Bill, of course, could go from a standing start on the dock on one ski and end up seated there again -- all without even getting wet!  John could also amaze on banana skis and even barefoot at times!   

But back to Mr. Rentner.  He was my grade 11 and 13 math teacher and a ramrod-straight stickler.  Unfortunately, I did not have a math mind; mine was pretty exclusively language-oriented.  But I had a Father who was a chemical engineer and did my homework every night.  Naturally, it was always 100% perfect-- except on the exams, where it dipped -- more like crashed -- to about 35 at times.  How I ever got a 50 on the grade 13 provincial exam (mandatory at the time) I have no clue?!  But I did.

(I wanted desperately to become a doctor, like two of my sisters, but I simply did not have the math marks to get into medical school.)

Thank God for Mr. Rentner!

A student at Ashbury College, John had Mr. Rentner as a math tutor one summer and managed an impressive 85% on his makeup exam -- thanks to the give-no-quarter and humourless Mr. Rentner.

Christmas is a time when we catch up with loved ones and the chats I have with John are some of the most important.  Still love the guy to bits.

Merry Christmas, John!

Illegal

The Alberta Court of Appeal recently released a ludicrous decision that has to be illegal.  It ruled that requiring an aspirant lawyer to swear an oath to Canada's Head of State was unconstitutional.  It also ruled that swearing the oath was discriminatory against another faith.

Whaaaaat??!!

How can swearing an oath to our Head of State be unconstitutional??!!  It's right there in the Constitution Act of 1982 that Canada's Head of State is the Monarch, in this case King Charles III!  Our Constitution also confirms that Canada is a secular country, so how can one's faith be compromised by swearing it?!  By refusing, you're essentially refusing to enforce the law. 

When I read that in 'The Globe and Mail', I had to pen a letter.  I also had  to look into who the chief justice of the Alberta Court of Appeal was.

Here is the letter, published yesterday.

And there it was.  The reason it ruled as it did was because this court is headed by a DEI hire, Ritu Khullar.  I'm sorry, but she obviously permitted her personal beliefs and religion to overrule her legal obligation to find in favour of the Constitution because she's a Sikh and this appeal was launched by a fellow Sikh, Prabjot Singh Wirring.

How outrageous.

Her background is in human rights law, so obviously she took the side of the indignant plaintiff who claimed that swearing such an oath was against his religion and his personal oath, previously sworn to his Sikh god.  Wrong.  As I always say, you have to pull back the curtain to find out what's going on.  Justice Khullar should hang her head in constitutional shame.  Frankly, she should resign.

Chris Selley agreed.  He wrote in 'The National Post', "Well, who needs some silly old king anyway?  He's only the head of state, right?  The whole thing is preposterous, all the way down.  In essence, the Alberta Court of Appeal has excused a lawyer from pledging allegiance to Canada.

"Well, too bad, you have to swear the oath."

In their mis-guided and illogical ruling they said, "We agree with the chambers judge that, correctly interpreted, the Oath of Allegiance is not directed at the Queen as a person; its object is the rule of lay and the Canadian system of constitutional government."

And then they let him off the hook anyway.  Whaaaat?

As I wrote, this must be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, where it must be overturned -- unless they've all drunk the Koolaid on that bench too.

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p.s.  As always, this is NOT racism.  We are all one race, the Human Race.  Everything else is cultural and a result of personal decisions.

Two words

I was wool gathering the other day and realized that if one lives by two words, one would not have any problems.  Those words? 

Decency and integrity.

If you practice those, your life will go smoothly.  The corollary, of course, is to avoid people who lack those two characteristics.  Maybe that will lessen and tighten your circle of friends and family members, but your life will be much more pleasant.

So, that's my life lesson on character.

Here she goes again

I'm talking about 'Globe and Mail' columnist Tanya Talaga.  She's always raving on about some Indigenous issue or other and this time it's about the $47.8 billion -- yes billion!!! -- agreement they struck with the Federal Government to compensate families whose children were taken into care, but which is being held up by yet more lawsuits by native leaders for more.

The big question Talaga fails to mention is why they were taken into care in the first place?  She claims it was because of discrimination.  Nice try, but obviously it was because these children were being neglected or abused.  The State does not take children into care for no reason because it's very expensive.  

There are reasons they are removed from their homes, but Talaga never mentions them.  She just goes on about how the money needs to get to the children, which of course it never will.  It'll be scooped up by native leaders before it ever finds itself into a designated bank account.

