One More Night of Hope, Mr President, Pull the Plug

One more night indeed and it doesn't look good. Depending what you read, it looks like Obama is going to be repeating the mistakes of Lyndon B Johnson in the 60s.


Johnson's fateful decision to continue to escalate the Vietnam war is what costed him the presidency in 1968.


The New York Times as well as other pundits, including those in Canada like Craig Oliver are calling this Obama's Vietnam. 


After all, it has been proven by pretty much all, except for some war mongering wingnut chicken hawks on the Right, that this war isn't winnable. The Soviets had proven this much many years ago. They knew when to cut their losses, pack up the show and haul it on home.


The Afghans don't want any more foreigners invading their homes and way of life. They have made this clear. Life has gotten worse for them since we began to invade. Even the women aren't noticing much improvement. Malalai Joya, who once served on Afghan parliament admits this. 

"Women's conditions in some cities have slightly improved since the Taliban regime. But if we compare it with the era before the rule of the fundamentalists in Afghanistan, it has not changed much. Afghan women had more rights in the 1960s to 1980s than today. Rapes, abductions, murders, violence, forced marriages, and violence are increasing at an alarming rate never seen before in our history. Women commit self-immolation to escape their miseries, and the rate of self-immolations is climbing in many of the provinces. Afghanistan still faces a women's rights catastrophe.

"The root cause of this ongoing catastrophe in Afghanistan is that the government is controlled by fundamentalists of both brands (jihadis and Taliban) who are constantly nourished by the United States and its allies. …People suffer from such extreme insecurity that many have stopped sending their children to school, especially girls, fearing that they might be kidnapped or raped." 

Why are we all there again? As I've pointed out here, this is not a war on terror, this is not about improving the lives of Afghans, particularly the women. PM Gordon Brown has even warned Karzai about corruption in his government. Every government knows this government is corrupt and no, it will never be able to sustain itself. As I've pointed out in the past as well as others, I'm sure, it doesn't matter when we leave: the Taliban will be back at the helm. The folks of Afghanistan seem to prefer life under them than with this war.

In the words of Michael Moore, it would seem that Obama is about to drink Bush's kool-aid and cave into the pressure General McChrystal to send about 40 000 more troops. 

 “This is not a war of choice,” he told the Veterans of Foreign Wars at their convention in Phoenix. “This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which Al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans.”

Except for one problem: Binladen and the other thugs who were behind 9/11 have not been caught. We've been at war for eight years, allowing a corrupt Karzai Government to continue, killing innocent civilians and cutting short the futures of many soldiers. Ouf! what a mess! How in the world continuing this senseless war; this Vietnam,  going to accomplish anything it hadn't in the previous eight years? 

Gulp! He is indeed about to drink Bush's Kool-aid! How did he get sucked into it? If the GOP was pressuring him to send more troops as well, he doesn't realize that he's playing into their hands? The GOP and their pundits don't really care about the wars overseas, they see what can cost Obama the presidency.

It is time to end the war, Mr President. Make that move to start withdrawing. The Europeans would surely pull out as well, and yes, maybe even our war mongering, monkey-see; monkey-do PM will follow your lead and pull the show out. Let's just get out now. Take a cue from the Soviets before us and cut our losses. Continuing an unpopular and unwinnable war cost LBJ the presidency in spite of the good things he did implement in the U.S. Obama is pretty certain to meet this very same fate.

As Michael Moore says in a letter he wrote to Obama, he can show courage by ending this all right now. Here is the letter from Moore to Obama

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.

Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.

The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.

We're counting on you.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. There's still time to have your voice heard. Call the White House at 202-456-1111 or email the President.

You can get the email link here. 

I sincerely hope that President Obama will lead and do the courageous thing. This war needs to end now (as does the one in Iraq, of course). It's about time the President concentrated on helping his own people recover from the recession and the damage that is Georgie jr and Dickie. Let's do what the Afghans want us to do: get the hell out!

Clucking Christie Blathering Blatchford

I don't really have anything more to add to what has already been written.


In the end, though, why should anyone be surprised? She's a chicken war hawk. She is also a commentator on the afternoon drive show on CJAD with Ricky P. Just last week, she hinted she didn't believe in the torture or Richard Colvin. She also said that setting a withdrawal date is a bad idea, hinting the war should go on, until, I guess, the end of time.


