I’ve Moved!
November 20, 2008
So I’m sure that most people have noticed that the site has been offline for a few days. There’s a reason for that, which I will get to shortly. But first, let me just say this:
In fact, I am blogging at a new site I have just finished setting up: kennethhynek.net. A full explanation for the reasons behind the move can be found here
.
That said, this is not the end of Time Immortal. My wife Grace has expressed interest in taking over blogging at this domain, and I am working to make sure that she gets set up here as soon as possible.
Also, my profound apologies for the modification to the site face; the move was not as seamless as I would have hoped, and many of the image files for this theme, and in the gallery, were corrupted during the course of their evacuation from my previous web host’s servers. Until such time as I have repaired them, I’ve put a clean-looking template in place of the previous one.
Update: for the purposes of further traffic shaping, new posts from kennethhynek.net will be excerpted below. Full articles can be read at the new blog.
Antiwar activists will not sell white poppies this year
October 12, 2007
Thank goodness. There’s only so much political grandstanding I can stomach in any given year.
Peace has been made in the war of the poppies. Sort of.
Edmonton antiwar activists, who outraged war veterans by selling white poppies last fall to symbolize a desire for peace, say they won’t offer the flowers again this year.
They still believe in the cause, but don’t want a long, costly legal fight with the Royal Canadian Legion which has threatened to sue for infringing on its trademark poppy.
…
The legion frowns on any modification, [Alberta-Northwest Territories legion vice president Rod] Stewart said. “It takes away the integrity of the poppy.”
Not much else to say, really. I don’t have the time of day for pacifists, unfortunately — that’s not to say that I’m big on war, but I think that a blanket opposition to it is (at best) an intellectually and morally weak stance. As a Christian, one ought to desire peace, but even Christ recognized that sometimes we would be faced with the need to trade our cloaks in for swords.
More to the point, I really do not have time for any kind of political grandstanding. There’s nothing to prevent antiwar activists from selling something else on and leading up to November 11th — why not a white ribbon, since so many different causes and issues these days seem fond of using ribbons as a lapel adornment? Why not the hippy ‘Peace sign’ just for old times’ sake? The choice of the poppy — a highly visible, easily recognizable symbol in its own right — was a deliberate attempt at showboating, and that’s exactly the wrong way to sell the pacifist message.
“I think technically I could win,” said Michael Kalmanovitch, owner of Earth’s General Store, on Whyte Avenue. He teamed up last year with Women in Black to take donations in exchange for white poppies with the word “peace” in the centre.
Kalmanovitch says his customers can turn their red poppies into “peace poppies” by replacing the black centres with stickers adorned with peace signs.
I guess I know where I won’t be shopping any time soon. Hopefully the organic food store near to where Grace and I will be living after the wedding doesn’t try and sell this crap.
