I'll Be Back..But In The Meantime..

I haven't disappeared forever. A mysterious illness has knocked me on my ass...

In the meantime and for your continuing viewing pleasure I include in its entirety a short welcoming speech by U.S. President GW Bush as he and Laura kick off a garden party on the south lawn of the White House. Bush must have forgotten his morning meds....again.

President and Mrs. Bush Host Congressional Picnic
South Lawn

8:10 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Laura and I welcome you to the South Lawn. This is an opportunity to thank the members of Congress and their families for serving the United States.

First, I want to recognize the Speaker. Madam Speaker, thank you for joining us. It means a lot that you've come. I appreciate the leadership of the House and the Senate who have joined us. For all the wives and husbands, thank you for standing by your spouse. It's not easy to be in public office. It's a lot easier, though, when you have somebody who loves you to help you do your job. And so Laura and I want to thank you all, in particular. We're proud to be serving with you. Occasionally we might have our differences, but one thing we all agree on is we represent the greatest country on the face of the Earth. (Applause.)

I want to thank our Chef, Paul Prudhomme, from New Orleans, Louisiana -- one of the great chefs in America. Thanks for coming, Paul. (Applause.) I thank Tony Snow and his bunch of, well, mediocre musicians -- (laughter) -- no, great musicians. Beats Workin, thanks for coming. (Applause.) Kermit, come up here. Kermit, we're proud to have you.

MR. RUFFINS: Well, thanks for having us.

THE PRESIDENT: Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers, right out of New Orleans, Louisiana. (Applause.)

MR. RUFFINS: Thank you. Thanks for having us. We're glad to be here.

THE PRESIDENT: Proud you're here. Thanks for coming. You all enjoy yourself. Make sure you pick up all the trash after it's over. (Laughter.)

God bless you, and may God bless America. Thanks for coming. (Applause.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile back at Bush's hobby otherwise known as the complete and utter destruction of an entire nation and its people, take a gander at what's going on there as the elite in Washington nibble their cucumber sandwiches and sip their champagne:

http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=55&p=33919&s2=22

The Ten Commandments V 2.0 'Road Rules'!

A new Vatican document announced today in Vatican City titled "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road" will have devout Catholics following a new set of Ten Commandments but this time around, the edict outlines road rules. Although the documents address several topics unrelated to operating one's vehicle in a polite and charitable manner, it's the "Driver's Ten Commandments" that has taken centre stage.

While perusing the Driver's Ten Commandments, it became glaringly clear that if one were to delete a couple of important keywords and replace them with words like "peace", "war" and a few other more appropriate phrases, a new and more powerful document would emerge, one that just might address something of global importance.

The Vatican's version of the Drivers' Ten Commandments follow with the suggested replacement words in brackets supplied by yours truly. Number 1 on the list needs no improvement but it does bear repeating.

The "Drivers' (Peace Seeker's) Ten Commandments," as listed in the document, are:

1. You shall not kill. (I repeat, You shall not kill.)

2. The road (events of September 11, 2001) shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents (wars & atrocities).

5. Cars (Wars) shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive (kill people) when they are not in a fitting condition to do so (ever).

7. Support the families of accident (war & atrocity) victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists (warmongers) and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness (impeachment).

9. On the road (battlefield), protect the more vulnerable party (lay down your arms).

10. Feel responsible toward others. (Amen)

Now, if any of the rampant rabid neo-conservative ultra right-wing warmongers happen to read the above, say a couple of "hail Marys" and move along quietly. Whatever you might say to me I've heard way too many times before.

And I would be remiss if I didn't include a note to the Anglicans out there who are debating as I type whether or not Anglican Priests should bless gay marriage. As it stands right now, the Anglican church denounces same-sex marriage as an abomination or crimes against humanity or something equally silly.

People who are gay are people. The gay part should not be part of the equation when it comes to religious rites and ceremonies so take that big step into the 21st century from the 15th century rut you've been stuck in and recognize marriage for all. Period. It's really that simple.

Beware Malicious E-card Phishing

I read about this in my latest Windows newsletter and although e-card phishing has been around for a couple of years it's worth re-visiting especially for those among us who love not only receiving ecards but sending them.