I decided to create yet another montage to commemorate her latest faux pas. I orignally wanted to put her head in my partisan toilet, but someone beat me to it (well, no logo, but you get the idea). Here is that image from the facebook group, "Fire Christie Blatchford". 


I did something completely different: I thought this clearly reflected her personality as well as her keen sense of style

Self loathing Neo-Cons and their Double Standards

I first caught a snipit of Ezra Levant's latest rantings over at C.C.'s. It just brought back one of those events not that long ago that continues to bother me today: the victory of Marc Lemire, homophobe, holocaust denier, bigot: ya know: Canada's newest version of a good ol' boy and yes, none other than ol' Ezra himself defended him before the Canadian Human Rights Commission.


Besides the fact that it was a dark day for me, the first thing that came to mind was; Gee, a self-loathing Jew.


That's ok, like all good neo-con boys, he hates with as much vigor as the rest of them and he is paranoid. Check his latest ranting, if you dare. 


He's demonstrating hatred for Jewish organizations like Canadian Jewish Congress, B'nai Brith and Simon Wiesenthal Center, as he feels he must. 


In short, he is ranting about a rally in Calgary following some swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti being painted on Jewish Properties.  Levant seems to have more issues with the anti-hate rally than the crime itself. What's wrong with this picture?


He is now claiming that groups who organized the Calgary Says No to Hate rally were being sponsored two Islamic Groups:  Islamic Supreme Council of Canada,  a group that promotes interfaith dialogue and Muslim education among other activities. The other is Islamic Association of Canadian Women, an organization that promotes Islamic education for women among other activities. From what I've seen both organizations are not only harmless and don't seem to promote terrorism of any kind. According to ol' Ezra, both of these groups are run by Imam Syed B. Soharwardy. I only found that the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada was founded by Soharwardy, I haven't found evidence that the second group mentioned above being linked with him. To Levant, the Imam is a "a virulent anti-Semite". 


I googled Imam Soharwardy. He is known to be the first Muslim Canadian to walk more than 6,500 km, leading the multi-faith walk against violence. Here is his bio.  Levant's links attempting to prove Soharwardy's wrong doings link to (surprise! surprise!) his previous postings. I attempted those links, turned out to be stuff that needed to be downloaded and for some reason, my computer wouldn't download them.  Me thinks Ezra is still sore over a previous confrontation: 


"I know Soharwardy because he's the Jew-hater who hauled me before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for my high crime of publishing the Danish cartoons. "


Ezra sure knows how to hold a grudge. 


He basically goes on about Muslim hatred over the Jews among others. 


My big question is: How come it's ok for the likes of Marc Lemire to spout hatred, to the point of inciting violence,  but it's not ok for Muslims or anyone who is  Jewish or WASPy to do it? Why this double standard?


Why is it that when Jewish properties are defaced or damaged proven (or even suspected) to be perpetrated by Muslims, it's automatically a hate crime. Why not so quick to call it a hate crime if there is no proof a Muslim committed the act or proof that white supremacists committed the act?


Shouldn't such acts be conemned by all, no matter who does what against whom?


This kind of reminds me of an exchange I had with Dodo Can't Spell, where she basically called me looney for calling her, 'a brown person' (her words, not mine or anyone else's) a racist. Once again, implying only white people can be racist. I've caught her postings from time to time. She is indeed more racist than a lot of white folks. It is obvious that she too, has very low self-esteem, in referring to herself as 'a brown person'. Her fellow neo-con bloggers, like Girl on the Wrong use the term 'brown people' in a very hateful tone. I wonder if Dodo even realizes this?


How about Salim Mansur? The professor and Columnist who so often speaks against his own people. 


Lastly, those neo-con backward women bloggers, like Shiddle, Girl on the Wrong, and SUZY ALLCAPSLOCK. They appear to be more sexist and wingnuttier than their Male neo-con counterparts. Someone suggested to me that they're trying to impress the boys. The wrong type of boys. No question: sounds like a logical explanation. This too, would be a clear example of low self-esteem; they're trying to impress the wrong kind of boys.


Are these neo-cons transferring their self-loathing onto others?

Online Petition to Demand Harpercons To Investigate Torturegate

I just found this over at Thwap's Schoolyard. Here is the link for the online petition for Inquiry into Torture. It would appear that a whopping 94% of Canadians believe the testimony of Richard Colvin. 


