Workin for the Man

My little brother works for the power company.
One time, when I spent the night following a computer gaming binge at his place, I noticed he'd left his computers switched on.  I switched them off.
The next day he acted all perplexed as to how or who had shut them down.  I told him I did, to save power.
He said, "I work the power company.  I don't want to save power."

Keep Christ in Christmas

I am pretty sick and tired of constant low-level attacks on Christmas and Christianity under the false banner of "inclusiveness" and/or "historical accuracy."  Today, after I shared a "Keep Christ in Christmas" banner on MY facebook page I received a negative comment.  I wasn't surprised, considering that western society is becoming increasingly hostile to Christianity.  Indeed, a review of the portrayal of christians by our leftist-dominated mainstream media shows anti-christianity is the one acceptable bigotry left to 'polite' society.

She said, "Ok. I respect that but then you need to move the celebration to the spring when he really was born and give us back our mid winter solstice celebration."  I know this person, and knowing her, I'm certain she didn't mean it in a mean-spirited way. My first inclination was to dismiss the statement as a typical harmless wishy washyism of an agnostic who, not certain what to believe, unthinkingly repeated something she heard on tv. But I could not read it again without concluding that whoever uttered it first, did so with total malice in their heart.

Remember the entire "Keep Christ in Christmas" meme is meant to pull people back from the crass commercialization of the Christmas season.  What's wrong with that? The answer is, nothing. So why would someone say their respect for this concept required the removal of Christmas from December 25th? Certainly mainstream Christianity isn't oppressing non-Christians from celebrating the winter solstice.

Perhaps I was being too literal and the writer was simply being sloppy in how she chose to craft her compound sentence.  It certainly doesn't help that the "he (Jesus Christ) was really born in the springtime " thing is a well-known deconstructionist myth, and is often invoked in a mean-spirited way to belittle the faith of Christians.  I've seen that weak sentiment  brandished about like a bludgeon in web-forums as if it were argument enough to convert Christians into atheists.   It completely misses the point that mainstream Christianity doesn't pretend it was actually December 25th, but instead holds that date as 'tradition'.

The veracity of the first part of her statement, "I respect that" is immediately given lie by the words which follow it.  Look again at the implications of the second part that statement, "...you need to move the celebration to the spring..."  December 25th is the one day agreed upon by the world in general for the celebration of Christmas. It would be impossible to get all the varied peoples of the world to agree on a new date, and would destroy the universality with which Christmas is celebrated. That would be a tremendous blow against Christianity.

Since the date isn't known, December 25th is as valid a day to chose for Christmas as the deconstructionists "Sometime in the Spring".  Indeed, December 25th is the more valid, as it not only carries the weight of hundreds of years of happy tradition, but moving it would simply be one more opportunity for chaos and strife.  How the HELL could that be better?

It can't.

Hiram Mann's "Freedom"

With the U.S. Presidential Election days away, my thoughts increasingly turn towards the possible consequences should that great Republic's electorate vote for suicide.  That's the end I foresee for America should they continue down the wide and easy path of mindless 'good intentions'...

Hiram Mann's "No Man Survives when Freedom Fails"

I made this 1600 x 1040 pixel wallpaper for my laptop after seeing something similar on facebook.

Still as true now as it was in 2005

I was surfing the net today and came across a birth photo of a friend's newborn baby, taken today in Hamilton, Ontario, and  a 2005 Time Magazine interview of Ann Coulter.

"They're terrible people, liberals. They believe--this can really summarize it all--these are people who believe," she said, now raising her voice, "you can deliver a baby entirely except for the head, puncture the skull, suck the brains out and pronounce that a constitutional right has just been exercised. That really says it all. You don't want such people to like you!"

It's clearly coincidence, but I thought it was funny as hell that the captured fugitive on the front page of yesterday's Edmonton Sun bears a striking resemblance to the dope-smoking ex-con "Ricky," a character created by actor Rob Wells for the TV show "The Trailer Park Boys".  The fugitive's photo was taken in 1995 when he was 33 and wanted for the beating and abduction of an Edmonton area man.  I've no idea what he looks like now. 

In a near perfect example of life imitating art, the police officers who broke down the guy's door captured him in the middle of a marijuana grow op.

What about Khadr's Victims?

 Self-confessed and convicted murderer Omar Khadr's triumphant return to Canada as heralded by the CBC and his predicted release on mandatory parole next year just underlines how unjust the Canadian legal system is. The NDP is quacking about compensation for Khadr for being put in jail.  Compensation for being a convicted self-confessed murderer?  I'm more than convinced now that the Canadian Left are evil 'tards bent on destroying society.

