A Birthday today, remembered.

Mark would have been eighteen today. But that will never happen. Mark is dead. I have to accept that. It still seems dreamlike that he could be so, is no longer among us. I still expect him to enter the room at odd moments, and when I catch myself, I cry.

My son my son, oh I miss you so. Your mother speaks of her dream, where you came up behind her, and hugged her, giving her the comfort of your embrace. I am so envious of her, that she has once more been able to touch you; hold your hand, and hug you. To feel you hug her back, not a little boy’s hug, but with the wide-shouldered strength of the man you had just so recently become. Oh Mark, I was so so proud of you.

Each night I go to sleep hoping that you will come to me in my dreams, that I could hold my son in my arms again, and in the dream at least, have the experience having you with me one more time..

I miss you boy. I miss your voice, your words, your smile. I miss you so.

You would have been eighteen today.

I love you son.

Midstream Media Defames the Pope

Over the last month the Midstream media has, in accordance with it's established gutter standards in news reporting, been fanning the flames of controversy with stories that the current Pope helped to hide priestly child molesters from justice.

More specifically, the former Principal of St.Johns School for the Deaf, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a Father Laurence Murphy.

The New York Times, AP, etc. have inflamed public outrage to the point where thousands have signed petitions in England against a future visit from the pontiff, and caused various legal types to ponder publicly, whether legal action could be taken against the head of the Catholic Church.

Now the Priest who sat as the ecclesiastical judge in the Murphy case has come forward, complaining that not only has he been widely misquoted and falsely quoted in the New York Times and over 100 other publications, but that the accused molestor died in 1998 just before the case could come to trial, and had never been referred to the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at all.

Writing in the Catholic Anchor, Father Thomas Brundage, JCL, says he was never once contacted by any of the news organizations who so widely misquoted him, and that he would have gone all the way to the Pope at the time, John Paul II, in appealing any instructions to refrain from Judging the case against Father Lawrence Murphy.

Now dear reader, you know most of the people in our media could not be bothered, obviously, to follow the link to Father Brundage's story, nor trusted to believe him. -After all he was only an eyewitness at the center of the events of the day. Far far better to take a juicy story that attacks the present Pope and run with it.

(ADDED ON APRIL 6TH)

The New York Times antipathy or possibly, antagonistic attitude towards the Church is no secret. One example I remember, was in the mid 1990's when the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Men's Fraternal society, had to threaten legal action before the NYT would publish a Paid-for full-page KofC advertisement in the paper.

Earth Hour

The taxpayers in the City of Edmonton should be happy to know the idiots in the city administration are blowing tax dollars advertising the hell out of Saturday's Earth Hour.

Yup, they're exhorting the ignorant masses to shut off all their lights Saturday night for an hour to help curb greenhouse gas emissions and thus do a bit to save the planet.

It's all B.S. so I'm going to protest in my own way. I've set up some hi-power halogen spotlights on my house for this event so that I can consume extra electricity to help take up the slack in demand from all the soft-headed types who're planning on shutting their lights off.




How do you make yourself feel good doing nothing about climate change? Earth Hour!!!!

To hell with that shit. My lights are ON.

The Ungrateful Profs

The pinko socialists who've dominated Saskatchewan's indoctrina- er, I mean, educational system for upteen years, are showing their asses to the world again. Only a bunch of old hippie has beens (or their heirs) could a come up with a zinger like this.

A Four-Year scholarship program for the children of Dead Soldiers has gained the support of colleges and Universities across Canada except at the University of Regina. Sixteen Professors who enjoy life on the public tit, who are allowed the freedom to teach whatever anti-west swill they please because of the freedoms earned by our military, have signed a letter protesting the University's decision to honor the scholarship because they feel it glorifies militarism.

What a bunch of sorry short-sighted out-of-touch ivory-tower fucks.

I wonder how long they'd last if they were trying to teach their pie-in-the-sky worldview under a Taliban regime?

Art imitates life

I've enjoyed Scott Kurtz's work for years. His Webcomic, PvP (Player vs. Player) is about the staff at a small magazine dedicated to computer gaming. The current story line is about how two of the staffers decide to make love on the boss's new D&D gaming table and get caught.



I laughed; thought, "c'mon Scott, no one would actually do that..." and then remembered how, twenty-two years ago my then brand-new bride and I were almost caught doing the same thing late at night in a basement office at the second radio station I'd ever worked at, CFOK radio.

Zombie Bite Calculator

Politically incorrect doesn't' even come close to describing the Oatmeal. Damn. I really liked the "How Twilight works" and "How everything goes to hell in a Zombie Apocalypse."

Moose in my back yard

Woke up last Monday morning to the sight of two moose in the back yard. The neighbors told us about all the wildlife we'd be seeing when we moved out here a year ago, but this is only the second time we've seen Moose. Our place is only a few miles outside of Edmonton City limits.

One wag asked me why I hadn't shot the Male, as I would be able to 'get away with it' with my Metis status. I had to tell ol' 'Hunts at Safeway' that I'm too damned citified to do all the bloody, heavy work involved in gutting and dressing a moose all by my lonesome. As for the shot, I'm as proud of my marksmanship as the next guy, maybe moreso, but there's a safety issue because of all the houses just the other side of the trees behind the Moose, and probably a violation of local ordinances to boot.