Just because Stevie is going to Copenhagen to pretend to be interested in climate change doesn't mean he shouldn't face the music over torturegate. Enough already! 


I think most Canadians are tired of looking more and more like a disgrace on the world stage.

Canada Will No Longer be One of the Cool Kids

A sad state of affairs, really. Canada used to be a player on the world stage, that is, until Stevie came on the scene, only to pull disappearing acts every time the going gets tough. 

It seems that folks, including world leaders run away from Stevie and his people or they want to shun them altogether.

Right now, the two major bones of contention for Stevie and the Harpercons would be climate change and the torturing of the Afghan prisoners. It seems the more Stevie and his Harpercons attempt to white wash either, the more pissed off folks get.

We already saw how Stevie and his merry band of thieves can clear a room of 77 developing nations  when they suggest replacing the Kyoto Protocol (ya know that socialist scheme to suck money from wealthy nations)  with some other insipid agreement. This was over a month ago in Bangkok. 

For awhile now, we had heard Stevie come up with any and every excuse to not partake in UN climate talks in Copenhagen.  Silly excuses for the most part like 'I won't until they do' type of things. Really! That does sound Romper Room-ish.  Gone are his real reasons for not wanting anything to do with climate change, like Kyoto being too, uh, waz that nasty 's' word for it again? He is not daring to say anything about really protecting old Fossil fuel types of enterprises and the tar sands of Alberta. Heaven knows he can't admit any of those truths. 

These days, it seems that Stevie doesn't want to own any of the crisis situations happening in Canada, nor any wrong-doings that occur anywhere around the world. Stevie and his merry band of thieves are still doing their damndest to cover up this latest scandal involving the torture of Afghan prisoners. Prisoners left with that same Afghan security force that was involved with child molestation and exploitation; another thing the Canadian military never wanted seeing the light of day.


The unfortunate truth is that Stevie is only going to Copenhagen because of torturegate. He not only wishes to avoid dealing with this latest scandal but he also hopes to deflect the corporatist media away from this latest nastiness toward something that looks nice and fuzzy.  Don't be fooled: he still doesn't give a rat's ass about the environment. He may use the excuse that since President Obama and the other cool kids on the world stage are going to be there, but had it not been for torturegate, I venture that he would not be there with the cool kids, no matter the peer pressure. What a great leader! One whose favorite game is Monkey see: Monkey Do.


Stevie never did and still doesn't care what the world thinks of him, with the exception of course, of Georgie. That was obvious when he fucked off U.N. week in favor of Bloomberg and Timmy's. He only cares about not getting caught breaking international laws.  Yes, Stevie has been lost without Georgie. Pres Obama is trying to move the U.S. in another direction: a direction Stevie doesn't like or believe in. He only cares about Obama when it comes to "buy American". 


Now, there are some folks who are calling for Canada to be suspended from the Commonwealth due to its' attitude on climate change. 


"Countries that fail to help [tackle global warming] should be suspended from membership, as are those that breach human rights." says Clare Short, former international development secretary.


Wait a minute: did she just mention ' breaching human rights'? Wow, Stevie, I believe this is a double whammy: I believe this also covers torturegate.


Think Stevie would care about being ousted from the Commonwealth? Perhaps. Especially if he can't join the U.S.  They're second choice. If Georgie were still running the show, I don't think Stevie would care about the Commonwealth kicking him to the curb. Right now, President Obama appears to have no interest in being Stevie's buddy.


Besides, the Royal Family do serve as a marvelous excuse to run away from responsibility.  


While he is going to Copenhagen and yes, apparently he just bribed pledged 10 billion dollars to help poor countries deal with the consequences of climate change. Still, he does not budge on reducing greenhouse gas emissions here in Canada. 


Here are some videos on the subject of Alberta tar sands and opposition party leaders' take on climate change.


Another thing I find puzzling: I read some of the posts of the Blogging Tories where they say climate change is a myth and a lie. One of them even beseached readers to write their MPs urging them to not do anything about climate change; that the scientists were bogus, basically. 


If Stevie really believed that, how come he just bobs and weaves around the issue instead of doing all he can to debunk the so-called lie? He knows that climate change is real. It's just that it ain't profitable and it is more challenging to change to greener technologies.