What I want to know, is what about Khadr's victims? What about Tabitha Speer, widow of the Medic Khadr murdered with a grenade in his failed suicide attempt?  I have no doubt the NDP and Khadr's legion of admirers and supporters don't give a damn for her or the other members of Speer's family.

CTV is no better, calling Khadr an "Accused" murderer. Is this a mistake?  Or on-purpose?

NBC'S Chris Matthews FIRED for BIGOTRY

NBC'S Chris Matthews needs to be 'FIRED'. Hosting last night's NBC coverage of the GOP convention, the self-confessed Obama-fanboi noted that since the candidates, Romney, Gingrich and Santorum were "two Roman Catholics and a Mormon" that delegates would be forced to pick one of three "CULTISTS".   Twenty-five percent of Americans are Catholic, and another 4.6 percent Mormon, and Matthews dismisses them all as "CULTISTS".  That's nearly a third of the country folks.

Does that offend you? It offended me.

Especially because the Media Party wouldn't have allowed him to say anything disparaging about their religious backgrounds had the candidates been Wiccan, Hindu, or MUSLIM. 

 (comic courtesy Mallard-Fillmore)  Thanks to Roger for posting about this first.

SIGNS, The 5 Man Electrical Band

So I'm out on the back deck behind my little country house today enjoying a cup of coffee when the original version of 'Signs' by the 5 Man Electrical Band comes on the radio. I start singing along.

I've always enjoyed that song.

Until I got to the line about the sign to keep trespassers out, and "Man, you're some kind of sinner." I thought about scraping up the down payment to buy my 3.9 acres of country-side, going deeply into debt to build the house, and the years of hard work I put in to afford it. Then I thought of myriads of random strangers walking through, squatting, eating my wildberries and (inevitably) leaving their garbage littered all over the property.

And I thought, "Damned right, you fuckin hippies."

A conservative in an argument with a liberal

A conservative in an argument with a liberal is almost always at a disadvantage.The conservative has to make sense. It's self-imposed.

While this may not be a law of nature it accurately  reflects my personal experience.

The liberals I've encountered don't labor under the same burden. They've already had their minds made up for them, usually by the likes of John Stewart, Rick Mercer, Bill Maher, or a number of other comedians posing as  journalists and commentators for the midstream media.  Their followers usually can't assemble any argument more coherent than "it's the free market's fault" or "It's the conservative's fault and (ENTER CONSERVATIVE POLITICIAN NAME HERE) is a moron."

I've been thinking about this subject because it has just happened to me again.

It was inadvertent, like most initial steps into minefields often are. A visit with a childhood friend and his family was marred by a brief foray into politics and economics.  My friend's wife was flipping channels in the TV room. She stopped on a channel where Bill Maher was speaking, pretending to be funny.

 "What do you want to watch?" she asked.
I answered that she could watch what she wanted, but that I didn't think Bill Maher was funny any more.  Her reply was that, although she didn't really like Bill Maher either, she loved John Stewart and by the way, the Republicans are assholes.


Well, they certainly have their share. But how did get that non sequitur get into her stream of thought? Is it an indication of how conditioned by the midsteam media's constant stream of derision and ridicule towards conservatives their mass audience is, that a regular John Steward viewer could not tell me she really liked John Stewart without reflexively throwing in a dig at the Republicans.

 I then compounded my error by asking, "Why would you say that?"

She didn't have any facts other than her "Assertions." Her answers boiled down to "You're wrong." or "John Stewart says..."  She was determined in her belief that she was right though, and that my facts were irrelevant. It wasn't until we could find a public figure or institution we could both agree was "bad" that she felt she had "Won" and we could get back to our socializing.

Zombie Preparedness and the Real Life CDC

You can't make this stuff up.

This building will look familiar to you if you've seen season one of AMC's "The Walking Dead."  I'm not sure when it happened, but The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia has now included  preparing for a Zombie Apocalypse in it's list of emergencies for which citizens should be prepared.

Yup.

They have a website with tips and a recommended list of contents for a preparedness "Kit," Posters, a blog, and even a Graphic Novel.  According to CDC Director Dr. Ali Khan, being prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse would mean you're prepared for many other types of emergencies as well. 

Toronto Police fail again.

I fully expect to read someday soon that the Toronto Police have arrested and charged Mike Greer for the crime of acting to defend himself, his family, and his home.

Greer isn't a visible minority or self-identifying member of one of Canada's special minorities, so I wonder if it's possible that the city of Toronto and it's oh so Politically Correct Police Service lacks the will or just doesn't give a damn about protecting him from druggies, vandals, and firebombers?