Besides which, I don't consider myself a subsistence hunter at present.

Saving Local Television

The actual issue is an attempt to make viewers pay for something that they've never had to pay for before. Local TV signals.

As broadcasters catch up with digital and high-definition technologies, the old style analog television transmissions will disappear.

The current campaign by Canadian television broadcasters asking viewers to demand the CRTC force Satellite and Cable Companies to pay for local stations' content is pure misdirection. The Broadcasters would have you believe that the issue is fairness; a need to make the cable companies pay for the use of the local stations they carry.

Bullshit. That's just a strawman.

1. First off, Despite their protestations to the contrary, if the broadcasters succeed in forcing the cable and Satellite providers to pay for the use of local stations, the costs will be passed directly to the consumers.
2. Secondly, the Parent companies of the local tv stations, companies like like Canwest Global and Quebecor, own a significant portion of the Cable and Satellite Providers own part of or in some cases all of the specialty channels that consumers are paying the cable companies to access. Asking consumers to pay again is almost like asking them to pay twice for the same damn thing.
3. Third, the cable and satellite companies include the local tv stations in the basic access packages they force every customer to buy before we can get access to the specialty channels we REALLY want to watch. I suspect that were some of the local stations to go under, the basic packages would remain largely unchanged, just carrying more of the alphabet networks' different regional feeds.
   
4. It's a changing marketplace. If local tv stations and their parent companies can't keep up and adjust to the new technologies, it's not fair to have the government (in the guise of new CRTC regulation) force consumers to keep the dinosaurs alive.
   

As a consumer, I gave up on local TV over a decade ago. There are perhaps twelve specialty channels I wanted when I ordered my satellite TV system. But I am forced to pay for hundreds of signals I NEVER WATCH in order the get the few I am interested in. Were the satellite and Cable companies serious about providing content choice they'd let us order the specific specialty channels we want to see.

The last thing I need is another bullshit charge added to my bill.

Lies Lies Lies.

I didn't think the Nobel Prize committee could cheapen their awards any more than they did after giving it to Al Gore for making a so-called documentary whose most accurate fact was that the earth has a climate.

That was until this past week when they gave the Peace Prize to Barrack Obama for all his accomplishments.

What accomplishments? The deadline for submitting entries was only one week after he assumed office. Obama doesn't even qualify (hmmm, again?) for the Peace Prize according to the criteria the applicants are supposed to meet. Not that following neither the spirit nor the letter of the law has been a big concern for Obama's supporters but geeze whiz, this just looks stupid.

With regards to the Peace Prize, and according to Alfred Nobel's will, the Peace Prize was for:

“

during the preceding year [...] shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.[1]

”

Poseur.

Zombie UPdate

I see the DeadJournal is updating again! Cool!

Speaking of Zombies, #1 son and I saw Zombie Land opening day. Take it in the spirit it was intended, and your only complaint will be that the movie is too short. Bill Murray's cameo alone made it worth the price of admission.

We also saw Pandorum this week, and I think it (inadvertently) falls into the 'zombie movie' genre too. Way more suspenseful than Zombie Land, it does a far far better job of playing with your fear of the unknown than, say, Event Horizon. (Which is still a classic!)

Marketing 101

Here's a few logos I'd like to see more of in popular culture:




Here's why:

Where did Spink go?

Just throwing this out there:

The blogger Spink, and his blogs, "spink about it" and "101 people who are messing up Canada" are now missing in action. Known for his right-of-centre viewpoint (can you say, "common-sense point of view?") his material is worth reading, if only to counter the CBC-promoted myth that there is no legitimate every-man Canadian viewpoint on the right side of the political spectrum too.

Spink's 101 people list and the reason they're listed should be read by every Junior-High social studies student in the country.

A quick google search and I find only a post on the Daily Gleaner from april 21st, 2009,

"With that said, I am walking away from blogging at least for now."

Oh Spink. Say it isn't so...

Swine Influsteria part 2

I was right to worry.

Tamiflu strains o f the swine flu have now appeared here, in Alberta. Bloomberg is reporting that it isn't as easily spread as the original strain, but...

Swine InFlusteria

At first I thought the stupidest things tick me off. But I think this may be serious.

One of my favorite web cartoonists, PVP author Scott Kurtz posted on his site Thursday that he and other guests have come down with the Flu after shaking thousands of hands at PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle this week. There has been at least one confirmed case of swine flu at that event.

• On his website, Scott said,

"So when I took a turn for the worse yesterday, and then Kris and Mike started to feel sick, I took a trip to the clinic and tested positive for the flu. The doctor doesn’t think it’s the swine flu but either way the treatment is the same: Tamaflu, bed rest, fluids and NO FLYING."

Not the first time I've heard that. That's what's bugging me. Overuse.

Now I'm glad Scott's getting treatment. I really like his stuff. I can see using using Tamaflu for the weak, sickly, very young and very old. But On the surface, Scott Kurtz appears to be a young, healthy guy who's been successfully losing weight and working at improving his health.

