Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

     My Sunday night was spent catching up on TV on the PVR, by the time we finished watching Bill Maher's show it was nearly 11:30pm. I was off setting the coffee maker and listening to the end of the CTV News where I could hear Sandy Rinaldo hammering out all her vowels in her usual almost unintelligible kind of way, like everything is a really long a or i sound. So I could detect someone was assassinated but couldn't understand who, so I ran to the TV and rewound a little to try and decipher Rinaldo's announcement. OMG! Osama Bin Laden had been killed. I yelled out loud and pumped my arms in the air a couple of times, my first thought was this is so great for Obama!!!! And there are so many more implications, that kept me awake for hours that night!
     I stayed awake for quite a while watching the happy scenes from New York and Pennsylvania Ave in  front of the White House. I couldn't help but think this death provided some sense of closure for Americans and all of us who witnessed 9/11, in person or on TV. It's been just short of a decade and now a symbolic end of sorts. Of course the battle with terrorists will still go on but we can revel in Osama being shot in the eye! It's a little odd to be rejoicing in the death of someone, but, hey, we're all human, who among us is not guilty of feelings of vengeance? I'm no Saint either! Maybe people were this happy when Hitler died too?, I don't know, I'll ask around and get back to you.
     Obama will always be the President who got Bin Laden, I expect a bump in the polls, it will also be his defining moment. In order, of Presidents I remember, defining moments; Carter-Camp David Accords, Reagan-"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!", Bush Sr.-Gulf War and throwing up sushi, Clinton- "I did not have sexual relations with that woman", Bush Jr.- "I hear you, the whole world hears you." and choking on a pretzel, and now Obama-Hope and Change, the guy who killed Osama Bin Laden!
     So, how long before the right-wing shit all over this??? About 40 hours or so actually. I've been hearing internet propagandist Andrew Breitbart is already claiming all the celebrating in New York and the White House by people in the street was "astroturfed" by Democrats. Astroturfing is a term that sort of means set-up or staged. Cripes, people can't even rejoice in the streets without some nut case claiming conspiracy! He is also trying to claim that the killing of Bin Laden is all a hoax. To what end I don't know, if Obama wanted to hoax this why not do it before the Mid-Terms or before the next election? No, I don't believe Breitbart at all, sometimes the world is just an unexpected place, full of surprise, not full of carefully planned out conspiracies! Get real! Now we also have Republicans trying to claim Bush was responsible in some way for setting all this up years ago. I'm sorry, but the CIA apparently knew about this 5 years ago when Bush was saying "Bin Laden doesn't concern me." Let's give credit where credit is due. Bush was busy clearing bush on his Texas ranch most of the time while it is actually Obama who is "hawkish" on terrorists. It's a crazy world but it's true, get used to it!
     Anyway, I nearly blew coffee out my nose this morning watching The View. The ladies were showing a clip from the Jimmy Kimmel show last night, about news anchors screwing up Obama/Osama, saying the first for the later. The worst offender was perhaps Canada's own Carolyn Jarvis of Global National. She said Osama, instead of Obama three times in a row. Joy Behar said, "that red head should be fired!" I kind of agree, at least issue an apology, is it on purpose or are ye just stupid!?!?!?! I'm glad I didn't land on one of the many Breaking News segments and wrongly think Obama had been killed! Get it right people, he will President for at least two more years! After this, maybe four more!!!

Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays

     Monday, May 2nd was a great day here, the sun was shining in a brilliant blue sky on the warmest day we've had this year, almost 21 C! Osama Bin Laden had been assassinated the night before and the excitement from American media was palpable. Too bad a bunch of ignorant and lazy Canadians had to ruin a perfectly great day by electing Stephen Harper a majority government. It was as disappointing as the cloud that drifted in from the West that blocked the sun and turned the evening a dull grey.
     So now what? Well my fellow Canadians, you will soon be reminded how much power a Prime Minister has in this country. Now that the threat of an election at any time is off the table, Harper can do pretty much anything he likes, the Senate is stacked with Conservatives and soon the Supreme Court will see openings as judges retire. Do I trust a bunch of right wing and religious idealogues to preserve my rights as a gay man? Probably not, and I would not put past further petty attacks like the defunding of the Toronto Gay Pride Parade to escalate in the future. SUN Media is having multiple orgasms over the destruction of the Liberal Party today. Everyone loves a sore winner! They seem to think Liberals were pretty much Osama Bin Laden and are now dancing naked eating pork sandwiches on both their graves today!
     Trying to look at the up side to all this. Now Conservatives will have to take responsibility and blame when things go wrong. Electing Harper does not change the high cost of gasoline or the increasing inflation rate due mainly to food prices. It doesn't change the unemployment rate or end the war in Afghanistan and increasing National Debt. I remember the last time we had a majority Conservative government under Brian Mulroney, he left us with Free Trade that moved jobs out of the country, GST, crippling National Debt while saying "the Conservative Party has never been richer" and later turned around and sued the Government of Canada. I should apologize a little here for accusing Americans of having short memories! Sorry y'all!
     Many Calgarians seem to think that with these Conservatives "the West is in", I'm not sure what that means exactly, special rights for Alberta? I've yet to hear or see a benefit Calgary gets for being loyal lapdogs to Stephen Harper. I think the Conservatives focused all their energy on winning seats in Ontario and I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that focus will continue for the next four years. Canada seems to change even slower than the US, so lets just see how much attention the West gets, Ontario will always have the most people and thus most power, you stupid Calgarians, the West will never be "in"! Everyone here seems to think they are an oil company and the Federal Government has always been out to get them, well, my dears, you are not, local media may trump up the oil companies concerns and coerce you into thinking their interests are yours, but they're not. One day, maybe, you'll all realize you've been duped. Hopefully I won't be living here anymore, it's hard to say how oppressive a bunch of empowered Conservatives are going to act.
     Earlier I called Canadians ignorant and lazy, and I stand by this. The elderly people, like the 100 year old lady in a walker I held the door open for at my local school/voting booth, probably do not understand the world anymore. People still talk about Trudeau and the National Energy Program here, and they are so mad they are going to use a rotary dial telephone to call their MP about it. So, I've been waiting for everyone over 70 to die off for some time now, maybe there is too much access to free Health Care? Lets see if/when the radical-right will dismantle Health Care, and what that fallout is going to be. The rest of Canadians are apparently too lazy or stupid to care, and I'm looking at a lot of 20 somethings here. They grew up in and take for granted our fantastic socially Liberal, pluralistic society, gun control, soft on marijuana laws, gay marriage world. I guess they weren't around for a lot of these fights from previous decades? You will find out how everything you've taken for granted in this country will change. Maybe one day you'll pull your heads out of your collective asses and take the 15 minutes to vote? Sadly it is going to take four years or more for Canadians to know what the radical-right will do. They've been doing it in the US for decades now, since the days of Bush I, maybe flip on a television once in a while? Maybe it will get so egregious here we'll elect our own Obama? It's a big maybe, Canada would have to produce an interesting engaging politician, I think the ice caps might melt before then!
Well, my fellow Canadians, you deserve everything that's coming to you over the next four years.
Myself, I've already learned Spanish,
Adios Amigos!

You're Fired!!!

     I have been a longtime viewer of Celebrity Apprentice, I love seeing the B list celebrities making fools of themselves. There was no way I could miss Cyndi Lauper last season as I know she is, as the young people say, "off the hook!" and it was nice to see when she got to give a cheque to her New York Gay charity. It has also been morbidly entertaining to witness the brain damaged Gary Busey get into arguments with Meatloaf! Not to mention the sheer bitchery of the women's team this year! Good Lord! Dion Warwick was such a Super-Bitch I don't think I can ever listen to "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" the same, ever again.
     Yeah, celebrities are self-involved freaks, what I really can't abide by is Donald Trump himself these days. I'm in the camp that thinks all this Obama should prove he was born in America stuff is thinly veilied racism. Maybe Trump himself is not racist, he is after all a New York elite, but he is sure trying to pander to it, and mention his show every time he talks about it. It's disgusting. It was disgusting when he did his little press conference the day Obama released the so-called long form Birth Certificate and said he "was proud he could get Obama to do something he should have done a long time ago" and even more disgusting when he rambled on about Obama not doing anything about the price of oil because of "...spending too much time on the Basketball Court..." Yeah, I know, because "The Blacks" are always playing Basketball?!?!? Actually Obama plays a lot more Golf than Basketball so hopefully that will be "White" enough for everyone out there???
     I watched some of the White House Correspondents Dinner over the weekend, Seth Myers, head writer of Saturday Night Live was pretty good, he's no Stephen Colbert but it was pretty classic. This is the dinner for the press that is sort of a roast of the President and media figures that has been going on for decades. Anyway, when Seth was dropping some comedic bombs on "The Trump" you could see him in the audience totally stonefaced, there is nothing self effacing about Trump, he can't even take a joke about himself. You should be glad you're being talked about at all you stupid buffoon.
     So, I just can't stomach the guy anymore, thus Celebrity Apprentice is off my TV viewing list. I really don't want to see his ridiculous, pandering to the lowest common denominator, face, in my living room anymore. There is no way I can support this show as a conscious person.
     I am going to write to NBC and tell them I used to watch Celebrity Apprentice but no longer can, you have lost the support of this household due to Trump's baseless attacks against the President and a supposed run for President himself, which I find out of step with the values and message of NBC Network. I will also avoid products associated with Celebrity Apprentice, Snapple, Omaha Steaks, Meatloaf! How can I ever listen to "2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad" ever again after he said he would vote for Trump for President?!?!? I would be running away from any association with Donald Trump if I were a celebrity or product associated with this show.