For two years teacher Mike Greer, his family, and his home have been targeted by party-goers on the elementary school grounds next door after he confronted them and complained to the Police.  Egging of his house and cars, thousands of dollars of slashed tires and other vandalism of his property, and now on June 30th, a firebombing with a Molotov Cocktail are all included in the price Mike Greer and his family have paid for trying to do something about it.

Greer has seen these youths, he's talked to them. He's complained to the Police. But after sending a few patrol cars around they were unable to catch the vandals in the act. At police suggestion he's spent thousands of dollars on security cameras and a security service. He has photos and video, but nothing the police can lay charges with.

He complained to the city and tried to work with community leaders.  More lighting  and an ineffectual gate were put up at the school. The partying and vandalism continued.

Who are these thugs?  Video of the vandals shows that unless they're a bunch of retards who've failed multiple grades, they're too old to be students of the West Rouge Public Elementary School on which they party. They appear to be area residents

AND NOW THEY FIREBOMBED HIS HOUSE! THEY FIREBOMBED HIS FUCKING HOUSE!

So Mike Greer has gone to the media.

When they can't apprehend the actual criminal the Toronto Police have already proved they're more than willing to arrest and charge outraged and desperate victims of crime who act to defend themselves. How long it will be before a desperate Mike Greer acts to defend his family and ends up facing charges for it?

**************************

UPDATE, July 10th, 2012

* It looks like Mike Greer is getting increased assistance from the Toronto Police now that his story was broken Nationally by Sun News.  While I'm personally glad that it appears Mike and his family are getting some significant help, I'm absolutely disgusted it took this turn of events to get the bureaucracy to act.

Douchebags

There's more douchebags on the road than ever, this weekend. What ever happened to showing a little courtesy?

Douchebag: a self-centered person who drives as they are the only person on the road.

CBC Archives: Edited for Ideological purity?

I was eager to denounce the CBC this morning. I couldn't find a specific podcast in their archives that questioned one of the sacred cows of the Politically Correct and I jumped to the obvious conclusion that it had been deliberately left out or lost. As historical revisionism is one of the identifying characteristics of Political Correctness, and the CBC is nothing if not nauseatingly p-c in the extreme, this was not an absurd conclusion. So I set out to review their archives to prove it and immediately discovered that I'd made a mistake.

The programming item I sought hadn't aired yet.

Oops.

So without any further need to prove a point, I gave up on wasting any more time reviewing their archives for nefarious activity; that's the sort of thing the Politically Correct do.

Yet I remain dissatisfied with our state broadcaster. It's mandate has been obsolete for decades; it's audience has shrunk to a miniscule percentage of the population; as a taxpayer-funded entity it depresses the economy by leeching advertising dollars away from private broadcasters; and worse,  it uses my tax-dollars to promote a Big-Government tax-and-spend socialist ideology I don't agree with.

That last point is particularly galling.  If the CBC were a private enterprise it should be free to adopt any editorial standpoint the ownership desired. Yet as one of the current owners ( I'm paying for it, so I damn well consider myself an owner) of the CBC I am regularly disappointed with what I get for my money. Clearly the CBC needs new owners.

I were Prime Minister, I'd privatize the CBC with my first breath.

U.N. No Place for Canada

It's past time for Canada to withdraw from the Corrupt Dictators Club that the United Nations has become. The latest Gong Show event was Navi Pillay, the U.N.'s "High Commissioner (now THERE's a Banana-dictatorship style title) for human rights" clumping Canada in with a host of third world shitholes because of Quebec's Bill 78, an attempt to curb the Violent and anarchistic riots by that province's spoiled and undeserving brats. It's a law passed by a democratically elected government, and is being challenged in the courts by the anarchists, (isn't that ironic?) In Syria they are shooting protestors in the streets, but apparently Canada has 'crossed the line' by making it illegal to wear a mask while rioting.

Smells like bullshit. Someone, (Navi Pillay and the U.N.) is getting paid way too much money for the value we're getting for our taxes.

This is not a kneejerk nationalistic rant in response to a criticism of my country. I mean, fire away. I support freedom of speech for anyone who would not deny me my freedom of speech.  And that's the crux. These repeated U.N. criticisms are from an organization that harbors and legitimizes our world's worst rights-abusers while demanding that we not only bend to their so-called standards, but pay the tab too. I've said it before and I'll say it again. ...and again.

Time for us to leave this party.

