Hey, I've been doing this blogging thing for a year now! Happy birthday to this site. As I read some of my posts I'm amazed at the level of ranting that went on, especially during the federal election. Guess I got a little overheated there. Not that I'm at all apologetic, those scondrels deserve a few litres of my bile.

What I have also learned is there is more then going off on a triade, need balance in life to have a full rich one. So, here's a few things that have interested me over the weekend.

1) Just finished reading Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland. I have been a long time fan of his writing and it's amazing what he does. He writes fascinating stories about ordinary people. This one deals with a woman, Liz who is alone. She is like the character from the Beatle song "Eleanor Rigby", in fact she uses that name for her email, she has no real friends and only interacts with her family; no one calls, no one visits, she is one of those lonely people. She is the type that is ignored, then her son comes to back in her life, a child conceived during a school trip to Europe. Her life changes and, well read the book if you want to know more. What has impressed me about Douglas Coupland's book is the spiritual undercurrent that exists, his characters are often searching for more meaning to their lives and often there is a quest for God. This book is no different. I will confess there were tears in my eyes at the end, it is that good.

2) Moby's new CD is great. Hotel is great and worth purchasing and listening on the home stereo or the Ipod, where mine is.


Yesterday I had off, it was good to relax after a busy weekend.


Peace

Here's another view of it. One thing I have to say is that Apple makes cool packaging for their ipods. In the box came the headphones, belt hook, usb cable, software, instruction booklets and two Apple stickers. How is that for fun. 

Well, I promised some photographs of my new Apple Ipod mini and here they are. I am truly enjoying this little wonder. Right now I'm hoping to add Christine Fellows to its hard drive. 

PCWorld.com - File Swappers Find New Ways to Trade Tunes

This makes sense and before the RIAA breaks open the champagne let's be honest, it has nothing to do with them. You see it goes to the basic standards of people. People are inately honest and will pay for services if they are a good price.

The problem has been people felt they were being gouged by the record industry and the p2p was a reaction to this feeling. Now that there are safe alternatives, such as Itunes and the new Napster. You have to remember that people will pay for good services. The above and to them I do add Puretracks offer good and safe services. We all remember when Jack Valanti went on a ramage against VCR players but it was the VCR that stimulated the movie industry, in fact to a number of movies, it is rentals that make them profitable.

So all, with our Ipods and all that we can have a lot of great sources for tunes.

Peace

Weird Worlds presents... The Real Da Vinci Code

Last night I took the two hours to watch the above on Historty Television. The show looked at the claims in the book The DaVinci Code. I did read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it, Dan Brown produced a great pager turner of a mystery. I couldn't stop until I finished that's for sure. Now as much as I enjoyed it as a novel it has a lot of flaws when it comes to history, especially the history of the early church.

The narrator, Tony Robinson of Blackadder fame. He played Baldrick, you know hello, my name is Baldrick, yeah we know Sod off Baldrick. He looked at the various claims of the book and considered the history and the legend of the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail has been quite a figure in western legend and stories, Robinson examines such things as the start of the legend, what it could be and where it could be. He visited various sites in both Israel and England. to follow the legend. He spends a fair bit of time at Rosslyn Chapel. Visit this site to read how the Knights Templars and the Freemasons may be involved.

Overall, it is two hours well worth watching. He examines all the claims, from the Priory of Sion to the painting of Leonardo DaVinci. He considers it all and reveals some interesting facts.

If you missed it Wednesday, you can watch it on March 27th, at 7:00 PM.

Peace

It happened this past weekend; I bought the Ipod Mini. It cost me, with a three year service plan, $343.00. I am so excited. Since then I've been putting music on the devise. To date I have U2, Moby, Fiona Apple, Wilco and a number of singles from my fave groups of the 80's. Last time I looked I have about 7 hours worth of music at approximately 560 Meg, so I have about 3.5 gigs to fill, or so. 

FIONA APPLE EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE MP3s

so here's the deal, Fiona Apple's latest CD is unavailable to the fan. The label didn't release it; however it is available throught the Internet, but people who post it are getting nasty letters from the RIAA.

Okay, so the label doesn't want it out there, I mean obviously they believe there's no interest, but people are downloading it at a huge rate? so what's the problem. If they don't want to release it, then let the fans still listen.

This link will allow you to see the tracks, and well, far be it for me to encourage piracy, but I believe if you right click and then look for the word 'save', something wonderful will happen. so give it a try and see if that wonderful thing will happen.

The Wired article is here if want to get more information.also there's a site called Free Fiona.com with a great deal of interesting information. You can download a poster.

so if you like good music, do what you can.


Peace

Garage Inc. - Whiskey In Teh Jar Song Lyrics


With tomorrow being St. Patrick's Day, a day to celebrate all things green; I thought i'd include a link to my favourite Irish song. Sing along

Garage Inc. - Whiskey In Teh Jar Lyrics

As I was going over the Cork and Kerry mountains
I saw Captain Farrell and his money he was counting
I first produced my pistol and then produced my rapier
I said "Stand and deliver or the devil he may take ya"
I took all of his money and it was a pretty penny
I took all of his money and I brought it home to Molly
She swore that she'd love me, no, never would she leave me
But the devil take that woman for you know she tricked me easy
Musha ring dum a doo dum a da
Whack for my daddy-o
Whack for my daddy-o
There's whiskey in the jar-o
Being drunk and weary I went to Molly's chamber
Taking my money with me and I never knew the danger
For about six or maybe seven in walked Captain Farrell
I jumped up, fired off my pistols and I shot him with both barrels
Musha ring dum a doo dum a da
Whack for my daddy-o
Whack for my daddy-o
There's whiskey in the jar-o
Now some men like the fishing and some men like the fowling
And some men like to hear, to hear the cannon ball roaring
Me, I like sleeping specially in my Molly's chamber
But here I am in prison, here I am with a ball and chain yeah
Musha ring dum a doo dum a da
Whack for my daddy-o
Whack for my daddy-o
There's whiskey in the jar-o
Musha ring dum a doo dum a da
Musha ring dum a doo dum a da
Musha ring dum a doo dum a da
Musha ring dum a doo dum a da

Yahoo! News - Top Five Online Scams

I have only one word for today. Read. Read this article and follow it's recommendations closely.

CBC Television - Doctor Who: "Slawko Klymkiw, Executive Director Programming, CBC Television said, 'Bringing back the hugely popular DOCTOR WHO series to fans new and old alike - was an exciting opportunity for CBC. "

This is great news, so mark the calendar, power up the VCR or DVD recorder and get ready, the Doctor is coming back. He's live, He's back and he is on CBC. What a great way to start the Spring season. After over a decade the secret wish, the dream that seemed to fade a bit with each passing year was the return of Doctor Who and now it's true.

With word the BBC was resurrecting the series hit the wire and world it was exciting, then the word CBC was commiting to bring the series to Canada was ecstactic. There was a concern that it would be stuck at some ungodly time of the day, but here it is, coming at Prime Time. The good news, I've got satellite, miss it in my time zone, I can watch it an hour later.

Celebrate my people, the Doctor is Coming.

Sympatico / MSN : News : CTV.ca
It is always good to share ones view of the world, so here's another from my world. People have accused me, as reported in this blog, of not being a good conservative. There is a good reason for that and here it is, I am not a conservative. I am far more comfortable on the left side of the political equation. This leads to the next question, why am I not a supported of, say, the Liberals. There is a good reason for that, the Liberals aren't liberal. Take that silly notion out of your mind immediately. They are as liberal as, say the PRI ( Institutionalized Revolutionary Party) of Mexico is a Revolutionary Party. You can read some notes about the PRI here.
If you read the link at the opening you can understand that the Liberal Party of Canada is not liberal, it is a tired, corrupt organization that pretends to be liberal but has in fact become a means of providing perks to the friends of the Prime Minister. What is rather amusing is a comment near the end of the article, let me quote:
Jean Lapierre, Prime Minister Paul Martin's Quebec lieutenant has insisted the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party was free of tainted funds because it had a $3.9-million debt when Martin became party leader in November 2003. Actually that was never part of the equation, no one accused the Party of benefiting from the scandel, it's always been about the Friends of the PM receiving the spoils of the pillage.
You see, what usually happens is that every so many years the Liberal get turfed out,usually after the become tired, corrupt and inefficient. Now that should have happened in the last election, however the burghers of Ontario, my fair province decided a corrupt government is better then one with a leader from Alberta, namely the Conservative Party of Canada. So the Liberals remain in power with all their problems and have not been allowed to go through their period of penance and cleansing that is required of them every decade or so.
The end result will be until that time comes, more government waste, more corruption and a more incompetent government.