You can write to NBC at:

NBC Entertainment
Jeremy Gaines
VP, Communications
Jeremy.Gaines@nbcuni.com

Mike McCarley
Senior VP, Strategic Marketing, Communications and Promotions
Mike.McCarley@nbcuni.com

Talkin' Bout My Generation

     I have two older sisters, the first came of age around the early 1970's, the second around 1980 and myself the late 80's. My poor parents, three teenagers pretty far apart in time, as soon as they knew what the kids were all about times changed. It would make for a great mini-series on HBO, lots of period costumes and great music!
     So I was talking to my oldest sister online recently as she said something along the line of, I thought your generation was like our middle sisters?, oh my! No! So this article is for her, and all the other Baby Boomers out there who think we are all like you! I'm not angry, people do it all the time. I remember an older co-worker say something about Rod Stewart, and ask "don't you like the new CD, it's kinda from your generation isn't it?" I hopefully didn't sound too crass when I said "uhh... that's kinda more from my sisters generation, not a big fan of the Stewart." Now if you were to ask about Dave Stewart from The Eurythmics, now you're more in the right demographic. I get it from younger people too, they are very confused about everything that happened before the year 2000 They think everything was all Disco parties and Michael Jackson videos while we were all waiting around for them to be born so they could tell us how to operate social media.
     Well, I am in a hard to pin down generation, Douglas Coupland is credited for coining the phrase Generation X from his 1991 novel Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Generation. I really do intend to read it one day, I've been really busy since 1991 though! He was one of the first to write down and get some notice on the difference between the Baby Boom generation and the something-else generation that followed. I have read some books on demographics, David Foot's Boom, Bust & Echo was a good read. He places the Baby Boom generation as being born between 1947-1966, and if I remember correctly the Bust generation (Generation X) from 1966- 1980, although I don't think I have a lot in common with many 30-somethings these days, there isn't a lot of agreement on where exactly to place the markers on my generation. I remember how Foot talked about the Baby Boomers as having more wealth and opportunity, especially if you were born in the middle part of the Boom, however he said the later Boomers, like my middle sister, have a little more in common economically speaking with my generation. I recall feeling vindicated a demographic-economist recognized my generation was not getting the same economic opportunities as our older friends and siblings, it kinda felt that way all along. He also said that my generation was the most diverse, racially, economically and politically, which is probably true, hard to find consensus in my age group. Also, that we are among the most educated of  demographic groups, in my life it was better to continue education rather than get a minimum wage job. Anyway, that is how a scientist pegged it, I'll bet a personal reflection would shed a better light.
     For myself and many of my fellow Gen Xer's it was the music that set us apart from everyone before. I remember the sounds of Elton John and Queen coming from my sisters turntable, later the phenomenon of the Bee-Gee's and the soundtrack (double album) Saturday Night Fever! It didn't seem to take long for the Disco records to be shuffled to the back of the pile though, ask her about it now and it's like Disco never happened, oh but it did, I was a boy but I certainly remember it's rise and fall. There was kind of a musical vacuum after Disco, I think everyone felt duped by record companies and returned to listening to the Rolling Stones and maybe John Lennon? By around 1981 was getting old enough to try forming my own identity and, as for lots of kids, it was done through music, the first records I ever bought (with my parents money) were a K-Tel Super Hits of 1981, The Best of Blondie and DEVO's Duty Now For The Future. I decided that I was going to be New Wave and that was that! The music was integral, it was not my sisters old rock and Disco of the 70's! Of course fashion and style were of uber-importance! I remember sneaking downstairs many times, past my bed time to watch J.D. Roberts and Jeanne Becker on The New Music, everything in the 80's was NEW! This Toronto based show was primarily a music video and interview hour of the hottest and newest people in the business. Everyone who was anyone was on this show, from a very young Bono and U2 to The Boomtown Rats to Wendy and the Plasmatics, every tiny movement in (primarily) British music was profiled, Punk Rock, New Romanticism, Ska, Reggae, Rockabilly, early Techno, there was a lot of music out there and you weren't hearing it on the radio, you were seeing it on TV, in the form of Music Videos. I shudder when kids these days give credit to Michael Jackson for inventing the music video, mmmm not so fast kiddo, he may have elevated it to multi-million dollar production values but he didn't invent it!
     I think there is confusion surrounding my generation because mainly our music was ignored by the Baby Boomers and Corporations alike, the early days of the 80's must have scared the pants off both! What? They don't use guitars? The men are wearing eyeliner and lipstick? They are singing about socio-political institutions? They are wearing their hair in fantastical styles? There was such an acceptance of different styles of expression in the 80's with us kids, so many bands that got a record contract and produced one hit, then disappeared, only to reappear on funny Where Are They Now MTV shows 25 years later. So much of our music just made an older generation cringe. I was a huge fan of Duran Duran, got third row tickets for the 1983 Concert in Calgary, in retrospect I suppose the lyrics are completely meaningless, but after all the 70's love songs with so much emotional meaning who the hell needed meaning anymore? They were all style and fashion with a whole new sound, maybe the meaninglessness was the message? I still enjoy it though, I remember every lyric and nuance in every track to this day, it takes up space in my brain where algebra should be, guess you had to be there!? For this Gen Xer nothing sums up the predicament of my generation like the early techno band Depeche Mode. Because I grew up in the middle of the Canadian Prairies I didn't really hear them until the radio hit People Are People, a song that asks the non-violent question " People are people so why should it be?, you and I should get along so awfully? set to German influenced experimental "Industrial Sound". These guys were on to something, I followed them until about 1992. That song came from the album entitled Life In The So-Called Space Age, the theme was that the world was a let down and there's not much you can do about it so get used to living in a hellscape. Sounds heavy but it has it's upbeat moments. I treat a lot of their lyrics as anthems to my generation. From 1986's Black Celebration, the song It Doesn't Matter Two - "though we feel like pioneers, we may be the last in the world...", From World Full Of Nothing - "...In a world full of nothing, though it's not love it means something..." But probably what says a lot about how many in my age group think is  1983's comment on the corporate world, Everything Counts -" Confidence painted in, by a suntan and a grin...The grabbing hands, grab all they can, all for themselves, after all, it's a competitive world...Everything counts in large amounts." This is why I think Corporate America just ignored us and maybe tried to invent Rap music years later! I can imagine 80's executives sitting around saying, how can we market to this demographic?, they don't trust media, politicians, are all iconoclasts, and think second hand clothes are cool. Oh we were a different batch allright, and really with no spending power, so why bother from their perspective?
Of course that's just one example of musical anthems, I stayed on the electronic and dancey side of music because of a serious case of the gay, some of my friends from back then would probably cite something more Punk Rock, Dead Kennedy's or Circle Jerks, it was all a little too angry for me. There were just so many voices to be heard back then, everybody liked some band nobody really heard of. There were mainstream kids too who maybe liked something like WHAM! Usually the girls who had absolutely no sense of gaydar, I'm sure they cried a little when George Michael came out?
     The music was a symbol for us, a symptom not the cause. There were many events around the world that formed our special knack for cynicism. The Cold War was ending, looking back the whole thing was really quite silly and dragged out for a long time. We were still scared a trigger happy Ronald Reagan was going to start a war with Russia, have a listen to Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Two Tribes -"when two tribes go to war, one is all that you can score." Oh I'm trying to get off the music lecture, sorry. I totally remember the made for TV movie The Day After, a scarily realistic vision of nuclear war, fun times! There was also Apartheid in South Africa to think about, it was becoming as egregious as the Cold War, stubborn reminders of a by-gone era. So there wasn't much for us to believe in, who could trust in our leaders in times like those? A lot of us were also disappointed we missed all the fun of the Sexual Revolution of the 60's and 70's too and saw it's consequences as AIDS gripped the globe.The party was over. It really did seem like A World Full Of Nothing, and nothing to look forward too. The happy hippie days of Woodstock were long gone, I remember a Rolling Stone article in the late 80's, it showed how the Woodstock generation had mostly become wealthy executives, times had changed, all that peace and love was maybe just a passing fancy?
     It sounds like we're the most depressed generation ever, it's OK, we got used to it. I recall in my College days an instructor asking us, "if your generation is so depressed why aren't you all out killing yourselves?" She was sort of being funny but the answer is I suppose we just accepted it, we always hoped it would get better and maybe there is a certain power and freedom in being marginalized? I'm glad the Baby Boomers are supporting the market and research for solving some of the issues around aging, I won't be happy if you break the retirement savings of our countries however. I hope younger generations will look up to us one day, the 20 somethings of today that some call Generation Y. I like to call them generation why? as in why do you do the stupid shit you do? And what I like to call Generation Now, the under 20 kids, who want everything NOW!!!
You kids who have filled your lives with technology and bought everything corporations were selling you, the kids who got entry level jobs after your Post Secondary years, yay for you! We graduated into a big recession and minimum wage jobs, no upward mobility for most of us. Look to my generation as the ones who lived quite happily without belief in money and possessions buying happiness, corporations and politicians having answers and that you will be young forever. We watched the Baby Boomers deny the ageing process for years, even aerobics couldn't keep Jane Fonda from middle age! As the Bare Naked Ladies sang "It's all been done before."
    
    
    

Nothing From Nothing, Leaves...