Too High Profile to charge - Police chicken out

Toronto Store Owner David Chen is AWESOME!  Watch this video. Two men come in to rob his store (again) and he hits them with the bear spray. I cheered when his wife came into the picture and started kicking the robber too!

Store Owner David Chen has been robbed repeatedly and had been charged in 2009 by the Gatineau Dumbasses- I'm sorry, by the "Police" for finally defending himself and his property after THE SAME THIEF kept coming to his little store and repeatedly robbing it.  Chen, in a fit of anger and frustration at the failure of the police to keep this scumbag off the streets chased the robber down, tied him up himself and then called police.  Did they thank him for helping them do their jobs?  Noooooooooo. The charges against Chen made national headlines and Canadians across the country expressed outrage at the injustice done to Chen.

I'm generally a supporter of law and order. I'm generally a supporter of our Police. I have friends who are career law enforcement officers and thanks to them have an idea of the risks they face every day. But I can't support the idea that we can't and shouldn't defend ourselves. Thank God the Government is trying to pass bill C-26, which will hopefully cut down on the moronic tendency of Canadian Police to charge the victims of crime for DEFENDING THEMSELVES.

Police have not charged Chen this time with assaulting his robbers, or for using bear spray as a weapon, probably because he is now too high-profile. The Police were quick to warn the serfs- I mean, law abiding citizens, that when confronted by criminals they should "lie back and enjoy it" and press charges later.

Ok, they didn't say that first part.  But it still feels like rape.

Why Promote this Creep?

It's an old old cliche that blood sells newspapers. As a society we have come to expect a little sensationalism with our news, But I don't think that excuses the the Three Page Pictorial Spread the Edmonton Sun devoted Thursday to wanted murder suspect Luka Mag-whatsisname.
Six and possibly seven large photos of this bozo under lurid headlines plays right into what appears to be his need to feed his ego. TV and Radio newscasts led with aspects of the story all day yesterday, and many newscasts included 'new angles' today. Yes its a horrific Crime and now the search for Luba has spread overseas.

Its not exactly free publicity if you consider the price the victim paid. So can we stop giving this loser any more publicity?

Warren Buffet on Deficits

No further comment needed.

Bullshit Install Programs

Does this piss you off?   It does me.  What I'm referring to is the "small installer file" that will install the app I want but also Ghu knows what else in the process.  This is obviously an attempt to curb unrecorded access and distribution of downloaded software.  In other words, they don't want you to download a program and keep a copy of the downloaded install exe for sharing with your friends or to reinstall later if subsequent automatic upgrades make the app less appealing.


This is also terribly inconvenient for people in internet-challenged areas like mine, where downloads are slow and bandwidth restricted by lousy ISPs.

It's control; It's access to your computer and your data... and it's pissing me off.

Some people are Rotters.

Decades ago during my college years I was at a New Years Party being held at a friend's farmhouse. It was dark, 30 below zero, and a group of us were walking to our cars from the house when one of the guys stopped and pissed all over the windshield of our host's Plymouth Horizon. He laughed drunkenly about it all the way to his own car.  Over the years I wondered that he didn't end up in Jail.

I'm glad to say he wasn't a friend, and ashamed to admit I didn't tell our host. Sorry Carole, you deserved better.

But yesterday I thought of that guy, Pierre C, when I discovered someone had jumped all up and down on the trunk of my convertible with muddy shoes and scratched up the paint. 

Some people are just assholes.

Quebec's Spoiled Brats Deserve No Sympathy

I almost made the title of this post "Quebec's Politicians Cave in to Spoiled Brat's Temper Tantrum".  Another title could have been "Quebec's Just Desserts."

A quick check of tuition fees in Quebec compared to tuition fees here in Alberta show that Quebec's Rioting students have nothing to bitch about, should be spanked -no, beaten severely, and given well deserved jail sentences.

In 2012 a Quebecois BA student would pay $2,167.80 tuition while an Albertan would have to pay $5,238 in 2011.  Speaking as a former student who paid his own way back in the 1980's I think the Quebec rioters are well-indroctinated communists who need dire lesson in real life. This is an excellent example of how Quebec's Trudeaupian sense of entitlement at the rest of Canada's expense has led to these chickens coming home to roost.

Instead Canada's midstream media, in particular the CBC, has been portraying these spoiled brats as heros with a legitimate grevance.

NDP Leader Scapegoats Prosperity

Only someone who believes in the backwards economics of socialism could feel threatened by another's economic prosperity.

It reminds me of the opening chapters of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." It's been years since I read it, but as I recall, it began when a socialistic government forces it's nation's few healthy profitable transportation companies to hand over their profits to a bunch of unhealthy but politically connected transportation companies.

