Back In Action

Superficially, this post refers to the fact that I now have Google account with which to use after Blogger switched to Google. Thus, I can create new posts, thus "back in action.

Superficially, this is what the title of the post refers to.

But at a deeper level, does it refer to something more, something deeper, perhaps sinister. Perhaps it refers to some level of criminal intent...(insert Law & Order theme song in your head here)

Perhaps.

Then again, perhaps not.

Will you dare to find out?

Will you find out, whether you dared to do so or not?

Will it change your life forever?

Will it affect even the smallest, irrelevant, maybe even imaginary part of your life at all? Will even one lonely synapse in the dark recess of some unpronouncable part of your brain even attempt to fire?

Who knows...

Yappy Hew Near!

At this most festive time of year, this time of renewal and optimism, it is always best to think of something good. Something that will put a smile on your face. Something that will make you feel warm all over and renew your faith in mankind.

For me, that something is bourbon.

Miscellaneous Ranting

Part One - U.S. Foreign Policy (you can always count on an old chestnut...)

S0, the United States doesn't like Iran. So, they back Saddam Hussein and give him conventional and unconventional weapons. Hussein uses thopse weapons against Iran (a Shiite state) as well as Shiites in southern Iraq. But then the U.S. decides it doesn't like Hussein anymore. They still don't like Iran either. So, they go to war against Iraq. This turns out to be a mess. In part this is because people in Iraq remember how the U.S. helped Hussein. They remember how they got the short end of the stick just because the U.S. didn't like Iran. So, now the U.S. thinks that Iran should help them fix the mess they made in Iraq. (Remember that the mass began because the U.S. wanted Iran to go down in flames). Not surprisingly, Iran is not replying with enthusiasm. The U.S. isn't really sure why...

Part Two - Israel (perhaps just an addendum to Part One)

So, the Holocaust was bad. It was bad if you were Jewish. It was also bad for millions of people who weren't Jewish. But it's generally viewed as only happening to Jewish people. So the state of Israel was created after the Second World War. Lots of Jewish people live in Israel. Lots of non-Jewish people also live there, but they don't seem to matter. Israel generally escapes criticism because people feel bad about what happened to Jews during the Second World War. This should stop before there is a Third World War. Being against the policies of the state of Israel does not make you an anti-Semite. You can be against the policies of the U.S. or the Vatican without being against Christianity. You can be aginst the policies of Iran or Saudi Arabia without being against Islam.
The basis for the Holocaust being bad was that Jews had horrible things done to them just becausethey were Jews. Should it be okay for Israel to treat people unfairly just because they are not Jews? The answer to being treated unfairly is never to treat someone else unfairly. Kudos to Jimmy Carter for having the balls to say so.

Part Three - Senate Reform in Canada

Perhaps the Opposition parties are right. Most people know that it's a safe bet that the Liberal party will form the government of Canada. Every now and then Conservatives will get in, but it never lasts all that long. This means that most Senate appointments are done by God's chosen party - the Liberals. If it were not so, how could it be ensured that the party faithful will receive their everlasting reward in the Upper Chamber. It's bad enough that democratic principles are tolerated in the House of Commons. We should be vigilant so that the disease does not spread any further!

Part Four - Zero-Tolerance Policies

So, a kid at a Rhode Island high school with a keen interest in things medieval submitted a photo for the school yearbook showing himself in chain-mail armour and a sword. The school principal disallowed the phot because of a zero-tolerance policy towards weapons and violence in school.
Typically, these policies would ban bringing an actual sword to a school, not just a picture of one. By this logic, it would sem that an overhaul of the curriculum is in order. History will suffer the most. I would think it would be impossible to discuss the American Reveolution, the U.S. Civil War, huge swathes of the civil rights movement or World War Two without allowing weapons and violence (even just representation thereof on paper) into a school. But in a way this might be nice. If you can't be taught it, it can't have happened becasue you'd never know about it. Therefore, it never was. So, what we have is a world without war, without street crime, the Holocaust never happened, September 11th never happened, so everybody can get the hell out of the Middle East, and all the aboriginals in the New World left theri ancestral territories peacefully to make way for the white guys. I feel better about humanity already.

How Dare He!