     With eight days to go until the election I thought I might have more to say. I thought I would have a least met my candidates at my door. I got to meet and scold Jim Prentice when he was campaigning in my riding of Calgary Centre North years ago. I told him "I am gay and live in Alberta, I will never vote for you or the Conservative Party, ever!!!" I was concerned about any repeal of the newly enacted gay marriage bill at the time, I was also a little peeved at the weather as a summer storm was brewing and I was moving my rather large potted lemon tree and had it in my hands, with the three inch thorns scratching my face when Prentice appeared at my back gate. Cripes! I already have squirells to deal with, I don't need Conservatives roaming around the yard too!!!
     Anyway, I was trying to do some research on the new Conservative candidate for Calgary Centre North, Michelle Rempel, but have come up pretty empty handed. Her facebook page has been shut down long ago and I only found a few articles from independent bloggers. All we know is she is 31 years old, holy shit! And she has been a "volunteer" with the Conservative Party for a few years. That's it, that's all folks! We were supposed to have a by-election since Jim Prentice resigned last year but it didn't happen because of this election, we've been without an MP for some time now! One of the other few things I found out about this Michelle Rempel is that she was appointed to this riding, I would say it screams of patronage and total disregard for democracy and disdain for my riding. 31 years old! I can't believe it myself, oh I'm sure there is so much wisdom packed into the 30 some years, sounds like a little too much Blonde Ambition if you ask me. Seems like the Conservatives don't want someone with experience or a thought of their own, they would like a shill, some kid, like a puppy, who will tow that party line. Calgary is so taken for granted, Michelle Rempel will not even show up for debates. My local News showed footage from an all candidates debate recently for my riding, in Michelle Rempel's place, a potted plant. That's what you are going to get my fellow constituents, how fitting! It is also of note here, Calgary East candidate Deepak Obhrai  will also not attend debates. It's because they don't have to and the Conservative Party does not want to answer your questions anyway, lest they be too hard or too telling and word gets out they are nothing but a bunch of Right-Wing yes men and women.
     My bigger problem is no one cares about Calgary, politically that is. Calgary is the third or fourth largest city in Canada, depending how you count, has the third busiest airport in the country and was recently forecasted as the only city in North America to grow this year, no other Canadian cities made the list, I think the other two were Paris and London. We just elected a new style of mayor in a surge of political interest and yet none of the major leaders have campaigned here. Elizabeth May of the Green Party has so far been the only one to visit during this election, in some Calgary ridings the Green Party has come second in numbers. The Liberals, especially are making a big mistake by ignoring Calgary. I tell you, I grew up here and have spent most of my adult life here, Calgary is not as Conservative as you think it is. We don't, however, like Eastern arrogance, as in, Ignatieff and Layton couldn't be bothered to show up, as well as Mr. Harper, why should any of us vote for you either?!?! The Conservatives are too busy wooing the Toronto vote. I kind of hate all of them right now. The Liberals and NDP for thinking we are apparently all a bunch of cowboy rednecks, and the Conservatives for thinking the same and they don't have to do anything, not even show up to answer questions. Sheesh, no wonder nothing ever happens in this country!
     It seems that the only people who do vote in Canada are the elderly, I wonder what will happen in 20 years when they die off? Appointed government from the Monarchy? Maybe more likely, appointed government from oil companies or corporations? Ahh my friends, that is a theory for another day. To my fellow Canadians, you will get what you give, and if that is nothing, or nothing but contempt, then... good luck with that not caring about voting thing! As for politicians who don't care about engaging the electorate, you might get away with it this time, but there are always more elections in the future!

Master Debaters

     I watched the debate between the leaders of the Federal Parties of Canada last night and came away with a real sense of how our politics are desperately outdated. While it is important to have debates and know what the issues are, this debate must have looked somewhat ridiculous to most of us, including me. What it basically boiled down to was yelling at Stephen Harper for two hours, while he does deserve it this style of dialouge belongs in Parliament not prime time debates. I don't think Canadians like yelling and personal attacks, it puts them off, we're too nice for it. Michael Ignatieff had a real chance to frame arguments here and illustrate the difference between Left and Right but the set up of this debate does not really allow for it. First of all what the hell is Duceppe from the Bloc Quebecois doing here? Since the mission of the Separatists is for a French speaking independent Quebec and none of us in English Canada can vote for you I don't give a flying fig what you have to say! He comes off as a crazy house-party guest who knows he's not going to be invited back, the kind of guest who's going to drink everyone's booze out of the fridge, insult everybody and maybe steal your silverware on the way out after throwing up in a corner somewhere. Duceppe somehow got the first response to Harper and set a bitter accusatory tone for the rest of the night. Jack Layton was intent on attacking Harper and Ignatieff, but with a smile at the end of each segment, I think it just confuses people more, because he is a likable character and these debates seem set up to illustrate personality over policy. I lean Liberal, surprise! the gay guy who went to Art College is not Conservative, go figure? So I was interested in what Igantieff had to say, he made some good points against Harper but I'm afraid he sort of comes off as a John Kerry. The intellect and the ideas are good and a stark contrast to the Bush-era politics of Harper but like Kerry I can't see him winning over a great majority of the people. I truly blame the structure of the debate for this, there are too many candidates, it takes too much time to let them all have their say and it becomes hard to follow or notice a contrast in arguments. Stephen Harper looks like the winner here as he remained calm and collected through the three-man pile up, we are the losers because there are serious issues at play here that Harper has to account for. I would rather a debate between Ignatieff and Harper only, this is the real battle in Canada, the NDP are not going to form a government it's just how the numbers are, the Bloc Quebecois don't care about the rest of Canada so why should we care about them? The real fight is do we want a Canada, led by Harper, follow the failed policies of the American Right-Wing? Please flip on a television to see the Budget battles in the US right now, where do you think Harper gets the idea that we should lower Corporate taxes and place more of a burden on the middle-class? It's not a made in Canada idea my friends, it comes right out of the playbook of the Republican Party. The Evangelical Christian ideology that has crept into Harper's government comes right out of the George W. Bush school of thought too. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to ask Harper himself about any of this?, well you can't, everyone who attends a rally must be thoroughly checked out by the RCMP and Harper's staff, just like in the 2004 Bush campaign. Your questions or criticism are not welcome.
     Anyway, I don't think Ignatieff did himself any favours last night, he was at his best towards the end of the second hour when we was not attacking but simply stating policies. That is what Canadians need to know from all parties, policies, not how well they do in the Tuesday Night Fight Club. Oh yeah, almost forgot, where was Elizabeth May from the Green Party? This is another issue I have with whoever runs these debates. It would have been nice if any one of those guys mentioned it at least, it would have been the moment everyone talked about today! The style of these debates has remained unchanged since the year I was born, and my age is on the wrong side of 40! No wonder Canadians have lost interest in their government. Hey do you wanna hear some hot tracks from the late 1960's? Mmmm, not right now thanks,can't, I gave my record player away 15 years ago!

Contempt For Canadians

     Watched the Conservative government lose the confidence motion in Parliament this morning. It was a little exciting as one never knows how this will really go in the end and also to see our Parliamentary tradition in action, this is not America sha-la-la-la-la, as David Bowie once sang. For once, in the six times Prime Ministers have fallen to non-confidence motions, this was not over the budget but rather over  Contempt of Parliament, a first in our history. This was apparently something to celebrate as the Conservatives stood up to vote and a couple of them did a fist-bump! Right On! We collapsed the government for lying to Parliament, drinks all round!!!
     What really gets me is the notion, or the media driven notion, that Canadians don't want this election. Nobody asked me, probably because I don't have a land line anymore. I am always up for an election. Are you all too busy? It will be a Monday, it's not like it conflicts with American Idol, or are you too busy voting on Dancing With the Stars? Maybe that's the problem? I keep seeing people on TV saying "it's too expensive" and "we'll get the same result". It sounds expensive to you and me but nothing like the budget for the military, 6.3% of the total Budget, almost 19 Billion $ in 2009. So we can do stuff like help the Afghan women vote or enforce the No-Fly-Zone over Libya so one day they might get rid of Khadafi and hopefully vote too. Yet so many Canadians are so bored of elections, too busy, not interested. I sometimes wonder if Canadians have everything too easy? No strife, well fed, lazy and entitled, perhaps a little closer in attitudes to our American friends than we may like to think? Don't worry about it, your government was just ousted out of power for lying and over the last few years was very quietly giving tax breaks to corporations while shifting the tax burden onto you. I guess things have to get worse for Canadians to be less focused on Hockey and more focused on something that matters?
     You will likely hear a lot of talk about Coalition Government from the Conservatives, it's bad if oppositoin parties want one but was OK when they proposed one with the Bloc Quebecois a few years ago, go figure? I remember Calgarians actually protesting, outside, when a Coalition was proposed a couple of years ago by Stephane Dion. It seems some Canadians think we live in a Republic, with term limits and set election dates, I say you're all watching too much American TV! That's how Parliaments work darlings! England, Australia, almost all of Western Europe and Israel all have Coalition governments. Check out Belgium, they haven't had a government since June 2010! Deadlocked by Flemish separatists, the country still apparently runs by a sort of "Lame Duck" Prime minister who is still negotiating a deal! It makes our Quebec issues seem easy in comparison!
     I was reminded today that turnout in the last Federal election in Canada was around 40%, sad! We had an even lower turnout for our Civic elections until last year, all it took was a good candidate with good ideas, it really got people involved, so I won't write all you Canadians off just yet, the campaign is just about to begin!

Baby, I Was Born That Way.