Peace

Turn Your Radio On

to me, one of the easist gigs in the world has got to be a liberal commentator in America. After all GWB practically writes their material for them. I mean what's not to target, you have the continuing misadventure that is Iraq; a place where brave Americans are dying for, now what was that reason again? to the deficit, the huge burden that's being placed on the shoulders of future generations to the now below the surface but still potentially embarassing Enron debacle.

Let's not forget the latest which is GWB plan for social security. He wants everyone to throw their potential retirement income onto the stock market where they can invest in companies such as; Enron, Qwest and other winners.

I should say that I do have investments in mutual funds, but I tell you I'm not putting all my future income there.

Yet, they don't seem to be able to get anywhere; I wonder if it's because one of their 'stars' is Janeane Garofalo; a woman who invented the phrase not funny comedian. She's a comic in search of both material and a comedic sense of timing.

But to continue, you could consider the economy, here's one article. You know your country is going down the tube when Canada, my fair dominion, is beating the crap out of you in the financial front. Hey, this makes it good to be a Canadian. After getting our teeth kicked during the 90's and early 00's we're now on top looking down.

You know if they could only see beyond the nonsense, they will realize one thing; they are set up to win big.


Peace

Fairvue Central >> Bloggies >> Fifth Annual Weblog Awards

well, no one nominated me this year. Better luck next year. But you see what's in the catagory of best Canadian blogs??? Probably a bunch of Liberal friends of the PM bloggers.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US demands 'action' from Syrians

It's rather ironic that the US is demanding Syria pull out of Lebanon. First of all, this is a laudable desire, Syria should end their occupation of Lebanon. They entered as occupiers, no matter what Hezbullah says, they came to occupy a sovereign nation. Yes Lebanon was going through a difficult civil war, which was inspired by the Syrian backed Hezbullah, by the way.

Now it is time for them to leave.

It's also time for the US to consider their exit strategy from Iraq. Forget the rhetoric, they are occupiers. They invaded a sovereign nation under dubious reasoning and not a shred of evidence of either a) weapons of mass destruction or b) connection with Al-Qaida. Although I do believe Saddam did have WMD which he used on his own people.

But the problem, how to leave Iraq without the whole nation blowing up in a huge and ugly civil war? The next question is what about the oil? who will profit from the reserves that are in Iraq, the Iraqi people or the oil friends of George W. Bush?

Free Lebanon
Free Iraq


Peace

AnnCoulter.com - View Photo

As I continue my thoughts for today. No one this hot, should be this conservative.



Certainly not looking this great in this outfit . This might make me rethink my whole political philosophy ;).

Just a reminder where I was last year. This race was my first duathlon. I had participated in a number of 5k runs, and I have the t shirts to prove it so this was my longest distance.

Well, I want to do it again, according to the schedule it's August 13th, so you know when I'm going to be on holidays.

Today, I did my first run. I have been walking the treadmill but today I laced them up and headed outdoors. It is a wonderful feeling to get free of the basement.

My time 20'35" distance 3 km. I wanted to be easy and not over do it on the first attempt. Plenty of time to add on distance later.

I am planning to develop and follow a training plan. My goal last year was to finish around 2h15', which I did, for this race I would like to be closer to 2 hr.

Peace

Yahoo

Ten Years ago Yahoo! started. How life has changed. Happy birthday Yahoo.

Turkmen President Closes Hospitals - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

Okay, I said I had requested some poetry from the President of Turkmenistan, perhaps its not a good idea right now. Seems he's busy closing his infrastructure, no hospitals, no libraries.

His reason is a bit far fetched, I mean closing libraries because the people are illiterate? That's why you have libraries.

Why do I think we're going to see Saparmurat hanging upside from a tree soon.

Peace

Yahoo! News - U2's Bono Should Head World Bank, Paper Urges

Perhaps on one level this makes no sense, after all, what does a rock star know about the intricacies of global finances and financing. On the other, it was the actions of the World Bank pressing an agenda of monitarism and globalization that precisely led to the impoverishment of the third world. Yes Bono is not a banker, but then again, he understands poverty.

As mentioned it is the LA Times and yes where else, after all, what other state would elect an actor as governor, not once but twice. So it only makes sense that the entertainment capital of the world would consider an entertainer for the job. However Bono's passion for the development of the third world and the ending of poverty makes him a pretty good candidate. After all, it has been the policies of the World Bank that brought about the problems so perhaps another point of view would make a positive difference.

You can read the editorial here.
Honestly, while it probably won't happen, it does make you think.


Peace

My quest for an Ipod Mini still continues. Sadly the auction ended and so I wait for something other then pink to show up at my local Best Buy. Well, I have to go past it this Thursday and that will be opportunity to stop and see. If I am fortunately, perhaps another open box item will appear, like magic.

I will keep you posted.


Peace

Technology - canada.com

after tell the 'world' my hopes and dreams for purchasing an ipod mini, an act of narcissism, I decided to comment on this article. I read in the paper this past week and truly wondered what Paris Hilton, Blogs and the President for Life of Turkmenistan have in common.

this is an interesting article for a few reasons, one, it talks about Saparmurat Niyazov and it quotes Sam Vaknin, who has submitted a number of essays and short stories to aovegroundtesting my ezine. Actually I have written the President of Turkmenistan in an attempt to get some of his poems for my publication.

I suppose this is a form of narcissism, but then again, we kept pictures of ourselves in albums, or shoe boxes and that wasn't considered narcissistic? I realize rarely were they pictures of ourselves naked making out with other women, but still we did keep photographs of ourselves. I have to confess I have googled myself and have discovered that the RealPaul Gilbert is a guitarist of renown. Which is not me by the way.

Yes I do have a blog and I do have a ezine, so what. Am I grandiose, well through these endeavours I am, but again, so what? Is it narcissism to express your opinion. Honestly do we think thousands of people read our stuff? Besides in MSM they pay people to give their opinion and usually their opinion is just as off the way as your average blogger.

Narcissistic? Probably, but then again, so what.


Peace

I came soooo close to getting a blue apple ipod mini for $206.00 at BestBuy yesterday. If I had been about 5 minutes sooner, it would have been mine. I had thought about purchasing one before, but the cost was a big item. Apple has now lowered the price by $100.00 and suddenly it doesn't look all that expensive. They did have pink ones, but I'm just not sure about that colour. I mean, pink is okay , it's just not my favourite colour. Now I have made an offer on ebay and I have to wait.

TheStar.com - Voice vote approves same-sex marriage

Well so it is, Ontario joins Belgium and the Netherlands in allowing same sex marriage. Yes I always wanted to be in the same catagory with the Netherlands and Belgium.

I am glad they allow clergy the right to refuse. That is a right they have always had. You see just because one calls a preacher and asks to be married, he or she has always had the right to refuse. Now what is hoped is that some nob doesn't decide this is a violation of 'their' charter rights. Freedom of thought and expression are far greater rights that must be protected because that goes to the core being of an individual. The State has no right to judge the thoughts and opinions of another. Yes I know it does but it shouldn't. You are allowed to think and believe as you wish and so long as it doesn't endanger another you are free to believe.

How far have we come from the ."Friends of Voltaire who believed that, I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Nowadays its, believe what we say you are to believe, otherwise you will be marginalized. Yes this is a tolerant and progressive nation, as long as your thinking is in step with the elite and the MSM.


