Saturday, August 30, 2008

McCain, The Barracuda, and the Vampire Slayer














Ever since John McCain shocked the world with his choice for VP chick , rube Hillary ,candidate.

Scared the Bejesus out of everyone, and insulted women everywhere.

The idea that women are going to race off to vote for any candidate with the same internal plumbing is both offensive and historically wrong. When the sexes have parted company in modern elections, it’s generally been because women are more likely to be Democrats, and more concerned about protecting the social safety net.

This year, Hillary Clinton took things to a whole new level. She didn’t run for president as a symbol but as the best-prepared candidate in the Democratic pack. Whether you liked her or not, she convinced the nation that women could be qualified to both run the country and be commander in chief. That was an enormous breakthrough, and Palin’s nomination feels, in comparison, like a step back.

I've also been troubled by a number of other questions.

Like how big is that rube village she was mayor of in Alaska?

Whatever gave that glorified dogcatcher the idea she could run a country of more than 300-million, when she's publicly admitted she hasn't a clue what a VP does? Her PTA experience?

And while we're at it, what kind of person would call her kids, Trig, Track, Bristol, Willow and Piper?

And is Willow named after a tree, and Piper after a plane?

Or are they named after two of the characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

You know Willow the Good Witch and Piper the Demon Slayer....



Because if they are, I think it propels Palin's hockey mum snowmobile tale into a whole new dark dimension.

Where Putin is Satan. Russia and Eye-ran are his demonic kingdoms. Nook-ular is God's burning vengeful light. Oil is the blood of Jesus. Abortion is MURDER. Even if you're raped, or your daddy makes you pregnant.

Gay marriage is worse than all of the above. And Armageddon is the beginning rather than the END.

Barracuda.... The Vampire Slaying President? The Christian Dominionist anti-choice homophobe STEALTH candidate? The hockey mum/demon killer ? One heartbeat away from the Presidency?

BTW didn't you think Palin's Vampira black power suit was....um..... bewitching?

Quick !!!! Check Poppy's life support system.

Garlic anyone?

John McCain and The Barracuda













So I'm sitting in a Florida airport this morning and I'm really cooked. It's so hot and humid outside it feels like a hundred degrees. I don't know how I survived. And now I'm not sure I will.

Two dangerous looking gangsta types are having a loud argument right in front of me and Sébastien. I'm thinking uh oh this is bad. I'm in Amerika. I've seen it on the First 48. First come the angry words.... and then comes the gunfire.

Then I look up at the TV and there is John McCain introducing The Barracuda.

And suddenly I'm not worried about the gangstas anymore. I'm laughing my fucking ass off. And so are the gangstas !!!

I mean really.

Is John McCain, who is 72- years-old and has had four episodes of a deadly skin cancer, seriously suggesting that Sarah Palin, who less than two years ago was mayor of some rube village somewhere in Alaska, and who he has only met once, should be left one faltering heartbeat away from the Presidency?

A woman who is being investigated for abusing her powers in the case of her brother-in-law and her sister's messy divorce. Who says Eye-ran and Eye-rak, and admits she doesn't have a clue what a Vice President does?

And if so....and McCain actually thinks he's made a brilliant maverick move.... who is the village idiot I wonder ? Or is Poppy's judgement impaired by creeping dementia?

Never mind the fact that he is undermining his own argument about Obama's lack of experience.

But does he really think he can win over disaffected Hillary supporters with a religious fanatic creationist who wouldn't allow abortion even in the case of rape and incest ?

But who would allow oil companies to drill ANYWHERE, and loves guns more than polar bears.




















Who says they aren't threatened, even though they are drowning.

Won't that make a nice campaign ad?

The only thing I regret is that Hillary won't get a chance to debate Palin because she would OBLITERATE her.

But that's more than made up for by my sheer joy at watching the Republicans and the Blogging Tories twisting in the wind......trying to turn shit into gold.