     Heard about a new Apple iphone app today that can help you "pray away the gay" so to speak, from the homosexuality obsessed Christian "church" Exodus International. There is a petition for Apple to pull it and it's 4+ rating (no objectionable material). You can sign it herehttp://www.change.org/petitions/demand-that-apple-remove-ex-gay-iphone-app#?opt_new=t&opt_fb=t   Awww, and I was pondering getting the ipad2, partly so I can ruin everyone's last year Christmas gift, and partly because I thought Apple was soooo cool! Oh Apple, when did you become "the Man"? You used to be all about the young and creative standing up to the monopoly of Microsoft! Now you're associating with radical Christians because you can make a buck? In the Punk Rock days we would have shouted Sell Out!!!
     So I looked up Exodus International and their large indexed essays against same sex attraction, which they call SSA. They refuse to use the word "homosexuality" because they don't believe in it. I find all of it quite laughable as someone who has been gay since the days of landlines with corded telephones! I don't have to live up to my parents expectations or societies anymore, I've been with the same man for 24 years whether anyone likes it or not, including God! I gave up on the concept of God a long time ago but that topic is for another day, I don't worry about it!
     A lot of the essays on Exodus International seem geared toward youth like "The role of mother and father in SSA" or "What caused me to have SSA?" They cite several studies which contradict each other and explain it by saying nobody really knows, even science. They also bring up "sensitivity" in young boys a lot and seem to think they can apparently de-sensitize you into heterosexuality. The "sensitive" boys don't like playing with other boys, have bad (or not) relationships with their fathers, and resort to creative arts as teens to escape and then become addicted to gay sex. They make these broad generalizations and then constantly add this is not true of everyone of course, because it isn't and they can't prove anything and probably most people have noticed this by now in society? They constantly cite seemingly scientific sources at the same time as citing the Bible, see what psychologists have said, now look at Verse, Chapter, whatever, because if an illiterate goat herder living 3000 years ago believed it, it's true, right?
     Of course I have kept abreast of modern scientific theories on homosexuality. One of the most fascinating was different brain activity observed in gay men and gay women, it found that gay men had the same patterns of activity in the hearing centers of the brain as straight women, and gay women the same as straight men. I always thought this explains why gay men like hanging out in discos and straight women always want to go dance there, while lesbians like country music and classic rock and can't dance, like most straight men. What was I saying about broad generalizations? Oh well, I think the gays have a superior sense of humour too!
     Seriously though, I had the opposite of what these Christians think is the gay creating parents,I had a domineering mother and a caring involved father, compare to my husband who had the domineering father and sensitive traditional-type mother, yet I am as gay as the day is long. Go down to my local leather bar and ask them how gay I am, happy hour is from 4-6. These Christians point to the "sensitive" boys having distant relationships with their father and other boys and twist this into this is a choice. I don't agree and point to the brain study, born that way, scenario. The reasons I didn't like hanging out with straight guys when I was a boy are the same as they are now, straight men are really boring. Straight men like competing to levels of self injuring stupidity probably because if you are going to spread your genes they have to do this primate proving of strength to each other and females, the gays do not have a breeding instinct thus do not have to go thru this charade. As a school boy this kind of chest pounding often involved winging balls at whoever's head (usually the gay ones) to practice aim on a moving target and to impress others. Although I have met the odd gay sports fan I wouldn't say it is common, sports is not shown on TV screens in gay bars. I have had to feign interest in sports from time to time but I just see it as a waste of time especially on TV, I have never understood the fascination. Of course hating sports was a conflict in my school days, I think it's the brain difference that causes this, lesbians seem to love sports, I could never take a game that seriously.
     As for the young gay boys pursuing solitary activities, true in my case, is it any wonder? When you get into puberty and they gay starts to show, or people start to notice, they are often calling you names and treating you like a pariah and then you have your parents anger and disappointment directed at you  as well as messages from media and certain Christian groups saying out loud that gays are evil and/or destroying society, wouldn't you retreat into your own world too? It all works out in the end, society needs people who have developed creative skills or whatever solitary skills, it makes the world go round, everyone cannot be some jerk-off yelling at the TV over a hockey game or else nothing would ever get done!
     As for "sensitive" men, isn't it straight men who must "buy into" the world of the feminine?, it starts with finding a romantic spot to propose marriage followed by lengthy wedding plans followed by caring for babies. I have seen my manly straight friends succumb to all the feminizing traits that go along with raising kids, they have to go from frat house to baby shower pretty quick in some cases, who is sensitive now? If straight men weren't so "addicted" to a little pink taco once in a while they wouldn't have to sit thru Eat, Pray, Love. Women can control mens sex lives and for this they are so angry they are going to go vacuum the car for three hours or watch The Indy 500 for eight! Or go around blaming the gays for ruining traditional marriage.
     The most current theory of what causes the gay is hormones in the womb. There were a couple of studies about penis size and it was found that homosexuals had bigger ones, somehow Mainstream Media ignored these findings. It proves that God is actually on our side, no, it lends credence to the theory that elevated testosterone at a certain time of development in the womb makes the penis grow bigger and could also affect the brain. It's a lot to explain here but can easily be found on Wikipedia. I like to think that people just vary, we seem to worry lots about sexuality, people vary in lots of ways, temperament, personality, intelligence, yet we don't seem to be worrying about it as much. If we didn't have the gays then we'd all be out there competing for women, and you wouldn't like that, think of it as less competition for you straight men, and on the penis size issue, I haven't had any complaints!


*** Just did some more reading on Exodus International and found out while they were trying to establish a presence in Canada, mainstream (if you can say that) Evangelicals turned their back on them, basically said go back to Florida where y'all came from.Too radical in their ministry. Also, Calgary based "Kings Glory Fellowship" church which was linked to Exodus International had it's charitable status revoked January 2010 by Canada Revenue Agency, because they were "too political in their views on abortion, divorce, homosexuality..." Sweet! Kings Glory? My word, it sounds like a new gay bar! How do they come up with these names!?!?!?
 

Springtime For Hitlers

     Time has been flying by this month, so much to comment on and so little time! Earthquakes, tsunamis, radiation and scandal, and that's just Charlie Sheen! I've been closely following events in Wisconsin and the dictator-governor Scott Walker in his quest to destroy collective bargaining rights for Unions, it still ain't over and it looks like Walker will be doing the opposite of "winning" in the long term.
     I also went on a business trip for a few days recently so have been out of the loop, combine this with the week of warm weather we had and I have been remiss in this blog!
     We're having some (more) political scandal in Canada this week, Contempt of Parliament charges against "The Harper Government" as well as a growing prostitute/lobbying scandal so I had to spend some time reading up on Canadian stories this morning. I haven't read the Calgary SUN in many months but I see my prediction that they will become FOX News North is rapidly coming true! I wonder how long people will read this rag because all it is, is Republican talking points written by Canadians, and nothing to do with local stories. I rolled my eyes at the anti-union article, please, I know all the Republican talking points from the Wisconsin fight! Nice try though. What made me gasp, even more, was the pro Peter King article concerning the hearings in Washington recently. In case you were too busy watching Charlie Sheen these were the McCarthy-esque charges against all Muslim people in the US that Republican Peter King thought he would bring up, instead of creating all those jobs they campaigned on. The basis of this right-wing theory is that Muslims caused 9/11, therefore, all Muslims are terrorists and there need to be lengthy hearings to prove this, all the while Peter King himself supported the IRA (Irish Republican Army) publicly, his reasoning? No American were killed, the subtext, white terrorists are OK. Anyway, most of us see this as racist religious bias which is also unconstitutional in both our countries (freedom of religion) and a total waste of time, as well as making the US, and now Canada-thank you SUN, a target for even more terrorist attacks in the future, you know, so the Taliban can go around saying, see the West hates us. Yeah, so I didn't finish reading this piece of crap article, I've heard it all before from the American right-wing talking heads, like, 3 weeks ago!!! Good luck Calgary SUN, I honestly don't believe Canadians are on the same page here, in the City that just elected North America's first Muslim Mayor? I just don't see the kind of racist/religious divisions in Canada that exist in the States. Why not try attacking Unions and the working poor like FOX News has done during the Wisconsin protests? Lets see how that flies with your illiterate reading base, it's why the SUN contains at least 2 spelling/grammar errors in each issue.
      I digress. This pro Peter King piece in today's SUN comes after yet another Nazi/White Pride march in Calgary this weekend. Fortunately the 16 neo-Nazis were kept far apart from the 200 anti-racist protesters by the police, the Nazis didn't get near City Hall and gave up, taking a City bus out of the downtown, and probably back to their parents houses where they were made to eat creamed corn which probably made them even angrier! I kid, but only slightly. I've been doing a lot of homework on our local Nazi's, there are many sites that follow all their chat sites and facebook chatter. They are mostly a bunch of young hooligans who came from Kitchener, Ontario, during the boom here, they are highly unorganized and have more dramatic sub plots than Glee! They are a real threat however, most of them are in jail currently for assault charges, hence the low turnout this year. There will always be young hooligans, most of them will hopefully wind up in jail or wind up dead from having more testosterone than brains. What I find more disturbing is the gang of so-called journalists who think it is OK to publish the theories of the raving hate machine that is the Republican Party these days in their propaganda that is shaped like a newspaper. I'm sorry I thought we lived in Canada? We don't judge people by religion or race, gender or sexuality. It's a little funny that in all my reading of the Nazi posts they all complain about being underemployed, hate non-whites (obviously), gays, women, and MSNBC. When I follow what the (New and Improved) Republican Party say, they hate, or constantly complain about the economy, non-whites-especially Mexicans, gays, women-most of them and especially their reproductive rights and MSNBC. I don't know about you but I can see who the institutionalized Nazis are here! I know, I agree with Jon Stewart who says we can't go around calling people Nazi's we don't agree with politically, the right-wing is different, they don't want to kill people just take away their rights and make it really hard for them to live, it's different see!
     All that aside, many will scream "freedom of expression" in cases such as Nazi marches. I do not agree, if I can get all Constitutional on your ass, the intent of freedom of expression which applies to the press, and the right to peaceable assembly are for protesting the government not other groups of people you don't like. The intent of those lines in many of our Constitutions around the world guarantees our right to criticize our governments, not to spread rumour and fear about Muslims or gays or Unionized labour or whoever is the political victim of the time.
     I will also add, what a luxury it is for you people to mar the reputation of my City, take up valuable police resources, complain about everything in this society and then take a tax payer funded Bus to safety. There are people in this world who have lived under total oppressive regimes, lived with decades of War, had their countries devastated by earthquakes and radioactive clouds, what are you complaining about? Neo-Nazis and SUN columnists alike?