It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.


Peace

BBC NEWS | Technology | Iran jails blogger for 14 years

I placed the label and link on my blog and now he's been jailed for 14 years.

Follow the link to Committee to Protect Bloggers, and read. Also take the time to write to the Iranian Ambassador to the UN, and express your opinion. As the site suggests, be polite but tell them you believe in the freedom of expression and that it is in the best interest of the Iranian Government to let Arash Sigarchi go free.

Freedom of Expression, it's freedom to express your humanity.


Peace

Straight Goods - Canada's independent on-line source of news, analysis, information and fun

First of all, subscribe to Straight Goods. It's the source of information you won't get anywhere else.

Second, Linda McQuaig makes some very good points. We need to invest in social programs that help all Canadians. Linda talks about education and that should be one of the top priorities. The talk is competitiveness, what better way to ensure competition then having an educated healthy population? There was a bumper sticker which once said, 'in a perfect world, schools would have all the money the needed and the military would have to have bake sales'. Well in Canada the latter is true, the former isn't.

Now the talk is a national day care program. I oppose this for a few reasons, one, it will be a typical government boondoggle. In other words a lot of money will be thrown at a ill-thought program and very little resources will go to the people who actually need it. Think ad-scan for the preschool set. Second, there is nothing for parents who choose to stay at home and raise their children. I know that sounds old fashion, but many want to do just that. Why not make it possible for them to do so without punishment?

I have children in post-secondary education, they will get two things when they graduate; one a degree, the second, a large debt load. Great way to start a life. Only in Canada.

Peace

Committee to Protect Bloggers: THE COMMITTEE TO PROTECT BLOGGERS ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST CAMPAIGN: Free Arash and Mojtaba

Today, remember Mojtaba Saminejad and Arash Sigarchi. Their crime according to the Iranian authorities was to print the truth and be critical of the government.

Freedom is still precious, their right to think is still an important one. Their freedom to share their thoughts must be protected.




Peace

Girls Gone Wild Invades Canada - Nationwide Tour Kicks off This Monday; Notorious U.S. Series of Naughty DVDs Travels North in Search of the Hottest Women Canada Has to Offer

I was reading my local paper when this article caught my attention. Just what we need in Canada, "Girls Gone Wild". Now we all remember when the female fans of the Calgary Flames decided to flash themselves. I supposed it is to show that you are a liberated person not afraid of yourself or your sexuality.

Here's the reality ladies, your pix will now be part of the public domain. Quicker then you can say, 'My gosh what was I thinking', it's on every computer on the planet. Yes, that a great legacy.

Tell you what, and here is some fatherly advice, keep your shirts down and if the GGW group approach you, instead of showing your breasts, show them the door.

Peace

Yahoo! Sports - NHL - With NHL season on the brink, NHL presents players its final offer

Yahoo Sports had a poll asking the question, will there be hockey next year? I answered, "I don't care". Now I hear that the players have decided to accept a salary cap, although not the amount for the cap. Now the NHL says, 42.5 million or no season. Well, I suspect the players will crumble and accept this. After all, they accepted what they said every day for the past 153 days of the lock-out, so what's a few more million down. 52 million, 42.5 million, it doesn't matter.

Will the League survive, who honestly cares?


Peace

FT.com / Home UK - McDonald�s libel case goes to Euro court

Just appears to be the trial that Will Not Go Away for McDonald's. They at one time thought they could sue activists into silence, at one time a standard act by multinationals. Officially McDonald's won, but the publicity and embarrassment the company went through made it a very hollow victory. You can read more here.

Now the two have decided to appeal their 'conviction' to Strasbourg and according to one news source the two won a reversal of the decision.


Good for them.


Peace

I know everyone thinks that today is Flag Day here in Canada. About 10 years ago the then PM Jean Chretien declared February 15th as 'Flag Day', the day the Maple Leaf was adopted as the flag of Canada.

Truly it is a day for Canadians to stop and consider what a beautiful flag we do have. It is a flag that unites our nation and gives us a feeling of pride.

However, today is another special event, one that was also established by the then PM Jean Chretien. You see today is also "Choke a Homeless Person" day. . It was the day the Poutine wandered into the crowd of well wishers and confronted a person who was heckling him. The man was reminding the PM of the Red Book Promise ( the Liberal's campaign material) to restore funding to social programs. Of course like every other promise given by the Federal Liberals it was quickly broken. Seems this man didn't like what was happening to the poor of Canada and felt he had to say something. Silly fool, doesn't he realize that people like Chretien don't care about the needs of the poor.

As I was looking for the photo, I came across this

article. Keep it all in the proper perspective.

Peace

metronews: news

Let's put the last couple days of testimony into the proper perspective. Both the sitting and the former PM knew all about the purpose of the program, they knew money was ear-marked for the program and they all thought it was a great program.

I'm talking about the Sponsorship program.

What neither of them knew was where the money went.

Just think about it for a while. They didn't know where the money went.

I'm not talking about the coffee money here, I'm talking hundreds of millions of dollars, some of which ended up in the pockets of people who worked for the various ad agencies.


Before the Gormley commission people knew there was something crooked going on.

But the sitting PM, who was the Finance Minister during this period, and the former PM, knew nothing about the money.

Let me repeat, they didn't know where the money went.

Meditate on this, they didn't know where the money went.

So, what do we have, either two of the biggest crooks Canada ever produced, or two of the most incompetent leaders Canada has ever entrusted to run this country.

They didn't know where the money went.

CANOE -- CNEWS - Canada: Liberals cheer Chretien, Martin lauds his service: "and used a briefcase full of golf balls as a devastating stage prop"

Seems M. Chretien likes to use props and make jokes in dealing with scandals. Let's remember a few. There was the APEC summit in Vancouver a number of years ago, in case you forget one of the visiting dignitaries was Suharto of Indonesia. He was a nasty little dictator who invaded East Timor and oppressed people. What he also had was a very delicate condition, he didn't like to be criticized. Now in Canada, unlike his nation, dissent and protest is part of the fabric and protected, allegedly by the Charter. While in Vancouver one of the events was to take place in the Museum of Archaelogy on the campus of the University of British Columbia, a place where Protest 101 is a required course for all freshmen. Many of the students were upset over the fact that a blood thirsty tyrant was coming to their home and decided to protest, calling him all sorts of names. Of course this couldn't happen for reasons that are now unclear, still the result was a lot of students were pepper sprayed and arrested all under orders of the PMO ( Prime Minister's Office). During a press conference when asked about the pepper spraying of Canadians, Chretien laughed it off with "Pepper is something I put on my steak". Gosh what a comedian.

The next time his true comedic genius was on display was at the height of the HRC scandel. Apparently the Auditor General of the day reported s/he couldn't track a billion dollars of money that had been earmarked for the HRC department. The government of the day denied any knowledge of this and said it couldn't be tracked. During the ugly time and let's remember we're talking one billion dollars here, he stood up to address the Parliament and had this big old binder of documents and he started to read all the places the money had gone. He was having a good old time and his then right hand weasel Don Bordreau, a man who had to resign in disgrace by the way, was either giving him the pages or taking it from him. Again, a billion dollars lost of taxpayers money and Chretien thinks it's hilarious.

Now the AdScan, same thing money, lots of money goes missing and to defend himself Chretien uses some cheap props, in this case golf balls to prove his point. What was his point, that the golf balls are not cheap because other world leaders have them. Right. There is one slight point about his comments, and this is it HE DIDN'T ANSWER A FREAKING QUESTION!!!!!

The golf balls are a devastating prop, they sure are, because they should remind all Canadians that money that could have gone to education, or to hospitals, or to fixing infrastructure went to his buddies. You know what, every Canadian should during the next election, chuck golf balls at their local Liberal candidate and ask them, if that's a funny enough prop.

Disgusting. Chretien may be the most corrupt Prime Minister this nation has ever had.

Peace and practice your aim.