"Phishing" according to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing) is an attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication such as eBay, PayPal and online banks. Phishers disguise themselves as legitimate websites and it's difficult to tell the fake sites from the real ones. That also applies tor phishing emails disguised as real ones including e-card announcements. The common goal of all phishers is identity theft.

Beware of an e-card announcement email that has something like this in the subject line:

A friend has sent you an e-card from [name of a legitimate e-card website]

The body of the announcement instructs you to download a file in order to view your e-card:

download and view your e-card
Your e-card number is:
GreetingCardNr7496336687.flash

If in any doubt, don't open it and delete the message.


Other ways to protect yourself from email phishing:

• Delete any e-card from someone you don't know.

• Read the company website's Terms of Service before clicking 'Agree'! . You'd be surprised what phishing sites get unsuspecting visitors to agree to knowing that most of us NEVER read a long and lengthy ToS.

• Of course having effective and constantly updated antivirus software goes without saying.

• Proceed with caution when an e-card announcement comes with an attachment even if it appears that the e-card has been sent by someone you know.

If I Had Half A Ball...

I write for a local news and information website called Halifax Live. Some of the articles found here on this blog can also be found there including my latest entry here titled "Way To Go Soldier Boys". Today in my Halifax Live mail box I found three messages from people who took great exception to the article and for your viewing pleasure I'm placing the best one here. No wait...I'll put the best two messages here.

All three of them are hate-filled vituperations. All three are written by males. If they're adults well, that's just scary as hell. If they're teenagers, that's even scarier because they're going to take this hate and anger into their adult years and do god-knows-what with it. Maybe join the military...

This is what one gets for exercising freedom of speech and expression these days. Not only do they attack the message, they verbally assault the messenger and god forbid that anyone says anything negative about a soldier fighting the "good fight" in Afghanistan or Iraq in an attempt to rid the world of all those Middle Eastern "animals".

So without further ado, the first email:

Screw you, you friggin bloody ass wipe. It seems you don't have too much to say when there are soldiers getting killed every day, but when some "rag head" little snot nosed (soon to become a suicide bomber)gets whacked, you become a blithering idiot that don't really know what the hell you are talking , or writing about. Why don't you go enlist and volunteer to go to afghansitan so you could talk'em to surrendering. Let's see, wasn't your kind the same idiots that thought they could TALK hitler in to being a nice man? He did too. He let the young ones organize into the youth corp. and they went about recruiting "other children" that were worse than the older scum bags. Tell that to the Jewish children that he murdered you left wing prick, and who say's we lost? You? The taliban and alqaida think you are A OK. They will kill you last, butt head.

And the second one:

This editorial garbage reflects someone who has never been near, let alone engaged in, a combat situation. If the enemy hides with children and the children are killed, at least they won’t grow up to be the enemy. That is when the terror goes away, when the last Muslim dies. Age makes no difference.

Oh wait. D. L. McCracken is Canadian. Almost as used to losing as the French. That explains it. And if he had half a ball, he’d try to find me so we could “discuss” his shortcomings outside.

Oh hell, I may as well include the third one:

Im glad they blasted the school. They're animals. Enough of us playing by ridiculous rules of war while the enemy runs and hides in religious sites. Do our troops put children in cars filled with explosives then leave it on a busy street, run away then blow it up with the kids inside. Umm nope. The purpose of the kids there was so that the parked car wouldnt raise suspicion from patrolling police. We should target mosques, these people are animals. Our military troops are the elite people of the US. Yet scum like you look down upon them, if it wasnt for them youd be dead.

All three are published verbatim.

Way To Go Soldier Boys

In any armed conflict a sure sign that the invading army has lost occurs when a raid is conducted on a suspected enemy haven where there is a high possibility of children but the raid is carried out anyway.

This was the news greeting us this morning. A U.S.-led coalition air strike was conducted against a religious school (a madrassa) in the Paktika province of eastern Afghanistan. A few Taliban fighters were killed in the raid but so were at least seven children. Coincidentally, the death of these seven innocents occurred on the same day a Taliban suicide bomber blew up more than 35 people on a police bus in Kabul. Sort of a tit-for-tat scenario if you will.

This isn't the first time innocents have been caught in the crossfire in a war situation and it certainly won't be the last but how are the western invading armies any better than the designated enemy-in-residence if we consider children nothing more than unavoidable collateral damage?