Huh? Could they be googling frantically because they've never heard of this rube? The idiot wingnut who could be ONE heartbeat away from the Presidency. *Shudder*

Look I don't know how bad this is going to get...I'm hoping really ugly. But two things are for sure.

One....Poppy just showed everyone what rotten judgement he has.

And two....at the Democrat Disco tonight.....

They'll be playing this song.



And who can blame them?


Poppy just committed Poppy-kiri. Put on your party hats everyone !!!

This campaign is OVER.

Before it even began....

Monday, August 25, 2008

The Summer of the Thunder Storm












It's been the story of my summer. I get up on a day off. It looks like a beautiful day. Even Pig Town looks pretty.

I spend the next two hours trying to decide what to do. Should I go biking, or sailing, try to organize a soccer game, or have a beach BBQ?

Or should I make a real effort to improve my kayaking skills?
















Because Sébastien says you can't be a real Canadian until you can fight on skates, make love in a canoe, or paddle a kayak upside down. And zero for three is pathetic.

But before I can do ANYTHING suddenly it's too late.

Another thunder storm sweeps out of the West.













(Click to enlarge)

And it starts to rain. Again. It's the wettest summer in seventy years.

So all I end up doing is playing video games, watching TV, downloading music, reading, trying to fix things, or blogging. Which is REALLY depressing, because summer in Canada is sooooo short.

And my tiny perfect ass is getting soooooo BIG.

But it turns out there is a silver lining.

Shorter version:
if you're a plant this was the best summer EVER !!!















Nobody has had to water their gardens for ages.

It's so green it looks like an Irish Spring commercial.

The monster ginger cat is grumpy.

But the flowers are busting out all over.
















Many plants are twice their normal size. I saw a dandelion the other day the size of a baseball.

The rabbits in the woods nearby are so fat they can hardly hop. And there are more butterflies than I have seen in a long time.

Like these beautiful Monarchs.














(Click to enlarge)

No doubt ....um....recharging their batteries before their long journey to Mexico.

Which reminds me I'm off on a journey myself. Sébastien is kidnapping me and taking me to a secret location.

OMG. Who will save me? Who would dare? Does it rain where we're going? Is it my surprise birthday present....or my honeymoon?

*Gasp*

Enjoy your summer...while it's still here. Smell the flowers. Hug your lovers.

Sing this song. That I love so much.



Summer was a washout.

But fall should be BEAUTIFUL....

There are Animal Stories....

And there are animal stories.

Like the story of the humble dog who saved an abandoned baby...



Awwww.

Hey. I don't need stories to give me a reason to love dogs.




















But he says, and I agree.

One more is EXCELLENT....

Sunday, August 24, 2008

China's Amazing Olympic Games













The Beijing games are over, and what a show it was.

The best show ever.

But beyond the athletes, the spectacle, and the fireworks, what I liked most was the chance to learn more about that fascinating country, and meet all kinds of ordinary Chinese people. If only on TV.

To hear them talk about their problems, their sorrows, their joys and their dreams. And to discover ....surprise surprise.... that they are just like ours.

I knew that of course. I love my Chinese friends.

But in a world where it is so easy to put up walls between people it was so good to see some come down. So great to see people put aside their differences, if only for a while, and celebrate our common humanity

“The world has learned about China, and China has learned about the world, and I believe this is something that will have positive effects for the long term.”

Yes there are things that need to change in China, just like there are things that need to change in Canada. But if we respect and like each other as human beings it will be so much easier to build a better and more peaceful world. And do what we have to do TOGETHER to save our threatened planet.

Anyway that's what these games meant to me. For me, for two weeks, it really was One World. One Dream.

So well done China. Zhongguo Jiayou!

The Chinese people should be very proud of themselves. And they are... as well as sad.

Even the skies couldn't hold back their tears - but they made sure to cry in silence as the last dawn broke over the Beijing Games. They realized immediately, though, that it's not in the right spirit to say goodbye with tears in the eyes, and saved the rest for some other day

Hmmm....who said the Chinese aren't emotional? *wink*

One World. One Human Race. One Dream.