Sympatico / MSN : News : CTV.ca

Oh good, he's now off the hook. Former PM Jean Chretien 'regrets' any sponsorship mistakes. After all, it was all done in the name of 'national unity'. Yes all that money that went to Liberal friendly firms was to preserve the Dominion. I guess those were the only firms you could trust, after all you couldn't trust any PQ friendly firms could you.

Just a couple of questions before you leave M. Prime Minister, why did you send your henchmen to cast doubt about the integrity of the Commission? Why have you taken so long to even admit this? You say it is your ultimate responsibility, if so how will you bear this responsibility. Why is it you send A. Gagliano to Denmark after the scandel broke?

Just how much did you know, when did you know it and why didn't you act upon it?


Just answer those questions, okay?


Peace

I was away last week, so I think I missed a lot of things.

Let's get to the news. The Pats win Superbowl xxxix, or 39 for those of us who are roman numeral illiterate. Good game, both teams were very nervous in the first quarter. I don't know what Philly was thinking about regarding clock management. Very bad.

It's very damp and cold today. Miserable weather.

Have to find more for tomorrow.

Peace

Wired News | Sudan: U.N. Darfur Report Does Not See Genocide

Of course it doesn't see genocide. The UN refuses to see genocide in anyplace except Israel. The world, I believe would be relieved if the Sudanese militia and air force would simply kill everybody. You see once they are all dead, it's no longer genocide. Also, dead refugees are easier to deal with; all you need is a couple of front end loaders and a few bulldozers. You dig the pits and push the bodies in and problem is solved.

As well, a negative report against Sudan will only be squashed by the Arab-Muslim bloc. Any aid would be resisted by this group, because the only country that apparently can engage in genocide and be condemned is Israel, and they don't even engage in genocide.

Remember Darfur


Peace

This is the new symbol of courage in the world today. A finger with purple dye, a finger that proves the person attached understood the challenge and the threat and refused to be intimidated. This is the finger of a person who voted in the Iraqi election.

Those who are the angriest today are the terrorists, no sorry, as Suhanna of CBC Newsworld reminded an Iraqi, insurgents. The threatened ordinary citizens that they would kill them, well guess what, millions refused to be intimidated, the last legacy of the Saddam Hussein regime proved to be an empty threat. The other group that are the angriest are the stridently anti-Americans who hate anything and everything that country does. Now again, I do oppose the military operation, it was a sham but this does not mean I can't rejoice when regular people decide to take matters into their own hand and vote. The opposition in Afghanistan thought they could discredit a vote and threatened to boycott that election, however when they discovered that regular people wanted this election they suddenly showed up.

Now many are complaining about the lack of Sunni voters, let's remember that under Saddam, the Sunni were the favoured people. The perks, such as they were, belonged to them. While the Shi'ites in the south and the Kurds in the north were either being gassed or shot, they lived in relative security. Trust me in a couple of months all those Sunni's who didn't vote will be kicking themselves for not doing what they could for their nation.

To the strident Anti-Americans in my country, to those who work for the CBC and suppose to represent what I think, just one word of advice, Shut your traps. Democracy won today.

This does not mean the danger is over, the opposition still has guns and bombs, but it's the start of the end for them. The people, not the armies of the coalition are the ones that defeated them.


Peace

None Is Too Many - A Cause For Canadians To Repent - Anti-Semitism and Holocaust


I thought about the ceremony this week to mark th 60th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz. The message is as it should each anniversary, "Never Again". I wish this was so, but also this week the Sudanese Air Force were strifing civilians near Darfur in violation of a truce. Never again is hollow because the world has witnessed the horrors of Cambodia, the terrors of Rwanda, the silent destruction of the Tibetan people and simply turned the other way.

While one can point the finger at the Nazi's for the Holocaust, let us never forget our duplicity in this manner. Many western nations, including Canada slammed the door to Jewish immigration, and has the blood of no doubt thousands of Jews on our hands. What would have happened if our nation had allowed unrestricted immigration of Jews to Canada? How many lives would have been saved? According to Irving Abella Fredrick Charles Blair who was the director of the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources was a Christian and an Anti-Semitic. He is a disgrace to the Name of Jesus! He ruled the department because Makenzie King was also anti-semitic. Remember it was King who thought Hitler was a great person. These two have put the blood of those Jews on the hands of every Canadian.

We were as much involved in the Holocaust as Dr. Joseph Mengele and the Nazi hierarchy.

I invite you to follow this link to learn more.

Let us never forget.


Peace

World Economic Forum - About Subhome
Couldn't let this day go by without saying something about the World Economic Forum in Davos what can be said about this? It gives the leaders of business and the world the chance to mingle, smooze and get their picture taken with Bono to show their grandkids they are actually cool and not a stuffed shirt.

The usual is said for improving the world and remember the membership are the same group who ensure the world does not become a better place for the poor. It is made up of the largest corporations in the world, the ones that have re-invented the sweatshop for example. These are the industries such as Nike that have gone from nation to nation to find the cheapest labour possible. It's these companies that have cut deals with some of the most ruthless dictatorships on the planet, so that their interests are protected.

Now they want to help Africa. Yes Africa needs help. But will corporate World give what it needs, will Pfizer or whoever agree to ship cheap anti-AIDS medicine, will Nestle stop trying to get mothers in the third and fourth world to start bottle feeding?

When that happens, let me know, OK?


Peace

CNEWS - Canada: N.B. won't pay for abortions at private clinic

This, being Canada, is part of the reason why the public health system is failing. Okay, the Federal Health Minister is ordering the province to pay for abortions performed in a private, for profit clinic. Now, this is public money being used to pay for a service already provided in public hospitals.

Keep that in mind, now let's say I decide to open up a private MRI clinic in my province. What do you think the reaction would be? Well easy Dosanjh would have a coronary. He would be screaming that is the erosion of the public system and it is shameful that service is provided for people who have the cash. You know, yadda yadda yadda.

The Health Minister for New Brunswick made a very good point when said:On one hand, he is trying to argue about health services being provided through a public system, but on the other hand, he's advocating for New Brunswick to provide health services through private clinics," the minister said.
So if the issue is trendy, it's okay, if it's not, it's not okay.

Figure it out, because I sure can't.


Peace

ALEXANDRASCOTT

I found about this site Stop Ashlee. Com from the Jim Rome show. It's a petition wants Ashlee Simpson to stop, to stop pretending she's a singer and leave the stage immediately. At last count there was over 212,000 signatures. I don't know about you but that says a lot of about the feeling this singer elicits in the heart of music lovers. I would suggest to Ashlee she return to what she does best, and that is an actress on "Seventh Heaven". This is a good family oriented show that is enjoyable to watch. I understand she's Jessica Simpson's sister and for some reason that got her into the music industry, but really when you're booed by 60000 people + at the Orange Bowl, it's time to move on.

Well, I could continue this negative blog but I want to draw attention to a singer you probably haven't heard and that is Alexandra Scott. She's an unsigned artist who deserves recognition for her ability and her talent. So when you're tired of the congromerate artist of the month, try someone who is real, try Alexandra Scott.


Peace

CTV.ca | 2004 CD shipments make first gain in six years

I honestly am happy for the music industry. They deserve some good news after all the bad news that has been generated in their direction. Of course, most of the bad news has been of their own making, still slow embracing new technology aren't they. I wonder why the numbers from ITunes and Puretracks isn't being included because that is now part of the music purchasing equation. I know over the last year I've bought both single tracks and a couple of albums using Puretracks.com. Are they afraid that even mentioning online music will cause people to pirate. Still they need to get over themselves.

I do agree that much of the inspiration has been the release of some good CD's. Let face it, U2's is incredible and worth every penny it cost and Shania Twain is always good ear candy. I mean she's quite nice to look at and she does a decent job. You will notice no mention of some of the horrors of the past year, like Britney releasing a "Best Of...", or the latest monstrosity from Hillary Duff or Lindsay Lohan. I want to suggest that if the music industry wants to keep this up they should do one thing do NOT offer contracts to a) Paris Hilton, b) the Olsen Twins or c) Donald Trump. None of them have any ability so there.

