Madame your enema awaits you....

Alternative title, how to disempact a full of "it" faux feminist has been.

When I heard that Stephen Harper was suddenly taken with a desire to promote maternal health as the key issue for the G8, I have to admit to being perplexed. I don't think I've ever heard Harper talk about women's issues. Behind the scenes his government, which of course means him, has not only cut funding to most women's groups and the most progressive NGOs like Alternatives and Kairos but have eliminated the word "equality" from their women's bureau. Harper is no doubt that most anti-feminist PM we have ever had.

So I get it, you don't like Mr. Harper. Big whoop-pee, you might be right not to like him, but your supposed reasoning sucks. Why? Because he will not listen to your whinning? Because he will not suck up and give away our millions to NGO's? Who in turn gift it to others, with their exalted government funded opinions, to pressure the government to get them more millions? Give your head a shake.  NGO's mean Non-government orgs.  These are anything but if they need Goverment funds in order to survive, go fundraise or die.

I won't bother addressing the Kairos defunding, these guys are parasitic Anti-Semitic sleaze. Ezra has more then enough to say about them here.

The media reported that a coalition of NGO's had recommended the issue to Harper but still, when was the last time Harper listened to anyone? Interesting how the media has so far ignored the just published report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that fetal and infant mortaity rates are 2.7 times higher in Inuit inhabited areas of Canada than elsewhere.

Well no shit Sherlock, because of our  Health care system we can't keep doctors in Canada period. Folks in warmer boarder towns have to win a GD lottery to get a family Doctor or Obstetrician, obviously not a lot of doctors like to be stuck up north for six months with no chance of leaving,  Give me a break already.

Women's and Indigenous groups should be insisting that Harper put his new commitment to work in his own country too.

Oh you poor hard done by girlie. Canadian women are already equal, you just don't want to wake up to the fact that most of us have past you already, that your type are a milestone around our neck, that you give women a weak, grasping, whinny, nagging, hyperbolic, shrill fishwife appearance.

There was another election where women's issues came to centre stage in 1984. Polling was getting more sophisticated and the gender gap between the Republicans and Democrats in the US election had become clear. Women were against Reagan. In those days, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women was a powerful organization and the media savvy NAC President at the time, Chaviva Hosek, called for a Leader's Debate on Women's Issues. It actually happened. Watch it if you don't believe me. Not only did Brian Mulroney, John Turner and Ed Broadbent debate women's issues on national television but they did so under questioning from members of the NAC executive rather than journalists. It had an amazing impact by demonstrating the increasing power of the women's movement.

Amazing............. politicians pandering to a group of self important women for votes. Who would have thunk it?

Moreover all levels of government are ominously talking about tightening their belts, which will mean massive cuts to the public service, where the best paid jobs for women are located.

 Well you dirty sexist piggette. What a charmingly ignorant comment to make. Women's jobs??? Women's work??? It becomes increasingly clear certain Dinosaurs need to become silent, so women who live in the real world can be rid of your dead, tired, drag us down with you weight. Listen up! The trades are dying for workers, they are actually screaming to get folks to become apprentices, they are open to women, they would even get preferential treatment to train to make 40 to 80 freaking dollars an hour plus benefits, all this with paid on the job training of three to four years.

But one has to surmise that in Judy's world you are only successful if you are making big bucks in heels and sucking off the tax payer's teat. Stupid empty women annoy the living be-jabbers out of me.

They can find money for the banks and the mostly boys on Bay Street but not to protect good jobs for women, let alone expand them.

Get out from behind the desk, stop huffing white out or nail polish, it is not the government's job to manufacture "gee my hair smells terrific" jobs so you can make big bucks and benefits while keeping your nails all nice and clean, it's not my wallet's job to provide them either. Please do not bitch about only making 70% of the average male and then preference glorified clerkish jobs. You want man money get out into the man world. But be ready to get dirty sometimes.

At the municipal level, in Toronto for example, the City is talking about major cuts to childcare.

Ummmm not to put toooo fine a point on it dear, but might that be because Dalton is instituting full time kindergarten, open from 6:30am to 7:00 pm? All those day care spaces that used to be occupied by those unfortunate children will no longer be required now will they?