Righteous indignation is...well...funny. Especially when the people who are righteously indignated don't realize it's funny.
Consider, if you will, a lecture at a university. A Canadian university. Let's call it McMaster. A lecture in an English class. About the book Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King.
The book constantly uses the word Indian. Not India Indians. Cowboy and Indian Indians. Don't people know any better, the girl thought? Don't they know that it's wrong, she pondered worriedly? Don't they know that Columbus called them (Cowboy and Indian Indians) Indians because he thought they were India Indians, she said? Shouldn't somebody educate them, she seemed to infer?
Surely they would prefer to be called Native or Aboriginal or something. Anything, really, other than Indian. It's just seems so wrong somehow. Isn't it offensive?
Shouldn't the author know that? Especially being an Indian and all?
And I think I see her point. Obvious, when you think about it. Being a middle-class white girl at a university, she should know. So you kind of have to agree. Which only leaves one question still to be asked. When will someone tell these backward, ignorant savages that they should only ever refer to themselves in the ways that we tell them they should? They only need a white person to show them the proper way of doing things. Surely, that will make everything alright after all.

There, I says, we fixed that one, didn't we Coyote?
Oh yes, says that Coyote, we fixed that one good. I liked that one.
I thought you might, I says.
Says that Coyote: what should we fix next?...

Electoral Impropriety?

News Item: Mike Hancock wins re-election as Mayor of Brantford, Ontario by a margin of 165 votes over challenging former mayor Chris Friel. A tight race, yes, but not as tight as last time. In the previous election in 2003, Hancock defeated the then-incumbent Friel by a mere 15 votes. Clearly, not much has changed in terms of who Brantford residents support. The difference? This time 150 more people voted for Hancock.

News Item: 150 people abducted in Baghdad. Four guards at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research were no match for the 80 armed abductors. Could they have been Mike Hancock supporters? Will there be an investigation? Think about it. 150 people go missing. Half a world away (only half a day away by plane), a politician wins by 150 more votes over the same challenger than in the previous election. Can it really be just coincidence? Will somebody at least check if there is an influx of Middle-East experts looking for academic postings today at the Brantford campuses of Laurier University and Mohawk College?

Other Ontario Municipal Election News:

- Faced with a three-way race that included the incumbent mayor and a former mayor, the residents of Waterloo did the only sensible thing. They voted for the one without the "valuable leadership experience".

- Hamilton voted out the Pillsbury Dough-Mayor (Larry DiIanni). In the end, it wasn't his lame policies, or the stunned look constantly on his face when interviewed. It was simply that his last name had too many vowels, not enough consonants. And, really, how can you take a city seriously when they have a Larry for mayor?

- Ottawa, on the other hand, voted for a Larry. Fortunately, what makes Ottawa most worth visiting is under the domain of the National Capital Commission, not city council.

Next Ontario municipal election update - four years from now.

Thought For The Day - November 6, 2006

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

Whether Weather Matters...

Whether weather matters or whether it doesn't, and for no particular reason, here is the weather for various cities where friends and relatives currently are:

Kitchener, Ontario: 2 degrees, partly cloudy.
Brantford, Ontario: 2 degrees, partly cloudy.
Hamilton, Ontario: 2 degrees, partly cloudy.
Toronto, Ontario: 4 degrees, a few clouds.
Kingston, Ontario: 4 degrees, partly cloudy.
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario: 0 degrees, overcast.
Ottawa, Ontario: 2 degrees, partly cloudy.
Tyne Valley, P.E.I.: 2 degrees, WEATHER CONDITIONS UNKNOWN!!!
Edmonton, Alberta: -6 degrees, overcast.
Calgary, Alberta: -6 degrees, partly cloudy.
Kelowna, British Columbia: 6 degrees, overcast.
Vancouver, British Columbia: 13 degrees, overcast, heavy rainfall warning.
Grand Island, New York: 3 degrees, partly cloudy.
New York City, New York: 7 degrees, a few clouds.
Boston, Massachussets: 7 degrees, a few clouds.
Los Angeles, California: 17 degrees, a few clouds.
Lincolnshire, United Kingdom: 10 degrees, a few clouds.

Thought For The Day - November 4th

Sex is like air. It's only important if you're not getting any.