Just a thought, Ashlee Simpson's tour in support of her CD will probably die either on the road shortly after starting or it won't even get started. I suppose her 'acid reflux' will prevent her from touring. I mean after the SNL and then the Orange Bowl debacle her musical career probably has crashed and burned and there are no survivors.

She is proof that a sound card is no substitution for being able to actually sing.

Peace

Wired News: We're Creative Commonists, Bill

Everyone is jumping all over Bill Gate's remark during his interview that is featured in news.com. The comment from the Wired.com news article was to say that this demonstrates that Bill is a bit out of the loop when it comes to the notion of copyright, or as some like to call it 'copyleft'. The problem is that Bill fails to understand anything but the status quo and really the status quo for intellectual property is being erased, not by the communists, but by individuals and companies who are demanding a total change of the copyright system. The megamedia corporations of which Microsoft is a part of want to change copyright into property. According to traditional law, property is sacred and belongs forever to the owner. Copyright exists only for a limited period of time, a period that lawmakers are trying to change so that it is better for the lobbyists.
At present, when the copyright is complete, the intellectual property becomes part of the public domain that all of us can enjoy without restriction. The megamedia corporations want to lock up their culture forever, if they had their wish.
Which system do you want to live under, one dominated by a few corporations who only care about making money, or one in which culture and media are truly free. If we learned anything, the megacorps only care about their bottom line. It all started with the music industry and while they claim to act in the best interest of the artist, they are only interested in their bottom line. They want the artist to remain in a situation of indentured slavery, selling their creativity for a few bucks.
An extremely good book on the subject is Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig. If you visit his website freeculture.org. It gives a good background to the whole issue of free culture and how the megacorps are attempting to stifle this culture. You can about the time the RIAA sued Girl Scouts for singing campfire songs. If you go into the site you can download legal copies of the book and in various file types as well, from .pdf to .lit for those of us who own Pocket PC's. I'm about a third of the way through and it is a fascinating read.
Everything, including Bill's comments are based upon the Creative Commons, which is a method of protection and freedom for, as the site says, authors and artists. If you are a creative type it may be an interest to you it offers protection and the ability of others to build upon your creativity. It allows the creator to own and do as they will and not to be a part of the megacorps slavery system.

Consider learning more.

By the way, I did order a t-shirt, might as well make it official.

Learn more and free culture.


Peace

Sympatico / MSN : News : CTV.ca

that's right Judy, blame your enemies. You probably made a lot of them. You know Judy there's a little saying out there and it goes something like this: "chickens do come home to roost". You've been pretty quick with attacking the conservatives, in fact weren't you part of the team that followed Stephen Harper around? yes you were and now you're ousted.

What is more interesting is the fact that the person that caused your downfall was Pizza Delivery Guy. You know, there is justice in this universe. And to think your rival gets your job, the guy that announced the end to the "Strippers to Canada", over your head while you were the target of volley after volley from the Opposition. So is that all it takes to get into Canada? send free pizza's to the Minister's campaign office? Well, that news should do well with every other person trying to sneak into the country.

Oh by the way Paul. Yeah, did you sleep well last night? How many more of your loyalists will be joining Judy on the disgrace trail. Let's see, that's two so far isn't it.

Peace

It must have been Kismet this past Saturday night. I was coming back from a restaurant meal, listening to CKLW radio in particular a show called the Movie Show on Radio. The topic was the 5 DVD's you take on the desert island, and as I listened I heard some great movies including my faves such as The Great Escape. Well one of the movies that was mentioned and brought raves was The Princess Bride, yes it is a good movie with excitement, some kissing and great lines. Well, so I get home and turn on the television when one channel, YTV is showing it. I figure after hearing about it again, I got to watch it so I did and is it funny or what. I mean the lines are great. Before I go further, you can read the script here. How can you not like a movie that features lines like Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. You just can't. Look, the movie makes no sense but it is great nonetheless. You have Billy Crystal as Miracle Maxx telling us that a rushed miracle is a rotten miracle. Or near the end when Fezzik, played by Andre the Giant says: Ah, there you are. Inigo, I saw the Prince's stables, and there they were, four white horses. And I thought, there are four of us, if we ever find the lady -- hello, lady -- so I took them with me, in case we ever bumped into each other. Or Vizzini describing two classic blunders: You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line"
. I was thinking of the first classic blunder, and my how things haven't changed have they? There is a land war going on in Asia and it is still a blunder, maybe not the jungles of Vietnam, but the desert and cities of Iraq, but I digress.
An interesting point made on the Movie Show was that the movie actually didn't go anywhere at the boxoffice, but when it was released to video it developed the cult following that has made it a hit. And a hit it is.

I know it's been awhile, but I've been busy, but I've got a lot to blog over the next little while.

By the way, Happy New Year.

Support The Salvation Army's relief for the victims of the Tsunami.


Peace

FrontPage magazine.com :: Why A Jew Supports Christian America by Don Feder

I found this article while surfing the news and may I say Don Feder is right on. He has an interesting quote: "Finally, I believe the safety of American Jews lies with Christian America.

In secular Europe, Jews are beaten in the streets. Our college campuses – dogmatically liberal – have turned into snake pits of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. The news media, which are so hostile to Christianity, are equally antagonistic toward Israel". This is truly the case in Canada; our's is a secular society and so we allow Islamic fundalmentalist groups at Concordia University to bar Israeli government leaders from appearing. They did this by first rioting and from then on by making threats of riots. The problem is the liberal administration is fearful of the violence. But if they had immediately put pressure on the Islamic groups not to riot, there would not be the problem.

The Jewish population of Canada would do well to follow the lead of this writer's article and support pro-Christian political parties. The mainstream media is worse in Canada, Christianity is viewed as dangerous to rights. Just consider the hostility being raged regarding same sex marriage; those who support the traditional view of marriage are pilloried as being totally out of touch. It is not a question of stifling freedom is having a point of view and yet in Canada if you possess a point of view that is outside of the CBC Toronto elite you are going to be villified.

Freedom of expression means freedom to express views that are contrary. Protect it.


Peace

The name is Francis Tolliver / Twas Christmas In The Trenches

Here's the song that has come to describe that amazing event.

HELLFIRE CORNER - The Christmas Truce - 1914

The spirit of humanity is still amazing. How soldiers stopped killing, not because of official orders but rather because they saw the humanity of each other.

Let's hope the same spirit of peace will fill this week.


Peace be to you all

Green Party of Canada - Parti Vert du Canada

With Christmas almost upon us, we need to remember all the organizations in our various communities who are doing something to deal with child poverty. The question is how many hampers were given to individuals across this nation? I know some groups, such as the Fraser Institute like to complain about the definition of poverty. They do this to claim there are far fewer people below the poverty level. The complain that those who 'inflate' the numbers do so for some personal gain, let me say something, no one 'inflates' the numbers for personal gain. There is none, in this day and age very few people care about the poor, especially with the media. The only time people care about the poor is when the poor interfere with their lives.

I know people talk about the fact the effort to eradicate child poverty is a pipe dream. They will further say there's not enough money to deal with the problem. However, it seems when a company such as Bombardier
needs money, it's always available.

We need to keep the pressure on our politicians and remind them that the goal of this nation is not to solve the problems of private industry, but to ensure no Canadian is left behind.


Peace

Sympatico / MSN : News : CTV.ca

I'm glad Paul is having such a great time with his new best friend Moammar. I mean poor Paul at home he faces questions about his choice of ministers and his view on different issues. He waffles more then the Waffle House and now he's in trouble again. He wanted to take his family to meet his new bestest friend and the best way to take them was on the government jet, yet all those nasty people in the opposition benches got all upset. I mean hey, so it cost a few bucks, it's not like the government is going broke; after all it does have a nine billion dollar surplus. For all that money, surely he can afford to take his family on some vacation.

Oh well, maybe same sex marriage will take the heat off.