Damn near every time the subject of the flu has come up in the news this year the doctors have been using Tamaflu. Fucking overuse if you ask me. Especially for a strain of Flu that this year has had only a fraction of the lethality of our regular flu seasons in the past. The medical profession appears to be determined to ruin the effectiveness of Tamaflu through overuse just like they've done with damn near every antibiotic in the past half century.

A Fake Crisis

Came across this gem of information after SondraK pointed the way:

The Obamunists are claiming that there's 12 or 24 or even 40 million Americans who desperately need socialized medical coverage. They're using these numbers to justify the creation of what will surely be the latest (if not the biggest) real life exercise that proves socialism doesn't work.

But While channel surfing this week, I heard Glen Beck, give a much more realistic breakdown of the actual number of un-covered Amercians. He also pointed out that if Obama really wanted to get them coverage it would be cheaper to simply buy them coverage than to set up a nationalized government health care system [complete with the requisite perpetually self-bloating civil service bureaucracy to run it, like Canada has.] (my words)

Here's the breakdown, according to Karl Rove in today's Wall Street Journal:




So, buying them coverage (5 million uncovered Americans) at say, $100 to $500 per month each, works out to between six and thirty billion a year. Damn.

That's gotta be cheaper than building a whole new Health Care bureaucracy complete with waiting lists and all the other weaknesses of rationed health care.

Zombie blog update

Just a little bit of sleuthing, and I've found that the contributors to the zombie blog, 'the dead journal' are all members of the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association. The PFOA has a very good website, with information, news, forums and the kind of information you should read if you're concerned at all about gun safety and activism.

I also found this poster:



My guess is the blog is a promotional thing for this event. That said, if you haven't checked it out, do so. It's a pretty damn good read.

Obama seeks Power to Rule the Internet

Earlier this month, Fox news reported that anyone who went to the USG's Cash for clunkers website was inadvertently granting the US Government all rights to access your computer for any reason, now and in the future.

Today Cnet reports that a recently revised Senate Bill S.773 would grant the president sweeping powers in the event of a 'cyber emergency.' Going far beyond protecting utilities and other government type services this bill could give the President control of private I.T. companies hiring practices, require hiring of specially certified government approved 'supervisors' (can you say, "Political Officer" tovarisch?) and force private I.T. companies to take orders from the government to do whatever the President deems necessary to combat the 'cyber-emergency.'

This of course reminds me of how Adolf Hitler and other dictators in history have used real (and staged) emergencies to grant themselves extraordinary powers that were ultimately abused to circumvent their nation's checks and balances, and ultimately cement their position and power.

The U.S. has had strong presidents who were given extraordinary powers during times of crisis. I'm think of Abraham Lincoln, and more recently George W Bush. Yes, W. As disappointing as George was in the latter part of his administration I still include him with Lincoln, as men with sufficient integrity and character to give up those powers when the crisis ended.

Sadly, I fear Obama has not shown yet that he has the integrity and character to match those examples.

(thanks to www.daybydaycartoon.com for the opening image)

Zombies?

Came across this while browsing David Markowitz's "Blog o Stuff." The Blog is called the Dead Journal, and is a series of daily posts beginning just this past August 19th. The anonymous blogger appears to be relating his family's survival during what appears to be a terrorist-caused zombie attack.

Sounds goofy unless you're into zombie movies and such. As my 17 year old son and I have been avidly playing Valve's "Left 4 Dead" online for the past three months, this weblog is merely fuel for the fire... (grin)

Ted is dead

Ted is dead. I couldn't write anything about it until now, as I was already sick to death of the oh-so-predictable outpouring of flattery from the media about what such a loss this is to the United States and to blah blah blah blah...

I've already written some less than nice things in the past about this apostate Catholic, unwanted member of the Knights of Columbus, and of course, much-too-long serving Democratic U.S. senator for Massachusetts. I didn't want to be too negative but this thought, however, has been with me all day:

"I can see him now, standing in front of the Pearly Gates
being asked if he knew how many full-term babies died
with surgical scissors jammed into the backs of their skulls,
because he (Ted) had championed the legality of
Partial Birth Abortions?"

So I don't want to slam him any more than I already have, he's not having too good a time right now as it is...

Like his better brothers, I'm chosing to remember this Kennedy as he was when he was younger, and still full of promise. Before he proved himself a hypocrite he did publicly take a pro-life, pro-family stance. I particularly liked this 1971 letter, in which he responded to a pro-abortionist:

“While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized — the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.

On the question of the individual’s freedom of choice there are easily available birth control methods and information which women may employ to prevent or postpone pregnancy. But once life has begun, no matter at what stage of growth, it is my belief that termination should not be decided merely by desire.

I share the confidence of those who feel that America is willing to care for its unwanted as well as wanted children, protecting particularly those who cannot protect themselves. i also share the opinions of those who do not accept abortion as a response to our society’s problems — an inadequate welfare system, unsatisfactory job training programs, and insufficient financial support for all its citizens.

When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.

Sincerely,
Edward M. Kennedy

Bye Ted. You could have been Good.

Spread it around

Found this while surfing. Spread it around.