* If people are so scared about Muslim terrorists please remember Timothy McVeigh the Oklahoma City bomber, the UniBomber, abortion clinic bombings and the murder of abortion provider Dr. Tiller as well as the recent failed MLK Day Parade bombing in Spokane by a self described neo Nazi. On a more local level, four of the neo Nazi "Blood and Honour Canada" goons who were planning this march in Calgary were arrested in Edmonton earlier this month after assaulting several people on Whyte Ave. and in surrounding businesses.
  

I Am So Mother F***ing Tired Of This Mother F***ing Weather!!!!!

     We Canadians love talking about the weather, more than anyone else on the globe, mainly because it's always doing something to us; causing us to be late for work, cancelling trips, making us bring a change of clothes to work, ruin gardens by either being too hot or cold or too dry or wet. You have to plan ahead when you live in Canada and pay attention to the weather forecast as your life may depend upon it, it is very serious business! Just this week a local news story showed us some unfortunate guy who drove into the mountains, had car trouble and didn't realize there is no cell phone coverage in the mountains! Stranding him for a dangerously long time. Sorry, but what an idiot, the temperatures are already dangerously low and snow was in the forecast, if you can be bothered to flip on a television, and, honestly darling we don't live in California, if stranded you can easily die at -20 if not prepared. Weather in this part of the world is not to be taken lightly.
     Everybody seems to have very strange and unscientific opinions on the weather and climate and of course Climate Change. I saw some clips of people on our National News where people actually thought it would be an early spring because of the Groundhog Day predictions, that's nuts!!! It's a cute tradition based in New England from a time period a little after putting women on trial for Witchcraft and before satellite imagery of the Earth. Where I live there will be six weeks of winter regardless, it has no bearing on reality.
     I love (to hate) the Conservative pundits I see and hear everywhere that say, well it was cold where I live or it snowed in Texas so Climate Change isn't happening. These people do not know the difference between weather and climate nor have a world view on the topic. Yes there are always extremes but one must look at the bigger picture, Climate Change is not relative to your small geographic area.
     So, what's with the weather this winter!?!? Well, my friends there is a lot to know, many variables not suited to Sarah Palin sized soundbytes. It is a very complicated system that most people don't have the time to understand or care about. I think this provides enough wiggle room for the oil industry and Conservatives to fill peoples minds with doubt and ridiculous statements that scientists are lying about Global Warming, they are taking advantage of mass ignorance.
     I will try to explain some of the things you need to know about weather, I am no meteorologist but have taken this up as a hobby for some time, I need to know if I should try growing tomatoes or not this year! One of the main things this year is the presence of the tropical Pacific phenomenon called La Nina. It is a cooling of Pacific waters off the coast of South America and has a huge effect on winter weather in North America, especially the West, where I live. It also causes heavy rains in Australia, please see UTube for graphic footage. La Nina is the cold one and El Nino is the warm one, it makes for warm weather in Western Canada but causes plenty of trouble elsewhere on the globe. Then there's the Arctic Oscillation, the Antarctic has it's own oscillation too. What you need to know is, it has two cycles, positive and negative, positive pushes cold air over Labrador and Greenland , negative pushes cold air west over the middle of North America, which is what we are experiencing in Calgary where it's been in the -20's C for days! What you never hear about this winter is how warm it has been in Canada's Eastern Arctic, Labrador and Greenland. It has been so warm that the Arctic Ice Pack is at 50% of historical norms. So what does that mean to me? Well, it's quite serious as it seems to be affecting weather for all of us in the temperate zones in ways nobody understands, because it's never happened in our scientific records. It would seem that it is making the rest of North America very snowy and very cold this year. Here is a great graphic of temperature anomalies that illustrates how warm the Arctic has been this year compared to how cold (compared to normal) for most of the Continent.http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=48882  This has been bad news for Polar Bears in the Hudson Bay and also caused, seals, who normally have their babies on ice floes, to have them on the beaches of Sable Island this year. It sucks for them and it sucks for us who have to deal with temperatures 20 degrees below normal! Yes, La Nina is responsible for some of the cold weather and is a natural event, however, open ocean in the Arctic is not normal and could be causing unprecedented events.
     Have a look at this temperature anomaly map for January 2011http://processtrends.com/images/RClimate_GISS_temp_anom_map.png This is exactly what scientists predicted would happen with Global Warming, a significantly warming Arctic. It produces what has been called "The Open Refrigerator", it's like if you open your fridge you will feel the cool air rush out and cool the rest of the room while the fridge gets warmer. I often remark, Global Warming does not mean the Earth will heat up like a toaster oven, it's not as simple as that. The Earth is always trying to seek a balance, I think it's making weather more extreme.
     I have talked to people from almost everywhere, from the tropics to the Arctic, and you know what they all have in common? They always say, the weather is changing, it's not like it was. Let's take the summer of last year for example, 2010. While my region was statistically average, it only worked out that way because one day a week was extremely hot while the next few were extremely stormy and cool, the pattern did not change until fall. There were several funnel clouds (the precursor to tornadoes) in my City and to the Northwest of here in the foothills. Ask any meteorologist how rare it is to have tornadoes in any foothill area and they will likely tell you it's pretty rare. They mostly form on open plains, over trailer parks, kidding! When I was growing up I saw a funnel cloud once, it was a big deal locally, nobody ever worried about tornadoes in this area. That's one example. As an avid gardener I notice weather and wait and wait to plant outside in this climate. The last few years we have also had unprecedented cold spring weather, it was so cold in June 2009 the local news interviewed me when I worked at a Calgary greenhouse about what  people should do with their plants? Mmmmm, don't plant yet darlings! Last spring was also cold and late, summer was a disaster too, is this the face of Global Warming? I think it may be for my region, unfortunately.
     There is more, of course, to the world and my little corner of it and whether or not I can grow pretty plants in defiance of my latitude and proximity to the Rocky Mountains. Growing seasons are also for growing food, oh yeah, I forgot, I was too busy watching Lady Gaga pop out of an egg to worry about where food comes from! Consider that 2010 was the warmest year on Earth, tied with 2005. Remember the heat wave in Russia last year? It has been reported that 15,000 people died from it and it also caused Russia to lose 15 Billion $ in GDP as well as halt grain exports from Russia. There is also a continuing drought in China's main grain growing region. Does this have something to do with escalating food prices that have also led in part to revolutions in the Middle East recently? You bet it does! Weather is more than an inconvenience, it affects all of humanity mainly because our food is grown in it. We may feel immune to it North America but I sometimes wonder for how long, can any of our societies survive a major interruption in food supply, History says no, have a look at Classical Mayan society. A small change in weather patterns caused drought in the Yucatan, thus, no corn to eat and the whole culture went to hell in a hand basket pretty fast! It happened to many societies, the Anastasi, Easter Island, the City of Ur. Humanity is more fragile than you might think.
     As for now, I can't wait for this cycle of La Nina to end, it's always one extreme or the other around here, myself I would settle for normal and I believe I've been saying this for the last two decades!