Peace

Well, it's been a time hasn't it. I suppose I should give the excuses why I haven't been blogging over the last few days. The question could be asked, nothing outrageous from the Canadian government? Or has Paul Martin been a good little boy?

The answer to both is, no. Outrageous, of course, lots, there is still the Adscandel, which I promise never to forget. As for Paul, well he left the country again, after saying he should have been a bit more focused for his first 12 months. Actually Paul I think the country would be far off worse if you had forcused, but that's only me. Although why don't you get back to fixing the democracy deficit like you promised, or getting to the bottom of the scandel, or dealing with the deplorable state of the Canadian military. Speaking of which, in NATO nations, Canada ranks third from the bottom in military spending, only Luxembourg and Iceland is worse, and Iceland doesn't have a military. Yes, I always want to be better then Iceland.

But the reason why I haven't been blogging is two-fold actually. The first reason is I spent the weekend reading the DaVinci Code. May I say it was an amazing book, I couldn't put it down at all, I just had to read it and finish it. It was that good. Yes I know about the facts regarding the Holy Grail and the Knights Templars, still it makes for good reading. I was interested to learn that you can take DaVinci Tours and see all the sights mentioned in the book. Now that would be worth the money.

The second reason was I spent time installing Windows Pocket PC2003 on my Dell Axim X5. I wasn't sure if it would work, but after some time and the later realization I didn't need to stay up so late trying to do it, I got it up and running on my machine. It is different and there are improvements, although I'm still having problems with my wifi drivers and trying to connect, that may simply take time.

So, now that those two things are done, it's back to blogging.


Peace

I would be remiss not to mention this day, the 24th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. I remember it as a night of sadness and an end of an era. The workingclass hero himself was gunned down by a deranged "fan". The world had added to itself some more sadness.
I want to conclude this blog with the words of his famous song "Happy Christmas (war is over)


So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over over
If you want it
War is over
Now...

God Bless you John, sleep well tonight. We miss you.

 

Big Music Canada Fiasco

This is a great article, especially the last point: "That should read, Canadians demand Ottawa protect them from Big Music". First of all, I do understand politicians will always go where the money is, period. The average consumer, or perhaps a better word the average person who happenes to download music of the Internet is not by definition a wealthy person. Big Music is very wealthy, these clowns can buy and sell politicians at will. They say 'jump' and they get the government to look like a bunch of Jack Russel terriers. Jumping jumping jumping.

Now musicians are jumping into the fray by demanding protection from illegal copiers. Here's another quote: "In fact, the musicians haven’t really demanded anything. The cartel-owned CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America) is behind the massive PR exercise, having provided the musicians with its own self-serving and completely one-sided statistics with which to con the media and, through them, bring Canadian politicians into line - Big Music's line". this is funny, Big Music has been the enemy of musicians from almost day one. The idea of most of Big Music is to screw the musician out of their royalties. You can go through history, it wasn't just the black artists that got screwed, it was acts as recent as the Dixie Chicks, for example. Now they're singing BM's tune, give me a break. Big music is only interested in big Profit. How do you explain the sad state of creativity now? If the musicians want updates to the copyright law, their demand should be to own the copyright of their music. Most of the time, it's owned by the music companies and they do with as they please.

Let us always remember, Big Music IS the enemy. Keep downloading everyone, it's the one act of freedom you have. Rememeber you're already paying a levy on blank media, so you've paid for the right to share and download. So do it with aplomb. It's your way to liberate music from the chains of Big Music. The enemy is CRIA, RIAA and everyone initial.

Peace

Vancouver Sun: "Ji-Won Park "

If only Ji-Won Park was either a volunteer for the local Liberal candidate or a stripper, she'd have no fears of expulsion. Then again I guess it's hard to go door to door when you're a nearly totally paralyzed after suffering a severe beating at the hands of an assailant. Also, that sort of thing really mucks up dancing around a pole.

Contact your local MP and tell them to get the Immigration Ministry to get this poor woman landed immigrant status.

Peace

CTV.ca | Volpe ends foreign stripper assessment

Just a little life lesson here for everyone, including the Pimp Momma. You see when they start making announcements over you, it means you're done. Here is the case the Minister of another department stands up and deals with an issue that belongs in the case of the Immigration Minister, no more visas. You see, she's getting dragged over the coals and no one in the government is rushing to her assistance. They are announcing changes in policy that impact her department though, while she sits there being grilled. Why? For one simple reason, she is road kill. Trust me, next time Paul shuffles his cabinet Pimp Momma will be on the outside looking in. Everyone in the government now knows that as a fact. Where she resigns or is 'fired' is irrelevent, she is done.

You see it's always a bad thing when they talk about you in front of you, like you're not there, because in their eyes, you're not there. You are done, finished, stick a fork in her mommy cuz this bird is cooked.

Peace

The Globe and Mail: Strippers put Ottawa program at centre stage

The Pimp Momma herself Judy Sgro continues to make herself sounds like a total gnob every chance she gets. Listen to this little beauty: "Ms. Sgro reiterated that she is a supporter of women's rights, but noted that the exotic-dancing industry "has a need, and we have an obligation to fulfill that need whether I like it or not"". thank goodness we have such a minister.

I live near a border community which has from what I can see a fair number of strip, sorry exotic dance clubs. They seem to have enough dancers and yet we have the Minister of Immigration such weird and outlandish statements. I wonder if Pimp Momma reads what she says.

Judy, Judy, Judy. Give up.

Peace

London Free Press: News Section - Sgro defends strippers' right to work in Canada

Far be it for me to question the word of a minister of the crown but, HUH?????

This is beautiful, Sgro is defending the fact she fast tracked a woman, who is a stripper, into Canada because she just happened to work on her campaign. This is hilarious. I have a question, why can't she simply admit she was wrong?

What is interesting is the comment from the law professor, not that Canadian strippers would never do the demeaning things demanded of them, it's rather the quality of the stripper. I mean if true, these young women are teachers, nurses and other trained professionals. Look if they applied as a nurse, they would be turned down, because the medical professional is very protective. I mean, yes they complain about the lack of people, but trust me they don't want to have foreigners coming in to take 'their' jobs. Yet, because these ladies can take their clothes off, a skill most of us learn when we're three, they're allowed in. Because they will humiliate themselves to beer drinking beer bellied louts, who's 'managers' give money to the Liberal Minister of Immigration, they get in.

Judy, Judy, Judy. You were wrong. Admit it, resign will you. You're only making yourself look very very stupid.

You would think, waking up this morning and listening to the news, that a few feet of snow fell last night. In the nearby city, there are accidents on almost all the major roads. Yet a millimetre fall and its chaos out there. Here's an idea to all you drivers, slow down. Don't figure you can go 110 down those 50k roads like you do every other day of the year. You can't. Slow down and learn to drive safely for a change.  

U2 Lyrics - Yahweh Lyrics - Yahweh

I have been spending my time listening to the new CD "How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb" and the very last cut is the one that totally blew me away.

I know the first one 'Vertigo' has been getting all the play and certainly for very good reason. It's straight ahead RAWK that takes over your speakers and hits you hard and fast. It is righteous rock and played the right way.

However it's this last song that got to me. Here is Bono and Co sharing their unique brand of Christianity with the world. Here in North America we think all Christians are like Jerry Falwell and his ilk, mean-spirited hatemongers that have more in common with the Pharisees then Jesus. However the 'religious right' and I won't sully the name of Christianity by adding it to the usual title, don't or at least shouldn't have the market of Christian thought. We have Bono and U2, a third branch of Christianity, one that actually may be closer to the truth then many would want to believe.

The words are those of dedication to Yahweh, one of the names of God as revealed in the Old Testament. The name means "the Hebrew name God. It is usually explained as based on the Hebrew verb for “to be or become,” but it is not easy to translate. “The one who is” or “who causes to be” are possibilities.". The believer is coming to the One who Is and giving him or herself totally to Him, so that Yahweh can make them the person they ought. Just read the first verse of the song:
Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Moving words that remind us that we do have a part to play in the plan of God. But before we can do this, we need to be fit vessels for His service.