Despite the rhetoric of the mainstream parties, it will take a revival of a powerful women's movement to make sure that our stalled progress to equality doesn't get driven back.

News flash! We don't need your idea of woman's movement anymore. Grow up, wake up, you are past your prime sweety, you are irrelevant, you don't speak for legions of women of all shapes, colours, sizes and beliefs, you don't seem to represent anyone anymore...The following scene from Guess who is coming to dinner pretty sums up my sentiments. True to form Mr. Poitier is much more elegant then I could ever hope to be.



H/T Sara

Bread, the staff of life

 “If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” --Robert Browning



Now that Robert knows what he is talking about.

I mentioned before that I have this rather largish family. It cost BIG to feed this brood and I am always on the look out to provide excellent tasting and nutritious foods at an cost effective price. I never sacrifice taste or nutrition for mere price, but if we want it, if we like it. I will find away to make it work.



I make my own bread stuffs as much as possible. For a variety reasons and purposes I use three different methods that I find to be cost effective, simple, easy (there is a difference between easy and simple) and take up very little of your precious time. I will be dealing with each method separately, they all have serious advantages and limitations. Lets start with the Bread Maker shall we?

The topic of a bread maker has come up several times over my days.


The first time it was brought to my attention was when someone was going over my Bridal registry some 25 years ago. I of course being a NDP member of Parliament's assistant I axed that thought in its tracks. Didn't that person know that kitchen appliances were a symbol of a patriarchal society and female bondage?

Time passes and opinions change to the next person who had the regretful experience of suggesting such an abomination to me. Didn't they realize that the bread maker was a silly expenditure of about (at the time) $200.00 for a item that makes a 99 cent item. silly little people when would they learn to make cents? And what the heck was my time worth any how?


Well slowly years go by and ideas and circumstances change. Change you say in what way? Well lets start off with the fact that I have a largish family that uses several loaves of bread a day. A mere two loaves of bread a day at the current $2.50 for plain no nonsense bread can certainly add up. Adds up to about to 2 Grand a year and that is not even taking into account buns, and that nasty Cheese bread they all love that currently sells for a whopping $5.99 a loaf. Man that is just plain obscene.

Flour has gone up in price, yes even whole wheat and other grains, bread will continue to escalate, but be consoled they will be used a loss leader at the stores. But I digress.

The rising prices and increasing concern with what is going into the stomachs of my family  prompted me to reconsider my ban on this symbol of "male enslavement". (Really I have no idea how my mother didn't vomit at some of the things that came out of my mouth back in my NDP days. I can only hope that I do so well with my children.)

Deciding that I had had enough of paying thru the roof for my family's hoity toity tastes in specialty breads I researched the dreaded bread maker. Golly Mr. Bill not only is it verrrrrrrrrry cost effective I can control what is going in their little tummies and it proves to be darned convenient too. Shocker I can tell you.

Now any decent community garage sale will turn up a bread maker that has been found by it's current owner to be too bulky to keep on the counter, never really used it or got into the habit of using it, thus consigning it to the dreaded under the counter corner where it collected dust and took up toooooo much room. Voila you have a almost brand new bread maker for almost no money. You can of course also find them on Kajiji or Craigs list, even freecycle has them sometimes.

Bread makers come with the ability to make loaves from 1 lb up to 3 lbs. I needed one that could make the 2 to 3 lbs breads, any less and I was wasting my time, too many mouthes to waste on a 1 lb chump change size, this limited me to the number of models I could use but need not effect your decision or be cost factor for you. After doing my research I felt I Neeeeeded a bread maker that had a timer, a timer you say? Yes a timer that can have the ingredients added in the morning and will have a fresh loaf waiting for you when you get home from work still all nice and warm. or it could be timed to bake during the night while the hydro rates are lowest and voilà you have a fresh loaf awaiting to be toast or lunch sandwiches. I decided I very much needed this feature. This feature is also usually coupled with another feature that I love. It's called the dough feature. This is wonderful as the ingredients are added to make specialty breads like sour dough, pumpernickel or other round breads or for buns, even pizza dough, makes a great base for cinnamon rolls and the like too. It mixes the dough, allows it to rise and kneads the dickens out of it too. All you have to do shape it and pop it into the oven. A real life/time saver in the kitchen and I love it.