Whatever happened to the good ol' days when Canada was a proud player on the world stage? We used to be known as a nation that cared. A nation of peace keepers. Canada used to be compassionate. 


Now, we're a joke, thanks to Stevie and his merry band of thieves. We're becoming what the rest of the world had no taste for: Bush era America.


Stevie doesn't like Canada or Canadians. He is still hell bent on turning it into Bush Era America. This is why he wants his majority. 


The irony is that the wordly intellectual and unsuitable leader of the Liberal Party, Iggy had spoken of this in one of his ads awhile ago. Most scoffed at him either because they didn't believe him or they just didn't care. Maybe it requires somebody else to talk to Canadians about this and to call Stevie on it.


Unless some miracle happens, Canada is soon becoming the social outcast. I will no longer be one of the cool kids until we have an actual leader. Not one who plays 'Follow the Leader'. 


To quote Pale from A Creative Revolution:  


"Just fuck the hell off Steve, and take yer nasty little friends with you. Canada needs grown ups to run the show."


Here! Here! Amen to that!

Some 70s Memories

Here is a tune I had all but forgotten about. Lyrics had absolutely no meaning, but it was catchy without being cheesy.



Here is a video from somebody known as useless director on YouTube. Restored from original 8mm his/her Father filmed orginally to this old Kansas song. It does look 'dusty' in more ways than one. Sometimes, I like that better than the modern, high tech, high def stuff of today. I think Kansas only had two hits.



The other hit from Kansas. The sound isn't particularly great though.

The Muppets Take on Queen

I never was a big fan of Queen other than a few songs. One of their biggest hits, Bohemian Rhapsody was never a song I particularly liked. 


However, I've always been a fan of the Muppets and they do a really funny rendition of that old Queen classic. 


Enjoy!

If You Must Shop--15 Toys NOT to Buy Your Kids! Also, 12 Days of Palin

Indeed, as soon as I saw the pics and captions of the 15 toys not to buy your kids, ever in Huffington Post. I honestly can't believe there are twisted sociopathic minds at work when creating these toys. YIKES!! 


Violence, sexism and racism are the main themes. Even Elmo lost his innocence after you change his battery. Imagine my horror when I found that was made by Fisher Price. Yeesh!! What happened to those old FP education toys my generation grew up with? Toys that forced us to be imaginative.


No wonder susequent generations are becoming scarier, if they're growing up on toys like I just saw.


Another reason to hate commercialism. Another reason to hate the holidays.


Oh wait! Here' s a new version of an old Christmas carol sure to upset the Blogging Tories and the Tea-baggers. Here are the "Twelve Days of Palin"

Me Blog and I got Mentioned on the Redneck Radio Show Tonight (Talk about Real Discrimination)

Yes, it was mentioned not even an hour ago; Ryan, dear, you should have mentioned my blog's name on the air. Damn, because I dare say if he did mention my blog by name or something like CK of Sister Sage's Musings, my readership would probably go up. I'd probably also have his fans bombarding my comments' section with even more wingnuttery;  assuming my comments section  worked! 


I've been told by some that my comments section still doesn't really work. Unfortunately, I'm not that tech savvy to fix it. Plus, I'm planning to move the show in the new year to wordpress. Blogger has been a lot of trouble for me and I want my own url. I also have future projects and need certain flexibility I don't think I can have with Blogger.


One such wingnut fan who calls other shows on CJAD, known simply as Dr Jeff (I wonder if he's really that blubbery blogging tory-groupie Dr Roy Eappen?) who called Redneck Ryan's show to call me a bully and a hypocrite. Really Rich! Yah, is Dr Jeff even his real name? Is he even a doctor? Highly unlikely. Real doctors don't have time to call radio show hosts. 


The reason I don't call those radio stations is that most who oppose a host from Astral Radio stations don't get air time. Their calls are usually screened out by the screener or the host, him/herself will cut the caller off. Most of them are guilty for it. I had sent an email to one CJAD host who answered me back but it was feeble. A generic thank you for listening without answering my questions or directly addressing my points. I stopped emailing after that, but I digress.