Unsurprisingly, that's the position adopted by newly minted Federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair towards the oilpatch-fueled economic prosperity in Alberta and, lately, of Saskatchewan.  Speaking last week to CBC Mulcair likened our Energy Sector to a disease, and blamed it for the decline of central Canada's manufacturing sector.

This is Socialism 101. Obviously if you are successful, you must be cheating someone, somewhere, and it's the State's job to redistribute your wealth to the less successful. If you, dear reader, believe this, you're as misinformed as ol' Thomas.

University of Calgary economist, Professor Frank Atkins, says Mulcair would FAIL economics 101 with the stuff he's saying.

• Video LINK: Frank Atkins Interview

Instead of blaming Western Prosperity and wishing for Trudeau's 75 cent dollar so that inefficient Canadian Manufacturers could compete on the global market, Mulcair should be encouraging them to become more efficient, more competitive.

Bahahahahahahaa!  As if that'll happen.

I'm worried that people who believe Mulcair's nationally divisive line of crap will one day grant him the power, through the polls, to control the Canadian Economy and ruin it the way socialists ruined the economies of the European Union... or California... or Saskatchewan.

Police Bureaucrat Tells Conservative Gov't to F*ck Off

Isn't it funny how the Liberal's Long-gun Registry cost taxpayers like you and me close to two billion dollars, but now the government bureaucrats are running an illegal shadow registry for FREE?

Ontario's Chief Firearms Officer has just thumbed his nose at the Federal Government, and defied Public Safety Minister Vic Toews order yesterday to stop illegally intimidating retailers and illegally collecting information about long-gun purchases.

(link to the story: HERE )

Without going into conspiracy theories, it's quite obvious from watching news stories about people who were victimized by crime that it's a part of Canadian Police Culture to reflexively act against anyone who attempts to defend themselves. Victims of crime are often charged by Canadian Police with assault and worse when they act in their own defense against their attackers.  They also seem to be especially interested in bringing the entire weight of the State down on any Canadian who responds with violence against against a criminal when the criminal wasn't violent first.

The Criminal Code allows self defense, but our Police don't. This defiance of Parliament regarding a shadow gun registry is logical extension of the same mindset.

A Registry Model that Works

Jamie Hall of the Edmonton Journal wrote a few months back a story about a new NATIONAL BICYCLE REGISTRY. Internet based, it can be accessed anywhere in Canada.and is available in both Official Languages.

With little or no advertising, it had accumulated some 4000 registrations. The cost is entirely borne by user-registrations of $25 per bicycle. That means so far, it's grossed about a hundred thousand dollars for the three Richmond Hill sisters who started the registry three years ago.

With their own resources, these sisters have done something that the Federal Liberals and their gun-hating ilk have been unable to achieve with the force of law, a billion of our tax dollars, and thousands of fat and sleek well-paid civil servants: A workable, national registry. If the government were to create one it could cost... billions?

This seems like a good argument for firing the civil service and privatizing much of the federal government. Using the model developed by Kate, Jane and Trish Renwick, the government could hire them for something between 175 million dollars. (that's assuming an estimated 7 million gun guns at $25 per firearm). (source: Justice Minister Allan Rock, Standing committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, April 24,1995) For that kind of money I'd run the damn thing. Just pay me once, I'd be good for twenty years... that is, if I supported the concept of gun control in general. I don't.

 No one was happier than me when Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government announced it was scrapping the registry.  Just that phrase invoked images of empty offices and file cabinets, laid off civil servants, and a blow against Big Government.

Yet like anything else that involves politics, the reality has proven to be somewhat disappointing.  Even though the Parliament has issued orders for the destruction of the records, Powerful Bureaucrats like Canada's Chief Firearms Officers are disobeying the elected government by interpreting the orders to destroy ALL the Registry data in as narrow a set of definitions as possible.  The RCMP in Ontario and Alberta are still intimidating retailers into providing them with their records of  customer sales.

The answer is clear. Pink slips for every civil servant involved in this revolt, and then burn the buildings to the ground... or at least convert the buildings into low-rent housing.


Ok, enough humor.


The problem, is our Conservative MPs, who were elected to trash this bloody thing, don't seem to have the will to act.

(video link: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid868989705001?bckey=AQ%7E%7E%2CAAAAybGjzqk%7E%2C6NfTc6c241GVQxOh-GBHNHu5Cuhlf-y9&bctid=1627300326001 )

Canadian Gun control has failed it's avowed goal of preventing criminals from using guns in criminal acts. Hand guns, the weapon of choice in most gun crimes, have been registered and restricted in Canada since the 1930s. All gun control does is inconvenience the law abiding, and through discouragement encourage disarmament of the general population.