A few cautions about the resulting product. Number one: after having home baked bread you gotta wonder what the heck is actually in the bread you buy at the store. They way over yeast it to make it that fluffy, my bread it substantial and filling, the texture is more noticeably cakeish, heavier but lord love a duck it melts in your mouth like manna from the gods. It has flavor that isn't white washed with yeast being the primary flavor or smell. Delightful.

My bread doesn't last long enough for me to tell you it will last just as long as the store bought brands. I suspect it doesn't, no nasty preservatives in it. BTW a cheese bread makes a wonderfully hearty grilled cheese sandwich that my critters can't get enough of. And thats the real selling factor is isn't it? They love the homey smell of it cooking, appreciate that I go to alllll this trouble ( simple as 1 2 3 really) and the taste is beyond wonderful... some how this has become a no-brainer for our house. Try it....I hope you'll love it as I have come to.

I'd rather be there.....

Woke up this morning to a gorgeous day, warm, bright, hovering right close to zero, positively tropical I tell ya. Makes one feel down right giddy. But look out the window at lunch making time and what assaults me senses? In two hours the temperature dropped to MINUS 9 and the windchill of MINUS 20, roads white out conditions. Sheesh there are many things that I love about my home, but the winter? forget about it.




I'd rather be here, my summer place, the place I run to in May and come back in September:









I know it's a bit of a cliche, but it is my cliche and I love it's simplicity.

Finally truth in advertising.

Heh.....This one kinda writes its self:

The Identity and Passport Service's hilariously triste efforts to make ID cards cuddly has passed another millstone (shurely 'milestone?' - Ed). As a follow-up to plastering its propaganda with happy fingerprints, IPS now has a flash animation of them as well - derived, weirdly, from a movie you might be familiar with.



With a cast of several, IPS, The Movie re-enacts that famous scene from Spartacus with talking fingerprints. Grief, what were they thinking?

Here is the brilliant ad for your viewing amusement:



Yes what were they thinking? You remember Spartacus don't you? He was that SLAVE who headed a rebellion against his masters the ruling Romans? Yeah that guy, he ended DEAD and on a cross, put there as an example by his loving rulers. Yeah that Spartacus. (Man that Freud is a slippery bugger ain't he? ) Heh....Talk about spelling out your true intentions.


Original scene.


One of the best comments I have ever read and I couldn't say it better myself really so why would I even try?.

This has to be the worst propaganda ever, who on earth wants Spartacus to get caught? I guess that civil servants watching that movie must have thought that he was meant to be a rebellious, disobedient villain and consider it a strongly moral movie with a happy ending.

In that light, can I suggest a few other remakes that the government might like to consider?

Robin Hood - Applaud the noble Sherriff of Nottingham as he captures the desparate youth villain Robin the Hoodie and his entire gang of criminals by forcing everyone in Sherwood to carry ID cards. Laugh as he takes the last gold coin from a peasant family who forgot to update their address when they moved hovel!

The Great Escape - Pretty obvious this one - "Papieren Bitte" - celebrate as Germany's strong ID card system allows the dangerous jail-breakers to be recaptured before they can commit any crimes while on bail!

Star Wars - Relax in a feeling of smug satisfaction as the illegal attempt to release the terrorist suspect Leia from her entirely legitimate 28-day detention and waterboarding falls at the first hurdle when Luke and the rest can't produce biometric ID cards and the guards see through their trivial disguises before they even get out of the hangar on the Death Star!

Terminator - Arnie comes back from the future, logs into the ID card database, and is immediately able to track Susan Connor to her home address and dispatch her with ease, despite her best efforts to remain ex-directory. Rejoice as the world is saved from the danger of not ending up as a futuristic techno-dystopian machine-dominated nightmare reality!

etc. etc. etc... I feel sure that people will proudly want to associate themselves with the Roman Empire, Sherriff of Nottingham, Nazi soldiers, Imperial Stormtroopers, and remorseless amoral killing machines aimed at the destruction of all humanity.

Or at least that's who the government seems to /think/ our heroes should be.

Do I hear an Amen?





H/T Mutti

Ding Dong Acorn calling.