Like A Flashback

     I've been having a lot of deja vu of the 1990's these days. I actually saw Madonna's Truth or Dare "film" in the early 90's and like everyone of the time started using "NOT" at the end of every sentence I was being sarcastic about. I'd call it the most memorable catch phrase of that decade, it finally ended when everyone from 5 year olds to 85 year olds started using it, although this hasn't worked with Rap Music in our times unfortunately. Truth or Dare is a great movie, you should go rent it, NOT!
     This week in Canada, finally a scandal! Yay, they are never reported, never sexy and people hardly care about them. The Minister for International Cooperation, Bev Oda, is in a ton of hot water over writing the word NOT on a government form, as in funding for the KAIROS program is NOT approved. The scandal part of it comes because the President and Vice-President of the Government agency, CIDA,(Canadian International Development Agency) actually approved and signed the document before Bev Oda wrote NOT on it then lied about it to the House of Commons and tried to blame everyone else for it, all the while the PM is supporting her. I know, NOT sexy! But still pretty shady, shady enough for calls for her resignation and possible jail time, this is likely, NOT!
     I devoted a few hours this morning to finding out more about KAIROS, the Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiative, promoting social equality and justice in the 3rd world and Canada. Normally I don't support religious groups, but this is Catholics, Protestants and the United Church, Quakers and many more working for pretty good causes, I don't disagree with their mission, they aren't proselytizing. Started in 1973, their main concerns are Corporate Accountability, Aboriginal Rights, Women's and Human Rights, respect for the earth and justice for it's people, as well as a stated belief in Climate Change and helping the 3rd world deal with it. I didn't see anything about not supporting Israel, which is what the Conservatives are accusing them of. I do believe that the main concern of the Conservative government is defunding of groups they don't like, especially those that espouse Global Warming and Women's rights. I tried very hard this morning to find out exactly who is funded by CIDA, to no avail, if you can read government websites and understand them as well as wade through the immense amount of jargon, please do and get back to me on that, I think it would take a Masters Degree in bureaucracy! I did find a string of unrelated articles that point out who is NOT funded however: the CRWC another Christian group that has received funding since the 1960's who work on similar issues of education and human rights in the 3rd World, their defunding was also a total surprise to them. Universities, I guess they had lots of funding of various programs around the country but I saw a short statement from an Onatrio University that said all funding had been cut off and to please sign the petition they put up.UBC in Vancouver was lamenting that CIDA funding has ceased for Journalism Fellowships, mainly for students to report abroad and teach Journalism in developing countries. International Planned Parenthood,got the boot, that was a few years ago now, that no one has noticed. The CTF, Canadian Teachers Federation that has been teaching 3rd World children for decades, also a surprise to them. I didn't find a good list of who is getting funding today but did read an article about CIDA giving funding to a Bible Translating group in Africa,maybe they can pray away the Malaria?
     Bev Oda lying to Parliament and forging documents is one issue and I hope she gets canned. Helena Guergis got fired for doing nothing that could be proven so I'm not getting where Harper's moral compass is here. The other really big issue is why can't the Conservatives be honest about where they stand, which is far on the religious right? My guess is that they are scared, and rightly so, that Canadians don't like this stuff and would be wiped out in an election. I would like to use the Sarah Palin "Man up!" here and say to these cowards, instead of white washing everything be upfront about what you really believe, which is women should be subservient and never have abortions, gays should go back in the closet and the environment belongs to Corporations not the people and especially not the Aboriginals. But we'll suck up to Quebec, when convenient! Please be honest and we will decide thank you.
     I've been having some frightening flashbacks to the 90's while listening to the "New" Republican Congress in the US these days, namely their fight against women's rights. I remember the "Moral Majority" talk and especially the bombings of abortion clinics, funding threats against PBS and Public Radio, it's kinda why we liked Madonna and her boundary pushing back in 1992. Well, it's all back, the new energy of the Tea Party Express is all about the culture wars of the 90's. I'll bet you someone is going to try and call out the TV sitcom "Modern Family" as a deranged form of cultural misanthrope like they did with "Murphy Brown" and single mothers. The 90's are back! Everyone get out your C+C Music Factory tapes and start shopping at the GAP again!
     Seriously though, did you know that after the Republicans made everyone read the Constitution aloud in Congress they have done nothing but try to defund Health Care (once), take several weeks off and then introduce three bills trying to outlaw Abortion and redefine rape? The great State of South Dakota, where Mount Rushmore is, is trying to make it legal to kill an abortion provider by coining the term "Justifiable Homicide" I didn't know the Ten Commandments had caveats? Thou Shalt NOT Kill, unless you don't agree with them, maybe it's a new translation? Other States are looking closely at this case because they want to do it too. This redefining of rape is perhaps the most disturbing, in Mexico abortion is not legal except in the case of rape and then one has to prove it to really corrupt police, buena suerte hermana!In English, good luck sister! That's more like the 1890's! Anyway we recently heard Justin Bieber give his two cents about rape in his Rolling Stone interview, he said something along the line of "everything happens for a reason" and he doesn't "believe" in abortion or have a huge problem with rape because hey, it's never happened to me,  I don't really care what a rich teen idol thinks about anything, what I did care about is how Elizabeth Hasselbeck on the View this morning defended it. I know she is only a mouthpiece for the radical right and she had to defend Bieber saying some young people are geniuses. Wow, absolutley disgusting! I think it's more about the support of banning abortion and the redefinition of rape that the right are beating the drums about right now, nice try though! Hmmm no mention that Bieber said he thought American Health Care was "evil" No wonder Barbra Walters looks so tired all the time! Finally, after CBS News correspondent Lara Logan was gang raped in Tahrir Square in Cairo recently, right-wing commentator Debbie Schlussel who has appeared on Bill O'Rieley's FOX News show many times, is quoted as saying "...how fitting Lara was "liberated" as she gushed over Egypt's liberation...". I guess we've come a long way when right-wing women will blame the victim and take delight in their sexual assault, they deserved it kind of thinking. FOX viewers think that reporters should just stay home and they deserve getting assaulted, I guess they think we should all just make up the news like they do?
     Obviously I don't live in a vacuum in Canada, I am affected by events and culture in my country and the US, we are very close. So there is no way I believe a religious and right wing Prime Minister of Canada isn't watching and hob-hobnobbing with the religious right in the US, where they want to redefine rape and take away women's rights and anyone else's they disagree with. I don't really care if Bev Oda lied but I would really like to know what their philosophy is, that's where the cover-up is. It's becoming clear to me that the right-wing do not respect women and think the state should make decisions about their bodies because they are too frail and weak minded and deserve it because they dress that way? They believe it, they just don't have the balls to say it. As Madonna once musically asked "Do You Know What It Feels Like For A Girl?" It sure seems so, NOT!
  
  
http://www.thestar.com/News/Insight/article/813385--is-ottawa-leaving-women-behind
Here is an old but very good article about the dismantling of women's rights in our country.
and one more, a petition for Oda to resign:
http://petition.liberal.ca/bevodamustresign/

Too soon for Crystal Gun Chandeliers???

     A friend of mine received this promotional email, from a chandelier company in the US, during the last week of January, about three weeks after the shootings in Tucson. For me, and hopefully you, if you have a soul, I think it's too early. I actually think the whole thing is in bad taste, but as promoting your company goes, in a mass emailing? Maybe let some time elapse before mailing out the massive gun chandelier made of Swarovski Crystal!Lets maybe wait until Gabrielle Giffords is in full recovery and out of the news.

     If you have more money than you know what to do with how about a crystal chandelier H-Bomb? Exploding Challenger Space Shuttle? Crystal Car Accident? Crystal Twin Towers with attached mobile of Passenger Jets? Your children's eyes will sparkle with amazement and your drunken and coked up rich friends will pat you on the back for having the balls and lack of integrity that will surely assure you a seat next to Satan himself!
     While the site that promotes this proudly claims "Made in America", I'm sure the sentiment behind it does anyway! May I remind y'all that Swarovski Crystals are made in Austria, so it's more like assembled in America and built with American can-do spirit! Yay America!!!
     This just proves that the wealthiest Americans do deserve a Tax break and why America cannot afford to have Health Care for all, or other such socialist ideas like Police Departments. The wealthiest amongst us need to express themselves and their beliefs, no matter how macabre they might be, it doesn't come cheap you know!!!
     Please see my post "Economics 101" from 2010, for more insight into the fabulous world of the Rich and Famous.