Gun control in Canada, as practiced for the last decade, implies eventual disarmament of the population through confiscation.  Canada abandoned nearly a thousand years of property rights (which we inherited from English Common Law) when Liberal Prime Minister and former communist party member Pierre Trudeau foisted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms upon us in 1982. A flawed Charter that deliberately denied Canadians the ancient right to own their own property.

That's right dear reader. In Canada, a man's home is NOT his castle. Instead of protecting your right to security of property, our constitution enshrines (by omission) the State's right to rip you off. Legalized looting, I think, was what Ayn Rand called it.  Until now,it seems the courts and legislatures of the land still sort of respect common law property rights, but there is no constitutional bar to prevent the state from passing confiscatory legislation.

The way in which the Federal Liberal Government set up their billion-dollar gun registry in the early 1990s is in part to blame for the poor participation levels it's experienced. Provisions of the legislation that created the firearms registry allow the police to enter any dwelling they suspect may harbor unregistered firearms, Without a warrant or even probable cause. The police may also steal- I mean, confiscate, without compensation, any citizen's firearm. On top of it all, in spite of an absolutely ridiculous overuse of tax-money, (estimated to reach a billion dollars - holy shit!) the law-abiding had to PAY MONEY to obey the law when they registered their guns.

I never met a tax-payer yet, who thought they hadn't already paid enough money to the government.

The only way guns can cause crime is if owning one were a crime. It's PEOPLE who cause crimes. If we went back to what I suggested earlier, a simple registration of PEOPLE with guns, should be enough already. The government already had that in the 1980s, with the old Firearms Acquisition certificate. 

I don't give a rats ass if the government knows If I'm a gun owner or not. Most gun owners probably feel the same way.

I have friends who are police officers. When Police respond to that most tense of situations, a domestic disturbance, there's no qualitative difference between knowing the occupants have a long-barrel firearm, or just that they have a permit to own firearms.

And if Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is reading this, Oh yeah, I'm serious about running it for you. You fix the law and put up the cash and it's a done deal. No union contracts. No pension liabilities. Just me, your 175 million dollars, and whoever I hire to set up and run the thing for me.

Let me know Vic. I'm taking applications at my email address: hamm172(at)gmail.com

NEXT DAY UPDATE:  

The media exposure appears to have worked.  By noon yesterday, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews issued a letter to the nation's Chief Firearms Officers specifically informing them that they should Stop trying to circumvent the will of the Parliament and cease any and all attempts to maintain any backdoor gun registry!

http://www.bikeregistrycanada.com
http://www.bikerevolution.ca/
www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/GunsinCanada.htm

Unnecessary Update Hell

 

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-04-05/

I've discovered a new law of nature. Let me tell you about it:

When a computer program reaches a level of development where it works "just the way you like it" it's only a matter of months before it's makers will bring in updates to mess it up.

I'm still using an older version of firefox, 3.6. I've seen the trouble my friends have had with the bloated newer versions and I'm not eager to change. It's not the resource-pig that the latest version is, and I've got the plug-ins and add-ons working the way I like. Starting two weeks ago, every time I open it I have to put up with bullshit demands from Mozilla that I upgrade and add more layers of goo to my browser.
This is a pet peeve of mine that goes back to Microsoft Works, Word, and Office. The original version of MS Works that came with my first Windows95 system was easy to figure out, and easy to use. Office 97 was like a fancy dressed up version of Works, and the changes to the menus intuitive and logical. Office 2003 seemed like an unnecessary expense that just repackaged the Office 97 suite in a new box.
But it was MS Office 2007, which completely changed the menus, expanded, regrouped, and seemingly redistributed the commands at random, which proved that they must do this shit to justify keeping their jobs. 

 We hates them.

Obama: Facts versus Feelings

I have met many people who've told me they like Barrack.Obama. But other than, "He's better than Palin", or  "It's good that he's Black" they haven't given me any good reasons why.  It's for them that I'm linking to this Bill Whittle youtube video.  Whittles points out facts, not feelings.

You might also try reading the comments about the video by outraged liberals.  No good counter-arguments. Mostly just feelings.  That might be a good way to pick your class president or favorite brand of liquor, but these retards use em to pick their leader...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FGgoReyNE&feature=player_embedded#!