Yesterday Acorn, all wearing matching red t-shirts,  with full support of Alex Cullen (affectionately known as the Banner) took time out of their community organizing to persuade the City of Ottawa Community and Protective Services Committee to recommend a full council debate on an increase in the minimum wage from $9.50 to $13.25 for all city employees and it's contractors.



Who might Acorn be you ask? My American friends know exactly who and what that little group is and if you have never heard of them I want to know where you been hiding. Acorn is that charming group of folks who's co-founder Wade Rathke has stolen just a tidge under a Million dollars of taxpayer dollars.



If you want to find out how to defraud the IRS by setting up a front for your prostitution ring and get cheap housing to boot, these are your guys.



If you want advice on the best boarder entry place to bring in those underage girls you are going to pimp? These are the guys for you.



You want to just talk to an ex-madame about your underage prostitution fifedom and smuggling of underage girls, these are the guys for you. Hey they might even no somebody...



Just a few charges, just a few indictments. No biggie... This is one sweet group of folks that do Not condone this sort of behaviour but by golly they do attract some winners don't they. But enough of them and their red shirt sea of reps at the Committee. Lets get to the meat of the proposal shall we?



The claim is that currently the City of Ottawa has roughly 400 employees that make less then 13.25/hour. So that would only cost the city some 1.4 million per year to full fill their responsibility to be a Leader in the field of the "Living Wage".



What a load of horse pucks.



These 400 jobs are jobs that are mostly seasonal, those sorts of jobs that students take in the summer to make money for weed, booze, school, experience to put on the resume, to get an "in" at the city for cushy union jobs on the taxpayers teat, to get the parental units off their collective asses, easy jobs to pass the summer like counting cars at intersections, tours at the nature centres that dot that city like acne, like sitting by wading pools making sure the Mammas and the teenage babysitters don't let their charges drown. These are not rocket scientist type jobs here.



But this is NOT the real end game, not even close. Getting the City to FORCE all contractors to also pay 13.25 as a minimum wage? WThoodles? How many jobs will that kill? How many private companies will no longer be able to provide services? How many more public service jobs will that make I wonder.



One does not even have to think long or hard to know why Alex Cullen and his Union buddies just love this idea. Have you figured it out yet? The city actually has Union workers that make *Gasp* $13.25 or less as an entry pay scale. Wonder how long that will last? Wonder how many contracts have an automatic upping based on the lowest pay rate? (It happens all the time that contracts are signed with a covenant that the scale will change based on what other workers get) And up the line that will go. Those taxpayers are looking at a whole lot more them mere 1.4 million. More likely they are looking at 17 thousand employees who potentially could get similar increases. Worst case? Over 127 Million in increased salary, 17 thousand x 36 hours x 52 weeks x 4 dollars an hour. Ouch! Add on that the employer portion of increased CPP, Unemployment Insurance, increased expenses for those over the top dollar for dollar pension packages, increased Workers compensation costs, increased levels of Life insurance cost, increased levels of Long term Disability, man the dominoes just keep falling all over them selves now don't they. $1.4 million as an estimate by the city workers is a joke and they have to be laughing up their sleeve presenting that to the committee.



This is not about a living wage in any way shape or form, this is about contriving an excuse to enforce a pay increase for those parasites that work for the City already. The Grey Lady happens to have a Grey haired Mamma that lives in that City and my Mamma is just hanging on to her house as it is. Her Property Taxes have gone up almost double in the last 10 years, but her income has NOT. She is not the only one, there are many of the older folks that are being taxed out of their homes in that "great" city, there are a lot of real working poor or lower middle class that are being taxed out of that "great" city too. Add this with the new smart meters and attached punitive charges for those that live at home during the day time, the introduction of the 8% HST this summer? WOW. Do they even have a chance? Freeze? Stop eating maybe?



So Alex and Acorn can pretend that they are doing a really great thing by enforcing a living wage for mostly high school and Uni students but some of the sheep can see thru  the con.

All right I give in

There are a lot of jubilant youtubes about these days to celebrate the Brown win of that "Kennedy" seat.

Here are a few that tickled me funny bone the most:



And the next one with a H/T to Joel



I know, everybody and their dog has beaten that horse to death, but still funny...........

