Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Hallowe'en!!!

My super-duper pumpkin pics to follow...

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Just another day at the office...

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Death without a cause...

How long does the killing have to continue in Iraq before someone has the balls to admit they f—ked up. In 2003, the Saudi Foreign Minister warned the US that attempting a regime change in Iraq without the backing of the UN would be considered an act of aggression. They went ahead and did it anyway. And where has it got them? Over 600,000 dead. How many western troops have been killed? How many families in the US have lost loved ones because Bush wants to save face. Perhaps if he’d stayed out of Iraq, and concentrated on rooting out the Taliban and al Quida in Afghanistan, the real terrorists, that mission would be complete. Its not the business of the US to decide how other countries should be run, no matter how brutal the regime. There wouldn’t be Iraqi suicide bombers in markets, killing women and children, if there were no occupation. And there wouldn’t be any Iraqi suicide bombers in the US either. It makes you wonder who blew up the mosque that got all the Shi’ite/Sunni crap started.

Outrage over cartoons and speeches is in direct proportion to the outrage over the United States’ hands in others’ cookie jars. The type of Muslim hatred of all things Western was minimal compared to what Bush and his bi—ches have drummed up in the last three years.

The fact that there are still those who support him is mind-boggling. They claim that if the west doesn’t do these things that the Muslims will just kill us indiscriminately and in droves. Bulls—t. I’m so tired of that argument. The only reason Muslims, and a fraction of them at most, are committing terrorist attacks is the hundreds of thousands of their own people that the US, and to a lesser extent the British, have massacred. All in the name of finding something that was never there to begin with. I’m seeing comments now by Vietnam vets that the US is doing it all over again – they have to get their big fat noses out of everyone else’s business. Postponing a pull-out and admission of mistakes made only increases the number of troops and families who will be outraged at what they made sacrifices for. It certainly doesn’t send the message that the troops aren’t supported. I’m guessing more and more of them are asking themselves “what the f—k are we doing here?” And the rest, running on blind faith, are going to be damaged for life, if they survive, when they realize their collective mistake.

I don’t give a rat’s ass if the Righties are afraid of what the Dems might do to the American economy, or unemployment. The Dems are the only ones that are going to prevent this world from going up in a bunch of mushroom clouds. How many people, influential people, leaders, the UN for pete’s sake, have to tell them to get out before they listen?

And what the f—k are “Faith Based Initiatives”??? Bush is terribly concerned about liberating the religiously oppressed, as long as they’re from another religion. On the rest of the country, he’ll happily and hypocritically impose his own beliefs. There’s a “separation of church and state” for a reason. I don’t care if he thinks a fertilized egg is a person, it does not give him the right to consider those beliefs in creating legislation. I guess in his evangelical wisdom, the Iraqis don’t have souls, and sooner or later, they’ll all wind up in Hell.

I think he’s already put them there.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

A Muslim EARTH

Heard an interview on a local radio station some weeks ago that freaked me out. Went looking for a source (finally) and found a link to this http://topsightsentry.blogspot.com/2005/08/seven-steps-to-caliphate.html blog (sorry about the shoddy linking practices but I don't have time to do any fancy shit right now), which is the whole she-bang in a nutshell (whew - what a mastery of english you have Boo...). I'm thinking Iran rather than Iraq for phase 2.

The comments to the post led me to the translation of the book that it comes from --> http://www.ctc.usma.edu/Management_of_Savagery.pdf . I haven't gotten farther than the blog yet - I have a pile of world history type books that I'm currently wading through, but I'll get there sooner or later.

If there's a bright side, its that I don't think this can be accomplished as quickly as is planned - so I may be gone before it comes to fruition, or at least before things get really bad. And since I don't have kids... well, you get the drift. This is not some Nostradamus bulls--t here.

Is this new only to me?

Opinions??

Betmo - in honour of your snoozing (unconscious?!?!) kitty...


...and here's what I think of the USAF "Cyber Command" (thanks Pete)


Wednesday, October 18, 2006

At least I have my drugs...

It’s a sad day when you realize that someone means a whole lot more to you than the other way around.

When there’s stuff happening, earth shattering stuff, and you never hear a thing, despite having seen the person.

When you’ve reached out over and over, and had chalked it up to an inability to talk about personal things.

…and to being too busy.

But there are holidays, and time off work, and weekends, and the telephone, and e-mail.

Maybe I should have clued in to only a couple get-togethers each year. But there’s a really stressful job, and school. Once again… I thought - too busy.

But there are visits, games, vacation, and lonely time, but still none for me.

I’m more alone than I thought.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

a lesson learned... reluctantly

I had an interesting experience today. Actually its been going on for quite some time but today it reached the pinnacle.

We’ve been looking at land and such for a while, planning to build a cottage and eventually a permanent home. It commenced with the troubles at the trailer. I was (and am) just so fed up with the neighbours that I want out. Thing is, there’s no way I want to give up having a place like that to escape to.