Another Dishonest Gas Pump? Westpark Husky

Gassed up in Fort Saskatchewan this afternoon at the Westpark Husky on Hwy 21. The two pumps I checked either were out of date or not stamped. Gas was $74.00

The Pope Says "Communism Doesn't Work..."

Pope Benedict XVI was on his way for a planned trip to Cuba and Mexico today.  The full sentence was in fact, "Communism doesn't work in Cuba."  But history has already shown it hasn't worked anywhere.

Here's the quote from Reuters:

Speaking on the plane taking him from Rome for a trip to Mexico and Cuba, the pope told reporters: "Today it is evident that Marxist ideology in the way it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality."  "In this way we can no longer respond and build a society. New models must be found with patience and in a constructive way."

He's not the first head of the Catholic Church to speak out against communism, just the latest. 
 

I hope this serves as yet another poke in the eye for all those so-called "Social Justice Catholics" who repeatedly vote for the Pro-abortion Socialist-leaning parties in our elections in the name of the "Poor".. 

The Power is Out

The power has been out for half an hour now, and the house is getting colder. It's snowing outside too... And its March 22nd. Hahahahaha! At least the snowflakes are a lot smaller now than they were an hour ago. So much so that It's hard to make them out in this iPhone photo.


I can't work in the office, I might as well drive into the city and use the electricity at a Starbucks or something...

(Posted via smartphone)

 

Update: Cancel Armageddon, the power came back on two hours later...

 

Our Contempt for Judges Increases

The ridiculous two-year sentence gifted ( yes, GIFTED ) to boy's hockey coach and self-confessed lifetime pedophile Graham James serves only to increase again the contempt that many ordinary Canadians feel for our Judges on an increasingly frequent basis.

It appears to me that Justice Catherine Carlson gave what amounted to mere lip-service yesterday to the heinous nature of Jame's actions before waxing poetic about how the embarrasing scrutiny James had endured granted her leeway to be lenient to Graham James in his sentencing.

Based on his past convictions, Graham James likely won't even serve one full year of incarceration for the hundreds of molestations he committed against the two victims of this case, Theo Fleury and Todd Holt. Throughout the trial, the two victims suffered through repeated re-victimization and the humiliation of having what happened to them publicized across the nation's media, yet it was only Graham Jame's humiliation that Justice Catherine Carlson seemed to truly have care for. What did she say again? Oh yeah, something along the lines of being concerned about the humiliation of the so-called 'intense media scrutiny' James had undergone throughout his trial.

Perhaps there was scrutiny, but the only interviews and photos I ever saw were of his victims. Graham James was allowed to hide his face from the public, avoid the media, and with Justice Carlson's assistance, avoid having his sentence televised, which would have allowed the world to see what this perv looked like.

Yes, the World. It appears that would be a good thing, because although Graham James had been banned from coaching boys FOR LIFE in Canada, he has been able to continue meeting and grooming young boys in Spain and Latin America for years. Does that sound to you like the actions of a 'reformed' pedophile? Supposedly grooming them for hockey, but... Was Justice Carlson so clueless as to believe that?

Outrage against lenient sentencing has been increasing amongst ordinary citizens ever since the liberal progressive theorists gained ascendancy in the 1960's and changed the Justice System (which had been concerned with concepts like justice and punishment of crimes) into a Legal System where justice took a back seat to legal-technicalities, rehabilitation and other groovy social engineering concepts. Whenever this subject is raised, the bleeding hearts confuse the issue by whining "but punishment doesn't work as a deterrent."

Well listen up: It's not deterrence we want. We Want Punishment. We want the rotters thrown out of society where they can't hurt people any more, dammit. Forty years of "rehab penal theory" has done NOTHING to reduce recidivism. Don't you get it yet? If they're in jail long enough not to offend again that's Good Enough for the rest of us.

Thinking about my contempt for this sentence and for the judge who gifted it to the criminal, it occurs to me that I know very little about Justice Carlson's career or previous judgements. They may have been good ones. She might be proud of her record. So perhaps It is an ideological problem that has put her out-of-step with the rest of us. How else is it that so many of our supposedly intelligent Judges decisions offend more and more ordinary citizens???? That's the truth at the core of this rant: it is out of step with the rest of us. I'm thinking of starting a weblog that just lists stupid dumbassed judgements and stupid dumbassed judges who make them.

I think there'd be lots of entries.

As for scrutiny, It's remarkably hard to find photos of judges online, otherwise you'd see your puss up here too Catherine. Your decision to keep the television cameras out of your courtroom sure saved you that little disgrace, didn't it? I have to settle for posting Graham Jame's new look in your stead.