Udderly delicious verdict...

Oh Happy day for Micheal Schmidt and any one else who is freedom minded.

An Ontario farmer raised a glass of milk in celebration outside court today after being found not guilty of 19 charges related to selling unpasteurized milk.


Schmidt was charged under the Health Protection and Promotion Act and the Milk Act after an armed raid by about two dozen officers and government officials at his farm in 2006.

So it only took 3 and 1/2 years from the moment the ARMED food jackboots stepped onto his farm to verdict, over 50 thousand of dollars in fines, confiscated milking and cheese making equipment, harrasement, legal bills....which I am sure he will NEVER be compensated for, but he won and so did lots of other families that have been hunting in vain for raw milk.


Aren't you proud that this was alllll funded, top to bottom, except for Mr. Schmidt's expenses, by your hard earned dollars?

Justice of the peace Paul Kowarsky, who ruled the cow-share program is exempt from the legislation, said the case was part of a "search for contemporary justice."
 
In his ruling, Kowarsky said the cow-share members are "fully informed that the milk is not pasteurized," adding the milk is not marketed or sold for consumption to the general public but only to members.


Kowarsky said his own research showed cow shares exist worldwide.

What???????????????

Never say that this judge ruled that the little folks can decide for them selves if they want to risk drinking...gasp....raw milk....

Give your head a shake Laddy

Oooops yet another religious Zealot blames the woes in Haiti as a consequence for not adhering to His religious beliefs.


I give you that mental Giant Danny Glover:

"What happened in Haiti could happen to anywhere in the Caribbean because all these island nations are in peril because of global warming," Glover said. "When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Right Danny the Great Glowball Warning gods got together and decided to respond in this manner because THE WORLD didn't bow down and become one big slush fund for the third world countries to line their pockets with, didn't obey their would be masters, the disgusting money and power whores, that sad, useless waste of prime New York real-estate the UN.....sheesh.


Religious extremists of any strip are an embarrassment.

Sing song Tag...

My hubby (Who I will affectionately call The Cattleman from here on in) woke up humming a ditty, humming in the shower, humming away like there was no tomorrow.

Oops it's a disease, tag I start humming, another tune stuck in me head...

Is there no end, no cure?

I have this tune

Stuck in my head

Could it be a good one. Yup..

Still puttin it to bed..

Tag your turn.



Sorry couldn't find a good Wison Pickett rendition. As an aside it is  amazing how many folks think they can sing and post on YouTube...well I guess probably less then think they have something to say and start a blog. But really people, what where some of them thinking.

There's this tune.....

There's this tune

Stuck in my brain

Could it be a good one? Naw....


Driving me insane..



Be off with you foul tune, I banish you...

I'm thinking I just may need time away from my assorted critters.

A message from Haiti, SHTF for real.....

I thought I would share an email I received from my friends that were in Haiti when the quake hit.


I have blanked out their names to protect their privacy.



This is the English translation:

Really, we could have died. Only 1 hour after we arrived in Haiti, we were about to sit down to eat at 4:45pm when the friend who had invited us to her home asked us to "make ourselves at home".

I go upstairs to remove my tie and my jacket. ****** goes to the bathroom. Five minutes later, I hear a noise like the house is collapsing. I yell to tell ****** "what is going on?". She tells me it is an earthquake. Immediately, we started living the most terrifying moment of my life. I went back to insist that ******* leave the house which was vibrating.

[side note, the house where they were having dinner is intact, but the 2 houses next door, to the right and to the left of them, are in ruins]

Since this moment, we become homeless. We slept in an open air park on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, along with thousands of others.

Today (Jan 15), we decided to pay the price to leave P-au-Prince. We are in St-Louis, in the South, in a chalet/cottage home owned by our original dinner host.

Now, we are trying to plan the return to Corail (%%%%%%%'s home town village), either with my car which is parked in Jeremie, or with another car rental.

Wednesday, when we were [walking]we were able to assess the damage. The National Palace is destroyed. The fire-stations, schools, universities, big houses, apartments are all gone.

One apartment building which was housing the MINUSTA (African soldiers) is now a collection of concrete pieces. Went down like a house of cards. This 8-story apartment building is located 2 steps away from the house where were we to have dinner.