May each of us be that fit vessel.


Peace

waving and singing 

Bono and band in action 

From the concert under the bridge in Brooklyn 

some more 

Some more photographs of U2 in concert 

Bono  

These pictures were sent to me of U2's concert in New York City.  

when the first notes of "Vertigo" hit my radio station I thought to myself, 'this is one CD I have got to purchase'. I've been a fan of U2 for going on 20 years and I have never been as excited as I am about this CD. Here the group is returning to the power and unique sound that has been the trademark of the group.

I remember buying "Pop" becoming aware that this is rather disappointing, I supposed it was only part of the wrong turn the group did with the 'Zootropia' tour and subsequent releases. As you know 'Zootropia' was a sort of parody they wanted to play on themselves and the pop culture world in general. But somewhere along the way the parody became themselves and they became rather self-absorbed. I disliked "Pop", in fact of the various Cd's I own, it may be the least played of them all.

Part of my faith was renewed with both the 1980-1990 'Best of.." and later "All that you can't leave behind". It was as if they were coming out of the wilderness and reminding themselves what made them one of the great rock bands of the ages. Now with "How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb" they come back with a vengence and a relevance that seemes to have been lacking. Here we have the vocals and lyrics of Bono, the unique guitaring of The Edge and the back up play of Larry Mullens and Adam Clayton. They are here to say, 'we are not parodies of ourselves, we are still U2'. The styles of the CD do go from the classic hard Rawkin' Vertigo to the soft ballad style of 'Some Times you can't make it on your own'. We must never forget there has always been a sensitive side to the group. They are introspective as well and this a good part of the mix. Perhaps they thought we needed to catch our breath after 'Vertigo'.

But rockers they are and the end the CD with a rock song 'Yahweh', a reminder that this is a band with a conscious and one that plays rock.

Enjoy it, you deserve to.

Peace

New York Daily News - News & Views - Stoolie: Canada pol in mob

Just when I thought it would be a quiet non blogging day there's this.

Thank you former PM Jean Chretien for putting a foot soldier of the Mob into sensitive government posts such as "Public Works" and "Labour", two areas the Mob has been trying to influence for years.

Was this to pay off some sort of debt you owed the GodFather??

Peace.

News | canada.com network

A moment of silence as we remember the political career of Carolyn Parrish. Bow your heads for just a moment.

Thank you.

You know here's a case of a person who didn't know where the line was drawn even after it was freshly painted and it was pointed out to her. I invite you to read the article to refresh yourself about her rather interesting career and the unique ability she had of walking and talking with feet in her mouth.

From early on it was obvious she didn't like George W. Bush, in fact I would say 'hate' would not be too far off the mark. Well she demonstrated her opinion by applying the boot of logic, leather too, to a GWB doll. Now people were crying for her head after that, but what really did it was when she expressed her opinon about the PM. Apparently she had some inside information as to where he was going to spend eternity. It seems Paul doesn't care too much for dissension in ranks. Oh well, so much for the "democratic deficit".

Well she's been banished to the back of the proverbial bus, she now sits as an independent. Now while the name indicates a certain strength of character and ideals if you wanted the truth a better name would be 'leper'. She will be treated like one and shunned like one. She will effectively disappear from the political stage since lepers, sorry, independents have absolutely no political clout. Also since she is not a 'Liberal', she will get no support for her nominations or even get anyone like the PM to sign off on them.

Oh well, enjoy the pension Carolyn, I think that's all you will have coming.


Peace

TheStar.com - Sensible helmet law

A little while ago, one of the MPP's in Ontario put forward a private members bill that would call for the mandatory wearing of bike helmets while riding bikes or going out on roller blades. Since that time the writers in my local paper have been almost unanimous in their criticism of this proposed measure. I can almost imagine the writers turning various shades of either blue or red as they work themselves up in a lather over this perceived violation of their cherished rights and freedoms. Often the writers will warn us of that this legislation is not as innoculous as we all presume it to be. In fact this law will put us on the slippery road to the establishment of a Soviet style Communist regime. We all know from reading our history books that it was only when Lenin ordered all cyclists in Russia to don on a bike helmet that he was able to established the Communist system.

Let me say a few things about this, I am a cyclist and I couldn't imagine going riding without my helmet. The purpose of the helmet is to protect the rider from serious head and brain injury. I started doing serious riding in BC, where it is mandatory and it makes a lot of sense. Not only that but helmets are made of light weight material and have enough air holes to ensure there is proper ventilation of there. Plus kids and adults wearing helmets are very cool. If you question that statement consider this, Alison Sydor wears a helmet. That makes it not only right but very very proper.

Mind you what I don't appreciate is the fact that the government wants to institute fines and all that for those scofflaws who refuse to wear them. That's good, it will either be a cheap ticket for the cops to give out when it's quota season, or unenforceable. I'm sure once the police solve all the murders, rapes and robberies, they'll get right after those nefarious cyclists without helmets.

Again, wear helmets guys and gals it will make you look very cool.


Peace

agt67

This was a wonderful experience for me, to have an email interview with Patricia O'Callaghan and to put it all together in a great issue of my ezine.

I recommend you find and purchase her latest CD, "Naked Beauty", it is wonderful and restores your faith in the music scene.

Peace

G4techTV - The Screen Savers

Let me tell you a little story: a few years ago my family and I were driving through northern Michigan. At night we stopped at a motel to relax and just sleep. The motel had satellite TV and I discovered this channel called "TechTV". I watched 'Max Headroom', 'Thunderbirds' and this other show called 'the ScreenSavers'. I was hooked. A channel that liked the same thing I liked, gadgets, technology and computers. I decided then and there if there was any chance I was going to get this channel. A year later we signed up for satellite. It was the Canadian provider StarChoice. As I went through the booklet I saw it, TechTV!. I immediately ordered that as part of the channels available. Since then I became an even bigger fan. I watched, "The ScreenSavers", "Call for Help", "Robot Wars", "XPlay" and even 'Unscrewed'. Now they had a few Canadian based programs such as re-runs of 'ShiftTV', let us bow for a moment of silence to that now defunct magazine, 'shift'.

Things went well until this spring, when news of merger with it and another channel called G4TV. This came to pass and alas things started to change, the first to go was Leo Laporte, who was both the host of 'the ScreenSavers' and 'Call for Help'. Then all these other shows started to appear like G4TV? Huh? The summer came and there was the promise of even more things, changes changes. 'Call for Help' also got rid of Cat Schwartz, they had Wil Wheaton, which wasn't all that bad.

So the summer came and late in it there was still rumours of change and some concrete news, one was that Leo was coming back with Call for Help, he announced he was coming back, 'Canada!'. The new 'the Screensavers' debuted with Kevin Rose, Sarah Lane and Alex Albretch. Okay it started slow, I mean Alex taking a sledgehammer to a Mac was not cool but they were beginning to gel as a team. Certainly the time Alex kept the thermal cam on Sarah was ummm interesting, you certainly got a good view of her perky nips that's for sure.

Now the news, 'The ScreenSavers' is in hiatus until the end of November and there will be change. There is already the news that Alex, modder Yoshi and Dan are gone! Now we are left to know, just what will those idiots at G4TechTV do next. You see G4 is a gaming network and hasn't a clue. The shows that they brought are stupid. Here's the list of their idiotic shows, G4TV, Players, Arena reveal a level of stupidity that is breathtaking.

I hate to think what will be next.

I'm waiting to pull the plug on G4TechTV.


Peace

Globetechnology

The typical response by Ottawa, slap a tax, sorry a levy on something. Here it is again, Ottawa is attempting to combat the fact that people are sharing files all over the Internet by making us pay a levy for the privilege to hook our computers onto the Internet. Let me say something first of all, if you want to quote what I say, you can, free of charge. That's right my wisdom for not a cent, nada.

The problem is there's already a levy on a lot of things. There a levy on blank cassettes and CD's. I'm sure there's a levy on MP3 players and anything that can play a MP3 file. Now this.

