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.