So we discovered in our search, that waterfront acreage which seems a fair price, is always a swamp. If you want decent waterfront, you’ve got to hand over your first born and maybe a leg or arm. So we decided to see if we could find a decent cottage somewhere, on a small piece of land.

Well, we did. I can’t even begin to describe the place we found. When we turned onto the road, there was a doe standing there. She casually crossed the road and then stood there looking at us. I swear she wasn’t more than 15 feet from me. Stepping into the cottage, I could remember my childhood vacations with my parents to such places and see way into my future, all at once. Its perfect.

The seller lives next door, in a beautiful home (appraised at 390K!!). He’s an artist ("So am I!" I said). Very laid back, quiet, looking for a quiet couple to buy - he really felt he’d found in us just what he was looking for.

Our biggest problem was that the finance company would only mortgage 90%. And we don’t have enough saved up for that big a down payment. My broker tried to find enough equity in our current home to cover it but we just haven’t been here long enough. We thought of a few places to borrow it from, the seller even wanted to try to help, but for the lender, it has to be gifted to us. Otherwise, I’d just put the whole she-bang on the visa. So it would have been "gifted" for the bank, with a contract to pay back hidden on the side, therefore adding another monthly payment to the new mortgage, insurance, and taxes, etc.

When we got home I decided to go over some bank statements to see where we stand. Well, we can afford it, but we wouldn’t be able to save very much. And at our age, we need to start some heavy duty loading of the RRSPs. The saying goes: "I’m financially set for life, as long as I die next week". Not to mention student loans, the new car, blah, blah, blah.

So, with an equal mix of reluctance and relief, we decided not to buy. I called the seller right away; he was holding the place for us (there have been about 14,000 hits to his on-line ad). He understood. Offered again to try to help us, but could see my point that its just not a good time. We will stay in touch, and I plan to visit his studio.

I hung up the phone and burst into tears.

Hubby said: "I have to ask, have you been taking your medication?"

This almost earned him a kick in the teeth, but he’s just worried and was really surprised at my reaction. I don’t think he realized how moved I was by the place.

Then he said: "Jeez, if you love it that much, maybe we should buy it."

Another kick in the teeth. Fuck.

A little compassion surfaced after that and I pulled myself together. So I guess I’ve learned that doubling your current debt load isn’t a great idea - perhaps unless you’re bringing in about 4 times what’s going out. So we’ll stick with the trailer, for now, get a grip on frivolous spending, hammer some debt down, send some more cash to our financial advisor, and go back to shopping for a home theater. Maybe for Xmas. Fuck - after all this, we gotta buy something.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

and the winner is...

Something has been bothering me for a long time. I'm a huge fan of fundraising efforts and the like - but this year, I'm ticked off.

There really are countless charities you can donate time, money, whatever to. I have a couple that I focus on, but I can't help giving the kid at the door $5, or stuffing change in a box...

Cancer is a biggie with me. That's what took my Dad so young. I've supported the Canadian Cancer Society enthusiastically for years now. What I like about them is that they spread the money around - research, support, etc.

Now, there's groups out there for specific cancers too (some of you know where I'm going with this). People like to champion whatever sort has touched their life in whatever way. Okay, fine.

BUT

I believe that research and support to various cancers is being diminished by the breast cancer bandwagon. Now don't get me wrong. Breast cancer is awful - my aunt had it. Except I'm seeing pink products, with proceeds to breast cancer research, at The Bay, Sears, Shoppers, Avon, etc, etc, etc, there have been no less than THREE runs this year alone for support, and the list goes on. So in North America, breast cancer research et al is getting hundreds of millions of dollars, and no one else is. Did you know that as many men die of prostate cancer as women of breast cancer? The prostate research centers count their dollars in hundreds of 000s. What are they supposed to accomplish with that? How about lung cancer - one of the most common cancers, almost always fatal - anyone walking for lung cancer??? Cervical?? Skin? Bone? Liver?

People say its because women are so outspoken. Well, do these women not realize they're not the only ones needing help? C'mon people, wake up! I'm at the point where seeing friggin pink stuff for sale pisses me off. Why not give your dollars to the Canadian Cancer Society. They support all kinds of research. Or if you want to stay close to home - the Ottawa Hospital Foundation Cancer Research Centre? Or whatever organization operates where you live. That way, professionals, who have all the information, can put the money where its needed the most.

Surviving cancer shouldn't be trendy. And "trendy" is exactly what breast cancer support is looking like. At the expense of lives. We have automatic screening in place - free mammograms after 50, and very good chemotherapy drugs already developed. My aunt's cancer was completely gone by the time they operated - all they had to remove was scar tissue. That doesn't mean she had an easy time of it. But she's alive and healthy. What about the pancreatic cancer patient who has a few months to live from the time the cancer is discovered? Where's the money to develop early screening for that?

October is breast cancer month. Which one is for prostate??? Can anyone tell me???