Link: Sun News: "Two Years for Graham James" Link: Wikipedia: Catherine Carlson

Posting Comments, Honesty and Anonymity

I'm pretty opinionated.  Really.

So I have come to expect that my comments here and on other forums on the web will sometimes elicit an angry response by some (usually of the politically correct, lefty liberal types) here and on those other websites and forums.

Now when I make a comment on someone else's website I normally identify myself and even include this blog as a place to contact me.  So I think it's reasonable to expect visitors to my blog to identify themselves too. I won't post anyone's anonymous comments. Anonymity on the web sometimes brings out the worse in people.

(Image from www.penny-arcade.com)

I once had a guy ( let's assume it was a guy ) who so objected to my statements on one web forum, he created a blogger account just so he could come here and call me names.  Of course he blocked anyone (like me, for instance) from seeing his blogger profile so I archived his comments where they deserved to be, in oblivion.

Coward.

Signs of Spring (...and honesty at Costco)

It's March 20th, the time of the Spring Equinox, and the signs of a new season are around us.  The first migrating geese of the year, the first glimpse of snow mold on last year's lawn,  the unique smell of the first of the thawing dog doo emerging from under last winter's blanket of snow...

...and since Christmas, my first honest gasoline pump. Yup.  It's March 20th, and this is the first honest gas pump I've seen in nearly three months. I was so excited I took a picture of it.

See the sticker? There's a Federal Regulation that requires all Service Stations and Gas Bars to have their gasoline pumps certified according to a set schedule. Since I gas up at least twice a week that's at last 27 other times I could have been gouged at the pump.

Seeing as how the oil companies have already been manipulating the cost of oil to gouge us honestly at the pump this little bit of extra larceny on the part of the retailer just pisses me off.  One time last month, at a highway gas station between Fort Saskatchewan and Lamont, Alberta, the pumps didn't even have the old, outdated certification stickers that showed they'd at least been certified once in the past. I went into the store and complained to the elderly lady ( I thought she was the owner/manager) behind the till about her pumps not being certified. Even though I had heard her speak to a customer ahead of me, she pretended she couldn't speak or understand english well enough to answer me.

I'll be gassing up at the Costco again in the future. 

A stolen blonde joik.

I stole this joke from Grumpy old Cripple:





During a recent password audit, it was found that a blonde was using the following password:
"MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento"

When asked why she had such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters
long and include at least one capital.

New Education Act an Attack on Parenting

A New Education Act will likely become law this week that STEALS your Parental Right to teach your kids as you see fit, and gives it to the STATE. The Premier, Allison REDford, has tried to say she's not doing that, she's just putting into law a requirement that we teach our kids 'Alberta Values', specifically, the Alberta Human Rights Act.

Why? The Provincial government already sets the curriculum. They don't need a new LAW for that.

Yet by definition, as Albertan parents we pass on to kids our Albertan Values anyway. So why do we need a LAW? We only need a LAW if Premier REDford or some of her bureaucrats have think they know better than YOU which Values are in their view more Albertan than others.

The fact that the Alberta Human Rights act and it's Starchamber Tribunals have been used repeatedly by activists to ruin people's finances and careers was completely glossed over. Rather than tolerance, they seem motivated by a desire to wipe out all opposing viewpoints and punish anyone who dares voice a point of view other than their own.

 But this is not about an anti-gay agenda. Yes, this mostly concerns Homeschoolers, many of whom are Christian. That doesn't necessarily mean anti-gay. It does mean that we're the canary in the coal mine folks. Every new law steals away a little bit more of your freedom. Every time.

We need to call the Premier's office and the Sinister of Education's office TOMORROW to register our opposition to the new Education Act which will most likely become law Monday or Tuesday this week. (The phone numbers are Minister of Education, Mr. Thomas Lukaszuk at 780-427-5010 and then the premier, Allison Redford at 780-427-2251) Call them. You don't have to know what to say, they're just counting calls over there, anyway.

 Link:  Ottawa Citizen   Link:National Post

(Thanks to my friend Paul Nawrocki for the email about this.)

"Belogging" Again.

A few friends have pointedly asked me why I'm not blogging since my facebook updates have taken a blog-like bent of late. The facebook updates I dislike the most are the spam-type messages that are selling a person, product, thing, or poolitical point of view.  ...ok, those and the chain-letter ones. I once said I'd never do that to my friends and family, but I made one this evening. So here I am to post it instead here in my dusty little corner of blogspace...

My son Mark's death in 2010 pretty well derailed both my writing and my blogging, but I'm finally ready to follow my last post.


...in my next one.