Want to know the percentage of children in care who are Indigenous?  53 percent!  Yep, that's right, 53% of all children in care are natives, yet they comprise only eight percent of the total population.  In Manitoba it's 90%.  90 percent of all children in care in that province are native!  And what's the budget for this fiasco?  $23.3 billion, but they want another $47.8!!!  That's completely shocking.

But Talaga never reveals any of this because it would skew her story about how awful society is to native children.  No, Tanya, it's the parents themselves who are awful.  That's why the children are taken into care, often at birth.  

"More delays mean more lives harmed," said Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler.  Yes, harmed by their own parents and families, but no one -- save me -- will ever mention this inconvenient truth.

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Another Indigenous story revolves around the Mi'kmaw in Nova Scotia which has banned provincial officials, including the premier, from setting foot on its land.  The reason?  The band has a huge illegal cannabis industry it doesn't want anyone to disrupt.

Big illegal money in this crop on the reserve.

Here's a bulletin:  All reserve lands are Crown land.  They do not belong to the band, they belong to the Crown, i.e., the Federal government, but given over to the natives for their use.  They are not, however, owned by them.  So how can they ban federal and provincial officials from setting foot on the land they own?

They can't, but they are.  "The Nova Scotia Provincial Government has no jurisdiction on reserve lands," said one chief.  Ah, but they do, chief.  It's not your land, but once again no one dares mention this.  Except me.

We're being had.  

 

We actually had to whisper

I'm talking about a muted and muffled secret chat I had today with the secretary of the school I volunteer at with grades two and four.  What were we talking about?  CHRISTMAS!!  But we couldn't mention it out loud because it's verboten in the Rocky View School Board.

Verboten!  It's all "Holidays" and "Seasons".  Christmas has been trampled upon and kicked to the curb and I'm sick of it.  If Satan is behind it all, he's winning because he's convinced everyone that Christmas is not inclusive enough for those who aren't Christian.  And don't get me started on "Xmas", where the actual name of Christ has been removed.

Well then, what the hell are we celebrating?!  December 25th is Christmas Day and I will shout it to the rafters every chance I get.  What's going on now is akin to what happened to early Christians, who had to meet in secret and hide their worshipping back in the first years A.D.

People, get out there and witness for Christmas!

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Reading with the grade twos, I had to laugh at how far we haven't come.  Here's a picture from one of the books I was reading:

There's Mum, ironing while her sons play tennis.

Yep, you've come a long way, baby!  Not.

I think he could be the worst

I'm talking about Carney.  I think he may be the worst prime minister we have ever had.  The phrase "Nero fiddles while Rome burns" comes to mind, as he frolics in a Washington stadium, laughing it up with Trump while they sign some deal about the World Cup.  

And yes, his harridan sidekick was hanging around for no reason, as usual.  She should stay home and do something useful, like decorate a couple of trees in the public thoroughfare.  Why he drags her along everywhere, I have no clue?  Maybe it's because she and his daughters live in New York, so it's easy to get to Washington for a paid-for-by-us holiday.  Oh wait, that's why she can't decorate a few trees in Ottawa.  She's doesn't live there!

Let's not also forget that the World Cup is going to cost ordinary Canadians billions in losses, so why we are hosting is beyond me?!

How he could shrug and say, "Who cares?" about getting a trade deal with Trump, while major industries are being decimated and thousands laid off I don't know?  Was he drunk?  I mean, what prime minister would say that?!  He then followed up with, "Pipelines are so boring" when questioned about a possible pulse in that file.  All I can say is, he better not show his smug face out here in the oil patch because someone will wipe it off.

I mean, do all of you who voted for him now see the truth about how awful he is?  I hope you've got major buyer's remorse because if you don't, you're dumber than I thought.

What me worry?

And don't forget, all the deals he has signed benefit Brookfield, look into it.  Tune into 'Moose on the Loose' on YouTube; the stats and facts about Carney's holdings are all there.  As I said, "Nero fiddles while Canada burns."

 

Please learn English

I'm referring to CTV news reader Akshay Tandon.  Lovely guy, but he mis-pronounces everything!  Why can't a producer take a minute to go over the stories and tell him how to pronounce the words he is reading.  He notoriously puts the emphasis on the wrong syllable.    

He's a disgrace.  This is a Canadian show and he should know how to speak English.  Hard to take, frankly.