The question that comes to mind, who hands out the money. If the assumption is this is a levy that will be distributed to the owners of the copyrighted material, who is going to see that the right people get the money. Okay, the easy target is downloading music and software. Just send the money to Bill Gates and to Celine Dion, but what about photographs? What about documents? In other words what about the rest. Usually with photographs it's either offered for free or there is a charge to download. There are a number of online companies that sell photographs and you pay for that right.

Now this is interesting: "The committee's premise is that all work on the Internet is someone's property. You can read it or listen to it, but unless there is an explicit legal notice saying the material can be used, you would not be permitted to save a copy to disk or print it out without paying a copyright collective such as Access Copyright." True, but how many people make their material available free of charge. Creative people don't mind making it available for people to read, look, listen or watch thethey do it because they want to. I publish a web based ezine and I receive material from around the globe, from people who aren't looking for financial reimbursement, rather to get their work out into the public eye. Am I an evil person because I share their work, of course not. If I didn't that would defeat the purpose of the exercise. Here is our politicians listening to the special interest groups, read the ones with the money, rather then caring for the needs of ordinary people
Another good site is 'Canada wants an Internet levy -- fight back!'. There is a link to a petition that you can sign and send to Ottawa. Also it is a good idea to send your email to the Heritage Minister Liza Frulla @ Frulla.L@parl.gc.ca
. Let your voice be heard.


Peace and today, thank a Veteran.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh month the guns fell silent over Europe and the horror that was the First World War came to an end.

However its promise as the "War to End all Wars" was broken twenty years later.

Today we remember those brave men who heard the call to defend freedom and took up arms. Many returned, many did not.



In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.


We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.




Peace

Solar Terrestrial Dispatch - Leader in Space Weather Forecasting Services

I had just returned from picking up my daughter from work when I happened to look up in the skies. I saw this wisp of something and wondered if it was the northern lights, then I looked a bit west and what a display. The sky was alive with Aurora. It was amazing. I quickly turned off the lights in the front of the house and just stood there. I was mesmerized by the sight, all this shimmering gossamer dancing and moving south. After about 20-25 minutes the front of the aurora reached Orion and it covered the constellation in a gauze of colour.
The Aurora was dancing and shimmering all around me, even straight above me was the aurora. I couldn't believe how much of the sky was covered with it. It stayed the green and then later on, some pockets of red began to appear and move, this was west of my position. I took some pictures but I haven't downloaded them to take a look. It was an amazing display, and from what I read, more of the same tonight. So guess what I'm doing tonight.

Earlier in the afternoon, my wife was complaining that the satellite was kicking out every so often, I think we now know the answer, must have been some solar wind storm.

So tonight all, get out and watch.


Peace.

I've been accused of not being a true blue conservative, you know that was the nicest thing a person has said to me all day. They stated that I gave my comment on the alledged 'faith' of one George W. Bush. I feel he is a charlatan, a man who mouths the right platitudes but it means nothing. He espouses 'Christian' values, however if you listen closely he actually espouses hate. Hate for anyone who isn't like him. That's an odd thing to call 'Christian'. I was watching a clip of the Reverands Jesse Jackson and Jerry Falwell; it was interesting. Falwell was going on about hunting down and killing 'those' in the name of the Lord. What was interesting is that if he wore a beard and had a turban on his head instead of a suit and said "Allah", you would have thought he was Osama. Then again I have a question for him and his followers; when he said 9-11 was God's "punishment" for the feminists and gays that New York City is filled with, is he saying the terrorists were doing God's will? Funny that's what the terrorist said. So how can he be against them when they are simply, by his own comments, doing the will of God.

As I have said in earlier blogs, I am a Christian and I consider myself an evangelical. However I don't believe faith should be used as a means of dividing people. It will divide people that's plain enough but it should never be the means of instilling hatred in people. Bush and the Republican party takes the name of God as justification for their evil ways. They say 'pro-life' when the only time they say that is for the unborn. Once they're born, they're fodder. There is no compassion, they demonize everyone who is 'different'. This is wrong. James said this "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.". This is true religion, maybe if Bush and his ilk practiced it, I would be less dubious of his claims.

Peace

CNN.com - Kerry calls Bush to concede - Nov 3, 2004

Full marks for John Kerry to put the country before any personal feelings or his ego. It's now up to President Bush to pull his country out of the doldrums. In a way it's only fitting, after all most of the mess the US is in, be it Iraq, or internationally, is due to him so now he has to clean it up.

It will be interesting to see what Iraq will be like in four years, a prosperous democratic nation, or the graveyard of many thousands of US troops.

Peace

Yahoo! News - Doonesbury

As a long time reader of "Doonesbury", I was really fascinating to read today's comic. Here is Mark Slackmeyer saying nice things about Richard M. Nixon. Now it's history lesson time everyone, but years and years and years ago, during the
Watergate scandel Mark gave a very interesting editorial. He was working for the Walden campus radio station when he gave his opinion of Nixon. The last panel showed Mark wild eye, pounding his desk, saying "that's guilty..guilty, guilty, guilty". This was in reference to Nixon.

Yet what a difference 40 years does make, Nixon was willing to put aside his personal desires for the nation. Can you imagine Bush doing something like that? Not in a million years, first of all, I think the handlers of both parties would rather litigate then step aside.

What an amazing election, when I woke up some Republican nob was going on about how the President won, yet the Electoral vote seems to indicate one thing, it ain't over guys and gals, so sit down. I think it's good that there is a concern to make sure the decision is the right one. However, let me say this, don't recount this to death, there will be a time when it's over and one side will win. To the other side, get over yourself, you've lost.

Another note of congratulations to all who voted, one of the best turn out in recent years, good going all. You are making a differenece.

I guess we'll just have to wait.


Peace

This is the BIG morning for the Americans. You have an opportunity to make a change in your nation. Personally and I write this as an outsider, I hope you consider the claims of John Kerry and vote accordingly.

As you know from previous blog I now don't support your war in Iraq, your brave soldiers are dying to make the world safe for companies like Haliburton. The war is a sham, an move to gain access to Iraq's Oil field. Period. There is no plan to establish a safe government that will be recognized as legitimate by the people. There is no exit plan and the result will be more death. I had a long talk with a Vietnam Vet and he shared his experience ( 3 tours of duty), he believes Iraq has the potential of being this generation's Vietnam. It is a war he believes the US should not engage in and it will only get bad. I asked him about John Kerry and his opinion following his experience; he said Kerry only voiced what a lot of vets felt about the War.

I would say to my fellow believers, you have been sold a bill of goods. If you listen to people like Jerry Falwell, you are making a big mistake. Republicans have done nothing for Christians; yes I know they push all the right buttons, abortion, private schools, prayer in schools and so on, but you know something, they have done very little. You want to know why, because if they actually did come through with these they would not have your support. They have no desire to do that. They want to keep you on their side and so they paint the Democrats as the devil incarnate when they have no interest in following through. The reason why so many televangelists support the Republicans comes from simply corruption- their money comes from monied interests. Big money has no interest in the gospel of Jesus. There are a number of reasons most of them being Money has always appointed the Gospel. I remind you the message of Jesus was good news to the poor and the Rich hate good news for the poor. Also the Republican Party is filled with bigots. It's interesting to note that in Ohio, the Republicans will have scrutineers ready to challenge the registration of any and all voters. Kind of reminds me of the Nazi's having their Brown Shirts out of polling areas to intimidate voters. It's the same thing. Why are they doing this, because they hate Blacks and poor people. They will intimidate anyone they feel won't be voting Bush. This is wrong. You let people vote. Period. You don't intimidate people you allow them the right to exercise their rights. You can read about it here. President Bush, call off their 21st century Brown Shirts. Let the people decide. That's what a democracy is all about, allowing people the right to choose without fear of intimidation. You might say I'm using that word a lot, well that's the word to be used. Don't you dare President Bush. You allow all people the privilege to vote. Tell your brother to knock off the crap in florida.

Well I'll be watching The Daily Show this evening at 10:00 PM. Should be good.


Peace