Over to you Vancouver. Over to you London.

Let's keep that dream alive....

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Obama, Biden, and the Black Sheriff

I must admit that right until the end I kept hoping that Obama would choose Hillary as his running mate. It would have been such a fairytale ending. The Wicked Witch of the East reborn as the Fairy Godmother.

But now that I've seen Obama and Joe Biden together I think they'll make a good combination.

Biden can pound the shit out of that fuddy duddy fraud McCain in some grubby Irish bar. Smack. Whack. Ouch. Don't hit me I'm a POW !!!!!!!!

While Obama skips daintily down the High Road.

But I still wonder whether Biden....or anyone.... can help Obama with his biggest problem.

Because there's an ugly streak in America.


And old attitudes die hard....


That's what it's all about isn't it?

If Americans can't see beyond their prejudices. And let Obama and his new deputy clean up and save their country.

They won't get another chance....

-----------------------------------------------


h/t Jesus' General

Matthew Mitcham and our Gay Olympic Heroes













I watched Matthew Mitcham compete in the finals of the 10-metre platform event this afternoon.

The other day I said I was sad and angry that he was the only out gay male athlete at the Beijing games.

But that only made what happened today even sweeter.

Mitcham, 20, battled depression, retired in his teenage years after physical and emotional burn-out, then just nine months later resumed his sport in 2007. Last night his triumphant return to the sport was crowned with gold.

"Everything absolutely everything has been for this. I knew it was a far chance but I did everything, absolutely everything I could, to give myself the best chance of doing it. It's actually happened I never thought it would."


And this was a bonus.

One person who has been by his side for the entire tumultuous and now brilliant journey is his partner, Lachlan, he was in the crowd last night courtesy of a Johnson & Johnson Olympic sponsorship.

As I've said before I don't like to call athletes heroes. But Matthew really is one.

So I sent him a hero message.

Congratulations Champ! I know you'd rather just be known as a great Aussie diver.

But from all the gay kids in the world.

Thank you. Thank you Thank you....

And you should send him one too.

Hopefully at the next Olympics more gay athletes will find the courage to come out.

And make us as proud as these athletes did.

Wow. what an awesome performance. Way to go sisters. Way to go Matthew.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you....

-------------------------------------------

P.S. As for the other non out gay athletes....if I could I'd also send them something. A little bag of chicken feathers....and a note.

Thanks for nothing....

Afghanistan and the Carnival of Death












Three more Canadian soldiers dead.

In a country divided down the middle each side sees what it wants to see. You're for the war, or against the war. A traitor or a warmonger.

But nobody asks the hard military questions..

The Harper government announced two weeks ago that it had arranged to purchase six used Chinook helicopters from the United States and lease as many as eight more Russian-built Mi-8s. These giant machines will go a long way to ease the burden placed upon Canadian troops faced with long desert treks, threatened by roadside bombs and Taliban ambushes.

Like why didn't we buy, lease, beg, borrow or steal these helicopters YEARS ago? When we discovered that the ones we had didn't fly too good in the heat and the thin air of Afghanistan? Surprise. Surprise.











Or why didn't we realize that not enough helicopters, not enough troops, and an over reliance on airpower would lead to tragedies like this one?

When it was all so PREDICTABLE.

But of course it's too late for that now. Too late to learn the lessons of history.

All our troops can do now is just soldier bravely on.Tell their loved ones they're going to survive.

"I want my family not to worry too much, because I will keep my head down, I will wear my protective equipment and I will come back alive.."

Or turn that prayer into a song...



Kaboom. Welcome to the Carnival of Death.


The soldiers and the Afghans do the dying.

But we're ALL dancing now...

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Microsoft and Seinfeld to Bite the Apple

I must admit I was delighted when I first heard that the Microsoft Empire had decided to strike back at Apple by recruiting Jerry Seinfeld.

