Higgly

My guess is that Iran is just doing the same thing everyone else is doing - trying to ante up its chips for a stake in the game. Iran has a perfectly good reason to do so, given the geographic reality, and this is just another reason why a solution to these sorts of regional conflicts require all of the stakeholders to be at the table and not just the ones that make movies featuring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwartzenpecker et al... The sooner that sort of thinking enters the picture, the better off we'all all be, but it won't happen as long as Bush and Cheney are in power - they're vision doesn't go much beyond the iron fence surrounding the White House.

Apparently the Axis of Evil bullshit campaign is still in full force, with Peter McKay announcing from Afghanistan that the Iranians are selling weapons to the Taliban. Of course the Taliban are using American, Chinese and Russian made weapons, Japanese made vehicles and are probably eating rice from India, but hey, Dick Cheney doesn't hate those countries (well at least yet). It's all the fault of Iran. The axis of evil. The axis of evil. Peter, get a grip.

Thanks. I thought I was the only one. Amazing what passes for research and sources here.

On the other hand, we have things like the softwood lumber business.... I do agree though that there is too much knee-jerkism towards the US here.

Yesterday, I happened to channel surf by CityTV at just the right time to tune into a Christmas movie. This just wasn't any Christmas movie, it was an oily Dick Cheney dream. Opening sequence shows a guy on a motorbike riding into a little piece of small-town America with mountains in the background and snow on the ground. Turns out our hero (watch for that word folks) is a war vet - a sarge, who pulls up in front of a picture perfect white picket fence cottage (with mountains in the background and snow on the ground). He knocks on the door and a pretty woman comes. I'd recognize you anywhere, she says. You look just like the pictures he used to send back. Ma'am he fought real hard, and he says, sob, as he hands over the dog tags, he wanted you to know that he loved you. Little sob here from the widder. Our hero (watch for this word) rides off down the road and pulls up in front of the town's hotel (mountains in the background, snow on the ground). He goes in and gets a room for the night. Is there anything else we can do, tyhe woman at the front desk asks. Well ma'am, can you tell me where I can go to church in the morning. Right up the street, she says. Why don't you go with me? Sob. Leave some stuff out here.... So the next day, our hero (word watch) heads over tp the church with the hotel lady. Carol singing. The minister introduces the stranger from afar. He catches the eye of the local deacon who has a very attractive daughter (did I mention that our hero is also attractive?) he keeps pushing at him. Turns out the deacon is a vietnam war vet. A bit of an unusual one in that he is white (a lot of the guys who served in 'Nam were black), is not hooked on druges, owns a hog like our hero, and owns his own business (a lot of 'nam vets came back and went to pieces). He was a wonderful home, and wouldn't you just know it, he almost gets run down by a crazy driver when our hero (this is why you've been watching for this word) rescues him. Well of course there is just no other plot development that will do but to have our hero invited back to the lovely log cabin style mansion where the 'Nam vet's daughter is fluttering her eyes in his direction. Oh wait. It gets better. The "name vet's daughter has been sending Christmas cards to men serving overseas and it just so happens our hero got one of them. Not only that, but our hero is an orphan! It was all that kept him going and it, choke, saved his life! I had to stop. It was just getting so bad. American war propaganda. Putin should hire some of these guys for Chechnya. Looking on the bright side, once this crap's out of the way, we might start seeing the Derr Hunter and Apocalypse Now type stuff.

If you were born in Canada, you cannot be deproted to anywhere. Where do you get this idea?

Pay no attention to the man behind the screen. Your parents came here because they thought this was a place they could strive and succeed and that their children could so the same. They were right! What they didn't realize is that this is a country with it's share of idiots, half-wits and right wing morons. Are people telling you that you are not assimiilating quickly enough? What does assimilation mean? The bastard is not agreeing with me? Yeah right. If a Justice fo the Peace can get Christmas trees removed from Toronto courthouses, what have you got to worry about? Go blithely about your business. If anybody threatens you or your family, call the cops. If they don't do anything, hire a lawyer and sue the bastards. Just my two cents... and.... welcome to Canada. We need more people like you.

Somebody at MapleLeafWeb (Greg?) has provided a debating society framework by posting debate topics in the opening page. Is there a democratically meaningful mechanism that might bridge the gap between this very good idea and the constant white noise of the fora? I am all for this site as a debating society, with debating society rules. So far, the rules here are somewhat like those you might see on walking into a Manila Hotel: Leave your guns at the door.

Just don't use it for arse-wipe when you go camping. We're talking serious camper's rash here.

Syria is a wonderful place to visit. So many historical sites. So much geographic beauty. Unless of course you've been sent there because you are one of the 93,000 people that George Bush's election machine has determined might get the Republican Party re-elected. Well, sport. Here's the thing... We don't give a good goddamn about your rights. In fact you can take your rights, roll them into a tube the size of a pencil, and shove them where the sun don't shine. Sound familiar?

The problem is not with Thou shalt not kill. The problem is figuring out who was the killer. Of course the government is always right That's why we have elections!

I thought it was interesting that the Toronto Sun characterized Steve's economic outlook as a "Lump of coal". Naturally, we all understand that the Chairman of the board at Sun Media is none other than Brian Mulroney? Of course that has nothing to do with it....

What have we here, a Madame de Stael? Douse yourself in perfume, Sulaco. Or take a bath. What? No water? I guess it's the perfume for you.

If New Jersey and Illinois can ban the death penalty, how can anybody else justify it? If you are going to put up videos of Moslems and Chinese executing people, then put away your pointy finger. Up here in Canada we finally have come to understand what happens when you trust a jailhouse snitch.

In my case, I wrote a poem: Ode to a Fart. What happened to that thread? This was some of my best work.

What do you think Hillary will do for Canada? My guess is that she is barely aware of Canada. How many supporters are giving her money based on her Canada policy? In the game of political poker, we have yet to see a US presidential candidate stake a call, never mind a raise, on Canada. My guess is that she is more worried about Israel.

Steve's gotta go. Blaming it all on Dion doesn't cut it. You've got the stick, Steve. What have you done? Given Baird a raise? Yikes.

Wow. What a thread! Should we start another? Christian father rapes infant daughter and puts video on internet for profit....

O man. A gen-u-ine Huckabee!

Has anybody seen my Ode to a Fart?

Have you seen my Ode to a Fart?

I believe I have addressed all of this in my Ode to a Fart.

I think he wants to see the N in UN replaced with an S. Speaking of an S, did somebody fart?

Did somebody fart?

Ha ha. Is it April Fool's day yet? And here I thought that the correct use of the apostrophe was a sign of intelligence.