What set off his mentioning my blog on the air was tonight, I did something different. I tweeted him. He was spouting more racist views and whining about how white men are having a harder and harder time to find work. He was talking about some job opportunity advertised for some federal government agency.  What pissed off  the radio host was  the ad gave the usual standard visual minorities, women, the disabled, aboriginals encouraged to apply. Nothing wrong with it. A non-issue really; it's standard on most help wanted ads. Apparently, reverse racism in Ryan Doyle land. He's in good company with Dodo Can't Spell: I'm sure he'd just love the picture of that coin.


I always knew he was racist. I mean, he even sympathized with that justice of the peace in Louisiana who refused to perform a marriage ceremony for an interracial couple. If that ain't racist. I pretty much let that slide; so did the rest of the world it would seem. I'm also guessing that most progressive bloggers don't tune into Astral Talk Radio shows neither, unless for the same reason some read the Blogging Tories and/or Asper papers: for the entertainment of it.


What made me decide to tweet him this evening was he was infuriating when saying things like white men need not apply; implying that the government (and other employers)  was practicing discrimination--against white men. I started tweeting him, poking fun at him; getting nasty basically saying he has no clue about how discriminatory employers can be; that he had an easy life.


Well Ryan, Tonight's Lesson is...Discrimination on the Job Market!


First of all, I (as well as others I'm sure) barely pay attention to those equal opportunity captions in job offers, simply because they're nothing more than tokens; almost like they have to insert it. Particularly with government jobs. They're just words worth nothing more than the paper or screen they're printed on. A good example would be here, in the province of Quebec.


Don't get me wrong, I love living here and I work for a Quebec Government Social Services Agency; the only one that serves the Anglophone population of all of Quebec. It is the only agency that really hires the most diverse group of people. Just one of the reasons it's such a great place to work and I'm thankful everyday I was hired there.


However, that is not the case for the other Quebec Government jobs. No one talks about it, but everyone knows it, if one doesn't have a French sounding name, they don't get hired. The same is also for a lot of large Quebec companies. I'm sure that if one were to find an employee directory in any of those agencies or companies, one would only find French sounding names. 


I have been discriminated against as recently as late last year/early this year. I had been out of work for five months. I was registered with every placement agency. I even joined La Passerelle,  an organization that helped people over 40 with career transition and/or finding work. A very necessary service, because, folks over 40 are fucked when it comes to the job market. I speak from experience. It is a major reason why it took me so long to find work. Again, no one talks about it, but it happens. Otherwise, organizations like La Passerelle wouldn't need to exist. Every group workshop over there was packed, to the point they had to schedule  two sessions of  each workshop. And yes, Ryan there were plenty of white men there too having difficulty finding work because of their age; not their skin colour or gender.


I have had several different trades. I have two professional certificates and went to University. I speak, read and write both English and French. With that, I have many skills and experiences to be an asset in any office.  Unfortunately, I'm over 40 and as I've found, most office positions require one to be a young sex kitten. A slave to fashion. Nope, clean colour coordination just ain't enough anymore. Gotta have them designer labels. This is how shallow many employers have become.


When I went to get my last professional certificate in 2007, an HR consultant came to give us tips on how to find work and how to write up that old resume, and of course, marketing ourselves. I was the youngest in the class at the tender age of 39; most were in their late 40s and 50s. The consultant admitted to us that employers practiced discrimination (and no, not against young white men, now). He admitted to us that we had to work a lot harder at marketing ourselves on the job market, because of our age. 


For some in the group who had foreign sounding names, the consultant went in so far as to suggesting they change the spelling of some of the names. For example, someone's last name was 'Damas'; also the French word for Damascus, Syria. Something the consultant strongly believed would be problematic. I kid you not!!


I'm certain in the rest of the country, it's not much better.


No Ryan, your white bread world has got it real good. You should be thankful for your blessings and try to empathize with others rather than condemn them the way you do on your show. Thus, one example as to why your show is an example of irresponsible media.


Also, Ryan, you once again exaggerated on your show. You said that I blogged about you everyday of the week. Well, no, I actually only have four posts ranting about your antics. Four out of 97 posts. This will be number five.


Also, you thought you could scare me, you fool? You thought you could insult me? The best you can come up with is that I never thought you would potentially at least hear or read about my blogs? That I underestimated your ability to use the internet?  Congratz!  Now, can you learn to improve that short attention span of your's so you can stop exaggerating? 