For two years, Microsoft has been prodded and poked fun of in Apple's "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads on both sides of the Atlantic, and the company has finally snapped. In a last-ditch, and very expensive, attempt to fight humour with humour, the beleaguered software giant is paying the comic Jerry Seinfeld $10m to appear in a massive new ad campaign of its own.


Because I REALLY hate those MAC vs PC ads.

You know like this one...



OK I don't REALLY hate them. I admit they're brilliant.

But how come even though I'm cooler than the cool guy and even dress like him, I'm made to feel like the fat dork in a suit?

Just because I'm too poor to own a Mac and join the Green Apple cult. And even though I don't even own a tie. How unfair is that?

So naturally my first reaction was..... oh please please please Jerry...never mind which system is better...just make me COOL again. Yadda. Yadda. YADDA?

But then reality sank in.

Bill and Jerry? A fading comedian and a nerdy multibillionaire?

Together in a Microsoft ad?

Uh oh. What's worse than a fat dork in a suit?

Stay tuned.

I'm afraid we're going to find out....

John McCain Can't Even Count

As if John McCain wasn't scary enough.

An old Cold War warrior trapped in a past he can't quite remember.

Now he can't count.



Muahahaha. Who is an elitist now?


In a YouTube world it's the simple message that counts. The one that fits into the narrative that John McCain is a fuddy duddy who just doesn't get it. So this one is going to HURT.

Which makes me wonder why we don't see more YouTubes about Stephen Harper's foul Con government.

Why haven't the opposition parties been able to come up with three or four simple narratives that encapsulate the horror and the danger of the Con regime? Simplify the choices for Canadians....and prepare the ground for the next election.

And why hasn't the progressive blogosphere done its part?

Are we just old fashioned? Or just old? Are we out of it ? Or is it because we're so divided we can't come up with a common narrative?

But prefer to chase many points of light without realizing they come from the same source. Or fight among ourselves. Or pay attention to the blogging scum. Or play old people Facebook games like who is a "Kick Ass Blogger" and who isn't.

Less than two months to go before an election.

That could decide the future of Canada.

YouTubes anyone?

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Pope Benny Wants to Dig up the Gay Dead

As everyone knows Pope Benny "The Rat" Ratzinger spends all his time trying to ruin the lives of gay people.

But I had no idea the former Nazi is so obsessed with us he wants to dig up dead gay lovers.

"Newman repeatedly made it clear that he wanted to be buried next to his life-long partner, Ambrose St John. No one gave the Pope permission to defy Newman's wishes. The re-burial has only one aim in mind: to cover up Newman's homosexuality and to disavow his love for another man. It is an act of shameless dishonesty and personal betrayal by the gay-hating Catholic Church."

Which is spooky. Eh?

But leaves me with two obvious questions:

One.... will The Rat insist that HE be buried next to HIS boyfriend?

Shame on him.

And two..... BEFORE they bury Benny will somebody make sure to put a stake through his heart?

Because you can't be TOO careful....




















Never mind Der Vampire. It's the demons I'm worried about.

#%!!*&#%*!!

Can you IMAGINE what an infernal racket they would make flying out of his cavernous asshole?

Holey Moley. Pope Benny and his Katholik Church.

You know if I was Jesus ....and didn't want to lose even MORE street cred.

I'd dig a big hole.

And BURY the Vatican...

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Gay Holocaust Monument Vandalized















I wasn't surprised to see that the Berlin monument to gay holocaust victims had been vandalized.

Just surprised that it took so long.

Berlin's memorial to the thousands of homosexuals persecuted and killed by the Nazis was damaged over the weekend, less than three months after its unveiling.

A viewing window in the concrete monument through which a video of two men kissing can be seen was smashed in the attack.

There were more than 50,000 convictions of homosexuals in the Nazi era, and authorities in some cases ordered men to be castrated.


Such a humble memorial for such an awful crime.

But still too much for some.
















What can you say about the kind of hatemongers that would attack a memorial to the dead?

Or attack a video like this one...




