Socialism: vote for me, you useful idiots

Hugo Chavez's drive to socialize Venezuela is now revealed for the scam it is. The guy swept to power on promises to bring prosperity to that resource-rich nation. But now that he controls the country's parliament, has passed a law allowing him to rule by decree. He obviously doesn't give a rat's f*ck about democracy.

And what lies down that road? Look at this nighttime orbital photo of North Korea. There's a prosperous nation... Not!



Everyone who wants to vote socialist should go live there for a while... or the stinking mess Venezuela is going to be in a few more years...

Civil Servants Have it Good.

Last week CTV ran a lead story on their National Newscast about how members of the civil service retire sooner, and with better pensions that the rest of us.

56% of early retirees are the unionized beneficiaries of the heavily burdened Canadian taxpayer- public sector workers. They retire on average at age 59, compared to 33% of early retirees being from the private sector, retiring on average at age 62. The smallest segment of Early retirees is from my sector, the self employed, trailing in at 11%.

The basis of any nation's economy is the act of adding value to a commodity, or providing a service that people are willing to pay for. Any nation that maximizes it's citizen's ability to create wealth prospers. Nations that burden their economies with high taxes and a large tax-payer supported bureaucracy do not do as well.


It's a sign that our public sector is entirely too well paid, when our civil servants make up over half of all early-retirees. Hell, until they retire, they don't even pay income taxes!

I'm serious.

A civil servant receives only his take-home pay. The government, which is paying them, appears to deduct payroll taxes. But since the Wage-payor is also the IncomeTax-recipient, it's a transaction that never really takes place. The net result is that much of the public sector, especially at the federal level, doesn't pay income taxes like the rest of us.

Not until they retire and receive their pensions, do they actually pay any income tax.

Liberal Party Priorities - frickin loons

Why the heck did this surprise me?

In their 2004 budget, the former Liberal Government finally admitted The Canadian military needed new Transport aircraft to replace their aging air-fleet, most of which are far older than their current pilots, (the Liberal's parsimonious attitude towards all things military is legendary).
Today the Globe and Mail reported that the DND had narrowed the hunt for a new Search and Rescue aircraft down to only one bid, the Italian-built C-27J.

The reason given? There were several, but I thought the best was that it was the only bid that met the military's requirements...

...and According to Liberal Defense Critic Ujjal Dosanjh, that's a bad thing.
The quote is: "...sacrificing “civilian oversight” by moving on the purchases that are being largely influenced by the tight requirements of the Canadian Forces."

I'll bet that translates into, "Don't buy unless We can Build the Planes with Bombarier In Quebec." In other words, he's upset that 3 billion dollars are being spent without the appropriate consideration of the Liberal Party's Political concerns, and that making a decision to buy military aircraft primarily based on the military's needs is bad.

What kind of dumb shit is this guy, anyway? Thank God he's not the Minister of Defense.

Criminal Cluelessness Regarding Afghanistan

(Cartoon by Graeme Mackay-click toon for link)

Our western socialists and liberals constantly whine about how cold hearted and mean-spirited conservatives are towards those less fortunate than us. Whether it were peace, prosperity, or the pursuit of happiness, they like all spiritual communists, would much rather enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labour than pay the price themselves.

So now we come to the war on terror, and more specifically, the Canadian Army’s contribution to the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Until recently, stories about Canadian casualties in the war on the Taliban have occupied an increasing amount of space in Canada’s news services. I’d become increasingly cynical about the way the media deliberately ignored that part of the Canadian mission that had to do with the rebuilding of that country. Barely a word appears about the reestablishment of schools, medical services, water treatment and other infrastructure that couldn’t survive more than a decade of destructive Taliban rule. I’ve met an appalling number of people here who are so poorly informed that they think we’re in Afghanistan to help George W. Bush get rich.

The clueless ones would have us bring the troops home. I live in Western Canada; Quebec’s separatists have had little or no impact on my awareness for most of my life. (As long as Alberta continues to pay the lion’s share of the daneguild that keeps Quebec in confederation they’re mostly willing to ignore us too, I think.) But separatist leader Gilles Duceppe’s recent pronouncements that the Canadian military mission should be retooled to concentrate solely on rebuilding instead of fighting shows a cluelessness that is criminal in a Member of Parliament.

NDP leader Jack Layton is another prime example. To hell with rebuilding; he just wants Canada to abandon the Afghanis to the Taliban, and bring our soldiers home. I’m sure he’s a good man, means well, and works hard. Unfortunately Jack Layton would not be able to get a clue even if he went out in a field of horny clues during clue mating season, smeared his naked body with clue musk, and danced the ritual clue mating dance.