Last night, I witnessed the transfer of the cadavers from the bulldozer to the big truck. There is a strong odor.....

I witnessed the unburrial of my neighbour (alive) and his wife was found 3 days later (dead).

We are in great shape.

We are in Aux Cayes and St-Louis. We are seeking to go to Corail.

I can't even imagine........................

More Inglorious Bastards

Olberman is a talking shill for the "we worship the big Zero, all the time" station that used to be CNN.


Text of comments:

RUSH: Well, but what you just said is a lie. They reported a lie. I did not discourage donations to Haiti.



CALLER: Okay. Well, um, actually the point I was getting to, whether or not you said that — which actually I believe you did. But.



RUSH: No, it’s not “whether or not.” That matters. I mean you call here and ask, “Where do I get off suggesting that we don’t donate to Haiti because we do in the income tax?” and I tell you I said that, but I also said private donations are going to be much better than a government donation. They’re all going. Go to the Red Cross, do other things. Don’t go through the government. It’s just going to go through hands and bureaucracies and a dollar is going to end up being 30 cents by the time they get through with it. I did not say, “Don’t make donations.” That’s not a “whether or not” thing. That’s why you called.



CALLER: Calm down.



RUSH: Finish your sentence.



CALLER: Calm down. I planned on it, but actually I… Keep denying that, but what is this you were saying about our president of the United States trying to just basically establish credibility in the black community among white (sic) and dark-skinned African-Americans? And why do you, like… After saying that, why would you call yourself a patriot?



RUSH: All right. Now, this is funny. This was our Media Tweak of the Day yesterday, April. You know, what we do here on this program is, purposely, play the media like violin, like a Stradivarius. And I love tweaking them. I love irritating them, and I love upsetting them and all you do is take words uttered by liberals and apply them to current events. [b]It was Harry Reid who looked at Obama and said he’s a “light-skinned” guy that “doesn’t speak in a Negro dialect.”[/b]



CALLER: I’m not talking about Harry Reid.



RUSH: Well, I was.



CALLER: I’m talking about you.



RUSH: I was. You see, this is the point. You didn’t listen to the program. You’re reading people who take what I say out of context precisely to create this sense of outrage that you have.

So Rush was paying sarcastic homage to the Democratic Majority house leaders words, making hay that Obama will have to make up for that easy acceptance of tripe from Harry.

Yup that Harry is just so damn proud to have such a good clean unnegro negro president.......words fail me.

  WASHINGTON – The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama's race during the 2008 presidential bid and are quoted in a yet-to-be-released book about the campaign.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described in private then-Sen. Barack Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Obama is the nation's first African-American president.

"I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments," Reid said in a statement released after the excerpts were first reported on the Web site of The Atlantic.

"I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama's legislative agenda."

Reid remained neutral during the bitter Democratic primary that became a marathon contest between Obama and then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Obama tapped as the United States' top diplomat after the election

But he's a Democrat so he couldn't be racist now, it was a poor choice of words.

Harry, Olberman, Obama, Rush all asshats.

Facts increasingly are not facts, they are snippets to influence, solidify the converted and demonize the opposition. Divide and conquer, North and South, Left and Right, Western and Eastern, Republican and Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals, Christians and lions, Muslim and Jews, Deniers and AGW zealots, Believers and Atheists, US and Them.   Meanwhile back at the out house they continue to play with nothing very important at all, just your rights, your liberties, your wallet, the very fabric of your world.

Politics is a stain on humanity.

The one thing Rush definitely did get right in response to the big Zero's proclamation:

Despite the fact that we are experiencing tough times here at home, I would encourage those Americans who want to support the urgent humanitarian efforts to go to WhiteHouse.gov where you can learn how to contribute. …

NEVER, ever give to the government charitable donations that could go to real charities to distribute. Rush is right about that, no pun intended.........


******UPDATE: January 19th, 2010

Welcome readers of Jack's Newswatch, sit back and have a look around.

I feel safer now

Move over H1N1...you are yesterday's drummed up non-crisis,

Move over GW...you are last weeks scam De Jour,

Onwards and upwards, look up, way up in the sky's retread threat that the band is beating to near death, stroking the sheeple fears, manufacturing compliant unquestioning deliverance of rights and acquiescence over what?