What can you say about the power of a kiss that still drives so many people crazy?

Except that homophobia is a straight disease. Homophobes can only heal themselves.

All we can do is remember the gay victims like Pierre and Jo.

And all the others still persecuted today.

Teach these bastard bigots that Never Again means Never Again.

And FIGHT THEM, FIGHT THEM. FIGHT THEM....

Afghanistan: Where Being Raped is a Crime













As if the situation in Afghanistan wasn't bad and getting worse.

As if the enemy wasn't bad enough.

Who I wonder will save these poor women from our so-called friends?

Two-thirds of the women in Lashkar Gah's medieval-looking jail have been convicted of illegal sexual relations, but most are simply rape victims – mirroring the situation nationwide. The system does not distinguish between those who have been attacked and those who have chosen to run off with a man.

In a separate area are the female "criminals" – the youngest is just 13 years old – along with their small children, who must stay with their mothers if no one else will claim them. Their only luxury is a carpet, two blankets, basic cooking facilities and two daily deliveries of bread. They have neither medical care nor, as Colonel Ali acknowledged, "basic human facilities", such as washing areas, electricity and drinking water.

Earlier this year a report by Womankind, Taking Stock: Afghan Women and Girls Seven Years On, revealed that violent attacks against women, usually in a domestic setting, are at epidemic proportions – 87 per cent of women complain of such abuse, and half of it is sexual.


More than 60 per cent of marriages are forced and, despite laws banning the practice, 57 per cent of brides are under 16. Many of these girls are offered as restitution for a crime or as debt settlement. Afghanistan is the only country in the world with a higher suicide rate among women than men.

As she was led away to her jail cell yesterday, Dorkhani lifted her burqa to reveal a sun-battered face streaked with tears and pleading eyes: "Please, please take our words somewhere where people will be kind and help us."

Assghanistan. Just when I think it couldn't get any worse.

Somehow it always does...

Canadians and the Mentally Ill

















I have always wondered why so many Canadians are so callous about the suffering of the homeless. Especially since so many homeless people are mentally ill.

Now I know why.

Almost half of Canadians believe that a diagnosis of mental illness is merely an "excuse for poor behaviour and personal failings" and one in 10 thinks that people with mental illness could "just snap out of it if they wanted," according to the startling findings of a new opinion poll.

And I wish I didn't.

Who are these ignorant brutish Canadians? And why are there so many of them?

They should meet the miserable old woman in the little park, with her supermarket cart and her humble possessions. Sitting there in the rain. Who never says anything. No matter how hard I try.

Or the poor frightened young guy under the expressway who talks to himself all night. Who runs away when I bring him something to eat.

Then they might know what suffering is all about, shut their moron moralizing pie holes, and try to act like humans instead of beasts.

What kind of country are we becoming when so many people would beat up the poorest and the most vulnerable of Canadians....instead of helping them?

My guess is a coarse, ignorant, and self satisfied Oaf's Paradise that thinks it smells like roses.

But actually smells like SKUNK...

Monday, August 18, 2008

John McCain and the Cone of Silence



















Uh oh. It looks as if reality finally caught up with John McCain. Like a fork chasing a sausage....or an old banger.

It seems that when he was supposed to be in a Cone of Silence during the Saddleback Jump-up Jesus Fest. He was only wearing a traffic cone.

Senator John McCain was not in a “cone of silence” on Saturday night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the Saddleback Church in California.


Members of the McCain campaign staff, who flew here Sunday from California, said Mr. McCain was in his motorcade on the way to the church as Mr. Obama was being interviewed by the Rev. Rick Warren...

Now I don't know if McCain was listening on the radio, or his campaign team was making phonecalls or receiving text messages. Or whether Poppy put on a Guantanamo hood so he couldn't hear or see a thing.

But I must say one part of his conversation with Rick Warren really makes me wonder.

The part where Poppy just about bust his britches when he said this:

McCAIN -- And by the way, Justices Alito and Roberts are two of my most recent favorites, by the way. They really are. They are very fine. (LAUGHTER).