Besides exaggerating on the content of my blog, you also exaggerated when talking about Michael Moore's last movie when you wanted the workers sitting in at the factory to get all locked up in jail and were disappointed when they won the right to have the wages that were owed to them. Exaggerated when you said that Moore praised Obama a lot when he did nothing of the kind. I'm sure there are other examples, but I don't hear you every night as you seem to think I do.


Reading my tweets on the air was a nice touch. Before you start reading blogs you don't get, start with something easy, some fiction like Romper Room oops! I mean the Blogging Tories.

When the Tough get going: Stevie Runs Away

There is a reason I left that little Stevie pic in that Carmen Sandiego theme on my sidebar. This just keeps on being a recurring theme with him. 


To summarize: when there are UN climate talks, he goes to have din din with Mayor Bloomberg. When Obama gives speeches at UN week; he comes home for Timmy's Donuts. 


Immediately following the leak of that video behind closed doors, he was incognito only to crawl out of his snake hole for 9/11 memorials a day or two later. 


The height of the H1N1 crisis; the bungling of pandemic plans and vaccination campaigns gone haywire, Stevie pulls another disappearing act yet again: he's on the east coast trotting off with the Royal Twits Charlie and Camilla, leaving the clearly unqualified Agluquack in charge.


He takes off for India for photo ops in for Bollywood reality TV to escape, yes, the tortured Afghan detainee scandal. He comes home briefly only to stifle testimony or other things to pretend the torture never happened or to actually attempt to justify breaking international law. He ain't stayin' long though.


Remember Copenhagen Climate change talks? That place he was never goin' to go?  Don't get too surprised: he still don't care about the environment. He still has no plans to do anything about climate change. No, it isn't about giving the illusion that Canada cares on the world stage. Bingo! Keep in mind, would he really go to Copenhagen, Barack Obama or no Barack Obama presence; whether or not any world leaders showed up,  if it weren't for that pesky Afghan detainee thing?


That scandal is about to get worse for him. When even the likes of the Rush Limbaugh of Astral Media Radio, Ryan Doyle start condemning Afghan detainee torture and start demanding answers on his radio show; you kind of get the feeling, this ain't a goin' away so fast. 






Yes, in my opinion, the above cartoon will best define the leadership of ol' Stevie. During any crisis or scandal or blunder from one of his flunky ministers, we shall all be asking: 'Where in the world is Stephen Harper?'


Between allowing torture to happen and not even attempting to respect the Kyoto accord, Stevie could become a fugitive.

In the end, perhaps the only place Stevie can go is  here:



Hopefully, before he flushes Canada into oblivion.

Test and to move the show

This is a test. I have heard from some that they couldn't comment at the end of my posts. I changed the settings as some may have noticed. I would just like to know if the comments work. Thanks.

I am actually considering moving the show and using wordpress. I would like my own domain. I have other projects down the road that I would like on that new site, so...

I would like to hear from those who use wordpress; is this recommended? Also, at wordpress.org, they had a list of hosts with so many different prices and packages that are, of course, wordpress compatible.  Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks for any assistance!

What's The Appeal with See Sawah Run? And Purity Pledge

What is the appeal indeed? Well, last night, I posted a video on my page with fans waiting at a book signing in Ohio who's best answers to what I found to be questions that weren't hard, were uh, huh, uh, I dunno, some answered with a few actual sentences that sounded even dumber than than the 'I dunno's', the Uh's, etc.


Beware, Boys and Girls, this is another nicotine withdrawal bad day so not too many folks will be spared in tonight's posting.


We know why boys like Justin with his raging tory hormones like her: he sees her in his wet dreams along with Carrie Prejean.


I just visited SUZY ALLCAPSLOCK's page where she wrote an article about the subject. Long winded. Same as the comments she has on her BBW page; basically, Sawah's not dumb: it's just that us lefties don't like her. Wow, what a justification here! We don't like her; we never did and we openly admit this. How does this take away from the fact that she's still dumb?