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But what I really want to rant about is the poor Simon Fraser (SFU) bus driver who was fired because he told a flagwoman on a construction site, as he drove by, that she was beautiful.  OMG, what has become of us?!  Can women no longer take a compliment without claiming it's sexual harassment?!

How pathetic our gender has become.  We don't need anyone to make us look stupid, we're doing that all by ourselves.  Back in my day, I was always tickled pink when a construction crew would whistle as I walked by.  It was so innocent and very flattering.  No one was going to rape you, they just wanted to tell you how beautiful you were.

Not any longer.  Now it's a offence punishable by firing.  What's next, being jailed?!  This stupid woman filed a complaint with SFU, who in turn filed a complaint with 'Luxury Transport', where the poor chap worked.  "What is of great concern to us is that you do not believe there was anything remotely wrong regarding your comment," the company admonished.  "You do not seem to understand or care that your comments had a negative impact."

When beleaguered driver Robert Harrison asked to see the complaint, Luxury sent it to him completely blacked out.  Boy, are we in trouble as a civilized society.  Time for young men to fight back! 

Interesting take on trans.........

 I re-printed this from somewhere.  It's worth a read..................

A little humour before the read below.........

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October 29, 2025  “Is the Trans and Non-Binary Fad Over?” That is the title of a recent article I wrote on the work of Eric Kaufmann, a professor at the University of Buckingham. After scouring the findings of several studies, he concluded that the trans and queer phenomenon is in serious decline. He made it clear, as others have before him, that young people who identify as trans and queer have multiple mental health issues. So what’s up? To put it bluntly, why are these people so screwed up? Kaufmann is reluctant to identify the independent and dependent variable, or the cause and effect. To his credit, he sheds light on this by examining the political beliefs of these young people. What he found is critical. He is convinced that “there are significant correlations between gender, sexuality, political beliefs and mental health. In particular, trans or non-binary individuals, as well as very liberal students, are much more likely than others to be non-heterosexual. Very liberal, trans and non-heterosexual students are also more likely than other students to be anxious and depressed….” Kaufmann’s conclusion is consistent with what he found in his 2022 report, “Born This Way? The Rise of LGBT as a Social and Political Identity.” Here are some of his most notable findings. Much of the LGBT rise has occurred among very liberal or far left-wing young people, and this is especially true of women Very liberal ideology and LGBT identification are associated with mental health problems such as depression (their happiness quotient is near zero) Students who major in the social sciences and humanities are especially prone to being LGBT, and the majority (52 percent) who major in race and gender studies identify as LGBT Non-religious students are more likely than religious students to identify as LGBT It seems plain that ideology plays a significant role in accounting for the maladies of LGBT people. Those who major in the social sciences and humanities have long been drawn to left-wing ideologies, and those who specialize in race and gender studies are even more likely to be highly critical of the status quo. Radical ideas excite these students. So as not to be misunderstood, most liberals do not seek to “transition” to the opposite sex, but a disproportionate number do. That still needs explaining. To be precise, liberalism today is a far cry from the way it was understood in the nineteenth century. At that time, liberalism put a premium on free speech, especially political discourse. No more. In fact, today’s liberals have more in common with yesterday’s radicals than they do with JFK liberals. In both Kaufmann’s 2022 and 2025 reports, he draws on the work of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) to make his point. As consecutive FIRE studies have found, today’s college students who identify as liberal are the most likely to believe it is acceptable to shout down speakers they find disagreeable. For instance, in his 2022 report, Kaufmann found that “White female students in leading US universities who identify as very liberal and support shouting down speakers to prevent them from uttering harmful speech have a nearly 7 in 10 chance of identifying as LGBT.” This finding is startling. There is something deranged going on. The causal sequence now makes sense. Today’s “liberal” students do not believe in free speech, making them the most illiberal students on campus. As we learned, most are not religious, and many are militant in their secular convictions. Illiberal and secular, these students naturally evince an animus against traditional morality, and that certainly means Christian sexual ethics. For some, this manifests itself in a rebellion against nature and a desire to transcend it. From a Catholic perspective, what the data show is entirely understandable. It is not easy to be happy if one is preoccupied with railing against one’s own biological condition. That’s not normal. Nature, and nature’s God, can never be beaten, and attempts do so not only fail, they leave behind a trail of despair.   Regrettably, those who teach gender studies, and who counsel young people seeking to “transition,” are the last ones to tell their students and clients the truth. They are doing them a great disservice. But then again many of these professors and therapists are themselves miserably unhappy, and often unstable, making this a very sick stew in the end.

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