Thanks to Mr. "hey baby I have something hot in my pants that will blow you away"  we now all get treated to added inconvenience, layers of bureaucracy, wastage of time, frustration, super duper ex ray vision candid cameras and body searches.

Sweet guys like this, get hauled off in hand cuffs, possibly going to jail for the crime of not staying in their appointed pen.


But do not despair, they are not going to keep the fear of flying, the inconvenience restricted to mere terrorist threats, they have even more urgent fish to fry, Some agency after two complaints, can you count that high? Two complaints, (the report can't even tell us which agency is saving us from ourselves and each other) has decided to save folks from the dreaded "NUT BARS" and have peanut free zones. Whoosh that is a relief now isn't it? AS if it is the responsibility of all others to make it appear as if rainbows and sunshine exists for every living human being regardless of the reality of the matter.

Now  I am one of the last people to say that allergies are not a serious thing, peanuts seem to have the capability to be one of the most severe in reactions. But I ask you: So we make a peanut free area on the plane, if your reaction is so sensitive as to be triggered by parts per billion, how is this even helpful? Are we next going to be putting folks thru a scanner to see if they came into contact with the evil nut in recent history? Will we pulling off folks who have residue on their person? Skin? Does this "feel good and safe" meaningless inconvenience even address the real issue or is it just more window dressing so folks can absolve themselves of their fears and let someone else take care of their problems for them?

Litterless Lunch Tyranny

A while back I received a note in one of my children's schoolbags.


Seems that the school as decided to go litter less lunches in order to help the environment. Which is a load of horse pucky, but I will get there...later.

This note is all "rah rah go mother earth" and how this was an initiative of the student environmental club (headed by a teacher, but I'm sure she didn't influence this project. Right?),further explains how classes will be monitoring the garbage brought in and consequently classes will be graded on their adherence to the new "policy" ( Ummmm I thought this was just an initiative? That got upgraded quickly) and the class with the best adherence will win a prize.

Oh goody...So now we have a teacher run agenda, that will put a specific special interest group in a position to "monitor" their fellow students to see if they are complying and appropriately accepting peer pressure programming to modify their own behaviour. Thus at an early age reinforcing the idea that one should sublimate themselves to the dictates of a special interest group and peer pressure.

Lovely. Just freaking lovely.

Accompanied by this proclamation from the school was a shopping opportunity, one must be fashionable while giving one's Borg like compliance. Charming lunch kits with special sections that are easy enough for all children to use and understand. All parents should be relived because the sections are divided and labeled in such a way that your child will not be eating snack before lunch.

How these kits facilitate this except in their imagination I have no clue, except that they have helpful cute pouches in them. Also I could care less what order my child eats their food in. I send a balanced selection of food that I KNOW she will eat. So what if she goes bat **** crazy and commits the sin of eating her blueberries and applesauce before her sandwich. Will the nutrition dissipate into thin air because it was not eaten in the preferred order of the general population? Conversely does a chocolate bar have more nutritional value if eaten after a sandwich? I think not. Send good food and order is no consequence.

Imagine how your child will feel part of the "Team" with co-ordinated lunch kits in the class. I guess it is sort of the uniform of the litter less lunch fascists, I'm not sure. But contriving and driving a need to purchase something in order to belong in a child as a fund raising activity for the school is sick, manipulative and frankly disgusting.

I spoke with the Prince and they are very excited by this new program, kids learn responsibility to the planet, will teach them how to work cooperatively with in the community for a common goal and it will ultimately save the school money as there will be less need to have the dumpster emptied. Ah ha....bungo. bango. BINGO.

I informed the Prince that I will not be complying with their new project, that If I chose to buy an food item, that heaven forbid, came in "packaging" I would not, as they so helpfully suggested, unwrap it and put it in a politically correct reusable container. This to me only teaches my child to do things that LOOK good, but actually are no more then "useless feel good window dressing" on a real issue. And I will buy these sorts of things and I will send them to the school in my child's lunch as long as they are a LEGAL product.