(I really wish I’d said that first, but I stole it from author Ian Douglas, “Luna Marine” ISBN 0-380-78829-2)

Canada’s Chief of Defense staff General Rick Hillier pointed out today that Canadian forces in Afghanistan aren’t fighting Taliban forces because they want to, but because the Taliban will happily slaughter anyone involved in reconstruction projects.

Is it possible to sit in Parliament as a Party Leader and be ignorant of this? Over the years I’ve met quite a few politicians. Not one seemed to be willfully ignorant or stupid. It takes a certain minimum amount of intelligence to get elected to Federal office. I can therefore only conclude that if I'm wrong, and Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton are not clueless idiots, they're a couple of like-minded assholes in the pursuit of their own political gain. Either way, the cost will be borne by others …Either in the endangerment of our soldiers by ordering them to ignore security concerns, or by the suffering in a new Taliban-led Afghanistan after we abandon our international commitments.

It should be criminal.

The Night Before Christmas - A Soldier's Request

T'was the night before Christmas,
He lived all alone,
In a one bedroom house,
Made of plaster and stone.



I had come down the chimney,
With presents to give,
And to see just who,
In this home did live.



I looked all about,
A strange sight I did see,
No tinsel, no presents,
Not even a tree.



No stocking by the mantle,
Just boots filled with sand,
On the wall hung pictures,
Of far distant lands.



With medals and badges,
Awards of all kinds,
A sober thought,
Came through my mind.



For this house was different,
It was dark and dreary,
I found the home of a soldier,
Once I could see clearly.



The soldier lay sleeping,
Silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor,
In this one bedroom home.



The face was so gentle,
The room in such disorder,
Not how I pictured,
A Canadian soldier.



Was this the hero,
Of whom I'd just read?,
Curled up on a poncho,
The floor for a bed?



I realized the families,
That I saw this night,
Owed their lives to these soldiers,
Who were willing to fight.



Soon round the world,
The children would play,
And grownups would celebrate,
A bright Christmas day.



They all enjoyed freedom,
Each month of the year,
Because of the soldiers,
Like the one lying here.



I couldn't help wonder,
How many lay alone,
On a cold Christmas eve,
In a land far from home.

The very thought brought,
A tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees,
And started to cry.



The soldier awakened,
And I heard a rough voice,
"Santa, don't cry,
This life is my choice.

I fight for freedom,
I don't ask for more,
My life is my God,
My country, my corps."



The soldier rolled over,
And drifted to sleep,
I couldn't control it,
I continued to weep.



I kept watch for hours,
So silent and still,
And we both shivered,
From the cold night's chill.



I didn't want to leave,
On that cold, dark night,
This guardian of honour,
So willing to fight.



Then the soldier rolled over,
With a voice, soft and pure,
Whispered, "carry on Santa,
It's Christmas day, all is secure."



One look at my watch,
And I knew he was right,
"Merry Christmas my friend,
And to all a good night."
My good Friend Bill Lewchuck sent this to me, asking for me to pass it on. I never pass on chainletters and similar crap, no matter how "nice" the subject matter.
But Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our Canadian service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. I think people should stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

Photo Credit: MCpl Robert Bottrill / Department of National Defence

beware the identity phishers

I received an email last night that was supposedly from paypal. Oddly enough, it wasn't to my primary email account, but to an older account I had never used with paypal. But for that they might have got me. It's pretty slick looking, but it still had a flaw that gave it away. Here's the email the way it appeared in Thunderbird (click for larger view):



Note that moving the cursor arrow over the link makes the destination url appear at the bottom of the screen. The first part of the hidden url has a Portugese url suffix! I checked with paypal, they don't HAVE a paypal localized site in Portugal.

Had I fallen for their ruse, I'd have been directed to a fake paypal site, where I'd reveal my paypal password when I attempted to login. Here's a lesson, stricter Judges and longer prison sentences keep these dickwads off the stre- er, I mean, never ever goto paypal without typing in the url yourself!.

Here's a legitimate email from paypal. They didn't even use their own logo in this instance.

.

When I think of people stealing from me, I feel deep rumblings of rage, burried under a lifetime of self control and learned civilized behavior. If I were an uncivilized barbarian, I'd have their guts perforated with a rusty pitchfork.

f*ckers.