What he said and the way he said it seemed like he was replying to what Obama had said about Roberts. And the audience thought so too because they LAUGHED.

So his campaign's outrage seems a little forced.

“The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous..”

But of course the point is he could have cheated. Or since they keep bringing it up...lied about his POW experience.

Or that ridiculous cross in the dirt.

Where did all the witnesses go?

The answer my friends is blowing in the wind.

Poppy we hardly know you.

Play me that video again...

Gay Athletes and the Olympics




















Meet Matthew Mitcham the only out gay male athlete at the Beijing Games.

Only 10 of the 10,500 athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics are openly gay, according to a study by a gay website.


Some gay athletes fear that coming out would bring disapproval from fans and team mates, others worry about the damage to endorsements, Outsports.com said.

Nine of the gay athletes named by Outsports were lesbians and their sports ranged from fencing to cycling. Just one, Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, was a man.

Isn't that pathetic? It makes me both angry and sad.

Angry because homophobia is such a disease it even infects the Olympics. And not enough is being done to fight it.

Sad because it deprives gay kids of role models, and perpetuates the myth that gay people don't love sports. Like I do.

I had to put up with a lot of shite when I was a member of my school's soccer team. But nothing was going to stop me from playing the game I love. Or loving who I am. And since some gay kids used to turn up to cheer for me I knew that it was more than just my fight. And that I was also playing for them...even if they HATED soccer.


Homophobes are bastards. Closet queens are cowards.

Matthew Mitcham is a real champion even if he doesn't win.








Hang me kangaroo down sport.


Go Matthew GO!!!!

----------------------------------------------------

P.S. for a list and pictures of the nine other out lesbian athletes....who are showing the boys up...here's the honour roll.

They're our champions too...

Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Amazing Children of Attawapiskat















You know living in Stephen Harper's Con Canada can be such a depressing experience it's so easy to give up hope. But something always comes along to pick me off the floor.

Like the story of these native kids fighting for a new school.

Letters, petitions, solidarity.

And YouTubes too !!!



You can sign their petition here.

The children are standing up for the future of Canada and so should we.

Yikes. I think I'm coming down with a bad case of optimism. I mean a good one.

Way to go kids !!!!

Did Obama Blow the Saddleback Forum?












I recorded last night's revival meeting between Obama and McCain. But when the time came to watch it this morning after about ten minutes I gave up.

The sight of two men fighting for the top job in the most powerful democratic country on earth trying to convince people that God is on their side made me dizzy with disgust.

So I read the transcript instead.

And now I have a few questions....like why did Obama bother? Where did he think he was?

For better or worse, Obama seems to have chosen to treat this event as sort of an intimate evening with Rick Warren — that just happened to be nationally televised. McCain, by contrast, treated it as a straight campaign event: he had his stump speech talking points ready, and he was eager to cram as many of them into his 50 minutes as possible.

And does Obama REALLY not know the difference between a baby and a blob?

WARREN: ....... Now, let's deal with abortion; 40 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. As a pastor, I have to deal with this all of the time, all of the pain and all of the conflicts. I know this is a very complex issue. Forty million abortions, at what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?

OBAMA: Well, you know, I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.

Really? But isn't the Prezeedent supposed to know EVERYTHING?

I suppose the evening wasn't a total bust. Americans got yet another example of why John McCain would make such a dangerous President.

But even then I wonder.

In a television/YouTube age it's the simple message that counts. It makes you look like a strong leader. Think Harper and Dion in this country. With his pro-choice stand Obama never had a chance of changing many Christianist minds.

But did he lose the support of other undecided Americans by sounding ....to them... like a wanker? Instead of the Strong Leader they crave. Did he try to please everybody and end up pleasing only his own supporters?

Quick first impressions: Obama spent more time trying to impress Warren (or to put another away) not offend Warren while McCain seemingly ignored Warren and decided he was talking to folks watching on TV. The McCain way of handling this forum is usually the winning way. Obama may have had more authentic moments but McCain was impressively on message.