A Huge Waste of Time

     A few months ago I had to go to Emergency because of a case of scleritis, swelling in the sclera of the eye, several eye drops later I am fine, I think the Mid-Term elections were about to give me an aneurism. Anyway, I had to wait for a few hours and met a lady who had possibly broken her ankle and would not stop talking to me probably to keep her mind off the pain. She told me her teenage kids were showing her a Utube video about how ringing cell phones arranged in a circle around a pile of pop corn kernels would pop them into pop corn. My skeptical mind is too, well... skeptical, to believe such claims, I told her it's probably a hoax, it seems too far fetched to believe, it's probably a trick, but she saw it on the internet so it's true, right?
     I finally got around to looking up the cell phone pop corn videos recently and lo and behold many more videos about how you too can create this trick at home, just as I thought, this lady was one walking gullible ankle injury victim, a victim of gravity and victim of  Utube at the same time. The trick works by taking the magnetron out of a microwave oven, rigging it under a table, and placing kernels and cell phones accordingly I did a lot of reading about microwave ovens, turns out one should never take the magnetron out of a microwave, that's the bit that creates the microwaves, they contain beryllium oxide a known carcinogen in humans if crushed and inhaled and really should not be handled with bare hands at all, do not try this at home kids! Although you can get detailed instructions about how to do it online, despite electrocution, berylliosis from the beryllium, and the possibility of microwaving parts of your body by accident, do not do this, even if it's fun to trick the gullible.
     I was going to write a piece about the dumb things people believe based on something they heard or saw somewhere, like microwave ovens are radioactive, they aren't, microwaves are used in many ways including WiFi but do not cause ion reversal in living cells like radiation, or, cell phone towers have mysterious waves coming out of them that will cause cancer and make your children stupid. Turns out the science is not in on this, maybe yes, maybe no, probably not, there are other proven reasons for cancer and your stupid children. Whenever I hear something outrageous like the Koran verse 9:11 says something about the World Trade Centers, I often check out the website Snopes that debunks most crazy claims one gets as chain email, or just go to the source myself, you can look up the Koran if you want and it surprisingly does not contain what the email said it did! I love and use the internet as a sort of virtual Encyclopedia, it's maybe the best thing about our times. One must be careful though, don't just believe anything, maybe check multiple sources, one can probably trust an article on the chemical chain of Vitamin D but probably not one about gun control or abortion, you might get a lot of differing facts. Consider the source darlings!
     Did you hear about a potential bomb plot last Martin Luther King Day in Spokane Washington? Probably not, but I bet you know who William and Kate's Wedding planner is by now! Turns out someone left a very sophisticated cell phone triggered bomb with shrapnel and rat poison on a park bench along the parade route that the FBI are calling "the most sophisticated and potentially dangerous bomb in US history", it was noticed by someone and thankfully didn't go off, the FBI is still looking for suspects. This brings me to thinking about all the very destructive things intent angry or possibly insane people can find on the internet like how to make a shrapnel filled bomb. People seem to get very upset about sex on the internet and there are ways to block these sites, I have heard, I don't have kids so I don't worry about it, but people don't seem to get upset about all the other dangerous things online. When I looked up Jared Laughners videos on Utube I saw many links to Neo Nazi and White Supremacist videos, his weird video with the American Flag and Guns seemed to put him in a "if you like this video you may also enjoy these..." category. As a Canadian, the content of Neo Nazi videos violates your Charter Rights and is supposed to be banned in our country. There are many vile things on the internet that should probably be banned from your children seeing, as well as the criminally intent, yet there is no body to monitor this. I don't agree with rating movies or censorship in many cases but I do agree that hate speech and how to make a bomb should not be viewed by anyone. We seem to have accepted the internet as a Wild West of images and ideas yet do not accept the same notion for television and radio, remember all the furor over a little nipple slip at the Super Bowl concert? The Americans may take a different view of freedom of expression but I thought we agreed in Canada to not give a public platform to Nazis and radical groups like the Westboro Baptist Church? I guess all our middle aged politicians are too busy serenading us with Classic Rock songs to even know what the internet is used for these days?
     Besides harmful content what else is the age of internet giving us and/or doing to our children? I think it's decreasing the level of patience, when entertainment is reduced to a minute or two Utube clip, can you sit thru an hours long movie? Like one that isn't all explosions and Angelina Jolie? Can anyone under 30 spell anything? I cannot tell you how many times I have seen the incorrect usage of then and than, apparently the word "than" does not exist anymore, nor do the forms of to and too, I'm sure kids don't even know one can spell two, it's already a number on my keypad! So, yay, we are raising a generation of illiterates who have no patience, this will help us in the future? How about all the texting these days? I cannot go anywhere without seeing the youth click-clicking away meaningless messages to their friends because being in the world, walking, eating, shopping, waiting for something is sooo boring :( Uh, kids, I was your age once and I know the dumb shit you are talking about, in my day we passed notes in math class, OMG Tammy is such a bitch! Look what she's wearing! One day you'll know this a total waste of time and phone companies are making a fortune! I hope that our society can place temporary fountains everywhere, for the walking and texting to fall into, can something be so important that you lose awareness of your surroundings, it's maybe not so funny, in my city people have walked into trains wearing Ipods.
     Even though Betty White is close to 50 years older than me I very much agree with her joke "I have to admit I didn't know what Facebook was, and now that I know, I think it's a huge waste of time."
    
    

State of the Canada Address

     I rarely talk about Canadian politics here, it's just not as fun as American, more complicated, in two languages and our pundits suck! Tomorrow's State of the Union Address is a big event in my house, there will be cocktails and pizza, I've watched most of them since the Reagan years, I wish our Prime Ministers (PM's) had to do them. Apparently we have suffered 5 long years under the Stephen Harper regime, if this were America we would be watching clips galore and the talkosphere would be non stop, are you any better off? If I were to write an actual serious article about Harper I would have needed at least a week of reading to prepare. Where I live, in a colder version of Texas, criticizing Harper is tantamount to treason, the right-wing  here just can't get enough of the secretive, yet sinister, overweight gopher-like PM we call Right Honourable. For my American friends "Right Honourable" is a British term that predates right-left ideology, from a time when Parliamentarians were considered to have more rights than anyone and honourable because they were related to the Royal Family which also had the same rights as God. We Canadians come from a proud and polite tradition, raise my taxes? Thank you! Would you like that in 50's or 100's?
     There were little pieces on our News about Harper, mostly showing how he can play piano and mangle Classic Rock songs, he is the kind of asshole who knowingly cannot sing yet just like Vladimir Putin destroying Blueberry Hill recently, this ain't gonna stop him. While shoring up the Classic Rock vote this also apparently makes Canadians forget just what a truly mean spirited anti-Canadian he really is. I went thru some quotes of Harper's today, I remember when they were in the news that day but I think many of my countrymen forget all about them. My favourite is when he said "...West of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from Eastern Canada: people who live in ghettos and are not integrated into Western Canadian Society." -The Report, January 2001. Wow, and you thought Obama's clinging to "religion and guns" thing was bad? So, in one sentence Harper insulted the West, Asians, Liberals, Eastern Canadians, and ghettos. Actually we don't really have ghettos in the West, not by US standards anyway, we have areas that that fat white guys might stand out like a sore thumb but they are by no means ghettos. Downtown Vancouver is a ghetto?, a gay ghetto maybe. I didn't see him complaining about Vancouver ghettos during all the patriotism displayed by him during the Winter Olympics. There are many quotes available online if you'd like to take a walk a down memory lane, too many to list here but I think he's insulted pretty much everyone except straight white men yet still gets elected, he even said bilingualism was a failure and the Quebecois did not declare war?
      Harper says a lot of things he doesn't mean though, remember when he said he wouldn't tax Income Trust funds? and then he did! A 34% tax on (mostly) seniors savings, I remember when one of my more wealthy friends who voted Conservative for years wrote his MP an angry letter and probably still casts a vote for the Green Party in protest. Then there was the get rid of the Senate talk, it was once the most destructive and money wasting ventures in Canadian History according to Harper, until he started filling vacancies with every friend and agreeable personality from CTV News, like Mike Duffy could afford to gain more weight! I guess a new Senate seat will be coming up soon? Maybe he can peruse his Rolodex for Corporate Heads or Religious leaders? Those are two of my favourites, one could fill a book with this stuff, send me yours!
     Flip-flopping politics aside, the most telling and chilling aspect of the PM is his relationship to Darell Reid, Deputy Chief of Staff and longtime associate of The Reform Party. This Darell Reid, who is never talked about in our media, has very close associations to American radical-religious leader James Dobson and was former President of Focus On The Family Canada. Please look them up. In a nutshell this group is dead set against Abortion in any form, Gay Rights, and Activist Judges, they believe it is up to every Christian to change laws to reflect the views of the Bible, yet we are at war against the Taliban because their view of religion is "too dark" for us? I think this explains pretty much everything Harper is really trying to accomplish, don't let the tone deaf rendition of Lennon's Imagine lead you astray. This explains the defunding of family planning programs for the Third World recently, the KAIROS program, the defunding of the Court Challenges program, the failed vote on rescinding Gay Marriage, the defunding of Toronto's Gay Pride Parade, the largest in the World and huge cash generator for Toronto, I'm going to add trying to roll back gun control in here too;  I know from the religious right in the states that we can't have God without Guns for some reason that I cannot find in my Bible. Let's also add the funding of several Christian groups and Christian Youth Centres while ignoring the need for Native Youth Centres, or anyone else for that matter. I'm sorry, I thought Churches already had tax exempt status? Why am I funding such "Special Interests" with my tax dollars? Yes, darlings, it goes both ways, especially in the secular world I thought we lived in!?!? All this after Harper said to the National Post in 2004 "I don't believe in imposing values in people." Oh OK! I think we have many words and expressions for what that is!
     Don't even get me started on the 5.96 Billion $ debt, after the budget was balanced in 1997, hmmm, there was a lot of that going on in the 90's! The Helena Guergis prostitute cocaine fueled lobbyist influencing scandal. The Billion dollar G20 BS, where Conservative ridings got fancy new toilets in Public Parks, yet they say they hate gay cruising (I'm looking at you Tony Clement). Or the largest mass arrest of Canadian citizens in our history when thousands were rounded up because they might be protesting while carrying Macy's bags. There are just so many examples of right-wing ideology creeping into our once nice little country that even the UN didn't vote for Canada having a Security Council seat for the first time in it's history. It's got to be pretty bad if the world community thinks Portugal deserves a seat over Canada!
      By the by Mr. Harper, since you've made such a show of worshiping our Canadian Forces fighting for freedom in Afghanistan, it's only one more year until you can send your son.
 