I also made it clear that I take my job as a parent very seriously. One who is more interested in training their child to be a secure individual who will not bend to peer pressure, If one has any expectation of their child standing up to the peer pressure of a passed mickey, drug of the day or a "come on baby you know you want to", you gotta start young.



I'll keep working on that using this example thank you very much.

Men are Screwed

I received an email AGAIN  that has been making the rounds that never fails to make want to bang some heads together.




No, Not one of those Nigerian, you have won one BILLION dollars e-mails, as a matter of fact this e-mail didn't even have a computer virus attached, it was much worse, it had a stereo typical myth included, a myth that demonizes men, reinforces the retched stereotype that MEN are the problem in society, men are bad.



The topic of the e-mail was stamping out child abuse, a very worthy cause to be sure. A cause that is very near and dear to my heart. I used to be in the child protection industry. I have had a lot of experience with abusive parents and as a consequence abused children. The repercussions of any form of abuse on a child is nothing to be dismissed, it is a far reaching experience that shadows a child's personality well into adulthood, sometimes never to be recovered from, often a repeated cycle that the next generation inherits. But I digress.



What got me so burning was the poem that was attached to the e-mail, a poem  illustrating the pain of a child in a abusive situation. The name of the poem was:



PLEASE DADDY IT HURTS.



This poem came accompanied with pictures of abused children, their injuries and of course their emotional anguish on full display. While a small part of the poem mentions the child's inability to please Mommy, The last few lines of the poem really drives the theme home by stating that the child "writing" it was only three and was beaten to death by his Daddy.



Now I used to think that my experience in the child protection industry MUST have been atypical as I found that that the worst abusers were indeed the dear sweet Mommies, it was the Mommies that were walking away from their children, the Mommies that were neglectful. Not all the Daddies were great, some were real humdingers for sure, wouldn't put a roach in their care, but more often then not it was the daddies that were stepping up to the plate, the daddies that were putting their kids worlds back together, the Daddies.

A few years back I read a study that concurred with my anecdotal experiences...dang do you think I can find a reference to it on the net to link to? No way....To the best of my recollection this was the given order of abusers.



Number One killer of children due to abuse: MOM  ( If I remember correctly this did not include all those deaths that were dropped into the postpartum depression bin.)



Number two killer of children due to abuse: Mom's new partner, be they male or female.



Number three killer of children due to abuse: Daddy's new girlfriend or wife.



Number four Killer of children due to abuse: Daddy   BTW this includes the daddies that shoot up the whole family that gets so sensationalized by the press.

(Please note at the time of the study there was insufficient data to reflect any statistical occurrences where the household was a two male gay couple.)





I just get SO tired of the myth and the way men are portrayed in today's society. It irks me to no end, hey I happen to raising a number of these heinous beasts with outie genitalia.  Somehow this sort of nonsense has got to be put away and reality needs to find a foothold.



Poor men you are so screwed.

A breath of fresh air.....Not.

I submit to you the following exhibit, Heather Malick in today's Guardian UK, regarde:



Obama's failures have complicated roots but Canada's failures have been deliberately engineered. The Conservatives are mean people. The Conservative Party was not always like this and Canadians are unaccustomed to this level of cruelty and proud ignorance in public life.

I am fed up. Powered only by the stoicism on which this winter-bound nation was built – we aren't even frozen any more, thanks to climate change, we are merely damp – I went out last night to see in the New Year with two friends who are government scientists (shan't name them, Harper hates civil servants even more than he hates science). One of them, an American, campaigned for Obama in 2008, the same year she took Canadian citizenship.



Well wasn't that a  just special..... er something or other? And why would I care about the premenstrual, possibly mentally unhinged rantings from across the pond? Well ...... meanwhile back at the out house my tax dollars put food in her foul mouth and provide a roof over her simplistic partisan lobotomized head. She happens to work for the totally taxpayer funded CBC. Canadian Broadcasting Corp the unbiased VOICE of Canadians....Whole sectors of the population actually listen and agree with this tripe....It's a head scratcher for sure.......... Just to add insult to injury I also subsidized her verrrry affordable education and for what? To write indepth anal ysis like the Conservatives are mean and if my guys were in I would properly be shivering and damn proud to be Canadian again.


Good grief...flushing more of my $$$$$ down the black hole.