Don't get me wrong, this will play well with some but McCain's directness and snappy answers that were on message allowed him to look commanding on that stage.

Which is the LAST thing we need. My conclusions?

The United States is the closest thing to a scary theocracy in the democratic world.

After a slow start, John McCain is now ready to go down on his knees and blow the religious-right all the way to Moscow. i.e. do ANYTHING to win.

Nobody ever got anywhere in Amerika overestimating the intelligence of the American people.

And with less than three months to go, unless Obama sharpens up his act and quickly.

We could all be heading for The Abyss ......in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Faster than God can count...

Friday, August 15, 2008

Why Canada's Parliament is Really Dysfunctional
















Well oink oink. Great Pig Leader says it's time for an election because Parleement is dysfunctional.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday he will not govern over a “dysfunctional” Parliament and warned for the first time he could take matters into his own hands and force the country into a fall election.


Even as his Con swine turn a Parliamentary committee into a barnyard.

So do the rest of us want an election? I guess it depends on whether you think the glass is half full.

The Harris-Decima poll released late on Wednesday by Canadian Press put the Liberals at 33 percent and the Conservatives at 32 percent. The same company found the Liberals ahead 31 percent to 30 percent a little more than a month earlier. The left-leaning New Democrats stand at 15 percent and the Greens at 6 percent.

Or half empty.


A new poll suggests Canadians prefer Conservatives over Liberals when it comes to leadership and most major issues - even though that preference has not translated into popular support for the governing party.

The even more depressing part? Forget about Parliament. Our whole political system is dysfunctional.

At a critical time in the history of Canada...when we are faced with the possibility of a Harper majority that would change this country beyond recognition...one side is united and the other is not.

If you add the support for the Libs(31) the NDP (15) and the Greens (6) together, the centre-left crushes the Cons 52-32.

If the left was united it wouldn't even be close. But because of differences so small you would have a hard time squeezing a credit card between them. Or because everyone wants a perfect fit...like Cinderella's slipper....they only end up fighting themselves. Or fragmenting their message.

While Great Pig Leader and his swine hordes hijack the country, and harness it to their evil neocon agenda, with only 32 percent of the vote. What's wrong with that picture?

In Europe third-parties are losing ground and are seen by many as self defeating. In these polarized times where a clear message is everything, the move to a two party system seems inevitable. So the left will have to unite one day whether it wants to or not.

At least that's my humble opinion.

All I know is the Con pigs must be defeated if Canada is to survive.

Politics is not a buffet.

And I loves BACON....

When Asian Eyes Aren't Smiling












When I first saw this picture of the Spanish basketball team I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Because sometimes you can be stoopid without being a racist.

But then I noticed that Spain has quite a track record.

In 2004, the governing body of international football fined the Spanish Football Federation 100,000 Swiss francs -- about $87,000 -- after some fans directed racist chants at black players on the England team during a friendly match in Madrid

And in February racing fans in Barcelona blackened their faces and taunted Lewis Hamilton, Formula One's first black driver.

So now I just want to say this:


I still think it was more stoopid than racist.

Some people in Spain need educating. Badly.

And aren't Asian eyes BEAUTIFUL?














----------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. The journalist who broke the story....and lives in Spain...... defends himself.

The Video John McCain Doesn't Want to See













As if the crisis in Georgia wasn't scary enough.

The crisis in the former Soviet republic of Georgia seems made to order for John McCain. It has allowed the likely Republican presidential nominee to show his foreign-policy chops and talk tough.


For now, it's a winning issue for McCain. The Russian-Georgian conflict's impact on the presidential race could depend on whether it is a one-week story or a three-month story.


Talk about caca in the Caucasus. Three months isn't a lot of time. The question is what to do about it?

We could point out that a guy who gets his foreign policy advice from a lobbyist for the Georgian government isn't the kind of President you can trust.