Canadians Try Smoking out Talibans hiding in Hemp Fields...

I've been following many of the unofficial accounts on the net of our Canadian troops in Afghanistan for a while now. It's amazing what doesn't get into the midstream media.

It Seems the Taliban's terrorists have taken to hiding in Afghanistan's lush 10- foot high Marijuanna fields. Seems that at this time of year they're quite green and ...FIREPROOF.
So the Canadian's do what seems obvious: they try to light the shit up and smoke out the enemy. General Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of Defense Staff admitted earlier this week that neither Diesel nor white phosphorus could do more than get a few brown plants on the edges smoking. Some of the soldiers downwind apparently suffered some "ill effects" and they had to give up on that particular course of action. (check this link for AFP photo)

Should have tried Napalm from B52s or something.(wav file)

-----------
note: Ok, so the comic doesn't quite fit the story, but I bought Terry Mosher's last Aislin treasury just for this one. No disrespect is intended towards the huge majority of CF Personel in Afghanistan who passed the drug tests with flying colors. The comic itself dates back to a 2004 issue of the Montreal Gazette.

YouTube gonna suck now? - Thanks for nuthin Google.

I don't know what was on the video that was pulled from youtube, and I suppose I'll never know now. I had hoped that Google wouldn't f*ckup a good thing when they took over youtube, but I guess that's expecting too much. I listened Friday to an radio interview about the takeover and apparently 60% of the material on youtube contained copywrited elements. Much of it allowed you to scan (what the poster thought was) some of the best moments on tv etc. without having to sit through a whole damned production.

It was quick, easy, and convenient.

No more. Keep watching dear reader, in the coming weeks that little red message will appear more and more often as the big corporate hacks and their bloodsucking lawyers begin squeezing out more and more of the stuff that made youtube interesting and fun to visit.

It's probable that youtube was set to make some money from having the heavy internet traffic their site generated. But the people who posted there, and the millions who enjoyed their clips weren't getting any.

This isn't a rant against copyrights. But rather against those small minded greedy lawyers and corporate types, and the unique way they inspire a grasping grubbing attitude that somewhere, someone might be enjoying something. ...and that they might possibly be forced to pay for it.

This one is worthy of OOK the Librarian.

As my blog entries go this is about as juvenile as it gets. I found this the other day at UserFriendly. Google search for PUBIC LIBRARY. I can't believe how many public libraries can't spell...

Darrell Anderson revisited

I was told today I was too hard on that Anderson dickhead. Too bad.

Oathbreaking deserter turns himself in

Lookit this asshole. Wears his dishonor on his shirt.
This is Darrell Anderson, who joined the U.S. military to get a college educashun. Then the war in Iraq started and he was wounded by by a roadside IED.
That convinced him to desert to Canada. I'd tell you to kick im in the nads if you meet him on a Canadian street, but he turned himself in today, after chickenshit authorities promised not to charge him.

Oh well. Good riddance. If he'd have stayed here in Canada the next Liberal Government probably would have made him Governer General.

Putting it in Perspective

Browsing "The People's Cube" when I found this bit of humor:

Read the article, there's also a fictional quote from a letter from a European monarch (who refused to come to Byzantium's aid) that also made me smile sadly:

"We must avoid everything that increases tension between people or religions," said the King of France in an open letter to Manuel II (cc the Ottoman Court). "Islam is a religion of peace, and there is a need to be on constant alert against marginal provocations that are meant to turn this issue into a global crisis."

It's funny because it rings true in a way that the Politically Correct could never recognize. The Pope points out the unreasonability of people who claim "I believe in God, therefore I plant car-bombs in public places," and Islam goes ape-shit.

I notice that this website had a link to a video they'd produced illustrating what they thought was the proper context for the Holy Father's statements. It's been pulled. I searched youtube for it, but it doesnt' come up anymore.

I think the People's cube is a great little website every soccer mom and university prof should visit. It's full of ideas, tips, and interesting dictionary entries like this one:

Hezbollization

(noun) A process whereby evil murderous thugs are turned into everyday heroes by an overzealous mainstream media. Hezbollize (verb) Assign great social importance to gangsters, treat them as celebrities (Hez-boll-ized, Hez-boll-iz-ing, Hez-boll-iz-es)
Example 1: "Cross burnings bring warmth and comfort to homes without central heating, as caring KKK activists distribute clean white clothing among impoverished kids."
Example 2: "Crips, Bloods, MS 13 organize daily after school programs, engage minotiry children in pharmacological economics and ballistics training."