Look at how this latest tragedy is being reported: they say that coalition forces were in possession of "credible intelligence" that several resistance fighters were holed up in a "compound" in Paktika. So far, so good. But the compound in question is also a religious school, a fact that the coalition forces were well aware of. But they blew it to smithereens anyway. To cover their own asses, reports indicate that the mission commander sought and received permission from their war bosses before carrying out the mission.

After it was determined that 7 children had been killed, the coalition spin doctors immediately released their previously-prepared pat response that they are "saddened" by the loss of innocent lives. And then they turn the whole thing around and blame it on the enemy fighters by stating that the children are dead only because the Taliban or Al-Qaeda used them as human shields.

Another coalition spokesperson in another cover-one's-ass statement said, "If we knew that there were children inside the building, there was no way that that airstrike would have occurred."

HELLO! You bombed a madrassa - a school! Madrassas are known for taking in orphans and poor children and god knows Afghanistan has more than its fair share of orphans since 2001 and you damn well knew there would be innocents inside that building and you blew it up anyway.

It's no doubt that some of the more militant fighters in Afghanistan (and Iraq for that matter) use women and children as "human shields" and for that reason innocents do tragically get killed in the crossfire. Indeed, we in the west call that particular militant practice cowardice and rightly so. But how are western forces any better than the enemy "cowards" if we bomb buildings where there is a high probability of innocents being killed?

Wouldn't a more reasonable and civilized approach be to avoid the killing of innocents at all costs? Are dead children worth a few less Taliban fighters? Apparently not anymore.

Shame on us for reading any given news report out of Afghanistan that includes collateral damage in the guise of dead innocents, without even batting an eyelash. Shame on us for learning of the latest school shooting in North America that leaves countless dead innocents, and we deeply and publicly mourn the loss of part of our future generation.

Shame on all of us for holding western youth in such high esteem and protecting them at all cost while we shrug off the youth of Afghanistan and Iraq as just a few more dead ragheads.

Makes one wonder who the real barbarians are.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty Spewing Smog-Polluted Rhetoric?

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in a Liberal fund raising speech this week in Ottawa said in reference to the Atlantic Accord, "The point I'm making to Prime Minister Harper is don't enter into any kind of new arrangement that somehow gives people living in equalization-receiving provinces a greater fiscal capacity than ours. That is not fair".

McGuinty warned Prime Minister Stephen Harper to stand his ground on the Accord dispute between Ottawa and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland because to give into their demands would allow those provinces a greater financial capability than Ontario. He waxed poetic on the generous altruism Ontario displays toward poorer provinces in Atlantic Canada so that Atlantic Canadians can enjoy "comparable programs at comparable taxation levels" but the people of Ontario have their limits. McGuinty, speaking on behalf of the people he represents in Ontario warned the Atlantic provinces, "don't take advantage of us".

What, we wondered are some of the "comparable programs" that we in Atlantic Canada are allowed to enjoy and emulate, funded in part with alms from Ontario. How about our transit system? Subways for example. We don't have subways in Atlantic Canada. We have buses. Most metro transit authorities service only in the larger cities and directly outside the city limits. Rural regions do not have the luxury of city buses.

Toronto on the other hand does have an extensive subway system. So that could be an example of the Atlantic region being granted "comparable programs" to those in Ontario. They have and no doubt require a subway system and we have the comparable city bus which is more suitable for our station in life. The Halifax Regional Municipality could certainly use a more efficient system of public transit but alas according to McGuinty, we just don't deserve it because that would make it appear that Atlantic Canada is equal to Ontario and that wouldn't be fair to Ontario the avaricious.

But look what was just announced for the southern Ontario region - a $17.5 billion GO Transit service expansion which is projected to create 175,000 new jobs. The Ontario government promises to chip in two-thirds of the cost and will ask Ottawa....I mean, the Canadian taxpayers for the rest to the tune of $5.8 billion.

Now we're sure that Toronto deserves this $17.5 billion project. But about that $5.8 billion that they will be asking the Canadian taxpayer to fork over...not so sure we want to be contributing to that Mr. McGuinty. At least not the taxpayers of Atlantic Canada who would love to construct and improve upon our own transit system but won't be financially capable because you and others of your ilk are afraid that we'll go all uppity Canadian in your caboose.

Is that the ozone we're smelling in the rain-laden air or is it just McGuinty & Company spewing a whole lot of sanctimonious smog-polluted rhetoric?