Ah, another wingnut from the Blogging Tories: Dodo! Here is something new and well, it does bring stupid to new heights. Read her post if you dare. As Fern Hill  from Dammit Janet pointed out, that Dodo does seem to have a certain fixation for extinct animals.  Since she never allows my comments at her blog to see the light of day because, free speech is for her and not for me, I will comment here.  Bottom line is, apparently, we on the left are very unhappy people; which is why we criticise See Sawah Run. Here is an exerpt which is a fave of mine: 


"These haters of Palin are jealous of the woman. Palin has accomplished in her 40+ years what a whole lot of these empty headed feminist bimbos have never been able to, even if they are staggering towards their 6-foot underground dwelling within the next little while. Most of these feminist haters of Palin have never been mothers, having probably aborted their babies at least once during their lifetimes, never had a loving, strong, deep relationship with either a partner or husband, never had a proper family life, never had loving parents, never had a successful career, never known the joy of hunting, never even been on a single fishing trip and has never known a deep lasting friendship. There is nothing in their lives that is good and meaningful so when they see an embodiment of what a woman of character and substance is really like, they are burned with jealously and hatred of the worst kind. It hits them that they took the wrong path and now it is a bit too late to change their ways."


OH NO! That Dodo just set my therapy back by three years or so. Hand me those cigarettes and that booze now, babe! All this, because I never knew the joys of watching Bambi get shot to death in the woods or sat in a boat to fish, an activity that is less exciting than watching paint dry.


Ladies from Progressive Bloggers and other like minded female bloggers: WE'S DOOMED according to Dodo.


Oh Dodo, I think it is you that is unhappy. Unhappy and paranoid; you  seem to see evil lefties everywhere you look, including the pantry no doubt.


Seriously though: as amusing as speculating about See Sawah run for pres can be, it is serious: I dare to say she's even dumber than Georgie Jr. She may even need help from Dan Quayle.


Here are some 'Palinisms' : Some you already have heard and some you may have forgotten.


Afghanistan is our neighbouring country Ya know, I thought my geography sucked worse than my spelling, but that just don't sound correct.


How about the time she was duped by the French language radio hosts from CKOI FM in Montreal into believing they were Nicolas Sarkozy?


She feuds publicly with a teen-ager. How dignified is that?


My big question that no one seems to remember really or talk about and it is in Sawah's book (fiction I know): the GOP blamed her for the John McCain loss in 2008. It got to the point they went to her home in Alaska to claim the clothes she purchased for the campaign trail on their dime. Clearly, they regretted selecting her to run with McCain. Why on earth would the GOP endorse her to be president? Unless, of course she joins that new Tea Bagger Party; the Tea Party Party (TeePeePee? Great acronym).


Oh, the nerve of Sawah! After hiding behind a security detail,  She basically told Marg Delahunty/Mary Walsh from This Hour has 22 Minutes: 


“Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit.”


Yikes! Nice that she and others like her care more about the free markets and corporations to make profits rather than caring for actual sick human beings.


I came across this at Enormous Thriving Plants this fine evening. It's a RNC purity pledge for GOP members. Here goes:

(1) Smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama's "stimulus" bill

Except, wasn't that Georgie's stimulus bill? Obama is just continuing where Georgie left off. 

(2) Market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;

That has proven to not work over the years. Not very Christian of you folks to not provide health care for all, including the downtrodden 

(3) Market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;

 (4) Workers' right to secret ballot by opposing card check

(5) Legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

 Oh Hell, why stop there? Oppose immigration of any kind!

(6) Victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

Well, it looks like Obama is about to follow that advice by caving in and sending 34 000 troops. Hey, this should make you happy; like Lyndon B Johnson's presidency was sunk by the Vietnam war, these wars will be Obama's Vietnams 

(7) Containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat

 (8) Retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
Yes, let's defend all marriage acts: heterosexual and homosexual

(9) Protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and

Hmm! Is that what a public option among other things in the health care reform supposed to do? Also, as to the rationing and denying health care, isn't the market system already accomplishing those two items?

(10) The right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership

No, of course not, there's just not enough gun tragedies going on 




And what does this have to do with Reagan? "President Ronald Reagan believed ... that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent," the resolution states. With that in mind, if a candidate strayed from the list on three more issues, the RNC resolution, if approved, would block him/her from receiving financial support and/or official endorsements.


Oh and don't forget, only watch Faux News because it's all you can trust. Take an interview with any other network and that's a mark against the purity pledge.


Well, I guess the idea of Centrists doesn't exist. I've noticed that most so-called American Centrists lean to the right anyway and they have no trouble leaning further to the right, just to avoid Evil Socialism! Most don't know the meaning of the word, but it's been so perversed and now considered such a bad word that the true meaning of Socialism is now going to need another word.