Or point out , as Andrew Sullivan does, that McCain is lost in the past.

A thoroughly twentieth-century figure, he lives and breathes war and conflict as a state of being. For him, it is always 1938 somewhere; America's duty is to control, occupy or intervene wherever any rival seeks influence and any group does not share our alleged values. And so American power must be brought to bear in Georgia and Iraq and Iran and Burma and Darfur and Bosnia and anyplace else where American interests are threatened or democratic allies seek help. And for militarist American exceptionalists, this all makes sense. This is the higher purpose McCain lives for: the glory of liberation, the thrill of conquest, the adoration of the soldier, the defeat of evil.


Or we can just save a lot of words and run videos like this one....



Yup. Definitely. An election campaign isn't a kindy garden.

Just like it isn't 1938.

I love Georgia on my Mind AND Dr Strangelove.

But World War Three is such a bummer.

I love this video better...

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Children of the Great Ice Storm



















I was shocked when I saw the story about what has happened to the babies born to mothers who lived through the Great Ice Storm.

A new study suggests babies born to women who were pregnant during the 1998 Quebec ice storm have shown developmental difficulties.

Researchers David Laplante and Suzanne King of the Douglas mental health institute in Montreal indicate that their investigation suggests that children born from mothers who experienced a lot of stress scored 10 points lower in IQ tests, had poor language skills and a lower verbal intelligence.

But not really surprised.

I once read that as many as 60 percent of the people who lived through that nightmare were traumatized to some degree or another.

And I thought I had it rough.

I don't think it affected me because I hate winter anyway. And I remember only the good things about the Ice Storm. Like how Canadians can work together to defeat a common enemy when they are not whingeing or shouting at each other.

But now I know about the children.

I remember how bad it was....

--------------------------------------------------
I wonder if he does.















If only dogs could talk....

Georgia: Russian Aggression or U.S. Expansionism?

I wouldn't trust any of the sides in this monstrous debacle.

As far as I can spit.

But before more dummies start chanting "we are all Georgians."

Like this reckless idiot.

This small democracy, far away from our shores, is an inspiration to all those who cherish our deepest ideals. As I told President Saakashvili on the day the cease-fire was declared, today we are all Georgians. We mustn't forget it.

Who would risk a nuclear confrontation over a shit hole like South Ossetia.... and turn us all into roasted suckling pigs.

Maybe they should consider this.

You'd be hard put to recall after all the fury over Russian aggression that it was actually Georgia that began the war last Thursday with an all-out attack on South Ossetia to "restore constitutional order" - in other words, rule over an area it has never controlled since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Might it be because Georgia is what Jim Murphy, Britain's minister for Europe, called a "small beautiful democracy". Well it's certainly small and beautiful, but both the current president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and his predecessor came to power in western-backed coups, the most recent prettified as a "Rose revolution". Saakashvili was then initially rubber-stamped into office with 96% of the vote before establishing what the International Crisis Group recently described as an "increasingly authoritarian" government, violently cracking down on opposition dissent and independent media last November. "Democratic" simply seems to mean "pro-western" in these cases.


Over the past decade, Nato's relentless eastward expansion has brought the western military alliance hard up against Russia's borders and deep into former Soviet territory. American military bases have spread across eastern Europe and central Asia, as the US has helped install one anti-Russian client government after another through a series of colour-coded revolutions. Now the Bush administration is preparing to site a missile defence system in eastern Europe transparently targeted at Russia.

By any sensible reckoning, this is not a story of Russian aggression, but of US imperial expansion and ever tighter encirclement of Russia by a potentially hostile power. That a stronger Russia has now used the South Ossetian imbroglio to put a check on that expansion should hardly come as a surprise. What is harder to work out is why Saakashvili launched last week's attack and whether he was given any encouragement by his friends in Washington.


Hmmm......how DO you serve a suckling pig? With an apple in its mouth? Or a dumb-pling?

Blather is blather. But ignorance will KILL us.

We are all Georgians.

Indeed....















Steve Bell