Anne Frank's Alaska

     I listened to Sarah Palin's "State of My Livingroom Address" (thank you Colbert for that!) last week, about the Tucson shootings and yeah we're all against violence, we hate mass shootings, all of us bears can agree with that. However, her high-pitched mom-style let's talk basic sense telepromted address went way off the rails with the "Blood Libel" talk. Excuse me but WTF!?!? I read about Blood Libel in a Sam Harris book several years ago, it was partly about how religion can push humanity into dark places, of which the Catholic Church has many examples, blaming the Jewish for the murder of Christ and starting vicious rumours about them all over the Middle Ages and one could argue into the Nazi Era too. It is a term the Jewish get to claim alongside Holocaust and probably not to be used lightly and not to be used by those who haven't read anything other than their ratings for their own Reality show!
     Many pundits, not "pundiNts" as Palin pronounced it in her address, have been wondering where and how did the term Blood Libel get into that speech? Chris Matthews pondered that someone obviously wrote it and Palin was too ignorant to know what it meant, as anyone in their right mind would have left it out. Yesterday Matthews pointed out that the term was used in a recent right-wing newspaper article, ahh that explains it all. It's just not a term that is on anyone's mind, until now, even I had to search hard in my collection of neurons to remember exactly what it was. It ties into a broader narrative the right uses and has used for a long time, namely, the idea that white Christian folk are being persecuted by so called special interest groups and the non white Christians that are taking over America and stealing our jobs! In Palin's recent fireside chat she claimed a blood libel was placed on herself and all her friends in the radical right-wing talkosphere, like radio hosts and FOX News hosts. I'm sorry but I do not have enough space or time on this blog to go thru the insane rants of people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck who encourage violent rhetoric against Obama daily, but I can tell you that these guys are constantly bringing up the words Nazi, Socialist, Fascist and Communist when talking about the President. All of these radical right talking heads claim victim everyday. Most of the time I can't believe what comes out of Palin's mouth but claiming that she is the victim in the Tucson shootings is beyond the pale, to put it politely. If you have put crosshairs on the district of an actual shooting victim there is going to be some fallout, people are going to notice. Yesterday's interview with FOX's Sean Hannity, Palin said she took the crosshair image off her site for reasons unrelated to the shooting and she hasn't even looked at her website in a few days. Come on, take some responsibility, a child could spot that lie a mile away! Just say, maybe this was in poor taste and we took it down and we're sorry. Man up Sarah!
     Anyway, I was talking about how the right always claims victim hood. Take any gay rights issue for example, the argument is always, why should the gays get special treatment? Why should they have parades? We don't have straight parades. (except we have Mother's Day and Fathers Day, and Family Day in Canada) Or the constant BS every December about "the War on Christmas" as if not assuming everyone was a Christian by saying, holiday, is a full assault on Christians. No, we just live in a increasingly pluralistic society, I think it's pretty hard for non-Christians to escape the all enveloping mass marketing of Christmas, I get pretty sick of it by December 15 myself! More recently we have people like Glenn Beck constantly saying the word Nazi or comparing Democrats or the President to Nazi's, I think they are trying to compare themselves to the struggles of the Jewish people. I find it completely disgusting, call me crazy. Having a warped political viewpoint does not make you a victim here, being born a race or sexuality that is not popular, can make you a victim, but really, unless you were in a concentration camp please do not go around comparing yourself to that! Being a Tea Partier does not put you on the level of Anne Frank or Jesus Christ so please stop the Nazi and Blood Libel talk, it's as ridiculous as it is patronizing. Do you know who uses self-victimization? People seeking attention, people with personality disorders, alcoholics and drug addicts, those with Munchausen Syndrome and those who are unfit to become President of the United States.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammo

     I haven't been to Arizona since I was a boy several decades ago, and certainly don't remember the political climate at that time. I have been following a little about Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona, recently, her lucrative connection to State run prisons, her false charge that Mexican drug lords were responsible for "hundreds of headless bodies" in the Arizona desert and her more recent refusal to fund transplant surgeries causing the death of two people in the last few weeks. Please remind me who was accused of having "Death Panels" now? Perhaps Jan could pull the measly few million dollars it would take to save the lives of those waiting for a kidney or heart transplant from the State prison system? It was even more gob smacking to learn on the Saturday of the shooting in Tucson that the upcoming Arizona Legislature's first order of business is to pass a law allowing guns in schools and Colleges, after Columbine and Virginia Tech? Really? What planet are these people coming from?
     When I turned on the TV Saturday morning and heard about a shooting I actually thought someone had shot Jan Brewer, maybe over the death of transplant patients or perhaps over Immigration policies, oh yeah, almost forgot about that one, the "show me your papers" law that smacked of racism and internment camps, the Federal government didn't let them pass it but it shows the kind of mentality we are dealing with here.
     I am still a recovering Breaking News Addict so I accidentally watched the News all Saturday. Since a political figure was shot I just automatically assumed the whole thing was politically motivated. I looked at the shooters UTube postings that day and really could not make head nor tail of his bizarre postings. There was mention of government mind control and currency systems being backed by gold, that's weird because I just saw uber right-wing Rand Paul supporting gold based currency on The Colbert Report a week earlier! There were postings of his favourite literature, among them The Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf and Ayn Rand, but it seemed to me he was so caught up in semantics and this A=B so B=C logic that this guy is clearly verging on schizophrenia. So it probably doesn't matter what books he read because he's going to come up with an insane conclusion. I don't watch or subscribe to FOX News so I don't know how long it took them to come up their twisted view of the whole thing and lay blame, apparently their new narrative is the gunman was a left-wing lunatic who read The Communist Manifesto, see it proves it, that's all you need to know, Fair and Balanced if you only have a smidgen of the facts. We will probably never know or understand a motive, because these kinds of people have a mental disorder.
     Excuse those of us who remember the recent Health Care debate in the US last summer and took a lot of the violence and calls to violence as threatening such as the 1000 posters at a Tea Party rally that read "Bury Obama Care With Kennedy". Remember when outraged Tea Partiers publicly released the home phone numbers and address of Democrats who were supporting Health Care and called for protests on their front lawns, how about when somebody mistakenly targeted the home of a Congressman's brother? And of course the famous Palin website that pictured gun sights over Congressional districts, one of them over Congresswoman Gifford's district, as well as the "don't retreat, reload" comments? Palin also echoed this on her ridiculous reality TV show, Palin's Alaska, I saw it in a clip somewhere, I cannot stand to watch it for more than 35 seconds but she said it again when recreational shooting with one of her kids. I certainly remember the Republicans cheering on the Tea Party protesters on the day of the Health Care signing, when they were yelling "faggot" and "nigger" at certain Congressmen, it's not like John Boehner said tone it down then. Who can forget the Ground Zero Mosque uproar? I'm sorry but people in the Free World have the right to practice any religion they like, even in the US, it's the First Amendment of your Constitution. It sure seemed like a good time for George W. Bush to call for a tone-down of rhetoric, as he did in the days following  9/11, wow, I sometimes wonder if Americans have the memory capacity of a dog?
     There will always be crazy people but God forbid there should be any form of gun control in the US to prevent the multiple tragedies that have occurred over the decades. Have a look at the opening of the Rachael Maddow show from Monday, you can see it online, she pointed out that on the day Jared Loughner was born there was also a mass shooting and then goes through a long list of the mass shootings that have happened over the last two decades. It's total insanity! Does the public really need access to machine gun capabilities? Would you give public access to armoured vehicles? Ground to air missiles? Anthrax? Nuclear Bombs? Of course not. People are not hunting deer with the kind of guns used in most mass shootings and we should all feel more comfortable in the world if criminals or the criminally insane did not have this kind of weapon. I wonder how Americans would feel if a Mexican Drug cartel shot dozens of innocent people at a Safeway in Tucson? I wonder if there would be a step-back from the pro gun lobbyists? You know since they are evil foreigners and not citizens protesting the government.
     Of course I am surveying the media in the past few days and as expected everyone is getting way off track with this story, focusing on making sense of the insensible. How about some solutions? What if victims of gun crime were able to sue the gun seller? Would you give your car keys to an obviously very drunk individual? No, and those who sell guns should be held accountable too. This brings me to my second point about banning the unstable from owning guns by checking their Facebook and UTube accounts. It always seems to happen that we find out after the fact how depressed, or delusional, or angry people were before a shooting spree, yet no one bothered to look up their online profiles? Maybe parents, teachers and friends could be the first line of defense here although I would like to see gun shops do an online profile check before handing over merchandise.
     Who knows if this Jared Loughner was motivated by left or right ideology, and really does it matter what went thru his mind? We do know, however, that the NRA has a huge influence in the US and recently tried to influence gun laws in Canada, unsuccessfully. Clinton managed to push some gun control back in the 90's, remember the very successful Cash for Guns program? and remember how Bush cancelled it and let any gun control laws expire in 2004? Certainly Arizona's gun laws play a major role here too, egged on by the smokey-whiskey throated Republican Jan Brewer herself. Apparently people can walk around with concealed guns in Arizona, just like the Wild West of movies, do you know what the second place runner up for walking around with guns society is? Yemen. Yes, the super dangerous third world terrorist laden hell hole. You've come a long way baby (Arizona)!
     I know most Americans don't give a shit about the rest of the world,or even know of it's existence, although love going around saying they are the "Leaders of the Free World". Well, the rest of us in the free world look on in horror most of the time. We enacted gun control after one mass shooting in Canada in 1989 and as a side note have been political assassination free since 1970, before then 1868! Sure any society has its insane mass murderers but the US is really reaching new heights in the past few years, it gets harder each time to have any respect for American society.
    

Oh Those Russians!

     Hopefully you will now have to log in to access this Blog now. After an exhausting Xmas season and now trying to get everything back to normal as well as organize year end tax shit I have discovered that Russians are looking at my Blog now! After 2 hours of researching Investelektrosviaz Ltd, who have viewed my site multiple times last week, I have learned not much. Some postings by other small bloggers, some postings by bigger sites like a Kansas Police Department and some mention of these folks as major players in the World Wide Web of spamming, and there is not a lot one can do about it!!! One can deny IP address by simply reading some Masters Degree Level computer programming sites but the comment threads point out that these spammers change their IP's frequently. The best I can do is have a log in and try to monitor who has access.
     It's pretty sad when my site that has up to 8 visitors on a busy day is being sought out by these guys, what are they looking for? Isn't facebook enough for them? Hopefully they are like the Russian spies that were deported last summer who found out nothing after decades of living in the US?
     Isn't the Internet Age great? I feel so free. After my ancestors fled Russia, because they were total assholes who blamed all non-Russians for all their problems, now they can come right into my living room virtually. Apparently there are also Chinese and European spammers who do the same thing too, at least I know now.
     I thought the future was supposed to be better, since the internet and cell phones and all the garbage that goes along with it life just gets more and more stressful and complicated it seems. I will be keeping my eye on this, let me know if anything suspicious happens and I will be ready to complain to Google.