Mason Stokes, who has autism, saves friend’s life with Heimlich Manoeuver.
Click on image for video.
Mason Stokes, age 15, has an autism spectrum disorder and lives in Chalmers Indiana. Recently, while eating lunch in the high school cafeteria, he noticed one of his classmates struggling to breath and coughing really hard.
Saying he is good under pressure, he apparently calmly got up and went over to his friend and did the Heimlich Manoeuver — a skill he had learned in the Boy Scouts.
Stokes says that, although he is feeling a bit uncomfortable with all the attention, he is glad he was able to help.
Help? I’ll say. He saved someone’s life!
While it is obvious that Stokes is articulate and high functioning (see video), it just goes to show that sometimes certain aspects of autism can have a very positive outcome.
Mason Stokes, if by any chance you read this, know that you have the appreciation of a lot of people for a job well done! And, on a personal note, I’d like to suggest that its okay to be a hero for a little while. 
H/T Autism News.
Quebec student protestor “rights” do not trump “rights” of others
QC students block other students.
The naive, spoiled, Quebec student leaders, along with the entitled, well paid “public” (as in taxpayer funded) sector union officials, who are protesting in Montreal about tuition fees and all things capitalist, don’t get it.
They don’t get that their fundamental right to protest and shut down entire Montreal neighbourhoods does not trump the rights of others.
Either Canada is a free country or it isn’t. Either political disagreements are settled at the ballot box or they aren’t. Because, angry disruptions and riots lasting a hundred days are no longer peaceful protests, they are the beginnings of anarchy.
Yet, listening to Quebec’s student leaders, you’d never guess that Canada was built on the rule of law, has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms that covers everyone and allows free elections when we disagree.
Laws? What laws? Given what the Quebec student leaders say (H/T JNW), the students who are protesting are above the law.
In fact, it seems that they actually believe that their “fundamental rights” to cause mayhem and defy laws are above everyone else’s right to peace, order and good government.
Well, I have news for them, when you STOP others from doing what they have a right to do (as in deliberately stopping students from going to classes, interrupt existing classes or shut down businesses that provide employment), that is what Marxist totalitarianism looks like. And, leaders who hold to that kind of ideology are narcissistic, lacking in compassion and completely intolerant of opposing views!
Leaders in democracies, on the other hand, like in Canada, try to balance the rights of everyone. Which is why consensus is so difficult and why we have the right to make changes at the ballot box.
Life is not fair. That has always been true. Some people have more than others. Yet, striving for a better life can be the very spark that pushes people to rise above their circumstances. And, that is what a free country is all about, not free in terms of getting everything handed to us on a platter, but free to pull ourselves up by our boot straps and making our own way.
Which brings me to a couple final thoughts. As a former professor in education, I would like to send a message to all those college and university teachers who are protesting with the students and/or condoning shutting down classes — you should be ashamed.
Why? Because what may have started out as legitimate protest, has become anarchy. And so, early on, it should have been you who explained, just as is happening in Greece, that there are limits to social demands and entitlements.
The parents who are condoning and protesting, along with their children, should be ashamed as well. Have they never said no to their children? Have they never taught them that there are consequences to their behaviour and actions? No? Well, perhaps now might be a good time to start. As the saying goes, better late than never!
The crux of the matter is that the fundamental right for Quebec students to protest, along with their public sector union enablers, does not trump the rights of others to expect adherence to the Canadian principles of peace, order and good government.
Update: (1) Here is a link to a New York news item about the lawlessness in Montreal. Unfortunately, the fact that the protests are getting negative international attention bodes badly for tourism revenue this summer. Do the protestors care? No, they don’t. Rather, they only seem to care about “their” fundamental rights. Talk about magical thinking. It is as though the student leaders think the Quebec economy can run on empty.
(2) There is apparently a blog that includes protestors daring the police to arrest them. However, I will not put up the link to give them traffic. Which only goes to prove that there is an entitled generation out there that has not been taught that with rights come responsibilities. Just thinking or alleging that Jean Charest is a dictator does not make it so. What exactly do all these student and occupy people actually want? To make us a third world country? A communist country? If so, they have no idea what a dictator and dictatorship are really like!
Who knew Health Canada investigates “garage” sales for consumer safety?
Credit National Post files.
There is a saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Well, who would have believed, when the Conservative government of Stephen Harper unveiled new consumer safety legislation a few years ago, that such a road would be built on the taxpayers’ dime?
Of course, the PM and his Cabinet would not have anticipated such a road, but it was built just the same, all thanks to career bureaucrats who sit in the their little cubicles thinking of ways to take away our freedoms.
In fact, the new legislation seemed like such a good idea at the time, I even listed it as Item # 13 on my Harper Government Accomplishment List.
Now, however, Marni Soupcoff of the National Post is reporting (H/T JNW) that Health Canada is taking those regulations so seriously, they have staff who actually check out re-sale classified ads and what is being sold at garage sales. And, if you are found to be non-compliant, you can be sued.
For what you ask? Well, check out this Post article by Tristin Hopper who writes:
“According to the Health Canada website, a garage sale is effectively breaking the law if it includes lawn darts, corded blinds, broken toys, toys with powerful magnets, hockey helmets, tiki torches or any product that has been the subject of a recall. Regulations also call for garage sale electronics to be bundled with “instructions for safe use.”
The regulations are particularly strict when it comes to children’s products. Sellers are barred from dealing in children’s costume jewelry containing lead or cadmium, as well as cribs, cradles and bassinets that do not meet “stringent regulatory requirements.” Any car seat sold more than five months ago may also be subject to scrutiny.” [My highlighting.]
Now, the regulations may have a point about trying to re-sell broken toys or costume jewellery containing lead or cadmium. Although, it is conceivable that a parent could buy all the parts to an otherwise expensive toy and fix it.
Plus, I am not sure how anyone would know, just from looking at a piece of jewellery, whether or not it contained dangerous heavy metals. I mean, as far as I know (and my hobby is jewellery design and beading), the only metals identified are gold, sterling silver, nickel, stainless steel or an alloy of all of the above. Of course, we know that products manufactured in certain countries overseas may be suspect.
Anyway, I agree with Soupcoff’s suggestion, that with all the public service cuts, perhaps now would be a good time to cut the entire Health Canada garage sale and classified ad department.
Or, perhaps that department could concentrate on not allowing products from suspect countries into Canada. Wouldn’t that be a better use of taxpayers dollars?
In the meantime, I would recommend making a list of what you plan to sell and check out every single product online, starting at this Health Canada site.
Nanny statism indeed!
Recent Comments